Shelf Space

Connor Macpherson and Luke Anthony
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Conversations with CPG founders at the top of their game. Gathering unique insights and having impactful conversations to help guide the next generation of founders.

  1. 27 Aug

    From Instagram DM to 1,200 Stores - Sean Knecht on Inventing a New Snack Category with Tantos

    What happens when you DM a Top Chef finalist about pasta dough and end up co-founding a snack brand? Sean Knecht is the co-founder of Tantos, the first and only puffed pasta chip, built alongside celebrity chef Joe Sasto. What started as a happy accident called "pasta nachos" at a pop-up dinner turned into a brand new snack category now sitting in over 1,200 stores including Kroger, H-E-B, The Fresh Market, and World Market. Oh, and it became the first class snack on every JetBlue flight within three months of launch. Sean is also a two-time Shark Tank alum. In this episode, he breaks down exactly what happened in the Tank the second time around, why Daniel Lubetzky's failed pasta chip venture from the 90s soured the room, and why walking away with no deal still triggered 3,000 orders in 72 hours. This is a masterclass in building a CPG brand lean: a core team of three, everything else outsourced, and a supply chain built to scale from day one. In this episode: The Instagram DM that started it all (and the birthday tortellini class that sealed it)Selling out 1,500 units in 13 minutes from Joe's apartmentGetting rejected by co-packers everywhere, then finding a mentor who became lead investorWhy "first and only" beats chasing protein and fibre trendsHow to vet brokers: owner background, realistic timelines, and the reference questions nobody asksThe JetBlue deal that kept manufacturing aliveInside the 400-store Kroger test across 13 divisionsPricing for national scale before you have itTwo Shark Tank appearances, ten years apart, and what changedRaising capital as a long game: quarterly updates, data rooms, and selling yourself, not just the businessJuggling two businesses without burning out" Whether you're launching a CPG brand, hunting for a co-packer, or wondering if Shark Tank is worth it, Sean's playbook is one of the most tactical we've had on the show. Connect with Sean Knecht: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-knecht-a1398b11 Shop Tantos: https://www.eattantos.com/Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    From Instagram DM to 1,200 Stores - Sean Knecht on Inventing a New Snack Category with Tantos

  2. 21 Aug

    The Fractional Operator Behind Brooklyn Beckham's Cloud 23 - Mac McAvoy on Building CPG Ops

    Most CPG founders can tell you how many cases they have on hand. Almost none can tell you how many days that actually buys them. In this episode, Connor and Luke sit down with Mac McAvoy, founder of DeepWorks CPG and one of the sharpest operators in consumer goods, to unpack the unglamorous backend work that quietly decides whether a brand scales or stalls.Mac has done it in the deep end. He packed two duffel bags, moved from Florida to LA to run operations for Dirty Lemon, took a cold-chain, HPP beverage all the way to shelf-stable so it could land in Walmart, and did it partly living out of an Escalade during COVID. From there he ran operations for one of California's top cannabis brands with 125 people and over 200 SKUs across three shifts a day, helped build Barcode's hydration story, and now runs DeepWorks, a fractional operations firm for CPG brands, with clients including Stiller's Soda, HY.Q, Buffs, Sauz, and Habiza Hummus.Inside the conversation: How to track inventory in days on hand instead of cases, and the weighted velocity burn formula Mac builds first for every client (25% last 14 days, 25% quarter to date, 50% year to date). Why the 75% shelf life rule forces you to clear your floor every 90 days. The build, fix, or enhance framework for knowing exactly where a brand needs help. How to actually manage a co-packer relationship, why "you'll be back" is a threat you should never make true, and the break-room trick that gets a facility to care about your product. Where COGS reduction really comes from, and why Mac reviews it quarter by quarter, not week by week. Why taste has to come first and function second, plus the wild story of a brand filling its packaging with water because the product tasted so bad. And the cross-functional truth that operations is a thankless, zero-sum game, so the real win is giving founders their sleep back.If you are a founder running and gunning with nothing on the backend, or scaling faster than your systems can handle, this one is a masterclass in the work nobody claps for but every brand needs.Connect with Mac McAvoy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-mcavoy-2a230365/Work with DeepWorks CPG: https://www.deepworkscpg.com/Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link#CPG #ConsumerPackagedGoods #CPGoperations #SupplyChain #InventoryManagement #DTCtoRetail #BeverageIndustry #FractionalCOO #RetailStrategy #COGS #Walmart #FoundersJourney #OperationsLeadership #ShelfSpacePodcast #DirtyLemon #DeepWorks

    The Fractional Operator Behind Brooklyn Beckham's Cloud 23 - Mac McAvoy on Building CPG Ops

  3. 12 Aug

    Retail First, Never D2C - Renee Lee on Building MOXX Brands Inside Walmart, Target and Whole Foods

    Most founders build online first and pray retail works later. Renee Lee did the opposite. Renee co-founded MOXX Brands with Grant Taylor and went straight for the shelf. Five years later, MOXX is one of New Zealand's fastest growing FMCG company with six brands across Walmart, Target, Coles, Woolworths, Sprouts, and Whole Foods. All with a team of just 13. In this episode, Renee breaks down the retail-first playbook: how a reverse brief from a Woolworths buyer created their biggest brand, why they pulled out of a Target pitch on purpose, and how strong Sprouts numbers convinced Whole Foods to skip the standard 10-store trial and hand them a 500-store nationwide launch out of the gate. She also shares the pitch advice most founders need to hear: buyers don't need 20 slides on your brand story. They need to know how you bring new customers to their store, grow their category, and improve their margins. What we cover: Building a multi-brand house instead of betting on one brandReverse briefs: when the retailer tells you what to buildThe full MOXX portfolio: Everblue Naturals, Maison & Muse, Restor, Atomic, Kinsey Kids, and Dose TheoryWhy a failed product still unlocked a $7 million laundry businessLanding Whole Foods nationwide off the back of Sprouts velocityChannel strategy: mainstream mass vs naturals, and knowing when to say noWhy New Zealand test results don't predict Australia or the USHiring for grit over resumes in a lean startup teamAdvice for D2C brands moving into brick and mortar: price, packaging, and the three-second shelf test Whether you're pitching your first retailer or scaling across markets, this one is a masterclass in commercializing brands for mass retail. Connect with Renee Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneelee2/ Shop MOXX Brands: https://www.moxxbrands.com/Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    Retail First, Never D2C - Renee Lee on Building MOXX Brands Inside Walmart, Target and Whole Foods

  4. 7 Aug

    No Investors, No VC, $100M in Year Four - Zelka Ridjosic on Self-Funding Joyburst

    Zelka Ridjosic stumbled into CPG after a career that spanned advertising, consulting, finance, pharma, and building medical animation for the Dr. Oz Show, HBO, and CNN. Then a neighbor said seven words that changed everything: "Come work with me, you'll figure it out." Today she is Co-Founder and President of Joyburst, a self-funded Canadian hydration and energy brand projecting nine figures in sales, sold in Costco, Walmart, Target, Aldi, and beyond. In this episode, Zelka pulls back the curtain on the unconventional playbook behind Joyburst's rise. From convincing a Costco buyer to grant a 50-store test by promising a Super Bowl commercial (and pulling it off for a fraction of the usual cost), to the Disney partnership they nearly deleted as spam, to launching a creatine soda the entire industry swore couldn't exist. She is equally candid about the failures: the protein drink that turned into Jello, the frappe that shipped without coffee, and the two years Costco refused to take a meeting. If you care about building a CPG brand without venture capital, winning retail before DTC, and turning "no" into "yes" on repeat, this one is packed. In this episode: The eclectic path from advertising and pharma to founding a beverage brandWhy partner dynamics (the dreamer vs the operator) make or break a companyThe Super Bowl commercial gambit that unlocked the first Costco orderThe retail-first, demo-driven strategy that beats burning cash on adsHow a "spam" email from Disney became three summer movie partnershipsThe creatine soda world-first and the science everyone said was impossibleBrutal failure stories and how to build a solution-first mindsetWhy fiber is the next big thing, and building a brand people actually follow Whether you are a founder, an operator, or just love a great origin story, Zelka's blend of corporate discipline and entrepreneurial nerve is a masterclass in modern brand building. Connect with Zelka Ridjosic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zelka-ridjosic-traikos-8bbaa226/ Shop Joyburst: https://joyburst.com/ Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/ Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    No Investors, No VC, $100M in Year Four - Zelka Ridjosic on Self-Funding Joyburst

  5. 6 Aug

    The Next Big Hydration Brand - Jordan Iglesias on His Billion Dollar Mission at Dry Water

    Jordan Iglesias has sold beverages at nearly every altitude the industry has. Thirteen and a half years at PepsiCo, a stint at Red Bull he thought would last forever, and a front-row seat at Congo Brands as it launched some of the fastest-growing CPG names on the planet in Prime Hydration, Alani Nu, and Lunchly. But his real edge started on the other side of the desk, running stores and buying center-store product for a grocery chain in Colorado. Today he is Chief Sales Officer at Dry Water, a better-for-you hydration powder made from real fruit, and he is chasing one very clear number: a billion dollars in retail sales. In this episode, Jordan breaks down the sales philosophy that has followed him from a Fortune 40 machine to a startup incubator to an early-stage rocket ship. His core message is simple but rarely practiced: stop pitching and start listening. He explains why he never tries to sell anything in a first buyer meeting, the blunt questions he actually asks to uncover what a buyer is measured on, and how to turn "no" into "not now." He also compares the inner workings of PepsiCo, Red Bull, and Congo Brands, and what each environment taught him about getting things done. If you are building a brand and trying to crack retail, this is a masterclass in buyer psychology, partnership, and the unglamorous work that actually wins shelf space. In this episode: The path from grocery buyer to selling for Pepsi, Red Bull, and Congo BrandsWhy the first buyer meeting should never be a sales pitchThe blunt questions that reveal a buyer's real KPIs, margin targets, and prioritiesPartner vs vendor, and how transparency lets you deliver bad news and still winTurning a no into a not now, and why timing beats persistencePepsiCo vs Red Bull vs Congo Brands, three very different ways to get things doneInside Dry Water's omnichannel rollout across Walmart, Target, Kroger, and moreUsing DTC as a testing ground before earning a retail shelfThe mission to build Dry Water into a billion dollar brandWhether you are a founder, a sales leader, or just love the craft of the deal, Jordan's blend of big-company training and startup hustle is packed with takeaways. Connect with Jordan Iglesias: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-iglesias-21598850/  Shop Dry Water: https://drywater.com/ Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/  Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/  Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    The Next Big Hydration Brand - Jordan Iglesias on His Billion Dollar Mission at Dry Water

  6. 30 July

    1,084 Stores, Zero Outside Investors - Jia Liao on Growing Hotpot Queen Organically

    Jia Liao is the founder of Hapa Queen, a Sichuan hot pot brand built to honor her mother, the original "Queen of Hapa" in China who invented the split broth pot that let spicy and non spicy eaters share the same table. In this episode, Jia opens up about walking away from her first venture (a tea lounge that raised eight million dollars) after learning hard lessons about outside capital, why she chose to bootstrap Hapa Queen instead, and how a failed Kickstarter forced her into a last minute Expo West launch that became the turning point for the brand. Jia and Connor get into the real numbers behind building a CPG brand from scratch: going from 100 cold emails and 7 replies to over 1,084 stores in the US and 215 in Australia, signing two distributors before landing a single retailer, the Whole Foods "golden ticket" that didn't convert, and the packaging mistake an eye tracking study exposed that changed her entire product line. She also talks candidly about why she shares her failures on LinkedIn instead of just her wins, and what it means to build a business at her own pace instead of someone else's. Topics covered: Why she turned down outside funding after her first startupThe Kickstarter that failed days before launchBetting everything on an Expo West debutReading buyers on the trade show floorThe packaging fix that changed her growth trajectoryBuilding a community on LinkedIn through honesty, not highlight reels Connect with Jia Liao: / weijia-liao Connect with Hotpot Queen: / hotpotqueen Visit Hotpot Queen Website: https://hotpotqueen.com/ Connect with Connor Macpherson: / connor-retail Connect with Luke Anthony: / luke-anthony-🍵-394052131 Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    1,084 Stores, Zero Outside Investors - Jia Liao on Growing Hotpot Queen Organically

  7. 28 July

    10,000 Stores With a Team of Six - Vinny Wilson on Building NoCap Soda Pop

    What happens when you mix Red Bull DNA, PRIME Hydration hustle, and a father-son duo with nothing to lose?You get NoCap Soda Pop - a brand which is on track to hit 10,000 stores nationwide in under two years with a team of just six.Vinny Wilson was the 32nd hire at Congo Brands during the PRIME and Alani Nu explosion, ranking as the number one sales rep in the country for six months straight. His dad spent nearly three decades in beverage, including 10 years at Red Bull and scaling Bang Energy's sales machine. In August 2024, they bet on themselves and launched NoCap, the next-gen soda pop built for the action sports generation.In this episode, Vinny breaks down how NoCap is out-hustling competitors that raised $30 to $50 million, the content engine that has driven their growth, how a sassy 10-year-old at a BMX race changed their entire formulation and more.We cover: Scaling to Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, and C-stores nationwide in 18 monthsLanding the first-ever confectionery licensing deal in modern soda (Albanese Gummies, then ICEE)The cult following playbook: 2,500 tagged posts, 13.9M impressions, and $985K in earned media value in one quarter, all unpaidWhy "the loudest brand with no sales" became the loudest brand on the shelfThe value play strategy: 16oz cans priced against the share leaders' 12ozSampling 300,000 cans as real-time R&DNo Cap Fridays, expired competitor products, and why you should inspect what you expectThe friendly five: NoCap's $5M seed round and the road to a $100 million brandIf you're building a CPG brand, this is a masterclass in speed, scrappiness, and betting on yourself.Connect with Vinny Wilson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinnywilson/Shop NoCap Soda Pop: https://drinknocapsoda.com/Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    10,000 Stores With a Team of Six - Vinny Wilson on Building NoCap Soda Pop

  8. 13 July

    From Selling Ginger Beer to Building a leading Soda Brand - Atlas Cheek on Lady Bird’s Rise

    Atlas Cheek didn’t set out to build a soda brand. He set out to build a premium mixer company after losing his job at a struggling Texas distillery, and ended up stumbling into one of the fastest growing better for you soda stories in the country. In this episode, Atlas breaks down his path from selling wine in the middle of the Great Recession, to being one of the first four employees at Fever Tree USA, to co-founding Lady Bird out of pure hardship with Waterloo Sparkling Water co-founder Daniel Barnes. He gets into the accidental pivot from mixers to soda after watching moms and kids drink his product straight, the case mix-up that had distributors delivering the wrong SKUs to retailers, the credit card swipe that got the whole thing moving, and the undisclosed acquisition that happened three and a half years after founding the company. Topics covered:Landing in the wine and spirits industry by accidentLearning premium mixers from Fever Tree USA’s former CEOWhy the company almost got named Blue Bonnet, Yellow Rose, or Atlas Mixer CoThe case mix-up that had distributors shipping the wrong Lady Bird SKUs to retailersDiscovering the soda opportunity by watching how customers actually used the productRaising a seed round from friends, family, and skin in the gameLanding Walmart and HEB, and setting up shop next to Poppy at Expo WestGetting secretly acquired and what a five year, $200 million goal looks like from here Connect with Atlas Cheek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atlas-cheek-54a79a37/ Shop Lady Bird Soda: https://www.drinkladybird.com Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/ Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-🍵-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    From Selling Ginger Beer to Building a leading Soda Brand - Atlas Cheek on Lady Bird’s Rise
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About

Conversations with CPG founders at the top of their game. Gathering unique insights and having impactful conversations to help guide the next generation of founders.

Information

  • Creator
    Connor Macpherson and Luke Anthony
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Connor Macpherson and Luke Anthony
  • Show Website
    Shelf Space