The Brand Blueprint

Founder and Co Host Dana Ammons, Value Growth Partners LLC
  • 5.0 (3)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

”The Brand Blueprint Podcast” is a dynamic video podcast that guides aspiring entrepreneurs through the process of creating and launching their own consumer product goods (CPG) brands. Led by hosts Dana and Cataanda, each episode follows the step-by-step journey of building a new brand, from market research to product development and branding strategies. Featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders, unbiased product reviews, and updates on the latest industry news, the podcast offers valuable guidance and inspiration for listeners looking to enter the competitive CPG market.

  1. The Brand Blueprint: Funding Friday - Women Founder Opportunities That Reward Preparation

    MAY 8

    The Brand Blueprint: Funding Friday - Women Founder Opportunities That Reward Preparation

    Not every funding opportunity should feel like a last-minute scramble. In this week’s Funding Friday, Dana breaks down three women-founder opportunities that reward preparation, not procrastination: 1) Cartier Women’s Initiative For women-led, impact-driven, for-profit businesses with meaningful traction and a real social and/or environmental impact case. https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards 2) Women Founders Network Fast Pitch For U.S.-based women-led companies in Tech/Tech-enabled or Consumer/CPG/Other Non-tech that need sharper pitch logic, stronger proof, and investor-facing clarity. https://www.womenfoundersnetwork.org/about-fast-pitch 3) Boundless Futures EmpowHer For early-stage, revenue-generating women founders building businesses that create social impact through poverty/hunger/humanitarian aid or sustainability/environment. https://boundlessfutures.org/our-impact https://theboundlessfuturesfoundation.submittable.com/submit The real lesson: a longer application window is not permission to wait. It is time to get sharper. Sharpen the founder story. Sharpen the numbers. Sharpen the impact logic. Sharpen the use of funds. Sharpen the pitch. 0:00 Why this week is about runway, not scramble 0:38 Cartier Women’s Initiative 2:32 Who Cartier is really for 3:24 Women Founders Network Fast Pitch 5:10 Who WFN is really for 6:02 Boundless Futures EmpowHer 7:49 The real lesson: longer windows are for sharper prep 8:42 Four questions founders should ask before applying 9:30 Closing Email: dana@valugrowthpartners.com Website: thebrandblueprint.biz #FundingFriday #WomenFounders #StartupFunding #FounderStrategy

    11 min
  2. The Brand Blueprint: Tariffs Are a Brand Strategy Problem | Margins & Supply Chain for Founders

    APR 27 ·  BONUS

    The Brand Blueprint: Tariffs Are a Brand Strategy Problem | Margins & Supply Chain for Founders

    This week’s Market Signal is a reminder that tariffs are not just policy headlines for product founders. Once they hit inputs, packaging, freight, landed cost, and replenishment rhythm, they become a brand strategy issue. Dana walks through what founders should actually do with that signal: diagnose exposure, tighten pricing logic, protect margin intelligently, and make sure the customer still understands the value. This is not a fear message. It is a discipline message. #brandblueprint #marketsignal #founderadvice #pricingstrategy #supplychain #brandstrategy

    7 min
  3. The Brand Blueprint: Funding Friday: 3 Bigger-Window Opportunities for Women Founders

    APR 27 ·  BONUS

    The Brand Blueprint: Funding Friday: 3 Bigger-Window Opportunities for Women Founders

    Not every funding opportunity should feel like a last-minute scramble. In this week’s Funding Friday, Dana breaks down three women-founder opportunities that reward preparation, not procrastination: 1) Cartier Women’s Initiative A serious fit for women-led, impact-driven, for-profit businesses with real traction, strong fundamentals, and a credible social and/or environmental impact story. https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards 2) Women Founders Network Fast Pitch A strong fit for U.S.-based women-led companies that can pitch clearly — especially founders in Tech/Tech-enabled or Consumer/CPG/Other Non-tech who are still early enough to fit the funding cap. https://www.womenfoundersnetwork.org/about-fast-pitch 3) Visionaries Pitch Competition This one is now best treated as a watch-list move. The bigger lesson still stands: when you have more runway, use it to sharpen your story, your numbers, your use of funds, and your pitch logic. https://visionaries.co/pitch-competition/ This episode is really about one founder mistake: thinking a longer application window means you have time to wait. It doesn’t. It means you have time to get sharper. If you want help pressure-testing your founder narrative, tightening your pitch, or clarifying your use-of-funds story, that’s exactly what we do inside The Brand Blueprint. 0:00 Why women founders should be thinking ahead 0:38 Cartier Women’s Initiative 1:34 Women Founders Network Fast Pitch 2:31 Visionaries Pitch Competition / watch-list lesson 3:14 The real lesson: longer windows are for sharper prep 4:02 Three opportunities, three different founder advantages 4:47 Funding opportunities can expose weak storytelling 5:22 Better-prepared founders build better businesses 5:47 Links, support, and closing Email: dana@valugrowthpartners.com Website: thebrandblueprint.biz #FundingFriday #WomenFounders #StartupFunding #FounderStrategy

    7 min
  4. The Brand Blueprint: From Higher Ed Executive to Functional Beverage Founder | Dr. Michelle Cromwell of Soeur Du Sol™

    APR 24

    The Brand Blueprint: From Higher Ed Executive to Functional Beverage Founder | Dr. Michelle Cromwell of Soeur Du Sol™

    On this episode of The Brand Blueprint, Dana Ammons sits down with Michelle “Dr. Michelle” Cromwell, Ph.D., Founder of Soeur Du Sol™, a traditionally rooted functional beverage brand created for health, menopause wellbeing, midlife clarity, and women navigating powerful life transitions. Dr. Michelle shares her journey from higher education executive and strategist to professional herbalist and founder. She opens up about her personal pivot, her time learning from traditional healers in Benin, the creation of Soeur Du Sol™, and why midlife should be associated with transition, wisdom, and joy — not “the end.” In this conversation, we cover: Why Dr. Michelle says midlife is about “unadulterated joy”How Soeur Du Sol™ was born from ancestral wisdom, science, and lived experienceThe story behind products like Where Is My Mind and Unbreak My HeartHow customer feedback helped reshape the brand’s hero productWhy the brand is moving strategically into B2B, wellness, hospitality, and medical partnershipsThe importance of Local First AZ, Seed Spot, and founder acceleratorsWhat wellness founders need to get right earlyWhy Soeur Du Sol™ is raising support to exhibit at 3 major beverage expos Support Soeur Du Sol™: Donate to the crowdfund: [insert crowdfund link] Visit: www.soeurdusol.com Timestamps 00:00 Welcome to The Brand Blueprint 00:50 Introducing Dr. Michelle Cromwell and Soeur Du Sol™ 02:05 Rapid Fire begins 02:23 “Never coffee. Always tea.” 02:55 Dr. Michelle’s bitter tea ritual 03:37 3:30 AM mornings, yoga, tea, and sleep discipline 06:03 What midlife should mean: transition and unadulterated joy 07:35 The word to stop associating with menopause: “the end” 08:38 Teacher inspiration: Dr. Keisha Ewers and the wisdom stage 09:41 Describing Soeur Du Sol™ in three words: “Traditionally rooted magic” 10:29 Leadership lesson from higher education: strategy and the long game 12:00 What she had to unlearn as an academic founder 13:05 Founder life in one word: courage 14:04 The origin story: Reiki, healing arts, and higher education 15:06 What Reiki is and why hospitals use it 16:12 A turning-point conversation with Adriana Ayales 17:33 Leaving the VP role to become a professional herbalist 18:30 From consulting to Benin: connecting with traditional healers 20:05 Learning about herbs connected to menopause wellbeing 21:14 The “menopause bubble” and the message she could not ignore 22:02 Founding Soeur Du Sol™: sister of the soil 23:28 Seed Spot, market research, and the first product idea 24:10 Misdiagnosis, brain fog, and perimenopause 25:09 Where Is My Mind: functional beverage inspiration for mental clarity support 26:08 Why Soeur Du Sol™ is more than “just tea” 27:12 Two customer segments: the newly awakened and the sleeping genius 27:53 What 100 women said they needed most 28:44 Unbreak My Heart: TCM + West African herbal inspiration 29:20 Product validation through sip-and-see events 30:12 Why Unbreak My Heart became the new hero product 31:50 Building a real company: DTC, B2B, and partnerships 32:23 Why B2B is the next strategic move 33:00 Beverage expos: NOSH, BevNET, and hospitality opportunities 33:43 Tea options in hotels, spas, and premium spaces 35:21 Why traditional retail is not the primary strategy 36:02 The Tea Taxi concept for offices and meetings 37:47 Accelerator lessons: not all accelerators are equal 38:45 Local First AZ and scaling through food production support 39:16 Commercial kitchen, U of A testing, and shelf-life validation 40:20 Why wellness founders cannot cut corners 41:26 Founder advice: get in touch with your why 42:43 Advice for wellness founders: science and ancient wisdom 44:10 Where to connect with Dr. Michelle and Soeur Du Sol™ 45:10 Advice for women considering a founder leap 46:07 Start small, find a trusted mentor, take baby steps 47:05 Closing reflections and where to watch/listen

    49 min
  5. The Brand Blueprint | Funding Friday: Fit Over Volume — NAACP x L’Oréal, Breva, Famous Amos

    APR 17

    The Brand Blueprint | Funding Friday: Fit Over Volume — NAACP x L’Oréal, Breva, Famous Amos

    This week’s Funding Friday is about fit, not volume. In this episode, I break down three current opportunities and the kind of founder each one is actually built for: NAACP x L’Oréal Inclusive Beauty Fund A strong immediate-fit opportunity for beauty founders and operators, with applications open through April 23, 2026. 🔗 https://naacp.org/find-resources/grants/inclusive-beauty-fund-grant Breva Thrive Grant A current option for revenue-generating businesses with measurable community impact, with the Q2 cycle open through April 30, 2026. 🔗 https://www.breva.ai/thrive-grant Famous Amos Ingredients for Success A strong national opportunity for early-stage Black-owned businesses, open through June 1, 2026. 🔗 https://famousamosingredientsforsuccess.com/ This episode is also about the bigger founder lesson: stop applying like every opportunity is interchangeable. The stronger filter is: category fit founder fit proof-of-business fit use-of-funds fit For help narrowing the right opportunities and building a stronger application narrative: 📩 dana@valugrowthpartners.com 🌐 www.thebrandblueprint.biz

    12 min
  6. The Brand Blueprint: Your Margins Are Lying to You — What Founders Miss About Profitability

    APR 15 ·  BONUS

    The Brand Blueprint: Your Margins Are Lying to You — What Founders Miss About Profitability

    A lot of founders think they understand profitability because they know their selling price and their product cost.But real-life margin pressure usually shows up in the places founders don’t fully account for:• shipping • returns • discounting • marketplace fees • customer acquisition • operational friction • manual founder labor In this episode of The Brand Blueprint, I break down why “paper margins” and real-life margins are often two very different things — and what founders should be pressure-testing before they scale.For strategy support:📩 dana@valuegrowthpartners.com🌐 www.thebrandblueprint.biz

    5 min
  7. The Brand Blueprint: 3 Funding Opportunities Founders Should Understand Better — CO—100, Comcast RISE, IFundWomen

    APR 10 ·  BONUS

    The Brand Blueprint: 3 Funding Opportunities Founders Should Understand Better — CO—100, Comcast RISE, IFundWomen

    This week’s Funding Friday is about more than “three opportunities.” It’s about how founders should think about the organizations behind the funding and what those opportunities are really designed to do. In this episode, I break down: CO—100 / U.S. Chamber Why this is really about recognition, credibility, and visibility — not just money 🔗 https://www.uschamber.com/co/co-100 Comcast RISE Why this is more about strengthening the business than just writing a check 🔗 https://www.comcastrise.com/ IFundWomen Why ecosystem positioning and repeated access can matter more than one-off application wins 🔗 https://www.ifundwomen.com/grants/apply-for-grants If you want the full funding tracker or support thinking through what actually fits your business: 📩 dana@valuegrowthpartners.com 🌐 www.thebrandblueprint.biz Special appreciation to ALT Finance for helping support capital access conversations across The Brand Blueprint ecosystem.

    8 min
  8. The Brand Blueprint: April 9th Market Signal Update | What Breaks First When You Scale?

    APR 9 ·  BONUS

    The Brand Blueprint: April 9th Market Signal Update | What Breaks First When You Scale?

    Growth sounds like good news — until it starts exposing the parts of your business that were never built to carry more pressure. In this Week 3 Market Signal Update, Dana Ammons breaks down one of the most important questions a founder can ask: what breaks first when you scale? From margin erosion and fulfillment strain to visibility gaps and the founder becoming the bottleneck, this episode explores why growth is not just expansion — it is pressure. And pressure has a way of revealing whatever was already weak in the business. If your business is growing now, or you are trying to prepare it for growth, this conversation will help you ask better questions before scale becomes expensive chaos. Listen now, share with a founder in growth mode, and follow The Brand Blueprint for more founder strategy and market insight.

    8 min
See All (72)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

”The Brand Blueprint Podcast” is a dynamic video podcast that guides aspiring entrepreneurs through the process of creating and launching their own consumer product goods (CPG) brands. Led by hosts Dana and Cataanda, each episode follows the step-by-step journey of building a new brand, from market research to product development and branding strategies. Featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders, unbiased product reviews, and updates on the latest industry news, the podcast offers valuable guidance and inspiration for listeners looking to enter the competitive CPG market.

Information

  • Creator
    Founder and Co Host Dana Ammons, Value Growth Partners LLC
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    72
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Founder and Co Host Dana Ammons, Value Growth Partners LLC
  • Show Website
    The Brand Blueprint