Will Nitze

Founder, IQBAR (iqbar.com) 🍫+💧+☕️

🍫 Founder/CEO, IQBAR (iqbar.com)
🎙️ Co-Host, "Eating Glass" Podcast
🎓 Harvard BA

Founder/CEO

We make superior brain + body fuel. IQBAR® plant protein bars, IQMIX® hydration sticks, and IQJOE® instant coffees are packed with the functional compounds you need to win your day.

🚨 New product line launch 🚨

IQBAR PB&J Protein Bites are live today, only at Sam's Club!

High-protein, high-fiber, low-sugar, "poppable," and nostalgic. Coming in hot at the absurdly good value of $9.98 / 15-pack.

It took a full year to figure out how to manufacture and perfect these (shoutout to Matt Stinson). They may just be the best things we've ever made.

Major thanks to Alek Guzman and the Sam's team for making this happen 🚀

On the Costco [dot] com homepage for the first time ever.

Pretty rad.

🚨 EXPO TAKE-AWAYS from airplane text exchange with Daniel Puckett:

→ Taste is still king
→ Good design / packaging is now a commodity
→ Not much true “innovation” - very few surprises
→ The breakfast category is under-served; big oppy
→ This industry has great humans; more collegial than others
→ Nutritional “no man’s land” is a death sentence; pick a lane
→ Most big booths have been in the game a while; build to last
→ Booths are only as valuable as how engaging folks at them are
→ Meat sticks are now ultra-competitive; chicken's having a moment
→ Protein everywhere; less fiber / creatine / GLP-1 stuff than expected
→ More loyalty erosion (bad for Big CPG; good for upstarts / private label)
→ A.I. wasn’t mentioned much, but when it was the tone was positive (CPGs will get more efficient / profitable; none of the "doomerism" you see elsewhere)

💭 Solid add-ons from the comments section:

→ A shocking number of honey companies (h/t Drew Mabry)
→ In chips, tallow continues to steadily grow (h/t Jeremy White)
→ International flavors - esp LatAm - was big (h/t Andres Siman)
→ This year was mostly "back to the basics" (h/t Eric M.)
→ Energy / attitude / quality was higher than past years (h/t Andy Godish)

- - -

CRITICAL CAVEAT: true insight into brands is *entirely invisible* at at Expo cuz it's under the hood. Supply chain creativity, manufacturing excellence, cash management, media buying efficiency, SG&A streamlining, negotiation prowess, contracting strategy, etc. etc. etc.

If the "engine" isn't assembled and maintained right, trends don't matter.

Today I witnessed a non-negligible cohort of folks walk out of Natural Products Expo West and immediately light up a cig.

Humans are an interesting bunch.

Extremely niche Expo observation…

Lithuania goes hard in the paint.

Must’ve dropped a milly on 100 feet of booth space plus an army of people.

Never forget - you aren’t just competing with rival cookie / chip / bar startups.

You’re competing with entire Baltic states.

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I've made the difficult decision to age in reverse.

Compete with me if you'd like. But I wouldn't recommend it.

You know the clunky aspects of CPG you hate?

They're protecting you against AI.

Which means clunk is now a feature, not a bug.

Embrace it.

"Mainstream weird" is the best brand positioning.

If you're too mainstream, you'll get knocked-off into oblivion.

If you're too weird, you'll never achieve major scale.

Mainstream weird is juuusssttt right.

Optionality is the desired end state.

But FLEXIBILITY is how you get there.

Create maximally flexible products. And positioning. And teams.

Heck, ensure your OWN BRAIN is maximally flexible. (Can you learn new stuff quickly? Can you change your mind quickly in light of new data?)

In today's environment where the chess board is violently shaken up on an annual basis, the most flexible player adapts best.

And...over time...wins.

Jonathan Jamil is the Founder of Springboard CX & Courtside, specializing in customer experience and community management for CPG brands. With 15 years in the industry, he has helped CPG companies scale, optimize operations, and maximize profitability through strategic solutions. Jonathan remains focused on growth, innovation, and building partnerships that drive long-term success in the CPG space.

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