About this episode

Troy Bonde shares his journey from selling hand sanitizers to founding Sauz, a rapidly growing tomato sauce brand, and discusses the challenges of fundraising and scaling in the food industry.

In this Founder Fundraising Journey episode, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Troy Bonde, co-founder and CEO of Sauz, to trace the winding path from a college side hustle to building one of the fastest-growing brands in the tomato sauce category. Troy's road to Sauz started with a hand sanitizer and thermometer dispenser he and childhood friend and co-founder Winston sold to schools during COVID, using the proceeds to fund early angel investments and, eventually, Sauz itself. Frustrated by a commoditized tomato sauce aisle with no flavor innovation, Troy and Winston sold their cars to bootstrap the brand, launched at Erewhon in July 2023, and scaled from 10 doors to 3,500 in just 12 months, landing Whole Foods, Central Market, and Target distribution along the way. Hannah and Troy dig into how Sauz built a data story compelling enough to win over major retail buyers, when and why the brand knew it needed institutional capital, the emotional and practical challenges of fundraising, and what Troy wishes he'd done differently around unit economics and hiring. Listen in as they discuss: Troy's unconventional path from teenage car salesman to M&A banking intern to tomato sauce…

People in this episode

Host: Hannah Dittman

Guest: Troy Bonde

Topics covered

• founder journey
• fundraising
• brand building
• food innovation
• retail distribution

Keywords

• tomato sauce
• fundraising
• retail
• brand growth
• food innovation
• entrepreneurship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sauz, Whole Foods, Central Market, Target, Erewhon, Poppy, Olipop

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