Oct 3, 2022 · 1h 19m · how-i-built-this
ButcherBox: Mike Salguero
0:00 / 0:00
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
This episode of How I Built This chronicles how Mike Salguero rebounded from the painful collapse of a venture-backed startup to bootstrap ButcherBox into a $550 million meat subscription business. Driven by personal health needs, disciplined unit economics, and an innovative influencer marketing strategy, Salguero built a profitable, independent enterprise championing regenerative agriculture.
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 35.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 2.1 Guest disagreement 1.3 Guy pushing back 2.2
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:07:45 Rejecting plant-based alternatives in favor of regenerative farming
Mike directly pushes back on the premise that plant-based meats like Impossible Burgers are the real answer, arguing contrarily that grass-fed cattle raised properly can actively decarbonize soil.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 1:06:58 Challenging the environmental viability of livestockGuy firmly presses Mike on the devastating carbon footprint and methane emissions generated by cattle, asking whether consumers should simply eat significantly less meat.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 43:30 Demystifying USDA Prime and Choice meat ratingsMike educates Guy that the entire American beef grading system is strictly based on fat marbling in the ribeye rather than holistic nutritional quality or natural animal diet.
Guy holds their own ▶ 1:08:23 Citing Allan Savory's regenerative soil scienceGuy demonstrates deep background knowledge by citing Allan Savory's research and TED talk regarding rotational grazing, hoof trampling, and natural carbon sequestration.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| College Years, Stadium Sales, and Anti-Corporate Awakening | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy playfully teases Mike about 'selling out' when Mike describes transitioning from an anti-globalization protester outside the World Economic Forum to embracing capitalism from within the system. | |
| Real Estate Sales, Meeting Carleen and Seth, and South America Trip | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Mike recounts his early real estate leasing career in Boston and an emotional trip to Paraguay to connect with his estranged biological father, while Guy listens empathetically with straightforward narrative prompting. | |
| The 'Buck Fush' T-Shirt Venture and Early Business Pitfalls | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Guy expresses genuine astonishment that Mike managed to sell 17,000 anti-Bush T-shirts yet netted zero profit, prompting Mike to admit his early lack of financial and accounting acumen. | |
| Acquiring and Rebuilding CustomMade.com | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy explores the purchase of CustomMade.com and probes how Mike broke the site's SEO while trying to scale from a directory to a modern web service during the 2008 recession. | |
| Pivoting to a VC Marketplace and Cultural Turmoil | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Guy presses Mike on the fundamental flaws of the marketplace model and the massive $600,000 monthly burn rate versus $30,000 revenue under pressure from Google Ventures and First Round Capital. | |
| Mid-Episode Break: Transition and Teaser | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Mike opens up about the painful emotional fallout of losing company culture and being replaced as CEO at CustomMade, concluding that a failed venture does not make a failed entrepreneur. | |
| Dietary Origins and Partnering with Meat Industry Experts | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Mike educates Guy on the US beef grading system, correcting the assumption that Prime ratings equal objective meat quality rather than sheer fat marbling, before detailing how former Omaha Steaks executive Ron Ikey unlocked supply chain logistics. | |
| Bootstrapping ButcherBox and the Breakthrough Kickstarter | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy questions how Mike managed to launch a perishable meat subscription with only $10,000, prompting Mike to explain how a curated 'surprise' box strategy minimized SKU overhead alongside a $210,000 Kickstarter campaign. | |
| Mid-Episode Break: Fulfilling Orders and Influencer Teaser | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Mike details ButcherBox's 'Trojan Horse' recipe strategy with Paleo/CrossFit influencers and the decision to offer recurring affiliate residuals rather than upfront cash, contrasting their model with meal kits like Blue Apron. | |
| Supply Chain Logistics, Profitability, and Environmental Sustainability | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | Guy mounts strong pushback regarding the environmental toll and methane emissions of livestock farming, citing Impossible Foods, while Mike defends regenerative rotational grazing as a potential carbon-negative solution. | |
| Transforming US Agriculture, Pandemic Growth, and Remaining Independent | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy probes whether ButcherBox will eventually be sold to a major food conglomerate, and Mike explains his long-term ambition to build an enduring, multi-generational independent brand while acknowledging the immense luck in timing. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Staring at prospects long enough in direct sales usually closes them
“It's a great way to learn how to sell, because if you stare at someone long enough, they usually buy.”
Mike Salguero made zero profit after selling 17,000 'Buck Fush' T-shirts
“I actually ended up with no cash whatsoever.”
Marketplaces fail for bespoke goods due to high communication friction
“Getting something custom is an incredibly intimate back and forth conversation that can be, you know, dozens of back and forth communications before anything actually happens.
And we tried to like put ourselves into the middle of that.
And it didn't, it just d…”
CustomMade burned approximately $600,000 per month at its peak
“Yeah, we were burning it at about 600,000 dollars a month at our height.”
A co-founder bought CustomMade out of bankruptcy and pivoted to jewelry
“Seth and four other people remained at custom made. And essentially bought it out of bankruptcy. And he has done the miraculous job of pivoting it to a jewelry site.”
CustomMade's collapse made Mike Salguero swear off raising venture capital
“I thought in my mind, I never want to raise money again.”
Mike Salguero argues fat marbling is the wrong way to rate beef
“I don't believe that is the right way to rate the quality.”
Grass-fed beef accounts for only about 2% of US beef production
“To date, there's not a lot of beef Raised in the United States that's grass-fed. It's about two percent of the overall beef.”
Carrying diverse SKUs creates dangerous inventory risks for early DTC startups
“Because where you get into trouble is if you have a bunch of different SKUs, and you're trying to like, you know, carry them all in case the customer wants that versus that.”
ButcherBox raised $210,000 on Kickstarter against a $25,000 initial target
“And so we did a 30 day campaign. We went out to raise 25,000 dollars, and we ended up raising 210,000 dollars.”
ButcherBox converted about 60% of its initial Kickstarter backers into recurring subscribers
“I believe we sent about 1100 boxes to different customers, and we got like 60% of them to sign up. So right away we had 607 hundred subscribers.”
ButcherBox paid influencers $10 monthly residuals for the life of a subscriber
“What we can do is we can pay you 10 dollars every month for the life of that subscriber.”
ButcherBox succeeded by targeting cooks wanting culinary flexibility instead of meal kits
“Right from the beginning, we were attracting a customer who, like, didn't want to be told what to do with their meat. We were attracting a customer who might be a little more adventurous in the kitchen, or might have some knowledge already, who wanted to be ab…”
ButcherBox outsources all processing, fulfillment, and support to maintain capital efficiency
“Our backbone, like the farms, the processing facilities, pick, pack, and ship customer service All of that was third party. And we do that to this day as one of the ways that we've been able to be very capital efficient.”
Mike Salguero argues transitioning to Impossible Burgers is not the environmental solution
“I don't think that the solution is let's move to impossible burgers.”
ButcherBox revenue grew from $225 million to $550 million during the pandemic
“Going into the pandemic, I think we did two hundred and twenty-five million dollars, and coming out of the pandemic, we did four 50 and then five 50.”
Blue Apron's valuation collapse instantly dried up VC for subscription box startups
“Yeah, they were like a two billion dollar valuation, and now they're trading today at like a hundred million dollars. And so, what happened was, all of the venture capital for box subscription companies, it just dried up in an instant. And what you saw was a l…”
Mike Salguero believes ButcherBox would have failed if it raised venture capital
“If we had gone and raised money, we would not have a business right now, because if we had built a model that was like, oh, we're just going to, like, buy a bunch of customers and hope for the best, we would have, like, you know, it's a game of musical chairs,…”
Mike Salguero plans for ButcherBox to remain an independent, multi-generational company
“If we are trying to build an iconic brand in meat, it just might take, you know, 25, 50, a hundred years. And so, yes, is there a possibility that someone swoops in and says, hey, let's buy a butcher box, and here's a price, and I'm like, okay, you know, like,…”