Why It's The Best Time to Start and Build a Drinks Brand
There are no secrets, only an abundance of resources
We are living in the absolute best time to start and build a drinks brand.
Why? There are no secrets, only an abundance of resources.1
Here’s who I 💻 Follow,👂 Listen to, and 📖 Read:
👓 Subject Matter Experts
Kat Weaver of Power to Pitch / Pitching, Decks, Grants
Katie Dunn / Fundraising & Investor Perspective
Ben Salisbury of Salisbury Creative Group / Wine & Spirit Sales & Email Marketing
Chris Maffeo of Maffeo Drinks / Building (Drinks) Brands Bottom-Up
Courtney O’Brien of The Outlier Initiative / Brand Positioning
Filiberto Amati of Amanti & Associates / FMCG Strategy
Ben Tannenbaum of Proof Points / Industry Goings-On
Scott Van den Berg of HotStart VC / Celebrity Brands
🎧 Podcasts
Business of Drinks with Erica Duecy, Caroline Lamb, & Yours Truly2
Park Street Insider with Emmett Strack
The VinePair Podcast with Adam Teeter, Joanna Sciarrino, & Zachary Geballe
Liquid Assets: A Beverage Industry Podcast with Bourcard Nesin
🗞️ Newsletters
Industry News Update by Mark Brown
The Quench Report by Matt Rice
Fingers by Dave Infante
The New Rules by Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer
CPGD by Andrea Popova
Snaxshot by Andrea Hernández
Mock the Toast by Jose Diaz
Dry Atlas by Douglas Watters & Victoria Watters
Drinks Insider by Felicity Carter
📚 Books3
The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed by Alberto Savoia
Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell
Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman & Joe Knight
It’s the Manager by Jim Clifton & Jim Harter
The Psychology of Leadership: Timeless Principles to Perfect Your Leadership of Individuals, Teams... and Yourself! by Sébastien Page
The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn From Bad Bosses by Mita Mallick
Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland
That Shit Will Never Sell: The Story of the Men Who Sold The World What it Didn’t Know it Wanted. Again and Again. by David Gluckman
Brand Mysticism: Cultivate Creativity and Intoxicate Your Audience by Steven Grasse & Aaron Goldfarb
How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know by Byron Sharp
To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink
Thinking In Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke
Where do you turn when you want to learn?
And they are constantly changing. I’ll be updating this list once a year.
Excuse the shameless plug.
There are too many to list here, but these are my top baker’s dozen for beverage entrepreneurs. I also have specific recommendations for books about pitching and general entrepreneurship.