3) Watch, listen, learn

Go hang out with people who are shopping — and not just your friends and family. Go to stores and watch all types of people shop. Watch them make decisions. Watch them grab your product, interact with it, and evaluate whether to buy it. This is invaluable. Nothing can replace direct observation during early product development and sales. Go to multiple stores and watch, learn, determine which of your assumptions are accurate and which ones might be off, and then be ready to pivot — quickly.

4) Pivot quickly and often

As entrepreneurs, many of us like to believe that we know everything about our businesses or industries, but the fact is that we often don’t. And if we continue to push on without putting in the time and effort to think critically and learn — about our own products and the market — we will be sorely disappointed and maybe even lose a lot of money in the process. Deep down, you may already know that something needs to give. The quicker you can let go of those ideas that don’t have a chance of panning out and pivot, the more successful you will become.

5) Perfect a production plan

Making stuff is complicated and sometimes, you need help. Do your best to figure this out early. If you need help, you also need to find the right kind of help — help that can give you solid advice and won’t leave you high and dry. If you are doing this on your own to start, make sure that you can scale / evolve / adapt / grow as needed. It is a harsh game, this production space‚ and you need to be ready for challenges to arise.

Bryan Taylor

12 Tips for CPG Startups

What we’ve learned from years of starting, building, and growing CPG brands.

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