19: From “Naive” Newcomer to 8-Figure Revenue in 4 Years with Barnana Co-Founder Nik Ingersoll

Prepare yourself for an incredible tale of entrepreneurship. It features a hardscrabble upbringing, relentless optimism, negotiations with Amazonian tribesmen, and some bold guerrilla (“gorilla”?) marketing stunts. Barnana has been making organic banana snacks since 2012. The founders call bananas “Mother Nature’s energy bar”—hence, the name. When they started, they didn’t have much money of their own. So, they had to build a business that appealed to investors. Today, co-founder Nik Ingersoll reveals exactly how they did that. You don’t get into 20,000 stores (including heavyweights like Whole Foods and Costco) without money. But as Nik explains, it doesn’t have to be YOUR money. In fact, one of the most valuable parts of this episode is Nik’s story of how he used “lean startup” principles to raise Barnana’s first round of funding. Also, ever wondered how much it actually costs to make that healthy snack you’re munching on? Well, Nik breaks down Barnana’s supply chain and profit margins in detail—from working with distributors/middlemen, to using brokers to get Barnana’s products into stores, to getting certified as “organic.” And he shares some great ways he’s generated free publicity over the years, including the launch of this farcical new product. This is one of our best episodes yet. Tell us what you think, and subscribe to the show so you won’t miss an episode. In This Episode We Cover: Nik's background and how he has been hustling since he was a kid Starting various businesses and founding Barnana How he taught himself to code Taking on a huge undertaking by starting a massive retail business Barnana's crazy supply chain Working with organic products How he raised capital creatively Figuring things out one part at a time Channel strategy Best advice for anyone who wants to get into the food retail business And SO much more! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Biz Survey Myspace Forbes 30 Under 30 BiggerPockets Business Podcast 09: The Secret to Starting a Risk-Free, Debt-Free Business QUICKLY with Alan Donegan Amazon KraveJerky RXBar Alibaba Check the full show notes here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/bizshow19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices