Startup advice from founder to founder

Some of the best startup advice in business comes from the people who have been there and done that. We asked the founders of six companies from our fifth cohort for their startup advice to fellow entrepreneurs. Here’s what they told us.

There is no single right way to build a food company. In the end, you will always want to decide what is best for you and your startup. However, there are some tricks and tips that can help make your entrepreneurial journey less bumpy. And no-one is more familiar with those bumps than the people who have been there and done it themselves.

At the ProVeg Incubator, we’re delighted to be building a lifelong, collaborative community of startup founders. After successfully completing our accelerator programme, startups join our alumni, and we continue to support them for as long as they need us. What’s more, they also support one another by exchanging resources, sharing contacts, and offering advice.

We asked the founders of six of our alumni the same question: “In your opinion, what does it take for a startup to be successful?”. Here is what they told us.

Stéphanie from The Fast Good Company:

To begin with, a product that the market needs, a good story that people believe in, and a mission that others can get behind. Once you have established that, you need the right margins and the capacity to be able to scale your products.

Dylan from The Fast Good Company:

You need to be prepared, learn to adapt from your mistakes, and make sure that your product is market-ready. Then you need the right network to help take you to market and create some noise around your products. They say that getting in is the easy part – staying around is when the hard work really starts. That’s why we believe that branding, marketing, and collaboration are crucial to a business becoming and staying successful.

Zsolt from Fellow Creatures:

The food and drink market is extremely competitive and there are many new plant-based brands launching all the time. The best way to stand out and to create a product that has longevity is to focus on branding, building a community, and creating a strong and unique company culture.

It isn’t really enough to have a great product anymore. Brands these days need to be living and breathing organisms that join the conversation, tell a joke, and create a community. At Fellow Creatures, we use Instagram to actively engage with our customers. Our page is a social club of chocolate lovers, a place to get inspired and banter with fellow choco-fiends. We actively listen to them and take on their feedback to continuously reiterate our products, messaging, and online experience.

Kushal from Naka Foods:

Persistence: building a business takes a lot of time and you will face challenges along the way. You need persistence and determination to be able to jump those hurdles and keep going. Focus: startups have a lot of moving parts. You need to be able to focus and dedicate your attention to the most worthwhile tasks, the ones that will take you closer to achieving your mission. Finally, timing. Connecting a good product to a gap in the market at the time that consumers are looking for it is key.

Eyleen from Pow! Foods:

Startups have the advantage of being close to their consumers and building a meaningful relationship with them. It is worth taking the time to research and truly understand what your customers are looking for in a product and why they might choose your brand over others.

As companies get bigger, it’s common for them to move further and further away from the people who are buying their products. They become strangers to one another and the company loses this competitive advantage. At POW! Foods, we co-create with our consumers. They are at the centre of the majority of our strategies that focus on what we create and it’s important for us to have a deep understanding of what they want. For us, that’s the key to success.

Clemence from Update Foods:

Belief, determination, modesty, and resilience. For us, the success of a startup starts with the attitudes of its founders and extends to a range of elements aligning with each other. For example, both the product you are offering and the price have to be correct and your branding should resonate with your audience.

At Update Foods, our definition of success is managing to seduce consumers who are not currently following a plant-based lifestyle to enjoy our alternative dairy products. This will maximise our positive impact as a company, offer our team a fulfilling working environment, and assure that our startup continues to grow and reach its full potential.

Astrid from Haofood:

Put your customer first. Do consumers want your product and does it meet their expectations? Listen to their feedback and incorporate it wherever possible. Aim for excellent quality. From your startup brand to your team to the final product, what you are sharing with the world needs to be worthwhile. To that list, we would also add trust, innovation, and synergy. For Haofood, it’s important for us to know that we are contributing to a global mission that extends beyond what any one company can do alone.

Startup advice from founder to founder

Stéphanie from The Fast Good Company:

Dylan from The Fast Good Company:

Zsolt from Fellow Creatures:

Kushal from Naka Foods:

Eyleen from Pow! Foods:

Clemence from Update Foods:

Astrid from Haofood:

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