ForceBrands

🚀 Branders Magazine's Founders Inspiring Founders special issue is OUT NOW! We're thrilled to announce the launch of our latest edition with the incredible Craig Dubitsky 📬 Gain full access HERE ➡https://lnkd.in/eRUEPkk 📚 Explore the latest edition today! 💚 Founders - We've all been there. A brilliant idea strikes, but before you can flesh it out, it disappears into the ether. This month's special issue of Branders Magazine is dedicated to Founders! Thank you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to your comments and feedback! Thanks to our editorial team, partner brands, our incredible group of contributors and sponsors! 🙌 cc: Luis Fernando Vergara Terri Goldstein Cristián Saracco Allegro 234 Goldstein Group Branding Matt Davies ⚡️ Aaron Walton Alexia Grau Dain Walker Jamey Boiter Joanne Chan Hernán López Nikolaj Stagis Jessica Santana Rob Meyerson Club Calima TECH WEEK by a16z PROCOLOMBIA America On Tech Walton Isaacson Turner Duckworth Mr Branding . . . . . . #thisisbranders #branding #strategy #innovation #design #tech #ai #strategicthinking #strategydevelopment #strategytoexecution #founders #foundingjourney #entrepreneurs #creative #sustainability #brandswithpurpose #brandstrategy #strategicgrowth #brands #designcommunity #desingthinking #designer #desingthinking #designagency #designawards #designeducation #designengineering

New from me and Callum Borchers: Who-you-know networking is back. Behind the resurgence: frustration with the digital slog that bogs down U.S. hiring. In Q1 of this year, referrals made up 5% of the outside applicants to jobs on the Greenhouse Software platform — but 30% of the eventual hires. Many hiring managers and applicants agree that the ease with which job hunters can respond to help-wanted postings has broken the online-application process by creating high volumes of candidates that hiring managers can’t hope to parse through. Meanwhile, applicants say automatic screening tools are shutting them out of opportunities. “There’s an idealist in me that wants to look at all the résumés,” one hiring manager says. “The reality is you just can’t.” https://lnkd.in/eTz6mkJ7

It is with great respect and heartfelt joy that I announce our Fall speaker list for the CPG Brand Accelerator. Each of these nine individuals has profoundly impacted me both personally and professionally. I am beyond thrilled to have them involved in the program and to consider them good friends. Years ago, as I navigated and learned everything about the CPG industry, these kind souls were there to guide me, helping me avoid the not-so-obvious bear traps that often ensnare early-stage founders. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing more about these incredible CPG entrepreneurs and, more importantly, highlighting their remarkable qualities as friends and human beings. Stay tuned to learn more about our upcoming panel being represented by Ryan Lewendon of Giannuzzi Lewendon, LLP, Justin Prochnow of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Becky Nelson Dahl of BEXBRANDS, Dwight Richmond of Town & Country Markets, Max Baumann of Basemakers, Sean Conner of ForceBrands, Michael Burgmaier of Whipstitch Capital, Mark Rampolla of GroundForce Capital and Seth Goldman of Eat the Change! #cpg #accelerator #consulting

On June 20, 2006 I opened an email attachment from an unknown teenager who was mad that a relative of his was working on a big CPG competitor to his beloved organic mac & cheese brand. This picture & note rocked my Annie's Inc. world. We'd been competing against Kraft-owned Back to Nature Foods for some time, and were doing well against that threat. But Kraft Heinz "Blue Box", itself, was coming right at us? Holy Sxxt, Existential threat... I freaked out for an hour, then got to work with the team. We guessed we'd have about 6-9 months before this showed up in market. We had to move fast. We developed an aggressive plan: 1) sharpen & tell our brand leadership story better, 2) develop & launch a couple mild-flavored mainstream items (took less than 60 days), and 3) sell as passionately & as hard as we could. Our message to retailers was "Kraft coming into #organic is great, it means this now is a mainstream thing like we've been saying, oh, and we are the #1 brand. We now belong in the mainline set right next to them" It worked. We got out to retailers & positioned for impact. Kraft came in, and indeed grew a sizeable business, but our business grew much faster as the sub-category was validated and consumers became more aware of organic Mac & Cheese as a choice. Our "blue" items were a huge hit. Our company galvanized and focused for battle in a way that is hard to describe unless you've been through it. Competition is a great thing. It makes you so much more focused, action-oriented, and consumer-first. #emergingbrands have a huge agility & speed advantage that they must use every day in order to level the field against massive #cpg brands & their impressive global capabilities. Nothing sharpens the mind, focus, and pace like a terminal threat to your brand's position in the marketplace.