Because Sourmilk is a perishable dairy product on cold chain, they can't follow the usual CPG playbook of making product first and selling later — they have to create demand before production. Building in public lets them "build a virtual line out the door" so the yogurt flies off shelves once it's actually in stores.
More from this episode
The founders contrast yogurt with shelf-stable CPG. A protein bar, chip or drink is cheap to produce, has high margins, and you "don't have to worry about... a ticking time bomb for expiration," so you can make a ton and then sell it. Sourmilk "can't do that because we are a perishable, dairy based product that also has to be on cold chain at every single point in the supply chain." That means "we have to focus on creating distribution and marketing and demand before we go into production," and produce to meet demand rather than overproduce. Most food CPG brands have "very little... digital footprint" and spend their marketing dollars getting into Walmart, Target and Whole Foods and buying end caps — relying on grabbing attention in the store. With a much shorter shelf life, Sourmilk can't rely on that, so "it's really important for us to build in public to basically have and build a virtual line out the door at any given time," so that when they hit shelves "people already know our brand" and the yogurt can "fly off shelves when we're ready."