Grow Good

How do you anticipate where the market is headed and bring your customers along with you? Ross Cully shares how he has grown Harvest Group through multiple market evolutions, all while staying grounded in the company values. Drawing on his early experience at Procter & Gamble working with Walmart, Ross explains why collaboration, data-sharing, and retailer alignment became foundational to Harvest Group’s operating model.

The conversation explores the less visible side of entrepreneurship: resigning their largest client over integrity concerns, intentionally slowing growth to preserve culture, and making early investments in e-commerce long before the market demanded it. Ross also shares how Harvest Group approaches acquisitions through values alignment rather than purely financial logic, why founders often struggle to say no, and how companies can scale without losing connection to their core customer. The episode is a case study in navigating long-term growth while protecting organizational trust, quality, and mission clarity.

KEY INSIGHTS
  • What Ross learned inside the historic Procter & Gamble–Walmart partnership about collaboration, retailer relationships, and data sharing
  • Why emerging brands often underestimate the operational complexity of large retail partnerships
  • How Harvest Group identified a gap between traditional broker models and the needs of emerging CPG brands
  • The decision to resign their largest client over integrity concerns — despite the real possibility of jeopardizing the business
  • Why Ross believes values only become “real” when they cost you something
  • How Harvest Group invested in e-commerce capabilities years before omnichannel became mainstream
  • The tension between innovating early and confusing the market with messaging that feels “too different”
  • Why founders struggle to say no — and how Harvest developed a rubric for evaluating expansion opportunities
  • How rapid growth exposed cultural weaknesses and led the company to intentionally slow expansion
  • The operational challenge of preserving relationship-driven culture as a company scales toward 500 employees
  • How Harvest approaches M&A through cultural and values alignment instead of purely financial criteria
  • Why maintaining a direct relationship with the end customer is still one of the biggest strategic advantages for brands today
TIMESTAMPS

 01:48 – Ross’s background at P&G and Walmart
 03:30 – What emerging brands misunderstand about retail partnerships
 05:23 – Defining Harvest Group’s mission, vision, and values
 07:53 – Resigning their largest client over integrity concerns
 09:34 – How leadership wrestled with the decision internally
 11:02 – Strategic pivots over 20 years of growth
 14:11 – Investing in e-commerce before the market was ready
 18:24 – Learning to say no as a founder
 22:02 – The challenge of differentiating the company’s story
 27:06 – Why Harvest intentionally slowed growth
 28:24 – A values-based approach to acquisitions
 32:18 –  What brands need to win in retail today
 36:02 – The reality of entrepreneurship behind the scenes
 38:32 – Ross’s advice for growing without compromising values

RESOURCES & LINKS

What is Grow Good ?

Grow Good tells the story of purpose-driven leaders who grow their businesses while staying true to mission and values. Hosted by growth and brand strategist Anne Oudersluys, each episode features candid conversations with CEOs and founders about real decisions they make and how they operate across strategy, product, marketing, people, and scale. This show provides practical, thoughtful insight for leaders who want to grow with intention.