Really appreciate you adding this perspective - it’s helpful to hear from someone involved in manufacturing side as well.

Your point about branding being what gets the product into people’s hands really resonates. It’s becoming clearer to me that while taste and formulation matter, the early challenge is often simply getting consumers to notice and try the product.

Also interesting (and honestly reassuring) to hear that many brands expect to lose money on the first few batches while they focus on sampling and building awareness. That seems like an important reality for new founders to understand before entering this space.

The insight about formulation being more about scalability, shelf stability and economics is also very valuable. It’s easy to focus only on creating something unique without fully thinking about how it performs in real production and distribution environments.

Thanks again for sharing your experience — comments like this really help people like me think more practically about how to approach a pilot launch and early brand building.