Hiring for Growth: Building Your Team — Highlights from Naturally Chicago’s Webinar

Hiring for Growth: Building Your Team — Highlights from Naturally Chicago’s February 12 Webinar  

Startup natural products businesses confront many difficult decisions in terms of product ingredients and recipes, production, logistics, sales and marketing and more.

Hiring a team of employees and/or contractors to carry out the company’s mission and goals is one of the most consequential, challenging and impactful decisions founders make.  

Naturally Chicago presented a candid discussion on this important issue in its February 12 webinar, Hiring for Growth: Building Your Team. Greg Keller — Naturally Chicago’s senior strategist and lead brands advisor — moderated the conversation with three expert panelists:  

• Erica Levin, Founder of Globowl, which produces chef-created, internationally flavored food for babies and toddlers 

• Teresa Ging, Founder & CEO of Sugar Bliss Cakes, maker of delicious pastry treats 

• Frank Milianti, Partner at Creative Alignments, which provides recruiting services for companies in the natural products industry and other sectors. 

The conversation explored when to hire, how to structure early teams, fractional vs. full-time decisions, culture fit, recruiters, brokers, and practical interviewing strategies.

Below is a summary organized by theme, with key insights and takeaway quotes. We hope you find them informative and useful.

And for a deeper dive, click the button below to view the full webinar video recording.

1. Start with the Right Foundation: Build Your “BAIL” Team 

Before hiring internally, founders must establish a strong external advisory base. 

Teresa Ging introduced the “BAIL” framework: 

• Banker 

• Accountant 

• Insurance 

• Lawyer 

These professionals protect and stabilize your business as you scale. 

Key Points 

• Multiple banking relationships support capital access and lines of credit. 

• Accountants ensure clean financials, tax strategy and margin clarity. 

• Insurance (including recall insurance for CPG producers) mitigates catastrophic risk. 

• Legal support is essential for contracts, trademarks and compliance. 

“As business owners, you never want to go to jail—but if you go to jail, you must have BAIL.” 

Takeaway: Founders often obsess over growth, while neglecting foundational protections. External advisors are not optional — they are strategic infrastructure. 

2. When Should You Hire? 

A common mistake: hiring too late. 

Signals It’s Time to Hire 

• The founder becomes the bottleneck. 

• Revenue grows, but execution or margin stalls. 

• Logistics and operational complexity consume strategic time. 

• You’re working unsustainably (90-hour weeks, constant firefighting). 

Erica Levin’s trigger point: operational complexity in CPG  —manufacturing, third-party logistics (3PL), and more  —crowded out work to grow the company. 

“When logistically it became too complicated… and I couldn’t focus on revenue-generating activity — that’s when I needed help.” 

Frank Milianti’s perspective: 
When everything flows through the founder — decisions, emails, operations — you are the constraint. 

Takeaway: Hire before crisis mode can hit. Hiring is about buying back the founder’s time to focus on growth. 

3. First Hires: Fill Your Blind Spots 

A consistent theme: don’t clone your strengths. 

Strategic Approach 

• If you’re brand-driven → hire operational strength. 

• If you’re sales-driven → hire finance or supply chain. 

• If you’re visionary → hire execution. 

Teresa’s first CPG hire: a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO) with multi-disciplinary experience across bakery ops, retail, and co-manufacturing. 

“I found the person that filled the gap — not the strength.” 

Frank’s framing: 
Your first hires stabilize and unlock growth — they are not your future $50M executive team. 

Takeaway: Early hires need versatility. Specialization increases as scale increases. 

4. Fractional, Contractor, Broker or Full-Time? 

This was a central strategic discussion. 

Fractional Roles 

Best when: 

• Cash flow is volatile. 

• Expertise is needed but not full-time. 

• Testing leadership capability. 

Examples: 

• Erica: Fractional Chief Financial Officer 

• Teresa: Fractional COO 

• Fractional Chief Marketing Officer 

“At this stage, cash flow is a roller coaster. I won’t hire full-time until it’s stable.” – Erica 

Contractors 

Useful for: 

• Graphic design 

• Shopify 

• Amazon management 

• Marketing execution 

Brokers 

Best when: 

• You need retailer relationships and market access. 

Caution: 

• Brokers may lack founder-level passion. 

• Fit depends on channel alignment. 

Teresa learned that conventional retail was less aligned for her premium cookie brand and pivoted toward foodservice. 

Full-Time Hires 

Appropriate when: 

• Work is ongoing and core to the business. 

• Institutional knowledge matters. 

• Cash flow is stable. 

Teresa’s summary framework: 

• Contractor/fractional → specific expertise, limited budget 

• Broker → retail access 

• Full-time → ongoing core function 

Takeaway: Hiring is layered. Build capability and capacity incrementally. 

5. Cash Flow Discipline in CPG 

Both founders emphasized the cash intensity of CPG: 

• Co-manufacturers 

• Distributors 

• Brokers 

• Retail margins 

• Demo costs 

“We pay the co-man, distributor, broker, retailer… and then we’re left with the penny.” 

Stable cash flow should precede high salary commitments. 

Takeaway: Optimism must be balanced with financial realism. 

6. Culture and Fit: Hiring Beyond the Resume 

Technical skills are necessary—but insufficient. 

Cultural Evaluation Tactics 

• Multiple interview rounds. 

• Team interviews (even frontline staff). 

• Informal settings (coffee meetings). 

• Advisor involvement in final interviews. 

Erica’s approach: 
Observe candidates in casual environments to assess authenticity. 

Teresa’s lesson: 
Poor culture fit costs months of training and momentum. 

“If they don’t understand your culture, they won’t represent your brand.” 

Frank added an important reminder: 

“You also have to put your best foot forward. Culture is reciprocal.” 

Takeaway: Culture is not soft—it’s strategic. Misalignment is expensive. 

7. The Role of Recruiters 

Why use recruiters? 

• Time savings. 

• Industry network depth. 

• Cultural and behavioral screening. 

• Role definition and compensation benchmarking. 

Frank emphasized the importance of defining outcomes before reviewing resumes. 

“Slow down to hire intentionally.” 

Greg Keller reinforced that recruiters: 

• Reduce resume overload (hundreds per posting). 

• Pre-qualify candidates. 

• Accelerate hiring cycles. 

Takeaway: Recruiters are strategic partners, not just resume filters. 

8. Networking as a Talent Engine 

The CPG ecosystem is relationship driven. 

Sources of talent: 

• Industry events 

• Naturally Chicago 

• Accelerator programs 

• LinkedIn outreach 

• Legal and accounting referrals 

• Peer founder networks 

“The power of community in CPG is strong.” 

Takeaway: Community building is a hiring strategy. 

9. Free Help, Family Help & Equity 

Free labor can help  —but requires boundaries. 

Risks 

• Misaligned expectations. 

• Lack of priority. 

• Delayed accountability. 

• Equity dilution too early. 

“You get what you pay for.” 

Teresa shared how hiring a professional accountant improved both speed and tax optimization— even over family support. 

Best Practices 

• Use Non-Disclosure Agreements. 

• Set defined trial periods. 

• Avoid giving equity prematurely. 

• Clarify scope up front. 

Takeaway: Free support is acceptable early — but transition to professional rigor quickly. 

10. Hire Slow, Fire Fast 

Perhaps the most sobering theme. 

Keeping an employee who is a poor fit can damages: 

• Culture 

• Morale 

• Execution 

• Founder energy 

“The biggest regrets are when we didn’t remove someone who was poisoning the team fast enough.” — Greg Keller 

Takeaway: Protect the team. Decisive action preserves culture and performance. 

11. Final Guidance from the Panel 

Frank Milianti 

• Build in layers. 

• Hire intentionally. 

• Don’t overbuild too soon. 

Teresa Ging 

• Align hiring type to business need. 

• Protect cash flow. 

• Define role scope clearly. 

Erica Levin 

• Stay laser focused on revenue. 

• Ensure financial stability before major hires. 

• Passion and adaptability matter early. 

Core Themes 

• Hiring is strategic timing — not reactionary.

• Early hires must be generalists willing and able to adapt. 

• Fractional roles are powerful for emerging brands. 

• Culture fit determines long-term success. 

• Cash flow discipline governs hiring decisions. 

• Community accelerates talent discovery. 

• Move quickly when someone isn’t right. 

Closing Thought 

Building a team is not about assembling headcount — it’s about layering capability intentionally. As emerging brands scale, the founder’s job shifts from “doing everything” to architecting the right mix of expertise, culture and financial discipline. 

Hiring well doesn’t just support growth. It determines whether growth is sustainable.