The POZCAST: Career & Life Journeys with Adam Posner

Matt Bennett: Dreams Aren't This Good: Building a Salsa Empire 

Episode Summary

In this episode, Matt Bennett and I talk about the fear that comes along with chasing your dreams and the process of overcoming. Matt has been a salsa aficionado for most of his life, but it wasn’t until 2018 that he took the plunge into forming his own company around that passion, Dreams Aren't This Good (DATG). The inspiration and confidence came after years of being in the startup and corporate world, and learning some of the industry via a job he took in distribution as preparation for DATG. This is a real entrepreneurship story. After spending years on various startups, working for his friends oil company, and finally working for Big Geyser (Vitamin Water's first distributor), a switch flipped for Matt. He was ready to launch DATG, and he hit the ground running. I had a chance to speak to him about the lifestyle brand he’s established, and it’s clear that Matt has an attention to detail in everything he creates.  Each individual product has a core element such as a song or region of New York City that inspires its branding and flavor. In addition, Matt has hand selected and partnered with a unique charitable cause on each product, so consumers can give back while they enjoy Matt’s delicious salsa.  A large part of entrepreneurship is a mind game with yourself, and Matt and I delve into some of what empowered him to bring his passion to life on his own terms. Tune in to hear more about Matt’s journey on this episode! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review/rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast The POZCast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller - the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you’re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on the POZCast. Check out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZFor more, please visit www.thePOZcast.com

Episode Notes

2:43 - Matt's Inspiring Journey
4:32 - Scared of Success?
6:22 - ABC of Salsa Industry
7:33 - Impetus in Starting Salsa Business
9:36 - Getting into a Food Business
12:18 - Decision Making
15:50 - How to stand out?
17:44 - How to build loyalty?
18:44 - Brand identity
20:27 - Building a brand from scratch
24:13 - Getting to Consumers
25:14 - Product positioning
27:29 - Thought Process in Brand Building
37:52 - Favorite Salsa Flavor
38;48 - Stance on Double Dipping
39:29 - Hardest Lesson Learned
41:54 - Single Greatest Piece of Advice
44:43 - What is Authenticity?
46:55 - Brand in 5 years time
48:14 - Matt's North Star