Advice for first-time exhibitors

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Lindsay Hancock, founder of My Better Batch—a clean label cookie mix made with non-GMO ingredients, designed to taste just like homemade cookies. Caitlin and Lindsay dig into the winding road that led Lindsay from helping build a company acquired by Kind Snacks, to navigating divorce as a single mom at 40, to shipping her very first order in April 2024 and baking thousands of cookies in an Airbnb to prepare for her first-ever trade show.

Lindsay shares how nearly two decades in food—starting on the retail side, then moving to manufacturing—gave her both the expertise and the courage to bet on herself. After the acquisition of her previous company by Kind Snacks and the unexpected upheaval of a divorce, she found herself at a crossroads: keep climbing the corporate ladder or build something of her own. She chose the latter. My Better Batch was born from a simple but powerful insight: there's a massive gap between the cookie mix you grab off the grocery store shelf and the homemade cookie you actually want to eat. Lindsay set out to bridge that gap—delivering a shortcut that moms can feel genuinely good about.

In less than two years in market, the results have been remarkable. My Better Batch landed in the Sprouts Forager set, Thrive Market, Lowe's Foods, the Fresh Market, Metropolitan Market, and Target—where Lindsay was accepted into the Target Accelerator program after meeting the team at a trade show. She also won the Good Housekeeping Best Snack Award and earned feature coverage in Parade magazine and All Recipes. And she did most of it as a solopreneur with a lean team of fractional consultants.

Lindsay reflects on what it takes to build momentum quickly as a small brand, why getting the product into people's mouths is everything, and how community—through networks like Startup CPG—provides the validation and feedback that a solo founder can't always find internally.

Listen in as they discuss:

• Lindsay's career path: retail → manufacturing → building a company sold to Kind Snacks → solopreneur at 40
• How divorce became an unexpected catalyst for building My Better Batch
• What makes My Better Batch different: clean label, non-GMO, homemade taste without the effort
• Shipping the first order in April 2024 and growing from DTC to national retail in under two years
• The Sprouts Forager set, Thrive Market, Target, Lowe's Foods, the Fresh Market, and Metropolitan Market
• Getting accepted into the Target Accelerator program
• Baking thousands of cookies in an Airbnb to prep for her first trade show
• Why quality of connections matters more than quantity
• The Good Housekeeping Best Snack Award and major press in Parade and All Recipes
• Dream retailers on the wishlist: Wegmans and H-E-B
• Operating as a solopreneur: fractional teams, LinkedIn's "Real CPG Journey" series, and finding validation in community

Episode Links:

My Better Batch

Website: https://mybetterbatch.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mybetterbatch

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mybetterbatch/

Lindsay Hancock — Founder, My Better Batch

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayhancock/

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

• Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
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• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
• Episode music by Super Fantastics