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Katlin Smith is the founder of Simple Mills, a food startup that only uses simple, whole food ingredients. While working as a consultant, Katlin discovered she had a gluten-sensitivity and started experimenting with her almond-flour baking mixes on the weekends. Shortly after launching her almond flour muffin mix, it became the best selling muffin mix on Amazon. Simple Mills is now in over 2,000 stores nationwide, including in Whole Foods and Mariono's in Chicago.
In This Episode You Will Learn:
- How she came up with the idea for Simple Mills?
- Why it's important to be the "chief sales officer" as the founder of a startup?
- Why she started with baking mixes?
- Why nuts are so expensive?
- What she loves about being an entrepreneur?
- What the process is like to bring a new food product to market?
- How she has found and cultivated her advisors?
- How the challenges of being a founder change as your startup grows?
- How she approaches getting into new stores?
- Why she thinks Chicago is the easiest city to network in?
Favorite Books:
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
Miscellaneous Things Mentioned:
- Simple Mills Pancake & Waffle Baking Mix
- Simple Mills Sea Salt Almond Flour Crackers
- John Foraker, CEO of Annie’s Homegrown
Listen to the episode on iTunes
About Tech In Chicago:
Tech In Chicago takes you inside the Chicago tech world. Each week Colin Keeley is joined by Chicago’s top founders and investors to talk about the amazing companies being built right here. If you want to learn more about Tech In Chicago, head to TechInChicago.co
