{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup CPG Podcast","title":"Built to Scale: Lessons from a Founder Who Sold","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2442,"description":"\nIn this Founder Fundraising Journey episode, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Zoë Sakoutis, Co-Founder and CEO of Bittman’s and founder of Blueprint, to trace her path from bootstrapping a cold-pressed juice brand to a full acquisition, and now to raising capital again for a whole grain sourdough brand.\n\nZoë’s first business was a dog grooming shop in the basement of her family’s optometry center at age 12. She went on to found Blueprint with roughly $5,000 borrowed from her brother, scaled it profitably without outside capital, and sold it to Hain Celestial after five years, staying on for two more. Since then she has started other brands, advised founders, and angel invested, and four months ago she launched Bittman’s with Mark Bittman, starting with whole grain sourdough bread shipped nationwide to your door.\n\nHannah and Zoë dig into what the acquisition process really looked like behind the scenes, why four production facilities, 10-year leases, and 120 employees complicated the deal, how discovering high pressure processing (HPP) unlocked retail for raw juice, what changes after the deal closes, and how fundraising for Bittman’s has shifted her perspective now that she is back on the founder side of the table.\n\nListen in as they discuss:\n\nHow a dog grooming shop at age 12 foreshadowed Zoë’s entrepreneurial career\nHow Blueprint scaled profitably on a $5,000 loan from her brother with no outside capital\nWhy a call from Howard Schultz signaled that the cold-pressed juice category was about to get crowded\nWhy Zoë chose a full acquisition over a minority investment, and the “bird in the hand” thinking behind it\nWhat diligence really feels like, and how leases, facilities, and 120 employees complicated the deal\nHow discovering HPP gave raw juice a kill step, extended shelf life, and opened the door to retail\nWhy founders should think about their likely acquirer from day one, including whether to own or outsource production\nWhat it is like to stay on after an...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/pMuUaMpWaAi3tfCEgC2OkLBVzokuLjLsIzwDIbGFqi4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTFl/MTgxNTNlZTAwZjU1/ZmNmNWM1ZjkwMDg5/NTU4MS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}