Predicting The Turn W/ Dave Knox

One of the most competitive industries in packaged goods is the beverage space. But over the last decade, one of the fastest growing brands has been Sparkling Ice, known for their bold flavors of sparkling water. I sat down with Chris Hall, CEO of Sparkling Ice maker Talking Rain to discuss the history of the business and his own unique journey to becoming CEO.

Few brands are more connected to in-person events like the Super Bowl and music festivals than Anheuser-Busch. So a global shutdown of these events required a complete rewriting of the marketing plans of brands like Budweiser and Bud Light. I sat down with Marcel Marcondes, CMO of Anheuser-Busch, to discuss the pivots the brands made, why they changed their approach to the Super Bowl in 2021, and how a mindset around consumer-centricity continues to be so important to the business.

Moving into your first CEO role is far from an easy transition. But that challenge becomes a little more complex when your first day on the job is March 23, 2020 in the early days of a global pandemic. That is the situation that Charlie Cole, the CEO of FTD found himself in. We sat down to talk about this, the moves FTD has made, and how he is leading this new team when COVID has made it that he has never physically been in the FTD office since taking over as CEO.

Kara Goldin is the founder of Hint Inc, a company that is best known for Hint Water, the leading unsweetened flavored water. It was her experience as an entrepreneur and the realization that the narrative needed to change that inspired her to write Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters. I sat down with Kara to talk about her journey building Hint and learn about the inspiration to write Undaunted.

For over 70 years, Topps has been part of culture and childhood memories as the maker of their iconic baseball cards. In recent years, the industry has seen multiple changes, including a significant rise in popularity during the pandemic as people rediscovered the hobby. I sat down with David Leiner, Topps VP/GM of Global Sports and Entertainment to discuss the changes in the industry, how they support the hobby’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and plans for celebrating their 70 year anniversary.

If you know Fazoli’s, you know their famous breadsticks. Some have even said they are the greatest of all time. Every year the company serves over 100 million of these fan favorites in their restaurants. While the breadstick has been a constant in the company’s 33-year history, the last decade has been one of change and reinvention. I sat down with Carl Howard, CEO of Fazoli’s to talk about the changes they have made to the business in recent years and why those changes and a focus on the consumer, led to the best year in the company’s history.

One of the hardest hit businesses during COVID were the independently-owned gyms across the country. But thanks to a now award-winning marketing campaign by O2 Recovery, many of those gyms were able to keep their members during the lockdowns. I sat down with Dave Colina, CEO & Founder of O2, to talk about their #StayForMay campaign, which recently won BevNet’s Best Marketing Campaign award thanks to nearly 60,000 consumers paying their dues to 1,918 gyms.

Jeremy Andrus helped Skullcandy become one of the hottest brands in electronics, eventually watching the company go public in 2011. As he started looking for his next adventure, he came across a 26-year old business in the grilling space. That business was Traeger Grills, which Andrus acquired in 2014 alongside private equity partner Trilantic Capital Partners. Today, Traeger has one of the most passionate communities in the industry, built around cutting edge technology and more importantly, a better cooking experience. I sat down with Jeremy to talk about the process of entrepreneurship through acquisition and how his team has built Traeger into the lifestyle brand it is today.

Countless college students have written business plans in class only to have their professor say it’s a bad idea. Not many of those students have taken that rejection and turned around to bootstrap the business by working at an oil refinery and on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska. But not every college student is like Todd Graves, the Founder, Chairman, CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier of Raising Cane’s. I sat down with Todd recently to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and why appreciation is at the heart of their culture at Raising Cane’s.

Like many in the fitness world, CycleBar saw their business flipped upside down when COVID hit. However, thanks to their unique community and the efforts of the franchisees, the company has been to help their studios re-open. I sat down with Trevor Lucas, the president of CycleBar to talk about the future of the exercise industry and what he's learned during the days of COVID.

In the early days of Pipcorn, everything went well right for the brand. They landed a deal on Shark Tanks, won distribution at Whole Foods, and saw everything pointing up and to the right. But when an investor left the company with nothing but empty promises after a 5-month process, the team at Pipcorn learned that they have to fight for their business. I sat down with Teresa Tsou, the co- founder and co-CEO of Pipcorn to talk about their journey and how they ultimately shook off the no’s in order to fight for themselves.

SuperCoffee was born from Jordan DeCicco’s search for healthier bottled coffee to get through the days and nights as a student athlete. Together with his brothers Jim and Jake, the DeCicco’s decided the world needed an alternative to the sugar-filled Frappuccino. In advance of our panel at FounderMade Discovery At Home, I sat down with oldest brother and CEO Jim DeCicco to talk about this journey of launching a CPG and why the time is now for emerging brands.

Every month, Enthusiast Gaming reaches over 300 million gamers. They are capitalizing on the changing demographic trends where more people today are watching eSports than the NBA or MLB. I sat down with Thamba Tharmalingam, Chief Operating Officer of Enthusiast Gaming to learn more about how marketers can embrace this massive shift in entertainment.

As President of Beyond Beer at Anheuser-Busch, Fabricio Zonzini oversees a portfolio of new and groundbreaking products that allows A-B to predict consumer trends before they start. With products ranging from “water to whiskey”, Beyond Beer offers consumers exactly what they’re looking for across a range of occasions and trends. I sat down with Zonzini to learn more about how Beyond Beer stays on top of consumer trends and and how the business unit is driving growth for Anheuser-Busch.

Over two decades ago, Joel Clark and his brother John took their mom’s wholewheat pancake recipe and turned it into a business. Today, the business has grown from those humble roots across center store categories ranging from pancakes to oatmeal to frozen waffles. I sat down with John to learn about how they have expanded the brand and why one of their best decisions was actually not launching a product in their early days.

When he retired from the NFL, Tiki Barber realized there was a business opportunity around business entertainment done differently. Seven years later, Thuzio, the company he co-founded, has created a new format for business entertainment. I sat down with Tiki and his Thuzio co-founder Jared Augustine to talk about the inspiration behind the business and why they believe the virtual event platform is here to stay for business entertainment.

Annie Duke retired from professional poker in 2012 as one of the most successful players of all time. Today, she is taking what she learned at the poker table about decision making and sharing it with the world as an author and public speaker. We sat down to talk about her new book How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choicesand why business is dealing with poker like environments and all the uncertainty that comes with it.

Over his career, Paul Chibe has led marketing for some of the largest brands in the world ranging from Quaker Oats and Wrigley to Anheuser-Busch where he served as Chief Marketing Officer in the United States. Today, he serves as the CEO of Ferrero North America, maker of iconic brands such as Nutella, Tic Tac, Kinder, and Butterfinger. We sat down to talk about his move from CMO to CEO, and what marketers should focus on during their career.

The founders of Innovation Department believe that in the search for the next billion-dollar exit, there are pockets of opportunities being overlooked in consumer brands. Through a unique application of linear commerce, they have built brands like Wellpath by following a different approach to brand building. I sat down with Colin Darretta, the co-founder of the Innovation Department, and James Shalhoub, the CEO and founder of their newest brand Finn, to learn about this approach and how they are applying it with their newest launch.

Davis Siksnans is a believer that most good business ideas come out of solving your own need. His first company Startup Vitamins was exactly that. And a need in that business directly led to Printful, which is now one of the largest print on demand drop ship companies in the world. I sat down to talk with Davis about the journey of stating Printful, why print on demand is empowering a wide range of entrepreneurs, and how COVID has impacted the business.