The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Brian Hack and Brit Woyma, Co-Founders of Wheretobuy.io Interview

Episode Date: November 11, 2021

Brian Hack and Brit Woyma, Co-Founders of Wheretobuy.io Interview Wheretobuy.io

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for Christ's sake? We have some amazing guests on the show. You can hear a giggling in the background if you're listening. But let's talk about them, who they are, and what they do. Today we have two co-founders on the show. This is going to be a really interesting discussion about company, business, etc., etc. We have Brittany Wyma on the show. She is the co-founder of

wheretobuy.io, the new way consumer package companies can now capture and measure grocery data quickly, efficiently, and affordably. Brian Hack is also with us, the co-founder and CEO of wheretobuy.io. He's an experienced leader and entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of owning several companies in the digital advertising and food beverages industry. And he has owned and operated several New York-based digital ad agencies. Welcome to the show, both of you. How are you? Doing great.

It's good to be here. Awesome sauce. Do you agree, Brian, or do you disagree? I think it's pretty awesome. Congrats on coming out. I will go and check that out on Goodreads. And thanks for having us on the show today. WhereToBuy.io.

Give us exactly who you guys are and what you're targeting your business to. Sure, absolutely. As you mentioned in the intro, I've worked in digital advertising with CPG, which stands for Consumer Packaged Goods Brands, for about 25 years now. the power of the internet right what do we do we raise awareness about brands we get people super excited and then we drive them to take an action be that buy online buy in a grocery store especially with food brands uh you know download a coupon all these different actions uh and so uh and britney and i have worked together for many years uh servicing some of the larger cbg brands out there but one of the problems was you know people get super excited and they ask one, like the Instagram, what you were talking about, or the Facebook or YouTube, whatever. They go in and they're like, oh, this looks yummy. Where do I buy it?

Right. And it's kind of an interesting space where many food brands don't know exactly where they're sold. Sure, they know they're in Whole Foods, but they don't necessarily have the location data. They might know that they're in, you know, Publix in the southeast, but not the exact store location. So people go to their website or they walk into the store, can't find it and get frustrated. So you've spent all this time and money and effort raising awareness and getting people excited, but then they can't take that final action, which is to purchase it. And so for years now,

we've done all this amazing advertising work, but, like, again, how do we pay that off? And so we've been trying to find a way to get this data and present it in a way that's super user-friendly. So someone would say, oh, I love your chocolate bar. Where do I find it? I put in my address, and boom, there it is. It's at the H-E-B down the street. And the reason this is so complicated is that that data is kind of held by grocery stores or by big data companies.

And it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to license that data. So a startup brand, someone new, it's just, you know, it's kind of table stakes to be able to show where you can go and buy it. But at the same time, startups are like every dollar counts. I got to, you know, I got to get production right. I got to get distribution right. So for years and years, Brittany and I have been talking about this and we're looking for a new solution on it.

And we, we, we have a, I have a good friend who's a investor and he introduced me to a company called data Assembly. And they're a cool, heavily funded startup, again, in the CPG space. Well, basically what they've done for many years now, as grocers and drugstores and convenience stores have gone online. Right. And especially now with, you know, what's happened in the era of COVID, they've been putting everything online. So you can go and do all your grocery shopping, you know, using Instacart, using the grocers.com site,

check out and have it delivered in two hours. So what does this mean? It means that all these grocers have databases online that are real time, right? That have what is in stock right now. Because otherwise you can't order something and they don't even carry that, that it can't deliver. So really, grocers have invested so much money, especially in the last couple of years,

in putting all this data out there. And what Data Assembly has done is kind of created a way to go around the Internet and using the power of the Internet, really, to collect that data, pull it in. And so they have a pricing analytics tool so you can get intelligence around pricing trends and whatnot for CPG brands. But when I met with the CL, I was like, wait a second, if you're storing the price of every package good on shelf, the, you know, the actual price of it, that means, you know, the location. And they were like, yep. So anyway, so about two years ago,

we started a company we licensed have exclusive license uh of their location data and so we built this store locator so really any company from small to large can embed on their website in their social media a location data and quickly let people know where to buy their product sorry for that long-winded uh background but that's kind of us in a nutshell. Did he miss anything, Britt? No, no. I think he hit on a lot of stuff. He hit on the whole story. But yeah, like Brian said, I think

it's, you know, a store locator is table stakes if you're a consumer packaged goods company. We've all been in those situations where we've been at a friend's house and been like, wow, this chocolate bar is so good.

Where can I find it? And if you can't find it anywhere, you don't know where to buy it. Then, you know, it's kind of a moot point. So we were really excited when we got this connection with data assembly. Um,

cause it kind of was that missing puzzle piece to what we'd been looking for. Um, literally with every brand we've worked with over the past 15 20 years i'm kind of surprised more brands don't know this but i don't know maybe i shouldn't be because yeah it seems like it's a new technological space but yeah i i will i the one thing i hate is i i'm really good at looking online and looking at websites to go is it in stock at this place or not? Cause I really hate how, if I go someplace and it's not stock, it just burns me. And, and then, so I'll be like,

is it over there? And I will go to a store and if they're out of what I want, I will go to another store to get it. And I know I'm, I'm a guy, so I'm not a power shopper. I imagine a lot of women will act the same way. And they're like, I want to find what I want. And, you know, a lot of times, sometimes before I go shopping, if I want something specific or I see something on Amazon, I'm like, I want it now. I'll, you know, I'll search for it and try and find out which store has it. Hopefully, you know, the brand has, like, one of those things that tells you where you can buy their stuff. You know, you put in your zip code and it's like, you can go to Bob's Hardware over here and get that.

So I really like that. And I find myself using those features a lot. And I'm no power shopper, like I say. Yeah. So I think it's pretty cool. You mentioned this data company that you're partnered up with, I think, Data Assembly. Yeah.

Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, I can jump in there while Brian's dogs bark. They're really cute dogs. Yeah, so Data Assembly, they're – honestly, when Brian founded Where to Buy and reached out to me about a year and a half ago. And we started talking and data assembly, again, like I said before, was the puzzle piece that made me be like, Oh my gosh, I do think that we've got something here. Because like Brian said, they're really disrupting the industry right now. So essentially, what they're doing is they're

walking the aisles of grocery stores. And I put walking in quotes for those that can't see me. They're walking the aisles of grocery stores online to find all of this availability information. What sets them apart so much is that the only other way to find that is through what is called scan data. So it's purely based off if I go to Whole Foods and I buy this particular product and it scans, that information gets sent to a company. And then as a brand manager, I have to wait six plus weeks. It's often more like 12 weeks to get my hands on that information. Wow. Right.

So what Data Assembly is doing, but in the meantime, I can go personally to WholeFoods.com in my area, type in my zip code and say, oh, look, that product is on shelf. Data Assembly is walking those aisles, pulling all of that together into a pretty package. And that is what we're using to power the store locators. So it really is the partnership with them is instrumental in us being able to create a product that is just unlike others on the market and allows us to offer it in more real time, but also more accurate, frankly. Yeah. Like I'm always looking for, for a while there, my favorite coffee, which was Death Wish coffee. I was having problems finding it. It was only in like one obscure Walmart here in my whole county. And I was lucky enough to find it. And then I started scouring the other walmart's going uh you know that i like to go to

um the one walmart was kind of ghetto um and uh uh it just was always one it's around those really small walmart's you know and uh so i was you know they don't have anything really you gotta go to the big walmart's to get good stuff so um so i i i can only find this one Walmart. So I was like constantly searching for it. Then it started popping up at other Walmarts in the area. And now I can go to several of them. But yeah, I mean, one of my favorite brands, Hint Water. I posted to my friend Cara's.

She makes like a kid version where it's in those little juice boxes. You know, you slap the, like those Capri Suns or whatever. You slap the little straw into them and like little box things that you can put in the kids' lunches. And I posted about that. I was like, hey, these are really cute. And like all my friends on Facebook were like, oh, my God, where do we get those for the kids? And I'm like, I don't know. Call a car and see.

And I think she's got a website finder but people just went crazy for him and then i'm always trying to find her caffeine water stuff and it's like so hard to find locally you can order it from the website but uh you know this is the sort of thing that consumers i think are going through now especially with some of the scarcity and some of the disruption models that are going on these days? Totally. I mean, definitely. And that's exactly what Where to Buy does.

We have a little widget that seamlessly integrates into a website. Like you were saying, you go in and you click that Where to Buy or Find a Store, and we come into our clients' websites and it's completely seamless, integrates totally with their site, and you wouldn't know it, but it's live data so that people exactly like you can when they're like uh death wish coffee where'd i okay it said this one walmart i'll drive the four miles and go as opposed to you know you hear about something you want you know something with your brand loyal you will go everywhere something else you're like oh that looks good i want to try it but if you can't find it you're gonna forget about it move on so um you know and what's

really interesting is you know the brands are talking about your friend's brand you know small to mid-sized brands desperately need this right and but they're the ones who can't necessarily afford the the high cost of all this data if you're oreo you don't need a store locator like i'm gonna go to any store in america and there's gonna be a pack of oreos on the show right i don't need it but when i've got some kind of cool coffee or tea or you know whatever the food trend is a plant-based you know that's only in certain sections of certain foods or a keto food whatever it might be um these growing brands are the ones who desperately need it because like you said you might be in one walmart but not the Walmart a mile down the road. So we're really taking that data.

We streamline it into this application that you embed on your website. And we're actually launching something in a couple of months where you can embed into your social media as well. So when people see it, they can click it and right then have the experience of, oh, this looks cool.

I see this video, whatever. You spent a million dollars making a video for or having some influencer do. And then book, you can just swipe up and it takes you to where to find it. So we're really excited about that, too. Because, again, with so many brands out there, you spend the money to raise awareness, you know, get some kind of action. But if it's a gap ad, you know where to go find a gap. You know, it's just the food space is really unique because you don't there some kind of action. But if it's a gap ad, you know where to go find a gap, you know, it's just, the food space is really unique because you don't,

there's so many options and they all, you're like, Oh, it could be this grocery could be that way, but you really need, you know, the consumer needs to build a pinpoint that quick. Yeah. I mean, I've had that problem. I'll go to the store and like I'm after like a certain, you know, jam or I'm, I'm pretty, I like a lot of kitschy products or niche products that are usually high-end stuff that's of good quality.

When I pinpoint what I want, I want it. A lot of stuff, especially if it's a food product, doesn't come all that great from Amazon. Usually, if it's canned, that thing's going to be banged open and the seal's broken by the time it gets to me because it's banged around the UPS bus for a while.

And, you know, like I think last week I ran out of my Devil's Mountain coffee and I was like, holy crap. And it was going to be five days to get a new shipment shipped in. And I was desperately trying to find it locally. I'm like, I'll drive an hour to get this stuff because I'm going to go through some serious caffeine withdrawal if I don't. So this is important. And consumers, you know, we always hear about this. Oh, consumers are just doing everything online.

No, there's still a lot of local stuff and sometimes it's the freshness of groceries and stuff. I think you need to send the Devil's Mountain our way. You need to check out Devil's Mountain Coffee. They might need a store loc Devil's Mountain our way. You need to check out Devil's Mountain Coffee. I used to be a – They might need a store locator. They definitely do. In fact, I'll reach out to them.

We were talking about sponsoring the show. They're always liking me. I just discovered I might move from Death Wish to Devil's Mountain. It's literally the highest caffeine ever. And, wow, just one cup and that's all you need. You're fired up in the morning. You don't need the two or three cups and I don't know. I should be charging them for this at this point. So, uh, there are, there are other companies doing what you guys are doing and

competing with you and what makes you guys unique from them? Yeah, definitely. So there's, there's, um, I like to say there's kind of two camps of competitors out there uh and we've kind of hinted at both of them there's bigger competitors out there but you have to license the data so it's very expensive um for these smaller brands especially so not necessarily like the oreos of the world but the smaller emerging brands that are growing um you know because you have to license that data from Nielsen or IRI. So it can get really pricey. Or there's other products out there that are they include the basically the front end.

So they include the map and the functionality, but they don't have the data. So they're very time, very time inclusive on whoever's running those. You have to make sure you have a really good grasp on your distribution and then you're staying on top of it. And, you know, it's just plugging in a lot of Excel cell sheets and it's a lot out there. So we actually created where to buy with those in mind to kind of come up with like the middle ground. So our product is inclusive of the data, but because we're capturing it in this more modern way that we already talked about with data assembly, we don't have to charge tens of thousands of dollars to license these data, these data sets from other companies out there. So

while there are other competitors out there, you know, that's what's getting us so excited about this is we do, we do have a a product i think that's going to kind of shift and disrupt um you know maybe it's not the most sexiest product but it's definitely needed out there and it's really going to disrupt what what brands have the opportunity to do yeah and i think it's important too i was talking yesterday about how with hand water i really like the caffeine product can you tell there's like a caffeine theme going on here? There's a theme here, Chris. There's a theme here. I have a problem.

Yeah. I mean, I don't drink. I don't do drugs, but I do caffeine. There you go. Do a lot. 53, that's all the body will take anymore. It's done with everything. It's like no more vodka for you.

Just stick with the caffeine, buddy. And when that runs out, I don't know what i'm gonna do but uh i don't know just go to like vitamin b shots the kind you know those big needle ones or something madonna uses anyway uh the uh so i think it's interesting so like i yeah so i was looking at hint water and i finally found a store that had her caffeine water in it, the caffeinated versions of water. And I'm like, this is awesome. So I bought, like, all of it off the shelf, hoping it would trigger, you know, whoever that is that comes by with a gun and, you know, goes, ah, they're out. We need to buy more because this is really a hot product.

They never bought more. They never refilled it. I mean, it's not Hit Water's fault. It's the local store. There might have been supply chain issues or something. It's in pretty high demand. In fact, I think it's usually sold out on our website.

I don't know. It's probably something I'm doing. Maybe I do need to seek help. That was the point where I was, as a consumer, I'm like, look, I'm willing to buy this store. Please order more please order more no one's listening so uh well with the supply chain if the world runs out of caffeine i think we'll know where to come find the uh stock yeah water coffee and everything take my take my

address off the internet right now i will be there chris we're going dark stop i mean the internet the internet went down up in silicon valley for a day and i i heard it became you know it was just it was like uh dante's inferno up there or something it was just a hellscape people tearing their faces off writhing screaming gnashing of teeth yeah it was biblical. It was a little bit crazy. The reaction to what it was, about 20 hours without Facebook was pretty wild to see freakouts.

I'm like, what did you do? Some people, I guess the phone was connected to the Comcast so they had to double down. People were sending smoke signals or something up there. I don't know. It's kind of funny. They forgot how to communicate face-to-face. Like, oh, I'm a person.

Yeah, I mean, I guess you just get in your Tesla and run people over and, I don't know, scourge a cabbage for food. And they're already breaking in cars up there. I don't know why this became a commentary on San Francisco. Anyway, so how did you guys both come up with this idea? What brought you guys together? What was the focus that brought you guys together on this? Brian, do you want to take that one?

I'll jump in. Again, it was, you know, we worked together at the last company we both worked together about five years ago, six years ago. Again, we were working with big CPG brands and doing these activities. You know, how do you using Facebook and Instagram and all these tools to drive people. And then Britt left and worked at a bunch of bigger ad, big ad agencies.

And I was working with these amazing brands that no one could find. And like every we were running social media accounts. The number one question was, where can I buy you? Right. The number on the websites, we build websites, right. The contact form every day, 30 requests. We're kind of not like, Ooh, I like, it was just like, where can I buy it? Where it was like the over.

And it's like such a no brainer, like problem again, as the sexy thing, but it's like, you spend all this time and effort. Hey, look at us, but then you can't let them buy it. And now, you know, actually, you've alluded to this as well, Chris, is, you know, a lot of food companies have moved forward with dot com presences during, you know, you know, especially you've seen the acceleration during COVID. Just, you know, and now with, you know, a lot of the supply chain issues. And that's something our locator does as well we allow people to when they're in the locator see that you know 20 closest stores and where they can buy it they can click it right there and add it to their you know prober card or wherever it might be um or they can just go online and buy it we link out we have all the different so you can go to the brands.com, you know, Hempwater or whomever's website, purchase it there, go to Amazon to purchase,

go to Instagram, you know, so we really are trying to make it super easy for the consumer to be able to purchase however they like to shop. But so anyway, as this was building, you know, I was doing some beta testing with some of our current clients. Everyone was like, this is the best thing I've seen. I've owned and sold a few companies, but the reaction on this, I was doing cold calls with giving it away when you start a business. Here, just try it out. Tell me how it is. Several times, we're like, do you need money? Do you want money? Just because there was so much excitement.

Then I reached out to Brett, someone was you know uh someone i worked with as i mentioned before and and it's just amazing i was like hey i've got something really cool and kind of walked her through it and that's how we uh kind of restarted the band if you will yeah and i think i i think i'll add too i i mean correct me if i'm wrong brian but i don't think either of us was like how can we create a new store locator? Like, it's not it wasn't like Facebook where it was like, I want to create this social network, you know. But what happened was long story of how Brian got connected to the company at Data Assembly. But I think what's so great about this is there was an opportunity once we understood how what Data assembly was doing to say, how can we use this data?

Like this data has to be able to be used in other ways. And that's when it like clicked. It was like, well, people were having, we hate the store locator options out there. Now we now have this data at our fingertips. And it was kind of like, once we saw this opportunity, that's when the doors really opened of like, we can turn this into something real. Like this is an opportunity that would just came about that we were able to

kind of flex and mold and turn into something that felt real and actually valuable, like something we can stand behind and say like, this is everyone needs this and everyone should be using this. Yeah. In fact, I remember one time I was going, I found a place,

CBS had finally got hit water here locally. I don't know. I live in Utah, so it's kind of in the backwoods, basically. It's kind of like being in, I don't know, Alabama or Mississippi, only with, I don't know, I don't have a joke for it, just more stupid people. I don't know. I just lost the Mississippi crowd. I'm just kidding, people.

I don't know, man. Sometimes you can't find stuff here that you're just like, man, what's going on? lost the mississippi crowd i'm just kidding people um i don't know man it's sometimes you can't find stuff here that you're just like man what's going on so uh the the cvs had my hit water and then they and then they quit carrying it and i was like what i feel so betrayed so you know it's important like you say um i'm i've gotten really i don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing but i've gotten really good at buying stuff off Instagram. Like if I see something, I hit that shop button. I didn't used to be that way, but I guess, I don't know what,

but I'll see something. And I know that if I don't wave my money at that or my credit card that and buy that later, I'll be like, what was that sauce that I saw that was good on steaks that uh seasoning i wanted to order and i'm so bad now well i'm so good i don't know if it's bad or good but all what i'll do now is i'll do a screenshot of it if i can't really get to their website and look at it but yeah it's it's really it's really hard for i can't imagine being a brand and people are like waving money going hey we want to buy it we want it now shut up and take my money and you're just like well we got to find a location now right and

you're just like wait i just i just want to buy it just what's that what's that old uh isn't there an acronym for that the ease of purchase or ease of buying or something like that i don't know uh not that i'm aware but i think there's some sort of ease of buying or just taking out all the walls and barriers to people. Removing the barriers to entry? Yeah. Removing that to just make it frictionless commerce? Frictionless commerce. Maybe that's it.

So where can brands go to sign up with you guys and learn more about your company and cost evolves, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah. I mean, you can go to our website. That's the best place to get the information, which is just wheretobuy.io. And that'll have all of the high-level information. You can set up a demo. It takes us about 20 minutes to really walk you through how the data works and how we

set it up for you. I would say that's the best place to probably reach us right now. Cool. That probably helps a lot of companies that are trying to compete. You know, like you say, smaller, mid-sized companies that, you know, they don't have that extra buying dollar to buy the whole, you know, I know that inside stores there's this whole battle for shelf space and you're fighting the big brands who can, you know,

throw all sorts of money at controlling the shelf space. So this definitely gives them a bit of an edge. And, of course, it helps the stores because, you know, it gives them what clients want where, hey, the consumer wants this product, you know. Get my specialized coffee on your darn shelves and you know and we have that in the back end too which brands love we're trying to pitch the stores like look we have all these requests for your store you know and and but hey we're only in 20 of your stores look at all these searches you know that's part of what you get is you get

to see all the searches that are happening and it and our clients use it for when they're in there like get us in another 30 doors right so I think that the moral of today is grocery stores should just sell coffee rows and rows of highly caffeinated beverages at least in the greater Utah

you know you give me a brilliant idea you know how they have those stores that just sell like cigarettes yeah like I just need a store that just sell, like, cigarettes? Yeah. Like, I just need a store that just sells caffeine items. A caffeine shop. Like, this is the caffeine shop. The caffeine shop.

We've got soda. We're going to call it the Jitters. The Jitters. Jitters Inc. Got the caffeine Jitters. I like that. Yeah. People go in there. That should be an interesting place.

And then you won't be able to tell who's on meth and who's on caffeine. It's like, I'm not talking to myself. Anyway, I don't know why that joke comes. We just lost the meth crowd. What are your current clients that you guys have at your company so far? Or do you want to drop names on? Yeah, we've got, I mean, we've got, let's see, we've been around for, I would say, fully, like, functioning for about a year.

We've got about 60 different clients, and they range all over the map from, I'm trying to think who I'm allowed to, like, actually, like, say a lot that said we can still use. The PR agency put the question in here, so. Yeah, so, I mean, Veggies Made Great is one of our clients. I'm trying to think of some places to drive you everything. We've got some small brands like FitJoy, Bantam Bagels, which is a Shark Tank product. There's a couple of bigger brands that we've recently signed that, you know, we're still building out their locators. But, you know, I think, I think that, you know, what you were talking about kind of frictionless and changing the way that consumers can purchase and, you know, the store locator, I think we're kind of doing that with our store locator software in the sense that, you know, we're changing with the times, you know, that the other the other ways to get this, like I said before, to pay a bunch of money for data. But we're doing it like the modern way. Data assembly is really doing it the modern way

of doing, I keep saying, it's like, you wouldn't, you no longer call a cab company anymore, right? Like you go to Lyft or Uber, like that's just like the way of the world now. So it's like, why would you pay thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for this licensed data when we can just get it off of the internet for you and, you know, take all of that workout for you. And it's like, we're,

we're, we're kind of like the new modern way of doing things. So I feel like we're just taking the friction out of it for the brand managers and for the brands. Yeah. Making it much speedier, more real time because you know, the stuff can disappear off the shelves.

Like the one time I bought a bottle of water disappear off the shelves like the one time i bought a bottle of water caffeine off the shelves yeah we do have two coffee brands one unfortunately can't name but they're big big big company but the other one's high brew coffee which is known for their high caffeination so if you haven't really i'll just check that out too i really have a lot of caffeine i have some issues about that uh so uh what what are they telling you about the business and stuff and what they're seeing out in the marketplace and how you guys are helping them? Our clients? Yes. Sorry.

Oh, yeah. I mean, the number one thing that we just hear from people is, you know, we kind of talked about this at the beginning is where, where have you guys been? Like, there's never been an in between. It's always been very expensive and kind of a pain in the butt, or it's been very time consuming and I'm literally entering rows of data. So everyone's like, where have you guys been? This is so great. It's more real time, which people love. We're actually you you know i think brian mentioned this at the beginning of the of of the call is a lot of these brands don't know where they're in you know they know that they're they know that they're in let's say kroger but they're like i

don't really know like which products are in kroger and how many kroger so also it's so it was a little shocking to me to learn that. But it's a true story. So you know, we have a is part of like the the tool itself is great. But also, we offer a dashboard. And in that dashboard, we're giving real time analytics. And we're giving an overview every time we update data, they can pop in there and say like, Oh my gosh, I didn't know I was in 4000 Kroger's. And you know, these are the products that they're carrying in Kroger so there's a lot of benefits to these brands and frankly you know the the last I think it's just I think we're really answering a need for them um as that like other option I I you know was just doing a couple calls this week and all three people were like you guys are the in-between

option I've been looking for, like in a good way. And I was like, yeah, that's why we built this. We literally built this to be that option you guys wanted. And I can see how sometimes there might be geolocations where a product gets hot and like it's really being bought up. And if you're not aware of what's going on, so that just like a military war,

you could be like, hey hey we need to send more supplies over to you know oregon or you know someplace you know we need to oh yeah it's so for some reason we're really hot in that zone over there and we need to make sure we get supplies over there i imagine that's that that would you know one of those things where you have that real-time stuff to go hey we need to you know bulk up what's on the shelves over maybe on that area yeah and that's including that dashboard we have a heat map overlay of us and canada and we show where people are coming from so that you can see like hot zones if you will like going back to you know like the that type of analogy like hot zones of where things are spiking um and you can see that like over a day period,

over a week, over a month, you can kind of set the trend you want. And then we actually list it out by product skews. So you can see, you know, in, you know, City X, there is a huge spike month over month for, you know, vanilla flavored coffee. I guess this is gonna be called the Chris Voss Coffee Show. But, you know, like, you know,

so they can actually go in and see the, you know, see in real time what's going on. So yeah, it's, it's that data. And it really is. It's just exciting because we're giving people stuff,

you know, that they haven't had access to. And, and we're like, when we first started this, as with any startup, you're testing everything. you know, like I i said we'd go offering to people for free and one of the things we did was said look try it cancel us for any freaking reason because you're you're nail

hurts i don't care you can cancel us you're out not no long term any reason and as of yet no one's taken us on that right like it's really. Like honestly, you can sneeze and be like, I'm done. And then, hey, we're done, all good. And that's how confident we are. The data is, you know, it's incredibly precise and it's only gotten better, unfortunately, through this COVID issue because grocers have to, they have to have real-time e-commerce systems

or people are going to shop somewhere else if they can't find it. So that's only enabling our product to get better. But yeah, I think that going back to your question, what's the feedback? A lot of people are like, wow, this is really accurate, and wow, I didn't know I was there to think. So it's fun. I just realized even though I took my address off the internet just now, my staff did,

that my heat map of purchases of caffeine products is going to give me away. Yeah, I was actually looking into our coffee business and we've now found out exactly what you're saying. Turn it. We're going to have to put one of those bomber nets across the house, people. Anyway. Pour more concrete

for the zombie apocalypse. So how do you guys measure your success for you guys as as runners of the company and what are your goals and next steps for where to buy yeah um our goal you know our number one goal is just reaching mass awareness to brand managers right like getting adoption again it's like britt said, we do a 15, 20-minute demo. We can set you up in a few weeks. There are no long-term contracts. You can go month to month. We just want people to try it because it's kind of fun.

I've done this before in my career where you kind of take something powered by the internet and kind of disrupt an industry. Yes, it's an overused word, but that's kind of what we're doing here. We're kind of moving away from old, stale, expensive data and harnessing what's out there and giving it a fraction of the price of what other places do. So we just really want people to try it out and give us feedback. And how, you know, success. It's,

this isn't a like flip it and like whatever. This is fine. Like we've, I don't know. I don't want to speak for you, but I've done a lot of these different things. This is kind of fun. Again,

it's this disruptive angle of like letting people like, I can't tell you how many clients that I worked with on the advertising side who have amazing products, just can't compete. But like you were saying, how the variants come in, steal the shelf space. They buy a bunch of ads and grocery stores to kind of strategically place themselves. Right.

So kind of like, you know, fighting for the little guy. It's kind of how I built my career is like the internet. And this is very cliche, but it really, even a lot of the playing field, right?

Like anyone can go out on Facebook or Google and get an ad and be at the same place. You don't have to spend a trillion dollars on a Super Bowl commercial or add in a magazine, right? Now anyone, you know, if you have a good product and a good idea. So they were kind of doing the same thing, kind of letting the smaller guys like, you know,

be able to have this critical tool at a really affordable price. So for me, the goal is just it's fun and it's just growth is what's going to be successful. I think it's awesome. I love the real time. I love the just-in-time inventory sort of aspects of it. You know, right now there's a lot of supply disruption of stuff. So sometimes you can go to the store and they're completely out of your thing.

Yeah, go ahead, Britt. Sorry. No, I was just going to say, I think, like Brian said, I think the product's there. We feel very confident in the product. So in terms of success, it's just continuing to spread the word and getting the adoption of it. And we've got some other things in the wings too, where we're trying to, we've got other features that are going to be rolling out that help shorten the path to purchase. I think, you know,

the long run goal, like we'd love to be like a one-stop shop to help, especially these like little guys and these emerging brands that like need it, be able to drive people in store to purchase. and I think, you know, what's exciting, like Brian said, it's not like our goal is to hit this number of revenue and sell like that's not the type

of product this is. It's just to continue growing and being that source of, you know, like I love getting on these calls and having people be like, I knew there had to be another way to do this. I knew it. And I'm like, I know it's us. It's us. And so like, that's, what's exciting. And so just to continue being able to do that for these brands is great. And I think, you know, like you were mentioning, we all love to support the, we all love to support the local brands and, you know, things are making such a shift towards smaller and local and, um, you know, being able to, to do that and provide an option for these brands is exciting. Yeah. And definitely to, you know, and help them succeed because they can make more money and get on shelf space. And, you know, our friends at Devil's Mountain need to do that.

They need to get local on my shelf space during it because when you run out of caffeine, you can't wait five days for a shipment. Especially now with the way the mail time is taking. Like, even like Amazon's getting screwed up now where you order something from Amazon, it's taking more time. And you're just like, I need it now. Especially if it's caffeine because the worst thing to do is go through withdrawals. Any advice you can give to entrepreneurs as we part on starting a business? Well, this is my first time being an entrepreneur. So I'm still kind of like, oh my gosh, I is my first time being an entrepreneur. So I'm still like,

I, it's still, I'm still kind of like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing this. And so I guess my advice is just look for the opportunity and take it. If there's an opportunity there and you feel like deep down, like you're like,

this is a real opportunity, which is how I felt when Brian brought this to me. And, you know, honestly, I've worked with CPG brands in a completely different context in my career. So this was like many things in 2020 and 2021, like a total opposite of where I thought I'd be going.

But the opportunity was there. So I trusted my gut and, you know, take it. Take it. If it comes your way, take it. That's awesome. Yeah. And for me, it's like kind of it's like yeah trust trust like what brett said trust trust your gut but it's so many entrepreneurs and

chris i'm sure you've done like you have a good idea and you kind of kind of get a go against some of your instinct listen to your gut and not your over analysis i've had great ideas where my gut said no but then when i did analysis well this says doing paper would make a lot of money and then you went down that path and it does nothing or your gut saying go and then you're kind of being barred like i don't so it's there's a case for analysis but ultimately and you definitely need to make sure there's a mark and all that good stuff but you kind of got to go and then when you go just go with all your heart and soul,

right? Like don't second guess yourself. Cause I've done that many times. And the ones that are successful, you just, for me, I've been lucky to have a couple of successes. It's,

you know, you build the right team, you have the right idea, but then you just give it everything. And, and, and I know that's really cliche, but it's,

I have a bad habit of sitting and writing lists and doing lists and spending more time on my list and actually doing more. So it's really cliche, but it's, I have a bad habit of sitting and writing lists and doing lists and spending more time on my list and actually doing more. So it's just like, all right, make a decision and then go. That's Brian brought me in. I am the one that says, get on this, go. There you go. I'm talking about it, do it. And we just had that conversation right before our call.

Yeah, you're still doing this? You know, having a passion and love like you guys talk about for a product and what you do and really being like, this is cool and being like you guys talk about for a product and what you do and really being like, this is cool, and being fired up about it, that makes all the difference. Yeah. It gets you through all the crazy times, the ups and downs, and, you know, you can still love that thing even when, you know, you get those times where you're like, how do we fix this problem? Yeah, yeah.

So there you go. Well, it's been wonderful to have the both of you on the show. Anything we need to cover in parting? No. Um, you know, I think we should plan on, on talking in about jitters.

I think we do have a great business there. So after where to buy is, um, well, actually we have this, we have this other thing, this other idea of how we can use our data. And it has to do kind of with something like jitters.

So as soon as you've got that ironed out you'll you'll be the first one we call the place for you to get your caffeine fixed it'll just be like five hour energy wait is it most is it most uh fuel stops like this anyway uh so guys it's been wonderful having you on the show and talk about your company. Uh, give us your plugs, your.io so that people can find you guys on the interwebs. Yeah, you can find our website at wheretobuy.io and you can also follow us on LinkedIn, uh, where to buy, uh, just search for us on LinkedIn for where to buy and you'll find us and that'll give you some news, some updates where we'll let everybody know, um, some of the new fun features, but visit our website for more information.

And if you guys consult with brands or work with brands or you're working with a brand, refer this out because we need more of this because I need to be able to get my caffeine when I need it. I need to get my fish sticks or I don't know. I like jam. I'm a purveyor of expensive jams. You name it, we've got it covered. I want't know. I like jam. I'm a purveyor of expensive jams. You name it, we've got it covered. I want everything now. I bet there's an idea there.

I want everything now and I'm tired of waiting for the stuff because the post office has gotten worse. The post office has gotten really bad. I want more of my stuff now because I don't know when the next apocalypse is going to hit. We've gotten, spoiled,

right? Doesn't come in two days and it comes in four days. I'm like, there could be COVID Z by that time. So I got to eat while I was still around. And hey guys, thanks for tuning in. Thanks to my audience for being here.

Uh, thanks to Brian and Brit for being with us. Thank you very much for being on the show guys. Chris, it's been a pleasure. Great meeting you. Good luck on the us. Thank you very much for being on the show, guys. Chris, it's been a pleasure. Great meeting you. Good luck on the book. Thank you. And my dinner project, right? Yeah. Good luck with dinners. I can see the franchises

now. Anyway, guys, thanks for tuning in. This has been a fun show. Thanks for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4Chest, Chris Voss, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, all those great places on the interwebs. Also go to youtube.com, Fortress Chris Voss. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other, and we'll see you guys next time.