The Story of a Brand

Hosted by Compass Rose Ventures, LLC

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300

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Welcome to The Story Of A Brand. Hear the unique entrepreneurial journeys of 1000+ Consumer Brand founders. We tap into the doubts, failures, wins and inspirations that come with building Consumer Brand startups in extremely competitive times. Whether you own a brand or work for one, you will learn from our guests as they share the building blocks of their brand's evolution. Who knows, you may even discover a few new products that become faves.

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60 recent

October 27, 2026Episode 139751 min

Octave - How WiseMatch Is Fixing Insurance Directories for Patients

Why is finding the right in-network therapist still so frustratingly broken? In this episode of The Story of a Brand Show , host Ramon Vela chats with Sandeep Acharya , Founder & CEO of Octave and creator of WiseMatch . Sandeep breaks down his mission-driven journey to reform healthcare access, explaining how Octave provides a vetted, insurance-covered care network while WiseMatch directly integrates real-time therapist availability into major health plan directories. Key highlights from the episode include: * The Root of Care Abandonment : Why traditional insurance directories leave patients stuck with out-of-date lists and dead ends, and how Octave cuts failure rates in half. * Building WiseMatch : How partnering with industry competitors created a unified tech platform powering real-time booking for over 100,000 therapists. * Mission-First Leadership : Lessons from navigating 40 startup rejections, managing founder anxiety, and building an aligned company culture around long-term patient success. Join us for this podcast as we explore how technology and clinical oversight are reshaping mental health access for consumers nationwide! For more on Octave: https://www.findoctave.com/ For more on Wisematch: https://www.wisematch.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

October 1, 2026Episode 139658 min

Julie Harrelson - Why Setbacks are the Doorway to Resilience

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/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

September 30, 2026Episode 139542 min

Bite - How Bite Built a Profitable Business on Its Own Terms

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 If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

September 2, 2026Episode 139450 min

New Primal - Revenue Is Vanity: The Hard Truth About Scaling CPG

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/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

August 19, 2026Episode 139350 min

ZeroCarb LYFE - Scaling Strategy: E-Com, Foodservice, and Retail Realities

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/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

August 6, 2026Episode 139252 min

First Day - How First Day Built a $100M Brand Without the VC Treadmill

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/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

July 8, 2026Episode 139159 min

POCA - What Building Hims and Hers Taught Her About Starting Over

She Co-Founded Hims and Hers. Now She's Coming for Your Morning Routine. Ramon Vela sits down with Hilary Coles , Co-Founder & CEO of POCA and Co-Founder of Hims & Hers , for a warm and revealing conversation about the lessons learned scaling a billion-dollar brand, the gap in the low-sugar coffee and matcha category, and the deeply personal conviction behind her newest venture. * The suit story that changed everything. At 22, living at her mom's house on $30,000 a year, Hilary's boss quietly sent her to a private shopper and bought her two suits. It wasn't about the clothes. It was about being told, without words, that she belonged in the room. That moment shaped how she leads and how she shows up for others to this day. * What Hims and Hers taught her that no business school could. Building a category-defining brand from zero gave Hilary a front-row seat to what it really takes to scale with speed while staying true to the consumer. She brought every lesson into POCA . * The gap nobody was filling. Hilary wanted a low-sugar, great-tasting coffee and matcha option that didn't taste like a compromise. When she couldn't find one, she built it. POCA uses allulose and monk fruit for sweetness, adds a boost of fiber, and comes in flavors like vanilla, caramel, and pistachio. * Ritual is the product. POCA is not just a beverage. It is designed to become the warm cup of something special that anchors your morning and your day. Hilary talks about building a brand that people reach for not because they have to, but because they genuinely want to. * Watch closely toward summer and fall. New flavors and innovations are on the way as POCA continues to clean up the coffee and matcha aisle. Right now they are available at pickpoca.com and TikTok Shop. Join us in listening to this episode for a genuinely inspiring conversation about building with intention, leading with belief in others, and finding the white space hiding in a category everyone else overlooked. Whether you are a founder, a wellness-minded consumer, or someone who just wants something sweet without the sugar crash, this one has something for you. Visit: https://pickpoca.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this! * Today's Sponsors: Saral - The Influencer OS: https://www.getsaral.com/demo SARAL is the all-in-one influencer platform that finds brand-aligned creators, automates outreach, and manages everything in one place. Request a live demo today. Let the SARAL team know you're a The Story of a Brand Show podcast listener to get an extended free trial! Visit the link above .

July 1, 2026Episode 139044 min

Raw Sugar - What Retail Really Reveals About Your Brand

Getting on shelf is not the win. Staying there is the business. Rose Hamilton , CEO of Compass Rose Ventures and co-host of The Story of a Brand Show , sits down with Michael Marquis , CEO of Raw Sugar , for a masterclass in what retail really reveals about a brand. With more than 20,000 doors across Target , Walmart , CVS, Walgreens, Meijer, Sally Beauty, Amazon, and DTC, Raw Sugar is one of the most compelling case studies in mass retail execution in the clean personal care space today. * Clean personal care at mass retail prices is not a tagline . It is an operating model. Raw Sugar launched as a Target exclusive with a deceptively simple belief: clean personal care should not cost more than conventional personal care. That mission drove every formula, fragrance, packaging, and supply chain decision the brand has ever made. * Operational execution comes before brand strategy . The first thing any retailer watches is whether you can supply product on time, in full, at consistent quality. Michael is direct: the worst thing a brand can do is win the shelf and then fail to fill it. * Retail compresses the truth . In DTC you can retarget, rewrite the landing page, and buy yourself more time. In retail the shelf does not care how hard you worked. The consumer either gets it in seconds or they don't. And the weekly scorecards come fast. * A restage is a consumer trust event, not a design project . When Raw Sugar evolved its packaging, the team knew that loyal consumers needed to recognize the brand, understand the change, and feel reassured rather than disrupted. Getting that choreography right is one of the most underestimated challenges in brand building. * Do not go too big too fast . Michael's sharpest advice for any founder heading into retail: hold back on the temptation to chase doors and scale before the brand is fully baked. Place is part of brand positioning. Make sure the channel is a logical extension of what the brand actually stands for. Join us in listening to this episode for one of the most practically useful retail conversations the show has ever produced. Rose and Michael cover shelf clarity, velocity, brand restaging, omnichannel discipline, and what it really takes to compete against the giants without acting like a smaller version of one. Whether you are already in retail or working hard to get there, this conversation will change how you think about the channel. For more on Raw Sugar visit: https://rawsugarliving.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this!

June 25, 2026Episode 13891 hr 5 min

Farmana - Health Is a Verb. Start Acting Like It.

Most supplement brands start with a formula. Jason Dyer started with a philosophy. Ramon Vela sits down with Jason Dyer , Co-Founder of Farmana , for a deeply thoughtful conversation about twenty-two years of experience in the health and wellness industry, a personal transformation that changed everything, and a brand built on the radical idea that real nutrition should begin where it always has: the farm. * Health is a verb, not an adjective. Jason's core belief, forged through over two decades in the supplement industry, is that health is something you continuously do, not something you have. That insight is baked into every Farmana product and every decision the brand makes. * Farm to function. Farmana bridges the gap between whole food nutrition and functional supplementation, taking real, nutrient-dense ingredients from carefully vetted organic farmers and preserving their goodness through a proprietary freeze-drying process that keeps the food as close to its original state as possible. * The personal transformation behind the brand. Five years ago Jason weighed 260 pounds. Not through radical change but through a large quantity of small conscious choices, he found himself in the best health of his life at 46. That lived experience is the real origin story of Farmana . * The sea of compromise in the supplement aisle. With 25,000 products and 400 brands on typical health food store shelves, consumers face more confusion than clarity. Farmana was built to cut through that noise with formulations that don't compromise, combining whole food nutrition with proven functional ingredients in a single product. * Patience over guilt. Jason's most powerful message for anyone on a health journey: stop carrying the guilt of what you haven't done and start taking one conscious step at a time. You didn't get here overnight. You won't get out of it overnight either. Join us in listening to this episode for a conversation that is as much about mindset as it is about nutrition. Jason brings twenty-two years of industry experience, a personal story of transformation, and a genuine belief that better health is available to everyone willing to take that one next step. Visit: https://farmana.co/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this! * Today's Sponsors: Saral - The Influencer OS : https://www.getsaral.com/demo SARAL is the all-in-one influencer platform that finds brand-aligned creators, automates outreach, and manages everything in one place. Request a live demo today. Let the SARAL team know you're a The Story of a Brand Show podcast listener to get an extended free trial! Visit the link above .

June 12, 2026Episode 138855 min

Taza Chocolate - Stay True to the Craft. Outlast the Competition

A flood destroyed the factory, the FDA shut them down, and the company had almost no cash and then something remarkable happened. Ramon Vela sits down with Alex Whitmore , Founder & CEO of Taza Chocolate , for a deeply human conversation about twenty-plus years of stone-ground, mission-driven chocolate making in Somerville, Massachusetts. From a transformative trip to Oaxaca to pioneering direct trade relationships with cocoa farmers in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Alex's story is one of the most compelling in the specialty food world. * The flood that almost ended everything. Just a few years into building Taza , a freak thunderstorm flooded the factory, destroyed inventory, and triggered an FDA shutdown. What happened next surprised even Alex: suppliers, customers, landlord, and community all showed up. That moment taught him that business is deeply human at its core. * A trip to Oaxaca that changed everything. The name Taza comes from "taza de chocolate," a traditional Mexican drinking chocolate. After visiting stone mills in southern Mexico in his twenties, Alex came home and built the only company in America making chocolate on traditional Mexicano stone mills — and that founding commitment still defines every bar made today. * Direct trade before it was a trend. Taza built relationships directly with cocoa farmers, paying above fair trade prices and publishing an annual transparency report. When the global cocoa crisis hit and prices spiked, those long-standing farmer relationships became a genuine competitive and operational lifeline. * Twenty years of staying independent. Taza raised only $120,000 at the start and never chased outside capital. Alex walks through what two decades of bootstrapping in an intensely competitive specialty food category actually teaches you about patience, resilience, and staying true to your craft. * Start with the Wicked Dark. Taza's number one seller is a 95% dark chocolate bar made with cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Alex also points new fans to the Mexican Style Chocolate Discs, the product that best captures who Taza has always been. Join us in listening to this episode for a rich and genuinely moving conversation about craft, community, and what it means to build a brand with deep roots and unshakeable values over two decades. Whether you are a chocolate lover, a founder, or someone who just needs a reminder of why the mission matters, this one will stay with you. Visit: https://www.tazachocolate.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify . Your support helps us bring you more content like this! * Today's Sponsors: Saral - The Influencer OS : https://www.getsaral.com/demo SARAL is the all-in-one influencer platform that finds brand-aligned creators, automates outreach, and manages everything in one place. Request a live demo today. Let the SARAL team know you're a The Story of a Brand Show podcast listener to get an extended free trial! Visit the link above.