What do you do when the family business you've spent decades building... gets bought out from under you?

That’s what happened to Nima and Salma Fotovat.

Devastated, the family rebuilt a new company from the ground up. This time they set out with a new idea: build an allergen-free, organic snack brand not just for kids, but their parents.

Their new brand: MadeGood.

Today, the Canadian brand’s parent company does hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. But getting there meant rebuilding from scratch, fixing 200,000 mislabeled snack bars by hand, and turning a family of co-packers into branding experts.

What you'll learn:

• How owning manufacturing can be a competitive edge
• How they grew a national brand with almost no marketing.
• Why it can be a winning strategy to say "yes" before you know how
• Introducing new products: the tension between research and emotion
• The mindset that can help you rebuild after a devastating setback

Timestamps:

3:40 - Growing up in Iran during wartime, and emigrating to Canada

09:30 - Their dad’s new business: “Why are North Americans not eating nougat?”

17:00 - Building the family’s first snack bar brand—and losing it overnight

29:40 - The next business: going all in on healthier school snacks

37:50 - Fixing a 200,000-bar production error with alcohol wipes

42:20 - Landing MadeGood’s first retail store

45:00 - The 100-mile radius marketing strategy

51:00 - The lure of new products: from human treats to dog treats

Today’s callers: Tony in Michigan is considering bringing on partners to run different parts of his brew pub and theater business. Then Monica in London is exploring the best way to reach style-conscious parents with her line of children’s clothes. And Sandy in Colorado is seeking the ideal pricing strategy to bring his adaptive test prep platform to schools nationwide.

Thank you to the founders of Hearsay Brewing and Theater, Tres London and Brain Buffs for being a part of our 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 our Advice Line episodes with Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, Sarah LaFleur of M.M LaFleur and Shazi Visram of Happy Family Organics.

This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

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

Many founders think the hardest thing about business is finding customers.

It's not.

It's surviving success.

When Lily Kanter and Serena Dugan launched a luxury baby linen business, they had no manufacturing experience, no inventory, and barely any capital. But after their first catalog landed just as a major competitor left the market, orders flooded in almost overnight.

The problem? They hadn’t made the products yet.

Today, Serena and Lily has grown into one of the best known luxury home goods brands in the country. But getting there was a grind.

This is one of the most revealing conversations we've ever had about unplanned opportunities, and the hidden cost of taking outside investment. From financing their first inventory with customer deposits... to walking away from a disastrous investment deal... to nearly losing control of the company they built, this episode is a masterclass in what happens when rapid growth collides with the realities of cash flow.

You Will Learn:

• The clever way Serena & Lily financed its first production run
• How one perfectly timed opportunity launched the business
• Why "smart money" isn't always smart
• How investor and founder incentives can be completely misaligned
• The warning signs hidden inside a term sheet

Timestamps:

06:11 – Lily's years at Microsoft, and the money that helped launch a business

11:55 – Serena repaints an old table and discovers people will pay for her designs

24:21 – “No bunnies, ducks or choo choo trains.” Lily and Serena meet, and decide to sell high-end baby linen:

36:01 – $100,000 in orders... for products that didn't exist yet

37:38 – The cash-flow hack that kept the company afloat

46:14 – “They patted us on the head.” Patronizing investors, and a predatory term sheet

51:28 – The financial crisis forces a complete reinvention of the business

58:47 – The lawsuit, the boardroom battle, and the investor who nearly brought Serena & Lily down

1:03:26 – Why acquisition offers couldn't save the company—and the lesson every founder should hear

This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.

Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Katherine Sypher.

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