By Dan Lemke
Business growth is rarely linear. Companies can find themselves at a crossroads in their growth journey that can influence their future trajectory.
Months ago, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, based in Becker, Minnesota, found itself in that position. Thousand Hills produces 100% grass-fed beef using regenerative ag practices. The brand already had a national presence, with products on store shelves in every state, but it was looking to further differentiate itself in the marketplace. An opportunity came in the form of an innovative program called Bold Growth.
“Bold Growth came along at a pivotal time and in a growth period where Thousand Hills was on the shelves at retailers in every state, and consumer recognition and awareness of the benefits of grass-fed beef had increased during the pandemic and beyond,” says Melissa Larsen with Thousand Hills. “We could see that there was an opportunity to enhance the way we were positioning the Thousand Hills brand, and we welcomed help in that space.”
Tailored Support
Bold Growth is a program of MBOLD, a coalition of leading food and agriculture companies and innovators working together to accelerate solutions to big challenges facing food and agriculture. MBOLD has executive leadership from some of Minnesota’s biggest food and agriculture companies, including General Mills, Cargill, Target, Schwan’s, and Compeer Financial, as well as leading innovators like the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), Naturally Minnesota, the University of Minnesota, and others.
The Bold Growth program is co-led by MBOLD members AURI and Naturally Minnesota, and supported, in part, by the State of Minnesota through a grant from The Office of Small Business Development, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
“AURI has been involved with MBOLD since the beginning, working with some of the major food and ag companies in the state of Minnesota,” says Jennifer Wagner-Lahr, AURI senior director of business development and commercialization. “Those companies created a coalition to try to tackle some of the world’s grand challenges in food and agriculture. One of the goals is to set Minnesota apart as an innovative place to solve these issues and attract talent and new businesses.”
Companies apply to the Bold Growth program based on their self-identified needs. Those selected are then matched with two to three advisors from the MBOLD coalition. Throughout the mentorship, they meet regularly to tackle each company’s key strategic needs and participate in cohort educational opportunities.
“Applicants indicate their goals and where some areas of challenge and opportunity may be,” explains Tamara Downs Schwei, MBOLD project manager. “We target the mentorship to address one to three key goals. Then we look across our corporate network to find leaders with the expertise and experience that can really help these small businesses set a strategy and make the right decisions at the right time.”
Recently, MBOLD has focused Bold Growth on companies that are driving innovation in the protein space, whether driving sustainability in animal agriculture or advancing plant and alternative proteins. The program focuses on post-accelerator companies with annual revenue of $5 million to $50 million and strong potential for growth.
“One thing we have learned is that help from our larger corporate players is most impactful when companies have some momentum, have stabilized, and are poised for rapid growth,” Berkenkamp says.
Bold Growth mentorship is provided at no cost to participating companies, no equity is taken, and there’s no exchange of funds. “We provide it completely free to help emerging businesses on their growth journey,” Berkenkamp says.” It is confidential. It is sustained. It is quite a unique and valuable resource for the companies who are part of the program.”
Unparalleled Access Cohort participants are aware of the benefits of having access to high-level knowledge from some of the nation’s top food and ag businesses.
“Just having access to people who have such deep expertise and have ‘been there, done that’ for what we’re trying to do was incredible,” says Barry Robins, brand stewardship director for Thousand Hills. “Because of Minnesota’s rich history in agriculture and food production, I don’t think this exists or would be possible in any other place. We are very lucky to have access to this resource.”
“Their willingness to participate is a testament to Minnesota’s very strong social capital in the business community,” Berkenkamp says. “Minnesota is unusual in that we have business leaders who are willing to put their time and energy on the line to help our small businesses be successful. That’s a rare and very valuable thing.”
Springboard to Success
Eric Hall is CEO of Minneapolis-based So Good So You, the #1 functional juice shot brand. Already an up-and-coming company with nationwide distribution, Hall and his wife (company co-founder), Rita, applied and were selected to the Bold Growth cohort in 2021. A key motivation was wanting to ensure they were maximizing their contact with business mentors.
“We wanted to ensure we were strategic in our requested support,” Eric Hall recalls. “This had to be something that our company clearly needed, and through limited but focused support, we can have success upon getting it.”
So Good So You was gaining traction in the marketplace but still faced hurdles.
“We had phenomenal velocities, but we were continually running into barriers nationally from category managers basically saying, this is great, but how big can your category be? Our ask was to help us create a data and consumer-driven pitch to national retailers to show how big the category could be and the path to get there,” Eric Hall says. “What that pitch did was create an unlock at the buyer level as well as support above the buyer to lean in with our brand and ultimately open up more doors and more SKUs.”
Participants say being selected for the Bold Growth program is hard work, but the rewards are tremendous in helping them grow their businesses.
“We were questioning it upfront if we had the bandwidth to get the most out of this,” Larsen recalls. “They told us from the start that what you put into it is what you get out of it. It really is true, but leveraging this type of opportunity is unbelievable and unheard of in most places.”
More information on the Bold Growth program is available at MBOLD.org. The next opportunity to apply for the program will take place in the summer/fall of 2025.
