Samuel AndersonManaging Partner, BevAssets, LLC · Just Pick Up The Phone 📞 | Joy 🦋 | Empowering individuals through meaningful connections, one person at a time.

Founders pop champagne for the wrong win. #win #race #celebration #distribution

29 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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Founders celebrate landing a distributor and pop champagne, but that's just the starting gun. The spirits market is $36 billion and contracting. Your distributor carries 2,000 brands. Eighty-five percent of new products never gain traction after distribution. The real work is pulling it through the market yourself.

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A founder I know just landed the biggest distributor in his state. He thought the hard part was behind him. It was just getting started. Spirits is a $36 billion business, and last year it shrank. His distributor carries 2,000 brands. His just became one more, and last year it shrank. His distributor carries 2,000 brands. His just became one more. So it sits in a warehouse. Waiting for somebody to ask for it. 85% of new products never make it. This is how they die. That somebody is you. Getting in is the easy part. Getting pulled through is the whole job. Distribution was never the finish line. It's the starting gun.