Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford.&nbsp; A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M BusinessAt 40, Beryl Stafford’s life cracked open. Her marriage ended, she hadn’t worked in years, and she had two daughters to raise. She needed income—fast.&nbsp;So she did the only thing that felt real: she baked.What started as 4-ingredient oat bars— hastily placed in a&nbsp; Boulder coffee shop—became Bobo’s, a national brand built in the Silicon Valley of natural foods.&nbsp;&nbsp;In this episode, Beryl walks us through the scrappy early days: buying ingredients at full retail, a risky $25K packaging machine, the Whole Foods breakthrough, the burnout, and the pressure shift that comes with outside capital—and Costco.It’s a story powered by community support, relentless demos, and a founder who kept saying “yes” before she knew how.What you’ll learn:&nbsp;<ul><li>Why “survival” can be a powerful founder advantage</li><li>How to sell your product before you feel ready (and why that’s often the point)</li><li>The unglamorous truth of early CPG: shelf life, shared kitchens, endless demos</li><li>In a trend-driven category, the value of sticking to a recipe “your grandmother could have made.”&nbsp;</li><li>The two faces of Costco: growth rocket and operational trap</li></ul>Timestamps:<ul><li>08:35—Divorced at 40… “I was trying to survive.”&nbsp;</li><li>12:02—The baking project with her daughter… and the unexpected product-market signal</li><li>17:21—The first sale: snack bars in cellophane; making up a price</li><li>28:38—Sharing a kitchen with Justin’s Nut Butters: scrappy collaboration + conflict</li><li>31:49—The first-time founder playbook: sell first, learn the rest later</li><li>33:54—Whole Foods says yes… before she knows what “freezer safe packaging” even means</li><li>39:10—Getting into national distribution: “What just happened?”&nbsp;</li><li>46:34—Burnout, hiring a CEO, raising outside money—and what changes when investors arrive</li><li>54:31—The Costco conundrum: huge upside, real downside&nbsp;</li></ul>—------------------This episode was produced by Noor Gill, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.—---------------------&nbsp;Follow How I Built This:Instagram → <a href="https://www.instagram.com/howibuiltthis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@howibuiltthis</a>X → <a href="https://x.com/howibuiltthis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@HowIBuiltThis</a>Facebook → <a href="https://www.facebook.com/howibuiltthis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">How I Built This</a>Follow Guy Raz:Instagram → <a href="https://www.instagram.com/guy.raz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@guy.raz</a>Youtube →<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSfrxNEmCruNtjIzxCBHjg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> guy_raz</a>X → <a href="https://x.com/guyraz" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@guyraz</a>Substack →<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/guyraz.substack.com__;!!Iwwt!RZoD751oWzUzoqqdJiqaoL6HdJfRHDUO1TKvYJ424d3Udn7-Pw9Nj6nEsauh9zcgEvLjUEc$" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://guyraz.substack.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">guyraz.substack.com</a>Website →<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/guyraz.substack.com__;!!Iwwt!RZoD751oWzUzoqqdJiqaoL6HdJfRHDUO1TKvYJ424d3Udn7-Pw9Nj6nEsauh9zcgEvLjUEc$" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://guyraz.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">guyraz.com</a>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

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