Behind the Brand: Full Stop. Sourdough Crackers
Meet Full Stop. Sourdough Crackers' Founder, Sadie Stutzman
1. What is the name of your company?
Full Stop. Sourdough Crackers
2. What is your title?
Founder & CEO
3. Where is your company located?
Boulder, Colorado
4. Whats your current obsession?
Lord of the rings (i’m reading and watching them for the first time ever!!)
5. How did you hear about Naturally Colorado? What made you become a member? Has Naturally Colorado helped you in any way?
I think I initially heard about it through the SBDC in Boulder. I have made some really wonderful connections through the naturally network!
6. What size is your company?
1-10 team members!
7. What inspired you to start your company?
I was a PHD student in mechanical engineering at CU Boulder when I decided to leave and start Full Stop.! I was in need of a pivot to refocus my priorities on people & being present. At full stop., we believe that food brings people together & makes people feel loved and seen. That is what keeps us, as a team, motivated at work & drives me personally as well! I need the reminder, just like everyone else, to slow down & savor the moment!
8. Why did you choose to focus on the natural and organic industry?
Good fuel is so important. I wanted to put a product out to the world that I can proudly stand behind!
9. Can you describe the biggest challenge you faced during the early stages of your company, and how you overcame it?
The biggest challenge at the beginning was also my biggest blessing. Having a background in engineering and walking into the CPG world fresh gave me a heavy dose of naive optimism. I didn’t think twice about many things, and some of those decisions turned out better than others, but I always learned from them.
Ironically, the thing that comes to mind immediately when I think of a challenge I faced at the beginning is engineering-based. We were moving kitchens, and all of our equipment, and I failed to tell the electrician the phase that our machine required. That put us behind at least two weeks. I was so disappointed in myself, because at the time, I was working as an engineer in industry and my job was to call out electrical specs. You live and you learn, and then you learn again.
10. What keeps you up at night regarding your business?
It oscillates between sales and production and people. When sales are growing, we’ve got to grow our production. When production is scaling, we need more sales. And as for people, people make everything better, but they also make everything more complex.
11. What strategies can you share that have been effective?
The strategy is just keep going. A saying I love is, “What’s the play? Run the play.” I have a background in sports, and I think setting yourself and your company up with a game plan, “the play,” and then executing that, and of course pivoting as necessary, is critical. From there, just keep going.
12. How important is networking, and what strategies do you use to build and maintain professional relationships?
Everything is better in relationship. People are how you learn things, how you get things done, how you have more fun, dream bigger, see bigger, and seek different perspectives. Networking is the most important thing. You cannot do it alone. It goes both ways. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to connect people with problems to a solution or to be the solution. Lean on your network and let them lean on you.
13. What is one piece of advice or knowledge that has changed your life and why?
A mentor once told me that the definition of success is if you made the people around you better. That has always been the bar that I set myself to. I want to impact the lives I’m a part of in a positive way, and I want Full Stop. to do the same. It also helps me sleep at night when the day might not have gone as planned, or the week, or the month.
Connect with Sadie.
Learn more about Full Stop.
More about Behind the Brand:
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