Ep. 54 | From Startup Founder to Investor & Philanthropist: Chris Bryson’s Wild Ride to Do Good

Business for Good Podcast

Most start-ups fail. Many that don’t fail still don’t have spectacular results. Chris Bryson, however, defied the odds by founding and running a company that was so successful Instacart acquired it for a reported $65 million.

Rather than retiring to a tropical beach with regular daiquiri service, Chris charted a different course for his new life. Instead of leisurely enjoying the financial fruit of his labor, Chris has decided to use his wealth to invest in alternative protein start-ups seeking to displace animals in the food industry’s supply chain. Convinced that the most good he can do in the world is help divorce meat production from animal farming, already he’s seeded a number of plant-based and cultivated meat start-ups with cash to hopefully drive them to the same kind of success he had as a start-up founder.

Additionally, Chris has also decided to try his hand at serial entrepreneurship and is starting his own alt-seafood venture himself, too.

Will Chris be like Lebron and bring home another championship for a different team? Will he be like Jordan and move from being a player to a coach for his investees? How did becoming a multimillionaire change his life?

Hear his inspirational tale in this podcast about Chris’ wild ride to try to do good in the world.

Discussed in this episode

• Unata, the company Chris founded and sold to Instacart
• Rebellyous Foods, Plantible Foods, Avant Meats, Cultured Decadence, four startups in which Chris has invested
• Paul’s review of A Traitor to His Species, a biography of ASPCA founder Henry Bergh
• Chris says Ashlee Vance’s biography of Elon Musk was inspirational to him.
• Christie Lagally’s analysis showing that plant-based meat is still less than one percent of the total meat market.
• I am an Animal, HBO’s documentary on PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk
• The Good Food Institute, a charity helping advance sustainable protein solutions

More about Chris Bryson and Unata

Chris Bryson served as the founder and CEO of Unata, an enterprise software provider (acquired by Instacart in 2018) that powers the eCommerce & digital experiences for major grocery chains. Recognized as the 52nd Fastest Growing North American Tech Company (PROFIT 500 2016), Canada's #2 best small business workplace (Great Place to Work 2017), and one of Canada's Top 20 Most Innovative Companies (CIX Awards 2016). He holds a bachelor’s in commerce from Queen’s University.