Scaling a business and cementing your place in an emerging market is a special kind of struggle. While you’re busy building your own brand you’ve also got to be busy educating consumers about the market’s very existence. The appeal of all of this is of course if and when consumer trends shift, any company with a foothold sees massive growth and all the rewards that come with it. One needs to look no further than Tesla to see how proper timing and a few lucky breaks can launch a small startup into a Fortune 100 company. Our guest today is Emily Griffith, founder of Lil Bucks, and the emerging marketplace in question is centered all-around buckwheat. Buckwheat is a familiar dietary staple in other cultures around the world, but when it comes to America it’s still in its infancy. Buckwheat is naturally packed full of nutrients and antioxidants while at the same time being gluten-free since it’s a fruit seed and not a grain. So in following recent superfood trends, it checks a lot of the same boxes. The ability to educate and appeal to a mass audience will be the difference between ending up like Tesla or Fisker.
Listen in as we cover everything from why consumers don’t want to sacrifice taste for health, why she focused on building her brand before building her business, and how she owes her success to getting on the shelves of Whole Foods to a cleaning lady.