Six Companies, Twenty Five Years, Billions in Sales | Brad Woodgate, Joyburst

On this episode, we're joined by Brad Woodgate, Founder and CEO of the No Sugar Company, Joyburst, and Wellnx Life Sciences - the serial entrepreneur behind six companies and billions in lifetime sales. Brad has spent 25 years building across supplements, snacks, and beverages, turning a thirty-thousand-dollar start into a self-funded portfolio. We start with the full origin story, from launching Wellnx Life Sciences in 2000 and scaling it to roughly 150 million a year, to the 2008 collapse that brought nine-figure lawsuits, mass layoffs, and a near-death rebuild. Brad breaks down the patterns that carried across every brand since, starting with his belief that in business there is no such thing as no, only not now. We get into his unusual club-first go-to-market, why he launches at Costco and Sam's instead of graduating into them, and how in-store demos became his most powerful marketing tool. Brad walks through the real mechanics of club margins, minimum order quantities, and the buyer and shopper differences between the two. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🚀 Building six companies over 25 years ⚠️ Surviving the 2008 collapse and nine-figure lawsuits 🔁 Why "no" really means "not now" in retail 🤝 Skillful persistence vs persistently annoying 🛒 Starting at club instead of graduating into it 🆚 Costco vs Sam's, the buyer and the shopper 💰 Planning around club's lower margins 📊 Demos as his most powerful marketing tool 🧪 Cracking soluble creatine for Kreo Joy 🥤 Why protein soda gets won on taste 📈 Joyburst's self-funded growth curve 📺 The reality show that birthed Mighty Minis 🔮 Implementing AI across ops and forecasting --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:11 – Building six companies: the origin story 04:18 – The 2008 collapse and nine-figure lawsuits 08:06 – Patterns for winning in retail 09:30 – Skillful persistence vs being annoying 11:35 – Storytelling that gets buyers to grow their category 12:53 – Why he starts in the club channel 15:12 – Costco vs Sam's: buyer and shopper 16:54 – Planning around club's lower margins 19:38 – Running demos at scale 21:13 – Cracking creatine in a soda (Kreo Joy) 24:55 – Where the protein soda category gets won 27:47 – Joyburst's self-funded growth curve 31:17 – Splitting time across six companies 33:25 – The reality show behind Mighty Minis 36:11 – Implementing AI across ops and forecasting --------------- Links: Joyburst – https://joyburst.com/ No Sugar Company – https://thenosugarcompany.com/ Follow Brad on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-woodgate-b30b8113/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/. Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.