NOSH Live Replay: Big CPG Lessons For Emerging Brands

During the first day of NOSH Live Winter 2023, a cohort of individuals reflected on the leadership and mindset shifts as well as differences to strategy building that guided them from the world of big CPG into new endeavors within emerging brands.

For Arnulfo Ventura – a former PepsiCo exec turned CEO of Beanfields and now leader of Alter Eco – his biggest lesson came from outside CPG altogether. Originally an architect, Ventura emphasized that a leader has to design for the environment they are in. While a large strategic may recognize the potential of a brand, that doesn’t always mean a big company’s processes, plans and projections are the right approach for a rising startup.

Aligning with the organization in front of you is the best way to secure success, a notion echoed by fellow panelists Denise Woodard, who started Partake Foods after six years at Coca-Cola, and Vilma Livas, CMO of Nature’s Bakery. Both stressed that an entrepreneur can adopt integral functions of big companies – like data procurement and stage gate innovation – while aligning each to fit an emerging company’s resources and current capabilities.

Watch the full session above for more on how these three CPG veterans think about leadership styles, strategize growth and create internal processes and procedures.