Hugh Thomas (Ugly) - The Opportunity He Saw With Sparkling Water, Why He Started OmniChannel, and Approach to Overseas Expansion

Our guest today is Hugh Thomas, founder of Ugly. Ugly is the refreshingly honest sparkling water in a can. No sugar, no calories, no sodium, no sweetners. We discuss his background and how working at Vita Coco impacted him to found Ugly, why he went retail on day one, and his expansion strategy and why being in two markets is like running two different companies.You can follow Hugh at @uglyhugh on Twitter.A couple books that inspired Hugh are:The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan HolidayGive and Take by Adam GrantSome of the questions I asked Hugh:What was your initial attraction to the food and beverage industry?Talk to me about the early days and some of your learnings scaling Vita Coco?What was the inspiration that led you to founding Ugly?How did you approach ingredients and then your supply chain?How did you think about brand in the early days?Why did you decide to launch omnichannel off the bat?What were some of the hurdles in the early days?What was your strategy for growth in the U.K?Why did you decide to expand so quickly into the U.S.?We talk on this show about when it comes to ecommerce, getting past the noise. There's so many brands out there since it's easier then ever to start a brand. How do you think about differentiation?Why did you decide to fundraise and what was your fundraising strategy?How did you manage to pivot or change your strategy during COVID?What's one thing you would change about the fundraising process?What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?What's one piece of advice that you have to founders?

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The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch. This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled. For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.