My deep love for all things nut butter is not a secret around here. The passion runs deep and anyone who has the courage to jump head first into this world (as a college student no less!) deserves serious respect in my book.
Yes, I am taking about one half of the Wild Friends Foods duo, Erika Welsh. Erika and her business partner (then college roommate) stumbled into a business as college freshman. Never in their wildest dreams did they think they’d end up taking the peanut butter they ground up in their college dorm room and selling it for profit. Let alone having mass distribution across the country and a whole lineup of nut butters and overnight oats!
Today on the show we’re going back to the early days of Wild Friends and chatting about how Erika and Keely got started, when they knew they wanted to take the leap and what it’s been like growing a business in such a competitive industry.
Here are a few things we cover in today’s episode:
- How Erika and Keeley met and started Wild Friends
- Why nut butter and how the obsession started
- Their “ah ha” moment when they realized Wild Friends was more than just a fun side project
- How they came to the decision to drop out of college and how that decision feels now
- How people reacted to them dropping out of college
- Their experience on SharkTank and how that changed the course of their business
- What’s it like running your business with your best friend
- Asking for help with your business and finding trusted advisors
- How to handle competition in the business space and shift your perspective on it
- What advice she would give to her 20 year old self.
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What questions do you have for Erika? Do you have a business idea but are unsure when to take the leap?
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1 Comment
Courtney Glausi
April 18, 2018 at 11:00 pmLOVED this podcast! I’ve always loved Wild Friends because I went to the University of Oregon and lived in Eugene for 6 years. I used to get their cinnamon raisin peanut butter in the dorms and put it on my toast in the morning and it was my favorite.
I feel so weird commenting on here… but I deleted all of my social media and miss interacting with you on there. We used to message back and forth on insta 🙂 As much as social media was the greatest… it’s been such a relief saying bye to it all, which I’m sure you understand! Anyway… I miss seeing you around, but I love checking out your website and podcasts all of the time. Thank you, thank you as always!