Started Company

I took a company from idea to operating in 120 days. Raised the capital, built the brand, sourced the partners, designed the go-to-market, placed product in 200+ doors, and kept it investor-ready through a state-level market ban that ended most brands in the category. Starting a company isn't a credential I read about. It's something I've done under real pressure with real consequences.

Food and Beverage Industry

Because I've been on every side of it. I know how distributors think because I was one — five years at Heidelberg, from purchasing through regional sales management. I know how brands are built because I built one — Estazzi Beverages, from concept to 200+ doors in four months. And I know how the financials work because I've rebuilt a broken P&L under pressure more than once. Most people in this industry are specialists. They know their lane. I've driven all of them, which means when I walk into a food and beverage business I can see the whole system — where the distributor relationship is at risk, where the margin is leaking, where the commercial structure has gaps — and I know how to fix it because I've fixed versions of it before.

Fractional COO

My superpower is finding friction and fixing it fast across multiple disciplines. I know distribution from the inside out, which means I know exactly how a brand gets prioritized or ignored inside a distributor house. I managed an underperforming advisory practice and rebuilt it — 56% revenue growth, 21-point margin improvement, in 24 months. At Estazzi Beverages I co-founded and served as COO, raising $250K in seed capital and taking a premium THC beverage from concept to 200+ retail doors in four months inside one of the most complicated regulatory environments in CPG. When Ohio banned the category overnight I led the commercial pivot to Kentucky, rebuilt the account base, and kept the business investable. I've built operating systems from scratch, turned around broken ones, and navigated markets that didn't exist yet. That's what I bring to a fractional engagement — not theory, not frameworks, but a track record of building things that run.

Hemp-Derived THC Industry

This category is too new, too complicated, and too regulated for most operators to navigate confidently. I've already navigated it. I built Estazzi Beverages inside the hemp-derived THC space from the ground up — raised the capital, found the production partners, established distribution through Heidelberg, placed product in 200+ doors, and built a channel economics model that accounts for margin at every level of the supply chain. I've dealt with state regulators, skeptical distributors, cautious retail buyers, and a legislative ban that wiped out an entire market overnight. I know where the friction is in this category because I've hit every piece of it firsthand. A consultant who's read about this space is useful. One who's built and operated inside it is something else entirely.

Go-to-Market Strategy

I built Estazzi's go-to-market from a standing start — no brand awareness, no existing accounts, no prior market presence. The strategy was simple and disciplined: get in front of consumers with the product, get in front of buyers with a relationship, and build enough digital presence that both knew who we were before we walked in the door. Sampling events put the beverage directly in consumers' hands at the retail level — the fastest way to generate trial and drive the rebuy behavior that earns permanent shelf placement. Account calls built the retailer relationships that turned placement into priority. Social media created the brand credibility that made both of those conversations easier. Two hundred plus doors in four months. Every account earned, none inherited. That's what a go-to-market looks like when it's built to actually execute.

Project Management

I took Estazzi Beverages from concept to consumer in 120 days across six simultaneous workstreams — brand identity, production, legal, capital raise, go-to-market, and distribution — on a $250K seed budget in a heavily regulated category. Every workstream was dependent on the others. None of them had margin for delay. I kept the timeline moving by staying ahead of problems, holding external partners accountable, and making decisions quickly when the path forward wasn't obvious. That's the kind of project management I bring — not status meetings and Gantt charts, but the ability to hold a complex system together under real pressure and deliver on the other side. I've done it at Heidelberg managing a regional sales operation, at HORAN running a full business turnaround, and at Estazzi building a brand from nothing.

Brand Management

I've managed brands from both sides of the distributor relationship. At Heidelberg I ran the craft beer portfolio — purchasing, programming, supplier relationships, and field execution across a team of 25. I decided which brands got prioritized and which ones didn't, which means I know exactly what a brand needs to do to earn attention inside a distributor house. At Estazzi I built a brand from scratch that had to earn that same attention — driving the identity development, the positioning, the go-to-market strategy, and the retail placement. Two hundred plus doors in four months through Heidelberg Distributing. I've sat on both sides of the table. That's a perspective most brand managers never get.