Natural Products Business School: Build your brand to be a successful Tardigrade

Building a successful brand takes planning, time and determination. Elliot Begoun will share the fundamentals of achieving long-term success.

Victoria A.F. Camron, Digital content specialist

April 18, 2022

2 Min Read
Natural Products Business School: Build your brand to be a successful Tardigrade
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Elliot Begoun, founder of TIG Brands and a New Hope Network columnist and Natural Products Business School featured speaker, says it's more likely a brand will be a tardigrade—a multi-cellular, microscopic organism known for its resiliency and efficiency under extreme conditions—than a unicorn.

elliot begoun headshot 2022During Natural Products Business School, Begoun will explain why a Tardigrade business is better than a magical yet fleeting brand. In his session, "Tardigrades vs Unicorns—The Less Celebrated Path to Brand Success," he will discuss the importance of building a business with solid fundamentals, unit economics and a path to profitability. The session is scheduled to start at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, April 27.

Over the past 10 months, he has written 10 IdeaXchange columns touting the benefits of being a tardigrade and how to achieve that long-term stability. In his June 28 column, "Why Tardigrades are in the best position to survive 2021," he previewed the top traits of tardigrades, which are the topics of his columns:

  • Capital efficient—They are laser-focused on unit and channel economics.

  • Growth hyphothesis—Their growth plan is compelling, testable and measurable.

  • Growth hack—They constantly seek ways to challenge their growth hypothesis.

  • Investment ready—They have a clear capital strategy and a strong investor narrative.

  • Shopper continuum—Tardigrades work both ends of the shopper continuum, from brick and mortar to digital, or from discovery to replenishment.     

  • Discipline—They approach retail with meter and discipline, discerning the important from the interesting.

  • Nimble—With small, agile teams, they move faster than their competition and embrace imperfect action.

  • Accountability—They plan, they forecast, they execute. Rigor and responsibility are infused throughout the business. 

  • Community—They know brands need collaborators and champions as well as shoppers, and they spend time building cohesive relationships.

  • Resilience—They can withstand harsh conditions and know how to protect themselves.

Related:Natural Products Business School meets online April 27

Natural Products Expo Virtual logoNatural Products Business School supports emerging brands in finding the resources and information needed to fuel growth and scale impact. To participate in our April 27 programming and access On Demand content, become an All-Access Member of Natural Products Expo Virtual Community, which grants you access to premium content, industry benefits, buyer meetings and more throughout 2022.

About the Author

Victoria A.F. Camron

Digital content specialist, New Hope Network

Victoria A.F. Camron was a freelance writer and editor contracted with New Hope Network from 2015 until April 2022, when she was hired as New Hope Network's digital content specialist—otherwise known as the web editor.

As she continues the work she has done for years—covering the natural products industry for NewHope.com and Natural Foods Merchandiser; writing up earnings calls and other corporate news; and curating roundups of trends and information for the website—she is thrilled to be an official part of the New Hope team. (She doesn't mind having paid holidays and vacations again, though!) Victoria also compiled and edited newsletters, and served as interim content director for Delicious Living in 2016.

Before working as a freelancer, she spent 17 years in community newspapers in Longmont, Colorado, and St. Charles and Wheaton, Illinois. Victoria is a Colorado native and a graduate of Metropolitan State College of Denver.

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