So you’ve carefully built your beverage brand from concept to finished product. Consumers and retailers are loving it, and now an array of private equity firms and strategic investors are beating down your door to talk about putting some significant financial resources behind your company. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, according to veteran CPG lawyer Nick Giannuzzi, managing partner of The Giannuzzi Group, LLP. In the last two years, Giannuzzi and his firm have been advisors to 16 entrepreneurial food and beverage companies, including KeVita, acquired by PepsiCo and Chameleon Cold Brew, which was purchased in November by Nestlé. During his presentation at BevNET Live Summer 2018 in June, he highlighted the need for brands to thoroughly prepare ahead of a potential exit or investment, even from an early stage. “The deal you made four years ago matters now,” he noted, emphasizing the importance for brands of sitting down at the negotiating table only after first taking care of any lingering loose ends that could derail the process.
Watch the full video for more of Giannuzzi’s insights into navigating the challenges that can kill deals in CPG, including how to prepare data and documents prior to negotiations, how to balance investor interest against bottom-line sales and profit expectations, how to best protect intellectual property, and how to overcome some of the obstacles that can follow brands after accepting outside financing.