Building a Consumer Brand With $20K | Ryan Black, Founder of Buddy Bites

What does it actually take to build a consumer brand from scratch?

In 2020, Ryan Black was working in commercial real estate when a dinner with his now co-founder, Chris Lee, sparked an idea.

That conversation eventually became Buddy Bites, a premium pet food brand built around subscription, strong branding and giving back to the community by donating to shelters.

Ryan and Chris had no background in pet food, they bootstrapped the business before raising funds.

In this episode, Ryan shares:

how they went from idea to first customerswhy competing against much bigger brands can actually be an advantagethe challenge of cash flow and inventoryhow Buddy Bites built a community around its mission

Timestamps:(00:00) Teaser

(00:44) Podcast Intro

(01:47) Ryan Background Podcasts

(02:17) Dinner Spark Idea

(04:39) Pet Food Pain Points

(06:50) Why D2C Works in HK