Angie 

Welcome to the No More Mondays podcast, the show that inspires confident professionals by interviewing people who actually enjoy what they do for work. I’m your host, Angie Callen, and I welcome you to join me each week, as I chat with founders, entrepreneurs and employees who have figured out that special sauce, the magic, the mystery to having no more Mondays. Hey there, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the No More Mondays podcast. As always, I’m super excited that you decided to join us and today’s episode is entitled Food for Thought. I am a huge foodie, as you may know, from various versions of rapid fire that always have questions about food in them. So, I dork out when I get the chance to dig into the world of kind of like food product development and consumer packaged goods. And so, I’m excited that I finally get to do that on on an episode of No More Mondays, because we’ve never had somebody from the CPG industry come and chat with us. And today, I’m excited to welcome Chris Fanucchi to the show. He is the co-founder of a protein beverage many of you have seen on the grocery shelf called Koia. And that spring boarded him into another serial entrepreneurial adventure, when he partnered with some other founders to create Limitless, a brand that sells coffee, tea, and caffeinated water to over 5000 stores and offices across the country. These early career forays into entrepreneurship have definitely laid an interesting career trajectory for Chris. And he is now taking that expertise into the corporate world and working with General Mills in their GE works initiative, which focuses on finding new businesses and creative innovations within the existing framework. And so we’re gonna get a little caffeination and a jolt from Chris today. So, welcome to the show, Chris.

Chris 

Thanks, Angie, appreciate you having me.

Angie 

Hey, you’re welcome. I’m, I’m excited to talk to you for well, lots of reasons, because I think you have an interesting career path that’s gonna give people literally some food for thought. And some of us have been in an interesting market segment during a time when these like the caffeinated beverage, non coffee, caffeinated beverage, stuff kind of came out. But before we dig into all that, I would love for you to give everybody some more context about where you’re at now. So, you’ve gotten into this big playground and kind of sparking some inspiration in a large framework where it can be hard to really have impact to do new things. So, talk to us about what you’re up to with G works,

Chris 

The framework for G works is really dedicated to fostering innovation within their corporate environment, as you mentioned. And to date, I’ve been working with a team to create a new business within their business dedicated to a different type of vertical that they’re traditionally not used to playing. And so it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been really interesting for me coming from an entrepreneurial background and digging into the corporate environment. Of course, they’d like to create the structure of that environment to be a little bit more entrepreneurial, but there’s quirks and kinks along the way that everyone’s trying to figure out there. So, it’s been fun to be a part of the early journey of GE works. And really fun and really interesting for me to get a really good understanding from kind of a top down perspective, what a corporate environment looks like, versus what it looks like on the outside kind of doing the day to day entrepreneurial stuff. So, it’s been fun.

Angie 

You bring up a good point, actually, you said this like, right, as I was making a little note to ask you about the fact that I talked to a lot of people from a career progression perspective, who maybe have always worked in small businesses, family, businesses, or otherwise those kind of, you know, adaptable, nimble, like startup environments, and maybe they want to go into a more corporate setting. And I’m curious about how that, like how that transition has been for you. What have you learned what’s different? How’s that? How’s that experience been?

Chris 

Well, I’ll start by saying COVID has made this the most unique experience, I think, that I could have ever had, I started doing some work with them, frankly, right when COVID started, so I feel like an entrepreneur still in this environment, which has been really interesting. But for me, the most important thing was I wanted to get that different perspective. Like I understand the day to day grind of an entrepreneur, I had no I don’t know anything about the corporate environment, the structure, how people interact, what slows things down or speeds things up. And I thought, getting that top down perspective, marrying it with my bottom up perspective would set me in a direction that could be very beneficial long term. So, that’s why I’m here. And it’s been very interesting.

Angie 

It’s a great point that it’s this is like the the other side of the coin that’s really going to set you up. It’s almost like I mean, no discount to General Mills Energy Works initiative and your presence in that right now. But this is really setting up a very interesting career trajectory down the line to hope so I have to kind of tell you how Chris came to the show. So, you’ll get to get a little behind the scenes insight into just the magic of No More Mondays. Jane and I were sitting down, we’re just planning who we want on a you know, on this, this season and this kind of idea of people that are making impact in the playground. And Jane says to me, she goes, Well, what kind of products? Do you like? How can we tie this to you and I’m, I literally look over on my shelf. And I see like one of every variety of purely Elizabeth granola, which is what I eat for breakfast every morning. And so this turned into this whole rabbit hole of Oh, Jane says I just saw an article about them. They got funding from General Mills kind of VC like initiative, which is kind of a probably like a parallel to GE works. We should see if we can talk to somebody at the general bills like Innovation Lab. And of course, Jane goes and does her amazing networking thing and drums up somebody who drums up you, which is and then you and I have chatted in the past that it’s been, it’s just you’ve got a lot of anecdotes that are going to inspire and give people things to think about what their career trajectories, because I want to go into the backstory of you because this is I think what’s led like, what’s interesting about how you’ve gotten here, so you started your career as an entrepreneur. Most people start big and funnel down you started little and our funnel kind of reverse to the funnel. So, talk to us about kind of what led you to this place.

Chris 

I always like to figure things out. I’m very much a how does it, how does it work type of person like that show how it’s made that super nerdy show and I forget what TV channel, I used to watch it all the time as a kid and I used to learn like how, how steel pieces were manufactured? And like, always been curious, I guess. So, I started I guess that curiosity led me to very early on in my career just talking to a ton of entrepreneurs in my in my neighborhood in my area. In fact, I was introduced to an entrepreneur, several in the building I lived in in Chicago, our doorman actually introduced us because he knew I was obsessed with kind of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. And he knew a couple folks who had cool businesses that we’re growing. So I mean, I honestly attribute a lot of my early success in my network to my doorman, who was just the coolest guy ever. And in fact, I, we ended up hiring him in both of the companies that I helped to start, which is..

Angie 

Okay, wait, I just have to point out that if when you are like, oh, I don’t want to accept that connection on LinkedIn, because I don’t know what they’re going to do for me, you never know who’s going to be a pivotal member of your network. And it worked both ways in this situation. Love that.

Chris 

In fact, the doorman I just mentioned, his name was Jack and Jack asked me to go to dinner with a guy named Dustin and other guy name, I think it was Patrick, and somebody else, I can’t recall the name at the time. And one of them ended up being the founder of TSTT, a big tea company, who happened to live in our building as well. And then the other one Dustin turned out to be my business partner to start Koia. Although at the time, I had no idea that, that was going to happen. So yeah, you’re absolutely right. You never know where those connections can be made. I had no idea that the guy who I talked to every day, every time I walked home would be the one who introduced me to my future business partner. So, take advantage of those opportunities, even if they don’t seem all that significant at the time.

Angie 

There’s the idea of kind of always just being open to relationships. And I think curiosity is such a great word to bring into here. Because I think it’s really critical to making sure that you’re not only open to possibilities, but aware of how you want to learn and how you want to grow. And those things will often present themselves, but you got to be you got to be open and ready to kind of receiving them. And I want to talk a little bit about the actual, let’s say, job of developing a product. So, as I mentioned, kind of you guys were early on in that like let’s say new wave of this just booming the beverage industry and you have to develop well to product to product brands, multiple products, kind of in that beverage specialty of consumer packaged goods. Talk to us a little bit about kind of how that all worked and what you learned through that process. 

Chris 

Well, I can’t take any credit for, for the, the production or the the formulation of coil that is completely in the hands of my old two co-founders. And but but the way that product was developed is kind of the perfect story of how you should think about developing products as an entrepreneur. So, Justin, the guy I met through our doorman was, was already developing a juice company. So, we had like the carrot juices, the kale juices, so on and so forth. They were selling in a couple stores in Chicago. He and I talked a bunch and I’d helped him get into a couple of stores, I had some relationships to introduce him to different buyers and selection. He wasn’t necessary. He wasn’t super excited about the cold pressed juice industry at the time blueprint and Suja. And all those big companies had already kind of made paved the way and the big guys had already kind of won in that industry. So, Justin was really looking for like, what’s the next thing that I can do that could be significant significant. And the way he developed the product was a combination of being in store every day demoing his juices, talking to consumers asking what they wanted more of so on and so forth, identifying the problems that they had. And then he was living with a gal named Maya or our other co-founder and Maya had a lot of problems with our gut like many people do as a as they start to age and Gen dairy intolerances. And so, she had all these problems that she was dealing with. And Dustin was just like, well, let me make you something that I think you would like. So, he sat in his apartment and his little five gallon thing on his kitchen counter and started mixing up almond milk and different types of proteins that were plant based, and end up coming up with this concoction that was the first plant based protein drink. And one day he called me upstairs and he’s like, Chris, try these. And I love them. I was like, oh my god, I was like, a muscle milk drinker. fresh out of college. So ,I was still like, kind of in that looks like we’re good every day kind of mentality, which is still great mentality to have.

Angie 

I know health, like healthy lifestyles big for you. And that’s how these play it. But yeah, this was you were the target demographic for this thing that he had just concocted?

Chris 

Exactly. And the root of that all was he built a product for Maya’s problems, my head, all those issues. And she could not figure out like she just couldn’t get enough protein in her diet without like, chewing almonds all day, which really nobody wants to do after you know, after a while. 

Angie 

So, they get real dry and chalky after a little while.

Chris 

You really do and, and yeah, I after he showed me his drinks, I went into a couple stores and I couldn’t find anything like it like nothing remotely close to a vegan protein drink. And at the time, we were the world had really started to shift to vegetarianism. Veganism was certainly on the rise. And there was just no and I knew Maya wasn’t the only one dealing with these issues dealing with these problems. So, that got me super excited. I was like, wow, we have a real problem that’s really worth solving. And Dustin happen to fall into the perfect solution. And it wasn’t just my who knew that he was on the right track. It wasn’t me it was the market, once we put it on the shelf, it was fly like, we didn’t have to try hard and the product was flying off the shelf. So, we knew we were on something super early on. But it was really all about identifying that like core problem.

Angie 

Bingo. And I think this is a for the entrepreneurs of you out there listening. That is this is learn something that’s a huge takeaway in that whether you’re trying to develop a product, or you have a service offering, if you can package it and deliver it to solve a problem that there is in the market. That’s that’s where you resonate. And this was I mean, and this is also really interesting because that from a partnership perspective, you had the person with the problem that inspired the product, and then that inspired you to go out and kind of support it going to market. So, it’s also one of those ideas that problem solving is not always a solo effort either.

Chris 

No, in fact, I’d say frequently it’s not. It’s really hard to be an entrepreneur without necessarily teammates, but just a support system that’s really excited for you and really pushing you forward to take the big risks of doing it all yourself. It’s not easy to do. And it takes a lot of fortitude to do so. 

Angie 

And you bring up okay, so perfect segue into something that I’m just highlighting this season. And that is mentorship. Because I think it’s so critical whether you are in a career and employment situation, or whether you are a business owner and a lot of us have had really impactful stories about mentorship. So, how has that informed your entrepreneurial journey, especially since you were very green, when you got into this stuff, no pun intended, since we’re talking about plant based protein drinks. But how has mentorship really played a role in your trajectory, or even now?

Chris 

So, across all the businesses that I’ve started, I’ve had a mentor ship, I guess story, but in the world of Koia, especially early, Dustin and I were traveling back and forth between Chicago and Michigan, just delivering products to grocery stores out there that we had relationships with. We were the guys on the grounds kind of in the band delivering the stuff and one day, we had an investor reach out to us, I think it was on Facebook, and he was just like I love your product. I haven’t found anything like it. Meanwhile, I don’t know if y’all out there looked at Korea’s previous brand. When we first launched it was called Ronnie tear five. But that basically was a medicine, a drink, and a medicine bottle. It was a disgusting branding. But but for whatever reason, like people were, like, attracted or drawn to it. So anyways, this investor reached out to us. We ended up meeting him in his restaurant in Michigan. And the first thing he says is, you guys need parental supervision to make this happen. I mean, my partner were young, this was our first foray into the world of entrepreneurship. And like, frankly, we had no idea what we’re doing as most entrepreneurs do. You just figure it out. But he was right. We needed parental supervision. We needed people who had been there and done that before. And fortunately, through his network we were we were able to go to Expo West where we met the movers and shakers in the beverage industry. They were really excited about the beverage that we had. We didn’t have a booth or anything. We literally just went there for recon, talking to, or looking at a bunch of brands with one, two booths seeing if anybody was doing quite well we were doing and couldn’t find it. So, through that connection, through that network, we found just the right people to put their arms around us and start to really push the brand into the market, the rebrand into the market as well. And, and ultimately, those mentors at the time were the ones that helped us kind of catapult into not just a small mom and pop business, but something that could actually be successful and sustainable long term, which was super exciting. So different. I was, I started working with a seasoned entrepreneur, guy named Matt, who had recently sold his restaurant chain, I think he had like 22 locations at the time he sold it. But this guy just knew how to build a business. He was a former, I think it was craft employees. So, he had the corporate structure and the corporate mentality already, but he was really a strong entrepreneur. And I just wanted to learn from him just top to bottom, how does he approach different situations? Of course, I had no retail exposure. So, how does he approach the retail environment from a from a company building perspective? And how did you? How do you approach team building, so I simply just sat there like a sponge and absorbed everything I possibly could for two and a half, three years, from somebody that I believe to be one of the smartest entrepreneurs I’ve ever worked with. So, that really helped shape a whole other side of my understanding of entrepreneurialism is in Koia, it was really just scrappy, like, let’s just do everything, figure it all out. But by the time I got to limitless it was there’s, there’s a little bit of a structure to how you should build a business. And there’s, I wouldn’t say there’s a right way to do it. But there are some best practices to adhere to, especially as it relates to team building, and, you know, people building and relationship building. So, I got a lot of that out of my second entrepreneurial journey that I that I use today. And I’m really happy about.

Angie 

I think the progression is really interesting of like, let’s that scrappy, super literally super startup like start you were there when it was started the five gallon bucket to to that, let’s say, you know, enough structure to kind of under understand business fundamentals, and I 100% agree with you that I think there are things that you definitely do not do in business, and then there’s best practices and then there’s how that all comes together and kind of works for your uniqueness and and what, and I what I want to do is add in kind of yet another aspect that’s going to come in here. But so you’ve got this kind of like intrapreneurial thing going on with General Mills as you learn that kind of corporate framework, but you’re still scratching your own little entrepreneurial edge with another endeavor. So, tell everybody about Bite. 

Chris 

Well, that’s my grand slam swing for the fences. So, the food and beverage industry is held to such a high standard of transparency, right? You look at any given product and you see a nutrition facts panel, you see ingredient callouts you see like non GMO, gluten free, organic, etc. And I’ve always wondered to myself why the food supply chain on the grocery side of the world is held to such a high standard. While the transparency in the restaurant side of the world has zero standard of transparency. Why is the restaurant industry not held the same standard of transparency as every other food supply chain. So, that’s what we’re going out and trying to solve with bite? Well, there’s a team of dieticians, we’ve got nutritionists that are going into restaurants, digesting their menus, and developing caloric nutrition ingredient and call out information for set food to make it a little bit easier to eat healthy. So, that’s the mission we’re on. I’m super excited about it, we’re very close to launching. And it’s been a lot of fun.

Angie 

What I love is that you’re like, I’m going to swing for the fences. And I’m going to fully admit that this is my grand slam swing for the fence.

Chris 

I mean, otherwise I wouldn’t be on it. And that’s what I think most entrepreneurs should. That’s the mentality I think you should have is, is this big is this problem big enough to solve? And can you Are you the best person to solve it? Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. I’m hoping and I’m betting that I am. But it really always comes down to the problem, the size of the problem and who’s best suited to solve it. And just to take that, that nugget on a little bit more of a journey like in the world of limitless. We thought that there was a problem in clean coffee. That’s how the business started. That was the core premise. We thought that low toxin coffee was important to people. So, we built this whole brand around it raised a bunch of money. And then within two years really started to figure out that no one cares. No one cares about low toxin coffee and I shouldn’t say nobody. There’s a whole micro community dedicated to biohacking. You’ll get Dave Asprey and bulletproof like that community does exist, but it’s not that big of a product from like a major market. 

Angie 

Like revenue generating.

Chris 

Exactly, yeah, in the world of coil, we saw a huge problem vegans and vegetarians needed access to protein easier. So, our business went from zero to 100 Real quick, as they say, right. But in the world of limitless, we had to climb and grind and like, gosh, it was it was I think grind is the best word grind to ticket every single one of our sales, our customers etc. And it’s because the problem that we thought we were solving wasn’t big enough. Now, of course we were still we still had a successful end story. But that’s because we had to pivot pivot. Point being like really understand the problem you’re solving really understand if you’re the right person to solve it and really understand how big of an opportunity it is, when you’re going after it.

Angie 

I would love for you to share with people kind of how you, you manage and balance all of these different initiatives. What happens in routines? Have you adopted? How do you stay productive and make sure that you’re still kind of fueling Chris the human?

Chris 

To start by surrounding yourself with amazing people, I think that’s, that’s what it all comes down to, if you’re working, whether it’s in a corporate environment in your entrepreneurial journey, like, the only reason I’ve had any remote level of success is because I’ve surrounded myself with amazing people who help support me, and who are just as passionate about the problems I’m solving. That’s, I think, number one. So, routine aside, surround yourself with the right people from a routine perspective. Every day I wake up, then I stare at Apple news and the stock markets and I just want to know what’s going on in the world, right. So, I think that’s the first thing. Or I know, that’s the first thing that I do. And then I have consolidated all of my inboxes into one inbox, which I highly recommend for those of you who have lots of things going on. And I make it very clear to the people that I’m working with, where my priority lies at any given time, so that I’m managing expectations appropriately and not disappointing folks. And there’s going to be times where something comes up. And I have to run away from a prior set expectation that I don’t feel good about. But I know I have to deal with. But those are things that you as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, whatever you are, like you know, in your gut where your priorities should lie. So, as long as you bring the right people around you you set expectations accordingly. And the people around you are in you’re very transparent with those you’re working with. You’ll set yourself up for success. Will you always be successful? No, I failed a ton. Like I’ve scratched scrip every day, frankly, that’s my girlfriend. But the reality is, it all comes down to the people. So, the only real core routine I have is my morning routine where I brush my teeth, stare at the news and go through my inbox, make sure the priorities and expectations are set for those around me are indeed the right ones. And if I have to adjust anything based on any, you know, red flags, so whatever it may be, I can do so very early on and make sure the people around me that I’m working with are very well aware of what’s going on.

Angie 

What do you do for fun?

Chris 

I snowboard. That’s definitely I like to go to Denver several times a year. This year I’ll be going to Tahoe, hopefully Whistler that’s definitely top of mind I try and get in the gym frequently. I’ve been working on my before picture as they say so that when my when my product that Bitewell comes out. I’ll have a really good leg up for my after picture. 

Angie 

But needs to know in what order those were taken right.

Chris 

To get to your imagination. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, to snowboard and good food. It just good people you know, I love a good game night. I love, I love pickup basketball. I try to stay active. Yeah, I mean, do what your body needs, and you know your body best.

Angie 

So, I feel like after a few things you just said this little game of rapid fire that we’re about to play is gonna be even more fun than I thought. So, you ready? Yeah. Despite the fact that we just talked about health and your before and after picture, hotdog or hamburger? 

Chris

Hamburger for sure. 

Angie

What’s your favorite movie?

Chris 

I have so many different favorites. Depending on the genre. One comes to mind The Big Short. Like, again, I’m very curious. So, I was very curious to know the root of cause of our financial crisis, I think listen, oh, eight. So, that’s a really interesting one for me.

Angie 

What is your most memorable travel destination?

Chris 

Oh, I had a really fun Euro trip with a good high school friend of mine. I don’t know if I have a favorite destination. But we went to seven cities in 11 days. I don’t recommend that for anybody. But it was certainly one of the most memorable travel experiences that I’ve ever had.

Angie 

And I like why it’s memorable. I’m excited to hear what you give us for a great book recommendation.

Chris 

It’s called The Hard Thing about Hard Things. Very good book because you’re just just in a world of food. 

Angie 

When you choose to indulge, what’s your favorite junk food?

Chris 

Oh, pizza hands down.

Angie 

If pizzas a food group.

Chris 

It should be a category in the eyes of the FDA.

Angie 

And you actually brought up the fact that you like to play board games. So, give us a board game recommendation.

Chris 

The game Codenames comes my familiar.

Angie 

I’ve heard it. And of course, this is a show about Mondays. So, what is the first word that comes to mind when I say Monday?

Chris 

Oh, I love Mondays. I get excited for them. So excited.

Angie 

Excited. I feel like that’s a perfect word for you. Because you do get really excited about kind of like what you do and you can tell that you’re really working in an area that you’re passionate about. But what excites you about Mondays? Why is that your word?

Chris 

Because typically what I’m doing in my life I am I’m obsessed with the problems that I’m solving and no one When else is doing anything on the weekends, which makes me less productive. So, I know everyone’s there, and everyone’s doing something on Monday, whether it’s our team vendors, etc. And things are happening. And it gets me really excited to get back into the things are happening kind of mentality versus just like, let me check all my boxes over the weekend type of stuff.

Angie 

And as we kind of start to wind things down here, I want to let everybody know kind of where they can find you and continue to be inspired by this journey of yours. So, you know, social, how do they how do we follow along in you,

Chris 

I am so bad at social media, although probably best suited to connect with me on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, forward slash healthy is easy. I’m sure that’s not the exact URL. But I think you get the picture. And

Angie 

How these, these I noticed that when I looked at it, I was like, okay, that’s, that’s super clever. And I think that you should follow along with bite well, and see what happens with it as as Chris steps up to the plate and a Grand Slam. So, there you go healthy as easy is Chris’s profile search on LinkedIn, and then follow Bitewell on Instagram, and we’ll kind of see, see what kind of score he racks up. And Chris, there’s like, like I said, there’s so many like little tidbits and food for thought through this whole thing. But I would love for you to leave our listeners with kind of your best piece of advice on what they can do to get one step closer to enjoyable career and excitement on Mondays.

Chris 

It is hard to be excited on Mondays, whatever it is you’re doing, make sure you love what you’re doing, and you’re passionate for it. Because the second that passion goes away is a second that you start to feel a little bit of resentment for what you’re doing.

Angie 

And I’m gonna I’m going to round us all out by saying a great way to do that is to be curious, so that if something starts slacking, you begin exploring how to refill that cup so that it never fully depletes. You have given everybody so much food for thought. And so I’m so glad that we actually named this episode before it even began. And I really appreciate you sharing your journey because I love that this kind of serial entrepreneurship early in your career actually kind of created this momentum to have bigger impact in these really big spaces. So this has been amazing. Thank you so much for being part of the show and joining the no more Monday’s movement. 

Chris 

Thanks for having me. It was super fun.

Angie 

We always love hearing from people who are doing what they do for work and Chris is one of them. And so I hope you’ve learned a thing or two to just progress yourself and your career or your business. And for those of you out there listening please I would love it if you would subscribe to No More Mondays wherever you get your podcast and leave us a five star rating because it’s a huge help as we continue to inspire confidence professionals with these types of conversations. And if you’d like to leave us comments feedback, grab Chris’s information so that you can follow along with him or drop us a get a guest suggestion business online at No More Mondays dot info. Thanks for listening to this episode of No More Mondays, we hope to grab some great insights to help you improve your professional satisfaction. Please visit us at Apple iTunes and give us a rating so we can continue to offer you awesome interviews and content each week. No More Monday’s new episodes drop every Wednesday. No More Mondays is brought to you by Career Benders, Inc in partnership with executive producer Jane Durkee. For more information about career coaching, resume writing, personal branding, recruiting, and entrepreneurship coaching services, visit our website at Career Benders dot com. That’s Career Benders. B as in boy, S as in sam dot com. This is your host Angie Callen signing off until next week, when we chat with another inspired confident professional.