 Hello and welcome to the Launchpad. This is an offshoot of the Start of the Storefront podcast where we talk to the founders of companies that are just getting started and whose stories we find compelling. Today we talk with Erika Rankin, founder of the edible cookie dough company Brodo. It's a guilty pleasure we've all indulged in at least once or twice. The problem has always been that those raw eggs make it dangerous for consumption prior to being baked to golden perfection. Brodo isn't your grandparents' cookie dough though. It's vegan, safe for consumption, and packs an extra dose of protein. In fact, though you can indeed bake it, this is a cookie dough that is meant to be eaten raw. So listen in as we cover everything from the benefits of being open and honest on LinkedIn, why she often takes the path of most resistance, and how her dad wasn't quite convinced there was a market for cookie dough. That is until he saw the sales come rolling in. Hang on, hang on. If you're not subscribed, can you go ahead and do that right now before we get on with the video? It helps us out tremendously. That's all we ask, and we're back. Alright everyone, welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to Erika, founder of Brodo. Erika, thanks for joining. Please tell us a little bit about what your company does. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me. So my name's Erika. I'm the CEO and founder of Brodo, which is Canada's first and only 100% vegan, protein infused, that are for you edible cookie dough. It contains an average of five grams of plant-based protein for serving, 10 ingredients, and it's 100% vegan. So all plant-based ingredients. Canada's first? What a line. I love that. What made you want to start the company? Are you a cookie dough fanatic and we're just looking for a healthier option? I guess just like a bunch of things. I've always been really passionate about better for you foods. And in 2018, like I got pretty involved in the fitness industry. I competed in bodybuilding competition. So I would take my favorite sweet recipes and like manipulate them and make them healthier. So I would do this with everything, including cookie dough. And I saw a hole in the market here in Canada. Like we don't have my product. So that's why I created it. It's also a super nostalgic treat for me too. I've always wanted to enter a bodybuilding competition. Just kidding. I've never had, but I would if I could eat whatever I want. Cause all my friends who have done it, they're always complaining. They're always like it's just chicken and broccoli and it's steamed and they're dying for flavor. Cause you have to stick to the super strict regimen in order to see the results, which makes total sense. But I like that. I like that your approach was let me make something that's not so healthy. Healthy. As you were doing it, when did you start to maybe realize like, okay, I'm on to something. My friends like it. I like it. When was that? What were the signals that you said? Let's, let's launch into maybe making this a real thing. Yeah. So I never envisioned myself being an entrepreneur ever. Like I would just, it was a hobby for me, like making like these healthier versions of my favorite sweet treats and putting them on Instagram. And I started to get a following and I had people like recreate them and post them and take me and people would message me and ask me if I would ever sell them. And I was like, no, this is just a hobby for me. Like I don't really see a business out of it. And then I went backpacking across Southeast Asia for four months and I started meeting entrepreneurs from all over the world. And that moment I was like, Hey, like this is totally doable. I never was exposed to this lifestyle growing up in a really small town. So I was like, okay, like got home, sat down with myself. So yeah, I need for my product in the market here in Canada and it's something I'm extremely passionate about. And I launched it several months later because I kind of sat on it because it's kind of scary when you launch your business and you hit publish on that. You know, on your shop or you're like, Oh God, it's real. Like what are my parents going to think? What are my friends going to think? Like I told my parents, I remember like sitting in my dad's living room and I was like, this is what I'm going to launch. Like I showed him the logo, like the name and he's like, what? He's like, you're going to launch a cookie dough company and I'm like, yeah, and it's going to work. And like, you didn't really understand it for the longest time until like these past few months when I told him what my sales were and he was like, huh, people are actually buying it. And I was like, yeah, it's a business doubt. When you were there with these entrepreneurs, what was it that made you think, oh, this is achievable? Was it that they were just like you? Like there was nothing magical about these individuals on this hike, right? Because I think a lot of people like almost with NBA players or people that are seemingly successful, the illusion of success. We always concoct this notion that, oh, this person must be super intelligent or went to this super amazing school or is already sitting on boat loads of money or has a trust fund or whatever idea people put out there. And then you meet some of them and like, at least for me, I'll be candid with you. I met a bunch of entrepreneurs that have sold their companies for like $900 million. And I was like, that guy's kind of dumb. I'm like, how the heck did he do that? And it was this moment of like, if this guy can do this. And you know, that sounds wrong, but that's that was like literally how I felt. And then it became entrepreneurship became super approachable all of a sudden. Yeah, no 100% like I can totally understand that for me like imposter syndrome, like it's it's always there for me. Like it just gets quieter and I learned how to deal with it better. But like, yeah, I felt super under qualified and like meeting all these different people hearing their stories. I'm like, this person is I'm just as qualified as this person to run a business. So why don't I? And I think like the aha moment was like, I don't know, seeing people and seeing how excited they were and passionate they were about what they were doing. And I was like, Hey, you don't have to hate your work life. Like you can mix your passion with business and like actually enjoy working, which is something that I've never done before. Totally. Yeah, I always tell people like I feel like I'm always working, but never working. But the thing is to go back to your imposter syndrome thing, you feel lazy, right? Like if I'm not working, I don't feel like I'm working. It makes me feel lazy. And I'm like, am I being lazy? And I'm like, no, I'm not. But if you've ever had a job like a nine to five, you're constantly trying to churn something out. You're constantly like, let me, let me, let me, let me do this for result. And that is totally debunked when it comes to entrepreneurship. What have you learned in terms of dealing with imposter syndrome that has helped? Like you say, how do you silence that voice? What kind of tricks do you use to calm it? I just started saying yes. My opportunity is like this coming on podcast, telling my story. It's kind of like, I have that little voice in my head that's like, okay, you're only a year in. Like you don't really know what you're talking about, blah, blah, you know. I think going against that and like taking the path of most resistance and not least resistance and not taking the easy way out all the time, kind of doing things that contradict that voice, getting in the pattern of doing that. And sometimes I do catch myself saying no to opportunities, but and then I catch on and I'm like, okay, no, I need to like let myself do this. And it helps you grow too when you start saying yes and giving yourself more opportunities. That's super smart. Yeah. I dealt with it for probably like three months straight where it would live in my dreams. Like at night is when I would do it. It actually happened last night. So right now we're building this coffee shop and behind it is our podcast studio in West Hollywood. And I was like, my whole dream was about nobody coming to the coffee shop. And it's like this iconic thing. Like we put a car inside of a building and that car is going to serve people coffee. And it's like a 1964 French vehicle. And I'm like, this is a smash. But in my dream, nobody's there. Nobody's showing up for months. And I'm just like, how did I get this wrong? You know, and I've learned that imposter syndrome is like the most selfish thing about you in the sense of when you have it. Once you enter that headspace, nothing's getting better. The world isn't getting better. And for some reason, like knowing that it's selfish made me want to correct it. Knowing that that space is not helpful at all to anything or anyone around me was like, oh, I don't want to be selfish. I need to get out of this mindset. Let's go back to Brodo. Yeah, I was actually curious about the recipe for Brodo when you were creating it. So we just talked with Denise of Partake Foods and she was trying to create her own recipe, but just kind of failing at it. Her daughter hated everything she tried. So eventually she realized her own weakness and hired a food scientist to create it for her. I'm curious about your journey in creating this recipe for Brodo. Is it your own? Did you have to go outside for any help in creating it? And how did that process go about? So it was a lot of trial and error. Like I kind of looked at like the traditional cookie dough. I'm not going to need the brand, but it's blue and in a tube and we all eat it. But I looked at their like ingredient deck and I was like, okay, what can I swap out? What can I use instead of white granulated sugar or instead of white flour? What can I use instead of that? So a lot of trial and error and just putting things in a bowl and hoping that it would taste good. So the base formula I came up with on my own and then down the road, I ended up having a few consulting sessions with the food scientists because food science is a thing. And I had no idea and there's a right way to do things and there's a wrong way. And especially with like shelf life. That's something that I struggled with as well because before like I had my product in the fridge. And the shelf life was a lot shorter when I could have been storing it in the freezer. So I kind of like made adjustments as the business grew and time went on. And also like the food scientists also helped me. We kind of went through the process of how I manufactured the product and there are certain things that I did in an incorrect order. So we kind of like swap things around like adding in the liquids towards the end would extend the shelf life or like having less water activity would extend the shelf life and the pH a certain way. All these different things come into play and I'm not a food scientist. I don't really know anything in that realm. I kind of just like baking and tasting things and how many different flavors do you have right now that you're offering the market. A lot. I think I have around 10 I want to say I try to introduce a new one every two ish months. But when we go to market in the summer I'm going to cut it back to force use. I imagine you have like four bangers like these are the ones you know your greatest hits collection of these 10 like these are what what are the ones that you swear by or like the market just loves what are those flavors. So like the oh gee chocolate chip everyone love that one can't go wrong with that cookies and cream pinata party which is kind of like an explosion of everything like their sprinkles there's white chocolate chips dark chocolate chips rainbow chocolate chips white Oreos regular Oreos and then tuxedo brownie so it's like a cocoa based one with white chocolate chips in it. That's awesome. I just think about it like if I were to have one of these I'd probably not eat anything else I would probably just magically find myself eating brodo. Yeah entire jar must be a single serving for a lot of people. Have you ever thought about I know right now you're you're in Canada launching all over the country. Are there big differences between launching in Canada and then maybe growing to the United States in terms of food. Have you done I don't know where you're at in your company but I'm sure you've thought about it. Yeah like the states I think too like as an entrepreneur and you get big eyed right and I see so much opportunity everywhere but it's like crawl walk run you know. And the market is so much bigger in the U.S. and opportunity it's like they're endless over there the market's really small in Canada but I need to like really master my own backyard and then eventually we'll figure out the U.S. And when that time comes like I have to get new labels made new packaging have to get it likely manufactured in the states versus getting it brought across the border like there's a bunch of different things to consider when I when I get out that way eventually. And then in terms of where your company is at in funding did you bootstrap this are you raising capital do you plan to raise some capital this year where are you at financially. So I have bootstrapped it I got really scrappy like up until this point and had no doubt at all I ended up taking out a line of credit. So I'm kind of going to stretch that and use that for a while I'm also going to launch either a Kickstarter or something like that soon just to help with funding for my first production run. And then I think later this year I'll start fundraising. That's super smart. Yeah Kickstarter is the best basically free money no equity just fans really and you can give them like three product and create a community and loyalty around your company which is you know I think the most important part. You launch this company during covid what's changed for you have you seen people buy this product more because we're all at home and so like I can imagine myself personally I probably my ice cream intake has gone up during covid. What has that been like for you what have you seen from the market. So in terms of like e-commerce it's been really good. I remember I think it was maybe in April like right after quarantine started or lockdown started. I ran a few paid ads and they performed really well and like my sales just like skyrocketed and I was like what's going on and then I looked at the analytics of my ads and they performed really well because everyone's at home they're sitting on their phone rolling on Instagram and Facebook. So in that channel like e-commerce solid but then in terms of like wholesaling to smaller stores that was really hard because stores are opening stores are closing they didn't really want to take on new products so I was unable to really I guess grow that way in wholesale but yeah e-commerce it was good. That's awesome and is there a shelf life to your product right now. Yeah so frozen it's like nine months in the process of working with an R&D team and I'm going to actually have it sent in and analyze again when I kind of have the new finalized product done. But on on Fresno so once it's thought how long does it last in your fridge. So it's like two and a half months in the fridge. That's great. Yeah after opening it it tastes best within two weeks but can be 30 days open. That's the hard part of this whole game right it's like everybody wants fresh but it's hard to get a product that's stable and then shelf life becomes an issue especially for the grocery market. So it's kind of like this impossible task and there's a balance there because you don't want to sacrifice too much taste but it's super hard. You know I really wanted to chat about something that I'm just a fan of yours like your social media presence is so amazing and I think it feels so natural like it seems like you're just being yourself. And there's parts where you're being goofy and parts where you're just sharing like here's my day and today kind of sucked you know it's clear to me that people are connecting with that. And then particularly on LinkedIn seems like you're killing the game there what I hate to say strategies but I guess what made you want to lean into LinkedIn and just sharing your content the way that you do. Thanks. Yeah I got on LinkedIn in September or October basically because I had nowhere left to go I was working on my business and I was like well how do I grow it I don't know what I'm doing I don't know how to take it to the next level. So I had a friend and he's like get on LinkedIn like you can meet so many different people who can help you. So I went on and I didn't really start posting every day like actively until probably December or January. But I kind of looked around and I was like well no one's really talking about like all the hardships or the shit they go through. I kind of just post like oh I got into the X amount of stores or I closed 2 million fundraising rounds like today whatever. So no one was really posting the lows and I felt really discouraged because I would have these really hard days and I would look around and I couldn't really relate to anyone. I'm like am I going through this by myself and then I started having conversations with more and more founders and they're like yo I have this shit happened to me and this happened to me and I'm like why don't you all talk about it. So that's why I started posting it because I just wanted to like create relatable content and if I can help one person and putting myself crying on the internet that's totally fine and I'm happy to do that. And I never really realized how much it resonated with people until like the past few months probably when people started messaging me and reaching out and they're like thank you for showing everything and not just the highs and being transparent. So yeah that's kind of what motivated me to post it was to just show people that yeah like they're good days but they're even more bad days and it's okay. I love that I think that's the whole thing about podcasting to it's like you can really hear from the founder and at some point it switches your loyalty let's call it to the brand or what you think is the brand to all of a sudden like oh wow there's like a real human behind this and they're not. You're like they're really putting it out there for us every single day in order to get this product to your hands and it connects people with the brand in a completely different way. Which is you know I think the way to go we've had people on that have sold their companies and as they're as we release the podcast it's like the first time that his investors or her investors hear the full story of what they went through and they're like oh my God. Like the investors are responding like I had no idea what you're so amazing and this is after exit you know this is like eight years later and you're like what. And even like and I guess to some of the platforms don't don't really make it easy right like tick tock is really just entertainment so if someone's complaining I don't see that video doing super well. And Instagram is kind of moving in that direction to so I think LinkedIn probably provides the appropriate space for that and long form content to. What are you working on right now what's next for the company and how do you view 2021 shaking out. Yeah it's kind of like an awkward period right now because I'm struggling to keep up with the man myself like I manufactured the product I store the product in my living room I should put up from my living room. I'm kind of a one woman show right now and I'm having conversations with co manufacturers all over we've probably spoken to 15 different ones and only two are willing to work with me on being a startup and having like a lower volume. Sure. It's a little tricky so we're speaking with the co manufacturer. I'm going to get that locked and loaded and hopefully launching nationally later this summer and then figuring out the e commerce with the perishable product in the summer that's another thing that I'm kind of working on to. So you basically just need a bigger space right is that kind of where you're at. Yeah bigger space and I need to off load certain things onto someone else like I'm going to be completely honest I hate making the product I used to like it. And I hate it I hate going into the kitchen for like six or seven hours I hate putting it all in my car and my little wagon and bringing it back into my condo and putting it in my freezer so to have someone do that for me will be so nice. I do not know how companies do this for years because it's been a year and a half for me and that is plenty. Is it something that you hate because you feel it takes away from things you could be doing to help grow the business outside of that because it's it's kind of the same thing where I feel it sometimes with this podcast in the sense that. I spend a lot of time editing it and touching up the episodes and it's like yeah this is all good and it's vital like this this podcast doesn't get released without editing and finalizing each episode. But is my time best spent on this versus something else and the answer is like probably not. And I feel like the same kind of situation that you're going through with having to spend all that time in the kitchen is hours spent not growing the business or preparing for the nationwide launch or whatever else it might be. So like if you can hire someone else food prep or whoever it is that'll be your first hire is that what you're saying. Yeah so you have a good point with that it's like working in the business versus on the business right and it's kind of like your tires are spinning and you're not really getting anywhere. And it's hard to going in for long days in the kitchen and then I'm like behind on emails and everything I get home like late at night I'm like oh God I don't have any energy left for this. So I do like I have a friend who comes in occasionally and he helps me and I just pay him by the hour and he screws on like hundreds of lid at a time and helps me pack boxes and stuff and that helps tremendously. But again like I can't completely I guess offload all of that to someone else like I have to be there overseeing everything just because I've had issues in the past and kind of one of those things that if it can't be reversed if something goes wrong with the product and it gets into the hands of the consumer and there's something wrong with it. It's only temporary I know like I'm just going to push through these next few months. You know it's funny. My wife has a construction company that she started recently and I've I don't know how to word this properly to anyone like there's always like words like I'm always stuck with like what word do I use so that this resonates with this human being. And I think one of the things like there's just you have to understand levers is kind of one of it right and I think employees can become an amazing lever for your business if you just deploy it and I think a lot of first time founders are people in your position. There's this difficulty of oh my God hiring I've never done it before and so they they spend six months thinking about hiring. And I like to my wife so she did this and I was like just put it on LinkedIn like you haven't even put a post or an Instagram story that you're hiring. Try that and and she's like for three months she didn't do anything she was like who's going to respond this is so difficult so she doesn't she's like oh my God like 10 people responded. And I like them and I'm like you got to get out of your head you just got to go do it. And then once you start realizing that the way I look at it is like the transition between employee right so right now you're you're always going to be the best employee. There's no question about that you're always going to put the lid on better than anyone else for the rest of time because you care the most right. And so it's like you have to move from employee to executive where you're putting systems in place and really understanding the levers for growth which come down to people. And once you can do that you're like free but it's a whole new skill set to it's like right now you're probably like you've mastered basketball and now someone's asking you to go swimming. And it's like oh but I'm athletic and it's like yeah but it's a completely different game. And that I think is the hard part and we get into our heads a lot around these growth steps. It's hard it's super super hard. No that's a great way of putting it into like yeah like the founder is going to care the most 100% and like the company is growing but the team isn't. So like you need to grow your team too. And I guess giving up control in certain areas is extremely hard. Like I know a lot of founders have this issue too because you work so long and you want it to be so perfect and it's like your baby and it's like hey you need to let go so you can grow the business and work on the business and then have people work in the business for you. So like I'm slowly slowly letting go like I'm going to have a virtual assistant start to take care of like all my customer emails and things that just eat away at my time that I don't necessarily need to do. So bit by bit it will happen. That's great. That's exciting. And do you ever plan to raise money? Like do you think you'll ever do a big raise maybe at the end of this year once things are sort of set up and you can kind of come above and breathe for air. Yeah once I kind of get into stores and the value of the company goes up then I think I'll start fundraising. We'll see though I'm just taking it one day at a time. Yeah. How are your parents now are they like this is incredible. It's really funny. Even like friends to like starting out like at the beginning it was kind of really discouraging because my sales were like pretty flat like I would get maybe one or two orders a week. And they would be from someone I knew they wouldn't even be from a total random person so I don't think they counted. But yeah like these past few months myself have been like increasing like crazy and I can barely keep up. And I went home for Easter and I was talking to them about like what my revenues after this year compared to last year and they're like what really like that's crazy and I'm like yeah it is crazy. Well I have to get here but like it's happening and yeah like they still find it hard to believe but they're super supportive especially now now that there's money coming in. I believe it yeah. Is there anything that you've learned from your customers that surprised you like is there a buyer that you're like oh I didn't see that coming. In terms of in like what way. Maybe like old people love your product like maybe they're like the 85 year old nursing home market just devours your product and you would have never thought that would have been the case. I wouldn't say 85 like I think the older generation doesn't understand cookie dough they're like why like I don't eat that like why wouldn't I just have cookies. A lot of moms buy my products for their kids which I thought was surprising because they like the quality ingredients and then it's lower in sugar and it's plant based and yeah they like send me pictures of their kids eating it which I think is pretty cool. That's awesome how much is your product for everybody listening. Yeah so it's 12 serving 12 ounce jar and it's 1499 Canadian but we're also going to be changing that and changing the size well when we bring it to market this summer. Are you making it smaller. Yeah so I think it's going to be more so like a grab and go instead of a bigger jar and then down the road I'm going to offer a bigger size. That makes sense yeah 12 ounces would be a commitment for me it have to be like I'm really I'm going for it right now I'm cheating massively versus like the little hit. And where can people find you in Canada now. So in terms of like stores I'm in like a few mom and pop shops just around here in Ottawa and a couple in Quebec but yeah online brodo.ca I ship across Canada. I do not ship into the states yet but hopefully later this year that will change. As far as the name goes. I love that you lean in hard to the whole bro aspect of brodo but honestly like so I've been watching a lot of letter Kenny recently and when I first heard the name brodo I envisioned the two like the hockey bros. Especially coming from out of Canada and I was curious if there were any other names that you may be considered before landing on brodo and what that naming process was like. Yeah there was another one I was going to do brodo like protein cookie dough but I think that was taken already actually really brodo just like stuck with me. I don't know why like it's like I'm kind of a Jim bro like my friends and I would joke around like you've even left bro and it's kind of one of those terms and like if someone reads the name or here's the brand name they kind of know what it is especially like if they're into fitness. And with that added protein like it's really geared towards those consumers who are health and fitness advocates so yeah brodo just stuck with me and I trademarked it in August and yeah so it's brodo through and through. And just tell everyone where they can find you and support you support the brand. Yeah you can follow me on Instagram brodo Canada you can purchase if you're in Canada brodo.ca and feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn Erica Rankin. Please do please follow Erica and connect with her on LinkedIn she's outstanding she'll provide you a good release for your day it's wonderful to support. No no I'm a big fan of what you're doing and it's exciting to see you people lean in I think you're at least lean it's clear to everyone that you're leaning into social media and particularly LinkedIn in a very vulnerable way. And I think it's what matters and it works and so it's like it's awesome it's awesome to see. Thank you. Yeah thanks for coming on the podcast. Yeah thanks for having me.