Thrive Market has built a loyal following of health-conscious consumers who are actively looking for better-for-you brands.For good food founders, it’s a direct line to your target audience. And the conventional wisdom has always been that selling direct to retail, cutting out the distributor, means better margins and more money staying in your business.

But the Thrive Market relationship isn’t as cut and dry as we assumed, and as Sarah uncovered many founders don’t realize the financial impacts until it’s too late.

In this episode

Sarah breaks down the real cost of selling through Thrive Market -including what she learned from founders actively selling there right now - and pulls back the curtain on how Thrive's price negotiation process works.

You’ll hear:

* What Thrive Market actually charges brands on every invoice

* Why the direct-to-retail margin assumption doesn’t always hold

* How Thrive Market margins stack up against national distributor KeHE (the numbers might surprise you)

* The 5 steps every founder should take before signing with any retail or distribution partner

Before you say yes to Thrive Market, or any retail partner, listen to this episode.

Most food founders think fundraising means perfecting your pitch deck. Angel investor Katie Dunn says you’re starting in the wrong place.

In our conversation, Katie breaks down the three fundamentals that actually get investors to meet with you, and say yes: understanding investor thesis (and why it saves you from wasting time), leveraging warm introductions instead of cold pitching, and building a financial model that shows exactly how you’ll reach profitability.

We cover the investment basics every founder needs to know—what a safe note actually is, why angels want equity, and whether regional brands can get funded (spoiler: yes, but with different deal structures). Katie also shares her strong recommendation on why your first hire should be finance, not marketing, and how to make it ridiculously easy for investors to want to help you.

If you’re considering fundraising or just want to understand how investment actually works in food CPG, this episode gives you the straight talk you need.

Connect with Katie:

Website: katiedunn.com

Advisory Board: The Masthead Strategy

LinkedIn: Katie Dunn

Instagram: @iamkatiedunn

TikTok: @iamkatiedunn

Join The Good Food CFO Community:

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo

Building a profitable food business without investors isn’t just possible—it’s a strategic choice.

Sarah sits down with Daniel Goetz, founder of Good Pop, who’s bootstrapped his popsicle brand for 16 years by prioritizing profitability over growth headlines.

Daniel shares practical strategies that kept Good Pop alive and thriving:

* Why he sold just 4 popsicles at his “big launch” (and what happened next)

* The 3am working capital discovery that kept his business going

* Why he focused on going “deep not wide” with retail expansion

* How to get packaging and ingredient suppliers invested in your vision

Hear how forcing profitability from day one shaped every business decision—and why Daniel chose this path after watching funded peers struggle under investor pressure.

Connect with Daniel:

Website: GoodPop

Instagram: @GoodPop

LinkedIn: @Daniel Goetz

The Good Food Collective

Join The Good Food CFO Community:

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo

Become a Member: BABOYOT