Don't Be Afraid of Feedback with Andrew Suzuka, Founder of Otamot Foods

The Journey

Have you ever been sitting around a campfire with friends, or riffing with your partner about some great business idea you had when you were walking the dog, or driving to the grocery store? We all get ideas that pop into our head when we see a need, have an unfilled want, or notice the way something we’re interested in could be done better. Sometimes it’s easy to spit-ball with a close friend about big, potentially life-changing ideas like, “Hey, we should start a band!’ But we all know the unspoken truth when we say those things out loud — we’re probably never going to start that band and someday end up on a stadium tour. It’s those ideas that we really believe in, the ones that could actually be something real, that, ironically, we hold a little closer to our chest. They are harder to talk about.

Andrew Suzuka, the founder and creator of Otamot Foods, was no stranger to having good ideas and turning them into entrepreneurial successes. In fact, when the idea for Otamot Foods first popped into his head, Andrew was already running his own company. But success in one area didn’t make Andrew any more willing to share the new ideas he had brewing.

”You have to have a lot of self-confidence, but you also have to have enough self-awareness to know that you don't know everything and you have to pull in people and you have to share your ideas with people,” Suzuka said. “And it's probably, I would say the number one challenge of being an entrepreneur is sharing your idea before it becomes something. And if you can get over that, you're on your way.”

Andrew had to walk a long path to get over that fear. Today, he knows collaboration is the only way forward, but what did it take to get to that realization? Who did he finally lean on, and how did all of this ultimately lead to Otamot landing on the shelves of Whole Foods? Let’s jump into this week’s episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Sharing is Caring: No matter how great of an idea you have for a business, nothing significant will come from it without extreme dedication and investment of time, money and energy. You don’t need to worry about someone “stealing” your idea; the chances that they’ll take it to the finish line are almost nil. The power of sharing a good idea is getting early feedback on what could make it better and what could make it really work well.
• Be Nimble: Everyone talks about pivoting, but especially in the Consumer Packaged Goods space, being nimble and being able to negotiate with all of the different parties involved in getting your product to market is a useful skill.
• Your Support Network Should be Multi-Tiered: It’s important too have all sorts of people in your network, including outside mentors, industry advisors, and company board members, all of whom can help you make important decisions about your business. Make sure that you’re still tapping into your original support network as your business scales. Your close friends and family can offer support and perspectives that really help and uplift you.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.