[00:00:05] Melissa Traverse: Hello, and thanks for joining us. I'm Melissa Traverse, Director of Community here at BevNET CPG Media. This is the How Do I Build This podcast for CPG Brands, where we talk with the people building the industry to share practical advice for building stronger, more profitable businesses. Visit nonbase.com, BevNET's platform for the CPG community, where you'll find this podcast, educational courses, and much more. Building a brand is one thing, getting it onto shelves, building distribution and deciding where to focus first. That's where things get a lot more complicated. Today's conversation brings together two founders at very different stages of that journey. Namik Soltan is the co-founder of Ginger Labs, a ginger shop brand that spent the last six years building one of the strongest retail footprints in New York City. Sean Rosenberg is the founder of Goldie, who just completed his first production run and is getting ready to launch into his first retail accounts with a focus on New York. Sean is making these decisions right now and Namik has already been through them. Together, we're going to get into the details of what it actually takes to build a beverage brand in one of the country's most competitive markets. Sean and Namik, I know that we've been talking about this for a while. Thank you so much for joining me on the Nombase podcast.
[00:01:23] Sean Rosenberg: Thanks for having us. Super excited. Thank you.
[00:01:25] Melissa Traverse: So first of all, Sean, uh, please, you know, set the scene for us with Goldie. What is Goldie? You know, what is the, the brand strategy and where are you in the journey right now?
[00:01:37] Sean Rosenberg: Yeah, for sure. So, um, yeah, I just want to say thanks again for not making the time and Melissa for setting this up super excited, but so goalies are better for your lemonade brand. It's powered by Manuka honey in case you don't know what it is. It's a superfood honey. That's from New Zealand and it's loaded with a bunch of beneficial compounds and mainly supports your immune system. And so I first discovered it during COVID, trying to keep my immune system strong. And I've been taking a spoonful of it every day since then. And I noticed that having more energy wasn't really sick as much. But the thing is, it's like $50 for a jar. It's not that convenient to take a sticky spoonful every day. And so I put it to a drink. So we have four lemonade flavors, classic lemonade flavors, like classic lemonade, pink lemonade, half and half, which is like a lemonade iced tea. And then we also have a raspberry half and half, so just like familiar flavors that people know and love, but with a full serving of Manuka in every can. And so we just did our first like small pilot production. So it's kind of like a soft launch. We're selling right now on our Shopify and also be like self-delivering some places in New York City, New Jersey until we do our actual like scale production. And we'll be launching in the Northeast with the distributor to start out. So I'm super excited to hear from Amik, any advice he has like to win in New York City, because you know, you guys crush it there. So I'm excited to dive in.
[00:02:43] Melissa Traverse: And you are launching with Rainforest, right, John?
[00:02:47] Sean Rosenberg: Yeah. Yeah. Currently I'm working with them.
[00:02:49] Speaker: Yeah.
[00:02:49] Melissa Traverse: And when does that launch officially happen?
[00:02:53] Sean Rosenberg: As soon as I get a bigger production run done, because right now we only have a small amount. So as soon as we get the bigger production going then.
[00:03:00] Melissa Traverse: Namik, let's rewind six years for you and Ginger Labs. You've been on the podcast before, and I really do always think of you and Ginger Labs as sort of the experts when it comes to building a beverage brand in New York City. You've done such a great job and you're, you know, well-known in the industry for doing that. Can you paint us a picture of for where Ginger Labs was at the very beginning and what, what got you to where you are today?
[00:03:28] Namik Soltan: Of course, thank you for having me on the podcast. And yeah, so quick story about us, essentially inspired by Mom Remedy. My Mom Remedy turned into Ginger Shot format. And when we about to launch our product, COVID happened, obviously it was very different situation than right now. And at that moment, we couldn't really go with any other distributor. So we decided to self-distribute. within the New York City and we just went from store to store to store and selling into bodegas and supermarkets and pharmacies so that's pretty much how we started in New York City and you know it might not be intentional that we kind of started this way but as When we started, that was the only way to build a business. So we went really hard and, you know, pretty much our strategy was that whoever's going to say yes, we're going to sell it to them. And six years later, we pretty much built one of the biggest ginger shot brands within the New York City market, within the New York metro area. And pretty much if you go to any store or bodega or pharmacy, you name it, you will see our product on the shelves.
[00:04:43] Melissa Traverse: And can you talk a little bit about why you self-sold versus using a distributor? I know you said that there was some limitation there, but why did you choose that path versus trying to find a distributor?
[00:04:56] Namik Soltan: We launched during COVID, so it was like March, April of 2020. That's like right at the time when COVID hit. So obviously at that time, no one was working, like none of the distributor would even pick up the call or, you know, they wouldn't even talk to you. They weren't onboarding any new brands. So for us, it was just the only strategy to go to the market, it was just like self-delivering our product. And as you probably remember, at that time, most of the beverages that launched, they all launched direct to consumer. So that was kind of like a golden age of direct to consumer. Everyone was buying that. And in our case, we just decided to go full retail. And really, I think within the first six months, we had about 400 stores who were buying our product on a weekly basis or bi-weekly basis. And then essentially, We made a deal with Door Naturals, which is the regional distributor, and pretty much we transferred all our accounts to them. And, you know, we've been with them pretty much for the past five years now.
[00:05:58] Sean Rosenberg: Let's say when you were launching and COVID wasn't happening and you had the opportunity to launch with a distributor, would you have launched with a distributor or would you have taken the same path of like self-distributing and building up those accounts yourself for the first however many months it was?
[00:06:12] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think in our case, it was just kind of like a unique situation. And then our friends, they also were our salespeople, right? So we didn't really pay them salaries. They were like out of work and they were excited to launch a brand. And they were mostly working on the commission. Obviously, self-distributing, it's not easy because you have to deliver your product. You have to collect the money. And, you know, New York and Ontario are not paying for the orders. So obviously, it creates additional layers of even just delivering, right? And especially during COVID, everyone was at home, like all the streets were pretty clean to drive. So we could go from Brooklyn to Manhattan in like 20 minutes. I think just having distributor is just going to help you to deliver your product. And I think having distributor right out of the gate, it's good. Sometimes it might be good just kind of self distribute your product to like 10, 20, 50 stores, just kind of understand how your product works and, you know, and kind of craft your pitch to those buyers. But I think having distributor, it's a good idea because you know, that will help you just to focus on sales rather than just deliver and collect the money.
[00:07:24] Sean Rosenberg: What are like the top three things I should be focusing on, you know, with launching with a distributor and like what you should be focusing on to make this like the strongest relationship it can be?
[00:07:33] Namik Soltan: Yeah, of course. I think if I were you at this moment, I think it's definitely an exciting time for you. It's a brand new product. So I think for you, the most important thing right now is to gather as many feedbacks as possible from customers, from store owners, from retail buyers, right? So I think a couple of things I would really focus on before you start official distribution with Rainforest and you have a couple of months to go. So I would literally go to some of their top stores that they work with and try to build relationship with some of those stores. And first thing first, you really need to get ready with all your sales materials, having your sales sheets print out, some shelf strips, some wobblers, because once you place this product on the shelf, you do want to merchandise this product. And what I would do first, probably take 30 to 50 top stores that Rainforest work with and just go there with your product and try to sell it yourself, right? And then this way you can also craft your pitch to store owners. Not everyone's gonna say yes from the first from get-go, but as you start teaching more and more and more Yeah, you will find the points that actually sell your product and most of the distributors. They also love to have Some product that's already on the market, right? So this way you have some proof of concept even it's small, right you get some reorders from some of those stores and I think that's also, you know, will be very helpful to when you have an official launch with reinforced, you can train reinforced sales team, how to sell your product to those retailers. You also should create some sort of like an intro deals to those independent stores. So if you have four SKUs, I would do buy three, get one free. if they say no, maybe you can push buy to get to free. New York independent, they love free products, they love to get free goods. So that would be your key to success to really place your product. And also what I would do, really focus on one small territory, because let's say there's 20 stores in one small neighborhood and then you can place in one store and then in other stores and then you can go to other stores and be like, hey, this product already sold in all the stores, so you should have this product too. So I think that's kind of like a quick strategy for your launch. And, you know, obviously I would do this for a couple of months, build some stores, and then obviously you can bring this list to Rainforest and it will kind of help you to
[00:10:11] Sean Rosenberg: start your independent market.
[00:10:27] Namik Soltan: You can just pack your car with your product and really just start driving around the city. Go to one neighborhood first. Go to East Village, for example. There's a young crowd, people like to try new product. In one neighborhood, there's going to be like 30, 40 stores that can buy your product. And then you can probably open up even more stores. But I think it's more just kind of learning, right, from what buyers want or if the price is correct or the deals is good. And also, once you start placing your product, I think the one of the most important thing is just like going back into those stores every week, try to merchandise, make sure that your product is, you know, merchandised properly, because if you sell to some of those stores, there's no planogram. there is no such a thing that you have a secured shelf. And there's going to be another 20 people who's going to come to that store that week, and they will try to, you know, move your product, and it's not going to be visible, especially for new products. Once you sell some of the items, you know, shelf kind of gets a little empty. And if it's not merchandised, right, someone's going to come and they're going to put product in front of you. So I think that's very important for the first, like, three months.
[00:11:45] Melissa Traverse: So Sean is nodding and he clearly understands everything you're saying. So do you mean that Sean should, before Rainforest hits a neighborhood or an area, he should go there first, set the stage, get the 50 accounts, and then Rainforest comes in and fills it in after? And then if it looks like that's probably true, how do you organize that with Rainforest? Like, do you give them your plan? How does that all work?
[00:12:14] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think there's two ways to work, right? You can either reach out directly to Rainforest, sales team, and ask them, just give me your top 50 stores. You know, Rainforest, it's a pretty big distributor. Everyone knows about them. Probably chances that you're going to walk into the stores and ask them if they work with Rainforest, they will say yes. So I think it's more just kind of like setting up the stage. And also, once you officially launch Rainforest, you can train the sales team, because the sales team, they would have to go and actually sell your product. But if they don't understand how to sell your product to the store owners, it could create you know, rejections, for example, right? And I think if you spend, let's say, the next three months just selling your product to stores and learning feedbacks and seeing what kind of stores work the best, maybe the coffee shops would be the best, kind of like those grab-and-go, maybe like a supermarket. But yeah, I think that would be probably the best strategy. And, you know, it's also Distributors it's uh, you know, they're more like a delivery services rather than sale force But they also like to sell product that sells if that makes sense, right? Uh, especially for new product It's a little hard because no one knows about your brand, you know, just kind of getting on the shelf. But once you Non-brand, you know store ordinary will order your product kind of like you have to get this in in front of the people and um And same when we launched with door and agile, although we already were almost like a year on the market, we work really hard with them. And so it took some time for store salespeople to know the brand and understand what sells and what doesn't sell. Now it's more like automatic and just, you know, we don't really do any training. We don't even do any ride alongs, it's more, obviously we've been in the market for six years now, so everyone knows our brand. It's easy, but you kind of have to earn your space on the shelves, right? And just kind of going back there, talking to people and even, you know, buyers or store owners, they like to see the person. They like to see the person behind the brand and you kind of build those relationships.
[00:14:33] Sean Rosenberg: So you said six years, right? That's how long you've been, okay. It hasn't been just New York City or have you guys expanded elsewhere? Or do you think it's like stay dense in one place?
[00:14:44] Namik Soltan: Yeah, so pretty much for first four years, we really focused on New York City. And what we have seen, obviously our sales within the store or within the same territory, pretty much we're growing like 100% year over year. It just shows that there's more and more people buying your products, which I think is also important. But New York City is just a place where you can build thousands of locations without driving too much, right? You can hit the street and you can visit 30, 40 stores a day, for example. And also just kind of like the way you build a brand, if it's like everywhere, you kind of becoming like a brand, right? Because like everyone sees you everywhere. But the first four years, we really focused on you know, door naturals and building New York City market, but we already expanded our product sold national wide right now. You know, we also, you know, obviously we sell in California, Texas, and Washington State, like some other states as well. So after four years, that's when you started to expand? Obviously, our products are refrigerated, which kind of adds layers of distribution. There's not many DSD distributors who can work with refrigerated products. So now we also work with UniFi, because that's pretty much the only way to get your refrigerated product to all the natural channels. Obviously, in your case, it could be a little easier. You have a shelf-stable product, and there's a lot of smaller DSD distributors. within the country that you can essentially approach. But I think this market is so big that even if you spend next three, four years building in this market, you won't be able to capture everything.
[00:16:39] Sean Rosenberg: Wow. So you think, what do you recommend for an emerging brand to stay in New York City for many years?
[00:16:45] Namik Soltan: I think like two, three years, I think it's, well, if you start here, it doesn't mean that, you know, you're going to leave this market, right? Once you start in New York, it's never ending work, right? You have to continue to visit the stores and build your brand. It's not going to be like, you know, once you get in the stores, you're going to be there forever, right? So the job, it never ends. but it will help you to kind of build your brand, right, within the territory. And obviously you can start expanding into some of the other retailers like Whole Foods and, you know, Wegmans and whatnot. So, yeah, that would be my strategy. First couple of years focus on New York City and then can start to expand.
[00:17:32] Melissa Traverse: Namik, you have a unique perspective on the New York City landscape. As you said, there are so many bodegas, independent stores, small chains. And you know, someone like you has done so much work in terms of getting boots on the ground. Do you have any Tips for Sean and our audience around some of the really great New York City accounts for brands like Goldie, you know, new, emerging, better for you. I'm sure that you've unlocked some really good information.
[00:18:05] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I would say Westside Market, it's a great store. And then Sidorowa, it's an amazing account. And there's a lot of independent supermarkets. They can do some crazy numbers, right? They can do pretty crazy velocities. You will be surprised.
[00:18:23] Melissa Traverse: Like crazy? What are you talking about?
[00:18:25] Namik Soltan: You know, we had one store in Bronx, you know, they were selling probably like 100 shots a week. Yeah, and it was just then they would buy like, you know, 50 cases at a time. So it was, it was just you would be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that's actually, that was a cool, uh, you know, one, my intern actually took the picture. So there was like 40 cases placement. So that was, that was kind of cool for sure. But, you know, like New York, New York market's a bit different. If you think about the bodega, I think maybe some people have perception. It's like, you know, bodega, it's some sort of like a, you know, Not the best place to be but there's so many people shop there, right? They get the breakfast they get Sandwiches they got lunch. So there's a huge traffic even if you think about the whole foods, right? Like probably not everyone goes to whole foods, but pretty much everyone goes into but they got just grabbing like water tea and whatnot, so I think it's also part of New York culture, you know, and just pretty much going everywhere, especially some of the good places like lunch places, somewhere like in Midtown, when all the office workers, they go to get the breakfast or lunch. I think it's a great place to place your product, right? Because like people are always curious. They want to try something new. And I think your product is amazing for lunch, right? Like you get your sandwich, you get your meal, and then you grab some iced tea or lemonade.
[00:20:04] Melissa Traverse: So Sean, as we were getting ready for this discussion, you mentioned that there are a few retailers that you're thinking about with your New York City Rainforest launch, and that maybe, I think you've already started conversations with some of them. You had mentioned Fairway, Gourmet Garage, and Whole Foods Market. What's going on there with those, and how are you thinking about some of the larger chain retailers with some of the smaller independents and bodegas that Namik is talking about?
[00:20:33] Sean Rosenberg: Yeah, so I guess we're in conversation with some of those right now, but the thing is with these bigger chains, you need to have a distributor lined up to be able to work with them. So it's kind of like you have to wait a little bit when you have the distributor lined up. So I guess from now until then, I guess, like Namik was saying, you can go to Westside Market or these bodegas and they accept products. I guess when you were self-distributing, I guess what stores did you try to hit up and get the most success from you?
[00:20:59] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think Beauty working with GSD distributors like Rainforest or Doris, right? They work with independent and also some of the chain accounts, right? So if you already have some relationship with Rainforest, they can introduce you to Whole Foods Market, or even if you have conversation with them, they will be their distributor of choice. Same thing with the Gourmet Garage Fairway, it's a part of Wakefern. I know Rainforest, they have a great relationship with Wakefern as well. so they can help introduce you to the buyer. Obviously, they will probably work with you to get your product presented to them. Obviously, independent markets are a little bit different from chains. Chains go by reset and review. Obviously, Whole Foods, they do have a local program, a local forager that you can work with. They can open up like 10, 25 doors for you where you can actually test your product and get it into Whole Foods. But yeah, I think, like I said, beauty of New York, you can hit so many different channels, right? You can hit independent market where you don't really need a broker. you can pick your broker, but then at the same time, you can pitch your product to Whole Foods and then Wakefern, ShopRite, and Cigarella. And there's so many other channels that you can also like Keyfood and Foodtown. So, yeah, there's quite a bit of work to be done within the New York City market or New York Metro market, which, like I said, that's the beauty of it.
[00:22:33] Melissa Traverse: So Sean, you mentioned that you finished your, you did your pilot run and you have that inventory, but you are looking forward to another production run. Do you have that scheduled right now?
[00:22:45] Sean Rosenberg: So I'm raising our pre-seed right now. And so I need, I need to get that first to schedule the production. Um, we need to do a much bigger run. Cause like the one we have now is not going to, you know, last with this. Should we're like rainforest. When you started, were you like bootstrapping or did you raise, or I guess, what was your way about going, going to market? We can start about that. So.
[00:23:01] Namik Soltan: So when we first launched, we raised $175,000 and that pretty much came from family and friends. And we pretty much used that $200,000 to really get our product within the market. Obviously we were doing most of the work ourselves. I would say probably in today's world, that won't be enough. So I would advise you to raise at least $500,000 to get this off the ground. Especially when you start working with a distributor, you would need to incentivize salespeople to push your product. And the capital can go, I think like $500,000 is a perfect amount to really kick things off.
[00:23:46] Sean Rosenberg: So another question on fundraising, I guess, since we're on this topic. So you mentioned you did $175,000 of friends and family to get the first product out. I guess once you do your second raise, what was that for?
[00:24:00] Namik Soltan: Yeah, so essentially in 2020, we raised $175,000. And then for the next couple of years, we were raising pretty much additional $250,000 from family and friends. So it was just like total part of the pre-seed. And we were raising $25,000 to $50,000 check at a time. My advice would be to do a safe rather than doing like an equity round because it's much, much easier. And you don't really have to hire expensive lawyers to do all the draft and whatnot to do the contract. So I would just focus on safe, do the valuation, discount, and try to raise. You don't have to raise all $500,000 right away. So for us, It took us like three years. We raised 450,000 total pre-seed. And then in 2024, we raised our seed round, essentially. And, you know, we really stretched that capital for a very long time, right? Pretty much it took us, you know, almost like four years to actually raise our next round. But then also going back to that, it all depends, right? How your business grows, right? If your business grows like really, really fast, obviously you would need more capital. And then Again, one of the reasons why you should stay local, because every time you try to open up a new market, you have to invest a lot, right? You have to hire a merchandising team, you have to hire Salesforce, so you can stretch yourself thing. And, you know, you might not have enough capital to support both markets.
[00:25:41] Melissa Traverse: Sean, you're in kind of a difficult position because you're right at the beginning of all of this really exciting activity. But of course, you need the capital to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that you have. And this is sort of the classic age old chicken and the egg conversation. But I wanted to hear what Namik thought about how do you raise $500,000 when you're still in the really early stages of the business? And I know there's no easy answer to this, because if you had one, then everyone would be all set. But how do you think about that?
[00:26:14] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think if you're trying to raise money right now, you know, sometimes it's actually easier to raise capital for a product that does not exist because you can sell kind of like the bigger story about the brand. I mean, I think your story, it's very interesting. You know, you're like 17 years old getting into beverage industry. It's you know, It's a crazy industry to be in, let alone being 17 years old. So it just shows that you're ambitious and you are pretty determined to build this brand. So, yeah, I would just do a smaller approach, reaching out to some of the angel investors, reaching out to some family and friends. You can even start with taking $10,000 checks, $10,000, $20,000 checks. And like I said, you don't have to raise all $500,000 in one shot, right? You can raise $100,000, $200,000, and then you can stretch that. And as you continue to raise, you will have more data, right? You will have more data, you will have more wins, you will have your sales data from Rainforest. Hopefully you can get in some of the bigger accounts like Whole Foods or Wakefern. You know, your product will show up in some of the spins data.
[00:27:29] Sean Rosenberg: So yeah, that approach I would take, you don't have to rush, just be out there, talk to people, talk to investors.
[00:27:45] Namik Soltan: Right. But then also you offer, you know, kind of a low valuation for the company. So they do take a risk, but then also reward could be, right, could be much, much higher. So that approach I would take. Usually for the pre-seed, I would take anywhere from 10 to 20% of the company, more or less, right. And try to sell that. And I'm you know, there's gonna be so many people who will be excited about, you know, about your brand and you as a person too, so.
[00:28:17] Melissa Traverse: And that's really such a huge part of it, especially at these early stages, right?
[00:28:23] Namik Soltan: Yeah, because that's the most interesting part, right? It's almost like a gamble. Like you don't really know how this brand will take off. I mean, there's so many stories about Poppy and Alipop and whatnot, right? Like when they were raising, I don't know exact numbers, but you know, they were raising like 50,000 for like 1% of the company. So there's a stories out there and there's a brands out there too. So, Yeah, I mean, you sell the idea, you sell your vision and you already have a physical product and you have some traction in terms of you already have a distributor, you know, even getting those 50 to 100 stores, just kind of show some of the sales data. So yeah, that approach I would take.
[00:29:07] Sean Rosenberg: So I guess I have another question more about working with a distributor and, you know, ultimately winning New York City when it's such a competitive market, you know, these distributors have so many other brands. I guess, how do you stand out and ultimately dominate New York City like what you did?
[00:29:21] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think probably one of the most important things is just be out there and working with a distributor, right? I have seen so many brands, they launched with even Rainforest and Doors, and unfortunately, they don't really put the work. They think that distributor will do all the work, but that's not the case. I think Rainforest, they have a few thousand SKUs, I don't know, three or 4,000 SKUs under management. So imagine that when salesperson goes into store and he has to sell 4,000 items in his catalog, do you think they're gonna remember about your item, especially like a new item? Probably not, right? So I think just being out there, having full-time salesperson within the distributor, you have to work with the distributor to build your brand. They're not just going to do it by themselves. And building relationships with the salespeople, making some of the sales sales sheets. I think it's very important just going to the stores and leaving your sales sheet with them. I think, yeah, of course, ride-alongs, it's super important because they will pair you with a specific salesperson and you can actually go from store to store to store with that particular salesperson and you can introduce your product. At the end of the day, salespeople, that's their job, right? They earn by selling. They earn commission by selling your product. And they usually, when they have so many items under their management, they will try to sell product that really sells really well because that's how they earn commission. And you have to build your brand to the level that they will be excited to push your product because they know they're going to earn commission. So I think first couple of years, you really need to focus on working with salespeople. Once you raise capital, I would probably advise you to hire maybe full-time or even like part-time person who can help you to sell your product to those stores. For us, working within New York City market, we always had full-time salesperson. Not even, there was no period in time in the last six years that we never had someone who would go to the stores, that visit stores, that would merchandise them. Even like six years later, we had two people this summer working. So I think that's kind of like my advice. You really need to build a brand with distributor. And then, you know, in a couple of years, it will become almost like automatic because, you know, sales people, they'll go inside the store, they see your product, it's sold out, they'll place another order, but you kind of have to get there.
[00:32:02] Sean Rosenberg: Got it. So you mentioned that you recommend working with a sales and merchandising team. Do you still work with them? Do you still go in the stores now that you work with them?
[00:32:12] Namik Soltan: I personally haven't got... I mean, I go from time to time, but when we first started, I would work with my guys and we would go and sell our product. Obviously, I was doing all the work myself, but for the past five years, I always had salesperson. So I had full-time salesperson who would go to the stores Because also, when you work with a distributor, you need to continue to go to stores and take orders, right? Take orders, send it to your distributor, and they will deliver. And there are some merchandising companies that you can work with. So for example, a full-time person might be too expensive for you at the beginning, so you can work with some of this merchandising company, right? They kind of like a fractional people and they can hit like two, 300 stores per week. And they'll take an order for you. They'll help you to build a brand.
[00:33:08] Melissa Traverse: Are there any merchandising companies, Namik, that you think of when you think of New York City?
[00:33:14] Namik Soltan: I think there is one merchandising company that I heard of. It's called Final Touch. I think those guys are pretty good. You can get in contact with them. They can help you to build out your brand. But there's also probably some others too.
[00:33:30] Sean Rosenberg: Yeah. And there's also one called City Sprint. I guess another question I have since we were talking about fundraising is maybe PO financing. I've been hearing about that. I was wondering if you ever utilize PO financing to fulfill productions for a retailer.
[00:33:44] Namik Soltan: When it comes to PO financing, you might be too early for that because usually you would need to have some sort of like a sales data or not even sales data, but more like a revenue, because when they will evaluate your business, they would want to see what's your current revenue. So I think that might be a little bit too early for you. I'm just thinking what else it's possible to do. So yeah, I would say probably it's a bit too early for that. But also I think one thing I would highly advise is just to participate in all this pitch competition where you can win, you know, 10, 20, $50,000. So I think it's also a great way to introduce your product, your brand to a lot of other people. A lot of investors, they actually do watch and participate in some of the pitch competition. So I think that should be your focus too.
[00:34:46] Sean Rosenberg: Okay. Is there any pitch competition recommendations that you have, like ones that you've attended or?
[00:34:53] Namik Soltan: There's quite a bit out there. You know, Natural New York, I would advise you to join Natural New York and New Bedford Showdown.
[00:35:01] Melissa Traverse: Right.
[00:35:02] Namik Soltan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's... That's another one. So yeah, just be out there, talk to people. And, you know, like I said, people are excited about your brand and, you know, having, you know, in such a young age starting a company, it's very unusual. So yeah, and you have a great story to tell.
[00:35:25] Melissa Traverse: So we've talked about so much here today and so much centered around launching and building in New York City. Namik, you've given some really fantastic advice, hard earned advice over the last six years with Ginger Labs. What's one piece of advice that you would leave Sean with based on everything that we've talked about here today?
[00:35:48] Namik Soltan: Yeah, I think just be out there, you know, be out there, talk to people, build relationships with distributors, with store owners, with investors. I think that's probably one of the most important thing. You might have most brilliant product, but if you're not out there, you're not talking to people, no one will know about you. and know about your story. And I think I'm guilty of not doing that myself. Kind of looking back, I mean, we do pretty good, but like, I wish I can do more of that. And that's my personal goal too.
[00:36:25] Melissa Traverse: Sean, you have gotten so far with Goldie at such a young age, and there's so much that you should be proud of. What's one of the things you're most proud of when you think of Goldie and how you've grown your brand so far?
[00:36:40] Sean Rosenberg: Well, not that far yet, just to the first one. But I guess the biggest milestone, I guess getting the formulas locked in, getting the packaging locked in, we went through so many different iterations. When you're starting something, you're going to have so many different ideas and so much different feedback from people. And it's hard to figure out what's going to be best. And I think the biggest thing was just locking in everything. And the branding, I think, looks pretty good. And so I'm pretty happy about that.
[00:37:04] Melissa Traverse: Well, we will certainly look forward to watching you closely and watching you grow your brand in New York City and beyond. Sean Rosenberg, founder of Goldie. Thank you for joining us. And Namik Soltan, the co-founder of Ginger Labs. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a great conversation and I appreciate you both so much. For everybody out there in the audience, thank you for tuning into the Non-Based Podcast and we will see you next time. That concludes another episode of the Nambase podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a review and follow us on your listening platform of choice. You can also watch and listen to past episodes on nambase.com. And don't forget to join our Nambase Slack at slack.BevNET.com for company updates, industry networking, and community discussions. See you next time.
