184: Be Edgy, be controversial. Tanja Bogumil, founder and CEO of Perfeggt

In this special Easter episode, we give you eggs without
chickens. 


Tanja Bogumil is the CEO and founder of Perfeggt, a food
innovation startup that changes what people eat by taking the
animal out of the food system. They created plant-based eggs that
may do for eggs what Oatly did for milk - provide a true
alternative and create a new product category. 


 


Their approach is remarkable for several reasons: 


Perfeggt builds hardware with the speed of software by applying
the lean startup approach of continuous optimisation. “Even in
food, speed is of the essence.” 


Their go-to-market is also truly innovative. Instead of getting a
new food product on supermarket shelves hoping that it will sell,
they opted for food services such as restaurants. 


This allows them to use storytelling to explain a product and
category consumers are not familiar with. “With our partners, we
work out the best fitting story for their guests so it is
seamlessly integrated with multiple touchpoints to understand
what works best, so that guests actually get it,” Tanja Bogumil
says.  


“It’s all about telling the right story that’s not only catching
people’s brains but also touches their hearts. Food is so
emotional, we can’t just talk about numbers.”  


Perfeggt is positive and uplifting at the point of sale. But the
team also learnt to talk openly about what’s wrong. 


“It’s ok to communicate in a way that will also p*ss people off.
It’s ok that some people will never understand that we need to
change what’s on our plates. What matters is the increasing
number of those driving the change.” 


When it comes to fundraising, Tanja’s advice is to focus on
answering three questions: “Why this? Why us? Why now?” Investors
need to sense “this unapologetic determination to do what it
takes - this is part of good and strong communication.” 





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