Scaling CPG in the Most Competitive Category: Oat Milk Founder's Playbook for Retail Success
Christina Dorr Drake built Willa's Oat Milk from concept to national distribution in one of the most brutal CPG categories. Competing against giants like Oatly and Califia, she's developed battle-tested frameworks that any consumer brand can use to win at retail.
In this episode, Christina shares the systematic approaches that helped her navigate the complexities of scaling a CPG business. You'll get actionable frameworks for:
🏪 Retail Strategy - Her scoring system for evaluating which chains to pursue and deal-breaker terms
📊 Velocity Management - The leading indicators that predict retail success in your first 90 days
💡 Product Portfolio Strategy - Her decision tree for launching new SKUs vs. optimizing existing ones
📈 Marketing Allocation - How to balance brand-building with performance marketing in crowded categories
Whether you're launching your first CPG product or scaling an existing brand, Christina's frameworks will help you navigate the operational complexity of consumer goods without losing your sanity.
Perfect for: CPG founders, consumer brand operators, retail buyers, anyone scaling physical products
Guest: Christina Dorr Drake - Founder, Willa's Oat Milk
Host: Samantha Rose - Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder,
Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
What is Commerce is Chaos?
Look, we've all heard the polished founder story—the perfect pitch, the seamless scale, the overnight success. But what about the time you oversold by 100K units? Or when your 'seamless' integration crashed right before Black Friday?
Host Samantha Rose has been there—from founding her first consumer business, GIR, managing fulfillment and industrial design for your favorite brands, or acquiring distressed brands on her own.
Welcome to Commerce is Chaos, the podcast for founders who knows that building a real business is beautifully, chaotically messy.