Founder Spotlight: Kristi Knowles (Mother Raw)
Kristi Knowles
Startup:
Mother Raw
Business Description:
Mother Raw is on a mission to encourage everyone, everywhere to eat more plants by creating delicious and versatile, plant-based dressings, marinades, dips, quesos, and condiments. The brand’s philosophy to “Put Good on Good™” is manifested through its dedication to sourcing nutrient-rich, organic ingredients in their most pure and least processed form, resulting in consciously crafted, non-GMO products that make eating more plants versatile and delicious.
Startup Stage:
Growth
City:
Toronto, Canada
What led you to where you are today?
After more than 20 years working at Fortune 500 giants as a senior executive in the consumer packaged goods and alcohol beverage spaces, I was SO ready to move on to a smaller, high-growth business where I would have the shortest distance to directly impacting consumers, my team, and the overall future. I wanted to find an opportunity that hit the sweet spot and allowed me to apply what I have learned in the industry to a business that matched my lifelong passion for health and wellness. I found that with Mother Raw.
What do you wish you knew before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey?
Coming from the corporate world, I wish someone would have reinforced that one’s value is not tied to how many meetings and events you are invited to, the number of committees you chair, and how many people require your input and approval. At a start-up, your days are comprised of what you deem most important and the relative lack of structure to your days can be unsettling at first.
What can you help the VEGPRENEUR community with?
After transitioning from a larger company to a small scrappy start-up, I learned how resourceful I can be, especially when faced with a challenge. I’m sure other VEGPRENEUR members can relate. In 9 months, my team and I used the resources we had to conduct brand research, rebrand, build the company mission, vision and values, reformulate the existing product line (using a free 75-person panel we created), develop new products, redesign over 40 SKUs, shape a digital roadmap, built a Canadian and U.S. ecommerce site while figuring out the logistics of fulfillment, and launched across North America with a new broker and distributor network. When I look back, I can still remember thinking ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do all this, but we don’t have a choice’. Rolling up my sleeves, getting traction and working with heart is my specialty and I’m happy to be a sounding board for others who are going through similar changes.
How can the VEGPRENEUR community help you?
I would love to connect with other members of the VEGPRENEUR community who also believe in the importance of a plant-based diet. Working together, we can help people gain access to real, whole foods that can contribute to a healthier society, the betterment of animals, and the future of our planet. Together we are stronger and the VEGPRENEUR community has a lot to offer, especially when we work together. Mother Raw is interested in all the many ways we might be able to collaborate and share ideas and we have an awesome team.
Fun fact about you:
Growing up I was an avid Equestrian and proudly represented Canada.
Anything else?
The power of partnerships to build the plant-based movement and our businesses has never been more important and timelier. The awareness of plant-based eating was already growing before the pandemic, and now people are more tuned in than ever to nutrition, accessibility, food security, and the fragility of our communities. Let’s support the future by supporting each other.