He Built a $1M/Year Brand off Fruit Peel | The Consumer VC

Our guest today is Matt Weiss, Founder & CEO at RIND Snacks

Matt is the CEO of RIND Snacks, a sustainable fruit snack brand. He has over a decade of experience in the natural food industry and previously worked in investment research. Matt is also known for his advocacy in community and environmental causes, founding a nonprofit that helped establish a park in lower Manhattan.

We discuss:
• We discuss the inspiration behind creating a brand and a product that focuses on the peels of a fruit
• How did he first get into retail?
• Why he was part-time with it for two years?
• What was kind of the moment that he switched to doing it full-time?

Propeller Industries is the leading strategic finance and accounting partner for venture-stage companies. For more info:
(34:15) - Propeller Industries

0:00 - Introduction
2:23 - Welcoming Matt Weiss to the Show
3:29 - Matt's First Taste of Entrepreneurship in College
5:40 - Developing a Dorm Room Incubator for Student Entrepreneurs
7:24 - Discussing the Role of Matt's Great-Grandmother in Starting Rind
9:59 - Getting the First Sale and Building a Sales Muscle
11:38 - The Story of Rind and the Power of the Peel
14:38 - The Importance of a Product with a Low Barrier to Education
15:57 - The potential of dried fruit as a snack
17:22 - Lessons from my great-grandmother's health food store
19:09 - The shift in consumer taste profiles
20:57 - The initial stages of product development in my apartment
22:58 - The revelation of dried watermelon as a potential snack
23:39 - Transitioning from apartment production to co-manufacturing
26:05 - Learning from operational mistakes in the early stages
30:47 - Discussing the Toll Price and Consulting the Ops Team
32:50 - The Journey of Testing Product Viability and Selling Directly to Consumers
34:18 - Introduction to Propeller Industries
37:10 - The Power of the Peel and Consumer Education
40:00 - The Decision to Go Full-Time with Rind Snacks
43:19 - Encounters at Trade Shows that Catapulted Rind Snacks into Existence
45:31 - The Initial Inventory Run and Its Impact on Online Sales
46:34 - The Messy Middle: Trying Different Things and Learning from Experience
49:09 - Importance of Meeting Consumers Wherever They Shop
52:06 - Engaging with Super Fans for Business Insights
55:37 - Evolution of the Product Line Based on Customer Feedback
56:02 - Book Recommendations That Inspired Personally and Professionally
1:00:01 - Wrapping Up the Episode with Final Thoughts

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