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Rashid Ali

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Chomps · 3 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveoperatorchomps.com ↗

In 2012, Ali co-founded Chomps with Pete Maldonado, bootstrapping the clean-label meat snack brand into nationwide retail distribution. Before scaling Chomps full-time, he spent over a decade as a management and operations consultant at firms including Huron Consulting Group and Alvarez & Marsal.

16statements → 11claims → 1claims resolved → 3.81/5average certainty → 1.44/5average debate potential → 4said about them ↓

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 10 not checkable as stated how the 11 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 9 assertions · 3 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 11 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 10 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Rashid argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Ali: Chomps valued at about $200M in 2022 minority deal
“About 200.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:19:48 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Rashid Ali on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Rashid Ali said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Prediction Not checkable as stated
Ali: Chomps is five to seven years away from a billion dollars
“We've got a good five to seven years to continue to build towards that billion dollars.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:21:53 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Insight
Ali: Economies of scale do not automatically unlock higher gross margins
“Economies of scale don't necessarily unlock incremental gross margin. You need to challenge your bill of materials, challenge the way it's being produced, challenge everything to figure out, okay, Do I want an artisanal one-off product because of the price po…”
Rashid Ali Mar 19, 2026 ▶ 33:31 Advice Line: What’s Your Value?
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Ali: Consumers will eventually experience fatigue with the protein trend
“We think, like, at some point with any trend, there will be consumer fatigue.”
Rashid Ali Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 2:01 Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps
Insight
Ali: Getting products into retail stores is easier than sustaining sales velocity
“Getting into the retailer is honestly the easiest part of the process. It's staying and performing.”
Rashid Ali Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 26:21 Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps
Insight
Ali: D2C frozen meat shipping has no path to profitability without scale
“What we figured out was shipping frozen without scale, there's no path to profitability, and because the business was like self-funded, we had to figure out a way to make it profitable”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 31:13 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Disclosure
Ali: Chomps shifted beef sourcing to Australia over US quality issues
“We were, we had a few domestic partners, but we actually started having some quality challenges because I think the way that they process it and measure the lean point, it's a, they call it core drilling where they'll, they'll drill and measure and get an aver…”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 51:24 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Supported
Ali: Chomps valued at about $200M in 2022 minority deal
“About 200.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:19:48 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Chomps can grow for two years without new products
“We can grow with our existing line. We don't need to launch more products to grow, at least in the next two years.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:22:11 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Disclosure
Ali matched Maldonado's tiny $3,250 initial investment to co-found Chomps
“I mentioned how much had he invested and he was like, it was at 32 53,250 dollars, I think is what he had put up. So I cut a check and match that.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 29:19 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Uncrate feature proved Chomps had appeal beyond CrossFit and paleo
“Our consumer prior to that was, Primarily CrossFit, paleo, whole 30, like very focused. And uncrate is just like your general guy, right? Where it's like your 20 or 30 something that was just interested in it, and it showed, oh, wow, the product has a lot more…”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 47:58 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Trader Joe's order required 150,000 lbs of meat vs. normal 10-15k monthly
“So, so 10 to 15 was our normal click. This required us to do about a 150,000 pounds.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 59:43 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rashid Ali: Every new Trader Joe's SKU nearly doubled Chomps' business
“I mean, Trader Joe's, every time we launched another SKU, the business would almost double.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:08:30 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Chomps brought 40% new consumers into jerky category at one retailer
“And I think also there's one stat, like with one of our retailers, we were bringing 40% new folks to the jerky set.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:15:17 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Chomps reached $100M+ in revenue with fewer than 40 employees
“We're just under 40 right now.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:17:53 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Founder Tension at Chomps Revolved Around Going Full-Time
“A lot of the tension was around when we both would go full-time.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 55:09 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ali: Chomps operates three manufacturing facilities and three packaging lines
“No, I mean, we've, we have now three separate manufacturing facilities and three packaging lines running simultaneously, and we went ahead and ordered six more.”
Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 ▶ 1:17:14 Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali

The other half of the tape: Rashid Ali's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 1 episode on How I Built This. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Pete Maldonado 2Guy Raz 1

Statements about Rashid Ali, by other people (1)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maldonado: Co-founder Rashid Ali stayed part-time until Chomps hit $20M revenue
“I went full-time first. I think we were doing in like the four or 500,000 range, and then Rasheed didn't come on until we were doing like twenty million. So it was a big, like, big gap.”
Pete Maldonado Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 42:10 Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0021312024episodesmentions
0112024episodes it came up in
001.50.5312024episodesmentions per episode
2024 3 mentions in 1 episode

Appearances (3)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Advice Line: What’s Your Value? Mar 19, 2026 1m
Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps Feb 19, 2026 8m
Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali Jan 30, 2023 19m
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