“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.”
The Startup CPG Podcast · Alternative Proteins · November 2026
Context
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.
Transcript
…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.
…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?
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…
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…
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…
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…
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