How to Get Your Product in 10,000 Retail Stores - Hustle Con 2015

TL;DR

Two founders started by growing oyster mushrooms on coffee waste in their fraternity kitchen, walked a bucket into a Berkeley Whole Foods, and eventually got their mushroom kit into all Whole Foods stores nationwide.

Key insights

• Walking a physical prototype into a store and talking to the first employee can lead to a relationship with a regional buyer (e.g., the Berkeley Whole Foods produce guy).
• A one-sentence email reply from a buyer (“Here’s my cell phone”) can become a 45-minute phone call that unlocks national distribution.
• Presenting an ugly, poorly designed prototype to a retailer can give you a crucial “kick in the butt” to prioritize design (the mushroom kit bag was rejected as “disgusting”).