Advice Line with Angie & Dan Bastian of Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP
Angie and Dan Bastian, co-founders of Angie's BOOM CHICKAPOP, advise three entrepreneurs: Michelle from Nana Jo's Granola seeking investor funding while maintaining values, Gloria from Elida developing a medical device for bladder leaks struggling with stigma in marketing, and Eric from Maple Roo scaling an organic sports nutrition company in Australia. The hosts emphasize the importance of work-life balance and strategic growth over speed.
Summary
In this Advice Line episode, Angie and Dan Bastian return to share insights from their journey building Angie's BOOM CHICKAPOP from a kettle corn side business to a multimillion-dollar brand. The couple, who have since moved on from the company, now mentor food industry startups and work on philanthropic projects.
The first caller, Michelle from Nana Jo's Granola in San Francisco, runs a $2.2 million certified organic granola business that started in 2010. She's seeking $2 million in funding to scale but wants to maintain her values around organic certification and paying living wages. After multiple failed investment negotiations, she's concerned about finding aligned investors. The Bastians recommend exploring minority investment partners, bank loans, and potentially bringing on an experienced advisor or consultant with industry relationships.
Gloria from Elida calls about her FDA-approved medical device that treats bladder leaks externally through electrical stimulation. Despite having a strong product addressing a common problem affecting one in two women over 30, she struggles with marketing due to the stigma around incontinence. Her digital marketing costs skyrocketed when Meta restricted targeting, making customer acquisition unprofitable. The advisors suggest Gloria become the face of her brand, leveraging her MIT and Stanford engineering background and personal story, while potentially seeking a celebrity partner willing to take equity and publicly endorse the product.
Eric from Maple Roo in Australia has built an organic sports nutrition company using maple syrup as the primary ingredient, forecasting $250,000 in sales in their first year. Inspired by his own experience with poor fueling during Ironman competitions, he's receiving international interest but questions how to scale against massive, well-funded competitors. The advisors recommend focusing locally first, improving packaging to highlight key nutritional information like carb content, and growing organically to $500,000-$1 million before considering international expansion.
Throughout the episode, the Bastians emphasize lessons from their own experience about the dangers of overwork and the importance of strategic thinking over reactive decision-making. They advocate for building strong local foundations before expanding and maintaining authentic brand values during growth.
About this episode
<p>Today’s callers: Michelle from California assesses the trade offs of accepting outside investment to scale her organic granola brand. Then, Gloria from Connecticut wonders how to overcome stigma and get more people talking about her pelvic floor therapy device. And Eric from Australia evaluates new markets for his maple-based sports nutrition products. </p><p>Plus, Dan and Angie’s take on why even the busiest entrepreneur should find time to turn off their phone at the dinner table... </p><p>Thank you to the founders of Nana Joes Granola, Elidah, and mapleROO for being a part of our show.</p><p>If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode—where Guy and former show guests take questions from early-stage founders—leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a> or call 1-800-433-1298.</p><p>And be sure to listen to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-episode-angies-boomchickapop-angie-dan-bastian/id1150510297?i=1000445530797" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BOOMCHICKAPOP’S founding story</a> as told by Angie and Dan on the show in 2019. </p><p>This episode was produced by Noor Gill with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.</p><p>You can follow HIBT on <a href="https://x.com/HowIBuiltThis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">X</a> & <a href="https://www.instagram.com/howibuiltthis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at <a href="http://guyraz.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">guyraz.com</a> and on <a href="https://guyraz.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Substack</a>.</p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p>
Key Insights
- The Bastians argue that working 20-hour days during their startup phase caused significant physical and emotional damage, and they would prioritize better work-life balance if starting again
- Michelle has successfully bootstrapped her organic granola business to $2.2 million over 15 years while maintaining strict organic certification and paying living wages in San Francisco
- Gloria's medical device addresses a problem affecting one in two women over 30, but stigma around incontinence makes traditional marketing and word-of-mouth referrals extremely difficult
- Eric discovered that maple syrup provides superior athletic fuel compared to synthetic alternatives, leading him to qualify for Ironman world championships and start his sports nutrition company
- The Bastians recommend minority investment partnerships where founders maintain control, as they experienced with Sherbrooke Capital taking a minority position in 2011
- Gloria's customer acquisition costs became unprofitable when Meta stopped allowing targeted advertising for her medical device, forcing her to seek alternative marketing strategies
- Eric is manufacturing in North America and shipping to Australia despite being based there, which creates freight cost challenges as he considers international expansion
- The advisors argue that founders with compelling personal stories and technical expertise should become the face of their brands rather than hiding behind corporate messaging
Topics
Transcript
Thank you. Leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with. All right, let's get to it. Joining me today are Angie and Dan Bastian, co-founders of Angie's Boom Chicka Popcorn. Angie and Dan, welcome back to the show. Thank you, guys. Thanks, guys. We're happy to be back. We first met back in, I think it was 2019. We sat down in front of a live audience in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was so fun. You told us this crazy story about how you saw an online ad that said, make thousands of dollars by popping kettle corn, which sounds so crazy. Angie, you were a nurse…
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