Here's some geeky map stuff. Sue and I did a hike recently through some wildfire burn area. I had thought it was part of the Hayman fire, but I did some research and it was the Buffalo Creek fire area. I put together a Google Earth map of the wildfire burn areas in the Pike [...]
This is a list questions/statements I've assembled over the years that have really helped me to think about how to be innovative in my companies. They are in no particular order. They might help you innovate in your company. Where is your industry/category going? How are your consumers changing with respect to taste's, preferences and purchasing/buying [...]
Marketing is constantly evolving with new channels and vehicles to reach consumers. Technology is pretty much driving and ensuring that. But sometimes, what's old and that which no one seemingly pays attention to works the best. I've been working with a company over the last few years that operates in a pretty crowded and competitive [...]
There a lot of things not to do when you are handling a one-on-one sales meeting, but here are some pretty obvious ones that stick out to me. Don't try to find out about who the customer is, their knowledge base and what they want. Make the problem seem larger and more complicated than it [...]
I came up with a new type of natural breath freshener that I want to introduce in the US. How do I find commercial retail CPG distribution for my natural breath freshener? This is a Quora question. My answer is as follows: I am assuming you are a new company with a new product. If so, [...]
What questions should I ask customers when testing the viability of a CPG or consumer product idea? This is a Quora question. My answer is as follows: I find that asking people directly about a product idea does not yield the most informative answers. A better approach is to focus more on the outcome that [...]
I would like to know the process of getting a CPG product into retail stores like Walmart and Target. This is a Quora question. My answer is as follows: Here's the best way to get a product in if you are a new company or have never sold in retail before: Your product has prior sales [...]
For this post, I will be discussing a not-so-well known way to supercharge growth in a CPG or consumer product startup, which I had the opportunity to use in a few different start-ups with great success. Which set of results would you rather have? Exhibit B is looking a heck of a lot better, isn't [...]
I watched six start-ups from the MBA program at CU Denver pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and the audience. I love watching start-ups pitch their ideas, as its fun to hear presentations and I always walk away with new information and ideas about what others are doing. All six in this group [...]
I'm mentoring a company and we had some recent email exchanges around company vision. What is it and what goes into developing it? Here's my definition of vision from one of my subscriber-only articles: Your vision is the picture that you see of your business at some point in the future. It is what your [...]
