Andrew Benin's guest appearances

Andrew Benin

On Olive Oil with Curtis Cord

LEADING BRANDS — Wavebreak Podcast

DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

read receipt

Good Money with Derrick Kinney

OwlTail

Already in 3,000 stores across the U.S., Graza has momentum rarely seen in a notoriously crowded and challenging industry.

Graza Co-founder Andrew Benin

The secret to their success all started with a squeeze bottle. My guests today, Andrew Benin and Allen Dushi, have taken the home cooking industry by storm with their top-notch, super-fresh olive oil called Graza. And the secret to their success? A simple squeeze bottle! Seriously!   Today, Andrew and Allen share their journey from launching with organic marketing to selling out in one week. They’re not holding back about the mistakes they've made, the vision behind their company, and how you can use their growth strategies to skyrocket your own business.    Plus, they reveal the ultimate key to their success: putting control into their own hands and targeting middle America. Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of irrational confidence to turn your business dreams into reality.    If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to start and launch a product (and then experience massive success!), you’ll love this episode. And yes, go buy some Graza olive oil.    Buy Graza Olive Oil HERE.    Order your copy of the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling book Good Money Revolution here: https://amzn.to/34hSonE   Ready to take your business to the next level? Schedule a call with Derrick today here: www.GoodMoneyFramework.com/consulting  For daily tips to help you make and save money, follow us on Instagram @derricktkinney

The secret to their success all started with a squeeze bottle. My guests today, Andrew Benin and Allen Dushi, have taken the home cooking industry by storm with their top-notch, super-fresh olive oil called Graza. And the secret to their success? A simple squeeze bottle! Seriously! Today, Andrew and Allen share their journey from launching with organic marketing to selling out in one week. They’re not holding back about the mistakes they've made, the vision behind their company, and how you can use their growth strategies to skyrocket your own business.  Plus, they reveal the ultimate key to their success: putting control into their own hands and targeting middle America. Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of irrational confidence to turn your business dreams into reality.  If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to start and launch a product (and then experience massive success!), you’ll love this episode. And yes, go buy some Graza olive oil.  Buy Graza Olive Oil <a href="https://www.graza.co" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a>.  Order your copy of the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling book Good Money Revolution here: <a href="https://amzn.to/34hSonE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/34hSonE</a> Ready to take your business to the next level? Schedule a call with Derrick today here: <a href="http://www.goodmoneyframework.com/consulting" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.GoodMoneyFramework.com/consulting</a> For daily tips to help you make and save money, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/derricktkinney/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">follow us on Instagram @derricktkinney</a>

Andrew Benin and Allen Dushi—From Squeeze Bottle to Success: The Graza Olive Oil Story

Andrew Benin joins the Wavebreak Podcast to walk us through how he launched a business that immediately sold out of inventory, just 1 month after launching.  In this episode you’ll learn:The blueprint behind the ‘no ad spend required’ strategy, how it led to a complete sellout for Graza, and why non-paid social channels are more important now than ever.The behind-the-scenes knowledge Andrew soaked up firsthand while working at Warby Parker, Magic Spoon, and Casper.The costs every D2C startup should plan for when optimizing branding and PR for their companies.Andrew Benin is Co-founder and CEO at Graza, olive oil made for anyone who cooks..Links MentionedGRAZALearn more about Wavebreak: the email &amp; CRM agency for high-growth DTC brandsSponsored by...Klaviyo — Over 265,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email &amp; SMS campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart recovery and more.Recharge — Over 15,000 merchants have launched and scaled their subscription business with Recharge. Be it a curated monthly box, recurring necessities or access to exclusive perks, Recharge powers billions of dollars in annual processing for more than 50 million subscribers.

Andrew Benin joins the Wavebreak Podcast to walk us through how he launched a business that immediately sold out of inventory, just 1 month after launching.  In this episode you’ll learn:<ul><li>The blueprint behind the ‘no ad spend required’ strategy, how it led to a complete sellout for Graza, and why non-paid social channels are more important now than ever.</li><li>The behind-the-scenes knowledge Andrew soaked up firsthand while working at Warby Parker, Magic Spoon, and Casper.</li><li>The costs every D2C startup should plan for when optimizing branding and PR for their companies.</li></ul>Andrew Benin is Co-founder and CEO at Graza, olive oil made for anyone who cooks..<h2>Links Mentioned</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.graza.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GRAZA</a></li><li><a href="https://wavebreak.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Learn more about Wavebreak: the email &amp; CRM agency for high-growth DTC brands</a></li></ul><h2>Sponsored by...</h2><a href="https://www.klaviyo.com/landing/klaviyo-for-ecommerce?utm_campaign=wavebreakpodcast&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=podcast-sponsorship" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Klaviyo</a> — Over 265,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email &amp; SMS campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart recovery and more.<a href="https://rechargepayments.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Recharge</a> — Over 15,000 merchants have launched and scaled their subscription business with Recharge. Be it a curated monthly box, recurring necessities or access to exclusive perks, Recharge powers billions of dollars in annual processing for more than 50 million subscribers.

The $0 Ad Spend Strategy (And Why It Works So Well) with Andrew Benin

today on read receipt i’m talking with andrew benin, the co-founder &amp; ceo of graza, a brooklyn-based dtc brand reimagining extra-virgin olive oil with a handsomely designed squeeze bottle. after helping to launch superstar brands such as magic spoon, andrew began to harvest the powers of olive oil after making the move to spain.we explore not trying to be the most lux in the market, scraping together funding and side-stepping paid media.

today on read receipt i’m talking with andrew benin, the co-founder &amp; ceo of graza, a brooklyn-based dtc brand reimagining extra-virgin olive oil with a handsomely designed squeeze bottle. after helping to launch superstar brands such as magic spoon, andrew began to harvest the powers of olive oil after making the move to spain.we explore not trying to be the most lux in the market, scraping together funding and side-stepping paid media.

andrew benin & graza

Our guest today launched a business last month, and already their entire inventory is sold out! Andrew Benin joins the Wavebreak Podcast to walk us through exactly how they did it. In this episode you’ll learn:What Andrew learned working for Warby Parker, Casper (employee #7), and Magic Spoon.How much branding costs for new DTC startups and how much you should spend on your PR agency.The ‘no-ad spend required’ strategy they used to sell out month 1 after launching.Andrew Benin is Co-founder and CEO at Graza, the only olive oil you need.Join Our Private Email ListOur industry-leading DTC newsletter is trusted by ecommerce and marketing leaders at top brands like Goop, Skims, Cartier, Walmart, and thousands more.Click here to sign up -&gt;Links MentionedGrazaLearn more about Wavebreak: the email &amp; CRM agency for high-growth DTC brandsSponsored by KlaviyoKlaviyo — Over 265,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email &amp; SMS campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart recovery and more.Okendo — The new standard in customer reviews for high-growth Shopify brands. Okendo is helping over 4,000 of the fastest-growing Shopify retailers such as Kim Kardashian’s underwear label- SKIMS, Nomad, and Buck Mason to leverage their most powerful asset; their customers. They offer super affordable monthly subscriptions starting at $29. Visit Okendo.io to learn more.

Our guest today launched a business last month, and already their entire inventory is sold out! Andrew Benin joins the Wavebreak Podcast to walk us through exactly how they did it. In this episode you’ll learn:<ul><li>What Andrew learned working for Warby Parker, Casper (employee #7), and Magic Spoon.</li><li>How much branding costs for new DTC startups and how much you should spend on your PR agency.</li><li>The ‘no-ad spend required’ strategy they used to sell out month 1 after launching.</li></ul>Andrew Benin is Co-founder and CEO at Graza, the only olive oil you need.<h2>Join Our Private Email List</h2>Our industry-leading DTC newsletter is trusted by ecommerce and marketing leaders at top brands like Goop, Skims, Cartier, Walmart, and thousands more.<a href="https://wavebreak.co/join/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click here to sign up -&gt;</a><h2>Links Mentioned</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.graza.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Graza</a></li><li><a href="https://wavebreak.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Learn more about Wavebreak: the email &amp; CRM agency for high-growth DTC brands</a></li></ul><h2>Sponsored by Klaviyo</h2><a href="https://www.klaviyo.com/landing/klaviyo-for-ecommerce?utm_campaign=wavebreakpodcast&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=podcast-sponsorship" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Klaviyo</a> — Over 265,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email &amp; SMS campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart recovery and more.<a href="https://www.okendo.io/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Okendo</a> — The new standard in customer reviews for high-growth Shopify brands. Okendo is helping over 4,000 of the fastest-growing Shopify retailers such as Kim Kardashian’s underwear label- SKIMS, Nomad, and Buck Mason to leverage their most powerful asset; their customers. They offer super affordable monthly subscriptions starting at $29. Visit <a href="http://Okendo.io" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Okendo.io</a> to learn more.

How Graza Launched Last Month And Sold Out Without Paid Social with Andrew Benin

Andrew Benin is the co-founder &amp; CEO of Graza, a Brooklyn based DTC brand reimagining extra-virgin olive oil.  Andrew previously served at DTC powerhouses including Magic Spoon, Casper, &amp; Warby Parker where he worked in key operational roles. His new brand, Graza, had one of the most successful CPG launches of 2022.3:29 - Becoming a CPG addictAndrew got his start working for hot DTC Brands like Warby Parker, Casper, and Magic Spoon. It was a thrilling environment, but he knew he wanted to build something of his own.“When you work at really hot CPG companies, you are an addict of course. Because the company you're working for is growing, and growth is the fuel that fires the whole engine. But I definitely was looking to replicate that fire for something that I cared about. And olive oil is a dream, because it's objectively healthy. It is delicious. The supply chain is beautiful. The places where olive trees are grown and harvested are beautiful. And people's general reaction is shit, I love olive oil. It's kind of everybody's best friend, you know? So it definitely had strong tailwinds. But when I actually thought, okay, it's time to start a company, super saturated market. Investors had seen decks come across their desk recently. Really fragmented supply chain. So all of the reasons not to do it started coming up at the same time as the energy to do it. But I couldn't stop. I knew that we were going to get an olive oil company off the ground.”05:09 - Focusing on middle AmericaLuxury olive oil abounds in the world...for a steep price tag. Andrew realized that what middle America needed was olive that hit the sweet spot between amazing quality and accessibility.“I got really, really close with Mike Anthony, the executive chef at Gramercy Tavern. I get back to New York. I'm still working at Magic Spoon. And I find time with Mike to do a tasting at the restaurant. And we're trying really expensive, really delicious, really crazy olive oils. And he looks me in the eye and he's like, you know, I have 10 of you in this zip code who I can call on to get me amazing Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Argentinian olive oil anywhere I want in the world. Don't start another boutique luxury olive oil company. Don't do it. That's not what we need. Middle America doesn't need that. Because it's not even just middle America doesn't need that, we can't afford it. So that changed my perspective completely. And ever since then, mass and scale and mass premium have been the leading principles for this company. Of course without sacrificing quality at all. I would put up our olive oil against any gold metal, whatever award olive oil there is in the world.”8:07 - Making olive oil sexyGraza’s unique squeeze bottle makes it possible to be both playful and insanely functional.“We just wanted to add some life and some sex appeal to it, some fun. A big part of the development process and the idea was when we were like, screw it. We're going to put this in a chef-inspired squeeze bottle. That was a whole deviation from the norm. And that was a lot of energy from the culinary community, a lot of energy from the investment community. People were like, damn. This is going to really be usable on all social media verticals. You can do collabs with restaurants. And it all kind of started coming together when we flipped the form factor. You know, olive oil is always sold in the same dark green glass bottle with a random label with an olive branch on it. And when we chose a squeeze bottle, everything changed in terms of the visual appeal. And this is something that makes us not only a CPG food company, it makes us a tool in the kitchen.”14:13 - Finding a design partnerGraza tapped Gander as their design agency, and offered them an equity and cash partnership to give the relationship deep roots.“Our original design was a Dr. Bronner's bottle with a Mike's Hot Honey cap, put together with some Photoshop work. That's how it started. But we knew we were going to work with a great branding and design agency. We worked with Gander, Take a Gander is how you can find them online. They also did Magic Spoon and Banza and Gotham Greens and Mystic Market. So I knew they had the heat. We decided to explore an equity and cash partnership with them, which I think is a great way to work with long-term partners. I think it's a great way to keep people invested and honest…I think working with a great branding agency not only is like the visual aspect, they instill amazing creative project management into your company from an early point. And their first job is to extract all of the thoughts that you've had for six months alone, writing in your iPhone notes, writing a Google Doc, sending emails. Their job is to get that all out of you. And I think if we didn't work with some professionals like that, it would still just be stuck in my brain somewhere. And I'd be very frustrated.”15:56 - Vetting new partnersAndrew suggests doing reference checks, carefully reviewing offers, and paying close attention to what is in the project scope before committing to new partners.“It's the classic. You have to reference check. You have to right away ask for three companies that you worked with. I'm going to speak to all of them. And you got to put in the effort. What I will say is don't pay more than $150 grand for branding work. That is when things get crazy. You know, we got some offers in for $250k, $300k, $350k and we're going to do these data insights and consumer insights. I kind of read all that stuff is BS. Like if your job is a creative agency, I'm going to pay you for the creative. If your job is to give me consumer insights, I'm going to partner with McKinsey before I partner with the creative agency for that. So know what you're getting, and I know what you need. My last bit of advice would be the scopes of work that come through. You are going to be held to it. And if you deviate from scope, you are going to be billed for it. So don't take those lightly. Make sure exactly what you want is in there. And if you don't know how to ascertain that information, get help from a founder. Go into CPG founder Slack groups and figure out who can help you figure that out.”21:04 - Seeding to creators pre-launchGraza’s successful launch can be credited to successfully seeding to creators and influencers in a respectful way.“For us all this organic pre-launch effort was mostly around seeding. I think if you have a physical product that is affordable to seed, you have already struck gold. And then you have to have faith in yourself and your team and your story and how you package it and the notes that you write and everything that you do, that these creators are going to naturally feel inclined to participate. So we took a seeding approach that was no strings attached, no asks, nothing. No incessant communication. If you want to squeeze with us, if you want to have some dope olive oil, drop your address. And if you don't, no hard feelings at all. If you only want to do a paid campaign, we'll speak to you in a year. I think that having a deep respect for the creator economy is vital for a CPG founder. Because these are people that their skill is mocked sometimes. And oh, you have 20,000 followers on Instagram. These are people that are trying to hustle and make a career out of this. And getting behind a camera with food is really hard, really hard. I have tried to do it many times, and my videos are awful. So I just think having the utmost respect for them and treating them like they are the key for all of us. So seeding really worked.”32:12 - Kicking off a retail strategyAndrew knew that retail would turn into a big component of Graza’s business. That’s why he identified a talented co-founder to run and own Graza’s retail arm.“We divide and conquer. I have an amazing co-founder Allen… Allen had run an $80 million business just at Costco in apparel, and it's the retail mass mindset that we needed. So Alan runs our entire sales team. Allen facilitates our selection of brokers and a whole bunch of other stuff. But dividing and conquering in those channels. It was always kind of a dream to be okay, maybe we can actually have different ownership of digital and physical from day one. And obviously it's not a perfect line, but we're doing a pretty damn good job. So for us, we have to figure out how to supply 1,500 stores. It's a huge, huge challenge for a new brand. Our interactions with our customers digitally will always be so vital to our community building and brand building. And we're not going to let those strategies conflate with what works on a retail shelf. I don't think they are completely transferable. And I also think it's a pipe dream to be like, oh, we'll get our physical retail customers and convert them over to digital customers, and everyone's going to be happy. Wrong. No one's going to be happy.”36:40 - Channeling startup energyWork-life balance is simply impossible for a startup founder. Andrew said that something changes when it’s your own business that allows you to draw on a deeper well of energy.“I worked for people that I watched them suffer, because it was their company. And I got to go to the gym at 7:00 PM and go out to dinner with friends. That's not my reality right now. But I think at the same time, you tune into like a different stamina, different energy, that just keeps you going. Yesterday was Sunday, and I was answering every single customer email that we got, because I think it’s really really important, especially with these early customers. And that's in thanks to amazing training that I had at companies where customer service was everything. So I'm not going to sit here and say that my personal health is at an all-time high. It's not. But the community that we're building in the food space is insane. It is a lot of fun to work with olive oil. Every time we go to dinner here in Brooklyn, we bring a bottle and we're just squeezing it everywhere. It is fun. We're gonna build out a team to help, for sure. And that's going to be so exciting. Maybe in a year and a half, two years, I can come up for some air. But right now I want to put everything into this, because at the end of the day, we're selling something to people that actually is good for them.”Watch the full interview here: This episode is brought to you by OrderGroove and OpenStore:Visit  https://www.ordergroove.com/dtcpod/?utm_source=event&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=2022q1_dtcpodpodcast_thirdparty_demo_us&amp;utm_content=demo  today to receive 2-months off your first contract.Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your ecommerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further? Shoot us a DM, we'd love to hear from you.Andrew Benin - CEO of GrazaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of Omnipanel

Andrew Benin is the co-founder &amp; CEO of Graza, a Brooklyn based DTC brand reimagining extra-virgin olive oil.  Andrew previously served at DTC powerhouses including Magic Spoon, Casper, &amp; Warby Parker where he worked in key operational roles. His new brand, Graza, had one of the most successful CPG launches of 2022.3:29 - Becoming a CPG addictAndrew got his start working for hot <a href="www.dtcetc.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DTC Brands</a> like Warby Parker, Casper, and Magic Spoon. It was a thrilling environment, but he knew he wanted to build something of his own.“When you work at really hot CPG companies, you are an addict of course. Because the company you're working for is growing, and growth is the fuel that fires the whole engine. But I definitely was looking to replicate that fire for something that I cared about. And olive oil is a dream, because it's objectively healthy. It is delicious. The supply chain is beautiful. The places where olive trees are grown and harvested are beautiful. And people's general reaction is shit, I love olive oil. It's kind of everybody's best friend, you know? So it definitely had strong tailwinds. But when I actually thought, okay, it's time to start a company, super saturated market. Investors had seen decks come across their desk recently. Really fragmented supply chain. So all of the reasons not to do it started coming up at the same time as the energy to do it. But I couldn't stop. I knew that we were going to get an olive oil company off the ground.”05:09 - Focusing on middle AmericaLuxury olive oil abounds in the world...for a steep price tag. Andrew realized that what middle America needed was olive that hit the sweet spot between amazing quality and accessibility.“I got really, really close with Mike Anthony, the executive chef at Gramercy Tavern. I get back to New York. I'm still working at Magic Spoon. And I find time with Mike to do a tasting at the restaurant. And we're trying really expensive, really delicious, really crazy olive oils. And he looks me in the eye and he's like, you know, I have 10 of you in this zip code who I can call on to get me amazing Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Argentinian olive oil anywhere I want in the world. Don't start another boutique luxury olive oil company. Don't do it. That's not what we need. Middle America doesn't need that. Because it's not even just middle America doesn't need that, we can't afford it. So that changed my perspective completely. And ever since then, mass and scale and mass premium have been the leading principles for this company. Of course without sacrificing quality at all. I would put up our olive oil against any gold metal, whatever award olive oil there is in the world.”8:07 - Making olive oil sexyGraza’s unique squeeze bottle makes it possible to be both playful and insanely functional.“We just wanted to add some life and some sex appeal to it, some fun. A big part of the development process and the idea was when we were like, screw it. We're going to put this in a chef-inspired squeeze bottle. That was a whole deviation from the norm. And that was a lot of energy from the culinary community, a lot of energy from the investment community. People were like, damn. This is going to really be usable on all social media verticals. You can do collabs with restaurants. And it all kind of started coming together when we flipped the form factor. You know, olive oil is always sold in the same dark green glass bottle with a random label with an olive branch on it. And when we chose a squeeze bottle, everything changed in terms of the visual appeal. And this is something that makes us not only a CPG food company, it makes us a tool in the kitchen.”14:13 - Finding a design partnerGraza tapped Gander as their design agency, and offered them an equity and cash partnership to give the relationship deep roots.“Our original design was a Dr. Bronner's bottle with a Mike's Hot Honey cap, put together with some Photoshop work. That's how it started. But we knew we were going to work with a great branding and design agency. We worked with Gander, Take a Gander is how you can find them online. They also did Magic Spoon and Banza and Gotham Greens and Mystic Market. So I knew they had the heat. We decided to explore an equity and cash partnership with them, which I think is a great way to work with long-term partners. I think it's a great way to keep people invested and honest…I think working with a great branding agency not only is like the visual aspect, they instill amazing creative project management into your company from an early point. And their first job is to extract all of the thoughts that you've had for six months alone, writing in your iPhone notes, writing a Google Doc, sending emails. Their job is to get that all out of you. And I think if we didn't work with some professionals like that, it would still just be stuck in my brain somewhere. And I'd be very frustrated.”15:56 - Vetting new partnersAndrew suggests doing reference checks, carefully reviewing offers, and paying close attention to what is in the project scope before committing to new partners.“It's the classic. You have to reference check. You have to right away ask for three companies that you worked with. I'm going to speak to all of them. And you got to put in the effort. What I will say is don't pay more than $150 grand for branding work. That is when things get crazy. You know, we got some offers in for $250k, $300k, $350k and we're going to do these data insights and consumer insights. I kind of read all that stuff is BS. Like if your job is a creative agency, I'm going to pay you for the creative. If your job is to give me consumer insights, I'm going to partner with McKinsey before I partner with the creative agency for that. So know what you're getting, and I know what you need. My last bit of advice would be the scopes of work that come through. You are going to be held to it. And if you deviate from scope, you are going to be billed for it. So don't take those lightly. Make sure exactly what you want is in there. And if you don't know how to ascertain that information, get help from a founder. Go into CPG founder Slack groups and figure out who can help you figure that out.”21:04 - Seeding to creators pre-launchGraza’s successful launch can be credited to successfully seeding to creators and influencers in a respectful way.“For us all this organic pre-launch effort was mostly around seeding. I think if you have a physical product that is affordable to seed, you have already struck gold. And then you have to have faith in yourself and your team and your story and how you package it and the notes that you write and everything that you do, that these creators are going to naturally feel inclined to participate. So we took a seeding approach that was no strings attached, no asks, nothing. No incessant communication. If you want to squeeze with us, if you want to have some dope olive oil, drop your address. And if you don't, no hard feelings at all. If you only want to do a paid campaign, we'll speak to you in a year. I think that having a deep respect for the creator economy is vital for a CPG founder. Because these are people that their skill is mocked sometimes. And oh, you have 20,000 followers on Instagram. These are people that are trying to hustle and make a career out of this. And getting behind a camera with food is really hard, really hard. I have tried to do it many times, and my videos are awful. So I just think having the utmost respect for them and treating them like they are the key for all of us. So seeding really worked.”32:12 - Kicking off a retail strategyAndrew knew that retail would turn into a big component of Graza’s business. That’s why he identified a talented co-founder to run and own Graza’s retail arm.“We divide and conquer. I have an amazing co-founder Allen… Allen had run an $80 million business just at Costco in apparel, and it's the retail mass mindset that we needed. So Alan runs our entire sales team. Allen facilitates our selection of brokers and a whole bunch of other stuff. But dividing and conquering in those channels. It was always kind of a dream to be okay, maybe we can actually have different ownership of digital and physical from day one. And obviously it's not a perfect line, but we're doing a pretty damn good job. So for us, we have to figure out how to supply 1,500 stores. It's a huge, huge challenge for a new brand. Our interactions with our customers digitally will always be so vital to our community building and brand building. And we're not going to let those strategies conflate with what works on a retail shelf. I don't think they are completely transferable. And I also think it's a pipe dream to be like, oh, we'll get our physical retail customers and convert them over to digital customers, and everyone's going to be happy. Wrong. No one's going to be happy.”36:40 - Channeling startup energyWork-life balance is simply impossible for a startup founder. Andrew said that something changes when it’s your own business that allows you to draw on a deeper well of energy.“I worked for people that I watched them suffer, because it was their company. And I got to go to the gym at 7:00 PM and go out to dinner with friends. That's not my reality right now. But I think at the same time, you tune into like a different stamina, different energy, that just keeps you going. Yesterday was Sunday, and I was answering every single customer email that we got, because I think it’s really really important, especially with these early customers. And that's in thanks to amazing training that I had at companies where customer service was everything. So I'm not going to sit here and say that my personal health is at an all-time high. It's not. But the community that we're building in the food space is insane. It is a lot of fun to work with olive oil. Every time we go to dinner here in Brooklyn, we bring a bottle and we're just squeezing it everywhere. It is fun. We're gonna build out a team to help, for sure. And that's going to be so exciting. Maybe in a year and a half, two years, I can come up for some air. But right now I want to put everything into this, because at the end of the day, we're selling something to people that actually is good for them.”Watch the full interview here: This episode is brought to you by OrderGroove and OpenStore:Visit  <a href="https://www.ordergroove.com/dtcpod/?utm_source=event&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=2022q1_dtcpodpodcast_thirdparty_demo_us&amp;utm_content=demo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.ordergroove.com/dtcpod/?utm_source=event&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=2022q1_dtcpodpodcast_thirdparty_demo_us&amp;utm_content=demo</a>  today to receive 2-months off your first contract.Visit <a href="https://open.store/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://open.store</a> to get a free, no-obligation offer for your ecommerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?  Shoot us a DM, we'd love to hear from you.Andrew Benin - CEO of <a href="https://www.graza.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Graza</a><a href="https://twitter.com/ramongberrios" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ramon Berrios</a> - CEO of <a href="https://www.trend.io/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trend.io</a><a href="https://twitter.com/bbols4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blaine Bolus</a> - COO of <a href="https://www.omnipanel.io/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Omnipanel</a>