Consumer product veterans and founders of a new CPG accelerator, Joe Jacober and James Tonkin, said small CPG brands will continue to gather market share in 2019, and those that are ready to scale will have an opportunity to compete with the biggest brands.

Mr. Jacober, who has worked with CPG brands for 25 years, explained the challenges facing the fastest growing CPG segment, “Small companies are coming in en masse and taking market share from the big players as a whole. But they’re still failing at a high rate because they can’t scale, and they don’t have the in-house expertise to jump to the next level.” He and co-founder Mr. Tonkin, who’s built a 45-year career in the CPG industry, recently launched a new company to address this issue and help small CPG companies scale and win.
 
The company is Innovative Brands Accelerator. The vision is to evolve concept-proven brands and improve business practices, so clients are equipped and ready to succeed in big ways. Unlike traditional consultants that act as mentors or soundboards, Innovative Brands Accelerator embeds its expert team and proven process into their clients’ operations—without taking over the company.
 
Successful CPG Brands Hire for Experience
The experts behind the company said small CPG players that want to gain market share in 2019 will need to hire for experience across all business disciplines. “These small companies don’t have the full-fledged management team to get to the next level,” Mr. Jacober said. “They hire a VP of marketing or a VP of sales, but they just don’t have all of the pieces to really scale.”

Innovative Brands Accelerator leverages its executive team’s unique combination of experience and knowledge to help small CPG brands seize opportunities, reach shelves and take their products to the next stage of the product lifecycle. “We are going to be intimately involved and embedded with each team, so we can share our experience and knowledge to make their brand successful,” said Mr. Jacober.  

Growing CPG Brands Need Discipline & Rigor to Scale
CPG startups only make up 2% of the market share, but they’ve managed 25% of the growth from 2012 to 2016. For concept-proven brands ready to hit the growth stage in 2019, Mr. Jacober said it starts with strategic choices. “It’s not that small brands don’t have a great idea, it’s that they don’t have the infrastructure and experience to make it grow.” As a result, he and Mr. Tonkin created its flagship program, Peak Performance Acceleration, to help companies level-up business functions and prepare for growth.
 
The program focuses on streamlining brands’ financial systems, marketing and selling strategies, distribution strategies, supply chain production, and manufacturing environments. Mr. Tonkin explained how the program helps small companies compete with big brands. “We take the entrepreneurial stumbling and trial and error out of running a business, so they can focus on getting their new product into the mainstream of American purchasing.” Once companies complete the 18-month, 3-sprint process they will be on a straight, narrow path to success and ready for funding, he added.