In this Founder Fundraising Journey episode, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Tal Moore, founder and CEO of Popsmith, a design-forward stovetop popcorn brand that's landed on Oprah's Favorite Things list and is heading into Williams Sonoma nationwide this year.
Tal is a serial e-commerce founder with 25 years in the space, starting as a 12-year-old selling gumballs and candy in elementary school before building and exiting multiple online businesses, including a popcorn equipment store he ran two decades before launching Popsmith. After divesting from his other ventures, he went all-in on building the popcorn brand he always wished existed, one built around the nostalgia of movie nights and the superior taste of kettle-popped corn.
Hannah and Tal dig into the real cost of bringing a premium physical product to market, the inventory mistake that nearly sank the business in its first year, how Oprah's Favorite Things bailed them out at the perfect moment, and why equity crowdfunding on StartEngine turned out to be the ideal fundraising path for a consumer brand like Popsmith.
Listen in as they discuss:
- Tal's decades-long path through e-commerce, from candy sales as a kid to running seven-figure online stores
- Why Popsmith set out to recreate movie-theater-quality popcorn with an heirloom-quality stovetop popper
- The $2.2 million in personal capital and $1.6 million friends and family round that got Popsmith off the ground
- The inventory miscalculation that nearly sank the business before Oprah's Favorite Things saved it
- Why equity crowdfunding through StartEngine made more sense than venture capital at their stage
- The key ingredients Tal believes make a brand succeed on an equity crowdfunding platform
- Why Popsmith invites its own customers to become equity holders starting at just $500
- What the new StartEngine raise will fund, from holiday inventory to accelerating marketing spend
- Tal's biggest lesson on capital management: never let yourself get undercapitalized
- Why 25 years of community involvement made his friends-and-family raise possible
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