Ep.156 - Gail Becker is the founder and CEO of CAULIPOWER, a food brand that uses the power of vegetables to make healthier and easier versions of food. The idea of CAULIPOWER was born out of the frustrations that Gail had on the gluten-free industry since she couldn’t find gluten-free foods for her two sons with Celiac disease. She found hundreds of thousands of recipes for cauliflower pizza to make for her kids - and they loved it. However, it took forever to make and as a working single mom, she wanted an easier and faster option that was nowhere to be found. In this episode, Gail shares how she transitioned her career from corporate America to entrepreneur with no prior entrepreneurial experience. Listen in to learn why the current economic ecosystem is the best to start a business and be successful. You will also learn the value of utilizing your corporate skills in your business and having the courage to ask for help where you don’t know.
Key Takeaways:
- How to spot a pain point in the market and challenge yourself to come up with a solution
- How to define success as a business owner to go easy on yourself and avoid burnout
- Why you should take advantage of the current favorable economic ecosystem and start a business
- How to be confident in asking for what you don’t know to be a successful entrepreneur
- Learn to stick to your business mission and run with it
- How to be fearless and go after what you never thought you’d have the courage to pursue
"If people want to see more female-owned businesses in the world, there is only one thing to do and that is to support female-founded businesses." -Gail Becker
In this episode you’ll discover:
The different circumstances that led Gail to start CAULIPOWER [1:44]
Gail on how she hired people to teach her business, plus the Wholefoods program that helped her [3:53]
How she and her family are taking care of their physical and mental health during the pandemic [5:31]
The business logistics and manufacturing challenges she encountered especially during Covid [7:27]
How she defines success as an individual to enable her to go easy on herself [9:15]
Why now is the best time for you to start a business as either a side hustle or full-time [12:23]
The business lessons she’s learned that she would share with her younger entrepreneurial self [15:32]
How she utilized her relationship-building and marketing skills to build CAULIPOWER [17:24]
She explains how she found a VC to fund her business and the challenges she encountered [18:51]
Why she chose to use a manufacturer for CAULIPOWER rather than a commercial kitchen [21:20]
The importance of being flexible with any changes when it comes to a business plan [22:06]
Why CAULIPOWER’s business plan shifted plus how she identified the market’s pain point [23:05]
The future innovation and community service plans that CAULIPOWER has [26:26]
How CAULIPOWER draws inspiration from consumers to make meal hacks [27:46]
The different qualities you need to possess to be successful in your endeavors [30:56]
CAREER
AWARD
Gail also directed an award-winning short documentary film. “A Journey with Purpose” follows her nine-year-old son’s trip to Auschwitz with his grandfather, who was a prisoner there for four years. Today, the film is in the Facing History Library, a non-profit nurturing democracy through education.
BOARD
Gail is on the board of the Friends of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.
RESOURCES
YouTube: Let's Share the Journey
YT: Getting her product into 25,000 stores on her first try!
YT: Fireplace Chat
YT: Actions Speak Louder Than Words Summit
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Donna Miller is the founder and CEO of Purse Power, Let's Share the Journey. Purse Power promotes women led, women owned businesses by providing a Google extension which allows everyone who visits your website to locate nearby businesses.
Let's Share the Journey holds calls at 10 AM Central every Friday to learn from national leaders to share expertise, ideas, and support. One week a month features Zoom Room networking. We support Donna's endeavor and have provided the speaker calls in a podcast format. Please join her on Friday mornings! You can register for the calls here.