14. Best Friends, Big Moves: How GoNanas Scaled from College Side Hustle to Thriving Business — The 2% Club with Rach Hirsch

Hello everyone and welcome back to the FemPortfolio Podcast. I'm your co-host Brynn Bradshaw-Mack.

And I'm Rachel Hirsch. And today we have Annie and Morgan from GoNanas, and I am so excited. Can you guys tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

Ze.

Totally.

So, I'm like, where do we begin? Well, we met in college at the University of Michigan. I'm from Houston, Texas. I wanna be a doctor, wanted to be a doctor, so I ended up at Michigan.

And I grew up in Michigan and that was kind of the only school that I was ever going to.

And we were actually neighbors in the dorms at the University of Michigan. So that's how we met and crossed paths.

Yeah. That's so fun.

I would love for you guys to share what was the impetus behind starting the brand.

Yeah. So as Morgan just mentioned, we were neighbors and we really bonded over a love for healthy eating and fitness and then found this niche love for banana bread. Um, and we really just felt like there were no good options for better-for-you baked goods on campus. So. You know, if we wanted something on the way to class, we'd have to pick up a Starbucks pastry, which are yummy, but not necessarily made with the greatest ingredients. And we wanted to change that. So her family had a recipe, my family had a recipe, and we sort of combined them and then subbed in better-for-you ingredients and spent a very long time recipe testing. Yeah, years. And then we just started selling to juice bars and local cafes around campus. And then I'll pass it to you if you wanna take over.

And then the big pivot was during COVID when banana bread was conveniently blowing up business, but we pivoted and launched our first at-home mixes when everyone was stuck at home baking. And that's what really took off. And they obviously have a longer shelf life, so easier business to scale. So really that 2020, 2021 period was a really big turning point for us. Where we started focusing on the mixes and that's what really started to take off. And then we, uh, went into retail in 2023 and have just been growing our national retail presence ever since.

So how did you go? Were you guys making them in your dorms? Were you going to houses on the weekends? What was that whole process like?

Yeah, we were definitely baking more than we were going to classes.

I would say our launch was like a 24-hour baking period. Like it's a, it's a core memory of just not sleeping and baking all night.

It started out of my apartment. I lived with 3 friends and they were really nice. They let me take the entire apartment over. I had like huge chest freezers that are meant for like full animals filled with banana breads in there. And like we had bakers come over and they'd take over the whole kitchen. And then obviously that was not sustainable.

Wait, sorry, I have to stop you right there. Where did you get the freezers from? Who were these bakers? Like, tell— you gotta unpack that one. That's not normal.

All of our college roommates can attest. We both had chest freezers, uh, full of Banana bread.

Um, we probably got it at like Costco.

Yeah.

And where did we find the bakers? I don't know.

We just like posted online, like Facebook.

Yeah.

We hired local bakers and we eventually got a commercial kitchen.

Yeah.

And I mean, at first it was Annie and I baking after school from like 3 to 6 PM and then driving all the banana bread, like in the snow, shop to shop. I remember it like it was yesterday. We literally were talking about that the other day because we just announced that we launched at Costco and we're like, do you remember? Like we were driving around to each of our stores with our little banana breads, like dropping them off ourselves.

And I have so many questions.

Like didn't have a lot of storage space, so we had to keep all the bananas in my car. And not only did my banana, my car smell so pungently of bananas, but in the winter, the bananas would like freeze. And I remember how cold our fingers would get peeling these like frozen bananas. Like literally I remember like it was yesterday having just like freezing fingers.

Yeah.

Her car was our storage facility.

Yeah.

That is unbelievable determination. I love that. And also such literal challenges of scaling a company. Like we were like funding, things like that. I'm like, no, literally your frozen fingers and knowing where to put a whole bunch of bananas. Did you guys, Two questions that come to mind is one, like, how was this balancing with school? And then what was the dynamic like being co-founders out the jump with like dividing responsibilities?

Yeah, honestly, I think that GoNanas felt like play. It didn't feel like work. So we always wanted to work on it. We liked it way better than school and anything else. So it was kind of like as much time as we could spend on it and we just had so much fun. And I think Annie and I have always connected on like our passion and drive. So it kind of lit something up inside us, and, and that's why it felt like play, I think. And I think, you know, our division of operations has always evolved, but it's also been natural. So there, there's a natural element to it. Then you have to have conversations like, what do you enjoy doing? What are you good at doing? Um, she's always been more of the numbers operations gal, me a little bit more marketing creative, but we also stretch and kind of overlap and do it all in a sense. So that's evolved and, and changed over time.

It's one of the things I admire most having known you both for a few years now is when I speak with co-founders, sometimes you can sense a little bit of like, oh, I really wanna tell this part, but you two always like pass it off to one another. There seems to be a really healthy relationship beyond just performative and beyond just what's normal. And it's admirable and impressive that you this far along are able to not just balance it, but evolve with it.

Thank you. Well, I mean, we're best friends first, co-founders second. And I think that, I don't know, I don't know that we could have done this business if that weren't the case. Because it's so much more fun that way. And we're also, we're really passionate about like business coaching. I really feel like life-changing. Yeah, like I, it just took our relationship to a height that I didn't even know was possible in like a friendship. And it's one of those things where, let's say something bothers you, we just say it immediately and talk about it in a non-judgmental, like open way.

And I don't know, it just And I also will say like, it doesn't just happen. It took like a lot of hard work and a commitment. And we joke, but it's serious. It's like a marriage. I'm not married yet, but like I tell my partner, I hope I'm pretty prepared because—

Yeah, sure.

Good communicator.

Yeah. A lot of tough periods where like we've had to stay committed and at the core of it is love for each other. But like running a bit, it's so, it's the hardest thing we've ever done. And so it's. It's just not without hard work, but now we're, we're stronger.

Have there been moments where you two like really disagreed on a directional choice or the timing of things?

Say the biggest transition we went to is when we went to coaching. When we started the business, you guys actually kind of asked us about this at the beginning, but like that division of operations. And when we started the business, we didn't know what one was better at versus the other. And so we just did everything together and it was like figuring out who was was gonna manage what part of the business when it became not like real— it was always real— but maybe a little more serious. Yeah, that was really challenging because you kind of had to be honest with each other and yourselves about like, what are you better at than the other person? Um, and I'm very grateful for our business coach because that was that moment that I think we were hinting on earlier where it was like, those were tough conversations, but our relationship was better because of it and is stronger because of it. And it created so much clarity in what we do.

Yeah, I think it's not that talked about, but I mean, we were co-CEOs for a while and that's really hard. And so I think that position where it was, you know, kind of being honest with not only what we're good at, but what we enjoy and what best suits us and the business and each other and kind of like stepping into that and owning that was a big pivot and a really important one. Because it provided a lot of clarity.

Every time we do a podcast, I feel like I do end up sending a referral to Morgan Lerner. Right, we're a sponsor.

I love that.

So it's one of those things, in my opinion, like I didn't know what I didn't know. And then opens your eyes to this whole other world. And it's kind of like a never-ending.

And we bring it in with our employees. Like one of the things our business coach has us do, well, had us do, it's a one-time thing really, is you take this assessment called the Saboteur Assessment. And you figure out what your saboteurs are. They're like your good and bad personality traits, but every single one of them has good elements and bad elements. And so taking this test, we have our employees do it and then we all share what ours are so that, you know, if you're having a conversation with someone and you're feeling something like maybe a little bit of tension, you're like, okay, I can pinpoint that. I'm very hypervigilant. Like if I'm being weird in a convo, someone can say like, oh, I bet her hypervigilance is coming out. Let's address that and understand that X, Y, and Z.

We talk about them in like third person. Yeah. She'd be like, hypervigilance coming out.

Yes.

People pleaser really coming out.

Like it's so awesome.

Love this so much.

I also think like for bridging the gap between a friendship and friendship dynamics to business partner dynamics, they are different. Like there's moments where I'll like say something to Rachel about something we're deciding on strategically and I'm like, I feel like I'd be sensitive if this was just a friend to a friend, but because we're talking in the concept of a business, I can be more direct and that's really hard. And like the perception there is really challenging. So I think learning the skills to be able to communicate in that way, it like can come naturally in other aspects, but when you're taking friendship into work, it's very different.

Totally.

You just learn that like clarity is kindness. I think I used to feel the way you're mentioning Brynn, and now it's more like being direct is the greatest thing ever. Cuz if you're not, you're gonna feel resentment, you're gonna be weird about things. And just honestly saying, you know, here's what I think we need and why, so that the other person can— you can have an open and honest conversation about exactly that is like the greatest thing ever.

I will also say it helps, like, yes, in business, but in life. Like, I use this in my friendships, I use this in my partnership and like my romantic relationship. It's like, it applies to everything.

I almost wish my other relationships in life were more like— because we can tell each other, and there's like no BS ever. It's— you're just open about everything. It doesn't feel like, oh, we're in business mode and friend mode. It's just like how we are.

I love this.

That's amazing. I definitely want this coach and I think it will make her also like, for me separately, I'm just like curious. We could talk about this like a lot.

It's like our favorite.

Can I go back really quick? Because you dropped a huge bomb, an amazing bomb, but a Costco bomb, Costco-sized bomb.

We just posted on Instagram, so it's like in my head.

I want, can we go deep into how it came to be? Like, What did you do to get GoNanas in their hands? Also, what maybe what's the wildest thing you've ever done to get GoNanas in someone's hands? Like double tap all of that for me, please.

We love sales. Like we, there is no, when we get a no, it's not a no. I will say the one thing with Costco was like, we were very intentional about our timing because we've heard stories. Well, one, they're a hard, you know, retailer to get into. It's super competitive. It's a new market. And so we wanted to make sure we were prepared and it was the right time.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so we, it's was not, you know, the first retailer we went after. We wanted to see how our product would do in lots of different markets and have that confidence before we went in. And then we started pitching last summer and got into two regions, Midwest and Texas. And then it was just, you know, operationalizing and commercializing from there to get ready for the launch. And now it's go time. Now it's like, we gotta fly off the shelves. This is the biggest opportunity for our company. Yeah. Anything you would add?

It was just really operationally challenging. We are, you know, our business, we launch 3 new flavors every single month. So we're like really operationally solid. I would say Costco is like this whole new animal because they have a different pallet size. You got to— we went from being in a bag to being in a box and you have to add, you know, we've all been to Costco, all their pallets look crazy with like layers and things. And so it was just like this whole, and the stakes are so high, right? It's not like, you know, you can next time. No, you got to get it perfect on the first try. So it was really challenging and scary, but like, there was nothing like we went yesterday for the first time. We walked into Costco. We didn't know we were going to be on an end cap, but we were on an end cap and we're on the end. Oh my God. So we're walking and our brand's Hot Pink and I spot it like literally what felt like a mile away and I couldn't move.

I was like stuck in the middle of the aisle and like there's, it's like a traffic jam at Costco and we're like, we like literally like we were stunned and everybody was like, move!

Like, like, didn't go close.

Proud moms, leave us alone.

That's amazing.

I felt like a soccer mom. I was like videoing the pallet from like 30 feet away and I'm like, when we're not getting close to it, we're like, oh my God, is someone gonna buy it?

Can't touch it.

It's perfect.

She's like, let's go up to— I was like, I can't.

She's like, I've never done this.

Wait, this is amazing. This is huge.

Thank you.

And she's also not kidding on the operational side because she went on her honeymoon for 2 weeks while we were prepping for this. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do operations. It's fine. And like, there are so many little steps to everything in that. Like, to make a box, it's not just you design it and you order the box. You get 5 different samples of the box before you approve it, just the structure and then the design and the colors. And there's like all these little details and back and forth and you're managing against a really strict timeline. Like Costco's like, you got to ship by this date, it can't be late. So it's a really complex, you know, operational situation to get to market.

I literally remember it like it was yesterday. We've been talking to this buyer and talking to this buyer and we had a good feeling we were going to get it. And the Friday morning of my prepping in hair and makeup to go to my Friday night welcome dinner. And we got the PO and I was like, this is insane. The best gift. And also like, are we kidding? That like—

The one time she's going out of the country for like 2 weeks.

The best vacation ever. And like the biggest opportunity of our lives. And I was like, all right, it's gonna be fine.

That's amazing. Annie, can you talk about a little bit what we were talking about before we started recording, which was— Yeah. The wedding planning, et cetera, with the business? And then I want the same for you, Morgan, knowing yours is coming up.

So yeah, honestly, like my personal experience was very much so like wedding planning, you know, you hear everybody has a different perspective because everybody does it differently and has different things that they're good at. I think because we run this business, it was like not that hard, you know what I mean? We're very quick.

There's no one ever about planning a wedding.

My answer's the same. You're organized. The business coaching worked. Yeah. Like there are things that are, you know, familial things that you have to work through dynamics, but like picking colors, I was like, pink. Picking the event, we were like, it was, you know what I mean?

It wasn't— We make really quick decisions. I will, I, that's one thing I've noticed specifically from the business is because we do that in our business, you have this like gut reaction, you know, a lot, you just like make decisions quickly and that's kind of our role. That in this wedding, same thing, you make decisions so quickly. And I notice that a lot because other people sometimes take a long time.

So I just, yeah, I don't know. It wasn't bad. Like the only thing is you're slightly busier and like we're definitely so busy.

That's the main thing.

Or stress management is challenging. But you guys must be, I mean, it sounds like very decisive. So that's good. A lot of listening to your gut.

That is, it's not without stress. Like, let's be clear. Like we're very much humans who get stressed, you know what I mean? But we're used to having a lot on our plate and like organizing and project managing and dealing with difficult dynamics.

Yeah.

So it's a, it's like a fun project.

What's one misconception about running a food startup that you wish people knew?

That it's easy. Yes. Like I, I have friends, and this is food startup or not, I have seen friends who've started businesses or tried to and they're shocked at how hard it is. And like, you— I think you see a lot on social media and you see the wins, and it's, it's impossible to portray the reality of it, but it's the hardest thing in the entire— like, I think it's the hardest thing we've ever done without, without, you know. And so that's simply said, I think that's the biggest misconception.

I couldn't have said it better.

Yes.

So we're doing this Fundraising 101 course where it's for really early-stage founders who haven't raised outside capital yet, and they're early on in their entrepreneurial journey. And the one thing they all have been saying over the past few weeks is, this is so hard. It's like they're totally shocked and I'm shocked that they're shocked because I'm like, yeah, this is, it's, most people fail doing it. Most people like quit because it's just, it's so much, it's demoralizing. You have to be a little bit delusional to want to be an entrepreneur cuz no one would sign up for it otherwise. But that's what it's this loud. How do you, how do I share with people? How do we all share with people how hard it really is without scaring people off.

Yeah, well, one, I feel like there's a reality of living in the social media age where like things are just glamorized and we'll never have an accurate representation of just like life in general because we see the highlights naturally. I think one thing we try to do is just share some of the realities. I think that's, that's kind of, um, I don't know, our obligation, our responsibility to just share the reality and not paint just a perfect picture. Yeah. And then I think the rest is from experience. Yeah.

And I would say, like, I don't know if it's good for people to necessarily know, like, I don't like that people assume that it's easier, right? But at the same time, like, so glad we started this out of college when we knew nothing. And I'm so glad we had literally no experience because I so stand by the way that we do things. That are not the norm. And like, had we had other jobs where we learn like quote unquote best practices, we would not have been successful definitively. Like one of our main reasons, not like that we're successful, but a huge element to our business is where we sell into in the grocery store. And every single human being in grocery would have told us there's no way you're going to sell into produce. They are not going to let a baking mix into the produce aisle. And we were like, And still we have people— I mean, less now that we're in so many produce stores, but like, even after getting a few produce stores, you get so much pushback. And like, we just wouldn't have done that.

Yeah, like, some naivety is good, right? Because it just gives you the confidence to go, and then you'll figure it out along the way.

And to do things in a different way is sometimes better, or what you need to succeed, versus like doing it the way a big company would, or, uh, yeah.

And I also just feel like that's life. Like, life is harder than you think it is, but then you do it and you get on the other side. And I think if we knew how hard life was in general, like, we'd be scared, you know? So I think sometimes the naivety is good, right?

Like, what's the benefit of them knowing it's hard?

On the, like, sentiment around startups and, like, how challenging it is, I think now talking to a lot of founders and learning so much Rachel is like, the passion was so evident for you two. Like the fact that you were naturally friends and had the dynamic with school and had like family banana bread recipes that you guys were just like tinkering with and, you know, coming, building this from that without like necessarily this whole plan for what the future held. I think that is a big testament to why this is so successful. Whereas I hear other narratives are more like, let me come up with the idea of the company I wanna start. And like, not to say that doesn't work, I just think there's something to be said about you guys weren't. I don't think, at Michigan thinking about selling at Costco in, you know, a handful of years from now. And it's because of that excitement that was keeping you very present that probably made this journey a lot more feasible.

I always say, because we talk to some young students and people who like want to start their own businesses, and I just say like, follow your passions. Like you can be entrepreneurial in anything you do, whether it's starting a business or not, but like if you follow your passions, figure out what gets you excited, it'll lead you down a good path. And that's what we were doing. We were just making baking at her place one day and made it a healthy twist on something we loved and then decided to sell it. It was not like you said, we didn't set out that day to start a business.

What's been your biggest pinch me moment in this journey?

Yesterday.

I mean, there's a lot of different ones, you know what I mean? Like personally, I've always wanted a team. I think that's probably something we share and to have our team together, even like out to dinner. We're going out to dinner tonight. It makes me so happy.

It's so funny, I was literally about to say yesterday was my initial reaction, and then like just 30 minutes ago all of us were, were in the office today and we were just like chatting, and I literally had one of those moments that I was like, oh my gosh, you're really proud of the team.

Yeah, there's a lot of different ones.

Yeah, I think it's really—

oh, you go, Rach.

No, no, go for it.

I was just gonna say, in scaling a team, I find this really interesting. What qualities are you looking for and how has that process been?

Also our topic that we learned from business coaching.

You got it. Okay.

One thing we did with our business coach last year, which was game-changing for us in hiring, and this was really as we were starting to think intentionally about how to build our team, was getting clear on our company values and our organizational values. And so once we did that, it, it unlocked just a new strategy for hiring where we can now find people who are a good fit and have these qualities that are beyond the resume. So some, you know, positions you have to have a set of qualifications, but for the most part, what we look for are beyond that. So things like someone who's hungry, someone who's humble, people who are proactive. Like, we have a set of, of different values. So now we can look at that kind of character, and that's allowed us to really find people who are an amazing fit.

Like, we really used to focus on that LinkedIn profile and the experience, and we found that it is so much less important what they've done in their past versus if they fit and have these qualities of just like smart hunger. Um, yeah, that humble is so important where it's like they don't have an ego to them. And, you know, I think that there are some positions where that's more challenging, sure, like a more technical position. But if you had to ask me if I'd rather someone who didn't have our values, but had the perfect resume and experience for the job versus someone who has no experience, but all of our values, I'd pick the latter.

And that's very specific to our organization and us as people, but like we didn't come in with a set of, you know, experiences that—

What did we know?

We didn't know. We were 19. Like we, we had no training in this. So we are just like strong believers in that.

Yeah. And at this stage of the business, No job is clear. So you're wearing all these different hats, and the right person is someone that's like a go-getter that wants to be able to do everything. They believe in the company, they're passionate about what we're doing, and they just want to build it to get to the next level. And someone who has, you know, very specific experience, maybe some ego, they're not going to flex.

I was going to say, yeah, you almost have to like put your ego aside because like we make mistakes all the time, and I have to be like Yep, I messed that up. Okay, how do we fix this? How do we go forward?

And we look for people with that attitude because we move fast and we've made hiring mistakes of the perfect candidate without those qualities and it just would never work long term.

It's crazy to hear you two speak in the most beautiful way. You are just so beyond impressive in the way in which you think, in the way in which you execute, the way you view it all. You would have no idea that you're A, young, B, didn't have corporate job. It is for president, Annie and Morgan for president.

Well, we were actually talking about this the other day because not, not running for president, let's be clear.

Definitely not.

Yeah. Like we were talking about that. Yeah.

Like not gonna make a joke, but just, you know, you see companies of all sizes like succeed and fail and you just realize how hard this path is. And I think doing and building this business in this way, kind of like what we're talking about, um, gives us a joy along the way that's less dependent on the result. Like, we think Go Nanas will go to the moon. We can get in any store. Like, we're changing the baking space. And if it all went down tomorrow, we'd be so proud of, like, how we're doing it. And we're getting that joy along the way, which I think just gives us a lot of gratification because that's what it's about. Like, Costco's amazing and, like, literally so exciting. And it's kind of like the everyday too that gives us that.

Yeah, we're proud of—

yeah, you should be, you should be. If you weren't running GoNanas, what would you be doing instead?

We get this question and like, I, I'm gonna answer for you too. We were born to like do this. Like there, there is no other thing that we'd be doing right now.

Yeah, yeah, we like love critically thinking and like solving problems. And I mean, I'm also a believer kind of you're meant to do what you're doing kind of thing, and you end up on that path. Like, it's so random that we're building a banana bread company and it feels perfect and right. Um, it's not that we don't have other interests or passions, and I think it could look a few different ways, but in this life it feels like it's supposed to be exactly this.

Can you share a bit more on the background on creating new flavors as frequently as you are and what that all looks like?

This topic. Yeah, that evolves and changes for sure. I think the core of our product innovation lies in the idea that we bake things differently all year round, right? So in the summer, maybe you're making a citrus cake or a blueberry muffin or a lemon poppy seed. Um, in the fall, obviously pumpkin, apple, and people just bake things all year round, but no company is adapting to that. And so first it started off as an idea. We saw obviously this limited style drop happened a lot in the fashion industry, not a lot in food. We saw maybe one other company doing it. So we launched our first limited edition pumpkin flavor. We had a huge spike in sales, like $1,000, and we were like, oh my God, we did that a day. And you know, we see it work, we iterate, we do it again. And so we adopted this drop model. So it was based in that idea of baked goods and we eat different ones all year round, but also a business idea that we saw working in our industry. And then it became our way to innovate, our way to market. So now we do lots of brand and influencer partnerships, and we're now exploring licensing partnerships and taking that to the next level, and then bringing the best of the best to retail. And that's proving really successful. We just completed our first, you know, limited edition drop with, um, Target with Target for their Valentine's Day display. And it was a really big success for our business. So now we're seeing it work really well in retail.

And it's also a great way to— I just want to say honestly, but that's not the word I'm looking for— authentically engage with our community because they ask for flavors, we ask for their feedback, we poll them for which they'd rather. And I think it's like we create these products for them and with them to the largest extent we can.

Yeah, and sometimes it's remaking the iconic treats, like red velvet cake is a known dessert, and then other times it's truly partnering with a brand to innovate and come up with something special. So maybe that's us partnering with Skinny Dipped and recreating their dark chocolate salted caramel bite. That also sounds amazing, and it's a way— because like, yum— and it's a way to bring and highlight their product and bring it in a baked good. So you can have a lot of fun with it and make really specific things, but also kind of recreate iconic nostalgic treats or simply something our customers are asking for.

It's also a great way to connect with loyal customers. Like, they're always going to want what's new and different and the next thing. I can imagine that's beyond— I love the idea of the seasonality and aligning your business with the seasonality, which I imagine is challenging, especially— I mean, now at scale, hopefully it's easier, but I can imagine that's like, it comes with its trade-offs, obviously, when you're planning for certain SKUs and doing that at scale versus coming up with these new products, but keeps your customers engaged in an otherwise, you know, CPG at large is such a saturated space. So to have such a differentiated product and then a product that people keep coming back to, that's very exciting to see all the different products.

I think you need some sort of innovation as a brand. I mean, especially in our space, but that's our way that we innovate. So it's almost at a product level and at a brand level. So some people maybe. Have less operational ability to do new SKUs every month. And so they'll do events or they'll do some other partnerships. Like, this is kind of the core of our brand and our product innovation, especially as you're trying to grow and stand out. Yeah, you need that.

On the topic of events and just in general, I know obviously Costco is such an insane milestone and you should both be so, so proud. But what else is next? Or like if you had a magic ball and you could just tell us into the future? It might not necessarily be what's next, but like, I do that.

So like, there's two different things that we think about, obviously expansion within distribution. So like the dream would be to do really well in this Costco rotation and do it again and be in all the warehouses. That would be amazing. And then on the marketing side, you know, Morgan was just talking about our brand partnerships and we're really trying to take that to the next level. I'm not going to spill any of the beans. Sorry, she always wants to share our exciting secrets.

I do. I spill every secret.

What if we told you this wasn't going to drop for another 2 weeks? Could you tell us anything then?

I'll hint, I'll hint. We're working on licensing deals now, which is super exciting. So think like potentially iconic movies or iconic products that you've grown up with and doing collaborations and just like leveling up, leveling up our—

My cheeks hurt from smiling so big. I know, I'm like, I'll tell you about it.

Rachel pushing all Actually, Rachel, you may know.

I think I do, and I'm very excited.

I'm like, you know, you know, but she only knows one of them.

Yeah, there was one that sounds like I need to know.

My belief is there are not enough surprises in life, especially as you grow older, so I am happy to sit here. I wish I could get it out of you, but I will wait patiently and be excited with the common person.

He's just the best. You're such a good person, Brynni.

There's literally no surprises in life anymore. We need surprises, so this is good.

I feel like that's elevating our brand for sure. Distribution, I would agree. Growing the team. And then there's a bit of unknown, like, who knows?

Okay, my question is, and keep in mind I have no startup or founder experience.

That's loose.

Um, okay, yes, but with CPD specifically, would you ever want to have your products in like stores, like the actual made banana bread, like in stores, in cafes, on airplanes, things like that? Like, is that— or is it good?

Would be amazing. And the question is how and when, right? Is it frozen, ready to eat, or a million different ways? Is it a food service where we're selling bulk and they're baking it? So I think that, um, it is a dream of ours. We're very focused on our immediate goals of distribution, but I think that would be an incredible next stage of the business.

There's no denying that our product, like freshly baked, is out of this world. So how to make that easier and more accessible for people is, is definitely a goal and a dream. I could see in a few years pop-ups with it baked there. Like, we have dreams of that. I bring this up frequently.

Go back to the apartment kitchen.

Yes.

Driving around distributing it.

It's awesome.

Okay, well, we love to wrap up episodes with a final 5 questions. They're fiery, think one word, one sentence. They're never really one word, but we are going to rattle them off. And since there's two of you, you obviously please both answer and we'll go through them. What is something you cannot live without?

What's one thing I cannot live without? Annie?

Oh, Morgan Lerner.

What keeps you grounded?

Honestly, like a slow morning.

Love that. Like me time, getting my steps in during the day.

You kill me.

Also, after the what's something you can't live without and what keeps you grounded, your significant others are both gonna be like, what the fuck?

No, they know.

They know they come second.

Well, in a different way.

I love it. Who do you admire most? Anyone. Celebrity, historian, someone in your life?

Like, can I say this on a podcast?

I don't know.

One of our investors goes about business in like such a beautiful way. He's a great human. He has incredible advice. And I think like he's just someone we both look up to.

I would agree with Morgan Lerner. I'll add, I like have a girl crush on Reese Witherspoon. And I really like— she, like, obviously from like Legally Blonde. I know that's not real, but like as a young girl, that was like such a model figure. And now she just like created this whole company that's centered around female-first projects and is killing it. And she's so well-spoken and advocating and like she just— I don't know, I really feel like we've made so much progress in terms of women in the workplace, but that there's also so much that we have to do. And I think that she's doing a great job at that, and I just love her.

I love these answers. What makes you feel wealthy?

Oh, uh, community.

It took the word out of my mouth.

I—

you are so funny.

I'm actually talking to my therapist about this the other day. It was like, what gives me like energy or joy? And it's when I'm like with people and community.

Yeah. And family and love, which is in the community. Yeah.

And then finally, what is something few people know about you?

Gosh, I— can you answer this for me?

Oh, I can answer it for me. I'll think about yours. I'm terrified. I used to be terrified of Michael Jackson.

That's so valid.

But before everything came out, like, I had a weird irrational—

yeah, I have no idea. I'm like a very open book, so I'm like, what someone doesn't know about me?

Yeah, but it's less of that you wouldn't share, because like I would tell anybody that, but it's like maybe something slightly unusual.

Oh, I'm unusual.

I honestly feel like it's shocking that you're from Texas.

Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that until this episode.

She's like, Texas, so like, I don't know the right word. I don't want to say granola because that's not right at all, but like open and like, I don't know, it just does not fit with Texas at all.

Joke. Everything's bigger in Texas but me. Small human.

This has been so fun. I am so grateful that you— we're both so grateful to have you on. It has been such an incredible and lucky journey for me to get to know you both and to watch GoNanas grow, and I cannot wait for all that's to come and for these collabs that— count me in as your biggest cheerleader for.

Thank you for having us. It's so special to just chat and, and be together.

Yeah.