Turning the tables to end the year, this time I am the interviewee.

Laura Coe, of The Art of Authenticity, and I talk about Money, Pressure, and Passion.

Copying the show notes from Laura's episode page here:

• Matt’s background and what inspired him to become an entrepreneur [4:20]
• The background on his podcast, The Food Startups Podcast [7:50]
• How the reception has been to his podcast [10:17]
• Why he wanted to talk about money, pressure, and passion [11:45]
• Dispelling myths about passion [14:40]
• How to balance money vs. passion [17:01]
• Balancing the pressure of business with life [19:02]
• The power of journaling and digital detoxes [25:33]
• Balancing your current business success with your future goals [27:10]
• How Matt defines authenticity [30:30]
• His big turning point moments [32:02]
• The last time he was almost inauthentic and caught himself [34:18]
• Matt’s daily practices [37:24]

Dear listeners,

You know me from my podcast. I've spoken to over 100 experts and I always try to get advice. Ask questions that we can learn from. You know this.

But did you know that I am in the food business as well?

Where do I want to go with my business. Today I am going to share more about me. What I do, mistakes I made in 2016, things that went well, plans for 2017.

From these reflection combined with learnings from the many founders I spoke with this year, I'll go in depth on Peter Drucker's feedback analysis method. Then, I'll teach you how to apply this to your professional and personal life.

We discuss:

• My food startup
• Why I am sharing this information publicly
• The importance of applying probability theory to your business
• Top learnings from 2016
• Relationship building and venture capital
• Our strategy to grow in 2017 
• Feedback analysis and it's short, medium and long-term benefits
• My foray into journalism
• Always be storytelling!!
• Exciting plans for the podcast going forward

Eric De Feo grew up in New York, the son of Italian immigrants. As a child, he learned about design, building, and community.

He also learned that living in a big house means a lot of work!

As an adult, Eric has combined his experience and interests in design, architecture, environmental conservation, and food.

Eric has experience in designing projects for informal settlements abroad, including working with the Kounkuey Design Initiative in Nairobi to build sanitation blocks and a playground, along with public housing concepts with Gensler in Thailand.

After working abroad, Eric came home.

He co-founded OpenDoor, a collaborative living space currently in the Bay area.

He also built a beautiful and functional smart growing machine, ROOT. Grow your own fresh foods, medicinal herbs and flowers with the swipe of a finger.

If you are interested in indoor growing or would like to learn about coliving spaces, this episode is for you:

• Eric's influence from his childhood
• Work/life balance
• In the U.S., are we defined by our work?
• The appeal of collaborative living
• How OpenDoor works
• Why attention to detail and design create experience
• The amazing ROOT machine
• Matt makes a shameless plug for the coconut
• Will indoor growing ever produce a higher percentage of our crops than traditional, outdoor agro?

Selected links from the episode:

ROOT
Landmark
Open Door
Immigrant Inc
Your Money or your Life
Email Eric

You don't HAVE to follow the cookie-cutter retail sales model. An entrepreneur can feel powerless when they are 100% dependent on one or two large grocery buyers for the success of their food startup.

Hotels, catering, and local cafes are a few examples of local businesses that may be interested in carrying your brand. But they need a way to find out about your product.

Kim Bryden is doing just that with Cureate Connect. She has a network nearing 250 food startups in DC and Baltimore with access to D.C. and Maryland businesses interested is local sourcing.

For over 10 years, she has worked in the food and beverage industry from government to Whole Foods retail management, to food+tech start-up. We talk about:

• Kim's diverse background in the food space
• Lessons from Whole Foods and EMERGE
• What is SHRINK? and creative finanical costing
• Community learnings from issuing D.C. liquor licenses
• Why success is often misunderstood
• Working with the legendary chef José Andrés
• Measuring the impact on local economies
• Why we need Wikileaks for the food industry
• How Cureate Connect warks
• The meaning of Cureate
• Connecting high-level messaging with tactile details
• Mistakes that food startups make
• Operating from abundance
• Two types of food entrepreneurs and how to interact with them

Selected links from the show:
Cureate
Cureate Connect (If in D.C / Maryland - sign up!!)
Kim Bryden #FoodPorn
School of Food
Minibar by José Andrés
Adobe Creative Cloud

"I attribute my success to my numerous beloved mentors and getting up early in the morning to play and work harder."

Nicolas Warren is relied upon for action, leadership, strategy, sales, energy, and smiles. Learning, competition, and positivity are driving forces in his life.  

He has significant experience in several capacities across multiple industries including tourism, food /hospitality, computer/software tech, marketing, and advertising. 

Nicolas recently sold his dark chocolate energy bar company, Perfect Fuel. We reflect on his 6 year journey. How did Nicolas get to where he is today?

• Thoughts on nutrition
• How to find and utilize mentors
• Why were they acquired by America's #1 meatball company?
• What he would have done differently
• Why Perfect Fuel was attractive to be acquired
• Cross-merchandising and shelf displays
• Making your product into a platform
• Advice for creating a brand new concept
• The importance of customer feedback
• Analysis of another great brand: Perfect Bar
• “Don’t bootstrap your business.”
• Nicolas's next adventure
• The way he likes to learn

Selected links from the show:
Perfect Fuel
@nicolaswarren
Home Market Foods
Perfect Bar