What Early-Stage CPG Investors Look for in Founders, Metrics and Profitability
In this Investor Spotlight, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Jake Boyd, a Consumer Investor focused on early-stage CPG brands, to talk about what investors look for in founders and what brands need to show in diligence.
Jake has been in CPG for about 16 years. He is a former founder who launched the food brand AllGood Provisions in 2010, grew it over roughly eight years, and exited in 2018. He calls the exit the learning experience of his life. After facing distributors that paid late, supply chain issues, and broker challenges, he moved into investing to bring a founder and operator lens to a space that is often led by financiers.
Hannah and Jake dig into his focus on seed to Series A brands, the traction he wants to see, and the lessons he’d apply if he were building again, from investing in DTC first to choosing value-add strategic investors. They also cover the three founder traits he looks for, the consumer trends on his radar, how to be ready for diligence, and a Slack community case study on when investors want to see profitability.
Listen in as they discuss:
- Why most CPG brands fail to reach an exit, and why it’s usually operational complexity rather than product
- How an operator-led investor looks at brands differently from a finance-led one
- The traction Jake wants to see at seed to Series A, including about $500K in sales with one channel working
- Why building DTC first can make retail conversations easier and allow for more patient retail expansion
- Why founders should look for value-add strategic investors for their cap table
- Why it’s so hard to say “not yet” to a big-name retailer, and why a little patience pays off later
- The three founder traits Jake looks for: curiosity, confidence, and resilience
- Why building an ecosystem of peers, strategic investors, and fractional operators is undervalued
- The trends Jake is watching, including longevity, women’s health, and agentic AI
- What brands need in diligence, from knowing your numbers and your value prop to the learnings from before you raised
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Episode Links:
- Jake Boyd LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jakeboyd
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Show Links:
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- Visit host Hannah’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-dittman-011b844b
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
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