The Dirty Secret CPG Brokers Don't Want You To Know

Cole Pennington co-founded Proud Source Water in 2016, taking it from deliveries out of a rental truck in Boise to national distribution through Sprouts, Trader Joe’s and a PepsiCo partnership before its acquisition by Source Global. Now Co-Founder and President of Proud Impact Collective, Cole shares the CPG rules he broke, why he broke them, and what it took to build an aluminum bottled water brand from the ground up. 00:00 From rental truck to water brand 08:20 Competing with 450 water brands 11:21 The Sprouts breakthrough 12:32 Why foodservice pays the bills 14:34 The call that saved the plant 18:11 Walmart’s golden ticket 23:30 Dropped by Trader Joe’s then what? 26:53 What PepsiCo unlocked 29:44 Were the brokers worth it? 33:01 Getting on shelf is just the start 36:31 Inside a CPG exit 39:20 Why build PIC? 47:43 Hiring outside the industry 52:49 The partnerships big brands miss 55:43 CPG lessons worth sharing ABOUT PIC CONVERSATIONS PIC Conversations is the no-fluff podcast from Proud Impact Collective, built for CPG founders, sales leaders and marketers. Each episode brings a retail, foodservice or digital commerce operator on to say what actually works. To learn more, go to https://www.proudimpact.com/ DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from Proud Impact Collective, LLC, or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Proud Impact Collective, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Proud Impact Collective, LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.