2. Danielle Limcaoco
Hacker
BS Product Design
Monica Beltran
Hustler
MBA & BA Public &
International Affairs
Jill Fisher
Picker
MBA & BS Product Design
Jacquie Marshall
Hustler
MBA & BA Economics
Eva Hoffman
Designer
BS Product Design
DAY 1... TODAY...
Branded sweet &
savory toppings
that take flavor
up a notch as a
meal add-on.
Toppings that
make weekday
meals exciting.
interviews
138
16
63
experiments
days
3. ● Food scientist
● Co-packer
● Community of users
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are busy, brand-
aware, health- conscious
people who are hacking
together meals at home.
They lack the time,
initiative or money to
make their food exciting.
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Topt satisfies the need to
improve simple, at-home
meals; improving taste in a
healthy and easy way, and
making a simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Dieters: Topt brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health; it’s easy to
know what’s inside and if if it
fits in the constraints of your
diet
Our primary fixed costs are R&D (food scientist, creation of new flavors),
regulatory setup costs, company office & people.
Our primary variable costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and
[bottle], co-packer costs, storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs,
and content costs.
Customers will purchase Topt through our website (one-time purchase or
subscription) and through e-commerce (i.e. Amazon, Thrive Market).
Customers will continue to purchase products because they will engage with
the content and community.
Eventually, we will grow into retail channels also (i.e. Wholefoods).
● Sell a safe and tasty shelf-
evident and shelf-stable
product
● Release new flavors regularly
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a Topt community
GET - googleAdWords,
Instagram/ Facebook, collabs
with other brands, “share with
a friend”
KEEP - new flavors, User
Generated Content /
community of users
GROW - subscription option
● Food scientist capabilities
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with Amazon /
other e-commerce
● Delivery & storage capabilities
● DTC: beautifully branded,
easy to use website
● E-commerce
● Eventually Retail: Whole
Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond,
health stores
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
Week
7
● Community of users
● Food retailers
● Public eating locations
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Co-packers
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are young, brand-
aware, health- conscious
millennials who lack the
time, knowledge or
creativity to make their
food exciting.
Other potential segments:
● Brand-aware and
health-conscious moms
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Single working men
● Cafeteria eaters
(hospitals, workplace,
military, school)
● Zest satisfies the need to feel
excited about food;
improving taste in a healthy
and easy way, and making a
simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Brand-aware moms:
customizing simple food in a
healthy way for picky children
● Dieters: Zest brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health
● Single working men: Zest
brings variety to customers’
everyday food routine despite
lacking imagination
● Cafeteria eaters: Zest brings
variety to bland or repetitive
meals
Our primary costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and [bottle],
storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs, and content costs.
Customers will purchase Zest through our website, brand partnerships, partner
retailers, e-commerce partners, and Foodservice channels.
● Sell a functional and
beautiful physical product
● Release new flavors
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a community around
our content
Zest’s relationship with
customers is long term - our
customers fall in love with our
products. Engagement is
rooted in co-creation of
content (UGC), driven by a
strong community of users.
● DTC: beautifully branded
website
● Retail: Whole Foods, Bed
Bath & Beyond, health
stores
● E-commerce
● Foodservice
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
● Clean, quality ingredients
● Innovative & healthy flavors
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with retailers
● Delivery & storage
capabilities
Week 1Week 1
4. Chapter 1:
Who is the Topt customer
& where do they eat?
Weeks 1-5
86 Interviews
10 experiments
5. We started
Week 1Chapter 1: Who is the Topt customer & where do they eat?
We learned:
1. 95% of people identify as
chefs
1. Almost everyone had a
shopping list or recipe
in the spice aisle
6. “My budget has
changed so now I
have to cook, but I
really miss having
Starbucks and
Sweetgreen every
day”
We talked to 86 people …
...and realized our customers care about 4 key attributes
“I snack on rice cakes,
they’re the healthiest
thing in the cafeteria”
“I add Garlic powder
to everything I eat”
“Garlic granules are so
much easier than
chopping up real
Garlic”
BrandFlavor ConvenienceHealth
Chapter 1: Who is the Topt customer & where do they eat?
7. ● Food scientist
● Co-packer
● Community of users
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are busy, brand-
aware, health- conscious
people who are hacking
together meals at home.
They lack the time,
initiative or money to
make their food exciting.
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Topt satisfies the need to
improve simple, at-home
meals; improving taste in a
healthy and easy way, and
making a simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Dieters: Topt brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health; it’s easy to
know what’s inside and if if it
fits in the constraints of your
diet
Our primary fixed costs are R&D (food scientist, creation of new flavors),
regulatory setup costs, company office & people.
Our primary variable costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and
[bottle], co-packer costs, storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs,
and content costs.
Customers will purchase Topt through our website (one-time purchase or
subscription) and through e-commerce (i.e. Amazon, Thrive Market).
Customers will continue to purchase products because they will engage with
the content and community.
Eventually, we will grow into retail channels also (i.e. Wholefoods).
● Sell a safe and tasty shelf-
evident and shelf-stable
product
● Release new flavors regularly
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a Topt community
GET - googleAdWords,
Instagram/ Facebook, collabs
with other brands, “share with
a friend”
KEEP - new flavors, User
Generated Content /
community of users
GROW - subscription option
● Food scientist capabilities
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with Amazon /
other e-commerce
● Delivery & storage capabilities
● DTC: beautifully branded,
easy to use website
● E-commerce
● Eventually Retail: Whole
Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond,
health stores
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
Week
7
● Community of users
● Food retailers
● Public eating locations
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Co-packers
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are young, brand-
aware, health- conscious
millennials who lack the
time, knowledge or
creativity to make their
food exciting.
Other potential segments:
● Brand-aware and
health-conscious moms
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Single working men
● Cafeteria eaters
(hospitals, workplace,
military, school)
Our primary costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and [bottle],
storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs, and content costs.
Customers will purchase Zest through our website, brand partnerships, partner
retailers, e-commerce partners, and Foodservice channels.
● Sell a functional and
beautiful physical product
● Release new flavors
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a community around
our content
Zest’s relationship with
customers is long term - our
customers fall in love with our
products. Engagement is
rooted in co-creation of
content (UGC), driven by a
strong community of users.
● DTC: beautifully branded
website
● Retail: Whole Foods, Bed
Bath & Beyond, health
stores
● E-commerce
● Foodservice
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
● Clean, quality ingredients
● Innovative & healthy flavors
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with retailers
● Delivery & storage
capabilities
EXCEPT THE
SPICE AISLE
Week 4
8. MVP 1 - The first time
users tried Topt!
Breakfast taste test in Arbuckle Dining:
20+ people tried it
We learned:
1. People are reluctant to season
prepared foods outside the
home
1. Those who did try our product,
liked it a lot!
Week 5Chapter 1: Who is the Topt customer & where do they eat?
9. Week 5Chapter 1: Who is the Topt customer & where do they eat?
What do our
customers eat?
Surveyed 150 consumers
We learned:
1. People eat simple,
basic meals
1. Meals are HACKED
together, without a
recipe or plan
10. ● Food scientist
● Co-packer
● Community of users
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are busy, brand-
aware, health- conscious
people who are hacking
together meals at home.
They lack the time,
initiative or money to
make their food exciting.
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Topt satisfies the need to
improve simple, at-home
meals; improving taste in a
healthy and easy way, and
making a simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Dieters: Topt brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health; it’s easy to
know what’s inside and if if it
fits in the constraints of your
diet
Our primary fixed costs are R&D (food scientist, creation of new flavors),
regulatory setup costs, company office & people.
Our primary variable costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and
[bottle], co-packer costs, storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs,
and content costs.
Customers will purchase Topt through our website (one-time purchase or
subscription) and through e-commerce (i.e. Amazon, Thrive Market).
Customers will continue to purchase products because they will engage with
the content and community.
Eventually, we will grow into retail channels also (i.e. Wholefoods).
● Sell a safe and tasty shelf-
evident and shelf-stable
product
● Release new flavors regularly
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a Topt community
GET - googleAdWords,
Instagram/ Facebook, collabs
with other brands, “share with
a friend”
KEEP - new flavors, User
Generated Content /
community of users
GROW - subscription option
● Food scientist capabilities
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with Amazon /
other e-commerce
● Delivery & storage capabilities
● DTC: beautifully branded,
easy to use website
● E-commerce
● Eventually Retail: Whole
Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond,
health stores
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
Week
7
● Community of users
● Food retailers
● Public eating locations
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Co-packers
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our primary costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and [bottle],
storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs, and content costs.
Customers will purchase Zest through our website, brand partnerships, partner
retailers, e-commerce partners, and Foodservice channels.
● Sell a functional and
beautiful physical product
● Release new flavors
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a community around
our content
● DTC: beautifully branded
website
● Retail: Whole Foods, Bed
Bath & Beyond, health
stores
● E-commerce
● Foodservice
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
● Clean, quality ingredients
● Innovative & healthy flavors
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with retailers
● Delivery & storage
capabilities
Week 5
11. Chapter 2:
Will people like our flavors?
Will they eat it?
Week 6
98 Interviews
11 experiments
12. Week 6Chapter 2: Will people like our flavors? Will they eat it?
MVP 2 - Topt
flavor menu
Interacted with
30+ grocery store shoppers
13. “Pesto and that Coconut
flavor sound the best to
me; I can immediately
think of a whole bunch of
things I would put them
on.”
Jessica, grocery store shopper
Week 6Chapter 2: Will people like our flavors? Will they eat it?
Topt flavor
development
We learned:
1. Everyone loves new things
& wants free samples
1. People like familiar flavors
that are approachable
14. Week 6Chapter 2: Will people like our flavors? Will they eat it?
MVP 3 - Munger
housing free samples
First time Topt makes it into the home!
- Offered 4 Flavors:
3 savory and 1 sweet
- 30 people took Topt home
& tried it
15. Week 6Chapter 2: Will people like our flavors? Will they eat it?
Munger samples
feedback
We learned:
1. Strangers were excited to
try Topt
1. People were posting and
sending us photos of
them using Topt!
1. They needed some
direction on how to use it
17. Week 7Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
MVP 4 - Selling at
the farmers market
We sold through all of our inventory
in 2 hours!
- Offered 5 Flavors:
3 savory and 2 sweet
- 50 people tasted Topt,
30+ people purchased Topt
18. Week 8Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
Topt’s first
revenue!
We felt so excited by $40:
- Our week 8 slide
We learned:
1. People wanted to pay
for Topt
1. Most people tried &
bought multiple flavors
19. MVP 5 - Topt available for purchase online!
Week 8Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
20.
21. Convenient
Easy to use with suggestions
right on the packaging
Healthy
A few simple, clean
ingredients, you recognize
Accessible
Fun take on familiar flavors
you know and love
Cool
Cute packaging you want
to show your friends
Topt sample packet
Week 8Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
22. Week 8Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
MVP 5 - 35 orders
fulfilled (in 1 week)
$297 in revenue in the first week!
35 Topt Starter Packs sold & shipped
We learned:
1. People will buy Topt online
1. People wanted to pay for
Topt (we even raised prices)
1. Customers are engaging
with us on social media
23. Customers are LOVING Topt
Week 8Chapter 3: Will people buy Topt?
My wife
loved it!
30. ● Food scientist
● Co-packer
● Community of users
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are busy, brand-
aware, health- conscious
people who are hacking
together meals at home.
They lack the time,
initiative or money to
make their food exciting.
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Topt satisfies the need to
improve simple, at-home
meals; improving taste in a
healthy and easy way, and
making a simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Dieters: Topt brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health; it’s easy to
know what’s inside and if if it
fits in the constraints of your
diet
Our primary fixed costs are R&D (food scientist, creation of new flavors),
regulatory setup costs, company office & people.
Our primary variable costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and
[bottle], co-packer costs, storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs,
and content costs.
Customers will purchase Topt through our website (one-time purchase or
subscription) and through e-commerce (i.e. Amazon, Thrive Market).
Customers will continue to purchase products because they will engage with
the content and community.
Eventually, we will grow into retail channels also (i.e. Wholefoods).
● Sell a safe and tasty shelf-
evident and shelf-stable
product
● Release new flavors regularly
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a Topt community
GET - googleAdWords,
Instagram/ Facebook, collabs
with other brands, “share with
a friend”
KEEP - new flavors, User
Generated Content /
community of users
GROW - subscription option
● Food scientist capabilities
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with Amazon /
other e-commerce
● Delivery & storage capabilities
● DTC: beautifully branded,
easy to use website
● E-commerce
● Eventually Retail: Whole
Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond,
health stores
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
Week
7
● Community of users
● Food retailers
● Public eating locations
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Co-packers
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our primary costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and [bottle],
storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs, and content costs.
Customers will purchase Zest through our website, brand partnerships, partner
retailers, e-commerce partners, and Foodservice channels.
● Sell a functional and
beautiful physical product
● Release new flavors
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a community around
our content
● Clean, quality ingredients
● Innovative & healthy flavors
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with retailers
● Delivery & storage
capabilities
Week 10
31. Topt revenue to date
revenue from
ecommerce
purchases in
under 3
weeks & no
marketing
effort/spend
user customer
base, repeat
purchase habits
are beginning
to form
AOV, users
are buying
more than 1
SKU (our
prices range
from $1.50 -
$6)
of revenue
driven directly
from instagram,
through word of
mouth & user
generated
content
of all
purchases
are for the
Topt
Sampler
Pack that
includes 1 of
each flavor
$1300 100+ $12 70% 25%
Week 10Chapter 4: Topt today
32. Chapter 4: Topt today
5000+ followers
- 50+ user posts @toptfoods
- 75% influencer response rate
- Creative ways of using Topt
Rapidly growing
UGC community
Week 10
33. Chapter 5: Topt tomorrow
We attended industry conferences &
met founders and CEO’s:
- Trends:
Plant based ingredients
Better-for-you products
Clean & modern branding
Buzz around niche brands
- Topt Foods booth in 2020
Topt at Expo West
& Fancy Foods
36. Future of Topt
Subscription option
with seasonal flavors
PR launch with
large format
Soft launch with
mini-packs & ecom
Topt community
New product
launch: dressings,
bundles...
Today Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q3 2020
All team members continuing to work on Topt
- 3 team members working on Topt full-time this summer, 2 part-time
Chapter 5: Topt tomorrow
37. Topt is the go-to brand for meal hackers everywhere!
Topt 2025
revenue; 100K DTC customers ($36 3x/year), 500K retail customers ($36
3x/year) and 250K subscription customers ($10/month)$100MM
buying Topt and engaging with us on social media
through DTC, Subscription, Ecommerce and natural and chain groceNationwide
Distribution
1M Customers
sharing meal hacks and ideas online #yourdailymealstopt2M Followers
Chapter 5: Topt tomorrow
38. Hire a food scientist & conduct
shelf stability test: next 2 months
Partner with co-packer (with FDA
approval): next 4 mo
Design & produce beautiful shelf-
evident bottle: next 2 months
Partner with Amazon (ramp
production & fulfillment): next 6
months
We are continuing to build
Topt Foods as a brand with
various product lines.
Upcoming
milestones
Chapter 5: Topt tomorrow
39. ● Food scientist
● Co-packer
● Community of users
● Instagram influencers &
bloggers
● Brand collaborations
● Nutritionists & chefs
● Shipping and logistics
providers
Key Suppliers:
● Ingredient suppliers
● Packaging manufacturer
● Label printer
● Shipping packaging
Our most important end
users are busy, brand-
aware, health- conscious
people who are hacking
together meals at home.
They lack the time,
initiative or money to
make their food exciting.
● Dieters (eg. Ketogenic
Diet, Paleo, Whole 30)
● Topt satisfies the need to
improve simple, at-home
meals; improving taste in a
healthy and easy way, and
making a simple meal
“instagrammable.”
● Dieters: Topt brings variety
and excitement to repetitive,
simple meals without
sacrificing health; it’s easy to
know what’s inside and if if it
fits in the constraints of your
diet
Our primary fixed costs are R&D (food scientist, creation of new flavors),
regulatory setup costs, company office & people.
Our primary variable costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and
[bottle], co-packer costs, storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs,
and content costs.
Customers will purchase Topt through our website (one-time purchase or
subscription) and through e-commerce (i.e. Amazon, Thrive Market).
Customers will continue to purchase products because they will engage with
the content and community.
Eventually, we will grow into retail channels also (i.e. Wholefoods).
● Sell a safe and tasty shelf-
evident and shelf-stable
product
● Release new flavors regularly
● Build & manage relationships
with retailers and consumers
● Be a cool brand
● Create a Topt community
GET - googleAdWords,
Instagram/ Facebook, collabs
with other brands, “share with
a friend”
KEEP - new flavors, User
Generated Content /
community of users
GROW - subscription option
● Food scientist capabilities
● Easy to use, eye catching
packaging
● Beautiful website & social
media with content
● Relationship with Amazon /
other e-commerce
● Delivery & storage capabilities
● DTC: beautifully branded,
easy to use website
● E-commerce
● Eventually Retail: Whole
Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond,
health stores
● Direct marketing,
influencers, partnerships
Week
7
Our primary costs are cost of ingredients, cost of packaging and [bottle],
storage costs, shipping costs, advertising costs, and content costs.
Customers will purchase Zest through our website, brand partnerships, partner
retailers, e-commerce partners, and Foodservice channels.
40. Vera, our amazing mentor.
The Lean Launchpad teaching team & all of
our LL peers for being Topt’s early
evangelists.
People we interviewed led us on this journey.
Team Topt, for the hard work and
commitment to each other.
Topt thanks
41. Come try Topt favorite flavors
during the reception.
www.toptfoods.com | @toptfoods
43. Hire a food scientist & conduct
shelf stability test: next 2 months
Partner with co-packer (with FDA
approval): next 4 mo
Design & produce beautiful shelf-
evident bottle: next 2 months
Partner with Amazon (ramp
production & fulfillment): next 6
months
Upcoming
milestones
Chapter 5: Topt tomorrow
Editor's Notes
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
JM Note - I like this slide a lot. Lets leave it for today, but for the pres I would love to have little drawings/ images to show each word in white (from video) and to have them line up directly with one another.
Highlights:
As you saw in the video, we learned a lot about who our customer was and how and when they would interact with the product
We also learned a lot about the partners and activities we would need - for example, in week 1 we had asked a classmate who was a good cook to be our main food advisor
We wanted to make completely custom packaging out of glass and other fragile materials
What do our interviewees value in their food?
Highlights:
As you saw in the video, we learned a lot about who our customer was and how and when they would interact with the product
We also learned a lot about the partners and activities we would need - for example, in week 1 we had asked a classmate who was a good cook to be our main food advisor
We wanted to make completely custom packaging out of glass and other fragile materials
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
Highlights:
As you saw in the video, we learned a lot about who our customer was and how and when they would interact with the product
We also learned a lot about the partners and activities we would need - for example, in week 1 we had asked a classmate who was a good cook to be our main food advisor
We wanted to make completely custom packaging out of glass and other fragile materials
NOTE TO SELF: Get this down to a minute!
Chapter 2: Will people like our flavors? Will people actually eat our product? We investigated.
We made our second MVP: A Topt menu - full of fake flavors we haven’t yet developed. As a team, we really wanted to figure out what flavors our consumer would be thrilled about. Did they want familiar or brand-new flavors? We then quickly made up this “menu”, and talked to people in Whole Foods and Trader Joes to learn which flavors were most appealing to our target consumer.
[“nail it” before we could “scale it.”]
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
We learned that the people we talked to loved new things and wanted free samples. The winners were the “approachable” flavors - “Pesto” and “Coconut” won by a landslide. We then made our toppings reflect flavors that people strongly associated with foods they were familiar with.
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
After this experiment, we then focused on getting our product into people’s homes and mouths. We gave out free samples in Munger Market for an hour. It was great to be there and directly interact with our target consumers.
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
This was a really valuable experience, because this was the first time we learned that complete strangers were excited to try Topt. In fact, we got our first batch of User Generated Content: people started posting Topt photos on their Instagram, and sending us pictures of how they used our toppings on their foods! However, we learnt that some people needed direction in how to use it, so we adjusted our packaging to reflect that.
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
Chapter 3
Will people buy Topt?
We next went out to sell Topt. We started the farmers market so that we could interact first hand with potential customers.
We sold out of our inventory in 2 hours and over 30 people bought Topt.
This was Topt’s first revenue! Back in Week 8 we were so excited about making $40.
We learned that people wanted to pay for Topt, and that most purchasers bought multiple flavors.
Next, we went into full production mode to make Topt available online.
We launched our ecommerce site in 1 day and immediately started getting orders.
This is the sample pack we are selling online.
It is cool, convenient, accessible, and healthy - and conveys all these attributes through the package and branding.
Our direct to consumer business took off and we sold almost $300 of Topt in 1 week.
We learned that people were willing to buy a new food product online, proving one of our early hypothesis correct.
People were willing to pay premium prices for Topt, and we played around with changing the price.
Lastly, our customers were engaging with us on social media.
Our customers were loving Topt!
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
This is where Topt is now, but this is far from where we started
A stick figure = our customer
We think our customer is everyone.. Everyone wants to eat good food right?
People just lack creativity, we can give them that!
They can use this at every meal
Moms = our customer
We think they can customize food for their picky children
“My kids would never eat this”... “but my husband and I might”
Dieters = our customer
Maybe, yes.. But their friends would like it too
OK… our customer = people on the go
NO ONE USES salt in the dining hall
This isn’t for prepared food that is purchased
Our customer = non chefs at home
Dinner survey… people actually do “cook”... but they don’t consider themselves chefs
Enter -> MEAL HACKERS
Prep food at home
Don’t follow recipes
Don’t go into spice aisle
Highlights:
As you saw in the video, we learned a lot about who our customer was and how and when they would interact with the product
We also learned a lot about the partners and activities we would need - for example, in week 1 we had asked a classmate who was a good cook to be our main food advisor
We wanted to make completely custom packaging out of glass and other fragile materials
Is all or part of the team going to continue the business?
If yes, tell us key details from your 3 year finance / operations timeline
What team is continuing on?
What are the upcoming milestones?
When do you need each funding round & how much?
Highlights:
As you saw in the video, we learned a lot about who our customer was and how and when they would interact with the product
We also learned a lot about the partners and activities we would need - for example, in week 1 we had asked a classmate who was a good cook to be our main food advisor
We wanted to make completely custom packaging out of glass and other fragile materials
Is all or part of the team going to continue the business?
If yes, tell us key details from your 3 year finance / operations timeline
What team is continuing on?
What are the upcoming milestones?
When do you need each funding round & how much?
Is all or part of the team going to continue the business?
If yes, tell us key details from your 3 year finance / operations timeline
What team is continuing on?
What are the upcoming milestones?
When do you need each funding round & how much?
Is all or part of the team going to continue the business?
If yes, tell us key details from your 3 year finance / operations timeline
What team is continuing on?
What are the upcoming milestones?
When do you need each funding round & how much?
Is all or part of the team going to continue the business?
If yes, tell us key details from your 3 year finance / operations timeline
What team is continuing on?
What are the upcoming milestones?
When do you need each funding round & how much?