Pick Your Packer: The first specialized search engine for pro's operating on the B2B side of Food & Beverage.
- KLS
- 20 minutes ago
- 7 min read
For the 175th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Pick Your Packer and Co-Founder, Gabriel Spiller. Connecting should be simple, accessible, and human. Discover manufacturers and suppliers for thousands of products, capabilities and offerings in the F&B industry like never before.
"Together Talks" feature # 175: Pick Your Packer presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
Story of how it was created?
If we go back about maybe four years, primarily my two co-founders and I, were operating as a full-scope design agency. We were building websites, packaging design, branding, product photography, for a lot of different companies. One of those clients was actually a CPG brand, but on the back end, through our conversations with them, we learned that they're also a contract manufacturer. This for us was, and I'll speak for myself personally, this was the first time I had really become aware of the depth of the B2B landscape behind all these food and beverage products. I think it's really remarkable. Around 20% of US manufacturing is in food and beverage, and nobody even knows it exists.
From the jump, that was very fascinating, especially given how dynamic those companies are. I was very interested in that, but that was more of a fun fact for us at the time. A couple months into our relationship with them, the client had emailed us a really old school directory and they said this is something that they use for searching for a new manufacturing partner. A lot of these companies don't have a really strong digital presence as they thought they could be potential leads for our design business.
We were astonished that this is how companies find partners. It was really eye opening because, he was right, many of these companies had very outdated websites, If websites at all. The interesting part is you have a manufacturer, who might have the worst website, and they're probably doing 150 million in revenue. This huge disconnect is really incredible, but ultimately that was a big light bulb moment for us and our team.
We were fortunate that we had a lot of these hard skills in house, community management, growth, design, engineering, was already a part of our founding team. We had been exploring little ideas to create more of a product instead of having this service-based business, like the agency. A lot of things started to align, so we decided to give it a shot.
What have been the biggest challenges?
I would say two-fold, but they're kind of related. First, we're bootstrapped. That automatically makes things a little more intense for the jump. Being bootstrapped definitely does create added tension to every decision. The other big challenge would be trust. Our team has really been doing things that we haven't done before. Most of our time was spent building assets or designs for a business that already exists. This would be our first time building a product that people are using and actively relying on. Trusting ourselves and trusting each other has definitely been a challenge.
To speak to my experience personally as a designer, coming into the supply chain industry, it took me a while to feel confident in my ability to stand on my role as a designer in some conversations with operators in the space. With having to learn about the industry, I had a big belief my role as a designer wouldn't really matter. One of the biggest things I've learned has been how creative this industry is, and it all derives from collaboration and that comes in multiple forms.
Within the design agency, operating as the head of design there, everything was collaborative to a degree but I was doing a lot of that on my own. Building this business has been the most collaborative thing I've ever done. And beyond that, understanding that collaboration actually requires me to allow other people to do things, even if I feel the need to do them or that I believe I could do it faster or better. Learning how to delegate and learning how to collaborate and trust people to do things has been huge. Not only understanding people get things done their own way, but also trusting myself to be able to collaborate so that we’re all fully aligned with whatever those outcomes or executions are.
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?
We joke internally that entrepreneurship is like the expressway to growth. As a person, as a teammate, as a leader, just as a human, when you're working in an entrepreneurial setting, you can't really vilify somebody else. You can't like blame a manager or a bad client. It's really about ownership and learning to acknowledge where I have blind spots or where I have weaknesses. Then allowing myself to utilize this journey as an opportunity to really face those head on, because you can't really hide from that stuff.
And at the end of the day, the payoff of growing in one of those ways and having that reflected or recognized from somebody else, is one of the most gratifying feelings. That's something I really appreciate the most, how much it allows me to develop as a person. If I was working for another huge company, it's easy for me to hide within a big team. I just don't think I would be growing as much.
What is your why?
I think that's my favorite question. My mission is what we're creating now. I'll start with a more tangible why and then I'll circle back to my more abstract why.
Our goal is to create this foundational search layer for food and beverage supply chains. The mission or the why for me is once we've been able to establish what we feel is the necessary soil, so to speak, we want to leverage that to enable more resilient bioregional and decentralized food systems at scale. So often we hear from somebody that they end up working with a company only a couple miles away, but they met them across the country at a trade show, because they had no idea they were right there. We see a big unlock being possible just by creating this search layer. We're really driven to see what could come on the other side of that and having that functionality be accessible to teams in the space.
With the goal of empowering a more decentralized food system, a more bioregional system at large, it starts to get a little deeper for me. I look at food systems in general as the biggest lever for change we have; on a human health level, on a planetary health level. I would argue on a societal level. There’s something to be said about the gateway that food can be and this is a little abstract, but for me, I feel food is the most intimate relationship I have with the planet, with my body. Understanding that the biological systems that my body runs on are intimately tied to biological systems of the planet. That's a connection that has been so transformational for me, especially in today's world. Food allows me, for the first time, to feel like I'm actually participating in something way bigger than me, and in a way where I actually can have some impact.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
There's two things that come to mind. When you look at supply chain relationships, especially on the manufacturing side, maybe it's a little more linear with ingredients or raw materials or some of the other service based businesses where there's not as many variables. But with manufacturing there's so many variables. Finding a match for somebody and having a partnership actually form on the other end of a conversation or introduction that we made is definitely one of the biggest sources of confidence and joy and pride in what we do. Especially if I'm working with an experienced veteran in the space and I'm able to connect them with somebody that they've never heard of before, that's a really remarkable feeling that just comes with being able to be of service. It's really something that I hold near and dear.
The other thing that came up for me was we built our application and tore it down maybe two or three different times. Each time there's almost this existential feeling of we were wrong, or shouldn’t have tried to start this company. But as a team, committing to each other, and rallying together to unify around our baby is a special experience. The ability to problem-solve and that experience of rallying around each other, lifting our collective spirit up to steady the ship is unlike any other feeling. That's one of the most gratifying things and being able to experience the team effort that it takes to unify around something.
Favorite Part of This Industry
Aside from that mission, that why, of how energizing food systems are and how it can really connect us all. Aside from that, people think of supply chain, and I don't think they inherently view themselves as being an industry filled with creativity. But I love just how creative it is, especially on the supply chain side. People end up putting out fires all the time, but it really requires some of the most creative and innovative problem solving, typically under like the highest stakes too. I think that it's not often looked at in that way, just how creative those people are, that make up the backbone of this industry.
Piece of Advice
Widening the scope for success. I think it's really easy to get attached to certain KPIs or metrics or revenue and growth. There's so many things on the entrepreneurial journey that are just not in our control. But determining the metrics of success are in our control. It can be very intimidating to have the ongoing nature of a project. But just showing up is success in itself. It can be really easy to miss that. By allowing myself to see how much success there actually is or can be, has been beneficial. They don't even have to be tangible, they could be very abstract or they could be a little more tactical.
That's an area where as an entrepreneur, you can really reclaim a lot of control, but also a sense of confidence. One thing about the entrepreneur journey, you're guaranteed to be living in uncertainty, all the time. By taking a little bit of control over those metrics of success and being creative there, I think is one way to really just boost morale as an individual and as a team.
Community Callout
Kevin Haslebacher - KH Consultant Group
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Pick Your Packer and Co-Founder, Gabriel Spiller, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!