{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup CPG Podcast","title":"#248 - How to Work with a Formulator with Rebecca Urciuolo from BevSource (FB Solutions Group)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2924,"description":"\nIn this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Rebecca Urciuolo, a formulator with over 23 years of food and beverage experience at BevSource (FB Solutions Group), to dig into one of the most exciting and most misunderstood parts of building a CPG brand: working with a formulator to bring your product to life. From how to write a great project brief to what happens when things go sideways at the co-manufacturer, Rebecca shares hard-won lessons and insider knowledge that every founder — at any stage — needs to hear.\n\nRebecca opens with a clear message: the best founders are partners, not passengers. They come with a firm goal in mind, stay present through the iteration process, and actively want to learn — because understanding what you don't know will inevitably make your product better. Daniel reflects on his own experience formulating a beverage during the early pandemic days, calling it one of the most joyful parts of his CPG career.\n\nThe conversation covers the most common early-stage mistakes founders make when approaching a formulator: coming in too vague, being too rigid, or not understanding the regulatory and packaging constraints that shape what's actually possible. Rebecca explains how to write a strong project brief, why reference products are half the job, and how the tasting and feedback process works — including the vocabulary founders need to give useful, actionable notes.\n\nThey also get into the nuances that make beverage formulation uniquely complex: the chicken-and-egg relationship between formulation and co-manufacturer selection, how packaging constraints shape your formula, what to do when an ingredient gets discontinued, and how your product will continue to evolve on shelf over its entire life. Rebecca walks through the gold standard process at first production, what to watch for at the co-man, and how to think about COGS and ingredient exposure from the very beginning.\n\nWhether you're developing your first...","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}