You read that right— welcome to First Rodeo’s first ever podcast episode. Click on the big block above and you can play the podcast on Substack, or listen to it on Spotify or Apple Music.
My audio was crap, I’ll own that out of the gate. If you like this vibe or you’re curious to see where it goes, drop a note in the comments and I swear to invest in a real mic. If this is a flop, I will not be acquiring yet another vestige of an attempted hobby, doomed to be stuffed away in a closet, gathering dust!
Brightland has been on my radar since their launch, and it was Aishwarya who first opened my eyes to how easily an olive oil— which like many Californian families, was the only fat I grew up using overusing— can degrade or grow rancid. I really care about quality of the things I eat, and Brightland’s packaging was a big part of maintaining said quality. (I believe olive oil is photosensitive.) It’s been a pleasure to watch them do well, even with so many other gajillions of olive oil brands launching and riding the waves of their early success.
One of the things Aishwarya and I had connected over the last time we chatted prior to this recording was not being influencers. It felt like as good a thing as any to explore a bit more in detail, so I gave her a ring on a Thursday afternoon to talk shop.
If you’re a longtime subscriber, you know that I don’t do founder interviews often or flippantly, and I turn down most PR pitches I get to interview founders. I’m most interested in talking about the things that most PR teams do not want you to hear in an interview: your credit card debt from starting your business, having to lay off your team, trying to sell and having it all fall through at the last minute, looking back on your asset sale and regretting the terms of the deal. Understandably, most of these conversations happen behind closed doors amongst founders, and you never get to hear about them. It’s an incredibly discreet community, and thank goodness for that, but that’s why I have been— and will always be— so picky about these types of conversations. It would be disingenuous at best and bullshit at worst for me to interview a first time founder who is only a few months into their start-up about their “launch”— that’s just not me. Been around the block 7 times? Flopped hard? Getting older? Know a few things? Let’s talk.
Forgive me for my audio quality and let me know what you think. I’m just getting my land legs, I promise I will do better next time— I did my fair share of podcasts in my founder days (RIP— also, those podcasts aged so poorly, reminder to media folks that first time founders in their twenties have no fucking idea what they’re talking about, respectfully) so I promise I am capable of doing it well, deep down.
If you’re interested in this topic, I’ve written plenty about this beat:
Where's the line between *consuming* reality and *creating* reality?
Last but not least, a bit from me in this latest piece about founders on Substack, via Modern Retail:
What are you liking/disliking from First Rodeo these days? What are you wanting more of?
xx
Zoe
🫒 Brightland's Aishwarya Iyer on "personal brand", founders as influencers, & advice for young entrepreneurs...