Predicting The Turn W/ Dave Knox

Very few brands can find themselves at home on the shelves of both Ace Hardware and Ulta.  But Duke Cannon isn’t your typical brand.  Launched nearly 10 years ago, Duke Cannon is proudly unpolished.  The approach has led the company to be one of the fastest growing brands in the men’s grooming space.  I sat down with Ryan O'Connell, Duke Cannon’s president and CEO to learn what proudly unpolished means to them and how the brand’s unique approach to retail has set the business apart.

In 2019, Lume Cube launched one of the first video conference lighting kits made for Zoom meetings at CES.  After sales fell dramatically short ofexpectations, the company was sitting with over 20,000 units in their warehouse in March 2020.  As the world moved to work from home, Lume Cube saw a tremendous reversal of fortunes.  I sat down with Riley Stricklin, President and Co-Founder of Lume Cube to talk about the inspiration behind the business and the pivot the company went through during COVID as they wrestled with the unexpected demand.

Today, Whisps Snacks are one of the most popular snacks on grocery shelves and the leader in a new category that they helped create. But just a few years ago, it was merely an idea sitting within the food innovation team at Schuman Cheese, the largest importer of Italian cheeses in the United States. I sat down with Ilana Fischer, CEO of Whisps, to learn more about how they created this new snacking category and the advantages of launching this “startup” within the halls of a larger company.

With 38 million members and a potential audience of 110 million people aged 50 years plus in the United States, AARP is a trusted voice.  This role became even more critical during the past year as people turned to AARP as an authoritative voice during the pandemic.  I sat down with Martha Boudreau, AARP’s Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, to discuss how they rose to this challenge and how AARP is working with the marketing industry to recognize the opportunity with the 50+ consumer.

Trilith Studios has been home to some of the largest blockbusters in entertainment, ranging from “Avengers: Endgame” to “WandaVision”.  With a recent rebrand of the business,Trilith has started on a new expansion of the business given changes they see in technology and content. I sat down with Frank Patterson, President and CEO of Trilith Studios, to talk more about the company rebrand, his vision for Trilith, and how the studio got back to work in the height of the pandemic.

After a health scare in his life, Jason Karp, started to really study the food that he was putting in his body. That led him to start Hu, a better-for-you snack maker that recently sold to Mondelez. In his latest entrepreneurial venture, Jason is the CEO and co-founder of HumanCo, whose mission is to make living a healthier life easier. I sat down with Jason to learn about his plans for HumanCo, the launch of its first brand Snow Days, and why it’s so hard and confusing to live a healthy life.

14 years ago, a late night of drinking inspired Jordan Silbert to make a better tonic water. Today, Q Mixers, the company he founded, makes carbonated mixers, ranging from tonic water and ginger beer to club soda and ginger ale that are served in tens of thousands of bars, restaurants and retail stores.  I sat down with Jordan to talk about this journey and why 2020 is the year Americans learned to make cocktails at home.

When Michael Tierney was nineteen years old, he had an innovative idea that he assumed no one ever thought of: putting chocolate inside the marshmallow. He soon discovered that not only had others thought of it, but top candy manufactures invested (and wasted) millions of dollars trying to make this idea work.  For nearly a decade, he was faced with constant rejections of “this idea cannot be done,” but through perseverance and superhuman work ethic, Tierney eventually solved the unsolvable and created Stuffed Puffs, one of the only filled marshmallows in the market. This resulted in a national launch with Walmart, and today in its second year, Stuffed Puffs is carried in over 22,000 retail locations nationwide. I sat with Michael to talk through his long journey of launching Stuffed Puffs, how he solved the manufacturing challenge, and where the business is headed next.

One of the most competitive industries in packaged goods is the beverage space. But over the last decade, one of the fastest growing brands has been Sparkling Ice, known for their bold flavors of sparkling water. I sat down with Chris Hall, CEO of Sparkling Ice maker Talking Rain to discuss the history of the business and his own unique journey to becoming CEO.

Few brands are more connected to in-person events like the Super Bowl and music festivals than Anheuser-Busch. So a global shutdown of these events required a complete rewriting of the marketing plans of brands like Budweiser and Bud Light. I sat down with Marcel Marcondes, CMO of Anheuser-Busch, to discuss the pivots the brands made, why they changed their approach to the Super Bowl in 2021, and how a mindset around consumer-centricity continues to be so important to the business.

Moving into your first CEO role is far from an easy transition. But that challenge becomes a little more complex when your first day on the job is March 23, 2020 in the early days of a global pandemic. That is the situation that Charlie Cole, the CEO of FTD found himself in. We sat down to talk about this, the moves FTD has made, and how he is leading this new team when COVID has made it that he has never physically been in the FTD office since taking over as CEO.

Kara Goldin is the founder of Hint Inc, a company that is best known for Hint Water, the leading unsweetened flavored water. It was her experience as an entrepreneur and the realization that the narrative needed to change that inspired her to write Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters. I sat down with Kara to talk about her journey building Hint and learn about the inspiration to write Undaunted.

For over 70 years, Topps has been part of culture and childhood memories as the maker of their iconic baseball cards. In recent years, the industry has seen multiple changes, including a significant rise in popularity during the pandemic as people rediscovered the hobby. I sat down with David Leiner, Topps VP/GM of Global Sports and Entertainment to discuss the changes in the industry, how they support the hobby’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and plans for celebrating their 70 year anniversary.

If you know Fazoli’s, you know their famous breadsticks. Some have even said they are the greatest of all time. Every year the company serves over 100 million of these fan favorites in their restaurants. While the breadstick has been a constant in the company’s 33-year history, the last decade has been one of change and reinvention. I sat down with Carl Howard, CEO of Fazoli’s to talk about the changes they have made to the business in recent years and why those changes and a focus on the consumer, led to the best year in the company’s history.

One of the hardest hit businesses during COVID were the independently-owned gyms across the country. But thanks to a now award-winning marketing campaign by O2 Recovery, many of those gyms were able to keep their members during the lockdowns. I sat down with Dave Colina, CEO & Founder of O2, to talk about their #StayForMay campaign, which recently won BevNet’s Best Marketing Campaign award thanks to nearly 60,000 consumers paying their dues to 1,918 gyms.

Jeremy Andrus helped Skullcandy become one of the hottest brands in electronics, eventually watching the company go public in 2011. As he started looking for his next adventure, he came across a 26-year old business in the grilling space. That business was Traeger Grills, which Andrus acquired in 2014 alongside private equity partner Trilantic Capital Partners. Today, Traeger has one of the most passionate communities in the industry, built around cutting edge technology and more importantly, a better cooking experience. I sat down with Jeremy to talk about the process of entrepreneurship through acquisition and how his team has built Traeger into the lifestyle brand it is today.

Countless college students have written business plans in class only to have their professor say it’s a bad idea. Not many of those students have taken that rejection and turned around to bootstrap the business by working at an oil refinery and on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska. But not every college student is like Todd Graves, the Founder, Chairman, CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier of Raising Cane’s. I sat down with Todd recently to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and why appreciation is at the heart of their culture at Raising Cane’s.

Like many in the fitness world, CycleBar saw their business flipped upside down when COVID hit. However, thanks to their unique community and the efforts of the franchisees, the company has been to help their studios re-open. I sat down with Trevor Lucas, the president of CycleBar to talk about the future of the exercise industry and what he's learned during the days of COVID.

In the early days of Pipcorn, everything went well right for the brand. They landed a deal on Shark Tanks, won distribution at Whole Foods, and saw everything pointing up and to the right. But when an investor left the company with nothing but empty promises after a 5-month process, the team at Pipcorn learned that they have to fight for their business. I sat down with Teresa Tsou, the co- founder and co-CEO of Pipcorn to talk about their journey and how they ultimately shook off the no’s in order to fight for themselves.

SuperCoffee was born from Jordan DeCicco’s search for healthier bottled coffee to get through the days and nights as a student athlete. Together with his brothers Jim and Jake, the DeCicco’s decided the world needed an alternative to the sugar-filled Frappuccino. In advance of our panel at FounderMade Discovery At Home, I sat down with oldest brother and CEO Jim DeCicco to talk about this journey of launching a CPG and why the time is now for emerging brands.