The Startup CPG Podcast


In 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.


Zoë’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.


Hannah 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.


Listen in as they discuss:

  • How a dog grooming shop at age 12 foreshadowed Zoë’s entrepreneurial career
  • How Blueprint scaled profitably on a $5,000 loan from her brother with no outside capital
  • Why a call from Howard Schultz signaled that the cold-pressed juice category was about to get crowded
  • Why Zoë chose a full acquisition over a minority investment, and the “bird in the hand” thinking behind it
  • What diligence really feels like, and how leases, facilities, and 120 employees complicated the deal
  • How discovering HPP gave raw juice a kill step, extended shelf life, and opened the door to retail
  • Why founders should think about their likely acquirer from day one, including whether to own or outsource production
  • What it is like to stay on after an acquisition and watch someone else run your brand
  • Why Zoë learned to hold a clear thesis while pitching, so she doesn’t “sell five different companies to five different people”
  • How to explain team building in a fundraise, from staying lean to leveraging AI


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Creators and Guests

Host
Hannah Dittman
Operations and Finance Correspondent at Startup CPG

What is The Startup CPG Podcast?

The top CPG podcast in the world, highlighting stories from founders, buyer spotlights, highly practical industry insights - all to give you a better chance at success.

Zoë Sakoutis
I think there was a lot of strength in the brand, definitely a lot of strength in the brand. But I think beyond that it was speed. I think it was just like being nimble and moving so fast. And were making raw juice, right? So were making unpasteurized raw juice with no kill step that were basically shipping to start shipping direct to consumer, which was fine, you can get away with about if you're direct to consumer. But then once you want to sell on shelves at retail, you have to have a kill separate. So there has to be something in place that like treats the juice. So as were getting inquiries like inbound from like Whole Foods, like, hey, we want to carry this on shells. Can you figure out how to do it?

00:47
Zoë Sakoutis
It was like, oh my God, how are we going to make this safe for shells? And like what is the technology that exists? And I was like experimenting with like UV light at one point. And then eventually we discovered hpp. We like lab tested it. We were like, we need to make sure all the enzymes are still intact and they were. So we make it safe and legal for shelves. We also extended the shelf life quite a bit. And so that was a huge moment. I mean I think that was the moment where everyone was like all the big strategics were paying attention and they're like, oh wait a minute, you just figured out retail and how to scale nationally.

01:21
Zoë Sakoutis
And so I think once we did that, were off to the races and I think it was like, why would you not just acquire them?

01:30
Hannah Dittman
Hey everybody, I'm Hannah Dittman, Operations and Finance host of the Startup CPG podcast.

01:36
Hannah Dittman
And today I'm joined by Zoë Sakutis, founder of Blueprint and now co founder and CEO of Bittman's, for a special founder fundraising journey episode. Zoë has experienced nearly every side of building and funding a consumer business. She built Blueprint on a shoestring budget, scaled the brand, navigated an acquisition and continued operating the business after it was acquired. Since then, she's advised founders angel, invested in emerging brands, built brands, and is now back in the founder seat herself. Having recently launched Bittman's and continuing to build around a long time passion for nutrition and health. In this episode, Zoë takes us through the full arc of that journey.

02:15
Hannah Dittman
From financing Blueprint in the earliest days and learning how to build with limited resources, scaling the business and ultimately selling it, we get into what the acquisition process actually looked like behind the scenes, what had to be true about the business for an exit to happen, what changed after the deal closed and lessons other founders could learn.

02:33
Hannah Dittman
From.

02:34
Hannah Dittman
We also talk about how her perspective has evolved after advising and investing in other founders, what she thinks about differently now that she's fundraising herself, and the lessons she's carrying from her seasoned career into Bittman's. Whether you're raising capital or simply trying to understand the many stages a founder can go through over the lifetime of their business, this episode offers a rare perspective from someone who has lived it from nearly every angle. Don't forget to check out Bittman's delicious sourdough bread, and I hope you enjoy this exciting episode.

03:09
Hannah Dittman
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the startup CPG podcast. This is Hannah and today we're back for a special founder fundraising journey episode with Zoë Sakutis of Blueprint Cleanse and most recently, Bittman's.

03:22
Hannah Dittman
Today is a special episode because we're.

03:24
Hannah Dittman
Not only talking fundraising, but also the journey and experience of successfully operating through an acquisition. Zellu, welcome to the show.

03:31
Zoë Sakoutis
Thank you for having me.

03:32
Hannah Dittman
Hi.

03:33
Zoë Sakoutis
Hannah Dittman, Bittman's.

03:35
Hannah Dittman
I know, Kismet. You were meant to be. Yep. So excited to dive into the conversation with you. You obviously have a ton of experience and knowledge and have been on the horse and the, or the roller coaster, whatever we want to call it, multiple times now. So it's going to be a really fun chat today. I'd love to start out with getting your background, career path, and the journey that has led you to where you are today.

03:58
Zoë Sakoutis
Wow. Okay, let's go. Well, my first business was at the age of 12 and I had a dog grooming shop in the basement of my optometry center.

04:07
Hannah Dittman
That is an entrepreneurial nugget. You'd be surprised how many entrepreneurs have these little like childhood stories like that.

04:13
Zoë Sakoutis
I mean, I made so much money as like a 12 year old. It was kind of incredible. So my background is very much in food, beverage, you know, after college, worked my way through hospitality and then went immediately into entrepreneurial land. My first foray being Blueprint. That was an interesting time, I think, in the world of wellness in general because it was just so early. But you know, for me that started with my own, what I was actually already doing, which was being probably too obsessed with like health and wellness and you know, before, like in a, during a time when it was weird enough just to say you were vegetarian, let alone saying like, I'm not a juice cleanse and I'm a raw foodist and I don't eat any animal products. So it was a bit extreme.

04:58
Zoë Sakoutis
But I think, you know, it was an incredible space. Just personally, what I learned, people can do in terms of healing. But, you know, friends and family were so aggressively interested in what I was doing, they were sort of kind of angry about it. Like, it was just sort of like this very strong reaction. And to me that was like an interesting signal because they were just very interested and they wanted to do it, but it was so challenging and like they couldn't figure out how. And so kind of spawned from that and the idea of a juice cleanse was born. We started Blueprint Direct to consumer and then went into retail. The rest of the story is for a later part in this conversation, but long story short, we scaled that, sold it.

05:37
Zoë Sakoutis
I've always been in the CPG space since then in a few different capacities. Everything from starting a couple of other brands, advising, consulting, done some angel investing myself, and then most recently, and I guess relevant to this conversation is my venture with Mark Bittman and Bittman's. That is, it's very new, it's about four months old. And it is basically a food brand with Bittman's name. But, you know, the entry point is Sourdough bread. Whole grain sourdough bread, to be very clear. And yeah, so we're starting with the direct consumer whole grain sourdough offering and then we'll sort of deepen our catalog as we go to offer other products. But it's shipped nationwide to your door.

06:17
Zoë Sakoutis
You finish it in your oven, it comes out warm and delicious and your house smells like a bakery and your kids are suddenly eating bread that was made properly and everyone's happy.

06:27
Hannah Dittman
You've had such an extreme path through very interesting periods, like you said. Now if you hear juice cleanse, it's like, oh, yeah, no problem. But back in that time when, like, as you're saying, even being vegan is so controversial, I feel like. And even being direct to consumer at that time was a little bit different as well, I'm sure. And we've learned over time how polarizing concepts and back and forth comment sections could actually get something a lot of attention. But living the experience back when you're trying to start something fledgling, I'm sure had a lot of obstacles on its own. And now onto hopefully a much easier adopted concept with bread, because everyone loves bread. And I love the whole grain approach too. Sourdough is hopefully the universal love language of car blubbers uniting here at Inn today.

07:20
Hannah Dittman
What along the path gave you the conviction that made you really want to pursue the entrepreneurial journey of blueprint and then want to continue on to another voyage that you're on now today, you.

07:33
Zoë Sakoutis
Know, with blueprint specifically. It was again, it was something I was already doing. It was very new and exciting to me to discover this like, wild concept again at the time, which is just like, wow, you can heal yourself with food. What, you know, plant medicine. So it was really this discovery that I had personally for myself. I had done it and I was like, wow, this is incredible. I can't believe this, like, exists and no one is doing it. And I just felt compelled to, like, share it. And I think some of the stories that I was watching, people sort of going on these juice cleanses, adopting raw food, you know, and it's not even about like the raw food, it's really about what you're omitting too. But had these wild recovery stories.

08:13
Zoë Sakoutis
People healing themselves in ways that like, I just had never really experienced before and never witnessed. And so, I mean, to me it was like, wow, this is going to make a huge difference in people's lives and their health. And at a time, I mean, this was like near the surround, like the mortgage crisis is so crazy. I think it also just resonated because it was during a time where people felt like things were so out of control, right, Finances.

08:36
Zoë Sakoutis
And it was just one of these things that I think they clung to because it gave them sort of the sense of like, well, you know, what if I can't control anything else that's going on outside in the world, this is like the one thing that I can do for myself that like, I can own and it will do me good, et cetera. But you know, I think there was also this realization that I had when I started because I was so young. You know, I was in my 20s and I was living in New York City and I had graduated college and I was running around like a maniac and I was surely having plenty of fun.

09:06
Zoë Sakoutis
But I also was like straddling these two worlds where I was like very much into health and wellness, but I would also go and enjoy myself. So I had this sort of like work hard, play hard mentality. And, you know, it occurred to me that people should be able to participate in this type of product without having to put their life on hold and then come back to it. And so while it started as a cleanse program, the evolution felt very natural in terms of it being available in like a one off capacity. Grab and go, where it's like, hey, if you can't go to an island for 20 days on this retreat, just do like blueprint cleanse, like Two or three times a year.

09:43
Zoë Sakoutis
And if you don't want to do that and you can go buy one in store and maybe you've just traded up from some junkie like Tropicana to like actual real fruit and vegetable pressed juice. So to me it just, there was something very powerful about like the accessibility of it. Where it's like before that it had been so dogmatic. And I think the idea of being in health and wellness and being vegetarian or getting juice at the health food store or whatever had just like such a horrible stigma attached. And it's like, oh man, like you were just like a hippie with like a long gray braid and like Birkenstocks.

10:16
Hannah Dittman
The days of the wheatgrass shots, right? Like, yeah, back in those times. Yeah.

10:21
Zoë Sakoutis
And so this was like a nice. I'm such a weirdo. I give my dog wheat cross shots like back in the day. But I felt pretty compelled to do it because I just, I thought if you could make this accessible to people, not just literally like everyday accessibility, but just like in terms of how they self identify and present it in such a way packaging wise, where they feel like kind of maybe even cool and like there's some status to carrying it around instead of just like, ugh, I'm this weird crunchy hippie which I had to suffer through. I weird all my hippie food that was like packaged in horrible branded crinkly wrappers. So yeah, that was the early blueprint days.

10:58
Hannah Dittman
I think you're hitting the nail on the head with accessibility and I think to some extent probably affordability too. Like especially with an easy grab and go one time RTD or you know, we talk a lot about affordable luxury in the CPG space and I feel like in some ways it has that mindset of like an affordable, healthy luxury or in the sense that health is luxury and taking that the like ultimate care of yourself has that same perceived value as buying yourself something very indulgent or something like that. It's a nourishment in that way. And I think I can't even imagine what a big impact you've had in bringing this to the masses, making it accessible, making this mindset and the cultural shift that we've all kind of leaned into accessible. And now it's like supplementation is.

11:45
Hannah Dittman
No one even bats an eye at like, you know, different food diets, gluten free. Anything is just so familiar and talked around the table. The world is totally different. And now you're getting back into the food scene in a completely different era than when you first started, what similarities or differences are you finding now throughout this experience?

12:07
Zoë Sakoutis
You know, it's so interesting because I didn't really connect this in the beginning and it wasn't so clear to me. And now as I kind of move through and interact with more people and get the reactions, I'm kind of like, oh, wait, this is so similar to Blueprint in the weirdest way, because it's in a way like Blueprint trade up was, for a certain generation, we thought that healthy juice, or just juice in general was healthy because it was fruit. But it was like what were actually buying was like unrecognizable as fruit juice, as we would probably say. Right. Like it's these dated brands that are from concentrate and like, I won't name any names, but we all know who they are.

12:43
Zoë Sakoutis
But I think like there was something really clarifying about that where I was like, no, this is literally 20 pounds of produce pressed into a 16 ounce bottle and it's been untouched by human ham. I mean, literally, like there's been nothing added, there's been nothing taken away. This is what vegetable juice looks like if you just don't heat it, don't touch it. Right. So it's this very pure product and for that reason it delivers all these incredible health benefits. And so bread is very similar in a way because for the past hundred years we've turned it into something that's completely unrecognizable. Like most of the bread on the shelf today is not bread by our ancestors standards.

13:21
Hannah Dittman
Right.

13:21
Hannah Dittman
Scary.

13:22
Hannah Dittman
Yeah.

13:24
Zoë Sakoutis
I mean, you know, it's. Mark often says it's like your body is going to process it as like white as cake. Right. It's just white flour. And so I think that a large part of how I look at this as it compares to bread or as it compares to juice is very similar in that this is whole grain sourdough, slow fermented, there's nothing added. Right. This is a natural fermentation process. We're not even adding commercial yeast. It takes a lot of time. There are only three ingredients. It's water, flour, salt, which on their own do very little for you. But when you put them together and you let sort of nature take its course without interfering, it produces this wildly sustainable product that has nourished most of the globe for thousands of years. Right. So it's this, it's like the ultimate staple.

14:15
Zoë Sakoutis
That's why it's so interesting to me. Right. So if you can figure out, and it's similar to Blueprint, this Way too. It's like if you could figure out just how to get people to understand the benefits of fruits and vegetables and get them to sort of participate in whatever frequency they want, it's like, can be hugely impactful on their health. And so bread, because it's a staple and we are eating it three times a day, if not more, if you have kids, it's everywhere, right. It seems to me that one of the biggest impacts you can make on your health, and I'm talking about like very mass, right audience, like is taking the one thing that you're doing every day and improving upon it.

14:48
Hannah Dittman
Right.

14:48
Zoë Sakoutis
This isn't a wild departure from your daily routine. It's not like you have to go do a juice cleanse on this island. It's like, no, no, take the bread you're already eating and just trade it for real bread. That's whole grain, naturally fermented, has nothing added, nothing taken away. So that whole grain is delivering nutrients, fiber, protein, you know, the fermentation is delivering digestibility, you know, so it's pre digested. I mean, so there's all these incredible health benefits. And to me that's like hugely impactful if you can communicate that to people and you can get them to do that one thing every day a little bit better. And so there's a real similarity there in these two businesses and I think in these two products.

15:25
Zoë Sakoutis
And I think that I've had the reaction more than once from people who they're like, wait, you were so into like health and wellness and like juice. How could you go from juice to like bread? And I'm like, that's the exact point. That is the exact point. Because the bread, this is not bread. That's the problem we're trying to solve. So it's really interesting.

15:43
Hannah Dittman
I love your commitment to health, to nourishment and to nutrition. I see the thread between these very clear. And I think it's about improving your life through nourishment in both ways. And one is maybe a little bit more controversial than the other or something like that. But at the same time, it's the same exact thing of treating your body well from the inside and making strategic choices and improving just each decision, having an outsized return impact on your health and making it easy for people to do that. Which I think that's often the friction point with health, right? It's like accessibility in the terms of the workload, the mental load, the friction. It's really clear to me how you're solving that problem.

16:25
Zoë Sakoutis
I mean, I just thought on the convenience part, I was just going to say that it is great timing because I think from COVID everybody got really into making sourdough.

16:33
Hannah Dittman
So true.

16:34
Hannah Dittman
Yeah.

16:35
Zoë Sakoutis
They're now so educated about how hard it is to make.

16:37
Hannah Dittman
Right.

16:38
Zoë Sakoutis
Like, the time and commitment you have to feed the starter. And it's like, it's not easy. Right. So there's definitely something very convenient about being able to access truly naturally fermented sourdough without having to spend, like, 24 hours watching it rise.

16:52
Hannah Dittman
So, yeah, no, that's so true. And I love that you guys kind of have, like, the bake it component as well, because there's a famous business case study that's talking about when cake mixes first became available. Don't quote me on the funny one, but the 1950s or something, when the Betty Crockers were first coming to the scene. And at first you didn't have to add anything to it was just water and bake. But the idea that you didn't put any of what you perceived as the regular labor required into it made people feel like it wasn't homemade, in a sense. So they artificially had you add an egg. And that was the whole reason people started adopting it more, was because they felt like they had more of a hand in it.

17:33
Hannah Dittman
And I think you can make your own sourdough completely from scratch, and that's a whole jo. Or you can have, again, the convenience, but still feel like you're getting all the benefits of having it be homemade, knowing that it's healthy, knowing that it's nutritious, knowing that it's warm and fresh at home waiting for you, which I think is the same kind of psychological effect that people are looking for when they're thinking about a comforting product like these. I'd love to pivot into your fundraising experience. You're obviously a pro here and have managed capital, managed businesses, gotten through all of the hard things. I'd love to understand a little bit more about what the fundraising journey and side of the story of Blueprint was and what learnings you had along that way.

18:17
Zoë Sakoutis
Oh, my gosh. I am so not a pro, and I am so not like some. Maybe. I honestly, when I started Blueprint, obviously I had no financial background or experience doing any of that. Certainly learned a lot over the years. I think with Blueprint, it was pretty unique and very lucky based on the model that we had, which I think of as like a John Jeweler model. Honestly, you just pay for the product before it's like you're not sitting on inventory. It's like, pay me and I will make it. And so blueprint was unique in that we actually didn't raise any money. Right. Like, we had completely bootstrapped it. I think I had borrowed, like, $5,000 from my brother, and I did pay him back with a lot of interest.

18:58
Zoë Sakoutis
We scaled it pretty far with just organic growth, and it was profitable almost immediately. So we had a very unique case there. What was a little bit tricky towards the end of that stretch was that, you know, were growing very organically. We were actually not looking to raise money at all. We were like, on a nice study clip. We were like, nobody else owns this. This is great. I don't have to answer to anybody. And it was kind of magical in that way. And I realize now how much magic was involved. That is pretty unusual. But, you know, were only put in play when, you know, I got a call from, like, Howard Schultz, and he was like, hey, I'm getting into the G's business, and I like what you're. And I was like, oh, no.

19:40
Zoë Sakoutis
Like, I knew that there was going to be some big fish that's that was about to come eat our lunch or at least present as, like, the real competition. Because it was getting really crowded at this point. This is like year four or year three. So were kind of put in play a little prematurely. And we knew at that point that we had to like, okay, now we know who the real competition is. All the strategics are getting involved. They've seen the progress. They know that this is, like, real and people are jumping in. This is small. You know, it was kind of like at that point, anyone was like a blender and a dream started. A juice brand. It was like, wow, this got very crowded very fast.

20:13
Zoë Sakoutis
And so it was at that point that we realized that we had to sort of team up with somebody a little bit larger and get a little bit more muscle behind us. And so that's when we started having conversations with other potential partners. And we really entertained every type of structure, deal structure, from, like, a minority investment to, like, majority investment. And then for a number of reasons, at the end, we ended up just doing a full acquisition, which was kind of rare. I mean, just to bootstrap and then go right into acquisition. So. So rare. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I didn't even realize at the time because I was so green, but I'm really glad it worked out that way. I have to say, like, looking back, a lot of people did not make it out live.

20:55
Zoë Sakoutis
Most brands Just sort of, like, died on the vine. And there were a couple, you know, like, Suja ended up partnering. They did this sort of one, two punch and had a very shiny exit, and they kind of exploded and we ye. I was kind of in that moment, like, bird in the hand kind of mentality, you know, Like, I saw all the competition coming around the corner. I understood how hard and risky it was going to be to sort of, like, get into a minority deal with, like, a PepsiCo or someone and then have my dreams dashed because of X, Y, Z.

21:23
Hannah Dittman
Right.

21:24
Zoë Sakoutis
Like, I entered this giant company and all the things that were promised are not going to happen, and then you kind of lose your category creator position and your leadership, you know? So to me, that just felt, honestly, too risky. And so this was like, a nice balance of. I feel good about how far we've gotten this. Like, we've grown it to a pretty high number. Like, our revenue is pretty significant, especially for just. We were the only owners, so I wasn't gonna have to pad a bunch of people. So to me, that was the sweet spot and we did it in five years. And so while we exited, Haynes Celestial acquired us. And I think were meant to stay on for two years, and there was definitely a little bit of upside left there, which we got.

22:05
Zoë Sakoutis
I think it was a pretty classic exit in terms of, like, it had its struggles, but I think once we kind of crossed over to the other side, it got very. I don't know, maybe this is just really typical. You kind of hand over your baby and then you enter into this dynamic where you're no longer running things, and then you see all the mistakes being made and all the compromises and corners being cut, and it's just like, there's nothing really you can do. And so it's just like, a little bit painful, but probably not very unusual, unfortunately. But, you know, all in all, that was a pretty great and all things considered, smooth ride to acquisition. So I'm pretty grateful for that.

22:42
Hannah Dittman
Yeah. I'm just floored and, like, blown away and so impressed with your financial discipline and your capital management to be bootstrapped with, like, so little funding. I mean, a $5,000 loan from your brother and I'm sure, like, a little bit of your own money or whatever you needed to get going to building an entire business pretty much off of that, to knowing to how to. To manage your working capital, to build your profitability and to scale so organically in a category that you're having to do a lot of new marketing and that's not like pre existing that you're having to convince a lot of people to try and explain to retail and all of these things.

23:20
Hannah Dittman
I mean, you're making it sound easy reflecting on this conversation, but I can only imagine the kind of hustle and grit that really took and how accomplished you were to be able to do all of those things and then to get to an exit on top of that. It's very impressive and lots of respect for you, Zoë.

23:40
Zoë Sakoutis
Thanks.

23:40
Hannah Dittman
Of course. Flowers where they're due. What was the acquisition process like in terms of the diligent side? What made sense for them with the acquisition? What milestones or qualities do you think mattered most to the buyer about your business? And what was it like behind the scenes going through that evaluation process?

23:59
Zoë Sakoutis
It was challenging, definitely challenging. There's nothing pleasant about dilig. It's like going to the doctors and getting into a gown and just being very exposed and having to do a lot of explaining and a lot of promising, a lot of proving and it's just like a lot of holes are being poked and you're just feel like you're on your heels always and that's with a successful business. Right. And I imagine that's to some extent true for, I mean, although. But for me I just was like, I felt like there was still so much I had to prove in this process of diligence.

24:26
Hannah Dittman
Right.

24:26
Zoë Sakoutis
Because you're kind of fighting for every penny. What was interesting about that was in that particular case was just building it in that time there was again, there was no one else doing it. Right. So there was no blueprint for blueprint. Like were the first to create the juice, the cold pressed juice category. We couldn't go to a manufacturer and say like this is what we want. Can you make it for us? And like we're going to pay you this price and tolling fee or whatever and we're not going to worry about any of that stuff. Like we had to build out our own production facilities. We made everything ourselves, just sort of like build the plane as you fly it. And so what was interesting is we had, I think four production facilities that we had built out over that five year period.

25:05
Zoë Sakoutis
We were making everything ourselves, were packaging it, were shipping it, et cetera. So there was a lot of infrastructure and we had all these leases and we had all this equipment and we added 120 employees. And you know, it was very vertically integrated. And while in one way that was valuable to us because we had a lot of Control over, you know, making it, the price, et cetera. It was particularly painful. Like it's kind of the first thing that's coming to mind when were exiting because it was like, you're not just buying, like you're having to deal with all of these other assets, right? So you're coming along with like this great IP and this brand and whatever that you can buy.

25:41
Zoë Sakoutis
But we also have to sort out like what we're going to do with all these facilities that you have like 10 year leases on and all these employees who we're going to have to absorb or let go, you know, so it was just a little complicated. And so Hain has multiple, you know, fruit production companies in their portfolio. And so they wanted to figure out how efficient they could get with like absorbing our production into their already existing facilities. And so that's where a lot of the compromise happened. But I do remember that being pretty painful and having to break a lot of leases and deal with the consequences of that and worrying honestly that piece of it would make the whole deal slightly less attractive.

26:20
Zoë Sakoutis
And I think that's some things that people should think about when they are building a brand from day one is like, if you're thinking about an exit, who are you thinking about as the acquirer and are they the type of acquirer?

26:33
Hannah Dittman
Right.

26:33
Zoë Sakoutis
If I'm going to sell Bittman's to Bimbo, like, I'm not about to start my own production company and start baking my own bread and invest in the facility and all the equipment and the people, you know, I'm going to outsource that because Bimbo truly doesn't need another production facility.

26:48
Hannah Dittman
Yeah, no, that's very smart. And I think especially in Food and Bev, a lot of people kind of start their growth journey having to self produce because they're starting in farmer's markets or they're starting very small and then they're kind of scaling up from there. And I think if you start day one making it yourself, it's a big mental switch to then when you start to scale to decide, okay, are we going to keep making it the way that we make it on a bigger scale, or are we going to completely change production to a whole new frontier? And I think that's a lot of wisdom you're sharing to be thinking in those pivotal moments, not just where you've been, but where you want your company to go in the future as you're making these kind of challenging business decisions.

27:26
Hannah Dittman
As a founder, what do you think the biggest attractive qualities were about your business for your acquirer? Was it your growth? Was it the customer demographic that you were bringing into their portfolio? What was the real reason, do you think that they had to acquire you? And where do you think you guys were really shining and showing a lot of performance?

27:45
Zoë Sakoutis
I think there was a lot of strength in the brand, Definitely a lot of strength in the brand. But I think beyond that it was speed. I think it was just like being nimble and moving so fast. And with blueprint specifically, they. We were making raw juice, right? So were making unpasteurized raw juice with no kill step that were basically shipping to start shipping direct to consumer, which was fine, you can get away with that if you're direct to consumer. But then once you want to sell on shelves at retail, you have to have a kill subway. So there has to be something in place that like treats the juice. And so for us, the crux of what were doing was raw cold pressed juice. So the fact that it was cold pressed means that we're not heat pasteurizing it.

28:24
Zoë Sakoutis
It was like the whole promise. So as were getting inquiries like inbound from like whole foods, like, hey, we want to carry this on shells. Can you figure out how to do it? It was like, oh my God, how are we going to make this safe for shells? And like, what is the technology that exists? And I, I was like experimenting with like UV light at one point. And then eventually we discovered hpp. And at the time it was not being applied to juice, it was just being traditionally used more for like shellfish and like packaged guacamole and things like that. And people had never heard of that. Like you would never know that your guac had been hpp. But the question was like, huh, if we can HPP this juice, that means it's never touched heat.

29:02
Zoë Sakoutis
But we've achieved this like kill step that will make it shelf stable. And so we tried it. There was one person at the time who was doing hpp, had a facility on the west coast. And at that point it was like, oh, okay, this whole thing is about to change. Because it worked. It still tasted amazing. We like lab tested it. We're like, we need to make sure all the enzymes are still intact. And they were. So not only did we make it safe and legal for shelves, we also extended the shelf life quite a bit. And so that was a huge moment. I mean, I think that was the moment where everyone was like, all the big strategics were paying attention. They're like, oh, wait a minute, you Just figured out retail and how to scale nationally.

29:43
Zoë Sakoutis
And so I think once we did that, were off to the races. And I think it was like, why would you not just acquire them, you know, so it just made more sense to get on board than try and compete. It's easier for them to bolt on, right?

29:55
Hannah Dittman
Your commitment to not just making sales, but to your product, delivering the health benefits and kind of that original reason why you started doing this in the first place shines through so clearly all the way to like such a foundational piece of why you were able to achieve your acquisition. You know, it's like from the beginning, being willing to eat this yourself all or drink it yourself all the way down to being able to sell your company had this really clear through line of commitment to health and wellness and innovation and being on the cutting edge of what you could do for your body. And I think that just really shines through so clearly and is such a critical part of being a founder, being so passionate about what you're building and why you're building it and keeping that always in your decision making.

30:43
Hannah Dittman
And clearly that was definitely the case for you. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about that. I'd love to take a second to reflect on some lessons learned and some wise words from the great mind I have in front of me. You've been angel investor, you've been an advisor, you've built a business, you've sold a business, you're building another business. You've clearly done a lot in the space. Reflecting back on all of that, if you had a couple of pieces of advice or guidance to other founders that might be facing similar challenges or on their own journey, what learnings would you share with them or learnings that you're taking into your next venture even? Maybe.

31:19
Zoë Sakoutis
Oh, geez, there's so many. I think just thinking about right now with Bittman's, you know, we're in an early round right now and it's really interesting having many conversations with many potential investors and on like a pretty like small angel scale. And they're all very smart people and they're all on food and beverage and they all understand CPG probably much better than I do. And I guess what I'm thinking is, as you have these conversations, you have to have a pretty strong thesis yourself that you stick to because, you know, I've had so many conversations with potential investors who, while they get it and they kind of like bought in and they're like, I love this idea. Bittman's bread. Let's go. The next Paul Newman. Like, they have such contradictory ideas as to how we should grow.

32:07
Zoë Sakoutis
Some are like, you should just go straight to retail or you should stick with TSC and you should never touch retail. Like, you should stay lean. You should actually build your team so you could focus more on this area. And it's really like I run the risk of basically selling five different companies to five different people.

32:22
Hannah Dittman
Right.

32:22
Zoë Sakoutis
Because I'm like pitching, I'm like talking to them in the ways that they want it to go. And yeah, I think you tend to gravitate towards like, you want to sell them. So you're kind of like presenting the story they want to hear as opposed to just being like, no, no, wait. I know that this business model should work for the first two years in like this channel and then this is the path. So I don't know, it can be very like a blessing and a curse when you're having all these wonderful conversations where with so many smart people in this category and it could be very confusing, but just so long as you have your own kind of like, thesis, which is not to say that you should never let it go.

32:58
Zoë Sakoutis
Like, I think I'm also a firm believer in like, big ideas held loosely. So, yeah, toggling between those two things, if that makes any sense at all.

33:07
Hannah Dittman
Yeah, no, Zoë. And you're so candid and humbled because you're what most founders dream to be, which is, you know, a successful serial entrepreneur who has been able to build their entire career off this. And even, you know, you are feeling some of the pain points that I think a lot of people feel. And I think you'll hear from a lot of investors too. They look for founders who are stubborn within reason. Right. It's like they have conviction in their plan and their beliefs, but they're still willing to have the conversation and take on the learnings and adopt new views. And that is a really been tightrope to walk because of course you want a strategic partner for financial reasons, but also for the value they can bring to the boardroom. And so to not listen to it at all feels, you know, limiting.

33:51
Hannah Dittman
I think there's like, especially for female founders, fundraising, I think this is like a huge area of challenge for them too, where you expect a founder to look and act a certain way, but then you want to be open minded and approachable as well. It's a lot to juggle and it's hard. So hearing someone like you even acknowledge and empathize with the Founders going through this, I think it's a huge step for people to find some inner peace with the challenges they're facing too, that this is a universal struggle that a lot of people are trying to navigate and think through.

34:22
Zoë Sakoutis
Yeah. Fundraising is just weird.

34:24
Hannah Dittman
Yeah. And how have you felt being on the other side of it and now being on both sides of the table, having had been pitched to and also having to go pitch to others, it's.

34:33
Zoë Sakoutis
Like the best diligence ever. It's like the best Trojan horse. It's like I love hearing about new brands, what they're doing, how they're getting there, what their plan is. Like, I learned so much that way. Like I learn about trends, I learn about the strategies. Like, I really enjoy being on that side. It really only informs what I'm doing that much more, gives me more ideas. Great way to build your network and your potential collaborations or partnerships. So it's just like it's endless benefits in that way. I also like deeply feel for anyone pitching so like such a strange combination of having to like one part of your brain is just like aggregate data, like pulling together facts and then the other side is like, let me sell you on this super lofty vision.

35:17
Zoë Sakoutis
And it's just like these two things need to somehow magically come together and it's sometimes just seems slightly ridiculous.

35:25
Hannah Dittman
I think investors really, unless you've done it yourself, you really can't understand what it's like to pitch and the experience of going through that. And I think it's really cool that you have that level of empathy and I'm sure it makes you a really great leader and also a great partner to work with regardless in consumer and cpg. I'd love to pivot us over to a slack case study question. As you know, startup CPG has the largest Slack community in the industry with now over 40,000 members. I'd love to pull a question directly from our channel and have you answer it as a case study for any founder that might have a similar question. Today's question is some investors want you to build a team, some think you should know how to do everything. Some want you to leverage AI.

36:06
Hannah Dittman
How do you approach explaining team building in a fundraise?

36:10
Zoë Sakoutis
Well, for the ones who think that you should know how to do everything, I think yes, to a certain extent you do need to understand all of the roles and you need to in early days, you need to be able to be like the busboy, the waiter, the hostess and the chef. Like you just that's kind of Goes with the territory. But I think for me, as you get a little bit larger and a little bit more established, it's like, okay, your job's a CEO. It's not to know how to do every role. It's to know which roles we need to hire for. Right. Like where we need support. I would not pretend for like a hot second that I know that I'm an expert in any one of these areas.

36:47
Zoë Sakoutis
I mean, that's why I think I like being in this role because it's such, you know, I know just enough in kind of every department that keeps me sort of broad. So. Yeah, I mean, I think early days you do need to know how to do pretty much everything. And then there's a certain point at which it's like, no, your biggest job is to actually make sure that you understand fully like which roles need to be filled first and why. And, and then I think for some investors who like, I guess what I'm thinking is there's usually you shouldn't try to stay lean because lean is good. Right. Because like, wow, you've done so much on this like super lean team. It's like, well that's not always, it doesn't always equal good.

37:24
Zoë Sakoutis
And like you shouldn't always just grow and hire because that somehow equals growth. Right. Like, I think you can kind of stumble into those assumptions and I think you can probably be really aware of them. So staying lean, sure. To the extent that you're actually being, you know, effective and like things are getting done and you're moving forward and then the AI, I mean, God, it's like what time is it? It's changing every minute. So unfortunately there's going to be so many roles and industries that are going to be totally decimated. Unfortunately. But I think that it's just changing so fast that it's almost like you need to refresh on like a weekly basis and ask yourself like, how can I maybe solve for this role over here with AI? And I honestly just, it never ceases to amaze me.

38:13
Zoë Sakoutis
I mean it does a lot. Yeah. And in that respect is a really great time to be starting something because you could just like 10x your speed, 20 extra speed. Like in a way that it's a really unique time to start something.

38:25
Hannah Dittman
Yeah. And I also think it's like an extra work stream to keep up with some of the learnings and adoption, but a well worthy learning curve to get up. When you get up there, the reward definitely is there. You are so candid. So funny. Have such a bold personality. It's so clear that you are an operational and executional powerhouse. Zoë, you have done so many things in a woman wearing so many hats and doing it successfully. Your hustle and your grit and your passion and your knowledge totally comes through. What's the best way for any other founders that might want to follow along on your journey or ask follow up questions? Or any investors that might want to get in touch with you? What's the best way for them to do so? And then second part of my question.

39:05
Hannah Dittman
Do you have any opportunities or advice for anyone that might want to join your new emerging team at Bittman's?

39:11
Zoë Sakoutis
Oh yeah. If you're interested in any all of the above, you can reach me. I mean obviously LinkedIn Zoë Sakutis this and then you know I'm@Zoë bitmans.com if you want to shoot me an email.

39:22
Hannah Dittman
Easy.

39:23
Zoë Sakoutis
And obviously you can text me at 917-817. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to give my phone a route.

39:31
Hannah Dittman
You're cracking me up. I hope my mic muted sometimes. You guys. I've been laughing at all her jokes this entire time, so I hope that's been coming through. Zoë, you were such a pleasure to have here today.

39:42
Zoë Sakoutis
Thank you.

39:43
Hannah Dittman
Thank you so much for your time. Such an honor to be chatting with a seasoned founder like yourself. And thank you so much for being part of the Startup CPG community.

39:51
Zoë Sakoutis
Thank you so much, Hannah. You are so sweet and kind and thank you.

39:56
Hannah Dittman
Well friends, we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG podcast, the top globally ranked podcast in cpg. And if you love this podcast, you'll love our Slack community even more. Here at Startup cpg, we're a community of brands and experts and you should join. Sign up @startupcpg.com you'll then get an invite to our online Slack community of over 35,000 All Star CPG members, hear about amazing events near you and all our special opportunities to get you in front of buyers, investors, brands and more. It's a free community. So what are you waiting for? I'll catch you on the next episode and I'll see you on the Slack.