323: Trusting Your Gut, Beating Imposter Syndrome & Selling Your Company for Millions | Morgan Zanotti

Be Well by Kelly Leveque

Kelly Leveque

Education, Nutrition, Alternative Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, I chat with Morgan Zanotti, former President and Co-Founder of Primal Kitchen, about her incredible journey in the natural products industry. From launching Primal Kitchen to leading it through a $200M acquisition by Kraft Heinz, Morgan shares her insights into scaling a brand, overcoming challenges, and what it really takes to succeed in the competitive world of health and wellness.

We also dive into her latest project, Waay, a sparkling protein water that’s set to make waves in the market. Whether you're an entrepreneur, product enthusiast, or just curious about the industry, this episode has a wealth of knowledge to offer!

Key Topics Discussed:

- The journey from KeVita to Primal Kitchen

- Overcoming imposter syndrome and trusting your instincts

- Scaling a brand on a budget and keeping teams lean

- Why certain brands stand out in a crowded market

- Navigating FDA requirements and using proprietary ingredients

- What it’s really like when big brands acquire you (and the myths behind it)

- The logistics of selling your company and what to expect

- Balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood

- Formulating new products and what’s next for Morgan

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're selling an opportunity for someone else to grow your business. So, like, how do you preserve
0:05.1	that white space while maximizing your value where you are to, like, maximize your exit?
0:10.6	That's kind of like what the, that's a puzzle I like to figure out. I think that's fun.
0:14.6	Morgan's a naughty. It doesn't even feel like work. It feels like fun. I'm so glad to hear. I know.
0:19.5	I know. It's been forever. I know. Six to hear. I know. I know. It's been forever.
0:21.6	I know. Six boys later. Yeah, seriously. Okay, so you're a mom of three boys. Yeah. You will give Marks this
0:28.2	in credit, but you basically ran Primal Kitchen with Mark. Yes. He might have been the head,
0:32.4	but you were the neck, as they say, in my big fat Greek wedding. Yes. Doing all the groundwork,
0:37.0	making sure it was happening.
0:38.8	And fast forward, primal sells to Heinz.
0:42.7	Now you're consulting.
0:44.8	It's been like a major big career, but it didn't always, it didn't always look like this.
0:51.3	No.
0:52.0	So I feel like it's so important because we knew each other back in, back in the day.
0:57.0	Like the real gritty, resilient, scrappy.
1:01.6	And then I just like that kind of life.
1:04.6	Let's start at the beginning.
1:05.6	Like you graduate from college.
1:07.6	How did you even get a job with Marxist in a Primal Kitchen?
1:11.0	Well, you want me to go all the way back to colleges? Okay. So I go all the way back to like,
1:14.7	because I think people don't even know what they want to do when they grow up. Yeah. And you sort of,
1:18.2	I think you've done a really good job of gut pings following your intuition and taking some risk.
	...

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