Startup Confidential

The challenge you face here is cultural. American marketers, as a tribe, just don't care about learning from consumers. They insist on influencing and telling to the exclusion of basic empathy. They are arrogant beyond belief. This is fine when you're selling a commodity for which the advertisement is the only possible variable left to create an advantage.  But when you're selling product innovation, you need a persuasive story, and you need to write that story based on what your fans have figured out about your product. Fans hold the keys to successful marketing creative. Everything else is just buying attention and trial. And it's super expensive. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Planning seems like a luxury to overwhelmed founders. I get it. But it's not. It's a lifeline in the chaotic waters of entrepreneurship. Remaining objective in the face of the emotional rogue waves of entrepreneurship is perhaps the top benefit of even a short, objective plan for growth. In addition, a revenue target is a brutally objective mirror once the year is over.  You can't change the number you picked 12 months earlier. You either hit it or you didn't and now you need to understand why. Without planning, iteration becomes random guesswork, not a professional response to market signals. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Liquid Death is the latest CPG case everyone is talking about. Not simply because of the massive fundraising but also the actual topline growth. The question is, can you lean on branding as the primary launch attribute? Is this something you can only pull off in categories like water? And will LD stay at scale, or was it simply a well-executed advertising stunt? My thoughts on this episode. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

I've seen it client side. I've blogged about it recently. The emerging research on paternalistic work cultures is this: great for stable, conservative slow-growth small businesses where employees prefer stability to the stress of high performance. And the downside is that a paternalistic leadership style generates mediocrity even from highly talented people.  Paternalism doesn't end companies. It holds them back.Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Many in the natural/organic end of CPG were heartbroken when Coca-Cola wound down the Honest Tea portion of the Honest business. In this episode, I share my own take on why Coca-Cola most likely made this decision and why Honest sold way too early in the revenue curve to make this acquisition work long-term.Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Wow. Finding a decent head of marketing is easy. But, their ability to move the needle is probably dumb luck, despite their organizational skills. Most marketing fails to move awareness and household penetration because the head of marketing doesn’t have a Guggenheim ruthless eye for effective creative that moves hearts and wallets. The problem is so bad, I even launched a course, now live, to help train folks who want to up their effectiveness and become major players at the table. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.comYour Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

RampCo is an illustrative case based on my client's work. It explores how a brand launched as a multi-category platform can immediately find its hero UPCs and pivot toward them. The result is a more focused, much faster grower brand consumers now see as a true category expert. And consumers want new brands to be category specialists. Leave the platform innovation for store label brands. They can pull it off because they own the points the distribution and don't care how slowly 800 UPCs move. It's their shelves!  Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.comYour Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Committing to a plan is hard enough for many founders. But, if you don't do an annual diagnosis well, you will lose much of the plan's benefit. The point of planning and diagnosing is to understand WHY you did or did not hit your revenue target (or other topline goals).  This requires systematic disbelief in topline success. I call it pressure-testing, so you can ensure your 'growth' is not masking other problems (including misbehavior by your sales team).Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.comYour Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

The most efficient Skate Ramp brands earn large amounts of money in small geographies. In this episode I explain how to measure this and why it’s so important to set such a high standard for an undercapitalized business early on. You have to listen to learn the benchmark. This is contained in my book, deliberately. Sort of.Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.comYour Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

It's that time of year, folks. Preparing for 2023! The most underthought aspect of early-stage business plans is the strategic plan. It's the front half of your business plan focused on growth. And all too often, it resembles an investor pitch. In this episode, I narrate material from my Blog for a broader audience, so you can focus on a measurable plan for growth based on reality. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.comYour Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com