Disclaimer: I am an advisor to Once Upon a Farm, which produces smoothies for tiny kids but do not hold equity in the company

The battle for the freshly blended home smoothie is on. You would think this is something for bagged produce, but it's the latest packaged food competition. Daily Harvest appeared online in 2015 to challenge Dole fruit’s near monopoly on frozen smoothie kits and fruit for the home blender. Where is all this going? And what can we learn from this new category?

Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

As wealth has concentrated in the 1%, there is a lot more private money looking for ways to diversify and generate income. Not in savings accounts or CDs. In your startup. Angel and family office money is more plentiful than ever, but institutional venture capital (backed by Wall Street) has basically pulled up and out of food and other highly unprofitable sectors of consumer packaged goods. Private Equity is largely backing Phase 4 brands far from the launch gates. Why is this? And what does it mean for founders today growing companies? I'll dive into all of it.

Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Part Two of my conversation with Samyr Lainé, an expert in the intersection of A-list celebrities and CPG startups and how to make this work for everyone. He is especially keen on A-list celebrity founder-operators and equity-for-endorsement deals.

In this episode, Samyr and I talk about 1) the different ways that celebrities get involved and the pros and cons of each, 2) the increasing business savvy of celebrity founders, and 3) the difference between celebrity founders and celebrity CEOs...

Samyr Lainé is an investor, Olympian, brand builder and operator with a background in sports & entertainment. He is currently Managing Partner and GP of Freedom Trail Capital, former SVP of Operations & Strategy at Westbrook, and former Senior Director of Operations at Roc Nation. Prior to working on celebrity ventures for Will & Jada Pinkett Smith (at Westbrook) and JAY-Z (at Roc Nation), Samyr worked in the sports industry at Major League Soccer and Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He also finished 10th at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the triple jump representing Haiti after getting degrees from Georgetown Law, The University of Texas & Harvard University.

Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com