The Anti-Fragile Founder

When it's crunch time she won't crumble.

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Episode (+ snack) Drop

#105 Teffola: Granola Guy Approved features a pitch for ancient grain granola and snack bites. 

FYI: Teffola has a special Granola Guy Bundle for The Pitch readers.

OR Follow my lead and stock up on the strawberry, lavender granola. Favorite way to eat it: Extra Creamy Lemon or Vanilla Skyr layered with fresh blackberries and Berry Burst Teffola on top. 

Trust me on this. 

Vol. 1 Issue 6

When I first met Claire, I saw someone warm, personable, fun, and quick to make friends. 

But beneath that sunny disposition is a woman fueled by grit and passion.

On Claire's application for The Pitch she wrote, "A VC asked what I had learned in this building-something-from-nothing process. I told him the first thing that came to mind... You could take away everything - the product, the website, the people I’ve met, the small amount of money, the PO’s…everything. And I’d wake up tomorrow and rebuild it. If this were about money, I wouldn’t have lasted this long."

Claire makes it incredibly difficult not to cheer for her.

Is it because her story is the purest version of The American Dream? An entrepreneur building a company off her seventh-generation family farm using sustainable practices?

Or is it her passion? Claire deeply believes in soil health and regenerative agriculture – as we all should if, ya know, we want to keep growing food.

I believe we are at the beginning of a new wave. Investor Charles Hudson compared it to the early days of organic; as consumers learn more about sustainable practices, we’re gonna see more companies entering this space.

The question I have is "How early is too early? If Claire has to educate the world about sustainable practices, will the business live long enough to see significant consumer adoption?"

I hope so. 

In her follow up call with Josh, Claire says founders must be anti-fragile. 

Fragile things break. Resilient things bounce back like a rubber band. Anti-fragile things are broken and come back stronger like a muscle.

Claire is an anti-fragile founder.

It got me thinking what causes one person to be breakable and another to grow from hardship? Is it genetic? Is it environment? Maybe it’s the support of community...

During times I’ve felt broken, it’s the support of family and friends that makes me stronger. It’s the sibling who listens and the friend who encourages that builds me back up.

The lies of insecurity and the fear of failure are silenced by truth-speakers.

I think to be anti-fragile you must surround yourself with a community of encouragers.

Coming Up Next

Coincidentally, next week’s founder says he is building an anti-fragile company. And I believe him... Next week I’ll tell you what happened before he entered The Pitch Room.

Fun Stuff

• Claire’s whole pitch came down to marketing. If she had that piece, would VCs have invested? I’m curious what you think. Hit reply or comment and let me know why.

• Read Hustle Fund’s article Don’t be Obsessed with Your Product to continue your education from Episode #105

• Lemmings are small rodents thought to blindly commit mass suicide by following each other off a cliff. According to last week’s poll 54% of you are experts so you already know that is FALSE.

Teffola is looking for…

• Investors. Book a call with Claire here.

• Intros to anyone in airport or hospitality procurement.

• Sustainable Snackers! Buy here & sign up for the Teffola newsletter to learn more about regenerative farming, ancient grains and some behind the scenes with Claire. PLUS 15% off your first order.

60 seconds in The Pitch Room

Video clips from all of Season 9, including Teffola, are on Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

Help us get to 1,000 followers on Tik Tok so we can put our link in the bio.

Shout Out

Many thanks to Kera DeMars who edits my writing for The Pitch Insider. Kera writes over at Hustle Fund. I’m so thankful to be connected with this kind human being!