The Startup CPG Podcast

Todd Harris
People don't love the taste of alcohol. Some people do, but most people don't. They drink because they want to feel something. And so can we provide people with a really great feeling, a great tasting product that's naturally going to be a better for you option, the drinking and so right time of meeting consumers and consumer demands where they are, but also just providing a safe, soft and approachable end entry into this industry. Right, like smoking a joint is not super social. Eating a gummy is not social at all. You eat the gummy and you're high by yourself. And so let's give people something that mimics that social exercise and consumption that tastes amazing, that they're never going to wake up feeling like shit.

00:51
Grace Kennedy
Hi everyone, grace here, and welcome back to the startup CPG podcast. Today I am talking todd Harris, one of the co founders of Plift makes delicious hemp infused beverages inspired by classic cocktail flavors. In this episode, we talk about how Plyft is democratizing access to the industry, winning with flavor, offering accessible price points and so much more. I hope you enjoyed the episode and let me know what you think. Hello and welcome back to the startup CPT podcast. This is Grace and I am here with Todd, one of the co founders of Plyft, which is a hemp infused beverage brand. I personally got to try plift when they submitted to the shelfies this year and can't say too much, but I will say I'm a fan and all my friends who I gave it to are also fans.

01:44
Grace Kennedy
But Todd, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our listeners and let them know who is ply perfect.

01:50
Todd Harris
Well, I'm glad to hear, Dre, that you are a fan. We always appreciate that, and I'm hopeful that your friends are as full of fandemonium as you are. So I'm, as you mentioned, Todd Harris. I am the CEO and one of three co founders of Plyft. We are a hempen, or a classic cocktail inspired THC infused soda brand with a big, broad mission of democratizing access to not only cannabis, but also providing people who have maybe had issues with alcohol in their family with an alternative to unwind that doesn't require them to drink alcohol. You know, there's a bit of a personal story there that we can get into, but this is all about access and accessibility and equity in an industry. It's oftentimes dominated by people who, frankly, are not from underrepresented backgrounds. And so we wanted to create a product for everyone.

02:38
Todd Harris
And when we say for everyone we truly mean for everyone. Plift is actually a made up name intentionally, one letter short of the word uplift, because all that's missing is you. And when we say you, the collective use. So that's the broader spectrum of you and meeting people where they are in their journey with cannabis.

02:55
Grace Kennedy
Wow, I love that. And I had no idea that was where the name comes from, but that's really sweet, and I really like that message. And I think it is so important in this industry that is still sort of new and still finding its legs to have people who are coming into it from those underrepresented backgrounds. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about that more personal origin story you mentioned. So what really brought you to actually dive into this industry that is kind of a challenging sector to dive into. So what inspired you to and your co founders to get involved?

03:30
Todd Harris
Yeah, I think there's some obvious insights around just the trend of cannabis destigmatization, the need to socialize consumption, et cetera. But from a personal perspective, you know, I'm an alcoholic, my mom's an alcoholic, my dad is an alcoholic. And when he died an alcoholic, he didn't die from alcohol, but he was an alcoholic until the day he died. My sisters struggle with it, my nephews struggle with it. And so for me, it's been all about, how can we create is something that allows people to love the taste of alcohol? Some people do, but most people don't. They drink because they want to feel something. And so can we provide people with a really great feeling, a great tasting product that's naturally going to be a better for you option, the drinking.

04:09
Todd Harris
Beyond that, as I mentioned, underrepresented founders are getting left behind in the more traditional med rec and licensed marijuana space. And yet, if you look at communities of color or where underrepresented people typically come from, they have more access to alcohol and booze than they do a square veal in a lot of instances. And so we want to be broadly and widely distributed and accessible at a price point that's approachable for anyone. So when someone goes into that corner liquor store, that corner bodega, they have an option, I'm going to drink alcohol today, or you know what? I'm going to try something that's non alcoholic, but still gives me some level of euphoric feeling. And so it's really been at our core and at our mission to bring this product to every corner.

04:49
Todd Harris
And we always say we want to be within quarter mile of any one consumer or we never want a consumer to further than a quarter mile from a plift. And in order for us to do that, we have to create broad distribution, but we also have to be at a price point that allows anyone to approach it. So that's part of our mission and what we're striving towards.

05:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I can say, even just on my own personal level, I had a party or a gathering of friends, and one of my friends is sober. And I was like, oh, here, I have a plift. You can have a plift. And she was so excited to have an option that wasn't just a seltzer and, you know, something she enjoys. And it was a really fun thing to get to offer in that moment. So I've definitely seen that play out in real time on my end.

05:31
Todd Harris
I love that for you, and I love that for her.

05:33
Grace Kennedy
Right.

05:34
Todd Harris
Like, that's really important. You know, there's no secret that alcohol consumption is waning with younger generations, that the non al movement is ballooning, and so. Right. Time of meeting consumers and consumer demands where they are, but also just providing a safe, soft, and approachable entry into this industry.

05:52
Grace Kennedy
Right.

05:52
Todd Harris
Like, smoking a joint is not super social. Eating a gummy is not social at all. You eat the gummy and then you're high by yourself. And so let's give people something that mimics that social exercise and consumption that tastes amazing, that they're never going to wake up feeling like shit.

06:07
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And that brings to mind a question I wanted to ask, which is, how did you decide on the dosage levels? And I know from your website that you have two different can sizes. I think the size I tried was the four milligram, and it did feel like a perfect dose for me. But then again, everybody's experience with cannabis is so different, and everybody's tolerance is so different. So how did you guys decide on what would be, like you said, an approachable level and then also meeting the many different desires one has for an experience with cannabis?

06:44
Todd Harris
Yeah, no, those are great questions. And so I'll start by saying people's brains, and cannabis in particular, think increments that are divisible by five, two and a half, 510. So we said, well, what do we think based on our own consumption experience, what is the perfect dosing for a social alternative drinking? And we landed on four, partly because of just this notion of, like I mentioned, the perfect dosing based on our own consumption. But also from a marketing perspective, it's just different.

07:11
Grace Kennedy
Right?

07:12
Todd Harris
Like, there's not any other brands that I know of that are dosed at four. That being said, as we, as the industry's grown up a little bit, we're starting to see legislation that's been passed in some states that actually caps milligrams per package and milligrams per container. And typically it's under five. Right. So in Iowa, for instance, they just passed a law that says you can't have any more than four milligrams in a can. Well, guess what, you know who's complying for the market today? We are, just by accident. But, you know, it was more over to give a perception of what we felt was the right dosing. And we thought two and a half was too little. We thought five, depending on who you are, could be a bit much. So four felt right. And then from a marketing perspective, yeah.

07:50
Grace Kennedy
That makes a lot of sense. And it's hard to make those decisions in an industry that is not totally regulated or standardized yet everybody's doing something a little bit different in terms of their dosaging or in terms of their marketing. And all of these things so works out well that you guys happen to choose a number that is now becoming maybe the standard.

08:10
Todd Harris
I hope not. I like to be different.

08:12
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, right. That's true. It's good to be different. So obviously you made this decision about dosaging, but how is the development or what was the development process like when you were actually deciding how to do the infusion and the flavors you wanted to use? Yeah. Could you talk a little bit about that development process?

08:29
Todd Harris
Yeah. So my background's in marketing, brand design and helping innovation more traditional strategy. And so we did some social polling with a group of about 400 people, known and unknown, and just kind of asked them about their experience of cannabis, why they do or don't use cannabis, and then what their favorite cocktails at happy hour were. And people are like, well, why would you ask that question? Well, we're starting to, we're trying to understand flavors that people gravitate to. So, you know, the results of that were Margarita Paloma, Moscow mule and actually old fashioned was number four. And, but old fashioned is a really hard flavor to replicate, especially in a non elk environment. And so we said, well, lets win with citrus forward flavors. So that was how went to flavor development. And then we invested heavily in flavors.

09:13
Grace Kennedy
Right?

09:13
Todd Harris
Like we bet on flavor would be the long term winner. Right. And like, theres a lot of brands that have popped into the market and first thing ill say is anyone who gets liquid an idea from an idea into a can, they should be applauded because its really hard to do. That being said, it's not as hard to put a little bit of fruit puree with some carbonated water in a can, hit it with some THC. And now you have a seltzer.

09:35
Grace Kennedy
Right.

09:35
Todd Harris
And like, in my opinion, the word seltzer is grossly overused in the industry. Everyone's a seltzer. And I think that's just a, it's, you know, we've had wholesalers and partners say like, are you a seltzer? I'm like, no, we're more like a soda that good. If you were a seltzer, we're not picking you up. And so we made a very poignant choice to go in the direction went. You know, were very mindful to not use. You know, we are classic cocktail inspired, but we don't say margarita Paloma or Moscow mule anywhere on our packaging. And the reason is simple. So much of the flavor in the actual cocktail is carried the alcohol that you giving consumers an expectation that could fall flat if they expect to taste something more like an alcoholic beverage.

10:18
Todd Harris
But because there's no tequila or vodka or whatever, it doesn't resonate. So what we say is classic cocktail inspired. Here's what we're inspired by that allows their brain to do a lot of the work on what should be coming, but doesn't take it the whole step of the way. And just back to your question around flavor development. We invested and the same flavor team that developed Waterloo sparkling water and canteen and cantina ready to drink cocktails, they actually developed our flavors so we invested heavily on that.

10:45
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, thats awesome. And thats the point you made about the non alcoholic giving it the name of the alcoholic drink is so true. And definitely ive experienced where it says, you know, non alcoholic margarita. And I go to drink it and im like, what is this, like sugary.

10:59
Todd Harris
Lime juice tastes nothing like a margarita. Exactly.

11:02
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And then I'm like, oh, it's cause it's not cut with tequila or whatever. So your brain definitely does have that moment where this is not a margarita. And in a way I have found that, yeah, I've just preferred if I'm gonna have a non alcoholic beverage to just have a non alcoholic beverage that's purposely made for that, not necessarily imitating a alcoholic drink.

11:24
Todd Harris
Yeah. And the other part of that too, Grace, was we didn't want to box ourselves into being consumed only around alcoholic drinking occasions. Right. And so when you say cocktail or mocktail or whatever you say, you know, people's brains ultimately say, well, then this is a drink for after six or 07:00 p.m. Right? Well, we're like, well, no, you can drink us after six or 07:00 p.m. But you could easily drink us on your way to a barbecue or on your way to a street festival or a music festival or whatever it is, and get that euphoric buzz that you're seeking, or you would potentially be seeking from alcohol. You can get it in a couple cans, and it could be for any time. Consumption.

11:59
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. Or it could be a little bit before bed. Yeah, whenever you need it.

12:04
Todd Harris
Choose your own adventure.

12:05
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, exactly. Choose your own plift. So, one thing you mentioned was about the labeling you use on the can, which you say, you know, you don't say the, you know, Margarita inspired. And another thing I noticed that I wanted to ask you about was calling it, you know, hemp infused. And I was curious the reasoning behind that. And is that related to some of the rules and regulations of the cannabis industry?

12:28
Todd Harris
Absolutely. So, simply put, this will be a little bit of a education period for listeners, but hemp and marijuana are both the same plant. Cannabis sativa L. The difference is that hemp is 0.3% or less thc by dry weight volume. Marijuana is more. So typically, marijuana is known for high potency THC, and that's it. Where hemp is known for THC and lower potencies naturally occur in the plant, as well as 120 ish other cannabinoids, CBD, CBG, CBN, others. And so because of that delineation, marijuana is still a schedule one substance and federally illegal.

13:03
Grace Kennedy
Right.

13:03
Todd Harris
Whereas Hemp 2018 farm bill, federally legalized hemp and low potency THC as a byproduct of that federal legalization. So, with that, you know, we use hemp for a couple of reasons. One, when we looked at launching in the licensed market, we just couldnt find a path to profitability, and the business didnt simply scale.

13:21
Grace Kennedy
Right.

13:21
Todd Harris
Whereas with using hemp, we can scale much more like a CBG company and less like a marijuana company. So we can grow our hemp in one state, ship it to another state, produce our drinks in one state, ship them to another state. I just saw an email from a wholesale partner checking on an order in Kansas City. That order is coming from Illinois. We were using marijuana. That could not happen. But because we're using hemp, we could put it on Shrox and freight it right to this guy. So, so it just created an economy and a scalability in our business that did not exist. And so we use the call outs of hemp derived, or delta nine THC, because the delta nine THC and hemp and the THC and marijuana, they're the exact same chemical compound.

13:59
Todd Harris
We use delta nine to delineate that it's from hemp. It allows the consumer and the, and frankly, the broader community to know and understand that this product is using THC that is derived from hemp.

14:10
Grace Kennedy
Yes. So I think that's a really interesting element of this industry, these little, like, differentiations you have to make to both the customer and the wholesalers you work with and the legalese of it all. So one of the questions I wanted to ask you mentioned this education piece that you were just giving some of our listeners, and I was curious how you are managing that education piece with your customers and with your wholesale and retail partners, because there is still so much that people don't know and are confused by and are kind of scared by, to be honest. So how are you managing that education piece?

14:47
Todd Harris
It's a great question, and it's a little bit grassroots blocking and tackling. However, you know, we've provided, we built really great. We have an in house designer who is super talented, and we've created a bunch of tools that we, all of our wholesale partners, we created a folder for them and we put a bunch of assets in them for them to use and put into the field. Right. And so what we encourage them all to do is we just recently made a hemp guide, which is like, what should I feel? Well, how is this legal? All these questions that we're talking about, basically like a small quad fold pamphlet.

15:20
Todd Harris
And we printed them and we've given them to our distribution and their sales teams so that when they're out in accounts, they can drop these things so that they leave behind that liquor stores or leave behind at bars and restaurants or wherever, so that we can use a little bit of grassroots to more broadly educate the marketplace. Obviously, anytime we get a chance to speak with people like you or I, provide interviews to the written press or whatever to help amplify this message, we take them and then, you know, a little bit of on the shoulders of the industry. How can our peer group take these same types of exercises and messaging do that as well? Because the reality of it is that it's going to truly take a village.

15:56
Todd Harris
And unfortunately, there's a group of people who look at us as a threat versus expanding the marketplace and the destigmatization of cannabis. And so there's a lot of fear mongering and scary messaging put in the market that these products aren't safe or they're bathtub THC. And it's just fundamentally not true. Right. Like, we operate a several million dollar a year business and growing. We test our products rigorously in the same labs that dispensary products test in. We test three to four x prior to a consumer ever trying it. We have complete chain of custody. Where the hemp was grown, what farm, how it ended up in our co manufacturer. Like, we go above and beyond because this is an emerging category and it's just fundamentally necessary for us to lead from the front. And so we're not cutting any corners.

16:44
Todd Harris
We're investing the proper resources, time and energy to legitimize this category at the largest of scales.

16:51
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, and that makes so much sense and I think is so important. But also a lot of work on your end, I'm sure. And I feel like we don't, as consumers, always understand the amount of work that goes in the background for businesses like this. Another thing that I wanted to ask about that you mentioned was your distribution. So I noticed from your website, you know, you're in multiple states now. What has been the process like getting Plyft distributed? I'm sure there have been many challenges. So could you speak a little bit about how you're getting it?

17:23
Todd Harris
Yeah, I mean, first things first. It's really hard. It's a lot of people, it's a lot of logistics, it's a lot of convincing. It's hard, it's getting better. And the reason it's getting better is because, number one, the market more broadly is more accepting. You know, you're seeing more and more sales, you're seeing more and more figures, you're seeing more and more states. Put some guardrails around the legalities and codifying this category into law.

17:46
Grace Kennedy
Right.

17:46
Todd Harris
So that's good. The other part of it, just from our vantage point, is we've got the best liquid in the game. Our liquid is the best. And so when a wholesaler tries it, that is like, okay, we can sell this. And then we tell them about, you know, our mission to be the price the most accessibly. And that's why we price the way we do. And we want to make sure that they get their margins but, and the retailers get their margins, but the end game is that the consumer is paying a fair price for a really good product. We always say premium, look, premium, taste, value, priced like, that's how we go to market. That's our mission. And that resonates. And so when we first started this, call it a year ago, getting a wholesaler to pick us up was like pulling teeth.

18:23
Todd Harris
Now, the inverse tap, we have more wholesalers wanting to carry us than we have inventory to give them right now. And so it's a great problem to have raising the money to solve that problem right now. But I mean, we're seeing, we plyft are seeing an immense amount of support from the wholesaler retailer and consumer marketplace that they're all super big fans of our product.

18:46
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. It reminds me a little bit of alcohol distribution. It's obviously not alcohol, but in the sense that it's kind of wholesale account by wholesale account to get these things. And then once more people have sort of bought in, it can go a little bit faster. Have you found any challenges in terms of, like, certain states just not allowing.

19:06
Todd Harris
Yeah, theres a handful of the 50 states. I dont have the exact number, but I want to say somewhere around 35, 38, something like that. States are pretty wide open for products like ours. Theres another handful that have some pretty tight restrictions, and then theres another handful that are like hourly ban it. And so from that vantage point, you have to do a little bit of a state by state blocking and tackling. Theres none of the big wholesalers that call it the republic nationals or the glazers that have 30 or 40 states of coverage that have jumped up and said, yeah, we're going to start distributing these products more widely. But if they should get in the game, there's already precedence set, that if you deliver and distribute into markets, that there is some sales and sales growth to be had there.

19:49
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that makes sense, I think. I'm based in Philadelphia and I PA has some very backward laws in general. So I feel like we might be one of the states that is very restrictive of things like pliftez, unfortunately for me. But that's all right. We'll keep pushing our legislators here in PA to be a little bit less tight lipped. So another element I wanted to ask about, or I guess go back to, but you talked a little bit about the cannabis industry at large. And on your website you say that, you know, you want to build a business that can create the cannabis industry that you want to see. Could you speak a little bit more about what sort of industry you want to see and what you hope Lyft is helping to create industry at large?

20:32
Todd Harris
Yeah, absolutely. So I want to create an industry that looks like me and you, where 2% of ownership in the regulated market is black. And I can't remember the exact number, but it's less than 10% as women own.

20:45
Grace Kennedy
Right.

20:45
Todd Harris
And so that just, frankly, doesn't even mirror and come close to mirroring society. And so I want to create an industry that's so accessible, the costs of entering are not barriers to trying to enter.

20:58
Grace Kennedy
Right.

20:58
Todd Harris
You know, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to apply for licensing that you may or may not get, you know, a limited license model and by nature is inequitable because the people who have resources will almost always get to the front of the line. So I want to create an industry and hemp business vehicle to do it. We're in the beverage space exclusively, but there's other people who make gummies and, you know, other products that I want them to have an opportunity to. So I want to create an industry that's super diverse and accessible to enter. What we're doing today is we provide resources from a brand business consulting to small founders. A woman and a son that we're working with in Minnesota right now. She's a black woman, son's black young man. He's part of the LGBTQ community.

21:42
Todd Harris
And they're like, hey, we want to bring this beverage to market. We're like, great. So we've helped them, consulted them. We've worked with really good partners in flavors. We've invested time and our own money. We've now asked them for money. We're helping them revamp their brand. We're going to design their packaging for them. And we've done this for several underrepresented founders. Not because to say, hey, look at us. Look how great we are, because we don't really tell anyone about it unless they ask, but we do it because that's what you write. Like, my background, my partner's background, we're lucky. We've got the acumen, we've got the networks. We've done some things and succeeded at some things that afforded us this opportunity. Not everyone who looks like me has that same path.

22:20
Todd Harris
And so I want to do what I can do to move out the road in front of them and whatever that is, that time, money, whatever I can offer up, that's what I do. Because when I die, you know, I have two daughters. I want them to be able to say, look, my dad fundamentally changed this industry and fundamentally changed people's relationships with cannabis and alcohol. And in order for me to do that, I need to be super inclusive and how I carry myself and who I pull out a seat and allow to sit at that table.

22:47
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love that. And I think speaks to just even beyond this industry, wanting the whole world to have that mindset of bringing more people in, getting more people to the table, and also elevating more people who have not traditionally been elevated to these levels of power, success, money, all these things. So for any of our listeners who are hearing your story and either want to start a beverage brand as cannabis brand or any really entrepreneurial pursuit, what sort of resources or advice can you recommend to an early stage founder who maybe hasn't even brought their product to market yet, like that family in Minnesota? What would be your sort of first resources to point them towards?

23:33
Todd Harris
So I think the first thing I would say to them is, and this is held loosely because I understand that everyone doesn't have the same network of people, but I would stop and take a pause and say, who do I know? And the reason why you ask, who do you know? Is because you may have people in your network, you may say, I'm going to start a beverage, but you may have someone in your network who used to work at Hershey, and therefore you don't want to start a beverage. You want to start a candy bar or a chocolate line or whatever, like.

24:01
Todd Harris
And the reason why I say that is because when my partner Glenn and I started this and we looked at our network, he had a ton of cannabis experience and he had a ton of people in that world, but he didnt have product people experience. My network was, I had a lot of product people, but I had a ton of people in the beverage world, in particular, Jeff. So I was like, well, what we dont know about bringing the beverage to market, these people with years of experience do. My point in saying how to surround yourself with people that can help you take your idea a bit further. Thats the first. The second is don't let great get in the way of good.

24:34
Todd Harris
There is a lot of opportunity and time to refine a product and get it from your V one product to its final state, which any good product team will tell you that you're probably never in the final state. But why I say that is because allowing yourself to, you know, move in a place of good versus great lets you to test on real people. They'll tell you and give you real time feedback around, does this product taste good? Is it something that I would use? Is it priced appropriately? Like all these things that you have to take into consideration in order to scale. And so letting great get in the way of good, you invest way more money and way more time in a product that you're going to end up changing anyways.

25:17
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. That's such great advice. And you do need people to try things because you're just one person, and what you like might be very different than what the next person likes.

25:28
Todd Harris
Well, you have buy, right? Like, we all have bias, and we tend to lean to things that are natural, comfortable, or we like. And so for us, we spend a lot of our time sending samples out to people who have nothing to do with us. Tell us what you think of this, because we will tell ourselves the story that we're the best.

25:46
Grace Kennedy
Right.

25:46
Todd Harris
But how we got to where we are with our product is we had tons of people, friends, family, people who were loosely related to us, like, or loosely connected to us, I should say, tell us, yo, this is great. And that was the validation for us to keep going deeper, deeper on those versions of that product.

26:04
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I think that's really great advice and so important to remember to just get it out there. So another sort of big question I always like to ask founders, because I think it helps to know that every founder struggles in some way. But what has been one of the biggest challenges since founding cliff, and this could be on a personal or professional level, and it could also be something that's still going on today or something you conquered a long time ago.

26:33
Todd Harris
Jeff, I'll give you a personal and a professional. So the personal side is like, time management and juggling my time.

26:40
Grace Kennedy
Right.

26:40
Todd Harris
Like, I have to be a lot of places. A lot of people want, need my attention a lot of times. Those are the things that, frankly, I don't like to do in our business and take me away from the things I do like to do in the business, and also just away from my family. They don't see and get as much of me as I wish they could and would. Part of that is for the longer term goal of what we're trying to do. So that's the personal side, the professional side is raising money. It's really hard. You know, we have a ton of traction. We have business that we can't even take right now because we don't have the inventory to fulfill it. Right. So raising money, and it's slowing us down from being able to run like unbridled horses.

27:17
Todd Harris
I was just on a call earlier, and I said, you know, have you ever seen a racehorse in the starting blocks? But they couldn't open the gate like, you're looking at us. That's what we're doing. We're ready to run. We've got everything behind us to run wildly and open and fast and free, but we need more capital. So those are the two things that have been the hardest, I would say. And look, every day is different. That's part of the reason why I love it. Starting a company like this is getting your MBA, your cannabis MBA, your CPG MBA, and just your hard knock life mba all at once. But those are two of the main things I would say from a personal and professional perspective.

27:50
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And everybody I've been speaking to recently as well has griped about fundraising and the current landscape and fundraising. And so what approach are you guys taking to this fundraising you are, you're currently involved in?

28:05
Todd Harris
It's interesting, when we first raised our first bit of funds, people bet on us because it was us and they bet on the idea. They're like, we're not quite sure this is going to be a thing, but okay, then you get feedback from those early investors like, whoa, you guys were way early on this thing because it's becoming a thing quickly. So that was like early. It was. It was actually probably easier when it was just an idea. Now were raising down based on we have purchase orders, we literally have paper that says we have this much revenue committed on a monthly basis and were taking those investors like, it doesnt get any better than this here. Were actually asking you to invest money thats going literally right now to fund the growth of the business. And heres proof.

28:42
Todd Harris
And so thats conversation is one that frankly we hadnt been able to have until more recently. I mean, we've been having growth conversations because we're steadily growing. But to have one that says, look, we have more orders and we have more orders inventory and more orders behind this, that's raising it from a more advantageous place, for sure.

28:59
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely a better problem to have than say, I don't have enough orders. But also still tricky because just getting inventory is so expensive and there are so many costs that come with running a business. But on the flip side of the challenges, what has been one of your proudest moments since founding Blift and one of those things that keeps you going when an investor says no or you can't do something or you're disappointed.

29:25
Todd Harris
I think my proudest moment is when we get emails, texts, calls and DM's on social media saying, I love your product. I haven't drank in ten months, it's given me hope that I won't return to alcohol. Oh, I just love the fact that it just gives me something to socialize with. Those are probably my favorite because it reminds me, and it reminds us that although we're building something bigger, we're connecting one to one with people. And I think people really love that the founders respond to them like, I respond to these people personally. Like, that means a lot to us. Thank you. Can we send you a litty and stuff like that?

30:00
Todd Harris
And so those types of things, like me being in the field with sales teams and things like that's what I love, because I love to see people's real reaction when the founder of one of these business walks into a total wine liquor store and says, hey, I live down the street. I wanted to come check in and introduce myself and let you know. If you have a question, you can call me. People are like, wow, that level of connectivity to an owner or founder of a company doesn't really exist. And so that's what drives me. I do know I'm not scalable, so I know there's going to come be a time where I can't go into every total line, I can't go in every store, but I can always try, right? I can be. I can do my best.

30:33
Todd Harris
And, you know, Andrew and Glenn feel the same. Like, as often as we can get out in front of the people who are going to make us what we're going to become, that's where we like to spend most of our time.

30:42
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. So, as we wrap up, I have two more questions, really. One being just, what's one myth or misconception that you would like to debunk for our listeners about the cannabis industry, about hemp infused beverages? What's one thing that you just want to set straight here and now?

31:01
Todd Harris
Hemp derived cannabinoids are safe. They're safe. Are there bad actors? Of course there's bad actors in every industry, but they are safe. They are tested. And many, many professionals in this industry have been asking and lobbying on the state level for regulatory guidance. We want to be regulated. We want to pay our fair share of taxes. We want to keep these products out of the hands of children. So all these things that people hear, these massive headlines, they're funded by special interests. And as someone who sits in the industry, has been in state houses all over this country, has talked to politicians, I'm here to tell you that I would not put something in the world that could adversely impact my kids.

31:43
Todd Harris
And I would rather, this is not promoting this, but I would rather have my kids get loose and plyft than to get loose in a six pack or twelve pack of high notes. So I mean that's just the reality. Again, I'm not advocating that, but I'm saying just from a peer safety perspective, these products are safe.

32:00
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great message to end on. So my final question is just how can our listeners support playft? How can they learn more about and biplift?

32:09
Todd Harris
Yeah. So first things first. Thank you for having me. I mean I think it's unbelievable that, you know, startup CPG and you grace reached out and gave us this platform to kind of tell this story. So what you could do to support, follow us on social media, on all the social depending upon the state, go out and look for us. We're broadly distributed in twelve or so states now. So you've got national chain approval at total lines over the total line in your state. Look for us in the very near future. Support our retail partners. If you are in a state where we are going to buy us, if theres a liquor store in the state that you know is selling THC beverages and theyre not carrying Clift, ask them to carry it by name, theyll pick us up.

32:49
Todd Harris
Most reputable liquor stores will and those are the main ways. Like were not selling a ton online just because theres not a lot of efficiencies in shipping liquid and shipping from state to state. And we want our product to show up in peoples communities. Right like again where accessibility is at a community and at sheet level. And so that's where pushing consumers.

33:09
Grace Kennedy
Yeah that's awesome. So anybody who's listening follow, drink Plyft, learn more about them, go to your total wine if it's nearby. And yeah I'm really excited to see where Plyft goes in the future.

33:22
Todd Harris
I would say email if you have a question you want to learn more, you want to tell us a state we should take a look at? Email helloff.com p dash I f t.com dot love it.

33:33
Grace Kennedy
Perfect note to end on email them, follow them, buy them, all the above. Super great to chat with you Todd and thank you everyone for listening.

33:42
Todd Harris
Thank you.

33:44
Grace Kennedy
All right everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, it would help us out so much if you left a five star review on the Apple podcasts or Spotify. I am Grace Kennedy, the editor for startup CPG. So feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature, and if you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com dot. And finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack and you can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com dot.