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Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands | TechnologyAuthor: Mike Gelb
Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place.Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription.Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch.This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled.For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter. Language: en-us Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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How a Diabetic Built One of the Fastest-Growing Cereal Brands in America with Krishna Kaliannan
Wednesday, 15 April, 2026
This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.Hiring agencies is risky. Most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-loved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, and more — at preferred rates.Free for Consumer VC listeners → https://thehiddengems.com/Building a food brand through DTC sounds great.Until you realize… it might not actually work.In this episode, Mike sits down with Krishna Kalyan, Founder of Catalina Crunch, the high-protein, low-sugar cereal brand that went from a personal health experiment to a multi-million dollar business sold in major retailers.Krishna shares how being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes forced him to rethink everything he ate, why he spent years eating eggs before creating his own cereal, and how a simple Venmo from a friend turned into the start of a company. They break down the realities of building a food brand from scratch, why DTC doesn’t always work for low-price products, and how Catalina Crunch scaled through retail instead. The conversation also dives deep into product development, functional foods, category expansion, and the balance between taste and nutrition.You’ll learn:✅ Why DTC is hard for food brands (and when it works)✅ The real economics of shipping low-cost products✅ How Krishna validated demand before scaling✅ Why retail became the core growth channel✅ The importance of word-of-mouth in grocery✅ How to balance taste vs function in CPG✅ Why most “functional” products don’t actually deliver✅ How to think about trends vs fads (keto, protein, etc.)✅ The right way to expand SKUs and categories👉 If you’re building a food or beverage brand, this episode is a real look at what actually works beyond the DTC hype. Timestamps00:00 Intro01:00 The problem with DTC food economics02:00 Krishna’s diabetes diagnosis05:00 Changing diet and lifestyle07:30 Getting tired of eating eggs08:00 Why cereal became the focus10:00 Experimenting with protein ingredients12:00 The first “aha” business moment14:00 Realizing the market opportunity17:00 Launching online from his kitchen19:30 Early demand and validation22:00 Scaling beyond a home kitchen24:00 Raising capital from angel investors27:00 The original DTC strategy29:00 Why DTC didn’t work long-term32:00 The shift to retail34:00 Getting into Whole Foods37:00 What actually drives shelf velocity40:00 Expanding into new categories43:00 Managing complexity in CPG46:00 The time he almost quit49:00 Building in-house manufacturing52:00 Taste vs function trade-offs56:00 The rise of functional foods59:00 Trends vs fads (keto, protein)01:03:00 Rebranding Catalina Crunch01:06:00 When to follow trends vs ignore them01:09:00 Book recommendations & final thoughts01:12:00 Outro📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc
