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May 13, 2015 · 32m · my-first-million

How to Get Your Product in 10,000 Retail Stores - Hustle Con 2015

Alejandro "Alex" Velez · 13m spoken Nikhil Arora · 13m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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At Hustle Con 2015, Back to the Roots co-founders Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez share how they built a multi-category sustainable food and indoor farming company from a college fraternity experiment. Through relentless retail outreach, packaging iterations, in-store demos, and strategic partnerships, they successfully scaled products into thousands of national retail locations.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →

The hosts as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 0.0 Guest disagreement 0.1 The hosts pushing back 0.0
05100:0010:0020:0030:003:04–5:11 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Cold Pitching Whole Foods and Selling Fresh Mushrooms Alex and Nikhil deliver a keynote presentation recounting their origin story of walking an oyster mushroom bucket into Whole Foods. As this is a monologue presentation without host interaction, host-side metrics and schooling are scored at zero.5:11–8:51 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Creating the At-Home Mushroom Kit and Design Lessons Nikhil and Alex explain how buyer feedback prompted them to focus on design and how they conducted grueling in-person store demos to drive retail velocity. This is part of the onstage monologue presentation.8:52–13:43 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Cracking Home Depot via Cold Email Outreach The co-founders describe guessing buyer email permutations to get into Home Depot and leveraging Kickstarter to prove demand for their aquaponics kit. The presentation remains an uninterrupted dual-speaker story.13:44–18:49 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Retail Packaging Pitfalls and Urgent Rebranding Nikhil and Alex recount their packaging failure on retail shelves and their journey exploring ancient grain milling for breakfast cereal. Presentation monologue with no host pushback.18:50–22:14 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Scaling Cereal in Costco and Overcoming Retail Setbacks Alex details the cereal launch in Costco, overcoming a sudden buyer retirement through aggressive demoing, and dealing with setbacks at Safeway. Standard keynote delivery without confrontation.22:14–24:18 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Core Philosophy: Mission, Advocacy, and Partnership Nikhil concludes the presentation by summarizing their core philosophy around brand mission, retail tenacity, and co-developing products with retail partners.24:25–26:56 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Q&A: Fostering Curiosity and Brand Philosophy An audience member asks about how the founders cultivated their genuine passion and fascination. Alex and Nikhil explain their focus on staying curious and framing brand education around questioning.26:58–30:02 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Q&A: Pitching Food Network and Media Opportunities An audience member pitches them on appearing on Food Network's Food Fortunes, leading to slight confusion on whether it is an audition pitch before they politely embrace the suggestion.30:05–32:15 · The hosts as informed peer 0/10 Q&A: Manufacturing Evolution and Local Sourcing An audience member inquires about manufacturing, prompting Nikhil to detail the realization that they needed professional incubation partners for mushrooms and local NorCal partners for injection molding.3:04–5:11 · Guest teaching 0/10 Cold Pitching Whole Foods and Selling Fresh Mushrooms Alex and Nikhil deliver a keynote presentation recounting their origin story of walking an oyster mushroom bucket into Whole Foods. As this is a monologue presentation without host interaction, host-side metrics and schooling are scored at zero.5:11–8:51 · Guest teaching 0/10 Creating the At-Home Mushroom Kit and Design Lessons Nikhil and Alex explain how buyer feedback prompted them to focus on design and how they conducted grueling in-person store demos to drive retail velocity. This is part of the onstage monologue presentation.8:52–13:43 · Guest teaching 0/10 Cracking Home Depot via Cold Email Outreach The co-founders describe guessing buyer email permutations to get into Home Depot and leveraging Kickstarter to prove demand for their aquaponics kit. The presentation remains an uninterrupted dual-speaker story.13:44–18:49 · Guest teaching 0/10 Retail Packaging Pitfalls and Urgent Rebranding Nikhil and Alex recount their packaging failure on retail shelves and their journey exploring ancient grain milling for breakfast cereal. Presentation monologue with no host pushback.18:50–22:14 · Guest teaching 0/10 Scaling Cereal in Costco and Overcoming Retail Setbacks Alex details the cereal launch in Costco, overcoming a sudden buyer retirement through aggressive demoing, and dealing with setbacks at Safeway. Standard keynote delivery without confrontation.22:14–24:18 · Guest teaching 0/10 Core Philosophy: Mission, Advocacy, and Partnership Nikhil concludes the presentation by summarizing their core philosophy around brand mission, retail tenacity, and co-developing products with retail partners.24:25–26:56 · Guest teaching 0/10 Q&A: Fostering Curiosity and Brand Philosophy An audience member asks about how the founders cultivated their genuine passion and fascination. Alex and Nikhil explain their focus on staying curious and framing brand education around questioning.26:58–30:02 · Guest teaching 0/10 Q&A: Pitching Food Network and Media Opportunities An audience member pitches them on appearing on Food Network's Food Fortunes, leading to slight confusion on whether it is an audition pitch before they politely embrace the suggestion.30:05–32:15 · Guest teaching 0/10 Q&A: Manufacturing Evolution and Local Sourcing An audience member inquires about manufacturing, prompting Nikhil to detail the realization that they needed professional incubation partners for mushrooms and local NorCal partners for injection molding.3:04–5:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Cold Pitching Whole Foods and Selling Fresh Mushrooms Alex and Nikhil deliver a keynote presentation recounting their origin story of walking an oyster mushroom bucket into Whole Foods. As this is a monologue presentation without host interaction, host-side metrics and schooling are scored at zero.5:11–8:51 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Creating the At-Home Mushroom Kit and Design Lessons Nikhil and Alex explain how buyer feedback prompted them to focus on design and how they conducted grueling in-person store demos to drive retail velocity. This is part of the onstage monologue presentation.8:52–13:43 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Cracking Home Depot via Cold Email Outreach The co-founders describe guessing buyer email permutations to get into Home Depot and leveraging Kickstarter to prove demand for their aquaponics kit. The presentation remains an uninterrupted dual-speaker story.13:44–18:49 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Retail Packaging Pitfalls and Urgent Rebranding Nikhil and Alex recount their packaging failure on retail shelves and their journey exploring ancient grain milling for breakfast cereal. Presentation monologue with no host pushback.18:50–22:14 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Scaling Cereal in Costco and Overcoming Retail Setbacks Alex details the cereal launch in Costco, overcoming a sudden buyer retirement through aggressive demoing, and dealing with setbacks at Safeway. Standard keynote delivery without confrontation.22:14–24:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Core Philosophy: Mission, Advocacy, and Partnership Nikhil concludes the presentation by summarizing their core philosophy around brand mission, retail tenacity, and co-developing products with retail partners.24:25–26:56 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Q&A: Fostering Curiosity and Brand Philosophy An audience member asks about how the founders cultivated their genuine passion and fascination. Alex and Nikhil explain their focus on staying curious and framing brand education around questioning.26:58–30:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Q&A: Pitching Food Network and Media Opportunities An audience member pitches them on appearing on Food Network's Food Fortunes, leading to slight confusion on whether it is an audition pitch before they politely embrace the suggestion.30:05–32:15 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Q&A: Manufacturing Evolution and Local Sourcing An audience member inquires about manufacturing, prompting Nikhil to detail the realization that they needed professional incubation partners for mushrooms and local NorCal partners for injection molding.3:04–5:11 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Cold Pitching Whole Foods and Selling Fresh Mushrooms Alex and Nikhil deliver a keynote presentation recounting their origin story of walking an oyster mushroom bucket into Whole Foods. As this is a monologue presentation without host interaction, host-side metrics and schooling are scored at zero.5:11–8:51 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Creating the At-Home Mushroom Kit and Design Lessons Nikhil and Alex explain how buyer feedback prompted them to focus on design and how they conducted grueling in-person store demos to drive retail velocity. This is part of the onstage monologue presentation.8:52–13:43 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Cracking Home Depot via Cold Email Outreach The co-founders describe guessing buyer email permutations to get into Home Depot and leveraging Kickstarter to prove demand for their aquaponics kit. The presentation remains an uninterrupted dual-speaker story.13:44–18:49 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Retail Packaging Pitfalls and Urgent Rebranding Nikhil and Alex recount their packaging failure on retail shelves and their journey exploring ancient grain milling for breakfast cereal. Presentation monologue with no host pushback.18:50–22:14 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Scaling Cereal in Costco and Overcoming Retail Setbacks Alex details the cereal launch in Costco, overcoming a sudden buyer retirement through aggressive demoing, and dealing with setbacks at Safeway. Standard keynote delivery without confrontation.22:14–24:18 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Core Philosophy: Mission, Advocacy, and Partnership Nikhil concludes the presentation by summarizing their core philosophy around brand mission, retail tenacity, and co-developing products with retail partners.24:25–26:56 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Q&A: Fostering Curiosity and Brand Philosophy An audience member asks about how the founders cultivated their genuine passion and fascination. Alex and Nikhil explain their focus on staying curious and framing brand education around questioning.26:58–30:02 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Q&A: Pitching Food Network and Media Opportunities An audience member pitches them on appearing on Food Network's Food Fortunes, leading to slight confusion on whether it is an audition pitch before they politely embrace the suggestion.30:05–32:15 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Q&A: Manufacturing Evolution and Local Sourcing An audience member inquires about manufacturing, prompting Nikhil to detail the realization that they needed professional incubation partners for mushrooms and local NorCal partners for injection molding.

speaking balance: gold is the hosts, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%0:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%3:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%3:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%6:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%6:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%9:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%9:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%12:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%12:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%15:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%15:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%18:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%18:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%21:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%21:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%24:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%24:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%27:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%27:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%30:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%30:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 27:36 Confusion over audience pitch

Alex humorously clarifies if they are being auditioned on the spot when an audience member repeatedly presses them on Food Fortunes.

 Hardest push from the hosts ▶ 28:44 Audience pushes for testing methods

An audience member presses the founders to clarify whether they have lightweight offline testing methods rather than committing straight to full retail rollouts.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:45 Whole Foods buyer rejects fungus bag

Nikhil recounts the educational moment when their produce buyer bluntly informed them nobody would buy raw unbranded fungus in a bag for kitchen counters.

 The host holds their own ▶ 30:13 Explaining supply chain maturity

Nikhil demonstrates manufacturing insight by describing the strategic transition from DIY farming to specialized domestic production partners.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicThe hosts as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementThe hosts pushing backWhy
Cold Pitching Whole Foods and Selling Fresh Mushrooms 0000 Alex and Nikhil deliver a keynote presentation recounting their origin story of walking an oyster mushroom bucket into Whole Foods. As this is a monologue presentation without host interaction, host-side metrics and schooling are scored at zero.
Creating the At-Home Mushroom Kit and Design Lessons 0000 Nikhil and Alex explain how buyer feedback prompted them to focus on design and how they conducted grueling in-person store demos to drive retail velocity. This is part of the onstage monologue presentation.
Cracking Home Depot via Cold Email Outreach 0000 The co-founders describe guessing buyer email permutations to get into Home Depot and leveraging Kickstarter to prove demand for their aquaponics kit. The presentation remains an uninterrupted dual-speaker story.
Retail Packaging Pitfalls and Urgent Rebranding 0000 Nikhil and Alex recount their packaging failure on retail shelves and their journey exploring ancient grain milling for breakfast cereal. Presentation monologue with no host pushback.
Scaling Cereal in Costco and Overcoming Retail Setbacks 0000 Alex details the cereal launch in Costco, overcoming a sudden buyer retirement through aggressive demoing, and dealing with setbacks at Safeway. Standard keynote delivery without confrontation.
Core Philosophy: Mission, Advocacy, and Partnership 0000 Nikhil concludes the presentation by summarizing their core philosophy around brand mission, retail tenacity, and co-developing products with retail partners.
Q&A: Fostering Curiosity and Brand Philosophy 0000 An audience member asks about how the founders cultivated their genuine passion and fascination. Alex and Nikhil explain their focus on staying curious and framing brand education around questioning.
Q&A: Pitching Food Network and Media Opportunities 0010 An audience member pitches them on appearing on Food Network's Food Fortunes, leading to slight confusion on whether it is an audition pitch before they politely embrace the suggestion.
Q&A: Manufacturing Evolution and Local Sourcing 0000 An audience member inquires about manufacturing, prompting Nikhil to detail the realization that they needed professional incubation partners for mushrooms and local NorCal partners for injection molding.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Partly supported
Velez: Back to the Roots products are in over 14,000 stores globally
“And these amazing products, which are ready to grow, ready to eat products, a mushroom farm, a water garden, a garden in a can, and now organic breakfast cereal and breakfast toppers that are now sold in over 14,000 grocery stores around the country, and Canad…”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 1:18
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Velez: Whole Foods was the only grocer to respond to early pitches
“We took that same bucket, walked it into every single grocery store in like a 50 mile radius from Andronico's, every Andronico's in Berkeley and Oakland. We went to Farmer Joe's. We went to Berkeley Bowl. At the time, there was only one Berkeley Bowl. We walke…”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 3:46
Assertion Partly supported
Back to the Roots reached every US Whole Foods in three months
“We put this in, in one Berkeley Whole Foods store. Within three months, we were nationwide with Whole Foods, every single store in the country”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 6:53
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
A cold email landed Back to the Roots in 850 Home Depots
“And actually, just this week, we're excited to announce that Home Depot expanded this nationally into 850 stores nationwide with displays across the country, but that started off with a cold email.”
Nikhil Arora May 13, 2015 ▶ 10:19
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Back to the Roots raised $500k in pre-orders before manufacturing Water Garden
“We had a 100,000 dollar goal, ended up doing 250,000 dollars in 30 days of pre-orders. We took that momentum, took it over to our website, another quarter million dollars. So this is half a million dollars of pre-orders without even creating the damn thing.”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 13:06
Assertion Supported
Whole Foods, Petco, and Nordstrom launched Water Garden nationwide together
“So we took that buzz and went back to Petco, went back to Whole Foods, went back to Nordstrom, and for the first time ever, those three retailers took this product on nationwide. So we had a national launch with Whole Foods, national launch with Petco, Nationa…”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 13:19
Opinion
Arora: The $10B cereal industry has seen no real innovation
“A hundred year old category, hundred years old, ten billion dollar industry, and there hasn't been any innovation from packaging to ingredients to branding.”
Nikhil Arora May 13, 2015 ▶ 17:56
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Velez: Back to the Roots is Costco's #1 organic cereal
“We're the number one selling organic cereal in Costco nationwide.”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 20:26
Assertion Partly supported
Velez: Post, Kellogg's, and GM own 90% of $10B cereal market
“Three Goliaths, Post, Kellogg's GM, running the show. They own 90% of this ten billion dollar industry”
Alejandro "Alex" Velez May 13, 2015 ▶ 21:00
Assertion Partly supported
Arora: Back to the Roots launched cereal line first into Costco
“So like we launched our cereal first into Costco, and like with the water garden we launched on Kickstarter, launching this thing first into Costco means we couldn't mess up, we messed up, we were out of business.”
Nikhil Arora May 13, 2015 ▶ 29:50
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