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Griffin Spolansky

Things Griffin Says on Podcasts

“I raised $500,000 and that took us from 200K in revenue to a million revenue. Then I raised $2 million and that took us from a million to $5 million. Then I raised $4 million or $5 million, and that took us from $5 million to $20 million. Every time I raised, I had a goal in mind: this is where our revenue is going to go over the next 18 months. And every time we hit it, we were able to raise the subsequent round. … If I had to do it again, I would raise a larger chunk off the bat.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast “The outsider's perspective is the bigger you get, the easier it gets, or maybe the less you get punched. And that's 100% not true. … The punches are bigger. The stakes are higher. Whether you're a $20 million brand, a $40 million brand, $100 million brand, I think everyone can attest to that.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast “I would say part of it was delusion, or me being naive. I'm 21 years old at the time. I never really worked formally anywhere. I didn't even know what CPG stood for, the acronym. So a lot of it was delusion. … It's not like there was immense product market fit. There never really is in the beginning. People like the bars, but it's friends and family.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast “We always projected very conservatively. A lot of founders and early stage businesses project really aggressively, which is tough because when you don't hit it, your investors are upset. But even putting that aside, you don't plan out cash based on how much you're actually going to hit in revenue. So at the end of the year, let's say you hit 70% of that revenue or 50% of the revenue. Then your cash position is a lot worse than you thought it would be.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast

Where to Find Them

Griffin Spolansky has been a guest on The Startup CPG Podcast .

Recently: “What 3+ Successful Funding Rounds Taught Mezcla's Founder About Raising Capital” on The Startup CPG Podcast (November 2026).

What They Said

“I raised $500,000 and that took us from 200K in revenue to a million revenue. Then I raised $2 million and that took us from a million to $5 million. Then I raised $4 million or $5 million, and that took us from $5 million to $20 million. Every time I raised, I had a goal in mind: this is where our revenue is going to go over the next 18 months. And every time we hit it, we were able to raise the subsequent round. … If I had to do it again, I would raise a larger chunk off the bat.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast

The founder lays out Mezcla's three small funding rounds, each tied to an 18-month revenue goal, and says he'd raise more up front if starting over.

The Startup CPG Podcast · 2026-11-07 Permalink → Listen →
The Startup CPG Podcast Around 05:52 into the episode
Griffin Spolansky

…that's really important for us. Our products need to taste amazing and deliver on deliciousness. And then from there, they have to have some functional benefit. So that's really what we're delivering. And that's really where we see the white space, not just in the bar aisle, but across aisles.

Hannah Dittman

…of your company. I'd love to understand the founder story journey has been. Obviously, you guys met in school. We're off into the races after that. But what was the unfolding of Mezcla? How did it all come together? And what has the fundraising journey been like as well as part of that process?

Griffin Spolansky

Yeah, I mean, look, I think fundraising was extremely difficult for me in the early innings of building the business because I was a young college grad trying to go out there and raise money, an idea that was launching into a very competitive market in an industry that I had never worked in before. So that was not easy. But what I will say is for me, I always tried to raise small amounts of capital that would get me through to the next stage because honestly, I had to at that point. I wasn't able to go out and raise a $10 million round off the bat. So I went out and I raised $500,000 and that took us from 200K in revenue to a million revenue. And then I went out and I raised $2 million and that took us from a million revenue to $5 million revenue. And then I raised $4 million or $5 million. Now took us from $5 million in revenue to $20 million revenue, right? So like that's kind of how I went about doing it is I would just raise smaller tranches. And basically every time I raised, I had a goal in mind. And I would say, look, like this is where our revenue is going to go over the next 18 months. And every time we hit it and we were able to raise the subsequent round. So that's kind of how I think about funding, or at least I thought about funding for the business…

Hannah Dittman

Yeah, I mean, to your point, like there's always a reason why something is a huge challenge or obstacle. Part of being a founder is like overcoming these things and like being young and having to prove it out the hard way before people take you seriously and like really cut your teeth on the…

Griffin Spolansky

Yeah, I would say I got this advice pretty early on. Well, first off, the first few rounds were. We were really angels. So it was a little bit easier because they had less control over the business. And I was trying to bring in people who had already done this before, whether they were really…

Hannah Dittman

Really sage advice. And I think it's no surprise that getting into any formal relationship with someone, romantic, professional, co-founder, it's like these influence your experience so dramatically. And I think investor is no different. And it sounds like you were really wise to surround yourself…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“The outsider's perspective is the bigger you get, the easier it gets, or maybe the less you get punched. And that's 100% not true. … The punches are bigger. The stakes are higher. Whether you're a $20 million brand, a $40 million brand, $100 million brand, I think everyone can attest to that.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast

The host compared being a founder to a boxer who keeps taking hits. The founder extends the metaphor: scale doesn't make the job easier, just different.

The Startup CPG Podcast · 2026-11-07 Permalink → Listen →
The Startup CPG Podcast Around 17:36 into the episode
Griffin Spolansky

…thing about entrepreneurship is in a day or a week, you can get hit in the face like 100 times and literally feel like you're going to break down. But in the same week, you can also have like some of the biggest wins. So I do think that's like pretty interesting to think about for sure as well.

Hannah Dittman

…But I think being a founder is being a boxer in a ring. And it's like, how many hits can you take? And you're still going to come back out. You know, you're outsized. You know, you're outmatched. And you're still just going to stand there and be like, cool, hit me then. I will survive. And it's

Griffin Spolansky

funny because I think the outsider's perspective is the bigger you get, the easier it gets. Or like maybe the less you get punched, right? And that's 100% not true. And I think everyone can attest to that.

Hannah Dittman

No, and the punches are bigger.

Griffin Spolansky

Exactly. The punches are bigger, right? The stakes are higher. I think everyone can attest to that, whether you're a $20 million brand, a $40 million brand, $100 million brand. So I think that's always funny because every time I speak to someone now starting a business, it's always like, oh, it…

Hannah Dittman

Yeah, you went featherweight to heavyweight and the hits still hurt. I

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“I would say part of it was delusion, or me being naive. I'm 21 years old at the time. I never really worked formally anywhere. I didn't even know what CPG stood for, the acronym. So a lot of it was delusion. … It's not like there was immense product market fit. There never really is in the beginning. People like the bars, but it's friends and family.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast

Asked what gave him conviction when he first raised money, the founder says candidly it was naivete and self-belief rather than evidence.

The Startup CPG Podcast · 2026-11-07 Permalink → Listen →
The Startup CPG Podcast Around 08:29 into the episode
Griffin Spolansky

…So that was really a good learning for me. And what I will say is so far, all of our funds have been amazing to work with and have been great partners. I think that's a reflection on the fact that we were able to take our time and be very thoughtful with who we decided to let into the business.

Hannah Dittman

…early on when you were first going out to fundraise that you felt like this is going to be something and I'm going to be able to achieve the things that I'm saying to these investors that we're going to achieve? How did you feel that level of confidence and conviction in what you were doing? Yeah,

Griffin Spolansky

I mean, it's a great question. I would say part of it was delusion or me being naive. Like I said, like I'm 21 years old at the time. I have never worked in a true capacity, right? Where I interned at places, but I never really worked formally anywhere. I didn't know anything about CBG. I didn't even know what CBG stood for, the acronym, right? Like, so there are a lot of things that I just had no idea what I was doing at the time. So I think a lot of it was delusion. That said, I also think that I felt very strongly that I would push through any banners that came my way. I think being a student athlete and even walking onto the team of Virginia, right? Like I was so used to overcoming adversity. So I felt very confident in myself and very confident that I could overcome adversity along the way. But I think it was a mixture of a little bit of delusion, a little bit of me being naive, and then also a little bit of me just really believing in myself. Because the truth is, like, it's not like there was immense product market fit. There never really is in the beginning, right? People like the bars, but like friends and family. So like…

Hannah Dittman

I feel like it's a huge bet you make on yourself as a founder. And I honestly think sometimes not having as many reps or not having as much deep experience helps you be a little bit more fearless. It's almost like you don't know. It's like the more you know, the more you know what can go wrong. It…

Griffin Spolansky

So I would say in the more recent days, people have just been excited that we consistently hit our numbers. Look, not every year is a perfect year, right? I want to be very clear on that. In some years, it's not exactly what you envision, but we've always been very honest and open with not only our…

Hannah Dittman

love that you built things out and you said that. And I think that's so true, right? It's like you're building something bigger than yourself. You start out building yourself, I guess. For sure. And I think what a cool testament and just an awesome milestone as a founder to look around and realize…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“We always projected very conservatively. A lot of founders and early stage businesses project really aggressively, which is tough because when you don't hit it, your investors are upset. But even putting that aside, you don't plan out cash based on how much you're actually going to hit in revenue. So at the end of the year, let's say you hit 70% of that revenue or 50% of the revenue. Then your cash position is a lot worse than you thought it would be.” — Griffin Spolansky, The Startup CPG Podcast

Asked what drove Mezcla hitting its numbers and raising round after round, the founder says the key was conservative projections, especially for cash planning.

The Startup CPG Podcast · 2026-11-07 Permalink → Listen →
The Startup CPG Podcast Around 21:31 into the episode
Griffin Spolansky

don't know if we're heavy. Yeah, maybe right in the middle. But yeah.

Hannah Dittman

…the business? Obviously, it's not just capital. I'm sure it's capital enabled, but you were clearly growing before you got a ton of capital in the door too. So what was the way that you were approaching operating and managing that growth? And where do you think you guys were gaining success from?

Griffin Spolansky

I think the biggest thing for us was we always projected very conservatively. I think a lot of founders and early stage businesses project really aggressively, which is tough because when you don't hit it, your investors are upset. But even putting that aside, it's tough because you don't plan out cash based on how much you're actually going to hidden revenue. So at the end of the year, let's say you hit 70% of that revenue or 50% of the revenue, right? Like then your cash position is at a lot worse of a place than you thought it would be. So we always tried to be really conservative with how we projected out cash. And that's always been really helpful for us as a business. So I would say that has been one of the biggest things in terms of like how we're thinking about modeling out the future is like, let's make sure we're being conservative across the board, right? If it's velocities, I'm making this up, right? But let's say that you're expected to sell five units per scuba store per week, maybe put four there. And of course, like when it comes to demand and how much you need to produce, give the team the five number that you think. But when it comes to cash and how you're thinking about everything, salaries, right? Like maybe you…

Hannah Dittman

Yeah, it's definitely you're clearly rooted in your operations, which is great. Not a lot of founders, or I would say there's different camps of founders and not all founders have like the operational diligence or know-how or kind of drive the business off of a budget or think about things like…

Griffin Spolansky

I mean, what I'll say is. This. We have incredible advisors. We've had advisors since the founding of the business. And my whole goal with who we surrounded ourselves with was: let's find people who are two, three, four, five steps ahead of us and let's build them around us so they can really help…

Hannah Dittman

yeah, I think it takes a village. And the more people you gather around the table, I think helps lubricate all these processes too. It's not just that it's helpful advice, it is, but it's also signaling, it's network building. So, when you have a pool to hire from, there's so many positive…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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