When You Start, Scale, Sell...AND THEN Buy Back Your Brand // Jon Sebastiani & Mark Rampolla: The Stories of KRAVE Jerky and Zico Coconut Water

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

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When You Start, Scale, Sell...AND THEN Buy Back Your Brand // Jon Sebastiani & Mark Rampolla: The Stories of KRAVE Jerky and Zico Coconut Water

The Consumer VC episode #291 with Jon Sebastiani (Founder of KRAVE Jerky) & Mark Rampolla (Founder of Zico Coconut Water)

Mike Gelb

Apr 18, 2023

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Hey Friends,

I want to give a HUGE shoutout to Ben Jang, for helping to make this episode happen. Our guests today are Jon Sebastiani and Mark Rampolla. Jon founded KRAVE Jerky, one of the first premium jerky brands, and Mark founded Zico, one of the first coconut water brands in the U.S. It’s very rare for an entrepreneur to sell their business, get a good outcome, AND THEN buy back the business. Jon and Mark each did it.

We discuss:

The origin stories of KRAVE Jerky & Zico Coconut Water
The market position of each brand before they were sold
What happened to the brands when they were acquired by Hershey & Coca-Cola
Why they each started their own PE firm
Why Hershey & Coca-Cola wanted to sell KRAVE Jerky and Zico Coconut Water, respectfully
Their evaluation processes when deciding if they should buy back the brands they founded
How they determined if there was still brand equity
The future plans for the two brands & more

Thank you for listening.

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The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place.

Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription.

Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch.

This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled.

For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.

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