For beverage brand founders, early stage investment is often the hardest to find, but it’s frequently the most dear. Those early believers who are willing to actually put their finances where their faith lies are the ones who help founders get liftoff, providing the capital that can firm up manufacturing runs and open the doors to retail expansion.

But as the old saying goes, it’s much harder to raise $1 million than $10 million. Not just because brands have more to prove, but because those smaller investors can be harder to find — they don’t have the marketing budgets of big PE or VC firms, they have their own networks, connections, and experience to bring dealflow. Additionally, they usually aren’t writing a check for that first $1 million by themselves – it takes a few different capital sources to build that early funding round.

That’s why Beverage School, held on the morning of Wednesday, June 12, right before the start of BevNET Live Summer 2024, will feature a panel that brings three of these seed stage CPG investors to talk about their own process for meeting and engaging with founders, how they make their decisions to invest, what they’re looking for in a brand and an entrepreneur. During the talk, Dace Graham of 1731 MGMT, Rachel Mansfield of GRT SHT Ventures and Greer Tessler of Simple Food Ventures will take questions from founders on strategies for funding growth at the earliest stages, ways of communicating with those investors to help build a company, and the best ways to connect and cultivate an investor base.

The panel is just one part of Beverage School, however; attendees will also receive expert instruction in other key topics like:

• Managing Angel and Venture Capital Transactions with Jeremy Halpern, Co-Lead, Food and Beverage Group at Nutter
• Finding and managing suppliers and Service Providers with Beth J. Brown, Founder of BJB Integrated Supply Strategy
• Navigating Regulatory Pathways and Marketing Strategies, with Emily Lyons and Megan Beebe of Husch Blackwell
• Protecting Your Brand’s Intellectual Property with Thomas Speiss III of Buchalter

Following presentations, all speakers from Beverage School will be available for networking and to answer questions in a round-table format.

Beverage School is a special deep dive into the beverage business taking place immediately before the start of BevNET Live. While specifically designed to answer the questions of founders and new hires in the beverage space, all registered attendees of BevNET Live are eligible to attend Beverage School.

Register for BevNET Live Summer 2024 >>

About BevNET Live

BevNET Live is the premiere event for beverage brands, distributors, service providers, retailers and investors to discuss what’s next for the industry. With the industry’s foremost speakers and the New Beverage Showdown, BevNET Live attracts hundreds of brands to each event.