About this episode
Russell went from working in private equity to hand-delivering dog food on the NYC subway at 5 a.m. He didn't start with a VC check; he started with a studio apartment kitchen and a belief that dog food was broken.In this episode, Russell breaks down how he turned a side hustle into Spot & Tango, a direct-to-consumer giant doing over $100M in revenue. He reveals the gritty reality of early-stage CPG, why he vertically integrated his own factory when everyone else outsourced, and how a simple "fresh dry" product innovation called UnKibble unlocked massive scale.Why You Should ListenHow to scale from a studio apartment kitchen to $100M+ revenue.How a simple packaging choice created a premium brand identity.Why your second product might become your biggest winner.Why the best performing ad creative is often the cheapest.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, DTC startup, CPG brand, direct to consumer, scaling a startup, founder stories, Spot and Tango00:00:00 Intro00:02:30 From Private Equity to Dog Food00:07:36 Hand-Delivering to the First Customer00:11:57 The Dark Ages: Cooking in a Shared Kitchen00:19:17 Pricing Strategy Without Sales Data00:22:50 The Pink Butcher Paper Brand Identity00:26:26 Launching UnKibble: The 9-Figure Product00:31:52 Why Vertical Integration is a Moat00:40:54 The Best Ad Creative is a Sticky Note00:47:09 Selling Out Inventory in 4 DaysSend me a message to let me know what you think!
