{"podcast":{"title":"The Startup CPG Podcast","slug":"the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739","podcast_index_feed_id":1235739,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/startupcpg","website_url":"https://startupcpg.transistor.fm/","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/WNouK7j5vR6Y4BOYi04oDl3hjEsu2FYQMPHcqVNY7hc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTFl/MTgxNTNlZTAwZjU1/ZmNmNWM1ZjkwMDg5/NTU4MS5wbmc.jpg","author":"Startup CPG","episode_count":474,"summary":"The top CPG podcast in the world, highlighting stories from founders, buyer spotlights, highly practical industry insights - all to give you a better chance at success.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T06:22:47.976796+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739"},"episode":{"title":"#247 - How to Build a Board  with Seth Goldman, JUST ICE Tea","slug":"247-how-to-build-a-board-with-seth-goldman-just-ice-tea","published_at":"2026-05-05T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739/247-how-to-build-a-board-with-seth-goldman-just-ice-tea","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/14d4594b","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/pdst.fm/e/media.transistor.fm/14d4594b/25cf92a0.mp3","summary":"In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Seth Goldman—co-founder of Honest Tea, co-founder and CEO of Just Ice Tea, and one of the most experienced board members in the CPG space, having served as chair of Beyond Meat, Plant Burger, and Mission Guardians of Tony's Chocolonely—to answer the questions most founders never get a straight answer on: When do you actually need a board? Who should be on it? How do you manage it? And how do you protect yourself? Seth walks through every stage of the board journey—from the friends-and-family raise where you probably don't need one yet, to the angel round where you do, to the institutional raise where investors will ask for seats and you need to know how to vet them back. He shares the story of a would-be investor he turned away after learning they wanted management options to install their own CEO, how he recruited legends like Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield and Jeff Swartz of Timberland to an Honest Tea board when the company was doing a few million in sales, and why splitting your lead investment between two partners isn't just smart—it's protective. Daniel and Seth also dig into what makes a board meeting actually useful, how to avoid the nightmare scenario of surprising your board with bad news in the room, why diversity of opinion matters more than cheerleaders, and what it looks like to navigate a CEO transition as a board member. Plus: Seth's advice on how to position yourself if you want to become a board member someday—and the unsexy pallet configuration insight that saved Just Ice Tea hundreds of thousands of dollars. Together, they cover: When you actually need a board—and when you don't How to vet investors who want board seats before you say yes How Seth recruited Gary Hirshberg a…","meta_description":"In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Seth Goldman—co-founder of Honest Tea, co-founder and CEO of Just Ice Tea,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2890,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739/episodes/247-how-to-build-a-board-with-seth-goldman-just-ice-tea/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast-1235739/247-how-to-build-a-board-with-seth-goldman-just-ice-tea.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}