Live
CAT·01
Category
Beverage
Cold-pressed, sparkling, RTD
11 brands
Private beta · 100 founding brands · $499/mo locked for life
The operating system for founding CPG brands.
Sampling pilots. UGC briefs. Retail readouts. Capital. Wired together so the next decision is always one screen away.
Pilots running this week14-day pilot → readoutNo long-term contract
Founding 100 · In progress
Building with the first 100 founding brands.
ACME GRANOLANorthwoodSTILL/MOVEBRAVE & WHOLEPomonaLITTLE WILDERNESSoat. &. emberSTUDIO DAYBREAKFern + FieldEVERLOOM
The 14-tool problem
The stack you escape. The stack you keep.
Founding brands typically run 14 tools to ship a single pilot. We bundled the surfaces that talk to each other into one workspace — so the other 13 quietly disappear from your week.
Stack · escape
14 tools, all to ship one pilot
Shopify
Klaviyo
Slack
Notion
Figma
Loom
Brevo
Stripe
Mixpanel
Airtable
Linear
Calendly
Zapier
Toggl
bundled intoone workspace
Stack · keep
4 surfaces, all wired together
FMCG
HQ
Sampling
UGC
Capital
Insights
13 tools quietly disappear from your week
Across the shelf
See founding brands Six categories, one operating layer.
Founding brands span beverage, beauty, food, supplements, snacks, and personal care. Same workspace, same Slack, same readout format.
Live
CAT·02
Category
Beauty
Color, brushes, complexion
9 brands
Live
CAT·03
Category
Food
Pantry, breakfast, frozen
14 brands
Live
CAT·04
Category
Supplements
Daily, sport, recovery
8 brands
Live
CAT·05
Category
Snacks
Bars, bites, better-for-you
12 brands
Live
CAT·06
Category
Personal care
Skin, hair, body
6 brands
Live
CAT·01
Category
Beverage
Cold-pressed, sparkling, RTD
11 brands
Live
CAT·02
Category
Beauty
Color, brushes, complexion
9 brands
Live
CAT·03
Category
Food
Pantry, breakfast, frozen
14 brands
Live
CAT·04
Category
Supplements
Daily, sport, recovery
8 brands
Live
CAT·05
Category
Snacks
Bars, bites, better-for-you
12 brands
Live
CAT·06
Category
Personal care
Skin, hair, body
6 brands
Hover to pause · 6 categories on rotation
The Operating System
Six surfaces. One workspace.
Founding 100 brands ship without juggling 14 tools. Sampling, UGC, retail readouts, capital — wired together so the next decision is always one screen away.
Sampling pilots
Surface · 01 of 06
Sampling pilots
Scope, ship, and read out 14-day sampling pilots. We source recipients to your category, manifest every shipment, and aggregate the signal back into a single readout.
14 days
pilot to readout
pilot · acme-granola
Live
Recipient
City
Status
JK
Jordan K.
Brooklyn, NY
Dispatched
MR
Maya R.
Austin, TX
In transit
AS
Aiden S.
Portland, OR
Delivered
NF
Nora F.
Denver, CO
Dispatched
KP
Kareem P.
Atlanta, GA
In transit
5 of 247 visible
View pilot →
Auto-rotating · tap to pin
Live · this week
The operational layer running right now.
Updated · Jun 8
metric · 01
24
Pilots running this week
metric · 02
1,840
Samples in transit
metric · 03
93
UGC briefs in review
metric · 04
14d
Brief → readout, median
How it works
From application to buyer-ready readoutin 14 days.
Step 01
A brand applies.
An emerging CPG founder fills out a one-page brief. We respond in one business day with a scoping call slot.
Day 0
Application
fmcghq.com/apply
Founding 100
Tell us about your brand.
Brand name
Acme Granola Co.
Category
Food & Beverage
Stage
Pre-seed · $80k MRR
Market
USA · Northeast
Apply for founding 100 →
Step 02
We scope the pilot together.
Live workshop — your team + ours. Sample size, recipient cohort, ship window, success KPIs. Booked in 90 minutes.
Day 2
Pilot brief locked
Pilot brief · Acme Granola
LockedCohort size
250 recipients
Geography
NYC · Bay · Austin
Ship window
Mar 14 – Mar 18
Primary KPI
Repeat intent (NPS 7+)
Signed Mar 12, 2026 · Both parties
Step 03
Samples leave the studio.
We manifest every shipment, generate tracking, and label every recipient with cohort metadata. Real-time map.
Day 4
First samples in the air
In transit · 247 / 250
LiveM
Maya R.
Brooklyn
A
Aiden S.
Portland
N
Nora F.
Denver
Step 04
Signal lands.
Recipients receive, taste, react — we capture verbatim feedback, sentiment, and structured ratings. UGC alongside.
Day 10
Signal aggregated
Signal · 198 responses
4.6avg
Jordan K.
"Hit my exact morning craving — texture is perfect, sweetness is right." Repeat: 9/10
Maya R.
"Loved the maple-pecan combo. Pouch wasn't resealable though." Repeat: 7/10
Aiden S.
"Better than the brand I currently buy at Whole Foods." Repeat: 10/10
Sentiment
Positive 78%Neutral 16%Negative 6%
Step 05
Buyer-ready readout.
A PDF designed to land in a retail buyer email. Sell-through projections, recipient demographics, raw quotes, photos.
Day 14
Readout delivered
Acme · 14-day readout
ReadyQ1 sampling readout · prepared for buyer review
4.6
Avg rating
79%
Repeat intent
198
Responses
Sell-through projection · NPS 7+ · UGC packDownload PDF →
01
02
03
04
05
A week on FMCG HQ
Mon brief → Fri buyer-ready PDF.
A typical operator week, end-to-end. No agency dance, no spreadsheet ops, no waiting on a partner to send back a deck.
MON
Brief locked
Sampling + UGC briefs reviewed in one Slack thread. Founding-team operator on the channel.
TUE
Recipients sourced
Targeted households or creators matched to your category. You review the list before anything ships.
WED
Samples in transit
Every shipment manifested. Tracking on the dashboard. No spreadsheet babysitting.
THU
Signal aggregated
Sentiment, repeat-intent, share-of-shelf — auto-rolled into the readout draft.
FRI
Buyer-ready PDF
Single PDF you can send a buyer. Annotated. Branded. No agency lift between brief and readout.
From the field
One founder, one week, one readout.
SKU · 0823
Honey · oat · pecan
Founding · 023 / 100
Case · sampling pilot · acme granola co.
“Maya R. shipped a 250-household pilot, walked into a Whole Foods regional review with a buyer-ready PDF, and left with a regional buy commitment.”
MR
Maya R.
Founder · Acme Granola Co.
250
samples shipped
68%
sell-through
11
buyer asks
14d
pilot → readout
pilot · MAR 14 → MAR 28
Read the case study Founding pricing
$499/mo for the first 100 founding brands.
Locked for the life of your subscription. Hybrid billing — base plus metered overage if you run more pilots in a peak month. Cancel anytime.
PRIVATE BETA
$499
/ month
For the first 100 founding brands. Annual plan saves 17%.
- Up to 3 brands + 25 SKUs
- 5 sampling pilots / month
- 10 UGC briefs / month
- Slack + Shopify integrations
- Direct Slack with the founding team
- Grandfathered pricing — forever
From the founding team
"Founding brands pay beta prices — forever. We can't change it later. That's on purpose."
The locked-pricing commitment is the most important promise we make.
From the founding 100
Operators, in their own words.
“
We ran a 14-day pilot to 250 households across three SKUs and walked into a Whole Foods regional review with a one-pager. They asked for the deck.
Maya R.
— Founder, granola brand
“
The UGC briefs converted at 6× our agency baseline. Same budget, no agency middleman, rights cleared before the brief left the dashboard.
Jordan K.
— Founder, supplements
“
I stopped sending status updates because the dashboard already says what I would have said. My investors check it themselves.
Aiden S.
— Founder, skincare
Common questions
Everything you might be wondering.
If your question isn't here, email [email protected] and we respond in one business day.
FAQ·01·General
3 questionsAn operations platform for founding CPG brands. Sampling pilots, UGC briefs, retail readouts, capital — all in one workspace.
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Emerging CPG brands ($50k–$5M ARR), founder-creator brands, and private-label launches in food/beverage/beauty/supplements/personal-care.
Was this useful?
14 days end-to-end. Day 0 application, day 2 brief locked, day 4 samples shipped, day 10 signal aggregated, day 14 buyer-ready readout.
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Direct line
1 BUS · DAYQuestion we didn’t cover?
The founding team replies in one business day. Direct, not templated.
Ask the teamFrom the Field Logs
See all field logs We publish what we learn.
Field notes, playbooks, and case studies from operators running on FMCG HQ. Written by the team. No SEO filler.
Playbook
LOG·01The 14-day sampling pilot, rebuilt for Q4
Why we cut the brief stage in half — and what every founding brand should ship before Black Friday.
MAR 14· 8 min
Field note
LOG·02Why we shut down 3 pilots in Q2
Three founding brands hit a wall in week two. The signal told us something we didn't want to hear.
MAR 09· 4 min
Case study
LOG·03Inside a Whole Foods regional readout
A founding granola brand walked into a buyer meeting with 17 KPIs and one PDF. Here's how the meeting went.
FEB 28· 12 min
Apply for the founding 100
The first 100 brands lock founding pricing for life.
Application-only. We respond in one business day. Once the founding 100 is filled, public rates open at higher pricing — and you don't get back in at this rate, ever.