Feb 21, 2022 · 1h 3m · how-i-built-this
Live Episode! Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP: Angie & Dan Bastian (2019)
0:00 / 0:00
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Recorded live in St. Paul, this episode of How I Built This details how Angie and Dan Bastian grew Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP from a modest Mankato garage side hustle into a $250 million national snack brand through grit, strategic branding, and bold financial risks.
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 38.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 2.0 Guest teaching 1.8 Guest disagreement 0.9 Guy pushing back 1.0
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 52:55 Angie rejects skinny branding
Angie firmly dismisses industry tropes around women's snacking, declaring they refused to call their product skinny or nearly naked.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 34:30 Guy presses on seven years of debtGuy challenges the founders on how digging themselves deeper into debt conflicted with their initial goal of building a college fund.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 49:20 Angie breaks down gendered snack packagingAngie educates Guy on how snack aisles were overwhelmingly designed for men or framed around female dieting, explaining the strategic gap BOOMCHICKAPOP filled.
Guy holds their own ▶ 16:20 Guy questions internet business schemesGuy humorously calls out online work-from-home kettle corn ads as classic internet scams when Dan explains where he got the idea.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mennonite Roots and Early Educational Paths | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Guy guides the Bastians through their formative years, asking Angie about her Mennonite upbringing and Dan about his schooling. The conversation is warm, collaborative, and focused on personal history. | |
| Connecting in New Mexico and the Move to Mankato | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Guy asks about the couple meeting in New Mexico over broken jaw injuries and their subsequent moves to Florida and Minnesota. The dynamic remains friendly and purely biographical. | |
| An Online Kettle Corn Opportunity and the First Pop | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy playfully challenges Dan's decision to buy an online kettle corn package off the internet as an apparent scam. The couple humorously defends their initial leap of faith and early garage experiments. | |
| The Hustle of Outdoor Events and the Vikings Sponsorship | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Guy explores the early hustle of selling at outdoor sporting events and securing a partnership with the Minnesota Vikings. Angie clarifies the difference between paying to be an official versus preferred sponsor. | |
| Transitioning from Outdoor Fairs to Retail Shelves | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Guy asks how the business transitioned from outdoor events into regional grocery stores like Lunds & Byerlys. Angie and Dan explain the shift to commercial kitchen standards and naming the brand Angie's. | |
| Surviving Debt and the High-Stakes Trader Joe's Order | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Guy points out the paradox of compounding debt while trying to save for a college fund, prompting Dan and Angie to explain their high risk tolerance and the critical Trader Joe's nationwide purchase order. | |
| Scaling During the Recession and Partnering with Private Equity | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Dan and Angie detail how taking counter-cyclical risks during the 2008 recession enabled them to scale and eventually bring on Sherbrooke Capital as private equity partners. | |
| Standing Out on the Shelf: The Birth of BOOMCHICKAPOP | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Angie describes rejecting masculine snack shelf branding and refusing diet naming tropes like skinny popcorn, detailing the origin and battle over the name BOOMCHICKAPOP. | |
| Employee Equity Payouts and the ConAgra Acquisition | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about the liquidity events with TPG Growth and the subsequent 250 million dollar acquisition by ConAgra, with the Bastians reflecting on sharing millions with long-time employees. | |
| Sustaining Marriage in Business and Reflecting on Luck | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks the signature How I Built This question regarding skill versus luck, and both founders share thoughtful reflections on gratitude, team work, and marriage resilience. |
Statements from this episode (11)
BOOMCHICKAPOP began with a $10,000 credit card purchase for kettle equipment
“We called them, and we bought it on a credit card like everyone else, and we bought it, we got a kettle, a tent, you know, if you go to a fair, one of those outdoor kettles, and all the equipment, a table, it probably wasn't worth eight or 10,000, but we, it w…”
Angie and Dan Bastian made $300 on their first day of sales
“It, that, so that's November 21st, 2001. This was my first winter in Minnesota, so I decided the date that we were going to do it, and Dan was like, well, ok, November 21st. Let's see what happens. And fortunately, it was a beautiful fall day, and it took us a…”
The Bastians juggled multiple zero-percent credit cards to fund initial startup debt
“Yeah, but we used another credit card to pay off that credit card. There was a lot of credit cards going around at that time.”
The dominance of male-named popcorn brands inspired the company name Angie's
“So we went to the grocery store, and we looked online, and what we saw at the time was in the grocery store, it was Orville, it was Vicks, it was Cracker Jack, Poppycock, Dale and Thomas, Harry and David, and I just turned to Dan, and I said, where are the pop…”
Trader Joe's initial Angie's order was 25 truckloads worth up to $500,000
“She put in an order for 25 trucks... That was What, four or 500,000 dollars worth.”
Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP revenue reached $3 million to $4 million around 2008
“Maybe three, four million.”
Private equity firm Sherbrooke Capital formalized BOOMCHICKAPOP's board and equity pool
“And they helped us set up a an employee equity pool. They helped us set up a board. They helped us set up a professional sales team and build a marketing team.”
BOOMCHICKAPOP became the top-selling SKU in four months as first non-GMO popcorn
“And it was that first non-GMO branded popcorn on the market, and it became our number one selling skew in four months. The yellow bag.”