Founder Feature: Lindsay Hancock of My Better Batch

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Grace Kennedy chats with Lindsay Hancock, founder of My Better Batch, about her journey from a corporate career in CPG to launching her own brand of premium cookie mixes. Lindsay shares her experience creating a product that fills a gap in the baking aisle, offering a clean, homemade flavor with simple ingredients. She delves into the challenges and strategies of working with co-manufacturers, preparing for scale, and standing out in a competitive market.

Lindsay also reflects on the hurdles of launching during formal category review cycles, the importance of building strong relationships with retailers, and leveraging key differentiators like non-GMO certification and woman-owned business status to appeal to buyers. She offers valuable advice for emerging brands on navigating the retail landscape, working with brokers, and crafting a compelling brand story.

Tune in to hear Lindsay's insights on operational readiness, creating eye-catching packaging, and building momentum for My Better Batch as it prepares to expand into national retailers.

Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about resilience, creativity, and the reality of building a CPG brand from scratch!

Listen in as they share about:

• Inspiration for My Better Batch
• Product Development
• Finding the Right Manufacturing Partner
• Packaging and Branding
• Sales and Retail Strategy
• Operational Preparations for Scaling
• Marketing and Social Media
• Advice for Emerging Brands
  
  

Episode Links:

Website:  https://mybetterbatch.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayhancock/ 

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

• Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [e-mail]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

Creators & Guests

Host

Grace Kennedy

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Lindsay Hancock
I love making cookies. I grew up making cookies from scratch with my mom. My grandmother made cookies. And so for me, I would never go to the store to pick up a mix because we always made them from scratch. And what I noticed about cookies in particular is that there was some innovation. Most of that innovation was occurring in what I call the attributes specific space. So there are brands that are brand new and doing a great job selling gluten free and keto and paleo and, you know, special diet restriction type items. I wanted to be able to innovate in a space that I felt like hadn't had a whole lot of innovation, which was like that mainstream cookie space. And so one of the big gaping holes to me was this idea of premiumness in the cookie category.

00:59
Lindsay Hancock
And I felt like that was something that we could do and we could do a really good job of love.

01:05
Grace Kennedy
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Grace and I'm back with another founder feature. Today I'm talking to Lindsey Hancock, the founder of My Better Batch. My Better Batch offers premium cookie mixes made with simple, high quality ingredients designed to deliver a homemade taste with minimal effort. Lindsey has over 20 years of experience in the CPG industry, so she has a wealth of knowledge to share with her fellow founders, particularly when it comes to preparing to scale and selling to retailers. I hope you enjoy this episode and as always, let me know what you think. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Startup CPG Podcast. This is Grace and today I'm so excited to be joined by Lindsay Hancock, the founder of My Better Batch.

01:58
Grace Kennedy
So, Lindsay, I'd love for you to introduce yourself and your product to our listeners.

02:03
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here and to tell you more about My Better Batch. We launched our product in April of this year. So it's pretty new in the marketplace and I kind of. I launched this more out of necessity than an opportunity than anything else. I myself have always been. I love to bake. I lacked the time to bake pre Covid. I was on 120 flights a year and I wasn't quite able to do the things at home that I felt like I needed to do and be in the places that I felt like I needed to be. And so one way that I would compensate for that, I don't know, you probably have people listening that have mom guilt issues. I struggled with that.

02:43
Lindsay Hancock
But for me, baking checked my mom guilt box. It made me feel good and I would go over the top for My kids parties and events and things like that. And one thing that I could never bring myself to do is to take a shortcut. And the reason for that is because I didn't feel like anything on the shelf delivered a homemade flavor. And so it sounds so simple, but at the end of the day, that's really what I set out to do. I wanted to be able to provide a mix that allowed consumers to be able to bake and feel really confident in what they were baking and have cookies that tasted like they were made from scratch.

03:20
Lindsay Hancock
And so I worked really hard over about a year to develop these recipes, try to keep them easy flavor profiles that people know and love, classic flavor profiles. And yeah, that's really where everything started.

03:33
Grace Kennedy
I love it. And I will say Kiki, our social media manager, got to meet Lindsey at one of our startup CPG events in North Carolina where she's based. And Kiki reached out to me, like, Grace, you got to interview my better batch. Like, their cookies are so good. And then Lindsey sent me some product. And I was saying, I've already made three of the four boxes that I received because they are really delicious and also really easy to make. And I really understand that feeling of not wanting to cut corners and wanting people to say, like, look, you guys, I made you like a whole, you know, elaborate dessert. But we're all busy people and we don't always have time to do that. And your cookies really scratch the itch. And I have, I've had them with just me and my partner.

04:19
Grace Kennedy
We've had them with friends, and they're really delicious.

04:23
Lindsay Hancock
Oh, that's awesome.

04:25
Grace Kennedy
So I'd love to hear, like, what were you doing when you were taking 120 flights per year? What was your pre. My better batch job?

04:33
Lindsay Hancock
So my better batch is a new brand, but CPG is not new to me. I've spent my, I guess the last 20 years, my career in this business started at the corporate office of the Fresh Market, which is based here in North Carolina, where I am. That was really my first job. I had another very short job out of college, but my first job out of college that I was hired for, and I had no business doing that job, to be perfectly honest with you. I was hired to work in the marketing department, manage a group of people in the marketing department. And I had no marketing experience. My degree is in exercise and sports science, which I haven't used a day in my career, except for when people come to me and say, this is a little bit sore.

05:11
Lindsay Hancock
What's going on here, but it doesn't really help me in food. And so I worked for the Fresh Market for about seven years. During that period of time, I ran the marketing department. That was a huge growth period for the company. The way that we measure time back then was a number of stores. So I was there from store 35 to store 95. So huge period of growth. And so I worked for a guy there that left and started a brand new business called Creative Snacks. And I always said to him prior to him leaving, if you leave, I'm going with you. Until the day he came to me and said, I'm leaving. And I was like, oh. I have this nice, safe, cushy job with lots of opportunity for advancement with a company that is growing and thriving.

05:55
Lindsay Hancock
I have a small child at home that I need to be able to support. And you want me to come to a company that has no customers, no space, no products, like nothing. But I did make that jump. So in November 2009, as the world was falling apart economically, I decided that was a great time to move away from that job and start a new job. So at Creative Snacks, so at that company we did trail mixes, nuts, granola, confections. If you've ever gone to a Whole Foods or a Fresh market and scooped your own trail mix, we produced a lot of that kind of product. So didn't necessarily see our name all over the place, especially those first couple of years, but we sold a lot in the bulk format, commodity type items.

06:37
Lindsay Hancock
Over the next 10 years, had an opportunity to be able to do just about every job there was to do at Creative Snacks. And ironically, I said to him when we started, I will do anything you want but sales. I ended up in an SVP of sales role. When it was all said and done in 2019, we ended up selling that company to Kind Snacks. So Kind Bar and had an opportunity to work for Kind for a couple of years. And in December 2021, I decided it was time to walk away from Kind. It was a hugely valuable experience for me. One of the things that I learned during that time of working for Kind those two years was I don't know that I'm a big company person. I think I thrive in a much smaller entrepreneurial type of environment.

07:25
Lindsay Hancock
And that was a really valuable lesson for me to learn, especially as people were saying to me, what are you going to do next? You know, what do you want to do? And you know that question of what do you want to do? It sounds like such a simple question, but I really struggled with that because for so long, I had just been doing. I'd been doing the job, we'd been working hard, we had been trying to sell the company, we'd been trying to grow the company. And so I really couldn't answer that question.

07:50
Lindsay Hancock
And so when I left kind, I was able to take a step back and really work hard for about six months to a year on what is it that I like to do, what do I want to do, and kind of where do I want to spend my time? Simultaneously, Covid was, You know, Covid had just hit. Things for me personally were changing. And the way I described that time is like all of the puzzle pieces, both personally and professionally, were thrown out on the table. And this was my opportunity to be able to put those puzzle pieces back. They were just going back into different places, and it was feeling, you know, feeling really good.

08:25
Lindsay Hancock
So during that period of time, early 2022, really through the end of that year, I did some consulting, helping some smaller brands gain distribution, innovate new products, work on operational challenges. And I was really trying to determine, do I go back and work for another company, do I continue this consulting gig, or do I do something of my own? And I decided to start something of my own, which is super exciting.

08:51
Grace Kennedy
Wow, you have so much experience in this industry. I mean, yeah, that's what, like over two decades in the cpu, making me feel old. No, no, you don't look a day over 20.

09:05
Lindsay Hancock
Oh.

09:07
Grace Kennedy
But I'm curious. You know, obviously you talked about the personal need for my better batch, but obviously, too, like, being in the CPG industry for so long, you've probably seen many of the highs and lows and a lot of the pitfalls, too, that can come in this industry. So I'm curious how you kind of decided, like, what you wanted this product to be in a way that you felt would set yourself up for success, knowing everything you know.

09:34
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah. Well, there's definitely a lot more to learn. And I feel like, yes, I know a lot. Sometimes I feel like that is it's a positive. Sometimes it can be a negative because there are things that you worry about that you otherwise wouldn't. But, you know, I think what's really important in creating a new product is that you can find a need for that product. And so out of the gate, I didn't know what that product would look like. So I knew I wanted to start something. There were some ideas that I had in the back of my head, and to be quite honest with you, I ended up walking the store. And through walking the store and process of elimination, I ended up in the baking aisle. And so I'll kind of tell you how that process went.

10:17
Lindsay Hancock
I walked the perimeter of the store. I was working with a company and still do some work with a company that sells in the frozen case and sells in the refrigerated case. And I knew that was not a place I wanted to be. I didn't want to deal with short shelf lives. I didn't want to deal with the logistical challenges of shipping temperature control. And that was just something that I said, okay, we're going to cut that off the list. There were some items that at that point in time, some product categories that I wasn't able to be in just because of a non compete and that was going to run out.

10:48
Lindsay Hancock
But I knew that at some point in time there were probably people that I would want to have on the team that would struggle in those same categories and it just didn't make sense to go there. So we eliminated that. And I walked up and down and you know, I saw items in glass jars and I said, you know what? Again, logistical challenges, heavy breakage, I don't want to do that. Ended up in the baking aisle. And when I walked up and down the baking aisle, what resonated to me was that there are a lot of legacy brands in that space. Not all categories have those legacy brands that have kind of stood the test of time. But in baking in particular, you know, they're brands that we all know. We see the colors and we know them Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines.

11:29
Lindsay Hancock
And what it felt like to me is that was a category that was ripe for innovation. So at this point in time I'm kind of thinking in general terms baking, not necessarily cookies. I love making cookies. I grew up making cookies from scratch with my mom. My grandmother made cookies. And so for me, I don't know, I would never go to the store to pick up a mix because we always made them from scratch. So then I started to go, you know, into the individual categories and try to better understand what was there. And what I noticed about cookies in particular is that there was some innovation. Most of that innovation was occurring in what I call the attribute specific space.

12:10
Lindsay Hancock
So there are brands that are brand new and doing a great job selling gluten free and keto and paleo and you know, special diet restriction type items. I wanted to be able to innovate in a space that I felt like hadn't had a whole Lot of innovation, which was like that mainstream cookie space. And so really what I then did was I worked really hard to understand the competition, what they were selling. I bought and made every mix of cookie mix that you could possibly imagine so that I could understand it and I wanted to. And then I kind of dug into the data and category insights just to understand how are people shopping in this category and is there a need for a product that has a clean flavor profile, is made with non GMO ingredients, is more premium?

13:02
Lindsay Hancock
And that's kind of how I settled on this space and through that research, through understanding what the competition was doing, through that research of the category insights, one of the big gaping holes to me was this idea of premiumness in the cookie category. And I felt like that was something that we could do and we could do a really good job of.

13:23
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. So interesting to hear about all the different considerations you took in deciding what brand you actually wanted to create and like pour your energy into, because it is a lot of energy. And I'm curious, once you decided that this was kind of the right space to be in, how did you go about developing it? Because, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but from your history, it sounds like maybe product development itself wasn't your like, main focus. So how did you set about developing it?

13:53
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I, you know, I've done a lot of product development over the years and you know, that's kind of the fun. That's the fun part is identifying the need and then being able to tinker and kind of figure out, can we make it happen. I will say there was a lot of baking that took place in this kitchen. My kids are kind of were cookied out for a while. I would bake cookies, I would throw away cookies. I would give cookies to the neighbors and my family. And so really it was taking recipes that I have always used and trying to find a way, you know, the difference in a scratch baked cookie and a cookie from a mix is that you can't cream together the butter and the sugar.

14:30
Lindsay Hancock
And so by doing that in a homemade cookie, that really impacts the texture of the finished product. And when you dump a mix into a bowl and add an egg and butter, obviously all of your ingredients are in that bowl and you don't have the luxury of being able to do that. And so it really was a lot of, it was a lot of tinkering. And I would gather friends and family and I would have them fill out, you know, taste this and Tell me what you think or rate this or. And so it was really just a lot of it was tinkering and trying new things and we stumbled upon the finished product.

15:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And you know, I was saying this to you before we started recording, but I do love that my better batch just uses like an egg and a stick of butter and it feels really accessible in that way. And so the cookie mixes I remember from my childhood or from my, or from the cake mixes always had like canola oil or something like that. And they, with the butter and the egg, it does give it that more like real cookie feel. Even when you're making it, you're like, okay, I'm doing a little something.

15:33
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I wanted to keep these simple. I think, you know, at the end of the day, this is a shortcut and I want for people to be able to make it and make it quickly and I want it to be able to deliver a consistent result. And baking is such an emotional activity. People get excited about baking. People like to bake together. There's like nostalgia there. There's memories that you have baking and spending time with people. I wanted for moms to be able to spend time in the kitchen with their kids or dads or grandparents. And so I wanted to make these as foolproof as possible. Full transparency. I've never sold anything that is not a ready to eat product. And so, you know, I'm relying on consumers to follow instructions and they don't necessarily do that.

16:23
Lindsay Hancock
And so I wanted a product, I wanted to make sure that our product, if it wasn't followed to a T, would still deliver a really great result. There are some things that I just can't protect against if people make mistakes. But, but I tried to make these so simple and make sure that they delivered consistent results.

16:43
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. So how did you prepare yourself for the launch itself? You know, leading up, you created this product, you like what you have. How did you know, prepare for this launch knowing sort of what you know about what goes into a launch and what comes after a launch?

17:00
Lindsay Hancock
Sure, yeah. So one of the most important things for me was finding a good manufacturing co manufacturing partner at Creative Snacks. We manufactured our own products. We were vertically integrated. And so there are definitely advantages, there are pros and to both the setup of both different types of businesses. But the fact that I wasn't manufacturing myself didn't allow me to be as nimble and flexible as I was used to being. So I would say kind of the hardest part for me was finding a manufacturing partner that wanted to work with me. And I feel like the co man space is like this underground world. They are hard to find in certain categories are very hard to find. And so I went through a process.

17:43
Lindsay Hancock
I think I put like I found 30 different commands and I went down the list of, you know, trying to reach out to people and some would get back to me, some would immediately have no. Some would want to know what is your annual volume, which as a startup you can't communicate annual volume. Right. And so what I learned through that process was I really need to get these folks on the phone. I need to be able to find a way to be able to communicate what we're trying to do, not what we've done, because we really don't. We've not done any business. But what I'm trying to do really needed to sell them on who I was and the fact that I came with some industry experience.

18:18
Lindsay Hancock
And I wasn't just Lindsay who had sold some cookie mix down at the farmer's market and somebody told me it tasted good and so I wanted to be able to commercialize it. I was somebody who had done this before and had a team of people around me and advisors and investors who have done this many times in the CPG world. And so once I could get folks on the phone, I was then able to kind of tell the story and be able to explain the vision and what I was trying to do. Still didn't mean that doors opened. I went through a process, narrowed it down to three, got down to one, and I realized, you know what, I don't know that this is a partner that I want to move forward with. And so I kind of hit the pause button.

18:56
Lindsay Hancock
I was really anxious to get things going, but hit the pause button for a minute, pulled my list back together, found a few more, and ended up going through the same process again and found a fantastic partner. But they. I really, like I said, had to sell them on the vision and what I was trying to do. And you know, this partner, they see the opportunity and they wanted to work together. And. But it's. That to me was the hardest part and. But that's where I started. So to go back to your question, kind of started with how are we going to manufacture this stuff? As I was working on that, then it became a question of how are we going to package it?

19:30
Lindsay Hancock
And in this particular category, I feel like packaging is critical because of all those legacy brands that are on the shelf and the fact that people know those brands by Specific colors that they see when they're walking down the aisle. I wanted to make sure that we created something that was going to pop off the shelf. Our packaging, we, which I have right here, our packaging. I wanted to make sure that we had bright, vibrant colors that were different than what was currently on the shelf. I chose to use just big images of cookies that looked really good. And also we have kind of a unique feature on our box. When you set them all up together, they all kind of flow together, creating a billboard. And I thought that was really important.

20:16
Lindsay Hancock
Once we are able to gain space on the shelf, you know, that's kind of the easy part. But getting it off the shelf, getting consumers to find it and buy it, is really tricky. And so by some of those graphic elements, I wanted to make sure that we could take full advantage of the space and make sure that were screening to customers when they're walking by. So a lot went into making sure that we found the right manufacturing partner, somebody who had the ability to be able to grow with us and scale with us and do so really quickly, and that we had great packaging that when we made our way to the shelf, that consumers could find us. And so, yeah, that was kind of where I spent most of my time.

20:54
Lindsay Hancock
And then it's kind of the boring things like, and I call them framework things. They're not super sexy things to be spending time or money on, but, you know, your trade, the trademark process, and just all of those little things that are really important when you grow and scale a company. But not super fun to be working on in the beginning.

21:14
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. And I wanted to return to the manufacturing piece for a moment, which, you know, if you, or, you know, you probably have advised other startups before when they're maybe looking for a manufacturer. And what would you say are some of the things to look for or also some of those red flags? Maybe if, you know, you get down a path with a manufacturer and you're like, oh, maybe I shouldn't work with this person. So what are some, I guess what are some of the green flags and red flags when looking for a partner with a co man?

21:43
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah. Well, so for me, what I look for is I am looking for companies that are doing business with some larger brands. I want a co man who has really strong food safety requirements and certifications. And, you know, it kind of can tell about the operational process through some of the questions that they're asking. For me, it was really important that I had a partner that was able to do the ingredient Procurement. For me right now, there are a couple different ways that you can set up a co man relationship. One is by supplying the ingredients and simply paying for a tolling fee when they are, in my case, blending and packaging it.

22:26
Lindsay Hancock
The other way is that they are doing a full service program for you where they're procuring the ingredients and the packaging and charging you a tolling fee and you're getting just a 1 fee for your finished product. So I could kind of tell by some of the questions that were being asked that, okay, this is a company that knows what they know what they're doing, they're asking the right questions. I also wanted somebody that had the ability to scale and do so really quickly. And so in my particular case, the co man that I'm working with, they are doing business with some really large brands. They're doing club business. They have multiple lines that have different capabilities, they're nearly fully automated. And so it just gave me peace of mind.

23:09
Lindsay Hancock
It let me know that when we are able to gain, you know, full distribution at a large national retailer, that I am able to really quickly and confidently flip the switch and know that these folks have done this before, they understand how it works, they understand the expectation. And so those were some of the things that I was looking for. You know, a small emerging brand. Sometimes we can only get the ear of people that are a little bit smaller and there are advantages to working with smaller co mans. You are able to be more nimble and flexible and. But my fear in doing so was that the moment were able to land a region of Costco or a Target or something like that I would need to start all over again because we wouldn't be able to quickly keep up with the demand.

23:58
Lindsay Hancock
So, you know, I don't know that I have particular red flags as much as kind of the things that I'm looking for. I also wanted to make sure that the recipes remained mine. At the end of the day, I was really protective of that. And so, you know, making sure that I was able to maintain these recipes as property of ours versus property of years was important. And that's not always the case when it comes to working with a co man. And so. And there's a level of trust and that you've got it, you know, risk that has to be taken and trust that you've got to put into it.

24:31
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I think that's great advice and important also to remember that if you want to scale, you know, you do kind of have to be thinking about it from the beginning. And so I'm curious if there were other elements, you know, besides making sure you were working with a CO man who would be able to scale with you. Were there other elements that you considered to ensure that when you're ready to.

24:52
Lindsay Hancock
Scale, you were ready, like, operationally? Yeah, yeah. You know, part of that was, you know, I wanted to make sure that we had a 3 PL, that we could warehouse the product and they could handle fulfillment. Right now, I'm not using a 3PL, although we have done probably 75% of the work, identified who we're gonna work with. And when the time comes for us, you know, for the. What our distribution footprint looks like and what our volume looks like, we can flip the switch and make that happen relatively quickly and painlessly. And so that was really important to me. Let's see, other operational things. You finding a printer that was able to do, you know, just. These are silly things, but really important, that can turn things around quickly, that is reliable.

25:35
Lindsay Hancock
Somebody, I can pick up the phone and say, hey, we just landed this, and they want it fast, and I need your help and turning it around. And I think, you know, working with people that you can trust and, you know, that to me, is really important. People that, you know, that you can depend on and lean on, because it is inevitable that everything hits at the same time, or you wait, wait, and then everybody wants it, or. And so it's like, I wanted folks that kind of understood what it takes to be able to grow and grow quickly. And the fact that, you know, when we're starting out, you need to be easy to do. Well, I believe that as a manufacturer, you always need to be easy to do business with. And that just seems so simple. Not everyone is that.

26:18
Lindsay Hancock
But people that understood that we are going to have to. There are things that we're going to have to do to be able to get on the shelf. And I'm going to need to be. I'm going to need to be nimble, and I'm going to need to be flexible. But in order for me to do that, I need folks around me that are willing to do the same thing and understand the opportunity and what's at stake.

26:35
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. I'm thinking about, you know, since you launched in April, what has been kind of your priorities over these last few months of this, like, early stage of launch? What have been, like, your kind of, like, first attacks?

26:48
Lindsay Hancock
Oh, sell, sell. Which has been a little bit more challenging than I shouldn't say than I anticipated. It's a Tough process. And it's a long process and you've got to be really patiently persistent when you're selling a brand into a retailer. I'm not a super patient person and so for me, especially with my money on the line, it's, you know, it hits a little different. But my priorities have been to try to get this product in front of as many retailers as we possibly can. I have a group of investors, private investors around me that I chose to join my team because many of them come with a ton of experience and they're able to have relationships. Relationship when selling into retailers matters a whole lot.

27:40
Lindsay Hancock
And so one of the challenges that I didn't quite think through in the beginning was we're at the mercy of the formal category review calendars. And in this particular category, they really are not opening up until right now. So September, they opened up in like September, October, but really through February. And so although I had product that I was ready to go on in April, there are very few retailers who are willing to see you outside of that formal review schedule and willing to cut you in off cycle. And so, you know, that's a little challenging. And so when you talk to people and like, oh, what are you doing? Where, who have you talked to? Where are you in? You say, well, you know, we haven't really made a whole lot of forward progress because we're at the mercy of those review calendars.

28:24
Lindsay Hancock
And so we have been super successful in getting the product in front of buyers. We just are, we are waiting for that formal process to hit. But then we have been fortunate in getting opportunities to be able to talk to some retailers who aren't ready to do things just yet, but are really excited about what the Future holds in 2025 when they are able to make changes to the category. We are actually have our first retail launch in December with Sprouts, which I'm super excited about. And they made that choice very quickly and we had to turn things around fast, which comes back to kind of the nimbleness and flexibility. And then I've been meeting the last couple of weeks with some really big national retailers who are on board, ready to go, and we're just finalizing some of the details.

29:13
Lindsay Hancock
So, you know, my focus has been on trying to make sure that we can get in front of the eyes that matter. The other thing that I have done is invested in some of the kind of behind the scenes SEO optimization. I really working hard to be able to build up our social media platforms, which ironically we started before we launched the product. And I did that just so we would have an audience to talk to once we did have a mix to start selling. So really finding ways to get behind those platforms and grow those platforms and then have invested in some help with PR and just making sure that our products are in front of the right eyes at the right time, which there's not a whole lot that happens by chance in our world.

30:00
Lindsay Hancock
There are some things that do happen by chance, but. But you know, it just, it takes a lot of work to be able to make sure you're in the right place at the right time and not missing out on opportunity. So that's where the focus has been. And then just those framework things, making sure the website is functional, getting set up on Amazon, getting our TikTok shop and Instagram. I'm too old to be doing this, but I successfully got our TikTok shop and Instagram shop up and running. And, and so just like little things like that are going to really impact us probably next year more than they do this year, but really important to get into place.

30:37
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And I'm thinking about how you were, you know, an SVP of sales at one point. And so I'm curious if you have any advice for other brands who are trying to have those conversations with retailers now and are, you know, maybe struggling to communicate or struggling to get in front of them. What's some of your advice for just like that sell, sell of that's required of being a founder.

31:01
Lindsay Hancock
Oh my goodness. So relationships are critical. And if you don't have those relationships, you need to make sure that you're aligned with people that are. And so finding great broker partners who have relationships and some of these retailers, whether that is a regionally specific broker who focuses in a particular area or whether that is a retailer specific broker that just breathes Costco or breathes Target, you've got to make sure that you're aligned with the right partner. And oftentimes, you know, in this world we have to use broker partners to be able to get things set up at retailers and get those meetings and understand when the category reviews are happening. I look at brokers as an extension of my business.

31:48
Lindsay Hancock
And so for me, finding making sure I'm aligned with the right people is really important because at the end of the day, they are representing my brand and I want to make sure that they're representing it the way that I would if I wasn't able to be in the room with them. I having sat across the table from many buyers for the last 10 plus years. You know, one of the things that's really important is understanding that if you're taking a product in, that product needs to be, you've got to be able to explain why it belongs on the shelf and why it is differentiated. I mean, at the end of the day, there are products currently sitting there and in order for yours to go onto the shelf, something else has to come off.

32:28
Lindsay Hancock
And so that buyer needs to have confidence in your product and that it is fulfilling a need that is not there today. And they see the potential that their customers are looking for what you have that they just don't currently have. And so for me, going in and sitting across the table and saying, here is my item and here are all the things that you know, make it great and why you need it. If you don't have those key points of differentiation, it becomes really doesn't matter how great it tastes or how beautifully it's packaged, it becomes a really hard sell. And that was part of the setup process for me is making sure that, okay, I know I'm landing on cookie mixes, how am I going to differentiate on the shelf?

33:11
Lindsay Hancock
And so finding, you know, through that data, the insights and all of those things, kind of finding that niche being, okay, a more premium product. Our product is made with non gmo, we're non GMO project verified, which in that mainline cookie space there are not any other brands that are. So that was important to me to be able to sit across from a buyer and say, here's what we offer. We're a certified woman owned business. Which is exciting to me and I'm super proud of again in that space. I don't know that consumers are shopping by seeing that logo on the front of people's packaging, but I don't know that it hurts anything. And so that was another point of differentiation that besides the fact that you know, as you know because you've made the product, it just tastes great.

33:55
Lindsay Hancock
I needed to be able to confidently explain all of the other points of differentiation and why it belonged on the shelf. And so I think understanding those things is really important when you're going in and selling because I think everybody feels like their product is great and it probably is, right? And but a buyer who is talking to could be talking to 20 different people in a day during a formal category review, just sitting across the table and saying, everybody loves it tastes great is not enough. So I think those are the critical things for me.

34:30
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that's such great advice. And I Hope everybody who's listening is, has a pen and paper handy. But looking to 2025, which I can't really believe we're almost in 2025, but what are you most excited about, you know, in this coming year for my better batch and also, you know, in the coming years for my better batch?

34:49
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, so I. Right now we have. We have so much momentum going that I'm. I'm so excited about. I felt like we started out slow. It probably wasn't slow. I just am impatient. And so that was the issue. But we have some great momentum. And like I said, I've spent the last two weeks meeting with some huge national retailers. So I'm excited because I'm walking away from those meetings with a buyer being really excited about the product. And, you know, we've got some details to work out, but they are thrilled about adding that product to their assortment today. And so that is really great validation. And it takes having some of those meetings to be able to make sure that those points of differentiation are on point, that the story is on point, that the packaging is on point.

35:40
Lindsay Hancock
And so while I think that and the small group of people around me who are helping me and encouraging me and supporting me think that to be able to hear that from people sitting across the table from you has been really. It's been really validating to me. And I think that's what gives me a whole lot of excitement about approaching 2025. And so, yeah, I think there's huge opportunity for growth, and we are starting to see that momentum. And so that is. I was talking to somebody last night, and as I was leaving a meeting and just I was on cloud nine about how excited I was, but I said, you know, the landscape of what our distribution footprint looks like today in the landscape of what our distribution footprint will look like a year from now are just.

36:24
Lindsay Hancock
I feel like they are in a completely different stratosphere. And so that gives me a lot of. Of hope and excitement.

36:31
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. That's so exciting. And how are you? I mean, we'll wrap up soon, but I am curious, how are you preparing to kind of make this leap over the next year, like, from where you are now to being in the stratosphere?

36:45
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, yeah. You know, just making sure that my partners are ready, that our CO man is ready, that, you know, there will have to be some investments made on our part. We will have to bring some additional folks on the team in certain areas. I think one huge area for me is finding someone who can help with our marketing efforts. And our social media efforts and just finding somebody who is excited about the brand as I am to be able to help us get the word out. And so, yeah, I mean, I think those, that's kind of where I'm focused.

37:18
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. So exciting.

37:21
Lindsay Hancock
Thank you.

37:21
Grace Kennedy
I can't wait to see you in every national retailer.

37:26
Lindsay Hancock
It's hard. It is hard work. And so I will say, you know, there for all of the wins and all of the yeses, which, you know, we're still in the process of getting, we're not, this is, we're not hitting home runs just yet, but we are getting some really great feedback and seeing where those opportunities lie. There's a lot of no's and I equate getting a new brand on the shelf kind of like finding your first job. And I don't know about you, but when I graduated from college, everybody and I remember applying for jobs and you don't quite know, unless you're in kind of a specialized field, you don't quite know where you're going to end up. And I remember so many people saying to me, well, you need experience. We're looking for somebody with experience.

38:08
Lindsay Hancock
And I, I remember thinking to myself, well, how is someone going to get experience if nobody will take a chance on them? Right. And I think in a lot of ways getting an emerging new brand to shelf is a very similar feeling. And so while we have had excitement, we also have had retailers that are meaningful to me come back to us and say, you know, I think this is a really great idea, but they're not necessarily ready to take a risk on a brand that doesn't have a wide distribution footprint, that doesn't have, you know, great sales to be able to report back or, you know, isn't in the data, the spins data and all of that. And so, you know, that can be really discouraging for a new brand.

38:50
Lindsay Hancock
And I think, you know, some days is discouraging to me too because you can see and you understand the opportunity, but you just, you know, you understand that folks aren't willing to take a risk. So, yes, lots of awesome stuff happening. At the same time, we've kind of got to get over that hurdle and get those first couple of retailers under our belt and be able to kind of build that story about what this is doing for the category and you know, how it's complementing what's on the shelf today and creating incrementality on the shelf. And so that process just takes a little bit longer.

39:22
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. And you know, I think it's important to acknowledge both the wins and the challenges because you know, you don't get one without the other.

39:30
Lindsay Hancock
Exactly right.

39:31
Grace Kennedy
But where can people learn more about my better batch and sort of follow along and see what's coming?

39:36
Lindsay Hancock
Yeah, no, great question. So we are, you can go to our website mybetterbatch.com our products are available both through our website and also available through Amazon. Amazon Fulfilled by Amazon, which is exciting to me. And social media, go to our social media share, look at what's up there. We while these cookies are fantastic on their own, I created them to really be able to do a lot of things with and so if you go to our social media platforms, what you will see is ways that we are using these mixes to be able to make all kinds of things. I look at cookie mixes. For me, cookie mixes were a speed to shelf. It was something that I knew and I loved and I had recipes, these four that had to be changed to be able to work in a dry mix format.

40:21
Lindsay Hancock
But there is so much opportunity, I feel like beyond the cookie mix space. And so I am excited because I feel like there are a lot of other places that we can go from here once we are able to establish, you know, our place on the shelf and people understand who we are and what we're about and what we stand for. So yeah, I would encourage people to check out our social media and follow along and because we've got some really exciting things coming, I can't wait to see what comes.

40:49
Grace Kennedy
And thank you so much for coming on the show and it was such a pleasure to chat with you, Lindsay.

40:55
Lindsay Hancock
Well, thank you. I appreciate your time and your willingness to help us share the story.

41:00
Grace Kennedy
All right everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy this episode, it would help us out so much if you left a 5 star review on ratethispodcast.com startupcpg I am Grace Kennedy, the host of the Founder Feature series. So feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature and if you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com and finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack, you can sign up via our website startupcpg Combat.