SideStreet

Sudi

5.0 (1)
Business
Weekly

Telling the stories of builders and creators

5d ago

Her Kids Sold Salsa on Bikes. Now It’s in 1,500 Stores | Traci with 3sons

Her son was raising money for rhinos at his birthday parties. She had a salsa the neighbors couldn't stop asking for. So the boys started selling jars to teachers and neighbors, and delivering them on their bikes with backpacks. Ten years later, 3 Sons Foods is in about 1,500 stores with over $5 million in sales. Traci, founder and CEO of 3 Sons Foods (Diablo Verde, Diablo Vegan, Diablo Rojo), tells us how a stay-at-home mom with zero food-industry experience got her sauce from the kitchen table onto H-E-B shelves. She covers the farmers market grind, the one-question sampling trick that sells jars, winning Quest for Texas Best, what big grocery chains don't tell you, and the fear-based mistakes she'd undo. Full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ooUWF6T1RBs 🌶️ Try Diablo: https://3sonsfoods.comUse code SIDESTREET for 10% off your entire order. ⏱️ Chapters0:00 The story in 45 seconds1:15 A 5-year-old's rhino fundraiser4:05 Turning the fundraiser into a business6:26 Single mom, building it with her sons9:45 Why you should start at a farmers market11:42 The sampling trick: "Mild, medium or hot?"15:58 The first 15 months17:15 Salsa contests, awards and press20:40 The call from H-E-B29:34 Quest for Texas Best35:25 What big grocery chains really cost you39:27 "You'll never make it without me" + her biggest mistakes43:19 Saving rhinos and wolves49:00 The best advice she's ever gotten51:26 Where food is heading 🎙️ Side Street Podcast: Conversations with the founders building the businesses on your street. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #foundersstory
Oct 14

Big Skincare Is Selling You Synthetics. He’s Fighting Back With Natural Beef Tallow

On this episode of Side Street, we sit down with Rodrigo Chacón, founder of Teōtl, in New York City. Rodrigo moved from Mexico to Michigan as a kid, sold drawings door to door for 50¢, and started Teōtl about two years ago while still in college. Since then his products have sold out at least five times.Teōtl makes grass-fed beef tallow skincare with no synthetics. It’s scented with essential-oil blends crafted by NYC perfumers and handmade in New York. We talk about:- Why he thinks we don’t need synthetic ingredients to take care of our bodies- Making beef tallow feel clean and modern instead of “farm”- Selling lip balms he didn’t have in inventory, and what he learned from it- Why perfectionism is “just insecurity hidden with talent”- Meeting Bloom’s CEO and launching two new scents- Why he thought all of this would happen way quickerShop Teōtl🌐 Website: https://teotl.co📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teotl.co🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teotl.coFollow Rodrigo📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rrodrigochaconn
Sep 23

Taste vs Gains? Chris Boerkei Built GÜRT So You Don’t Have to Choose

Chris Boerkei built GÜRT in Austin — high-protein Greek yogurt dips and sauces — so you don’t have to choose between taste and gains.On Side Street, Chris gets into the real build: six months of kitchen R&D, FDA and commercial kitchen hurdles, selling the first 25 tubs at a farmers market, wrapping the “Gurt-mobile,” and the four-touch hustle that got the brand recognized locally before big retail.If you’re mid-build on a brand (or stuck between “healthy” and “actually good”), this one’s for you.Full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jz5Xd75dMrgConnect with Chris / GÜRTWebsite: https://gurtatx.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gurtatx (@gurtatx)Chris LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisboerkeiGÜRT LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/g%C3%BCrt-sauceSide Street — where it all starts.
Aug 21

He Sold the #1 Matcha Brand - Now He's Building L-Theanine Drops | Marc St Raymond w/ Mindful Drops

Mark built Jade Leaf into the #1 matcha brand in America starting from aSacramento white-label deal and 100 pouches at a time. He sold it in 2020 —right before matcha went fully mainstream. In this episode he breaks down howhe got to the top of Amazon, why he doesn't regret selling, why most of thematcha you're being served is low quality, and what he's building next:Mindful Drops, a flavorless liquid L-theanine you add to any drink.
Jul 23

He Started at 14. Now His Company Does $10M a Year (ft. Brennen Bliss with Propellic)

Brennen Bliss, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, taught himself to build websites at 14, charging his mom $3,000 for his first site. By 16 he'd landed a major corporate client, the college football playoffs foundation, by having his mentor pose as the company's owner. But the early success came with a cost: chasing status, he was over $200K in debt by 19. A book (Profit First) and the realization that he had nothing to prove turned things around, taking him from a negative $48K year to real profitability. Today he runs Propellic, a travel marketing agency doing $7M to $10M a year with clients like G Adventures, Tripadvisor, and Viator.The conversation moves from his come up into where travel and marketing are heading: why he thinks top of funnel SEO is dying in the age of AI, what his $250M ad spend dataset reveals about 2026 (the "coiled spring" of pent up demand, the regions winning and losing, the 121 day booking window), the one advertising lever almost nobody uses, and why he's convinced AI won't give us the one click trip. He closes with the best and worst advice he's ever gotten and three hot takes on the future of travel.Connect with Brennen & PropellicWebsite: https://www.propellic.comBrennen's site: https://www.brennenbliss.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brennenblissInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brennenlb
Jun 25

Strangers Kept Asking Where Her Outfit Was From, So She Created Poosa (ft. Pranisha)

Pranisha lost $3,000 on her first business when a manufacturer destroyed her entire first order. Eighteen months later she'd built Poosa - a womenswear brand putting Indian textiles into Western silhouettes - and sold out 500 units in a single week with zero dollars in ad spend.In this episode she breaks down the viral video that drove a 10,000-person waitlist in 48 hours, why getting laid off was the best thing that happened to her, the fuel crisis quietly disrupting her supply chain, and the audience-first philosophy behind everything she's built.
Jun 7

She Got Fired, Had $4,500 Left, & Bet It on a Cake Business | Bubbles & Buttercream

In this episode of the Side Street Podcast, we sit down with Karla, founder of Bubbles & Buttercream which is Austin's most unique cake decorating workshop experience. Karla takes us through her full journey: from baking cakes in a college dorm room, to teaching bilingual Pre-K at a Title One school, to grinding through a corporate edtech sales job that had her traveling 5 days a week with zero sense of community - until she finally took the leap.One fired-up speech from a stranger at a Kendra Scott event, a Selena Quintanilla celebration with 16 people, and a Facebook mommy group later... Bubbles & Buttercream was born.
Jun 7

Cold Plunges, Coffee & Community: How Hallie Meland is Building Austin's Best Communities

In this episode, we sit down with Hallie Meland, the woman behind two of Austin's most exciting community brands, to talk about how she turned a simple idea into a movement.Hallie is the founder of ATX Social Chair, Austin's go-to guide for events, nightlife, and things to do, and the co-founder of Coffee & Chill ATX, a biweekly wellness and social experience bringing together coffee, cold plunges, live DJs, and a whole lot of community, hosted at some of Austin's coolest venues.We get into how she built both brands from the ground up, what it really takes to create genuine community in a big city, how she landed brand partnerships and sponsors, and why she believes showing up consistently is the secret ingredient most people skip.
Apr 30

Creating the Most Spontaneous Community in the World (ft. Carlo and Alessandro)

In this episode, we sit down with the team behind Blind 8 - the spontaneous social community taking cities by storm. With 37K followers and chapters popping up in Austin, DC, NYC, Boston, Barcelona, and Honolulu, Blind 8 is on a mission to bring social bravery back to everyday life. We talk about how they build real-world community, what it means to show up as a stranger and leave as a friend, and why the most meaningful moments happen when you say yes to the unexpected.Cheers to Social Bravery. 🥂
Apr 30

Creating a Run Club With $0 - Clayton builds Stride and Rise in Austin

Most people wait until they have the budget, the brand deal, the perfect moment.Clayton didn't wait.He's building Stride & Rise — a run club — with $0. No sponsors. No investors. Just a belief that community doesn't need capital to start.In this episode of Side Street, we sat down with Clayton before the breakthrough. He's mid-build, figuring it out in real time, and honest about all of it.We talk about why he started, what it actually takes to pull people together, and the thing most "community builders" get wrong.
Apr 14

From Receptionist to CEO — Taylor Breaks Down Building Wellnest Aesthetics From Scratch

Taylor is one year into building her medspa in Austin, Texas. Just the real, messy, early chapters of what it looks like to bet on yourself and figure it out as you go.We talk about how she got here, how she's marketing a brand that's still finding its footing, and the challenges that come with year one of building something from nothing. She's still in it and that's exactly the point.This is Side Street.

11 Episodes

Telling the stories of builders and creators

Creator

Sudi
Years Active

2026
Episodes

11
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Sudi
Show Website

SideStreet