Mini Katana's Snack Pivot

A story about how Isaac, the founder of Mini Katana, strategically pivoted his business from swords to freeze-dried candy.

"Isaac starts to sit down and says 'My business got to like 10-20 million in revenue, that's not enough. I want to make a billion-dollar company.' In late 2022, he stepped back and created five requirements:

  1. Would the content playbook give us a severe unfair advantage?
  2. Does it have a huge TAM where a 1% win could be a massive outcome?
  3. Is this something I'm personally passionate about?
  4. Does this have a moat like Mini Katana store already had?
  5. The product doesn't 100% rely on marketing because I want tailwinds.

After considering these requirements, he launched Kanpai Foods, a freeze-dried candy brand. It's basically candy that has all moisture removed, leaving behind a perfectly crunchy treat. This was a strategic move from having 100% of the mini katana market to potentially getting half a percent of the much larger candy market."

31:11 - 36:38
Full video: 42:19
SP

Shaan Puri

Host of MFM

Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.

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