Today’s callers: Heather from Ontario talks through a DTC strategy for her retail pain relief tape and patches. Then Nawal in Michigan considers a rebrand for her uniforms designed for Muslim students. Finally, Casey in Idaho seeks new revenue streams for her farmer and worker-owned seed cooperative.

Plus, Hernan’s take on the future of podcasting and the sweet relief of vindication...

Thank you to the founders of Heali Medical, Studyous Monday, and Snake River Seed Cooperative for joining us on the show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode—where Guy and former show guests take questions from early-stage founders—leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Wondery’s founding story as told by Hernan on the show in 2023.

This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business

At 40, Beryl Stafford’s life cracked open. Her marriage ended, she hadn’t worked in years, and she had two daughters to raise. She needed income—fast.

So she did the only thing that felt real: she baked.

What started as 4-ingredient oat bars— hastily placed in a Boulder coffee shop—became Bobo’s, a national brand built in the Silicon Valley of natural foods.

In this episode, Beryl walks us through the scrappy early days: buying ingredients at full retail, a risky $25K packaging machine, the Whole Foods breakthrough, the burnout, and the pressure shift that comes with outside capital—and Costco.

It’s a story powered by community support, relentless demos, and a founder who kept saying “yes” before she knew how.

What you’ll learn:

• Why “survival” can be a powerful founder advantage
• How to sell your product before you feel ready (and why that’s often the point)
• The unglamorous truth of early CPG: shelf life, shared kitchens, endless demos
• In a trend-driven category, the value of sticking to a recipe “your grandmother could have made.”
• The two faces of Costco: growth rocket and operational trap

Timestamps:

• 08:35—Divorced at 40… “I was trying to survive.”
• 12:02—The baking project with her daughter… and the unexpected product-market signal
• 17:21—The first sale: snack bars in cellophane; making up a price
• 28:38—Sharing a kitchen with Justin’s Nut Butters: scrappy collaboration + conflict
• 31:49—The first-time founder playbook: sell first, learn the rest later
• 33:54—Whole Foods says yes… before she knows what “freezer safe packaging” even means
• 39:10—Getting into national distribution: “What just happened?”
• 46:34—Burnout, hiring a CEO, raising outside money—and what changes when investors arrive
• 54:31—The Costco conundrum: huge upside, real downside

—------------------

This episode was produced by Noor Gill, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.

Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.

—---------------------

Follow How I Built This:

Instagram → @howibuiltthis

X → @HowIBuiltThis

Facebook → How I Built This

Follow Guy Raz:

Instagram → @guy.raz

Youtube → guy_raz

X → @guyraz

Substack → guyraz.substack.com

Website → guyraz.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.