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Brand Growth Heroes

Brand Growth Heroes

By: Fiona Fitz | Brand Growth Heroes Mini MBA |
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Brand Growth Heroes ranks in the top 1.5% of ALL podcasts globally. With +25 years' experience working for brand giants and as coach to over 400 challenger brand founders, Fiona Fitz asks the questions you need the answers to from the founders of wildly successful consumer goods brands driving transformational growth.Copyright Fiona Fitz Consulting Ltd. Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • Why TrueStart Coffee Chooses Profitable Growth Over Scale | Founder Helena Hills

    Why TrueStart Coffee Chooses Profitable Growth Over Scale | Founder Helena Hills
    Jun 23 2026
    We don't often hear about Challenger brands that are PROFITABLE...So let's do it! *** Find out more about the NEW Brand Growth Heroes September Sprint 4 week programme just launched June 2026 - applications are open through June and July***In this fab interview, I chat with Helena Hills, co-founder of TrueStart Coffee, about how she and co-founder Simon have taken a once-niche healthy coffee idea and turned it into a fast-growing challenger brand now on a £12m revenue run rate, profitably. So for those of you who are wondering if it's possible, here's some BRILLIANT insights, advice and experience!What I loved about this conversation is Helena's clarity around this decision, her conviction. And that TrueStart didn’t suddenly appear from nowhere. It spent years doing the hard, unglamorous work: testing the proposition, building a community at sports events, learning where the brand had real pull, and being incredibly choosy about what to invest in before stepping into scale-up mode.We talk about the contradiction at the heart of their growth: this is a coffee brand that didn’t lead with coffee culture, but with energy.Helena explains why TrueStart tests for quality and purity markers (I honestly didn't know this was important), why caffeine consistency matters (nor this, but it makes complete sense to me now!), how COVID became a light-switch moment for the brand, and why their Series A fundraise with Jam Jar felt like a full-circle moment after first naming them as a dream investor back in 2015. For founders building consumer brands, this is a brilliant conversation about patience, timing, culture, focus and what it really means to scale without building on sand. What You’ll Learn Why TrueStart built its early community through sports and fitness events. How a niche proposition became more mainstream as health, ethics and quality became more important to consumers. Why profitable growth became a deliberate strategic choice. How Helena and Simon divide leadership between outward energy and internal process. Why timing matters in innovation, especially with the launch of Coffee Concentrate. Key Topics Discussed Series A investment from Jam Jar Building a profitable challenger brand Healthy coffee and caffeine consistency Word-of-mouth growth at events Moving from startup to scale-up Coffee Concentrate and iced coffee at home Founder energy, ADHD and complementary co-founder roles Culture, hiring and decision-making guardrails AI, process and avoiding founder bottlenecks Find out more about TrueStart Follow TrueStart on InstagramLike this episode? PLEASE share the love by sharing this episode with another founder building a challenger brand, a colleague or a mate who loves brilliant non-alcoholic drinks, or anyone trying to work out how to build a sharper, more focused growth model.Don't forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to Brand Growth Heroes on your favourite podcast app, and even LEAVE A REVIEW - both of these actions make a MASSIVE difference to our mission to help more founders just like you.Join the Brand Growth Heroes tribeInstagram (https://www.instagram.com/brandgrowthheroes) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-growth-heroes/?viewAsMember=true) Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@brandgrowthheroes)Join the NextGen CPG WhatsApp group for founders leaning in to the value that a leadership approach to engaging with AI can unlock for businesses like yours.*** Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes’ podcast sponsor - Joelson, the commercial law firm ***If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.That’s why we’re proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them at JamJar Investments today!Joelson is offering a free legal consultation to all Brand Growth Heroes listeners - just send an email to hello@joelsonlaw.com - we highly recommend you take them up on it, they are honestly brilliant. CREDITSThanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com and to the entire BGH team.
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    38 mins
  • How to Scale a Challenger Non Alc Drinks Brand in the USA | Lisa King Free AF Drinks

    How to Scale a Challenger Non Alc Drinks Brand in the USA | Lisa King Free AF Drinks
    Jun 9 2026
    Most challenger founders assume international expansion should happen in neat, logical steps. New Zealand → Australia → UK → US. But Lisa's view was different, and that's why it's so interesting: In fact, conventional FMCG wisdom tells us to prove your business in nearby markets first. But founder Lisa King of Free AF Drinks ignored that advice! After building a 40% share brand in New Zealand, Lisa decided to skip Australia entirely and went straight after the most competitive drinks market in the world...the USA!Why? --> If the ambition was always to build a globally valuable business, she asked herself why spend years proving the model somewhere that wasn't ultimately where the biggest opportunity sat?In this brilliant conversation with Kiwi female founder Lisa, you'll hear how today AF Drinks is stocked in more than 4,500 stores across the US, including Target, Walmart, Whole Foods and Kroger, and just HOW they're doing it. We discuss why she made they made the decision they did, how Pernod Ricard Ventures invested before the US launch, what it really takes to build a beverage brand in America, why alcohol-free RTD cocktails are outperforming expectations, and the lessons founders should understand before attempting to scale internationally.Lisa takes us through a masterclass in the realities of the beverage market in the United States; Why alcohol-free RTD cocktails are growing faster than many expected and finally, how she has approached fundraising, equity and scaling internationally!Key Topics Discussed Alcohol-free drinks category growth Building challenger brands internationally International expansion & export to USA Listings with Target, Walmart, Whole Foods and Kroger US grocery retail Walmart and Target listings Fundraising and investor strategy Pernod Ricard Ventures investment Beverage category economics Product innovation, IP & technology Ready-to-drink cocktails Scaling consumer brands globally Founder leadership Building brands from New Zealand USEFUL LINKSAF Drinks WebsiteAF Drinks InstagramLike this episode?PLEASE share the love by sharing this episode with another founder building a challenger brand, a colleague or a mate who loves brilliant non-alcoholic drinks, or anyone trying to work out how to build a consumer packaged goods business.Don't forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to Brand Growth Heroes on your favourite podcast app, and even LEAVE A REVIEW - both of these actions make a MASSIVE difference to our mission to help more founders just like you.Follow usInstagram (https://www.instagram.com/brandgrowthheroes)LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-growth-heroes/?viewAsMember=true)Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@brandgrowthheroes)Find out more about the programmes and courses Fiona runs here (https://www.brandgrowthheroes.com/mini-mba-2026)Join the NextGen CPG WhatsApp group for founders leaning in to the value that a leadership approach to engaging with AI can unlock for businesses like yours.*** Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes’ podcast sponsor - Joelson, the commercial law firm ***If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.That’s why I'm proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them at JamJar Investments today!Joelson is offering a FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION to all BGH listeners (mailto:hello@joelsonlaw.com) - I honestly recommend you take them up on it, they're brilliant.CREDITSThanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com
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    51 mins
  • Mother Root's £16M Secret Growth Equation | Bethan Higson & Alice Gallsworthy

    Mother Root's £16M Secret Growth Equation | Bethan Higson & Alice Gallsworthy
    May 26 2026
    In this episode of Brand Growth Heroes, I’m joined by founder Bethan Higson and Alice Gallsworthy of Mother Root. Get this: Mother Root is already the UK’s number one non-alcoholic spirit brand in terms of revenue driven per product. Whoah.So what's the deal? This ginger-based non-alcoholic aperitif is different to most playing in food and beverage, as it only has one core SKU, but an incredibly powerful DTC growth engine. Even though it's the UK's No1 non-alc spirit, it still only has around 6–7% distribution - talk about headroom for growth!As you might imagine, Bethan and Alice are incredibly clear on the choices that created their growth. We talk about why they stopped trying to do everything, how they went all-in on DTC, how customer interviews and jobs-to-be-done thinking shaped their marketing, and why the product itself delivers something so many non-alcoholic drinks miss: flavour, ritual, heat, length and a real adult drinking moment. We also get into team building, finding the right second-in-command, launching into the US, and why operations has to scale at the same rate as marketing if you don’t want the business to break.What You’ll Learn How Mother Root grew from around £1.5M to £15–16M run rate. Why focus on one channel helped build a repeatable and scalable growth model. How jobs-to-be-done customer interviews shaped Mother Root’s digital marketing. Why the non-alcoholic drinks consumer is not necessarily the Gen Z sober-curious stereotype. How Bethan and Alice think about hiring, operations, US expansion and scaling without breaking the business. Why AI is part of EVERY part of the working day at Mother RootKey Topics Discussed Mother Root’s growth from early-stage brand to £15–16M run rate Building a challenger brand with one core SKU The evening drink ritual and the role of non-alcoholic drinks Ginger, apple cider vinegar, slow burn and flavour architecture Choosing where to play and walking away from distracting channels Building a DTC growth engine Paid social, customer interviews and jobs-to-be-done insight Word of mouth and repeat purchase Nielsen performance and retail headroom Hiring a brilliant number two Scaling operations alongside marketing Launching Mother Root in the US Why the non-alcoholic category is not just about Gen Z Useful Linkshttps://motherroot.com/https://www.instagram.com/motherroot/Like this episode? PLEASE share the love by sharing this episode with another founder building a challenger brand, a colleague or a mate who loves brilliant non-alcoholic drinks, or anyone trying to work out how to build a sharper, more focused growth model. Don't forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to Brand Growth Heroes on your favourite podcast app, and even LEAVE A REVIEW - both of these actions make a MASSIVE difference to our mission to help more founders just like you.Join our community on Instagram, LinkedIn and Youtube, and find out more about the programmes and courses Fiona runs, as well as the NextGen CPG WhatsApp group for founders leaning in to the value that a leadership approach to engaging with AI can unlock for businesses like yours.Follow Brand Growth Heroes on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.*****Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes’ podcast sponsor - Joelson, the commercial law firm *****If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.That’s why we’re proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them at JamJar Investments today!To learn more contact hello@joelsonlaw.com - in fact, Joelson is offering Brand Growth Heroes listeners a FREE Legal consultation - we highly recommend you take them up on this! CreditsThanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com and all the Brand Growth Heroes team.
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    36 mins
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