Today we’re interviewing Simon Newstead, founding partner of Better Bite Ventures. A Venture fund that focuses specifically on Asia Pacific. Why? You’ll find out in this episode!
Simon has an entrepreneurial background in tech and started investing in the early stages alt-protein companies because of his compassion for animals. Some of his and his business partner, Michel Klar’s portfolio includes notable brands like Tindle and Green Rebel
Ok, so you might have heard me rant before, he’s a tech entrepreneur? Does he even understand food?
Did you know before starting Better Bite Ventures, Michel Klar and Simon Newstead started and sold their own chocolate company just to understand how the food industry works? That’s dedication.
Simon’s interview is full of data and statistics that show APAC as an amazing land of opportunity for alt-protein startups. You’ll also learn some practical tips on how to get into investing. If you’re interested.
Show Notes
David Benzaquean
Hungry Planet
Michal Klar
v2Foods
Good Monday
OmniPork
Venture Deals Book
Secrets of Sand Hill Book
Y-combinator
Angel List
Carta
Muruku Plant Molecular Tech
Avant Meats
Coles Australia Supermarket
Woolworths
CellX
LP fund
What’s Up with Adam
As of recording, I’m still in Cambodia. I got tested COVID positive and actually, I was invited to speak in Japan but I had to cancel, hopefully postpone this. Wow, how devastating.
So after 24 hours of no sleep, I booked a ticket to Singapore again and now I’m here at the FHA Expo, the biggest food and Hospitality expo in Singapore! Wow, what a backup plan! It’s a good lesson, when things don’t go your way, find opportunity, and navigate towards success.
I’ll let you know how it is next week.
So Simon and I have a pretty interesting discussion on sustainability and I’ve seen and heard for the last month, so many articles, comments, and whatever about why sustainability doesn’t sell.
But though we like to tell people it doesn’t sell, there’s not much insights on why it doesn’t sell, and more importantly, there’s not much actionable insight on how to sell it better.
Marketing that involves pulling on values is risky and there’s plenty of firms that will give you insights and deep dives on what works and doesn’t work.
Whenever I mention the possibility of sustainability being a driver, people get dismissive, like they don’t even want to give it a shot. Like it’s not worth talking about, or they believe “normal people don’t get it”. I don’t think that’s true, but I do believe that we are not quiet there yet to really hammer the gap.
Selfish (Primary) Values
Taste, health and cost are considered primary values, or values that really just affect our current selfish desire. We generally want to eat food that tastes good because it gives us tons of pleasure, we generally want to feel good and perhaps healthier and we generally would like to have more money.
These are pretty inherent in not just food, but everywhere. One marketer always told me that the top 3 evergreen categories for selling products will always be what makes you have sex more, what makes you live longer and what makes you richer and the same kind of applies to food.
With this in mind, we’ve been saying in the industry “taste is king”, which is true, and marketing primes us into believing it so. Coke does a really good job showing the sun-in-your-face refreshing pop of a glass bottle of coke and Burger King does a really good job flipping meat on a sizzling grill with a hellish backdrop. Even if things already taste good, marketing enhances this. Same with health, not so much with cost, but that’s a different type of consumer.
Snide aside. Yes, we know inherently, these primary values will always win out. And though it fills out the healthy body of a product, what fills its soul?
Secondary (Moral) Values
I consider ethics, animal welfare, and sustainability. Though there are some that tether these to the values they associate with in buying food, generally, it’s not
For example, Tony’s Chocolate is a damn good chocolate bar and it’s nice to know that I’m funding better labor by eating this. The chocolate makes us feel good, while the ethics part makes us feel nice.
Moral Values are generally compensations for price (and in some cases taste) as there is now justification to buying something of a higher value.
If I had the playbook to sell on secondary values, I wouldn’t be a food scientist. I do think however, we are coming to a point where these moral values are affecting the livelihood of others. Especially sustainability. As more disasters affect people personally, there is a chance things may shift.
Enjoy this interview with Simon Newstead. We do this at my crappy Airbnb in Melbourne Australia
End of Episode
(read more here: Why Sustainability Doesn’t Sell)
I always find every person I interview in My Food Job Rocks inspiring and well, heroic. What do I mean? Heroic is a pretty bold word, but I do feel we don’t use the word hero a lot in today’s vocabulary I think talking about heroes is a way we can promote sustainability.
Captain Planet was probably the first environmental hero who made a statement. Most people make parodies of it now, but there are some shows that are bringing it back. I think it’s nice. I don’t think this made anyone want to be an environmentalist, but it’s nice that it wasn’t forgotten.
People like Bill Elilish, Harry Styles and Ariana Grande choose to be vegan for different reasons but they do mention that animal wellfare/sustainability is a big part of it. Reports (that no one wants to read) say that Black Americans are the fastest growing population of those who are vegan. This is mainly thanks to social media and also self-research showing that you’ll be healthier consuming these products. Primary and Secondary values at play.
The best part about human culture is that we believe in heroes to save the day. Not just Gilgamesh or Superman, but the police and firefighters that help our city. Your dad, and your favorite teacher can all be considered heroes.
Heroes help us as kids shape our moral compass. We know not to do bad things because our heroes tell us not to. Society has used the concept of creating heroes to show change, aspiration, and integrity and we can use heroes to show that sustainability really should be a focus.
Anyone can be a hero to inform the world that there are a lot of problems. You don’t have to be an authoritative man in his forties with gray hair to say so. For My Food Job Rocks, it’s a big part of why I got into the sustainability side. Because I hear stories of what’s going on in the business side and it makes me worried, but I also hear the people who intentionally want to make it better.
The world needs to be more heroic, and everyone can play their part. By being kinder, being helpful, and supporting each other, those are the fundamental building blocks to tackle the big problems in the world.