『The Friday Accelerator with Karen Green』のカバーアート

The Friday Accelerator with Karen Green

The Friday Accelerator with Karen Green

著者： Karen Green | Helping food businesses sell more and sell better
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Business growth expert, former Tesco and Boots buyer, and author of Recipe for Success and Buyerology®, Karen helps food business founders, leaders and entrepreneurs achieve faster, smarter growth. She's helped deliver food business growth for over 1,000 clients, securing over £350m in new retail listings with supermarkets and more.

Listen to learn from Karen's food founder interviews: How to stay focused and on track to achieve your goals; The strategies behind their biggest wins; Top tips for growth, resilience, and leadership

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  • From Eswatini to the World | Building a Challenger Food Brand with Purpose

    From Eswatini to the World | Building a Challenger Food Brand with Purpose
    2026/07/31
    What do you do when events beyond your control hit sales in your biggest growth market? How should you react when a branding expert tells you yours looks 'safe'? Why would you launch a chilli brand in countries where, apparently, nobody eats chilli? Claudia Castellanos is the founder of Black Mamba Foods. Originally from Colombia, she worked in Italy, then spent 4 months volunteering in Eswatini and never went home. Find out how she's scaling up a global hot sauce challenger brand from one of the smallest countries on Earth. Claudia didn't set out to build a hot sauce brand. A Colombian marketer working in corporate Italy, she went to Eswatini — one of the smallest countries on Earth — for a four-month volunteering stint. Sixteen years later she's still there, running Black Mamba: a purpose-driven range of hot condiments made with organically grown chilli, packed in glass, produced by a workforce that's 94% women, and sold across South Africa, the UK and — the market that surprised everyone — the UAE. Then, at a trade show, a buyer she desperately wanted to convert asked, "Would you be willing to make your brand look more African?" And then a passing brand expert summed up ten years of work in three words: "It looks safe." This is a refreshingly honest conversation about what those two gut-punches set in motion — and about the commercial reality underneath a feel-good brand story. Claudia is candid about how the criticism landed and answers the question that makes many scaling founders uncomfortable (do you make a profit? She also admits that she "sucks at operations". Listen to the episode to discover: The Gross Margin rule that brutally decides whether a new product even launchesWhy a buyer telling her to "look more African" was the best bad feedback she ever got — and why she still refuses to put an elephant or a sunset on the labelUnderstanding Black Mamba's customers — chilli heads, ethical foodies and African AdmirersWhy sustainability isn't what sells the sauce (and the thing that actually does)What happened to sales in her fastest-growing market when the US-Iran war broke out — and how she respondedThe founder's-sanity mantra she repeats when it all gets too much Chapters: 01:31 — From corporate Italy to Eswatini: the four months that became sixteen years02:59 — Why chilli was an economic decision before it was a product one05:37 — Scaling: VC money, and choosing to go deep instead of wide08:11 — The UAE, the war, and a 45% overnight drop10:15 — "It looks safe": the rebrand, and African-ness without the clichés14:33 — The Good Food Manifesto, and why flavour beats purpose at the till17:46 — Three avatars, one jar: segmenting the message not the product23:41 — "Do you make a profit?" and the 40% pricing rule27:41 — Building a team where the talent doesn't exist, and "I suck at operations"31:00 — Staying sane: optimism, breathing, and open heart surgery33:11 — Quick-fire questions, Fridays and productivity hacks39:36 — Books, flow states and the founders she actually trusts Links and Resources: Online shop and stockists: https://blackmambachilli.com/Connect with Claudia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiacastellanos/ Recommended Reading: Traction by Gino WickmanThinking Bigger by Sarah Dusek -- Ever wondered why sometimes achieving goals is effortless and other times, it feels like pushing water uphill? Get your Friday Accelerator scorecard to find out why. Answer ten questions about your approach to work, goals and success, to access your personalised report and action list. Go to fridayaccelerator.scoreapp.com now. If you want a regular dose of inspiration and impetus for growth, resilience and success, subscribe to The Friday Accelerator wherever you get your podcasts - https://pod.link/1849435884 - and why not leave a review too. If you want to accelerate your personal and business performance, you can book a discovery call at https://calendly.com/buyerology/friday-accelerator-1-1
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    42 分
  • Why Selfridges Said Yes | Megan Tan on Supermarket Listings & Retail Strategy

    Why Selfridges Said Yes | Megan Tan on Supermarket Listings & Retail Strategy
    2026/06/26
    Singapore has one of the world's great food cultures. But walk into almost any British supermarket, and you'll find Thai, Japanese, Indian, Korean and almost nothing from Singapore. Megan Tan noticed that gap when she moved to London. Leaving her career in corporate law, she started running supper clubs from her flat. Then she launched her first product - a ginger chilli sauce inspired by Hainanese Chicken Rice - in March 2025. Within two months, Yumm Singa was listed in Selfridges. The road there wasn't so straightforward. She had a brand name she loved, a trademark already registered, but received a legal notice from one of Hollywood's biggest studios. What she did next says everything about how she thinks and how she's building Yumm Singa. In this conversation with Karen Green, Megan talks about the commercial logic behind every decision she's made, why she spent December 2025 zombie-walking through supermarkets mumbling brand names, and why she treats every failed sales conversation as a diagnostic question rather than a rejection. It's a conversation packed with ideas, insight and honesty. Why you need to listen to this: Megan won a Selfridges listing two months after launch with a brand she now calls "cringe." The buyer saw the gap, not the packaging. There's a lesson in that for every founder.She explains why she chose sauces over ready meals. It has nothing to do with passion and everything to do with capital, logistics, and giving herself a chance.After spending months trying to define her customer, she was stuck. Find out the shift in thinking that made everything click.Warner Brothers sent her a legal notice over her planned brand name. How she responded is one of the best founder resilience stories you'll hear - and it's not what you think.Her prioritisation framework is genuinely useful: four categories, in order, that turn a chaotic to-do list into a productive working day. Links: Buy Yumm Singa and find stockists: https://www.yummsinga.com/ Connect with Megan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-tan-761b73129/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yummsinga/ On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yummsinga References, books and podcasts mentioned: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz. The negotiation masterclass for founders https://www.blackswanltd.com/never-split-the-difference The Aspire podcast by Emma Grede - Megan's current favourite business listen https://www.emmagrede.me/ Bread & Jam, the founders festival, where Megan pitched and won her Selfridges listing https://www.breadandjamfest.com/ Chapters: 0:01:00 - The Yumm Singa elevator pitch — market opportunity and mission 0:03:32 - What is Singaporean cuisine? 0:06:13 - Is it spicy? Singaporean flavour versus Sichuan heat 0:07:56 - From Homey Kitchen to Yumm Singa 0:09:59 - The meaning behind the name 0:11:48 - Warner Brothers sent a legal notice - and what happened next 0:19:25 - Connoisseurs or the broad market? The hawker centre philosophy 0:22:06 - Psychographics over demographics - Ozzy and King Charles 0:25:13 - The commercials - pricing, co-manufacturing, format choice 0:27:41 - Getting the Selfridges listing - and keeping the rate of sale up 0:31:08 - Growth strategy - independents now, supermarkets next 0:33:02 - How to prioritise when everything feels urgent 0:34:51 - The hardest thing in the next 30 days 0:38:46 - Productivity tools and the one distraction she'd remove 0:40:32 - Books and podcasts — Never Split the Difference 0:41:49 - Where to find Yum Singa -- Ever wondered why sometimes achieving goals is effortless and other times, it feels like pushing water uphill? Get your Friday Accelerator scorecard to find out why. Answer ten questions about your approach to work, goals and success, to access your personalised report and action list. Go to fridayaccelerator.scoreapp.com now. If you want a regular dose of inspiration and impetus for growth, resilience and success, subscribe to The Friday Accelerator wherever you get your podcasts - https://pod.link/1849435884 - and why not leave a review too. If you want to accelerate your personal and business performance, you can book a discovery call at https://calendly.com/buyerology/friday-accelerator-1-1
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    43 分
  • You Can't Be What You Can't See | Female Entrepreneurs & Challenger Brands

    You Can't Be What You Can't See | Female Entrepreneurs & Challenger Brands
    2026/05/29

    Why are so few of the FTSE 100 led by women? If you asked a young person on the street to name a famous businesswoman, would they struggle? And if you're building a food business without a financial safety net behind you, would you expect to receive investment — not because you've been turned down, but because somewhere along the way you absorbed the idea that it simply wasn't an option for someone like you. Mex Ibrahim has spent years trying to change all that — and she's blunt about why it's still so hard.

    Mex is co-founder of Women in the Food Industry, a UK-based non-profit community connecting women across all food verticals — from hospitality to farming, from food production to writing. She shares what she thinks is holding women back in food, explains why the funding gap for female founders isn't improving, why 'bootstrapping' is often something of a myth, as well as how and why women approach building food businesses differently.

    Listen to the interview to find out:

    • What Women in the Food Industry does and why it spans all food roles and verticals
    • The 'bootstrapping' myth
    • The gap that disproportionately affects women - but nobody ever talks about
    • How women and men approach food entrepreneurship differently
    • The class-coded psychology of asking for investment
    Links, Resources and Book Recommendations
    • Women in the Food Industry: https://womeninthefoodindustry.com/
    • Connect with Mex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meccaibrahim/
    • The Quiet Burn by Lynne Blade: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiet-Burn-Ambitious-Recognizing-Preventing/dp/1639081305/
    • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0349113467/
    • F*** Being Humble by Stephanie Sword Williams: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-Humble-self-promotion-isnt-dirty/dp/1787135136/
    Chapters

    0:01:06 — What is Women in the Food Industry?

    0:03:01 — Why span all food verticals?

    0:05:16 — Evolution & geographic expansion

    0:07:03 — "You can't be what you can't see"

    0:10:22 — Class, privilege & the bootstrapping myth

    0:14:32 — How women approach food business differently

    0:19:08 — Where female founders trip up

    0:21:43 — The funding gap

    0:24:08 — The other gap nobody talks about

    0:26:33 — 3–5 year vision for Women in the Food Industry

    0:30:38 — Productivity & AI tools

    0:33:29 — Book recommendations

    --

    Ever wondered why sometimes achieving goals is effortless and other times, it feels like pushing water uphill? Get your Friday Accelerator scorecard to find out why. Answer ten questions about your approach to work, goals and success, to access your personalised report and action list. Go to fridayaccelerator.scoreapp.com now.

    If you want a regular dose of inspiration and impetus for growth, resilience and success, subscribe to The Friday Accelerator wherever you get your podcasts - https://pod.link/1849435884 - and why not leave a review too.

    If you want to accelerate your personal and business performance, you can book a discovery call at https://calendly.com/buyerology/friday-accelerator-1-1
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    37 分
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