Question 1

What is FMCG HQ?

Accepted Answer

FMCG HQ is a startup building the operating system for consumer goods — sampling, UGC, private-label launch, insights, and capital. We’re currently in private beta with founding brands.

Question 2

What stage is the product actually at?

Accepted Answer

Private beta. Founding 100 is capped at 100 founding brands and is application-only. We’re honest about what’s shipped vs what’s on the roadmap on every page of this site.

Question 3

Who is founding 100 for?

Accepted Answer

Consumer-brand operators, CPG founders, and brand-marketing teams launching or scaling a SKU in the US first. Other markets are on the public roadmap.

Question 4

How does pricing work?

Accepted Answer

One pricing structure across the platform — Founding 100, Studio, and Enterprise. Founding-cohort pricing is locked in for the life of the account. We never re-price founding 100 as we scale.

Question 5

Is there a long-term contract?

Accepted Answer

No. We earn the next month by being useful this month. If we’re not delivering, you walk — no termination fee, no clawback.

Question 6

Which markets do you ship in today?

Accepted Answer

Founding 100 is US-first. Additional markets open as fulfillment and compliance ship in each — founding brands get first access in every new market without re-onboarding.

Question 7

What happens after I apply?

Accepted Answer

We respond within one business day. If we move forward, we scope a 14-day pilot with you and have a brief approved within one week.

Question 8

What is the Beta Cohort Manifesto?

Accepted Answer

Six commitments to founding brands: locked pricing, direct line to the team, no long-term contracts, vote on the roadmap, built with you not at you, and we’re honest about what’s shipped vs not. Read it on the homepage.

Question 9

I’m an investor, not a brand. How do I engage?

Accepted Answer

Register interest via the contact page and mention investor. We’ll loop you into the pre-seed conversation. Deal Flow Terminal access ships after founding 100 has enough operational signal to underwrite against.

Question 10

I’m a creator, not a brand. How do I engage?

Accepted Answer

Creator Launch is in private beta with a small founding creator cohort. Apply via the contact page and mention creator.

Question 11

How is FMCG HQ different from a regular CPG agency?

Accepted Answer

We’re infrastructure, not services. Sampling, UGC, and private-label run on a platform — not as a billable engagement. The platform improves with every founding 100 brand that uses it.

Question 12

Can I see a demo?

Accepted Answer

Yes — apply for founding 100 via the contact form and we’ll walk you through the methodology and dashboard during the discovery call.

Question 13

How small can a pilot be?

Accepted Answer

Founding 100 pilots can start at a few hundred units to a tightly defined audience. Median first pilot is in the low thousands.

Question 14

How fast does a pilot run?

Accepted Answer

~14 days from brief approval to first signal readout. Audience modeling + compliance week one, dispatch + feedback weeks two–three.

Question 15

What stage is the platform at?

Accepted Answer

Private beta. Founding 100 is capped at 100 founding brands. We’re honest about what’s shipped vs roadmap on every page.

Question 16

What does "identity-verified recipient" mean?

Accepted Answer

Every household is identity-verified, has provided first-party purchase history, and is contracted to give structured feedback within 7 days of arrival.

Question 17

How is audience matching done?

Accepted Answer

AI runs your brief against the recipient graph using 200+ first-party signals — purchase history, dietary commitments, household composition, retailer loyalty.

Question 18

Do I get UGC out of the pilot?

Accepted Answer

Yes, optionally. The standard sampling pilot includes a rights-cleared UGC layer — paid-media worldwide perpetual usage. See UGC Studio.

Question 19

Which markets ship today?

Accepted Answer

USA and Nepal are founding 100 live. Canada, UK, India, Brazil, Australia are on the roadmap — founding brands get first access in every new market.

Question 20

How do you handle labeling and claims?

Accepted Answer

Compliance Mesh handles labeling, allergen disclosure, and claim review per region — FDA for US, DFTQC for Nepal, more shipping as the beta footprint expands.

Question 21

Cold-chain?

Accepted Answer

Founding 100 is ambient-stable. Refrigerated and frozen fulfillment is on the founding 100 roadmap.

Question 22

Is there a long-term contract?

Accepted Answer

No. Founding-cohort pricing is locked for life, but we earn the next month by being useful this month. Walk anytime — no termination fee.

Question 23

What about volume discounts?

Accepted Answer

Founding brands get the rate locked at signup regardless of volume — running 10 pilots a year doesn’t change your rate.

Question 24

How do I apply?

Accepted Answer

Submit an application. We respond within one business day.

Question 25

What counts as a brand activation?

Accepted Answer

Anything that creates a cultural moment: pop-ups, guerrilla drops, festival booths, digital-OOH integration, creator takeovers. Designed for measurable awareness + trial.

Question 26

How is this different from event marketing?

Accepted Answer

Activations are designed to generate earned media + sampled trial, not just impressions. The methodology comes from Sampling + UGC in one motion.

Question 27

What stage is this at?

Accepted Answer

On the founding 100 roadmap — founding brands get first access to format slots and locked pricing as activations ship.

Question 28

Pop-up retail?

Accepted Answer

Branded retail experiences in high-traffic urban locations — engineered to drive Instagram-able moments and sampled trial in the same visit.

Question 29

Guerrilla drops?

Accepted Answer

Cultural surprise moments at festivals, sports events, and city hotspots. Bundled with creator co-amplification.

Question 30

Digital-OOH?

Accepted Answer

Programmatic billboards that respond to weather, location, and live social signal. Standalone or as the digital layer of a physical activation.

Question 31

How do you measure activation ROI?

Accepted Answer

Earned-media reach, sampled-unit lift, and (where possible) post-event purchase tracking via Q-commerce attribution. Real numbers, not vanity metrics.

Question 32

What about the “activation washout” problem?

Accepted Answer

Activations bundled with sampling + UGC outperform standalone events ~3× on per-dollar trial lift. The bundle is the methodology.

Question 33

How much does an activation cost?

Accepted Answer

Varies wildly by format and city. Founding 100 rates locked at signup. Specific quote during scoping.

Question 34

How do I get on the list?

Accepted Answer

Apply for founding 100. Founding brands get first slot priority when activations ship.

Question 35

How fast can I get UGC?

Accepted Answer

7 days from brief to a library of 20 finished pieces in the standard founding 100 bundle. Faster for repeatable categories, longer for novel formats.

Question 36

Do I have to bundle with sampling?

Accepted Answer

No — UGC Studio works standalone. Founding 100 brands that bundle sampling get a 30% discount, but a standalone UGC engagement is a clean path too.

Question 37

What output formats?

Accepted Answer

60-second video (cut for Reels / Shorts / TikTok), 3 stills per creator, and a tagged organic social post if you want the creator-side amplification.

Question 38

Who owns the content?

Accepted Answer

You do. Paid-media, worldwide, perpetual usage rights are cleared at the briefing stage — no surprise takedowns, no platform carve-outs.

Question 39

How are creators vetted?

Accepted Answer

Engagement-rate floor, brand-safety review, content-history scan, and category fit. We prioritize the long-tail mid-tier band (200K–1M followers).

Question 40

Can I bring my own creators?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We onboard your existing roster to the platform and handle briefing + rights clearance — keeps your relationships, adds our coordination layer.

Question 41

Won’t lo-fi content hurt my brand?

Accepted Answer

Lo-fi reads as authentic; polished reads as ad. The hook-hold-payoff framework keeps brand safety while letting the creator’s voice through.

Question 42

How do you handle bad takes or off-brand work?

Accepted Answer

Briefing guardrails up front + 48-hour review window before posting. Reshoots covered if the creator misses the brief.

Question 43

Are FTC disclosures handled?

Accepted Answer

Yes — #ad / #sponsored disclosures are baked into the briefing checklist and reviewed before any creator posts.

Question 44

What does a typical UGC engagement cost?

Accepted Answer

Founding 100 rates are locked at application. Bundling with sampling drops the per-asset cost ~30%. Specific quote during discovery.

Question 45

How is this different from a UGC agency?

Accepted Answer

Rates are platform-driven not retainer-driven. Output cycles ship in days not weeks. And rights are cleared at brief time — not renegotiated per deliverable.

Question 46

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Apply for founding 100. Mention UGC focus. We scope on the discovery call.

Question 47

How long from concept to shelf?

Accepted Answer

~90 days for familiar categories (RTD beverage, snacks). 120+ days for novel formulations requiring stability testing. We tell you which during scoping.

Question 48

Do I keep brand and IP ownership?

Accepted Answer

Yes — brand, formulation IP, packaging design rights, customer data, and upside. We’re infrastructure, not an incubator.

Question 49

What categories do you work in?

Accepted Answer

Food, beverage, beauty, supplements, personal care, home care. Not currently regulated CBD/THC, tobacco/vape, or prescription-adjacent.

Question 50

Where do products get made?

Accepted Answer

Vetted co-pack partners across founding 100 markets. US-first co-pack now; Nepal (Kathmandu Valley + Birgunj) live; other markets ship per roadmap.

Question 51

What MOQs?

Accepted Answer

Pilot batches start at 1K units; scaled production tiers up to 1M+. We hold pilot inventory risk so you’re not personally guaranteeing raw materials.

Question 52

Can I bring my own formula?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. We integrate your existing R&D or co-pack relationships and add coordination value rather than replacing the vendor.

Question 53

How do you handle FDA / region compliance?

Accepted Answer

Built into Compliance Mesh — labeling, allergen, claim review handled before any batch ships. FDA for US, DFTQC for Nepal, more shipping per market.

Question 54

Stability testing?

Accepted Answer

For ambient-stable products: 6-week accelerated testing in pilot phase. For novel formulations: full ICH protocols ship the timeline out by 4–6 weeks.

Question 55

QA across production runs?

Accepted Answer

Receiving, in-process, and pack-out QA at every co-pack. Documented per-batch certificates of analysis included in founding 100 standard service.

Question 56

How is pricing structured?

Accepted Answer

Setup + per-unit production cost (founding 100 rate locked at signup). No setup fees for founding 100. No personal guarantees on pilot inventory.

Question 57

What if my pilot fails?

Accepted Answer

You learn something. We’ve seen ~40% of founding 100 private-label pilots re-spec at least once based on signal — that’s the system working.

Question 58

How do I apply?

Accepted Answer

Apply for founding 100. Mention private label focus. We scope manufacturing during the discovery call.

Question 59

What is in the dashboard?

Accepted Answer

Live SKU velocity, sentiment, share-of-shelf, share-of-voice, and competitive benchmarks. Streamed in real time as founding 100 operational signal lands.

Question 60

How fresh is the data?

Accepted Answer

Real-time for first-party signal (your sampling, UGC, retailer feeds). Daily for syndicated panel data. Weekly for competitive benchmarks.

Question 61

Do I need a data team to use it?

Accepted Answer

No. The dashboard is built for brand operators, not data scientists. Drill-down available; SQL access exists for teams that want it.

Question 62

Where does the signal come from?

Accepted Answer

Your founding 100 sampling pilots, UGC engagement, retailer POS where connected, Q-commerce attribution, and identity-verified panel sentiment.

Question 63

How does this compare to Nielsen / IRI / Circana?

Accepted Answer

Different. We’re first-party operational signal — what your audience actually did. Syndicated panels measure category aggregate. Use both; they answer different questions.

Question 64

Can I bring in my own data?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Shopify, Klaviyo, Salesforce, Looker, Snowflake, BigQuery connectors ship per the integrations roadmap. CSV upload available today.

FAQs

About FMCG HQ

Sampling Engine

Brand Activation

UGC Studio

Private Label

Creator Launch

Data Insights

Deal Flow

Collaboration

Integrations

Capital

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