Marketero · Entrevistas
Ep 511: How IQBar Scaled: Will Nitze’s Playbook from PMF to Omnichannel
13 ideas de marketing sacadas de «Ep 511: How IQBar Scaled: Will Nitze’s Playbook from PMF to Omnichannel», de DTC Podcast. Sobre todo de mensaje y…
- 13 ideas despiezadas
- Fuente DTC Podcast
- Dura 44 min
- Publicada en 2025
Ver la entrevista entera en YouTube
De qué habla
Las 13 ideas de esta entrevista se reparten así entre las etapas del marketing. El reparto es lo que distingue una entrevista de otra: dice en qué se detuvo de verdad quien hablaba.
Las 13 ideas, con su cita y su minuto
Cada una está sacada de un punto concreto de la entrevista. El enlace del titular lleva a
la página de esa idea, donde se ve quién más la dice por separado; el del pie salta al
segundo exacto del vídeo para que la compruebes tú.
Llama a 3 emprendedores que ya hicieron lo que quieres hacer y triangula un roadmap
Estrategia y decisiones de negocioWill Nitze: 'No sabía por dónde empezar. Encontré a 2-3 personas que habían iniciado una marca de barras en Boston. Les compré café y les hice 100 preguntas: COGS, gross margin, dónde fabricar, WooCommerce vs Shopify vs BigCommerce, C-Corp vs LLC. Triangulé un roadmap con 3 emprendedores diferentes.' El método es brutal pero funciona: en lugar de investigar online (info sesgada, incompleta), llama a personas reales…
This is a principle I've applied many, times since in many different areas, but basically I was like, okay, who's done this before? And let me just call them and ask them how they did it. As you get bigger and bigger and bigger, you have to sort of like mass-marketize your messaging, and this is especially true for brick-and-mortar. You can be kind of esoteric and niche online because you're just going to find a zillion people who are into that niche. You have more time and space to explain things. In brick-and-mortar, you just don't. You have to appeal to everyone. You're spending real money…
Escúchalo en el minuto 0:14
Estrategia y decisiones de negocioWill Nitze: 'El objetivo de una marca de consumer goods no es ser DTC; es ser omni channel. Especialmente si quieres ser adquirido. En 2025 nadie quiere adquirir marcas DTC. Quieren marcas que venden en Target, Walmart, Costco, DTC, Amazon, Thrive Market. El bar de entrada es más alto. Tu DTC es solo un canal de inicio, no el destino.' El modelo correcto para 2025+: usar DTC como laboratorio y awareness, retail para…
I would say. I would say like for one, I'm not a DTC person. So I'm a business person and good businesses are not DTC. They're omni channel like in consumer goods. So totally no one like the goal of a consumer good brand is not to be DTC. It's it's to be omni channel, especially if you want to be acquired. Really, no one is with some some exam, some exceptions. No one's trying to acquire brands that are DTC brands in 2025. And that's not going to change. They want to acquire brands that are have can be proven to sell in multiple channels. And it's not even just like, oh, it works DTC and…
Escúchalo en el minuto 30:58
Empieza online aunque tu categoría sea brick-and-mortar: el feedback loop es más rápido y barato
Canales de adquisiciónWill Nitze: '93% de los productos de food & bev se venden en retail físico, pero empezar online es crítico para una marca nueva. El feedback loop es mucho más rápido, más barato y más rico. Aprendes qué quiere la gente de tu producto en semanas, no en meses de retailers.' La razón: las pruebas de retail son costosas (inversión en inventario, fees de slotting) y lentas. Online es gratis probar, iterar y pivotar…
But before we dive into that, what, what were your next steps after kind of getting the product to the point where you wanted to, what was your sort of go-to-market strategy in the beginning? So a big piece was just starting with e-com, right? Traditionally, food and bev, you think of it as a brick and mortar item, because I think it's like 93% of food and bev items are bought in store. So that is where the market is. But we found it to be so critical to start online because we just got so much feedback. And this is especially true for new products trying to do new things. So like a brain bar…
Escúchalo en el minuto 11:00
No crees objeciones innecesarias en el packaging: 'keto' y 'creatina' alejan a clientes no-objetivo
Mensaje y copywritingWill Nitze explica que él eliminó 'keto' del packaging de IQ Bar porque aunque era positivo para ketoers (que iban a encontrar el producto igual), era off-putting para no-ketoers ('¿es una barra de dieta?'). Mismo razonamiento con creatina: 'no quiero creatina en mi barra' — la gente simplemente no la quiere en formato snack. El juego: incluye 'table stakes' (cosas que nadie objetaría: proteína, fibra) y evita…
Is there such a thing? Because speaking of trends, that seems like the one when it comes to, because that's what they're talking about with the, you know, it helps your neural pathways. And it's, the it product right now. I feel like. Totally. Um, no, because we don't really want to be a supplement company. So when you do that, you're, you're kind of a supplement company. And also do people want creatine from their bar? No, not really. You know, it's, it's really not that much of a pain point to add creatine powder to your smoothie or drink or whatever. So, and that would put off a lot of…
Escúchalo en el minuto 20:32
Cuida el contexto: 'esto me funcionó a mí' rara vez te funciona a ti, testa siempre en tu propio negocio
Mensaje y copywritingWill Nitze critica la cultura de 'DTC Twitter' donde la gente comparte métricas como 27.23 ROAS de un solo campaign y otros lo toman como verdad universal. 'Lo que funciona para barras no funciona para almond milk. Lo que funciona para almond milk no funciona para metal wallets. Cada mercado y base de consumidores opera diferente. Si no operas con contexto, es inútil.' Su mensaje: 'Testalo tú mismo, confirma que…
So I don't know. I mean, the other thing, too, is like everything like social media, people are just cosplaying. Right. None of this shit actually matters. All that matters is your objective results under the hood of your business. And the reality is that's extremely contextual. And so someone saying, hey, this worked for me. Well, that's great. That's not necessarily going to work for me. And even if it did, it's still better that I test it myself, confirm that it works for me. Right. Like and this is true across form factors. Like what works for bars is not going to work for almond milk…
Escúchalo en el minuto 33:25
Mensaje y copywritingWill Nitze resolvió el dilema mass-market vs depth con un diseño en dos capas: el frente del packaging apela a todos (chocolate, planta); la información más profunda (cerebro, nutrientes) vive en el lado o atrás. El cliente que solo quiere una barra de chocolate no se siente alienado; el que busca función cerebral puede 'double click' para encontrar la diferenciación. Recomendación: diseña tu packaging con…
You can be kind of esoteric and niche online because you're just going to find a zillion people in pockets of America who are into that niche. And then also you can, you have more time and space to explain things and brick and mortar. You just don't, and you have to apply, appeal to everyone. And so it's a real delicate balance and threading of a needle of how do I position our product to where I still get the sale from you. If you just want a chocolate bar or you just want to plant protein bar, or maybe you're into the brain thing. Cool. But I can't be off putting to the first guy who just…
Escúchalo en el minuto 24:01
Mass-market-iza tu messaging a medida que creces: lo esotérico funciona online pero no en retail
Mensaje y copywritingWill Nitze: 'Conforme creces, tienes que mass-market-izar tu messaging. Esto es especialmente cierto para brick-and-mortar. Online puedes ser esotérico y de nicho porque el algoritmo encuentra a las personas a las que les importa. Tienes tiempo y espacio para explicar. En retail, no — tienes que apelar a todos. Estás gastando dinero real para llevar tráfico al sitio.' El punto: el messaging para awareness/mid-funnel…
As you get bigger and bigger and bigger, you have to sort of like mass-marketize your messaging, and this is especially true for brick-and-mortar. You can be kind of esoteric and niche online because you're just going to find a zillion people who are into that niche. You have more time and space to explain things. In brick-and-mortar, you just don't. You have to appeal to everyone. You're spending real money to drive traffic to your site, but the truth is 98% of that traffic leaves without ever giving you an email. Meta knows who they are, but you don't unless you use Instant. Instant helps…
Escúchalo en el minuto 0:25
El umbral de $30M en ventas anuales es donde el gross margin se expande y se vuelve cash-flow positive
Estrategia y decisiones de negocioWill Nitze: 'El juego que estamos jugando es volumen. Tu P&L simplemente no funciona hasta que logres volumen en la mayoría de categorías de consumer goods. El umbral de volumen que típicamente right-siza tu P&L es ~$30M en ventas anuales netas. A partir de ahí, tu gross margin se expande lo suficiente para ser cash-flow positive.' IQ Bar perdió >$1M cada año los primeros 5 años. Volvió rentable el año 6, 'majorly…
But that's just not a reality of consumer goods or really manufacturing anything. So, I mean, the game we're playing is volume. Like that is, if I were to give you one word of the game we're playing, it's a volume game. That is what it is. So your P&L just does not work until you've achieved volume in most consumer good categories. And the volume threshold that typically right sizes your P&L is somewhere in the 30 million in annual net sales range. Really, the question is just how do I get to 30 million in sales? Because that's when you set yourself free. That's when you get enough volume…
Escúchalo en el minuto 14:14
Detecta categorías ausentes vs categorías no demandadas: la diferencia define tu tesis
Investigación de mercado y clienteWill Nitze (IQ Bar) distingue dos razones por las que una categoría puede no existir: (1) el mercado no la quiere, o (2) es una oportunidad sin atender. Aplicado a su caso: no había una barra de proteínas plant-based clean-label low-sugar. Esa ausencia era oportunidad, no rechazo del mercado. La prueba: cuando lanzó, vendió. Recomendación: cuando evalúes un espacio de mercado vacío, distingue entre 'no existe porque…
Everyone's tried every angle for a bar, and like 90% don't work. Sometimes things don't exist because the market doesn't want them, and other times they don't exist because it's an opportunity. There was really no clean-label, low-sugar plant protein bar. This is a principle I've applied many, times since in many different areas, but basically I was like, okay, who's done this before? And let me just call them and ask them how they did it. As you get bigger and bigger and bigger, you have to sort of like mass-marketize your messaging, and this is especially true for brick-and-mortar. You can…
Escúchalo en el minuto 0:00
Retail pone las marcas incumbentes en el peor shelf space (arriba/abajo) para empujar discovery de nuevas
Canales de adquisiciónWill Nitze explica la lógica contraintuitiva del planogram (POG) retail: las marcas más vendidas (Kind Bar) no van al eye level (el mejor espacio) sino a la fila de arriba o abajo, porque sus compradores las buscan y compran de todas formas. Las marcas menos conocidas (como IQ Bar) sí van al eye level para que la gente las descubra. Los category managers optimizan para vender la mayor cantidad de unidades totales…
You might think, cool, they'll put them at eye level because that's where the most units move. Well, no, actually. They'll put them on the bottom row or the top row. Because the people going in to buy those, they're going to buy it no matter what. Right? And so and then other brands that are maybe up and coming brands have less notoriety. They're actually at eye level, which is the best positioning. Because you're not going to lose any of those Kind Buyers. But now you're going to get people to try these new brands. Right? So it's actually sort of there are certain things that are…
Escúchalo en el minuto 26:19
Desarrolla el producto tú mismo antes de tercerizar: gana expertise que te ayuda a evaluar proveedores
Estrategia y decisiones de negocioWill Nitze defiende el camino 'hazlo tú mismo' para desarrollo de producto: 'Hice miles de iteraciones en mi cocina. Esto me obligó a entender todos los detalles del producto. Cuando después tercericé, pude evaluar mejor a los proveedores porque sabía qué preguntar y qué exigir.' El argumento contra outsourcing inicial: si tercerizas desde el día 1, nunca entiendes las sutilezas de tu producto. Recomendación: antes…
But yeah, I mean, still different people approach it different ways, product development and initial manufacturing of products like that. I took the path of trying to own it and gain the expertise myself. And so I would literally have samples of ingredients sent to my apartment and make prototypes in my apartment. Other people would go to a third party and have them develop it. So there's no one right answer. I think my way is better because you force yourself into understanding all of the ins and outs and nuances of your product. And you can evaluate third parties better when you when you do…
Escúchalo en el minuto 5:36
El 'top of funnel' verdadero: podcasts, Amazon display, Fire TV — no solo Meta
Mensaje y copywritingWill Nitze: 'El big top-of-funnel es podcasts y Amazon display. No hicimos nada de top-of-funnel real hasta hace un año — todo era direct response. Invertimos fuerte en podcasts este año como top-of-funnel.' Su equipo: 8 personas core + 15 terceros (DTC, Amazon, podcast, co-manufacturer, etc.). El podcast es interesante porque es premium top-of-funnel: menos retorno directo, pero construye marca a largo plazo…
Yeah, that's amazing. And then how do you and you mentioned a few things you do on Amazon with ads and the display network. Are there any other things that like how else do you think of awareness and consideration building in your category to bring more people into store? I mean, we do we do top of the funnel stuff like the display ads and Amazon Fire TV. And we invested heavily in podcasts this year. Oh, cool. As a top of the funnel exercise. We haven't done TV. We haven't done a little bit of radio. But no, I mean, like the big top of the funnel. And oh, you know, PR. We're ramping up. But…
Escúchalo en el minuto 27:20
Amazon outpaced DTC 4:1 en IQ Bar porque las barras son staple items de grocery basket
Canales de adquisiciónPara IQ Bar, Amazon empezó superando al DTC 4:1 en ventas. La razón: las barras de proteínas son 'staple grocery items' — la gente no ordena 50 SKU diferentes de 50 marcas; arma un basket gigante en Amazon con suscripción o compra recurrente. Para productos de pantry, Amazon es el canal natural porque centraliza las compras recurrentes. Recomendación: si tu producto es un consumible recurrente (comida, suplemento…
Organic social as well. But then we also layered on Amazon storefront. And Amazon actually started outpacing DTC like four to one just because it's sort of category specific. Like bars are just sort of a staple grocery item. And people buy staple grocery items on Amazon to a far greater extent than they go to each individual website and like place like 50 different orders. They'd rather just create a giant basket on Amazon. So that started outpacing. And then also we got this tailwind from keto. So this was in 2018, 2019, 2020, where there's just a giant boom, particularly on Amazon of people…
Escúchalo en el minuto 12:45
Seguir leyendo
Esta es una de las 1872 entrevistas despiezadas. Puedes
ver todas, leer las ideas por tema o
empezar por la ruta guiada si no sabes por dónde.