About this episode

Seth Goldman discusses the intricacies of building and managing a board for CPG companies.

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Seth Goldman—co-founder of Honest Tea, co-founder and CEO of Just Ice Tea, and one of the most experienced board members in the CPG space, having served as chair of Beyond Meat, Plant Burger, and Mission Guardians of Tony's Chocolonely—to answer the questions most founders never get a straight answer on: When do you actually need a board? Who should be on it? How do you manage it? And how do you protect yourself? Seth walks through every stage of the board journey—from the friends-and-family raise where you probably don't need one yet, to the angel round where you do, to the institutional raise where investors will ask for seats and you need to know how to vet them back. He shares the story of a would-be investor he turned away after learning they wanted management options to install their own CEO, how he recruited legends like Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield and Jeff Swartz of Timberland to an Honest Tea board when the company was doing a few million in sales, and why splitting your lead investment between two partners isn't just smart—it's protective. Daniel and Seth also dig into what makes a board…

People in this episode

Host: Daniel Scharff

Guest: Seth Goldman

Topics covered

• building a board
• CPG industry
• investor relations
• board management
• diversity of opinion
• CEO transition

Keywords

• board building
• CPG
• investors
• management
• diversity
• CEO transition
• Seth Goldman

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Honest Tea, Just Ice Tea, Beyond Meat, Plant Burger, Mission Guardians of Tony's Chocolonely, Stonyfield, Timberland

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