Ep. 1342 Josh Wand | Masterclass US Wine Market With Juliana Colangelo

By now, you've all heard of Italian wine Unplugged two point o. The latest book published by Mamma jumbo shrimp. It's more than just another wine book. Fully updated second edition was inspired by students of the Vin Italy International Academy and painstakingly reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professor Atilio Shenza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. The benchmark producers feature is a particularly important aspect of this revised edition. The selection makes it easier for our readers to get their hands on a bottle of wine that truly represents a particular grape or region to pick up a copy, just head to Amazon dot com, or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to Mastercross US Market with me, Juliana Colangelo. This show has been designed to demystify the US market for Italian wineries through interviews of experts in sales and distribution, social media, communications, and so much more. We will quiz each of our esteemed guests at the end of each episode to solidify the lessons that we've learned to sharpen your pencils, get out your no books and join us this week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US Market. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome back to the Italian One podcast, Josh Wonde. Josh is an entrepreneur who creates businesses that power the growth of consumer brands by connecting people, technology, and community. His entrepreneurial journey began in two thousand seven when he founded Force Brands, the leader in strategic hiring for consumer brands that offers a full spectrum of services for executive recruitment, as well as a job board for consumer brand professionals. Well, Josh and I haven't had the chance to meet yet in person. I've been following his work closely and very excited to have him on the show today. Welcome to the Italian Wine podcast, Josh. Thanks for being here. Thanks so much for having me. I'm thrilled to join you. Yeah. Thank you. Well, to start off and before we dive into some of the the meat of today's conversation, tell us a little bit more about the inspiration behind Forest Brands and what led you to create the company back in two thousand and seven. Thank you for asking. I originally started in the wine and spirits business, actually. When I was in college, I was deeply passionate about wine, and early on in my career, won a scholarship that was offered by co brand. It was called the Rudolph CCOP scholarship where he got to go make wine and study with winemakers in Europe for, like, three months Cool. With other students, which was really cool. And then I ended up working for Southern wine and spirits early on in my career. And I got totally into wine and took my wine, some certification exam. I think I was twenty one. Wow. Then it actually ended up working with an Italian wine importer. At the time, it was named, AV imports, which then sold to Codor New, which became avenue brands. Right. Right. Okay. I was there for a couple years, but I got to go to Italy quite a bit and study all the Italian wine regions. It just was deeply passionate about that space. After that, ended up hooking up with one of my boss it's Southern Wine Spirit who is starting a rum company. Mhmm. And he asked me to join him early on to build an organization from scratch. It was called Montecristo rum at the time. We licensed the the rum trade the cigar trademark, Cuban and Spanish government to create Montecristo rum, which was way before Super Premium spirits crash spirits were really a thing. This was in two thousand two. And so during that time, I was tasked with building the team. And I would run into other entrepreneurs that were out there at trade shows or general sales meetings and say, how do you all find talent? Like, what do you do if you're looking for executive leadership or board members or sales leaders or marketing leaders or finance leaders? And they said, well, you know what? There's really no major players in this space. There's the global strategic recruitment companies that aren't specialists. Mhmm. But there was really no national platform form at the time. So having been deeply connected to humans my whole life and had a natural knack for bringing people together, I realized there was a huge gap and an opportunity to build a recruitment and strategic board building platform for initially the beverage alcohol space. That's where we started. Hence, fourth brands in two thousand seven. Yeah. So it really came out of an your own need as you were building businesses. And recognizing, a lack in the space, you know, in a blank space. I believe it's less about product market fit, and it's more about, founder Mhmm. Product fit. Like, what do you deeply love? You know? Right. What drives you? What taps into your magic? And mine has always been bringing people together. And I realized, like, the one thing that builds these brands, these companies, it's the humans. Everyone can talk about brand all day long, but it's the people behind the brand that bring it to life. Totally. Exactly. And now that's a, an, a great story of of how you came today to Forest Brand. So we're really excited to kinda dive in today. You know, in today's episode, we wanna talk about how the job force has shifted in the US since the pandemic. There's been so many changes in the workforce. Especially in beverage Apple industry, but in so many industries. So we're really looking to hear your expertise and insights in in this space. So for today's master class, our our three key takeaways are gonna be number one, the key differences in the average wine salesperson today versus pre pandemic. So really diving in into that space and and how that how that job has changed. Number two, what wineries should know about the the quote unquote new workforce and and new habits that are becoming the norm, especially in the US market. And then number three, how wineries and wine companies can attract the most talented sales people and representatives to their business and companies. So, you know, we're gonna really focus like you said on on the people that drive these businesses and and how that's all changed. So let's dive in. I'm excited. I'm happy to. Shall I take the first, point of the key differences in average wine salesperson a day versus a pandemic? Yeah. Definitely. Talk about it. I would say number one is there's more technology and data at your fingertips. It's become much more streamlined. And I believe the wine industry really caught up over the pandemic. Otherwise, you can leverage that. It can be your friend. Right. Which basically means salespeople can spend more time in a consultative way advising their customers on the right product fit, whether that's it, you know, on premise, building wine lists, or or wine programs, or off premise instead of just taking orders, you can tap into these incredible systems that exist like proof or account three sixty or provium, many of these other systems where a lot of the automation takes away the administrative work. So you as salesperson can be become more of an advisory sales consultant. Got it. Mhmm. App into the beauty of all these products that you represent, and that's really what great beverage managers and buyers want. They want true expression of all the regions of the world Right. In allowing yourselves to educate them on behalf of the stories of the wine opposed to the price points of the wine tend to build more meaningful robust relationships. Right. So, really, this technology allows sales persons to become more of a partner to their buyers in terms of providing them with data and and information that shows them why certain products are gonna be the best fit for their list or for their program. That's exactly right. Yeah. Super interesting. How do you think, you know, with the advances in technology in this space and this job? We know the wine industry, especially such a people based industry and so much of business happens in person over a table. Over a glass of wine. Right? So how do you balance, you're bringing in the technology, taking things virtual and digital, but while maintaining that human element? I believe you just have to leverage it. You can't fight it. You know, anyone at this stage in the game regardless of industry, you can't fight technology. Yeah. You know, you've gotta figure out how you can use it to save time so you can engage more at human level with the people that you're dealing with that are making the decisions that are building these programs. There's still people running these restaurants, these hotels, these national accounts, these major liquor stores, these chains. And the more time you can save them administratively, the more opportunity you have when you're with them, to have really meaningful conversations about their goals and their vision for the programs. And so Mhmm. I would say it's the same in consumer. It's the same in cannabis. It's the same in beauty, personal care. Like, you'll you'll leverage it. And the more you try to fight it, probably the less likely you'll be successful. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a that's a really fair point. Right? It's, you know, life is about change and we move forward and adopt new technologies. You can look at what's happening right now with chat g p t. I mean, that's definitely gonna change. I know my job in the communication space, and we have to embrace it and look at how we can utilize it to be more efficient and admin hours, like you said, and spend more time with with our our clients and our people. So Well, well, that's exactly right. I mean, you could go on chat GPT and ask them to craft you you know, Italian wine list in Pulia, you know, with the top Yep. Ten rated ninety plus wines. You know, with a twenty five dollar price point, and they'll do it. But guess what? The the three tier distribution system, they represent those brands, and the sales people represent those brands. And the way in which you can show up to provide support for your accounts can be much more meaningful. Right? So there's a way to really leverage that to get creative yourself as a salesperson to think about new innovative ways to craft lifts, craft programs, look at pricing schematics. Right. So is it start to leverage that? It can really be your friend. Totally. Yeah. No. I I I love that, and I think that's the right way to be thinking about things. So, you know, we also wanted to talk about know, what winery should know about this new workforce, you know, there's different habits, especially younger generations, but really across the board. We've all changed. It's been three years now since the pandemic, and we're all, you know, using Zoom more regularly. And have embraced work from home and and different technologies. But what do you think are some of the most important things that winery should consider about this new workforce when they're going into, you know, a hiring space? This newer workforce for Mark experience wants to align and work with companies they deeply believe in. Where they're very mission driven and there's a lot of transparency. Like, they want access to leadership. They wanna be connected. They want their voice to be heard. You know, and, you know, I would say that during COVID, what was really interesting is it was no longer a Oval Office, and I got a knock on the door and eventually get the CEO. Everyone was on Zoom. Right. And so everyone had the opportunity to have a voice. And to and to connect with each other. It it removed a lot of these invisible walls. Mhmm. Italian wine podcast, part of the momo jumbo shrimp family. And what's so interesting now is companies go back to offices and work in hybrid situations is that a lot of the workforce that's like earlier on in the career, many of them aren't looking for ten, fifteen year careers. You know, they're looking for three to five year careers, and they wanna move on. Unless, there's an opportunity to rotate with an organization cross functionally grow. Unless there's transparency and succession planning and growth planning, and they know they're not just taking a job, but there's a career track. So the companies that build career tracks are the ones that are really gonna excel and track the best people and they're gonna win, but they are competing with CPG. Yeah. They're competing with consumer products. They're competing with major food companies. Right. You know, major non out, computer personal care companies, pet companies, connected fitness tech. So you've really gotta think about your organization as placed to foster growth with future leaders in the in the industry because they're gonna go where that opportunity exists, and they'll stay if great. Right. But the days of, oh, you're lucky to have a job? Yeah. People can think that way, even if we go into a recession, but the team members wanna work with companies where they're appreciated and valued. And it's a two way street. You as a founder, you as a CEO, you as a board, you're only as good as the team that represent you, so you gotta make them feel that way. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think what you you touched on about transparency is key, right, really providing access. And that's one one way in which over the last few years, I think we have seen seen that change. Like you said, now we are all together on the same screen or even, you know, the Italian wine podcast, if we look at it, it's brought in so many different people to have a voice, be a host, have a show, talk about different different things in the in the Italian wine industry, but all these new formats are giving so many more people voices and platforms, and the same goes for for the workforce. So I think that's a a really valuable tip. Absolutely. So, you know, you'd mentioned a lot of competition with other industries. Right? We know that's out there and, that can be a major challenge for wine companies. So what do you think wineries can do? Wine companies, what advantages do they have to attract the most talented people to their company. You know, I would say that in the world of, like, technology and where we are, like, wine and spirits, you know, is clearly one of the most recession resilient categories. Yes. Bureau question. The economy is good. People are drinking wine. The economy is not so good. People are drinking more wine. Price points may vary, but it is a very stable industry and it will continue to be. Everyone is so nervous that cannabis was gonna completely rock beverage alcohol, and it's it's thrived, and cannabis will come around too, and it'll be a healthy industry as well. Once federal rigs are lifted, but the wine industry is is it's here to stay. I really believe that it's such a it's such a crowded category with so many companies, that are focused on the brand and the story of the wine, and less on the employer brand. Like, what it's like to come work here. This is an organization. It's not just a story of the winemaker. It's a place where you can grow your career. Right. And those companies, leadership, human resources, talent acquisition, They can find ways to communicate and demonstrate why it's an exciting place to build your career. They're gonna have a leg up because that's what people want. They wanna understand, like, we talked about transparency and what the journey will look like with that organization. So With that, it's like you gotta show growth opportunities. You have to show succession planning. You have to know, what cross rotational kind of positions might look like. And I believe probably the most important thing in any company this day and age is having really good mentorship programs. Yeah. And career coaching opportunities. Like, we're big on coaching in our organization. Huge. And we coach all of our managers and leaders. We have outside coaching systems. I believe that the modern day company, if they're not providing that for their team, it's a missed op. Yeah. It's a really good point. And it's not to work on KPIs and objectives. It's to work on those humans in your organization that can show up as the best version of themselves and get clarity so they can really add value day to day to what they're doing and feel great about themselves. Because if they feel great and their coach and they have that career therapy, they are gonna bring their best. Totally. And they're the ones that are coaching your teams too. Right? So you need your leaders to to be strong, to be resilient, but also, like you said, to feel confident, and what they're doing as well. I really like what you said too about building the brand of the company, not just the product. So, you know, talking about what it's like to work in the space, what what, the culture of the company is, but really thinking about your company as as a brand, just the way you're building the brand for for your wine label. So I think that's a really, really good takeaway for our listeners, and definitely something so important to consider. Even ourselves, you know, Financial Partners is a communications agency. You know, that's what we do for our clients, and we've over the last few years, definitely taken more time to think about our own brand and how we communicate because very often, you know, it's getting kind of pushed down to the bottom of the to do list, but it's it's not something you can can Yeah. Yeah. Ignore anymore. Like you said, it's so crucial. To to hiring and attracting the best talent is is building that brand. Yeah. I believe so. It's like, you know, everyone there's so many great lines out there and those that have this, like, holier than thou, you know, feeling or ego, like, our wine is the best one. Yeah. It's a good brand, but, like, there's lots of great brands out there. The best organizations have the best people that grow the company way beyond your expectations. In sales, marketing, finance ops. So the brand's only gonna get you so far. Right. Right? Mhmm. It's really all about the connectivity to the market into the trade and understanding how to find ways for that to resonate on multiple levels. And if you really are thoughtful about building a best in class company, you're gonna be durable for decades and decades and centuries. And if it's just about the brand and just about the founder, then you're probably not gonna be a success Totally. Yeah. I think that's that's really great advice. So, you know, you just re reach out just to talk a little bit more about the company enforce brands and and what you're doing and and how it's changed. You know, you started with a a focus in the beverage alcohol space. Right? But the company has expanded quite a bit. So talk us through a little bit of of the growth that you've seen within Forest Brands since two thousand and seven, and maybe some of the lessons you've learned as you've as you've grown the brand as well in the company. Thank you for asking. You really learn as you go by asking a lot of questions to your partners, to clients in the world. Your team is the most important because they're on the front lines. And what became really clear that there was no leadership solutions specifically focused on the on the beverage alcohol industry. And now consumer brands as a whole. And so we had to be extremely thoughtful in the actual services that we provide and create, like, dedicated groups focused on that. And, you know, it started out as just doing a little recruitment. And over fifteen years, it's it's grown into this division called impactful. That's all about strategic board building and executive C suite placement Okay. In organizations at the highest level, in full integration to run those organizations along with the founding teams, the boards, the private equity groups, venture capital groups, like real thought leadership. That's a high level retained service called impactful. Then we have force direct hire, which is for your, you know, director and management level teams across all functions. Sales, marketing, finance, ops, performance growth, HR, kind of to build your teams. Mhmm. And we have a group of about, you know, probably thirty five recruiters in house that that that deal with that and do an excellent job. And You know, as companies are evolving, it requires different talent, different inflection points, getting your business from zero to ten million is a much different skill set than ten to fifty and fifty to two hundreds of different skill set. And you're a multinational company. Totally. You need different types talent. And so we have kind of emerging teams, mid market teams, and then global enterprise teams focused on that type of work. And we also have a technology platform that we built, in house, which is basically a a job board which is a do it yourself model for entry level junior level jobs, which don't require recruitment. And through that, we morphed into a new product called Gohire, which powers industry trade associations. Who have incredible followings to let them share job opportunities directly with, with all of their affiliate members. So Very cool. We have a partnership, with women of the Vine spirits, for instance. And so all members are able to kind of share opportunities on that. And then when there's a more strategic role they need to fill, they can tap into, you know, the force brands are the impactful, recruiting network as well. So it's all fully integrated ecosystem. Mhmm. We call the flywheel to make sure that we're adding value across the board. And these different parts of the of the, you know, impactful force direct job board, it sounds like you created these out of out of needs you were seeing in the market. Like, how how did each of those pieces come to be with enforced brands? Yeah. That's exactly right. It was based on, you know, us speaking with, you know, founders or boards and saying, hey, listen, we need new board members. We need a CEO. We need a CFO, which we do a lot of COO. So we need to make sure these people are in place. But in addition to that, this, you know, chief marketing offer and user needs to hire a VP, a director, someone to run, you know, trade marketing, field marketing, social digital. So we built out teams for that. We said, well, we're connected to the people. What we don't have any desire of being is transactional. Mhmm. You make a placement and you walk away. We say we're not head hunters. We're heart hunters. We are here to help organizations grow meaningfully and impactfully. Throughout their entire organization, whether it's family owned, they wanna stick around for years, or they wanna build and sell to a Pronero or Diageo. Right. So so we're along for those cycles and, you know, each company is different, but what we found to be really powerful is that we have the ability to integrate into work without throughout the whole organization, cross functionally. In some of these companies, we worked with, you know, ten, twelve, thirteen years. Wow. And, and then we launched a technology because it was just easy and we knew that sometimes just LinkedIn or, you know, monster wasn't enough. There need to be an industry specific solution. Yeah. So it's really force brands is doing so much more than, you know, a job board. It's it's really a partner, like you said, with for our companies to really grow. And be sustainable, in in a lot of different ways. To that, the job board is an itty bitty tiny piece of what we do. It's less than one percent of what we do, but it has it has global reach Mhmm. Because of the connectivity with thousands of companies that put their entry in junior level jobs on there. Totally. I was gonna ask, and you mentioned working with family owned companies. You know, we know here in Italy, there are a lot of family owned wineries. But what are some things that you have noticed when working with family owned companies for succession planning, for just success in general. What what are some of the ways in which you're working with those types of companies? Well, when you're working with family owned companies, which we do quite a bit, it's very personal. Mhmm. You know, and very often, their succession planning, you know, and it's third generation, fourth generation, and sometimes those family members do or do not wanna run the business. And sometimes they do or do not have the skill set to run the business. Right. Mhmm. We had those that are open enough and that are vulnerable enough and that are clear about the type of skill sets required to win globally. And in the US specifically, a lot of these international companies might not have Right. Grown up in the US. But they're well, they've they've exported their business here. Those that are really open and willing to find best in class leadership to run their commercial business, here in the US, typically end up thriving when they're completely committed and dedicated to building best in class teams. Mhmm. Those who try to hold everything for themselves, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, but those tend to be smaller family owned businesses Right. Where they just prefer to run it, you know, multi generational, which is a beautiful thing, you know, if that is your mission, but either way Yeah. Know three or four people can run a thriving line business. Right? It requires commercial expertise, marketing expertise, finance expertise, operational expertise, compliance expertise here. And so, we found that there's a deep desire, to connect you know, organizational design sessions, strategies, sessions to understand kind of, like, best in class models and the right ways to do it. And so we have a lot of these conversations with organizations early on and then continuing, you know, Once they've once they've become multi hundred million dollar companies, they still wanna check-in to make sure they're making the right decisions for the business. So really good business leaders continue to grow in a healthy clip. Yeah. So you're seeing a success where companies are really looking towards the the specific skill sets they need and looking put likely beyond the family, but to the experts that they need to make their businesses as successful as it can be. A hundred percent. And there's people that just love working with family owned businesses. They know they're durable. They know they're multigenerational. They don't they know they don't require venture capital or private equity. They're gonna stay in business. These are EBITDA cash flow businesses, and they like to find a place to work for fifteen, twenty years and run a great business. Totally. So you gotta find someone who's aligned with your mission. Yeah. We talked about stability. Right? And I think right now in March of of twenty twenty three with everything that's been going on recently in the news, with tech, stability is really important, right, and not to be undervalued. So you can see that as another, I would think for the wine industry and a family owned business, especially in the wine industry, another real selling point or, a real attracting point for a potential employee, the stability of the business. I can't tell you how many people three years ago because we have a pretty big thriving cannabis practice. Can't pull or, like, gotta get out of the wine business, you know, gotta get back in Canada. I wanna get to cannabis. That's the next frontier, which by the way, it's still gonna be an exciting frontier and gonna be huge long term. Yeah. And probably eighty percent of them have come back and say, gosh, I would love to work for a stable one. Really? So interesting. With good people that have integrity, you know, where I know there's real value creation, and I don't need to become a billionaire. I'm not looking to make thirty million dollars. I just wanna work with great people, make a good living, enjoy what I do every day. Well, that's that's, those are good trends for for us in the wine industry. So, you know, I have a question. I'm just gonna hop down a little bit because I really wanted to talk about this and ask this question. But, you know, as we've seen diversity, equity, inclusion really rise to the forefront, so many conversation, not just in the wine industry, but in general, what does that mean when it comes to recruitment and retention and and building more diverse workforces in the wine industry? It it's a vital, I mean, diversity of background, and culture, gender, and thought, they're fundamental on just building winning teams. I think diverse teams are no longer the exception. They're the rule. And, you know, having the ability to build remote workforces has made it easier to recruit. For more diverse talent pools and build more inclusive organizations. But the work doesn't end. It's just started. You know, it's a huge priority for us internally. It force brands and impactful because we have so many of our partners that ask us for strategic advice and consultation. So we have our own consultive kind of strategist that comes in and works with our team to appropriately advise. But this is I mean, this is huge. You've gotta mirror the structure of, you know, of your consumers, and your consumers are diverse. You have an organization need to be diverse. And it's just I mean, it it it is it is factually evident that more diverse organizations are more productive and more profitable. Right. And they retain people better. So it's our industry needs to catch up and there's a lot of people that are deeply committed to it and we're one of those. But, it takes a whole community. And I believe that, there is, there is realignment with many organizations. And the, actually, the whole ecosystem, this is, this is needs to happen and continue to happen. And what are some tips or, you know, advice you'd give to a company that is looking to bring in a more diverse workforce, and and improve in that area? Like, what are some things they can do? Invest in it. Yeah. You know, like, if you haven't done it to date, chances are you might not have the in house capabilities to do it or the skill set. Right. Like hire someone to do it. Like hire a great consultative team, hire some advisors, hire a full time, you know, thought leader in the organization to work with you to develop the strategy. Mean, it's like building any other Right. Strategy or major initiative in your organization. It's not about a post on Instagram. Invest in it seriously and and devote real re resources to it, room mind share. In a meaningful way. I mean, recruiting is the most time consuming, most costly part of any business. Right? And it was it's you gotta recruit, and then you gotta retain them because if you don't retain them, it gets really Absolutely. Mhmm. And so if you so so you've gotta really commit to this address it and say, hey, listen. This is this is what we're gonna go on the journey to do together. And we have great thought leadership to help us, and we want everyone to be educated. Yeah. And I believe the more serious you take it, the more serious your organization takes, and you'll be able to attract much better people. Totally. Yeah. Oh, that's that's a really great point. So talk to us, Josh, what's going on this year for four spreads? I mean, you have so many exciting ways the company has grown since two thousand seven, but what's on the horizon for this year? So we recently launched impactful search, which I mentioned, which is Mhmm. Which it would primarily focused a lot with international companies too, building executive boards, leadership teams to run the US market. So that is a really exciting platform. We've got a great team running that. It's an incredible practice led by industry pros. And, you know, we're just placing best in class leaders. We also, have recently launched a new division called Creatorforce, which is about creator and celebrity backed brands that have incredible built in followings. If you think about if you think about, you know, the Casamigos of the world or the aviation gyms of the world. Oh, right. They've just, yeah, or the Avelines of the world. We've worked with all these companies who arise, there was a real need, to build a new platform for these creator, slash celebrity brands where they can continue to create and build the followings that they have because they have built in communities. And bring best in class CEOs, COO, CMOs, in place to actually build their businesses, run their organizations, and grow them in a in a really significant way. So it's a little bit it's it's a new spin on what we've been doing. Interesting. It's called creator force. And we are gonna be the force behind the creator brands. Very cool. And what do you see that's unique about that space? Like, when you look at working with a celebrity owned brand versus, you know, a different brand? Like, what how what are the unique things you're looking at when you're helping them build their work force in their leadership. It's incredible. I mean, you know, it's so much different than just, you know, having built a spirits branch from scratch with some other entrepreneurs that had no built in followings. It took us, you know, you know, eight, ten years to to get to scale, Then you look at someone, like, I mean, I'm dating myself, but when skinny girl did it with Bethany Frankle Right. Think about how quickly that built and scaled, you know, and sold to being, look at what JayZ did with Aceis Bates in Armanda Brignac. Right? I mean, if you if you look at a lot of these brands and the way they've, like, really grown, like, and scaled quickly, it's because they have organic followings. They don't have to pay for all their customers. They're on Instagram. They're on TikTok. You know, they've got incredible reach and consumers want to consumers already believe in what they're doing. And if it's authentically aligned with who they are, is a is a creator, it can be huge. No. I'm not just talking about influence partnerships. That's how I'm talking. Mhmm. What I'm talking about is the creators that are co founders of the business. Right. Got it. Yeah. That are putting their money where their mouth is to grow the brand. We just did a little piece on, Colorado. Yes. Today that we released. We have a we have an editorial team just focused on creative brands right now. And it's phenomenal, and we're gonna be investing in some of them. Another initiative that I just launched, we just created a venture fund. That was announced last week called the family fund and founder community. Oh, interesting. Okay. And it's a venture fund, created by founders for founder led brands. So all of our LPs and our fund our limited partners are founders that have all been through successful, growth journeys and liquidity events and sold their businesses. And there's fifty, fifty five of them. Oh, very cool. And so we are really proud to say, you know, we're founder led fund for founder led brands, writing checks. We're not leading rounds. We're just co investing alongside other premier private equity and venture capital groups, but I partnered with other people on this because I knew there was a huge opportunity do it. That's exciting. Mhmm. And even if we're not investing, we just wanna help these brands get to the other the right people that can invest. Right. Because it's not right for every firm. It's gotta be a fit. So we understand how hard it is to be on a founder journey, having raised capital before, we wanna be really helpful, really thoughtful. And make sure that worst case, these founders that come to us can get connected to our founders in the ecosystem Right. Or to other investors that might be the right fit for them and do the right thing and help them grow. And are you focused with that fund in any specific space more than another? Cannabis wide spirits, or is it is it pretty much spread out throughout all the industries that you touch? It's all the industries that we touch. It's really the consumer brand ecosystem. So Okay. Beverage alcohol being one of them non alc beverage. Right. Food, beauty, personal care. Pet. We will touch cannabis. And then technology, platforms that support the consumer ecosystem. Think about e commerce enablement, payment systems, supply chain automation, you know, fintech insurance tech platforms that support the consumer ecosystem. So my partners come from one comes from big tech background. The other one built vital proteins which sold to Nestle. And so we kinda have broad reach, but it's not about me. It's about the founder community, and we've got a great investment community. Sading. So it's really cool. Yeah. We're, you know, he can invest in everything, but you can sure get people the time and support and help them find the right partners for Yeah. Absolutely. Gotcha. So much we could talk about. We didn't even talk about none else. It's just such a big space, but, we are winding down on our time. And I wanna make sure we get to our little rapid fire quiz that we do at the end of each of these episodes. Where we just review our key takeaways when you shared some really valuable information and tips that I think are really important for businesses to hear. So we're gonna do our, rapid fire quiz, three questions, and please try to answer in, one sentence or less as to the best of your ability. So here we go. Number one, what do wires need to do to attract the most talented workforce? Be yourself, be transparent, and provide real growth opportunities for your team within. So they wanna stick around for a long time. Share your vision. I love that. Yep. Number two, what norm shifted most significantly for the workforce post pandemic? Tech enablement. Hit your fingertips. Remote work and lot of investment capital is now available in the wine and spirit space from venture capital and private equity. Very exciting. And number three, what three things are the most important right now to the workforce. Great leadership, healthy culture, transparency, and fair compensation. That's four. Alright. That's four. That's okay. But that's, those are all so important. So we'll have to include all of them. Thank you so much, Josh, for being here today. We really appreciate you taking the time, to join us on the master class US spread market on the Italian wine podcast. And thanks for sharing all your thoughts and insights. Thank you. It's such a pleasure to have this conversation with you, and I really appreciate situation and look forward to standing close, close touch, but thank you for the hospitality. Thanks again, Josh. Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned each week for new episodes of Master class US it with me, Juliana Colangelo. I remember if you enjoyed today's show, hit the like and follow buttons wherever you get your podcasts.