October 27, 2021
BAGEL BREAK
Aimee Yang dreamed of a world where she didnāt have to worry about weight gain or health issues. She constantly struggled with balanced eating and her weight. And sheās not alone.Ā
In the US,Ā 40% of adultsĀ are considered obese. An additional 32% are overweight. And in 2018, the CDC found thatĀ 49.1% of American adultsĀ had tried to lose weight in the previous year.Ā
After a lifetime of struggling with healthy eating, Aimee wanted to redefine her relationship with food - most notably, refined carbs. So, she founded the food tech startupĀ Better Brand.Ā
ā[Better Brand] aims to create a world where consumers can] eat freely without restriction or worry,ā shared Aimee in an interview withĀ Forbes. āWe aim to use our breakthroughs in the food space to drive forward a movement of empowering and inspiring a world free of unnecessary barriers and limitations.ā
After developingĀ Grain-changing TechnologyTM, the company can remove refined carbs from traditionally carb-heavy foods. And their first order of business: The Better Bagel.
With a bit of luck, Aimee and her team quickly developed a plant-based bagel with the equivalent protein of 4 eggs and the carbs of only 2 banana slices. This past summer, they launched The Better Bagel on their online store (aĀ 4-packĀ costs $18).
And the product has caused a wave of excitement, leading to lots ofĀ earned mediaĀ (content written about a company that wasn't paid for or written by the company). As a result, Better Brand has already hit a $1MĀ run rateĀ (a prediction of annual revenue based on current numbers). And it's only been 3 months!
Thatās because The Better Bagel proves the power (and profitability) of delivering a product consumers actually want.Ā
āWeāre lucky in that the product speaks for itself and addresses a very real pain point that a lot of people feel on a daily basis,ā Aimee explained. āThat won us a lot of earned media and customer excitement, and weāre just getting started!ā
šĀ Catch the full interview.
HEADS UP
On September 9,Ā the White House announcedĀ that any company with 100+ employees must require that everyone is vaccinated or takes a weekly COVID test.Ā Companies must also provide the PTO to get the vaccine (and recover from it) or take the weekly test.
The mandate goes into effect on November 22. And businesses that fail to abide will face a $14,000 fine per violation. It is still unclear how these requirements will be strictly enforced.Ā
Many small business leaders have mixed feelings about the mandate, calling it "overdue" or "unconstitutional." But the mandate falls under the emergency provision in theĀ Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. And it does not apply toĀ mostĀ US small businesses.Ā
The Small Business Association (SBA) defines a small business as any company with less thanĀ 500 employees. And according to SBA, roughlyĀ 31.7M US businessesĀ (or 99.9%) don't meet the mandate's 100-employee threshold.Ā
So, if you're in that majority, it's still totally up to you whether you require employee vaccinations or not.
MATCH-MAKER
People planning is probably the biggest responsibility (and challenge) that business leaders have. And it comes down to hiring the right people, then getting them in the right roles.
Serial entrepreneur Dan Martell realized this early in his career and used it to build and scale 5 successful SaaS startups over the last 16 years. Today, heās the managing partner atĀ High Speed VenturesĀ and helps fellow entrepreneurs scale their businesses.Ā
One way heās been able to do that is by trademarking hisĀ People Planner ProcessĀ methodology. AKA a simple and proven 5-step strategy that gets the right people in the right positions (all while planning for the next 12 months).Ā
Thatās because his 5-step process focuses on:
When you know all of that, youāll have everyone on your team doing what they do best. And when that happens, your company will be ready to scale.
šĀ Try the People Planner Process for free.
TL;DR