Shelf Space

Connor Macpherson and Luke Anthony
  • 0.0 (0)
  • 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. 6d ago

    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

  2. Jul 28

    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

  3. Jul 13

    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

  4. Jun 29

    Leaving One Rocket Ship To Build Another - Shannon Race on Vital Proteins, CAVU, and Bio.me

    She was employee #10 at Vital Proteins. When she left, the brand was closing in on $400M in sales and had just landed Jennifer Aniston as a spokesperson. In this episode, Shannon Race takes us behind the scenes of one of the most remarkable brand stories in the supplement industry. From the early days when collagen was too taboo for media to touch, to a nine-figure acquisition by Nestle Health Sciences. Then she unpacks what came next: working inside CAVU's venture fund, advising the brands that would go on to define the next era of CPG, and ultimately making the leap to founder herself with Bio.me - a fiber supplement brand built on the premise that one of the most essential nutrients in the human diet has been catastrophically misunderstood. Shannon breaks down: How Vital Proteins cracked mainstream media in a category nobody wanted to coverThe Jennifer Aniston story - from a pin-drop moment on Day 1 to a landmark brand dealWhat she saw inside CAVU's portfolio (including early Poppi) that shaped her approach to brand buildingWhy fiber is the next category ripe for disruption and what Metamucil got wrong for 100 yearsHow Bio.me landed in Sprouts, Whole Foods, Walmart, and Target within three yearsHer honest take on AI, Claude, and where founders should draw the lineThis is a masterclass in category creation, brand education, and knowing when to bet on yourself. Connect with Shannon Race: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-race-66138351/ Connect with Bio.me: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bio-me-llc Visit Bio.me Website: https://bio.me Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/ Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-%F0%9F%8D%B5-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    Leaving One Rocket Ship To Build Another - Shannon Race on Vital Proteins, CAVU, and Bio.me

  5. Jun 25

    $3M in 47 Days - Jay Hunter on Launching K2O With Kylie Jenner

    Day 47. $3 million in sales. A product backed by Kylie Jenner and Kris Jenner. And a CEO who's only just getting started.Jay Hunter spent seven years scaling MaryRuth's from a scrappy Amazon-first brand into one of the biggest names in wellness supplements - going from Amazon director to CRO overseeing a team of 50 across ecom, marketing, paid media, influencers, and analytics. Then Kylie Jenner's team came calling. In this episode, Jay pulls back the curtain on what it's really like to join a celebrity-founded brand, build a team from scratch, and launch K2O - Sprinter's functional beauty hydration extension - in real time. He's sharing the exact numbers, the exact strategy, and the exact management frameworks that are driving results at a speed most brands never see. This one is loaded with frameworks, fire, and zero filter. If you're building a CPG brand, managing a team, or just trying to figure out how to win faster - Jay's your guy.What we get into:  Seven years at MaryRuth's - from Amazon director to CRO and what that journey looked like How the Kylie Jenner opportunity came about and why he said yes K2O in 47 days - $3M in sales, a new team, and a brand built from scratch The PPP framework - how Jay runs weekly reporting across his entire team TikTok Shop and Amazon first, retail second - the go-to-market philosophy behind K2O How Jay identifies A players - the only two things he actually looks for in interviews Why he prefers in-house hires over agencies every single time Managing a board that includes Kris Jenner, Reed and some of the biggest names in the space Going fully remote and building a global team including Filipino talent The $250M three-year goal and what it takes to get thereConnect with Jay Hunter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-m-hunter/Connect with Sprinter / K2O: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sprinter-spiritsVisit K2O Website: https://drinksprinter.comConnect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-%F0%9F%8D%B5-394052131/Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    $3M in 47 Days - Jay Hunter on Launching K2O With Kylie Jenner

  6. Jun 19

    From Kind Snacks to Baking Mixes - Lindsay Hancock on Launching My Better Batch

    She sold her last company to Kind Snacks. Then Mars bought Kind. Then she quit, had no insurance, was a single mom of two, and started all over again. Lindsay Hancock is the founder of My Better Batch, a premium clean-ingredient cookie mix brand now landing in major US national retailers - and she's just getting started. But the backstory is what makes this one unmissable. From Employee #1 at Creative Snacks, to selling to Kind Snacks. Then Mars bought Kind. Then she quit, had no insurance, was a single mom of two, and started all over again. In this episode, she breaks down how she spotted the gap nobody else was filling in the baking aisle, why she cold-pitched co-manufacturers the same way she pitched retailers, and the wild story of how a national retailer buyer emailed her out of nowhere because her boyfriend made the cookies and thought he was a genius chef. If you're building in CPG, thinking about retail, or just need a reminder that starting over isn't the end of the story - this episode is for you. What we get into: Growing Creative Snacks from zero to $60M and selling to Kind SnacksNavigating two acquisitions and why big company life wasn't for herThe personal reset at 40 that led to My Better BatchWhy the baking aisle is the most under-innovated shelf in the grocery storeFinding a co-manufacturer willing to take a bet on an emerging brandThe Target Takeoff program and what it actually means for a brand relationshipHow she pitches retailers with a category lens, not just a product storyThe buyer who got emailed cookies made by her boyfriend - and how that landed a national listingWhat the rest of 2026 looks like and where My Better Batch is headed Connect with Lindsay Hancock: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-hancock-baa26793/ Connect with My Better Batch: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mybetterbatch Visit My Better Batch Website: https://mybetterbatch.com Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/ Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-%F0%9F%8D%B5-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    From Kind Snacks to Baking Mixes - Lindsay Hancock on Launching My Better Batch

  7. Jun 19

    From Kind Snacks to Baking Mixes - Lindsay Hancock on Launching My Better Batch

    She sold her last company to Kind Snacks. Then Mars bought Kind. Then she quit, had no insurance, was a single mom of two, and started all over again. Lindsay Hancock is the founder of My Better Batch, a premium clean-ingredient cookie mix brand now landing in major US national retailers - and she's just getting started. But the backstory is what makes this one unmissable. From Employee #1 at Creative Snacks, to selling to Kind Snacks. Then Mars bought Kind. Then she quit, had no insurance, was a single mom of two, and started all over again. In this episode, she breaks down how she spotted the gap nobody else was filling in the baking aisle, why she cold-pitched co-manufacturers the same way she pitched retailers, and the wild story of how a national retailer buyer emailed her out of nowhere because her boyfriend made the cookies and thought he was a genius chef. If you're building in CPG, thinking about retail, or just need a reminder that starting over isn't the end of the story - this episode is for you. What we get into: Growing Creative Snacks from zero to $60M and selling to Kind SnacksNavigating two acquisitions and why big company life wasn't for herThe personal reset at 40 that led to My Better BatchWhy the baking aisle is the most under-innovated shelf in the grocery storeFinding a co-manufacturer willing to take a bet on an emerging brandThe Target Takeoff program and what it actually means for a brand relationshipHow she pitches retailers with a category lens, not just a product storyThe buyer who got emailed cookies made by her boyfriend - and how that landed a national listingWhat the rest of 2026 looks like and where My Better Batch is headed Connect with Lindsay Hancock: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-hancock-baa26793/ Connect with My Better Batch: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mybetterbatch Visit My Better Batch Website: https://mybetterbatch.com Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/ Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-%F0%9F%8D%B5-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    From Kind Snacks to Baking Mixes - Lindsay Hancock on Launching My Better Batch

  8. Jun 17

    Partnering with Harry Kane, Sainsbury's & More - Al Duffield on Scaling Vital

    Harry Kane backed this brand. Four retailers in four months. And it all started with Google.Al Duffield, founder of Vital, didn't follow the typical CPG playbook. No splashy ad campaigns. No army of junior hires. Just a relentless focus on proving the concept - one contract caterer at a time - before walking into supermarket boardrooms with receipts.In this episode, Al breaks down how Vital went from zero to listings in Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Ocado, Breaks, and Foodbuy Compass, why they partnered with Harry Kane ahead of the World Cup, and what most functional drinks brands are getting completely wrong about the mass market.He's brutally honest about the early mistakes, the investors they wished they'd avoided, and the unconventional team structure that's quietly outperforming everyone around them.If you're building a CPG brand, trying to crack UK retail, or just obsessed with what it actually takes to scale - this one's unmissable.What we get into: Propercorn's hypergrowth era and what Al took from itWhy they launched in vitamins first - and what he'd do differentlyGoogle as their proof of concept and how it opened supermarket doorsThe real story behind the Harry Kane partnershipPoint-of-purchase vs. above-the-line - where the money actually worksSenior freelancers over junior full-timers - the Vital team modelThe investor who asked "have you thought about Tesco?"Early mornings, daily runs, and life at the tipping point between firefighting and growthConnect with Al Duffield: https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-duffield-40b207116Connect with VITAL Drinks: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vital-drinksVisit VITAL Drinks Website: https://vital-drinks.co.uk Connect with Connor Macpherson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-retail/Connect with Luke Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-anthony-%F0%9F%8D%B5-394052131/ Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/shared-booking-link

    Partnering with Harry Kane, Sainsbury's & More - Al Duffield on Scaling Vital
See All (16)

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
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Connor Macpherson and Luke Anthony
  • Show Website
    Shelf Space