[email protected]
Back in 2011, Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh were college roommates at the University of Oregon who loved peanut butter. So they started making their own in their tiny apartment that mixed in new flavors, like cinnamon raisin, and chocolate coconut, without the high sugar content typical of such snack foods. One thing led to another, and before beginning junior year of college they ended up on Shark Tank, and suddenly realized: Either they needed to drop out of college or let the business go.
They dropped out.
Fast forward four years from the Shark Tank airing, in May 2012, and Tillotson and Welsh, are running Portland-based Wild Friends, a nut butter company with sales expected to reach $7 million this year and distribution in Whole Foods, Costco, Kroger and a number of other supermarkets. At a time when funding has gotten tighter for many startups, the duo recently raised $1.4 million from investors on CircleUp, including a $100,000 investment from John Foraker, president of Annie’s, the prominent natural and organic foods company that is now part of General Mills, who they consider a mentor. Oh yes: Tillotson’s dad, Bruce Tillotson, 54, who previously worked for Honest Tea, is their chief salesperson, responsible for flying around the country to get the brand into stores.
Videos
News
Related Speakers View all
Jen Martin
Cofounder, Pipsnacks LLC
|
|
Molly Yeh
Host of Food Network’s "Girl Meets Farm," Cookbook A...
|
|
Katlin Smith
Founder & CEO of Simple Mills
|
|
Kate Kavanaugh
Entrepreneur, Regenerative Agriculture Advocate & CE...
|
|
Victoria Chow
Founder & Managing Director at Sip Straight and Wald...
|
|
Daniela Soto-Innes
James Beard Award-Winning Chef; Co-Star of Discovery...
|
|
Ian Purkayastha
Founder, Regalis Foods
|
|
Tatiana Birgisson
Entrepreneur, Founder & Former CEO of MATI Energy
|
|
Kara Goldin
Founder & Former CEO of Hint Water
|
|
Florence Van Dyke
Co-Founder & CEO of Chia Sisters, the Healthy Energy...
|
|
Beth Ford
President & CEO of Land O'Lakes and First Openly Gay...
|
|
Amanda Chantal Bacon
Founder & CEO of Moon Juice
|
|
Kwame Onwuachi
James Beard Award-Winning Chef & Author of "My Ameri...
|
|
Joey Grassia
Founder, Kutoa Health
|
|
Drew Anderson
Cofounder, Cleveland Kraut
|
|
Lizzi Ackerman
Cofounder, Birch Benders Micro-Pancakery
|
|
Sophie Milrom
Founder at EatPops
|
|
Indra Nooyi
Former Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo
|
|
Tiffany Pauldon-Banks
Founder of Lil Mama’s Chicago Style Hoagy, Creator o...
|
|
Sonia Hunt
Chief Marketing Officer, TEDx Speaker (1M+views), #1...
|