Jul 6, 2026 · 1h 3m · how-i-built-this
Catalina Crunch: Krishna Kaliannan. From Homemade Keto Cocoa Puffs to Breakfast Aisle Breakthrough
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This, host Guy Raz interviews entrepreneur Krishna Kaliannan about founding Catalina Crunch, charting how his personal management of type 1 diabetes and epilepsy inspired him to reinvent breakfast cereal into a multimillion-dollar brand.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 31.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.1 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 0.1 Guy pushing back 0.3
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 43:56 Krishna challenges agricultural cereal experts
Krishna dismisses the skepticism of Texas A&M cereal instructors by arguing that legacy experts suffer from outdated knowledge and lack familiarity with modern plant fibers.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 43:43 Guy challenges Krishna on ignoring expert adviceGuy presses Krishna on why he didn't give up when veteran cereal scientists explicitly told him that keto cereal could not be manufactured at volume.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 18:51 Krishna explains neurochemistry of sweetness versus sugarKrishna explains that perceived sweetness is a neurological reaction rather than a carbohydrate necessity, distinguishing monk fruit extracts from sucrose and glucose.
Guy holds their own ▶ 40:43 Guy connects Texas A&M ag course to Ben & Jerry's ice cream originsGuy draws an industry parallel by referencing Ben and Jerry taking a Penn State correspondence course in ice cream making to master their craft.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Park Encounter Sparks a Cereal Business | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz delivers an extensive framing monologue covering the history of cereal, keto diet mechanics, and Krishna Kaliannan's early background. There is no conversational confrontation as it serves as a narrative introduction. | |
| Dual Medical Diagnoses and Discovering Keto Nutrition | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Krishna shares his type one diabetes and epilepsy diagnoses, explaining how the ketogenic diet historically originated to treat epileptic seizures. Guy shows familiarity with keto mechanics and asks supportive clarifying questions. | |
| Strict Dietary Habits and First Tech Startups | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Krishna discusses his early diet management via insulin ratios and his transition from hedge funds to experimenting with various software startups. The dynamic is conversational and reflective. | |
| From Escape My Bubble to Kitchen Chemistry | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Guy asks about the monetization strategy behind Escape My Bubble, noting how media polarization makes news exchange difficult. Krishna details his shift from social apps to kitchen meal-prepping and baking experiments. | |
| Kitchen Formulation of a Keto Breakfast Cereal | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Krishna explains the science of alternative sweeteners and baking chemistry, distinguishing sweetness perception from actual blood sugar impact. Guy adds knowledge about stevia and sweetener extracts. | |
| A Central Park Validation and Market Gap | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Krishna describes testing his prototype cereal on a Central Park acquaintance and identifying the stagnation in the supermarket cereal aisle. Guy prompts Krishna on how he decided to turn the hobby into an actual business. | |
| Branding Catalina Crunch and Direct-to-Consumer Debut | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Krishna explains the origin of the brand name and the initial guerrilla marketing on diabetes Facebook groups. Guy asks about initial order volumes and early customer reception. | |
| Brooklyn Commercial Kitchen to Texas A&M Training | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Guy presses Krishna on whether industry experts at Texas A&M were right that keto cereal could not be extruded at scale. Krishna counters that conventional experts suffer from outdated knowledge and explains how byproduct fibers enable production. | |
| Scaling Hurdles, Fundraising, and Relocating to Indianapolis | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Krishna recounts moving to Indianapolis, setting up a standalone facility, and repurposing washing machines to coat cereal in seasoning. Guy asks about unit economics and logistics considerations. | |
| Whole Foods Expansion and Navigating Commodity Pressures | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Guy and Krishna discuss commodity price spikes including sunflower oil from the Ukraine war and Chinese tariffs on monk fruit. Krishna explains avoiding shrinkflation by reformulating recipes rather than reducing pouch sizes. |
Statements from this episode (11)
Escape My Bubble Gained 100,000 Signups After New York Times Coverage
“I think it was written about, or mentioned in the New York Times, and that drove close to a 100,000 signups for the extension.”
Kaliannan Claims Most Grocery Store Cereals Are Identical Beyond Their Branding
“There's a lot of different cereals in the grocery store, but they're all sort of the same cereal with different branding.”
Kaliannan Argues Specialized Industry Knowledge Often Becomes Outdated, Limiting Innovation
“Experts every so often find themselves in the experts dilemma where they have all this knowledge, but that knowledge becomes outdated over time.”
Kaliannan Raised $900,000 Across Two Rounds for Catalina Crunch in 2018
“Yeah, so, so I had raised over the course of two rounds, first a 100,000 dollars and then 800,000 dollars afterwards.”
Kaliannan Used a Spinning Washing Machine to Coat Early Catalina Crunch Batches
“And so I actually started by buying a washing machine and just not turning the machine on and just having it spin and then having the cereal inside of the machine. And so that was the first way that I was getting the cinnamon and the chocolate onto the cereal.”
Catalina Crunch Generated Roughly $1 Million in Sales in 2018
“It was probably a million dollars or something like that.”
Catalina Crunch Rolled Out Nationwide to All Whole Foods in January 2020
“In 2020, in January, I believe, we got the cereal on shelf at all Whole Foods across the country.”
Catalina Crunch Became Whole Foods' Top-Selling Cereal Within Six Months of Launch
“Within six months we became one of the top selling cereals at Whole Foods. If not the top selling cereal at Whole Foods.”
Catalina Crunch Maintained 9-Ounce Pouches Since Inception to Avoid Shrinkflation
“We have never reduced the amount of cereal that's in our, like, say, pouch of cinnamon toast cereal is nine ounces today. It was nine ounces when we started the company.”