Predicting The Turn W/ Dave Knox

Nearly 50 years ago, Smoothie King not only created the smoothie category but came up with the name. Today, the company continues to be a partner in the healthy and active lifestyle of millions of people every day. I sat down with Wan Kim, CEO of Smoothie King, to learn about his journey first as a franchisee and now as the CEO and owner of the company.

In the world of retail, the farm store often doesn’t get the same attention as channels like Food, Drug, Mass or Club. But in many ways, this channel is the backbone of the North American economy. Tom Mahlke, CEO of Mid-States Distributing, knows this firsthand. Mid-States started in 1954 as a cooperative bringing together small entrepreneurial rural companies. Today, Mid-States has become one of the nation’s largest retailers in the farm store channel with 36 members, 700 store locations and annual sales in excess of 6.5 billion dollars. At their Winter Rendezvous Trade Show, I sat down with Tom to discuss the Farm and Ranch channel, what makes it different, and why relationships matter so much in their industry.

“Serial was one of those shows where people figured out how to listen to a podcast because they wanted to listen to Serial.” That’s according to Jen Sargent, Chief Operating Officer of Wondery, one of the world’s leading podcast content creators and someone who knows a thing or two about serialized storytelling with hit podcasts like Dr Death. I sat down with Jen to discuss the world of podcasting and how the business of content creation is changing.

As a Partner at First Round Capital, Phin Barnes is one of the leading seed venture capitalists in the country. But his path to venture capital isn’t the typical one. In his first job after college, Phin spent six years helping to scale AND 1 Basketball from $15 million to over $225 million in revenue including developing their signature AND 1 marketing property — the AND 1 Mix Tape. We sat down to talk his journey, why relationships and process matter, and how he went from marketing basketball shoes to investing in disruptive startups such as GOAT, Blue Apron, and Birchbox.

Entrepreneurship is often about celebrating the founder. Names like Phil Knight, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk can’t be separated from mentions of Nike, Apple, and Tesla. But there is a different sort of entrepreneur that made companies like McDonald’s a household name. They were able to identify an existing company with untapped potential, acquire that business, and then lead it to tremendous growth. It is called entrepreneurship through acquisition or ETA for short. Eugene Kang is just that type of entrepreneur. Kang is the CEO of Country Archer, a business that he bought for $500,000 in 2010 and over the last decade, has grown into one of the largest jerky companies in the world. I sat down with Eugene to talk about his journey, how retail is changing, and the challenge of driving innovation in a category.

Gautam Gupta is an investor and entrepreneur. Starting his career at General Catalyst, Gautam then went on to be founder and CEO of NatureBox. He's now returned to the venture world as a Partner at M13. We sat down to talk his journey in the startup world and the opportunities that he feels new technology will open up.

Will McClelland is the co-founder and partner at Elizabeth Street Ventures. Will had his first taste as an investor when he supported his brother’s efforts to launch a bike company in the Phillipines that was manufactured out of bamboo. That experience, including their bikes being a gift to President Obama from the Phillipines government, have led Will to focus on investing in consumer startups. We talked about the 30+ investments he has had made, why the intuition of the entrepreneur is what he looks for the most, and the broad aperture they use at Elizabeth St to define consumer.

What would lead someone to walk away from a 6 figure job for a job making 25k a year? For Gino Wickman, it was not only a passion for the company but more importantly a desire to save his father’s failing business. He convinced his dad that he could save the business. His dad wrote him a check for 100k, gave him the keys to the company, and in 7 years he had resurrected the company and sold it. I sat down with Gino to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur, how that led him to create the highly successful Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and why he wrote his new book Entrepreneurial Leap.

How do you predict an explosive new category? Adnan Durrani, co-founder and CEO of Saffron Road, is a good person to ask after doing just that in multiple entrepreneurial ventures. Before Saffron Road, Adnan was involved in both launching the healthy yogurt revolution with Stonyfield Farms and the emergence of bottled water with Vermont Pure Spring. In Saffron Road, he has now created a new category with the world’s first Halal-certified, antibiotic free and humanely raised frozen entrée. We sat down to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur and how the business was inspired by a changing consumer base with different expectations for brands.

North America is changing. It’s becoming younger, more multicultural, and more globally aware. And the MLS is banking on it. On this episode, we spoke with David Bruce, the SVP of Brand & Marketing at the MLS. He discussed how he’s making the MLS brand and clubs stand out, doing the opposite of competing brands, and embracing multicultural uniqueness. What we talked about: - Competing against well-established brands - Branding in a multicultural world - Cultural fluidity

How do you really empathize with someone? You feel with them. So, if you’re going to create a new category that solves someone’s pain, you have to actually feel that pain. That’s straight from a true category creator, Sangram Vajre. He came on this episode to discuss how he created the #ABM (account-based marketing) category. Sangram is the co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Terminus, and worked at Pardot and ExactTarget during their acquisition by Salesforce for $2.5B What we talked about: - Empathizing with your customers/market - Knowing the pain - Category creation

On this episode, we invited Simon Burton, Managing Director at eighteen94 Capital, to give us an inside look at how he and his team choose investments. Simon has extensive experience in capital management and investment at Chase, Kellogg’s, Norges Bank, and others. What we talked about: - Strategic vs. returns-oriented VC investments - What Kellogg’s looks for in “strategic” investments - How to balancing returns & strategy in VC funding - Corporate VC organizational structure - Venture Capital funding

What does it mean to “bring the hustle”? On this episode of Predicting The Turn, I sat down with Tristan Walker, CEO and Founder of Walker & Company to answer that very question. As a person of color unable to find razor blades made for his skin, Tristan took his drive, his business acumen, his Stanford MBA, and said “I”m the perfect person to solve this problem.” We sat down to talk about the journey, the company's acquisition by Procter & Gamble, and why he is just getting started on what they are building.

What business lessons can we learn from the owner of Oprah’s favorite ice cream? It turns out, quite a few. On this episode, CEO & President of Graeter’s discusses how his 19th century, family-owned, brick-and-mortar ice cream company is expanding into the future. Balancing relevancy with quality. Tying your business to geography. Online sales. Family businesses. Women-owned businesses. For more interviews from thought leaders who are Predicting the Turn, check out our podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or our website.

Digital offers a superior experience. So, why doesn’t every business embrace digital? Adam Weber, Varsity Tutors, came on a recent episode of Predicting The Turn to talk about this issue. He also gave us some insight into other issues, including Why performance marketing and brand marketings are one and the same How Dollar Shave Club was able to grow so quickly. What you should keep in mind when acquiring a company. You can find this interview, and many more by subscribing to Predicting the Turn  Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

When it comes to marketing, innovation has brought about some great tools. But it’s also brought some new legal challenges marketers have to face. So, how can companies navigate these new legal challenges?  On this episode of Predicting The Turn, I'm joined by Sharon Toerek, Principal at Toerek Law. She came on the show to talk through some creative ways companies can turn issues like data privacy into wins for their business.

What comes to mind when you think of Digital Innovation? Apple? Uber? Sure, that makes sense. But what about a company like Nestle? If we’re being totally honest, a multi-national food giant like Nestle probably isn’t on the front of anybody’s radar when we talk about Digital Innovation. In this episode of Predicting The Turn, Mark Brodeur gives some incredible insight on how to become great at building relationships. Advice for companies looking to embark on a journey of Digital Innovation. How to focus on Digital Innovation at a $100B+ company. You can find this interview, and many more by subscribing to the Predicting the Turn  Podcast on Apple Podcasts, or on.

How many 100-year-old companies do you know that are still fresh and relevant today? Odds are, not many. Keeping your brand fresh and engaging for an entire CENTURY is no small feat. Thankfully, Julie Haddon is not your average marketer. On a recent episode of the Predicting the Turn podcast, Julie shared four of the ways that she and her team at the NFL are keeping a 100-year-old company fresh and engaging. 

Athletes-turned-entrepreneurs bring a powerful mental toughness to business. Travis Kelce (star tight end for the KC Chiefs and 4-time Pro Bowler) didn’t disappoint during this interview on Predicting the Turn. What we talked about: Relying on your team in business (and football), why you should be a nerd in your profession, and the difference between being a spokesperson for a third-party brand, and being the face of your own company. Checkout these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Wikipedia article on Travis Kelce, Hilo Gummies. For more interviews from thought leaders who are Predicting the Turn, check out our podcast on Apple, on, Spotify, or our website.

In the Internet, Age security is one of the most important considerations for any business. Whether you run an online company in need of cybersecurity or a brick-and-mortar in need of physical security the urgency of being safe can’t be overlooked. One of the most trusted names in security is Allegion. Partly, because they are always thinking ahead. One example is the fact that they hired Rob Martens, a futurist, to work with them on their expansion into Ventures. The primary purpose of their fund is emergent technology companies. Allegion is used to participating in larger ecosystems, so they need to work with new technologies to learn what they need to do to successfully interface with them in the future. This supports their company vision of creating seamless access and a safer world.