20X growth in five years: How Factor pushed healthy eating beyond broccoli

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Behind the Bills is a show about the people behind top consumer brands, category creators, and emerging disruptors, and how they push through to make the most of both work and life each day. Today's guest is Adam Park, CEO and Managing Director of Factor US, one of the fastest growing names in health and nutrition that bills itself as the number one ready-to-eat meal company in America. You might have seen them around delivering meals to people's doorsteps that emphasize high protein, veggie forward, low-calorie, and low-carb. Low-calorie or even GLP-1 supportive options, making it easier to eat clean at home. Now, since being acquired by one of Europe's best-known consumer brands, HelloFresh, back in 2020, Factor has grown more than 20 times, fending off fierce competition to capture about 75% of the U.S. market. To what do you attribute this kind of success? I imagine a lot of it has to come from also leveraging HelloFresh's resources and efficiencies. Full disclosure, HelloFresh is a partner behind the business and we're grateful for their support this season. But truthfully, even long before that, I've been excited to dig into how the company has scaled so quickly, what's next as consumers look for smarter, healthier ways to eat, and some of Adam's lightbulb moments and lessons along the way. It would be so much easier for us to reduce the ingredient variety, chuck salt all over everything to make it taste good. Competitors do for understandable operational reasons. Adam is the former CEO of HelloFresh UK and a former partner at Boston Consulting Group. Outside of work, he's a passionate endurance athlete who's completed ultra marathons and expeditions all over the world. And he cares deeply about supporting communities that face food, food insecurity. We'll get into all that and more. Adam, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. So Adam, before we get into the company, I'd love to start with you. I understand you were born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, before heading to the UK for boarding school, then going on to Oxford, London, and now New York. How do you think this international background shaped your worldview and ambitions early on? As you've mentioned, I grew up in Korea until I was 10, and I left home when I was 10 to go to boarding school in the UK. And I think that experience was a fantastic one and one that really shaped my worldviews. A few interesting thing about that experience. I went from kind of being the class president, even at that age, and being top of my class to someone who suddenly overnight couldn't even understand a word of what was going on in my class, and suddenly being exposed to new culture, having to adapt sort of independently away from home, and parents and so on and so forth. And I've actually, it was tough right at the beginning, but I've actually loved it, and loved sort of getting to know new people, new cultures, and actually realizing that once you get through the hard part, there's a lot of amazing things that you can experience and learn. And so ever since then, I've been gravitated towards those kinds of challenges and experiences. So it's kind of reduced the barrier to jumping into new challenges in new places, new industries and so on. And I think that's what kind of helped me through my career going from nuclear to investment banking to consulting, where I experienced a lot of different industries and situations, and now taking on a new challenge with HelloFresh and then Factor. - Yeah, you know, I was gonna ask whether there were any particular lessons from kind of moving between these cultures that have influenced your approach to work and leadership today. - Yeah, I think actually when it comes to work and leadership, it started, before that, growing up in Korea, back in the '80s and '90s, it was a fantastic experience. It was on a hockey curve sort of trajectory of growth, coming out of being one of the poorest countries in the world back in the '50s post-war, to now fast forward, you know, 75 years, to one of the top economies in the world. Being right in the middle of that, seeing sort of the ambition level, the hard work ethic and so on and so forth of the country and growing up in the middle of that was very impressionable for a young kid. And my family was kind of a microcosm of that. We grew up with my mom, who became a single mother after her divorce in her late 30s, and she suddenly had to start a business to support the three of us, and she started a consumer business. And so I grew up her obsessing over customers, what they need, building relationship, whatever time they turned up at the door, you know. I still remember the opening and closing times of the store that she ran. Seven o'clock was the closing time, and I had to be at the store quite a lot as a kid, waiting for my mom to finish. And it killed me when a customer turned up at 7:01, and my mother would never turn a customer away. And however long it took to show them 10 different things that they wanted, check different sizes and so on and so forth, it was frustrating at the time. But now, looking back, I realize how important that was to building a business, being customer-centric, building double-digit number-of-year relationship with a customer on the back of that kind of care, and building trust. And also now, as a new parent myself, the tension that she had to manage of, you know, ultimately she was doing all this to support the three of us, but at the same time, she had to deal with, you know, a seven-year-old who's dying to go home. And making sacrifices on the spot to manage that tension. And that was very impressionable on me. Yeah, it's carried through. - It sounds like that was such a formative experience for you. Did you say what kind of shop it was? - Yeah, it's an amazing story. And I want to write a book about it one day. My mother, at the age of 40, started an import business, importing luxury and children's goods from the UK to start with into Korea because there was a growing need for, for nice children's clothes, but she knew nothing about the business. And there's a story where she goes to, there was no VC funding or anything like that at the time. So it was all bank loans, right? So she would go to the bank and present her idea to the bank manager. And apparently she was asked, "Do you know what the margin is going to be for this business?" And she had to say, "I'm so sorry, what's the margin?" - Right. - And the bank manager said, "You shouldn't really be asking me that." And so that's really where she started, but the mindset, is phenomenal, you know, she didn't get deterred by that. She was ready to learn and figure things out and, and somewhat, she had to, she didn't have a choice. Yeah, it's a phenomenal story. And, and she then went on to build two other businesses. The last one being importing luxury and Italian food stuffs into, into Korea. So I've been alongside the food industry for a long time. - It sounds like that taught you a lot about grit and perseverance. - Just felt normal. - Just felt normal, quite frankly. And the mindset of my family and Koreans in general, is that if something needs to get done, it needs to get done. What other choice do you have? - Yeah, exactly. - And that was just very normal for us. - Yeah, I think we come from somewhat similar backgrounds. My parents are Malaysian immigrants and they very much have that kind of mindset as well. Adam, before joining Factor and HelloFresh, as I mentioned, you came from the consulting world where you spent years as a partner at BCG, Boston Consulting Group. What did you take from that experience, as still informs how you lead today? - So I've loved every minute of working at BCG and working alongside my colleagues there. Actually half of my groomsmen at my wedding were ex-BCGers. What I got to experience there was really valuable, particularly because I focused on strategy as well as transformation. So I think the benefit of working in one of these companies is that you get to do a lot of reps of things that, exactly, that executives only tend to experience maybe two or three times at best in their careers. Whether it be large-scale transformation, reorganizations, operating model changes, mergers and acquisitions, large-scale PMIs, and so on and so forth. I got to get a lot of reps of those things in lots of different industries and contexts, which was a phenomenal education. And that's really deal with a lot of situations and not to spend too much time thinking through how to navigate complexities at HelloFresh and at Factor. What it didn't give me was, sort of going through a lot of that as the leader, having to motivate and inspire people and teams to come along and buy into the vision and get them through the hard part, because change inherently is hard. And leading from the front to do that. And so I thought that was a natural progression of the things that I wanted to do in my career. And that's what I'm enjoying in my current phase of my career. Well, that segues really well to our next question, because I was going to ask what made you want to join HelloFresh and this space in particular, especially going into operations directly, right? Having come from the consulting field, was that what you felt like was missing? And you kind of felt like you always wanted to go into that directly? Yeah, and I still feel like I'm just getting started. I have, you know, at least 20 more years of my career left as a student of business. I want to keep experiencing and learning. And adding value and having greater impact. And what I was really impressed by when I first encountered HelloFresh and started engaging in conversation, and now Factor, in particular, three things. One, fantastic product. I have no interest in selling snake oil to consumers. I will only work for a company that truly is invested in delivering fantastic product and service to customers. I don't think I can operate in a company that is truly invested in delivering fantastic product and service to consumers. I don't think I can operate in any other setting. So that was number one. And two, was really the customer obsession of the board. The leadership at Factor and HelloFresh have a great ambition to add real value to consumers and actually change the way people eat forever for the better, and have an impact on sustainability in a meaningful way. So I was really impressed by that, and I wanted to participate in that journey. And third, really, particularly with Factor, is the brand's potential to add even more value to consumers. Factor has grown 20x since we acquired it back in 2020. But the amazing thing is it has so much more runway and potential, whether it be in expanding into more product categories, into more functional health channels, geographic expansion. The brand has so much stretch potential and more runway. And I think that's really, really important. And that's what I'm really excited by in driving in the next phase of this company's journey. Indeed.com slash podcast. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. Low energy, unfocused, foggy. You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade, hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist. Did you know that you would be joining a food company in particular? And how did this opportunity really arise? Honestly, I was, you know, just before I moved to the UK, I was based in San Francisco for seven years, during which time I got married. And we went through COVID. And I was a remote husband for a while. And then we had a kid. You know, while you communicate with your family, you're able to communicate with your friends. You can be a remote husband for a little bit. You can't be a remote dad. Congrats. So thank you. I have a three-year-old boy now. And that's what really triggered the move to the UK, which I think coincided with the right timing for me to look for something new. And so I was under no pressure, but I took the opportunity to talk to a lot of people in my network and people who thought they could put my experience to good use. And one of the ideas that really came was to apply my experience to being a GM. And HelloFresh, I have to say, in fact, there is a place where they have a long history of betting on people's potential rather than necessarily track record and giving people a lot of runway and opportunity to realize their potential. And we're very, very good at identifying talent. And really, it's paid off for us. And I've been a beneficiary of that opportunity. Yeah, here I am still. That's so refreshing to hear, especially because HelloFresh is one of the biggest names in Europe, as I mentioned. You wouldn't expect that necessarily, right? Absolutely. And it's in our DNA. Our founders started this business more than a decade ago, young 20-something-year-olds. And they have lived and breathed this space. And they've worked alongside really smart and energetic people. So they know what good talent that fits our brand and business looks like. And I hope that I can add something new to the team with my experience as well. Well, during your three years at the helm of HelloFresh UK as CEO of that business, it went through some major transformations. Can you share maybe a couple of highlights or moments that really taught you something about scaling a consumer brand? When I took over, the business had just gone through a huge growth curve, especially during COVID. So the existential sort of challenge, was to catch as much of the demand that was spiking at the time. That means really hard and gritty work, opening several new factories overnight, essentially, recruiting hundreds, thousands of people to get food and boxes out the door in quality to suddenly massively ramping demand. And so business went through a lot of that. And it's really difficult. And that's why there aren't that many companies that have successfully scaled as much as HelloFresh and Factor has. That was really hard work for us. What did that look like? Was it a lot of kind of like all nighters or, you know, looking at stickies on the wall? How did you kind of approach that and tackle that? This is actually more the history and experience of my peers who were there before me as well. And I took over the baton somewhat when it was slightly more stable, but absolutely needed to appreciate the journey that the company went through and my people went through in order to be able to lead us into the next phase. And that experience was, wow, a lot of fun and a lot of hard work and a lot of pain and tears, too. Right. So there were folks who, as you exactly said, all nighters, weekends at the factory. And for food safety reasons, our factories have to be chilled to a very low degree the whole time and really tweaking day in, day out to fix all sorts of challenges that we were having, delivery issues, customer feedback with missing ingredients. Quality, really looking deeply at our operational lives, being on the floor, seeing where, you know, the mis-picks of the ingredients were happening, where the quality issues were coming from, calling suppliers. Exactly right. Stickies on the wall, day in, day out, phone calls to each other, you know, not waiting for the next Zoom call to wait to discuss the issue, you know, being on the phone right away. Yeah, you got to move. Exactly. And that's where I think, you know, relationship. Relationships, trust, sort of setting the norms of having quick communication channels is really important for a company that's really trying to break through, really. So fast forward to February of this year, you're named CEO of Factor US, which had been acquired by HelloFresh about five years prior. What was your initial mandate coming in and how did you see the opportunity? It was a privilege, first of all, to take on a business that has already been so successful in scaling and being the market leader. We have, as you mentioned, over 75% of market share in the US and we've maintained that for a while. The brand really, that was on the back of having a fantastic product and a brand, particularly around the core meal. And just in case people haven't really experienced our food, the thing that makes it really unique and differentiated compared to the typical sort of microwave and oven ready meals is really dietician approved and a lot of science goes into making sure that there's good macro and micro nutrition, good portion control. And it's also crafted by chefs. I have a large chef's team who really think about helping consumers break the trade off between convenience, health, and having a great taste experience, right? And so it grew as a ready meal business in this space, but I truly believe the next phase of this brand is to become more of every day health and nutrition partner to our customers, more than just ready meals, but into different product categories, whether it be supplements, protein shakes, bars, breakfasts, lunches. And I'd love to tell you all about the amazing product launches that are coming and that have happened this year. More on that later. Yeah, exactly. And also across channels, we're very much focused on D2C to date, but we have a lot of opportunities grow into a lot of other channels and also benefit folks in channels like Food as Medicine, where currently the set for folks who are getting benefits through various agencies in the UK, while they're getting funding for it, are getting terrible food, quite frankly. It's all frozen, limited options, and so on and so forth. So we have the capability already and the amazing food range and also the nutrition focus to be able to make a difference to a lot more people's lives. So I'm really excited about that. So I'd ask people to watch the space. Yeah, absolutely. Well, as we mentioned, Factor has had a remarkable ascent, right? Since the acquisition, as you said, it's grown 20x. And it's previously cited a whopping 250% growth in year-on-year revenue after becoming part of HelloFresh. Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, the reason we bought it was because it had a fantastic product, right? And that is core. And I can't emphasize enough how important it is to really provide differentiated value to customers and not try to market something that doesn't have substance behind it. And that's what I love about this brand. So that's core of the success. And then the scaling part really came with being able to leverage HelloFresh's platform technology and experience and talent, one, in marketing. We are probably one of the, the biggest and most sophisticated DTC marketing platforms in the world. And we know how to scale fantastic products in that space, especially in food. Second is our fulfillment capability. It is extremely difficult. And quite frankly, we are the only player in the world who does, who do what we do at scale, which is providing ready meals with over a hundred different options on the weekly menu that rotates every week. If you go to a typical ready meal manufacturer, they typically make maybe two or three different dishes and they run that factory on the same setting for weeks because that's how you manage sort of mass production and scale and cost and so on and so forth. And they typically pick recipes that are easy to manufacture like spaghetti bolognese, for example, few ingredients, ground meat, and so on and so forth. Our product, and also they're typically frozen. So our product is never frozen. So it has to be just in time and delivered fresh. And we want to give customers maximal shelf life because it's a weekly subscription and it's whole muscle meats, right? You get filet mignon with us, which I was actually quite frankly, skeptical how good a microwave filet mignon could be, but I guarantee you it's fantastic and it's delicious and the rotation and the variety make it extremely complex to, to operate. And that is a unique moat that we have to be able to do that at scale and deliver to the entirety of, of the US. Nobody else can do that. And we now operate the largest food manufacturing footprint in the US. Yeah, that's really been a fantastic synergy between the product and the brand that we acquired and the capability we have around a particular around marketing and also technology and fulfillment. So much to unpack there, but I will say on the filet mignon, I actually just tried it and I was so surprised to see that you guys had this on the menu because frankly, when I think of clean, convenient food, I'm not necessarily picturing something exciting, right? Maybe some greens, grains, simple proteins. To your point, I tried a similar type of service back in Hong Kong years ago. And I remember I got sick of it so quickly because it was like peppers every meal. Then I look at Factor's menu and you're serving truffle butter filet mignon, premium seafood, like barramundi, all without extra cost. And it was really surprising to me. That just feels like a real differentiator because it's a treat for the customer, right? So can you walk me through a little bit of the thinking behind that approach and how you balance standing out to customers with obviously managing cost pressures and margins and all that good stuff? Yeah. Our philosophy is first serve the customer. We got to really focus on delivering value to the customer. And helping break that trade off that has, you know, really made the customer experience poor in the past between, you know, what I mentioned, having a good eating experience, convenience, health, and costs as well. So we really start there and we love doing hard things. You know, it would be so much easier for us to reduce the ingredient variety, chuck salt all over everything to make it taste good, but terrible for your health and so on and so forth. Pour preservatives all over it. And a lot of our competitors do for understandable operational reasons. That's not what we're here to do. And so we really focus on the product first. And then our scale has helped us make the process of getting that amazing food to the customer efficient. That's how we sequence our thinking and approach. And I so appreciate that, by the way, because I've really noticed, especially after moving to America, that food is not always regulated. So there's a lot of people out there making claims or- Yeah. -taking shortcuts, if you will, without backing anything up. And it sounds like you're saying, even if it takes us longer and it's going to be much more of a headache, we just got to do it. That's just not worth it. We are a subscription business at the end of the day. That means we rely almost entirely on repeat custom. Yeah, it's not a one-time purchase. So we have to deliver great experience day in, day out. And especially if we want to maintain our position in a health-forward, ready-to-eat space, we actually are responsible for delivering outcomes. And so if after eating our food for a while, the customer doesn't feel good and they're not seeing the benefit of achieving their goals, whatever it may be, generally eating healthy and getting variety of ingredients and balanced meals, supporting their GLP-1 journey, losing weight, putting on muscle, whatever it may be, if they don't see the outcome, then we don't win the repeat custom. So a lot of science has to go into delivering that. And that's what we're here to do. And that's what excites all of us at Factor. Well, ready-to-eat meals are a highly competitive space and a notoriously tough business, as you alluded to. What's been the biggest challenge when it comes to keeping Factor differentiated from other players? Is it kind of one of the things that you just mentioned or is there something else that comes to mind? Quality. It's choice. And it's really the science. It's choice. It's choice. And the flavors. It's food at the end of the day. There's a lot of complexity to running the business, but the value that the customers are looking for is simple. So that's what we really focus on. And one of the things that I'm really proud of my team for achieving this year, particularly in the variety aspect, is that we went from having 40 different things on the menu at the beginning of this year to over a hundred different options for our customers. Today, just in the short sort of six to seven months that we, we kicked this initiative off, we're about to add another 20 completely new and amazing salads and grain bowls to the range just in the next few weeks. And so we've really accelerated this product development and focus on variety. That's one of the things that matter really to customers and what we invest in. It's so interesting because I did see that, that Factor just unveiled its biggest menu expansion yet. And that's really a bet, isn't it? It's a bold bet because as you mentioned, all this stuff adds complexity, one menu item at a time. I imagine it's one of those things, maybe you go to your higher ups and you're asking for more capital requests and they're like, are you kidding? I don't know. Right? So you're really betting that this is what is going to be winning the day. And we're just getting started. And so it's a bet, but it's a bet with high conviction. I really love working in an environment where people work with conviction and we're absolutely convinced that this is what's going to be winning the day. And we're absolutely convinced that giving more value to the customer is the way for the business to benefit long-term, especially in this day and age, like really thinking through in a non-linear way to scale variety and complexity is really important. So a great example is traditionally fulfillment operations setup meant that if you want more things on your menu, you really needed more footprint, more lines, more people, more space, right? So it was linear trade-off between investment, as you said, and cost and giving a choice to customers. Now with investments that we've made over the last few years in automation, in AI, in capabilities overall and team and talent, we have amazing operational colleagues who are incredible problem solvers. They live to solve complex problems. You're back at BCG. Yeah. And I'm always impressed by folks who innovate and deal with the day-to-day complexities of running operations all the time. What we've been able to achieve is actually be able to provide all this benefit and accelerate the product expansion without having to scale the footprint massively and increase costs in a meaningful way. So that's really a win for adopting and investing in technology. So just staying on competition for a second, when Factor joined the HelloFresh family, it was entering a market dominated by players such as Freshly, the meal provider owned by the world's largest food company, Nestle. Yet Factor eventually took share from them, overtook them, and freshly later exited the market. It's quite remarkable. From your perspective, later stepping in as CEO, what kind of pivotal moves or strategies do you think helped Factor gain ground and eventually surpass a competitor of that scale? Because I got to believe that whatever was in that playbook, you watched closely. Yeah. And I have great respect for all of our peers who are really pioneering and innovating and building the space together. So I have tremendous respect for anyone who has attempted this, come and gone. But HelloFresh has a track record, and Factor has a track record of consistently investing in the things that matter most for the long term. It is a really complex and multidimensional business to run. We're not selling B2B software that has no marginal cost. To selling an incremental unit, we have to be fantastic builders, operators of physical fulfillment and supply chain footprint, have to be great marketeers and creative marketeers, brand managers, and physical and digital product builders. And it's really hard to do all of those things consistently over a long period of time. And that's really it. There's no magical, tactical tactic that you deploy to beat your competitors. It's really how do you keep delivering value to your customers, delivering better and better food and experience day in, day out? And how do you do that consistently over a long time? And it takes a lot of work. Well, as a reporter, I love covering the business of food because it's just such a talker, right? Like who doesn't light up talking about food? Let's get into consumer habits and food. Factor, as we talked about, recently just had its biggest menu expansion. So what are some of the trends that excite you right now in this space? I think GLP-1 is a hot one too. Yeah. So historically, and this is a really fast evolving space. Historically, healthy kind of just meant having a few bits of broccoli on your plate. And it's now consumers are looking for just right for me. So definition of health means, you know, helping me perform better in life, whether it be in space or in business. And so I think it's a really fast evolving space. In functional outcomes, you're looking for as a man, a woman, an athlete, or someone managing chronic conditions or whatever, trying to lose weight, and so on and so forth. And so people really want tailored, science-backed nutrition that's right for them. And so that's one trend we really need to cater to. And alongside that, people are really looking for better for you versions of everything that they used to consume. So I broadly see the market as having food for the body and food for the soul. And food for the soul typically means your comfort food, burgers, candy, and so on and so forth. And food for the body is where we really operate, but people typically have to have trade-offs in terms of flavor and so on in that space. And so we're trying to break that trade-off on the food for the body part. But even in the food for the soul space, food industry is really producing better versions of bars, cereals, and whatever it might be. So there's an undeniable movement towards that space in general. And one of the big spaces that's growing is GLP-1, really helping people manage not just weight loss, but diabetes and other conditions. But there's very specific dietary requirement that comes with the food for the soul. So there's a very specific dietary requirement that comes with the food for the soul. And so there's a very specific dietary requirement that comes with the food for the soul. should and deserve to get more and more benefits as we expand our product range. We'll provide more options to cross-sell and purchase greens as part of the subscription, as well as other products. And our customers are going to see amazing value for that. Some customers pay, you know, 20, 25 bucks a week for our competitors' products just to have that micronutrition benefit with greens. I'm confident that we'll be providing better products with more nutritional and health benefits at prices that are significantly better than that as a benefit of being a Factor member. And so that's one way we're really trying to grow and make the Factor subscription a no-brainer. It's smart, doubling down and trying to ensure you're building loyalty. Exactly. You mentioned that you're preparing for a big event, which I did see on LinkedIn. Tell everyone, for those who don't know, what you're prepping for, and how this has really prepared you for that event. Yeah, so I've been doing this. I've been retiring for 20 years. You know, every time I do one of these, I say never again. Then next year, I end up signing up for another one. The one I'm doing now is a multi-stage desert ultra marathon. It's 220 kilometers over five days. You essentially run a marathon every day for five days with a marathon and a half stage on the fourth day across the Mojave Desert in Nevada. Casual. Yeah. Yeah, that starts on Monday. So this is one of the last things I'm doing this week before signing off. And I'm doing it with my wife, who's amazing. There were lots of reasons for us to say not this year, because we just moved to a new country, new city, started new roles, busy times, and we have a three-year-old and so on and so forth. But we said, let's give it a shot. One, it's actually helped us be more intentional in all parts of our lives. And it's helped us be more effective. And I think my work has benefited from that counterintuitively. Also, as part of being a factor, using the product, I've never felt more healthy, balanced, and well-supported from a nutrition perspective in my training. I think a lot of us kind of take food for granted. And it's actually difficult to get it right. Like, you know, busy people having to meal prep at the weekend and worry about what's good, what's not, how much macros to take in. Like, it's really tough. It has at least for me, right? No, I'm right there with you. I got married last year and I went on my own weight loss journey. Congratulations. Yeah, definitely. I'm very proud of the fact that I counted my macros successfully during those times. Because you're right, it's tricky. People get confused. You don't know what matters more, protein, fiber, calories. And, you know, the truth is it all kind of matters a little bit. Exactly. And I've just basically not had to worry about it, you know, and just have the meals there for me in the fridge. All I have to take is two minutes for me to get it ready. And lunch was always the hardest one for me. So I'm not proud of this, but I've skipped many, many lunches during my career because it just got busy and it was hard to get it done quickly. But the fact has been a game changer. On that note, one thing we love to ask everyone on the show is what's been the toughest day you've ever had at your company and how did you get through it? We do tough things all the time. And my mindset is if it's not tough, you're not focusing on the right stuff. But one of the toughest days I had was, you know, when we're quickly trying to implement or take advantage of an opportunity that we cannot miss really. And the timelines and so on are not dictated by us, right? There's an opportunity to launch something with a retailer, for example, at the beginning of the year, right? The timing is dictated by the cycle of the market and cycle of our partner. And it's not an opportunity we can punt down the road because you miss another 12 months of opportunity. So what that meant is I had to call all parts of the business, operations, marketing, folks, how do we get this done? And my teams work really hard. And they're really accommodating and they're really flexible, agile, and so on and so forth. But at first, an overwhelming opportunity. Right. And it's part of leadership to help break down big problems into judgeable chunks and stuff. But that day, I got 10 no's from my own team within the space of three hours. And getting from 10 no's at 10 o'clock in the morning, to maybe by one o'clock in the afternoon, to yes, we can by five o'clock in the afternoon. That was exhilarating. But also tough. Yeah, yeah. I'm just picturing the war room here that you're like going down the line. On a more personal note, Adam, I know that you sit on the board of something called the Felix Project. It's the UK's largest food redistribution charity that gives out surplus food to fight hunger. Tell us how this came to have meaning for you, especially as an executive working in the space. I'm super proud of the contribution that I've been able to make to the Felix Project and the work that the Felix Project does. It really is a great opportunity for me to be able to be a part of the really tries to solve two problems that are really important. One fact is that in most developed nations like the UK and the US, we produce enough food to feed everyone. There's no mathematical reason as to why people should be hungry in these countries. But we have significant food shortage challenges in these countries. So Felix Project exists to bridge that gap. And at the same time, eliminate food waste. So even though there's this need for food in these countries, the truth of the matter is that a lot of food goes to waste. And that contributes to a massive portion of global warming. So 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste. And if you actually add up the economic value of food waste around the world, it'd be top 10 economy. It's a huge problem. I'm really passionate about solving this problem. And by the way, I got a firsthand experience of what this means at the individual level when I worked for the mayor of LA office during COVID. I had the privilege of helping them strategize emergency COVID response to some of the food shortage issues that they were having. Especially during COVID, this was enormous. And people who were already having a hard time making ends meet, losing jobs and having to put their family through food shortage. And I think that's a huge part of the food shortage and so on and so forth. It's a heartbreaking issue. So the reason I'm passionate about this is because of the urgency and for this issue, it aligns really well with the work I do at HelloFresh as well. We eliminate food waste almost entirely at the consumer level, because I can go on about this forever. But just one last thing I say is like, out of all the food waste that happens in the world, and in the US, about 40 to 50% of that comes from your kitchen. If you think about the supply chain, the rest of the supply chain is at scale, and there's a lot of incentive to make that efficient. Your kitchen and pantry is the worst managed inventory system there is in the entire supply chain. So half of the food waste comes from that, and we help eliminate that. And part of the way we eliminate food waste within our own supply chain is working with partners like the Felix Project, who help redistribute it, the surplus that comes from our supply chain to people who need it. 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In any food business, there's a surplus. The trick is not necessarily to try to eliminate it completely, but to make sure that we're efficient in redistributing that to where there's need and working with our community partners to do that. What is the end game for you here? If we were to sit back down in five, 10 years, which is an age for a startup, where would you want Factor to be? Factor will stand for everyday health and nutrition partner for consumers out there, delivering athlete-level quality meals that are science-backed and chef-crafted to everyone, to help everyone on their health and fitness goals, wherever they may be on their journey. That's what I would like for us to be and I'm convinced that's what where we'll be in a short few years. And a brand that also shows up across the food journey, not just in D2C, but everywhere consumers want to see us. Interesting. Watch this space, as you said. All right, this brings me to a segment we're calling What It Takes, where an audience member gets to ask for advice or hear more on what it takes to get where you are. Today, Shanzeh, a D2C apparel founder based in Los Angeles, asks if you were bootstrapping a D2C brand. Let's say you had just $3,000 to $5,000 and one product. How would you structure the path to your first $1 million in sales? Or what advice would you give someone in this position? That's a great question. And I have huge admiration for people starting in D2C space and starting their own businesses. So congrats, first of all. I would start with obsessing over customers, right? Make sure that you focus 100% on creating something that people will buy. Not your friends and family, not your influencers, but strangers. Get them to buy the product and love it, right? And build something they're going to buy again. And something that is not perfect, but really unique in the market. And that's really important. When it comes to your budget, focus on things that really matter in helping. Generate learning. And that means not spending on expensive agency retainers or big marketing campaigns and so on and so forth, but really getting your product right and getting in front of customers who are going to give you really valuable feedback and generate learnings that you can iterate on. And third thing I would say when it comes to the million dollars, focus on what matters rather than the vanity metric of revenue at that stage. Okay. The million dollars will come after the thousands of iterations you're going to have to do to improve your product, address your customers' needs, test your pricing scrappily on TikTok Shop or Shopify, and you'll generate more learnings than a lot of the established players can in a short amount of time. So focus on that. Focus on getting customers and strangers to buy your product and buy it again. And then the rest. Revenue will come. Thank you, Adam. Now we're going to end with a quick rapid fire round. So don't overthink it. Just say whatever comes to mind. Ready? Remote, hybrid, or in office? In office. Favorite factor meal right now? Dan Dan noodles with tofu, yeah. I knew that was coming. How do you mentally prepare before a big event? I don't think about it too much. I tell myself it'll get done one way or another. Just focus on the next step. The Korean sensibility. Yeah, that's right. How do you like to unwind after a long day at work? I love spending time with my kid, yeah. And I try to cut out all distractions for at least 30 minutes immediately after I see him at the end of the day. That's nice. What do you like to ask when hiring? Lots of things, but I really look for impact. And also whether or not you're motivated by the long-term vision we have for the company. I refuse to hire mercenaries who are in it for the short game. I really want to hire people who are bought into the mission and the vision of the business. Biggest pet peeve in the workplace? I try to be fairly chill around the workplace. I like it when people actually look after the office space. Quite frankly, it's where we work. And it's where I want people to enjoy spending the vast majority of their time. We have to remember we're a food production business, so keeping a tidy operation and clean environment is really important, operationally and within our culture. So I like it when people really care about that. What is one piece of advice you come back to often? One piece of advice that helps me take on new challenges. My wife actually gave this to me and it was awesome. And she said, look, a lot of people think that they have to be ready for the next opportunity. You have to know everything you need to know in order to be able to take on the next challenge. Actually, what happens is that you learn the things that you need to be able to do and learn when you're in a position where you have to do it. It's really difficult to replicate the learning environment without having to do it, right? So don't worry about it too much. Trust the track record and the more the experience you've had in the past of having had to adapt rather than whether or not you know everything already and then take on the new challenge and the learning will come. Just go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Well said. Adam, thank you so much. I've enjoyed our conversation. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thanks for joining us on Behind the Business. For more stories on business and leadership, follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you next week. On any journey using Uber, it helps to know you're getting into the right car. PIN verification adds an extra step to make sure your ride is your ride. Before the trip begins, your app gives you a unique PIN. Just tell it to your driver and they'll enter it in their app before the ride can start. Hey, what's your PIN? Mm-hmm. 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