Nicole Bernard Dawes spent much of her childhood hanging out in her dad’s potato chip factory on Cape Cod.

She liked his kettle-cooked chips a lot more than the flavorless snacks in her mom’s health food store. But when she started her own business, she wanted the best of both worlds: a snack made with natural, organic ingredients…that still tasted good.

Nicole launched Late July Snacks in 2003, when most consumers barely knew what “organic” meant. For years, sales limped along. Then, in a moment of crisis, she made a company-saving pivot by launching a brand new product – organic tortilla chips. Within just a few years, Late July grew to over $100M in sales, and Nicole decided to launch a new brand in an even more challenging category: soda.

You Will Learn:

• How growing up in a family business can help–and hurt–when you launch your own
• The pros and cons of financial vs. strategic investors
• When to cut a product that isn’t working
• Why the fine print in a contract is so important
• How the hardest decision might be the best one for your family and the business

Timestamps:

04:57 - The car crash that launched a potato chip company

18:53 - Pregnant and craving crackers: The birth of Late July Snacks

32:14 - The organic cookies that tasted great but nearly sunk the business

36:09 - Tragedy and crisis: a father’s death and a $3 million loan in default

45:51 - A tortilla chip Hail Mary

52:49 - Nicole’s first big sales call… and her last chance to save the company

1: 02:39 - “The big fish eats the small fish.” A food giant acquisition

1:07:26 - Nicole launches a new brand, moving from a hard category–to an even harder one

This episode was researched and produced by Chris Maccini with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our engineer was Robert Rodriguez.

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Today’s callers: Cristopher from Chicago wants to expand his family’s salsa brand from farmers markets into retail. Next, Darcy in Australia considers adapting his protein bar brand’s messaging to reach beyond his core enthusiasts. Finally, Seema in Canada seeks strategies to increase B2B sales for her ethical kitchen linen company.

Plus, Daymond and Guy talk about what makes a great Shark Tank pitch, and why Guy decided to start How I Built This 10 years ago.

Thank you to the founders of Sabor a Mexico, Raised Nutrition and Cooks Who Feed for joining us on the 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 FUBU’s founding story as told by Daymond on the show in 2018.

This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.

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

Roy and Ryan were avid outdoorsmen who wanted a cooler that wouldn’t break.

So they built one themselves.

The result was YETI: a high-end cooler that early retailers thought nobody would buy. But serious outdoorsmen did—and eventually YETI escaped its niche, becoming a status symbol at tailgates, beaches, and soccer fields.

In this episode, Roy and Ryan explain how they bootstrapped YETI, survived the sudden loss of their only manufacturing partner, and later stumbled onto the $30 product that supercharged the business.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why solving a problem you personally experience can be more powerful than chasing a huge market.
• How YETI convinced people accustomed to $40 coolers to spend $300–$400.
• Why the brothers deliberately started with small independent retailers instead of chasing major chains.
• Why Roy and Ryan chose not to aggressively fight copycats
• How the sudden loss of their only manufacturer nearly destroyed YETI—but ultimately made the company stronger.
• How the brothers bootstrapped YETI for years without venture capital
• Why a simple $30 stainless-steel cup—not the famous $400 cooler— transformed YETI into a mass-market brand.

TIMESTAMPS

6:10 — A free-range childhood of hunting and exploring

10:02 — Early businesses: fishing rods and boats

15:30 — Roy’s early frustrations with coolers. “The hinges would break, the latches would snap.”

31:20 — The last-minute flight to the Philippines that led to YETI

40:53 — People didn’t love the name–but they remembered it

47:49 — Why people were willing to spend $400 on a cooler

1:01:18 — The phone call that nearly pulled the plug on the business

1:06:30 — How Roy and Ryan turned a catastrophe into a stronger company

1:22:27 — From coolers to cups: A $30 product changed the trajectory of the brand

1:25:44 — Why the founders eventually moved on from YETI

This episode was researched and produced by Carla Esteves, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our audio engineers were Maggie Luthar and Jimmy Keeley.

Follow How I Built This:

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