Greenhero
#27 – Getting vegan businesses get off the ground w/ Founder and CEO of Vegan Business Tribe David Pannell
Joining Rikard today on the Greenhero Podcast is David Pannell, co-founder of Vegan Business Tribe, a community for plant-based entrepreneurs that helps grassroots vegan businesses get off the ground.
David’s vegan journey started purely through an effort to improve his diet. It actually took him close to 10 years to make a complete transition through meat and dairy reduction. But initially, he found himself gravitating towards unhealthy foods during his time working in a corporate business. But once he began eating vegetarian, he found himself following a rabbit hole of sorts. He came upon a video of male chicks being treated as a waste product in the UK, which ignited his passion for veganism. With his transitory period turning out the way it did, he feels strongly that there is no moral high ground to take over those who are pre-vegan. As he puts it, none of us were born vegan. We started out in the exact same place as everybody else. Now, he and his partner share that mentality through business practice, helping brands understand the consumer journey and the prominence of flexitarianism. The vegan sector has seen massive growth because of it. Especially where David is located in Europe–the idea of veganism is no longer new, and has started to mature.
The Vegan Business Tribe was founded in part, thanks to a spark from a UK vegan activist who pointed out that just because you’ve turned vegan doesn’t mean the impact of animal agriculture was halted and harmful practices have stopped, you’ve just opted out of it. With that in mind, David and his partner realized they could utilize their expertise in growing markets in bolstering vegan businesses. In doing so, they began to work with large brands, understanding the money wasn’t there with individual, smaller-sized companies. However, through collective effort, they could move the vegan scene forward.
A primary hurdle David sees with his clients is they build a business for themselves, not their customers. Spending thousands of dollars on branding, websites, etc. before you have a client base is just a guess. David helps these businesses get their product or service into the hands of customers as soon as possible to start building that following. The approach for growth depends on the business owner as well, with some only having high gear and others taking a less aggressive method. David uses his own business, Vegan Business Tribe, as an example. It was free for a period of time while they built an audience, then he was able to step back and calculate what he wanted to monetize. It was about community first, and as he puts it, it isn’t about the location that brings us together, it’s about ethics. With this global reach and philosophy, he was able to see growth.
The trends David sees in the vegan marketplace aren’t exactly what you’d expect. Only 50% of his clients have anything to do with food or drink. He is seeing people with existing skills–web designers, programmers, and even lawyers, taking their skillset and applying them to a vegan cause. He’s found that everyone wants an ethical, environmentally conscious supplier and partner. In fact, larger companies can look for such branding as a way to reduce their own impact.
Things you’ll learn
None of us were born vegan. We started out in the exact same place as everybody else.
Moving the vegan mission forward toward a more ethical world means utilizing the skills you already have and applying them to veganism.
Much of the vegan market isn’t food and drink–there are shadow industries around vegan brands that include a plethora of careers.
Links
https://veganbusinesstribe.com/
https://veganbusinesstribe.com/content/podcast/
Joining Rikard today on the Greenhero Podcast is David Pannell, co-founder of Vegan Business Tribe, a community for plant-based entrepreneurs that helps grassroots vegan businesses get off the ground.
David’s vegan journey started purely through an effort to improve his diet. It actually took him close to 10 years to make a complete transition through meat and dairy reduction. But initially, he found himself gravitating towards unhealthy foods during his time working in a corporate business. But once he began eating vegetarian, he found himself following a rabbit hole of sorts. He came upon a video of male chicks being treated as a waste product in the UK, which ignited his passion for veganism. With his transitory period turning out the way it did, he feels strongly that there is no moral high ground to take over those who are pre-vegan. As he puts it, none of us were born vegan. We started out in the exact same place as everybody else. Now, he and his partner share that mentality through business practice, helping brands understand the consumer journey and the prominence of flexitarianism. The vegan sector has seen massive growth because of it. Especially where David is located in Europe–the idea of veganism is no longer new, and has started to mature.
The Vegan Business Tribe was founded in part, thanks to a spark from a UK vegan activist who pointed out that just because you’ve turned vegan doesn’t mean the impact of animal agriculture was halted and harmful practices have stopped, you’ve just opted out of it. With that in mind, David and his partner realized they could utilize their expertise in growing markets in bolstering vegan businesses. In doing so, they began to work with large brands, understanding the money wasn’t there with individual, smaller-sized companies. However, through collective effort, they could move the vegan scene forward.
A primary hurdle David sees with his clients is they build a business for themselves, not their customers. Spending thousands of dollars on branding, websites, etc. before you have a client base is just a guess. David helps these businesses get their product or service into the hands of customers as soon as possible to start building that following. The approach for growth depends on the business owner as well, with some only having high gear and others taking a less aggressive method. David uses his own business, Vegan Business Tribe, as an example. It was free for a period of time while they built an audience, then he was able to step back and calculate what he wanted to monetize. It was about community first, and as he puts it, it isn’t about the location that brings us together, it’s about ethics. With this global reach and philosophy, he was able to see growth.
The trends David sees in the vegan marketplace aren’t exactly what you’d expect. Only 50% of his clients have anything to do with food or drink. He is seeing people with existing skills–web designers, programmers, and even lawyers, taking their skillset and applying them to a vegan cause. He’s found that everyone wants an ethical, environmentally conscious supplier and partner. In fact, larger companies can look for such branding as a way to reduce their own impact.
Things you’ll learn
None of us were born vegan. We started out in the exact same place as everybody else.
Moving the vegan mission forward toward a more ethical world means utilizing the skills you already have and applying them to veganism.
Much of the vegan market isn’t food and drink–there are shadow industries around vegan brands that include a plethora of careers.
Links
https://veganbusinesstribe.com/
https://veganbusinesstribe.com/content/podcast/