The Story of a Brand Show

What happens to a founder's identity when the business ends, the title changes, or the exit doesn't bring expected fulfillment?

In this episode, host Ramon Vela sits down with Julie Harrelson, CEO of Harrelson Global, strategist, speaker, and former venture capitalist. Drawing from her background as a founder, executive, and managing director who made over 100 investments, Julie reframes how leaders view setbacks, transitions, and daily grief. 

Together, they explore:

* The concept of daily grief and how acknowledging minor, routine losses builds the resilience needed for major life challenges.

* Dual processing, holding space for both grief and joy simultaneously rather than treating them as separate experiences.

* Navigating identity shifts during career step-downs, role changes, board removals, and post-exit transitions.

* The importance of emotional awareness, seeking help, and integrating humanity into competitive leadership.

Join us for this podcast as Julie and Ramon dive into what it truly takes to develop self-awareness, practice compassionate leadership, and cultivate genuine joy through life's continuous changes.

For more on Harrelson Global: https://www.harrelsonglobal.com/

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Most consumer brands focus on removing friction, but Bite has built its business around embracing it. 

Instead of squeezing toothpaste from a tube, you chew it. Instead of treating the packaging as disposable, you refill it. Bite's approach challenges customers to shift their long-held habits and learn to integrate this new way of oral care into their daily lives.

Host Rose Hamilton, CEO of Compass Rose Ventures, sits down with Lindsay McCormick, Founder and CEO of Bite, to unpack how she turned an eco-friendly toothpaste tablet into a thriving, highly profitable business on her own terms.

* Acquisition vs. Adoption: Why getting a customer through checkout is only half the battle, and how focusing on long-term behavior change drives real retention.

* The Power of Disciplined Growth: How saying no to big-box retail and cutting back on unnecessary product launches protected the company's margins and core focus.

* Evolving as a Founder: Moving past early people-pleasing habits to build real accountability, front-load the first 90 days for new hires, and scale a high-performing remote culture.

* Navigating Brand Identity: How to maintain a strong core narrative and stand out as marketing channels fragment and control shifts to affiliates and creators.

Join us for this podcast episode as Rose and Lindsay dive into the commercial choices, customer economics, and strategic trade-offs that build a truly sustainable, valuable brand.

For more on Bite visit: http://trybite.com

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What if the fastest way to grow was walking away from $15 million in sales? 

In this episode of The Story of a Brand Show, host Rose Hamilton sits down with Jason Burke, Founder and CEO of New Primal. Jason shares his incredible evolution from Googling "how to make beef jerky" without any food manufacturing background to building a CPG powerhouse. 

Together, they deliver a masterclass on commercial discipline, detailing how New Primal cut 36 products down to a focused core, shifted from an impulse snack to a high-velocity lunchbox staple, and learned that revenue without healthy margins is just noise.

In this episode, we cover:

* The $15 Million Cut: How eliminating profitable yet complex SKUs and categories actually unlocked faster overall growth.

* The Hidden Tax of Complexity: Why adding "one more SKU" taxes management bandwidth, operations, and capital far more than founders realize.

* Top-Line Vanity vs. Enterprise Value: Shifting away from chasing rapid top-line revenue to building a sustainable, margin-accretive business model.

* Listening to Consumer Behavior: How feedback from parents led to pivoting into mini meat sticks and capturing the expanding kids' lunchbox market.

* The Retailer Reality Check: What a brand truly owes the shelf after getting authorized, and why distribution without demand is a dangerous trap.

* Founder Discipline: Why the hardest part of scaling is learning to stop inventing new products and start mastering the core.

Join us in listening to this episode!

For more on New Primal visit: https://newprimal.com/

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What happens when a founder decides to pull a product off 400 store shelves not because it failed, but because scaling the wrong economics is a fast track to killing a company.

In this masterclass on CPG entrepreneurship, Omar Atia, Co-Founder & CEO of ZeroCarb LYFE, joins host Rose Hamilton, CEO of Compass Rose Ventures, to break down the mechanics of building a resilient, high-value enterprise. 

Omar traces his evolution from corporate R&D to startup leadership, delivering a candid blueprint for navigating the hidden traps of rapid expansion, commercializing novel manufacturing processes, and making disciplined financial trade-offs.

Key Takeaways & Business Frameworks:

* Unit Economics Over Top-Line Growth: Why exiting 400 Sprouts locations was the smartest move for long-term enterprise value, proving that revenue without margin is just noise.

* Bridging R&D and Commercial Scale: The operational reality of transforming a four-ingredient, kitchen-table innovation into a scalable, patented manufacturing system.

* Positioning for Market Realities: How tracking customer behavior led ZeroCarb LYFE to pivot its core value proposition from "low-carb" to "highest protein-to-calorie ratio," proving why messaging must evolve alongside the market.

* Omnichannel Strategy Demystified: A tactical breakdown of how to use direct-to-consumer for immediate feedback loops, food service for margin stability, and selective retail for broader reach.

* Capitalizing on Structural Consumer Shifts: How to build product strategies around macro health shifts, including the rise of GLP-1 medications, by prioritizing high-protein, calorie-efficient nutrition.

Whether you are scaling a CPG brand, refining your go-to-market strategy, or evaluating channel profitability, this interview serves as a practical guide to operational discipline and sustainable growth.

For more on ZeroCarb LYFE visit: https://zerocarblyfe.com/

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Growth conceals a weak business, but choice proves whether your brand has earned real trust.

In a $20 billion supplement industry flooded with endless trends and questionable promises, earning true consumer belief requires much more than slick marketing—it takes radical discipline.

In this episode, Rose Hamilton, CEO of Compass Rose Ventures, sits down with Alice Li, Founder & CEO of First Day, to explore how she transformed a deeply personal family history into an operating philosophy for building a trusted, science-backed wellness brand.
 
Alice unpacks the strategic decisions behind turning First Day into a powerhouse—scaling to nine figures with less than $1 million in outside capital—while prioritizing capital efficiency, unit economics, and long-term brand legacy over fast, short-term trends.

Here is what we cover in this episode:

* Generational History as an Operating Philosophy: How her family's experience during the Great Chinese Famine shaped Alice's deep sense of responsibility and mission in nutrition.

* Saying No to $20B Market Fads: Why First Day deliberately walked away from massive, hype-driven product trends like apple cider vinegar gummies to protect brand trust and clinical integrity.

* Building for Trust Over Speed: The key differences between optimizing a business for immediate exit potential versus constructing a brand with 20- to 30-year staying power.

* Obsession with Customer Intimacy: How taking customer support calls personally—and hearing the real stories of overwhelmed parents and grandparents—grounded First Day's value proposition.

* Unit Economics over Fundraising: How Alice scaled the business to over $100 million in revenue with under $1 million in funding by staying ruthlessly disciplined about contribution margins from day one.

* The Retail Delay Strategy: Why Alice turned down major mass-retail partnerships for nearly three years until the team, supply chain, and unit economics were truly ready to execute flawlessly.

Join us in listening to this episode!

For more on First Day visit: https://firstday.com/

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