Most CPG founders only think they’ve made it when they reach $20M. But the real achievement isn’t $20M it’s $2M.
Hitting $2M means you’ve done the hardest stuff in business:
- 🛒 Proven consumers will buy your product
- 🏭 Developed manufacture processes
- 📈 Built a sales process
- 📦 Found distribution channels and supporting technologies that work
- 👥 Have an org chart and have learned how to hire and fire
- 💼 Established business and financial operations
- 💵 If not profitable, have a clear path to profitability
- 🎨 Have created a name, branding and conducted marketing
That’s the good news.
The bad news is all the things that got you to $2M need to change in order to reach $20M. This often looks something like:
- 📊 Rationalizing product lines and launching business-driven innovations
- ⚗️ Reformulatng / reengineering products to reduce costs
- ⚙️ Improving manufacturing lines and processes to accommodate capacity needs, facilitate innovation and reduce COGS
- 🤝 Adding dedicated sales lead (if not team) to capture opportunities adjacent to the founders’ focus
- 📡 Grow the company headcount without bloat while improving communication
- 📌 Introduce leadership routines, incentive systems, metrics and KPIs
- 🖥️ Integrate new tools such ERP, CRM, QMS and MES
- 📉 Leverage economies of scale improve unit economics and profitability
Maybe the most important aspect of the business to evolve is the brand and marketing.
At $2M, brand and marketing are about hustle and visibility. At $20M, they’re about positioning, differentiation, and value creation:
- 🚀 Elevate the brand story beyond the founder and/or the hero SKU
- 🤝 Align brand promise and trust with consumers and trade partners
- 🖌️ Create an identity with consistency across packaging, digital, retail, and PR
- 📦 Design brand packaging that addresses the 5 jobs of packaging
- ⭐ Use brand equity to drive pricing power, repeat purchase, and category leadership
This isn’t just fluff — it’s what increases enterprise value.
Not every $2M brand makes it, many stall. But structurally, if you’ve cracked $2M, the path to $20M is achievable.