Ryan Rouse

MALK Organics

President

Self Employed

Growth Advisor

HighKey 

Chief Executive Officer (acquired)

Board Member

Chief Marketing & Ecommerce Officer

Tasseo Consumer Ecosystem

Operating Partner

Serenity Kids

Head of Growth

Factor_

Co-Founder (Acquired by Hello Fresh)

Chief Marketing Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Merrill Lynch

Vice President of Sales

Growth advisor to consumer businesses with a focus on every line of the P&L | Previously, Co-Founder at Factor Meals (acquired), CEO at Highkey

Growth-minded CPG leader with deep experience across finance, brand building, and operational leadership.

After more than a decade in finance—culminating in an eight-year tenure at Merrill Lynch—I co-founded Factor_, a ready-to-eat meal delivery company that went on to be acquired by HelloFresh for $277M in 2020.

I joined HighKey Snacks as Chief Marketing Officer and later CEO, guiding the low-sugar snack brand through rapid expansion and an acquisition in 2024.

I'm currently the President of MALK Organics, a fast-growing, near nine-figure brand redefining the plant-based milk category with its commitment to clean, organic ingredients and uncompromising quality.

And I write a newsletter about what it really takes to grow—your company, your mindset, your tolerance for chaos:
​
​• The unfiltered truth about building a brand
• Why “strategy” isn’t always strategic
• What to do when everything feels on fire
• Mindset shifts that keep you sane(ish)​
• Founder mistakes, market moves, and lessons I’m still learning​
​
​Part playbook, part perspective shift.
For anyone trying to grow something—and keep their head on straight.

Sign up using the link here (or below my profile pic above): https://ryanrouse.me/

Vice President | Partner

Data driven investors in early stage consumer brands. 

Social media will have you believe if you haven't made your first million by 30, you're late.

It's bullshit.

The average (self-made) millionaire is 57.
The average US President is 55.
The average CEO takes the job at age 56.

Know what those extra decades give you?

Pattern recognition. You've seen enough cycles to know which ones matter.

Scar tissue. You've failed enough to know it won't kill you.

The pressure to achieve young is manufactured. By people selling courses. By media celebrating outliers. By your own impatience.

Warren Buffett made 99% of his wealth after 50.

Ray Kroc was 52 when he started McDonald's.

Vera Wang was 40 when she entered fashion.

You're not behind. You're gathering ammunition.

The game is longer than they tell you.

Good thing too. 

Because the best moves take time to develop.


~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from being in the trenches building brands since 2012. 

Link in the comments 👇

Never Been on a Forbes List | President at MALK Organics | Daddy at Rouse House | Previously: Co-Founder & CMO at Factor_, CEO at Highkey

8 CPG truths that make my operator brain short-circuit:

1. Your $20M in sales means nothing if you're burning $5M to get there. I see brands celebrating "growth" while their unit economics are upside down. Revenue without profit is just expensive marketing.

2. That distributor who promised you the world? They're promising 47 other brands the same thing this week. Distribution isn't a strategy. It's a commodity.

3. Trade spend can eat you alive if you let it. Brands budget 10% and end up at 30% just to stay on shelf. Free fills, slotting fees, MCBs - it's death by a thousand cuts. Make sure you know your true trade spend, by customer.

4. Your "premium" positioning means jack if you can't explain why someone should pay 2x for your product in under 5 seconds. "Better ingredients" isn't enough. Everyone says that.

5. Velocity matters more than door count, at first. I'd rather be in 1,000 stores turning 10 units per week than 10,000 stores collecting dust. Retailers track everything. Dead product = dead brand.

6. That sexy packaging you spent $100k developing? Nobody cares if they can't find your product on shelf. Shelf presence beats design awards every time.

7. Your influencer marketing is probably just expensive friend-making. Unless you can track the impact, you're lighting money on fire and calling it "brand building."

8. The grocery buyer who ghosted you isn't being rude. They're managing 500 SKUs and you're not their priority. Until you are. Then they'll call you at 10pm demanding answers.

Building in CPG is like running through quicksand while juggling flaming chainsaws.

But when you nail it? When that velocity report shows you're outselling the big guys?

Worth every short circuit.

~~~~~~~

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I've interviewed over 300 people. Here's my take on what gets you hired:

1. Come with real questions about real problems.

"What keeps you up at night about MALK's retail expansion?" beats "What's your leadership style?" every time.

Show me you've thought about our actual business. Not what some career coach told you to ask.

2. Have an actual conversation.

One of the best hires I ever made interrupted me three times in the interview. To challenge my thinking. Respectfully.

That told me more than any rehearsed answer could.

3. Admit what terrifies you about the role.

"I've never managed a team this size" beats "I'm ready for anything" every time.

Because one is honest. The other is bullshit.

Everyone struggles. The question is whether you're self-aware enough to see it coming.

4. Skip the flattery. Show impact.

I don't care that you read my LinkedIn. I care if you can help us hit our Q4 targets.

Show how you've solved similar problems. Give a reason to lean forward, not lean back.

5. Spot the gaps and call them out.

"I noticed your social engagement dropped 30% last quarter. Was that intentional while you focused on retail?"

That question got someone hired on the spot.

Because it showed research. Analysis. And guts.

Most people think interviews are about proving you're perfect.

They're not.

They're about proving you're real. 

And that you give a shit.


~~~~~~~~~

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Packaging is everything in retail.

It's your ad creative. Your hook. Your thumb stopper.

When Barrett Brynestad and I got to MALK, we liked our LTO packaging. But we knew it could be better.

Which scared the shit out of people inside the company. The velocities were best-in-class. Why touch it?

Because I'm allergic to complacency. Seen it kill too many winning brands.

"Barrett did Barrett things" is a phrase you hear a lot at MALK.

When he gets his hands on something, there's a 100% chance the "after" crushes the "before".

This is the "after".

Modern. Simplified. Bold flood of color with hand-drawn typography that actually means something.

Not just pretty. Strategic.

The shelf presence hits different now.

The impact?

Early data shows same store velocities up an average of 10%.

That's not a design win.

That's a business win.

13 years in startups taught me this: Urgency is king. 

Not intelligence. Not connections. Not capital.

Just the willingness to move before you're ready and the discipline to move fast.

I've watched brilliant strategists get lapped by mediocre executors. Seen perfect business plans die in PowerPoint while half-baked ideas built billion-dollar brands.

The difference? Speed.

At Factor_, we had maybe 30% of what we needed to launch. No playbook. Limited capital. Competitors with 100x our resources.

But we moved like our hair was on fire.

While others debated, we shipped.
While others planned, we tested.
While others waited for perfect, we were already on version three.

Not because we were smarter. Because we refused to let perfect be the enemy of done.

Most people confuse activity with action. They're busy but not productive. Moving but not progressing.

Real action has teeth. It ships products. Closes deals. Makes decisions that scare you a little.

And urgency? That's not panic. It's the deep understanding that every day you wait, someone else isn't.

The market doesn't care about your timeline.
Your competitors don't wait for your approval.
Opportunity has an expiration date.

You want to know what separates winners from everyone else?

They act like it matters.

Because it does.


~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from 12+ years in the trenches building brands. 

Link in the comments 👇

The most important job you have as a leader is convincing people smarter than you to come work with you.

It's also the hardest.

Because smart people have options. They can go anywhere. Start their own thing. Take the safer path.

So why would they choose your chaos?

I've recruited talent for Factor_, HighKey, and now MALK. 

The pitch changes. The challenge doesn't.

You're not selling a job. You're selling belief.

Belief that this thing matters.
That their work will matter.
That you'll have their back when it gets ugly.

And it will get ugly. Smart people know that.

They're not looking for easy. They're looking for worth it.

The best people I've ever hired asked harder questions than any investor:

"What happens if this specific strategy fails?"
"How do you handle disagreement with your board?"
"Show me where you were wrong and what you learned."

They weren't testing my answers. They were testing my thinking.

Because smart people don't follow titles. They follow clarity.

Not perfection. Not charisma. Just the ability to see reality and still believe you can win.

Every great hire I've made came down to one moment. When I stopped pitching and started admitting.

Where we were weak. What scared me. Why this might not work.

And then why we'd do it anyway.

That's when they lean in.

Because now it's not about joining a company.

It's about solving something worth solving.

With someone who gets that they can't solve it alone.

~~~~~~~~~~

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I called my first business my "baby" for years.

Introduced myself as "co-founder of Factor_" before my own name. Let it consume every conversation, every thought, every decision.

Know what that got me?

A divorce from reality.

Your business isn't your child. It's a machine.

Machines need oil changes. Part replacements. Sometimes a complete rebuild. And occasionally, they need new owners who can afford better mechanics.

But when you're playing proud parent instead of clear-eyed operator, you make shit decisions.

You keep underperformers because they were there "from the beginning."

You reject partnerships because they don't "respect what you built."

You burn yourself out because "good parents don't take breaks."

The best thing I ever did for MALK was learning this lesson at Factor_.

Now I can love what we're building without letting it define who I am.

I can make hard calls without taking them personally.

I can see the business for what it is: 

A vehicle to create value. Not an extension of my identity.


~~~~~~~~

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MALK branding in the unboxing experience of the Erewhon Smoothie kits is 🔥🔥🔥

Hiring for leadership at startups? Filter for one thing:

Will they get their hands dirty when shit hits the fan?

Yeah, you want them thinking more than doing. That's how you scale.

But reality check - there'll be times when everyone's underwater and they need to grab an oar and row. Not delegate. Not strategize. Just do the work.

I've watched too many "leaders" stand around waiting for someone else to fix things. 

The best ones jump in the trenches without being asked.

That's the difference.

The corporate-to-startup leap fails for most people because they forgot what calloused hands look like. They've been 10 layers removed from making things happen for too long.

So when I interview leadership now, I ask: "Tell me about the last time you did work that was 'beneath' your title."

If they struggle to answer, I already know.

Leaders who won't get dirty when needed aren't leaders.

They're just expensive advisors.


~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from being in the trenches building brands since 2012. 

Link in my profile.

Don't tell your team how to do the work.

Tell them what needs to get done.

Paint the destination. 
Be crystal clear on what success looks like. 
Revenue target. Launch date. Quality standard. Whatever matters.

Then get the hell out of the way.

Your job isn't to tell them which road to take. It's to remove the roadblocks when they hit them.

Can't get budget approved? That's your problem to solve.
Need access to a key stakeholder? You make the intro.
Stuck on a technical issue? Find them the expert.

But the actual work? Let them cook.

They'll do it differently than you would. 
Sometimes worse. Often better. 
Always with more ownership.

Because it's their solution, not yours.

The hardest part is killing your expectations. That voice in your head screaming "that's not how I'd do it."

No shit. They're not you.

And that's exactly why you hired them.

Good for you - you get to focus on bigger problems.
Better for them - they get to actually use their brain.
Best for the company - you get diverse solutions instead of one person's playbook repeated 50 times.

Stop being a puppet master.

Start being a roadblock remover.

Your team will surprise you.

If you let them.

~~~~~~~

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"You will NOT outwork me."

I see this flex everywhere. 

But hard work is table stakes. 

Your competitors work hard. That intern who wants your job works hard.

It's necessary, it's just not sufficient. 

You also need to think from angles others won't. That's the separator.

Most people default to more hours because thinking hurts. It's easier to stay busy than to sit with a problem until you crack it.

I wish success was just about grinding harder. That would be simple. Clock in more hours, win more games.

But the world doesn't give a shit about your hours.

It rewards people who create the most value. And value comes from seeing what others miss. 

From connecting dots in ways that seem obvious after but invisible before.

From working hard *and* smart.


~~~~~~~

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"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

Everyone parrots this like it's gospel.

Here's what they're missing:

"Who you know" only matters if they know what you can do.

Your network isn't built on coffee chats and LinkedIn connections. It's built on becoming the person people seek out.

When you're known for solving specific problems, doors don't just open.

People hunt you down to walk through them.

Stop collecting contacts like Pokemon cards.

Start becoming the person worth knowing.

The "who" will find you.

~~~~~~~~

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'No' is a complete sentence.

Most people just suck at using it.

I watch leaders drown in meetings they shouldn't be in. Projects that aren't their problem. Favors that become full-time jobs.

All because they think saying yes makes them a team player.

It doesn't. It makes them ineffective.

At Factor_, I said yes to everything. Thought it showed hustle. Commitment. Leadership.

What it actually showed was I couldn't prioritize worth a damn.

The turning point came when an investor asked me what I was working on. I rattled off 15 things.

He said: "So you're working on nothing."

That stung. Because he was right.

Every yes to something mediocre is a no to something that matters.

Your team doesn't need you in every meeting.
Your opinion isn't required on every decision.
Not every problem is your problem to solve.

The best leaders I know are ruthless with their no's. Not because they're assholes. Because they understand physics.

You can't be in two places at once.
You can't give 100% to ten things.
You can't be strategic when you're drowning in tactical.

Saying no isn't selfish. It's the most generous thing you can do.

Because when you say yes to the right things, you show up fully. You deliver. You move the needle.

When you say yes to everything, you're just busy.

And busy isn't the same as valuable.


~~~~~~~~~~

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Life is a game of human relationships. 

Business is no different.

I spent years thinking business was about being the smartest person in the room. The best strategist. The hardest worker.

Wrong.

The best negotiation tactic? Actually caring.

The best sales strategy? Being genuinely helpful.

The best leadership style? Remembering everyone's fighting something.

You can have the best product, the smartest strategy, the deepest pockets.

But if you treat people like transactions, you'll lose to someone with half your resources who treats them like humans.

Every single time.

Because at the end of the day, business is just a bunch of humans trying to solve problems together.

Act like it.


~~~~~~~~~~

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"She's a great marketer."

Everyone says it. Nobody knows what it means.

I've hired dozens of marketers. The great ones aren't doing marketing.

They're doing psychology with a P&L attached.

They study why people buy, not how to make them buy. Big difference. One creates customers. The other creates resentment.

They know trust beats tactics every time. You can growth-hack your way to quick wins, but you can't hack your way to loyalty.

They get that education and entertainment aren't opposites. The best marketing teaches you something while keeping you hooked. Education. Entertainment. Sales.

They see the whole field and the blade of grass. Strategy from 30,000 feet. Execution at ground level. Most marketers live at one altitude. The great ones travel between both.

They measure what matters: revenue & profit. Not impressions. Not engagement. Not brand lift. Money in the bank. 

They play long when everyone else plays short. Building brand while others chase clicks. Creating assets while others create ads.

Being a marketer isn't about knowing marketing.

It's about knowing people.

The marketing part is just what we call it on LinkedIn.

~~~~~~~

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You can be relentless without being ruthless.

And you need to be to win. 

Ruthless? That's about destroying people.
Be relentless about your standards.

When a vendor misses a deadline, don't scream. Ask what happened and how we fix it. 

But also make it clear: this can't happen again.

When an employee underperforms, don't humiliate them. Have the hard conversation. Set clear expectations. Give them a shot to improve.

When competitors play dirty, don't stoop to their level. Outwork them. Outthink them. Out-execute them.

Ruthless leaders leave bodies in their wake.

Relentless leaders build armies.

At MALK, we're taking share from brands 10x our size. Not by playing dirty. 

By being absolutely relentless about quality, execution, and showing up every damn day.

My team runs through walls for me.

Not because they fear me.

Because they know I'll run through walls for them too.

That's how you win.

Not by being the biggest asshole in the room.

By being the most unstoppable force for what you believe in.


~~~~~~~~~

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Silence is where trust goes to die.

Where conspiracy theories are born.

With your team. Your customers. Your investors.

When you don't communicate early and clearly, people fill the void with their worst assumptions.

That delayed email response? They think you're avoiding them.

That vague update? They assume you're hiding bad news.

That "we'll circle back"? They're already looking for other options.

In any situation, speed and clarity of communication determines trust.

Not perfection. 

I'd rather send an imperfect update today than a polished one next week. Because by next week, they've already written their own story.

And once someone's narrative sets in, good luck changing it.

You're not just competing with competitors. You're competing with imagination.

And imagination usually wins.

So communicate like your reputation depends on it.

Because it does.



~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from 12+ years in the trenches building brands. 

Link in the comments 👇

Success is subjective. So there’s no universal playbook. 

Some people think getting into a company means they made it. Others wanna start something.

We're all wired differently. I'm great at navigating chaos and terrible with a lot of structure.

You've got your own mix.

What worked for me might tank for you. 

What I learned running Factor_ and HighKey and now MALK:

• Build what gets you out of bed at 5am. Not what impresses people at dinner parties.

• Solve real problems. Doesn't matter if it's fixing supply chains or making better almond milk.

• Get punched in the face. Repeatedly. The only difference between winners and everyone else is we get back up faster.

• Stop chasing the scoreboard. Views, likes, revenue—they follow good work, not the other way around.

• Ship good shit. Period. Quantity without quality is just noise.

• Stay hungry. The moment you think you've "made it" is when someone hungrier eats your lunch.

This isn't about joining a company or starting one.

It's about knowing what lights your fire and having the balls to chase it.

Even when everyone thinks you're crazy.

Especially then.


~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from 12+ years in the trenches building brands. 

Link in the comments 👇

I used to be the contrarian in every room.

Always had the opposite take. Always played devil's advocate.

Thought it made me valuable. The one who "saw things differently."

It didn't. It made me predictable.

When you're always against the grain, people stop listening. Not because your ideas are bad. Because they know what's coming.

"Here comes Ryan with the contrarian take."

Even when I was right.

Back then, I killed more good ideas playing devil's advocate than bad ones. Because I was so busy being different I forgot to be useful.

The real skill isn't seeing what's wrong. Anyone can do that.

It's knowing when to push back and when to push forward.

Now when someone pitches an idea, I ask myself one question first: "Am I adding value or just adding friction?"

Most times, it's friction dressed up as insight.

Being contrarian isn't a strategy. It's a reflex.

And reflexes make you predictable.

The best thinkers I know aren't contrarian or conformist. They're just honest about what they see.

Sometimes that means agreeing with the room.

Sometimes it means burning the room down.

But it's never about being different for different's sake.

That's not thinking.

That's just performance.


~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you might like my emails. No BS musings from 12+ years in the trenches building brands. 

Link in the comments 👇

Your job description says "marketing manager."

But today you dealt with a shipment issue. Tomorrow you'll negotiate with vendors. Next week you'll be doing customer support.

Welcome to startup life.

At Factor_, I hired a finance guy who ended up re-configuring our insulation and gel packs. Why? Because we needed it done and he could figure it out.

Here's what people don't get about startups:

There's always more work than people.

Which means two things happen:

You either step up and figure it out.

Or you complain about it not being "your job."

Guess which one survives?

I've watched corporate refugees struggle with this. They want clear swim lanes. Defined responsibilities. Someone else to handle the messy stuff.

But startups don't work like that.

One day you're strategizing. Next day you're packing boxes because a warehouse worker called in sick.

That's not dysfunction. That's reality when you're building something from nothing.

The upside? You learn everything.

How ops actually works. Why customer service matters. What marketing really costs. Where product development goes sideways.

You get exposed to the whole business, not just your slice.

Which is invaluable if you want to run something someday.

But brutal if you just want to clock in and do your designated tasks.

So before you join a startup, ask yourself:

Am I energized by chaos or exhausted by it?

Because if you need your Monday to look like your job description, stay in corporate.

The startup will eat you alive.

And honestly? That's exactly how it should be.


~~~~~~~

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