Perhaps you are new to the industry, too busy with booth details or considering exhibiting in the future. No matter your reasons for attending Natural Products Expo East, if you are an early- to mid-stage entrepreneur in natural, you won't want to miss the Natural Products Business School.

This is your opportunity to mix and mingle with service providers, investors, and peers the day before the show floor opens.

Here's why you should attend.

1. Industry Backing. Jane Miller, 30-year food industry executive, founder of Janeknows.com and current CEO of HannahMax Cookie Chips promotes the value of the Natural Products Business School. 

2. We are built for stories, you'll learn how to tell yours. 

To draw your customers, rally your investors, and build your key partnerships, you have to tell a good story. But what is a story, really, and how will yours be remembered and retold? Join Jay Golden, founder, storytelling coach and author of Retellable: How Your Essential Stories Unlock Power and Purpose, in an interactive exploration into how stories work, how they guide meaning and how your own collection of essential stories can transform your brand.

3. A session snapshot speaks volumes about the content of the day.

11:00 a.m.-11:40 a.m. Fearless Fundraising: Understanding your Business Financials 

Entrepreneurs often try to raise money before they are ready to do so successfully. How much do you need and for what? What kind of money should you use and when? The result is often a lot of discouraging conversations and anxiety over meeting payroll. This session is designed to reset this dynamic entirely.  

Tera Johnson, Food Finance Institute + Tera's Whey

You'll leave understanding:

4. You'll hear from experts in crowdfunding, venture capital, asset-based lending, marketplace investing, incubation, acceleration and more! 

Join PieShell, Dwight Funding, CircleUp, Chobani and Cleveland Avenue in exploring the many funding options available for emerging brands.

5. You'll break bread with investors attending the NCN Health & Wellness Forum. 

The NCN Health & Wellness Forum runs concurrently to the Natural Products Business School and provides insight for investors around market growth, new product trends and transaction activity. For the first time ever, Business School attendees will have the opportunity to share breakfast and conversation with investors attending the forum. We invite you to make meaningful connections, fill the room and enjoy our keynote kickoff together. The group will reconnect for the Pitch Slam Semi-finals again at the end of the day. 

6. You will learn a LOT about your brand (and yourself). The Natural Products Business School is focused on better business, which we believe is born from becoming more conscious versions of ourselves. We hope to see you there!