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  • #170: Daniel Zakowski, CEO of Ready, Set, Food!, a Company Helping Prevent Food Allergies, on Raising Awareness and Cultivating Credibility, the Value of Partnerships, Raising $5M+ in Venture Capital, and Their Experience on Shark Tank

#170: Daniel Zakowski, CEO of Ready, Set, Food!, a Company Helping Prevent Food Allergies, on Raising Awareness and Cultivating Credibility, the Value of Partnerships, Raising $5M+ in Venture Capital, and Their Experience on Shark Tank

September 11, 2020

Daniel Zakowski is the CEO of Ready, Set, Food!,  a daily supplement that gently introduces your baby to peanut, egg, and milk, the three most common childhood food allergens. Studies have shown that this approach helps reduce the risk of developing allergies by up to 80%. Their system is simple: a pre-measured, allergist-developed daily packet that mixes in with breast milk, formula, or baby's first solid food, containing just three organic, non-GMO ingredients.

Ready Set, Food!'s team is a group of physicians, scientists, and parents who are passionate about ending the food allergy epidemic. Motivated by their own experiences, they set out to make it easy and safe for families to prepare their babies for food. The science is clear: early and sustained exposure to allergenic foods is needed, and the timing and amount matters! Ready, Set, Food! developed their system of early and sustained consumption of allergenic foods to allow busy families to give their infants the best chance to avoid developing food allergies.

Connect with Daniel Zakowski

Some of the Topics Covered by Daniel Zakowski in this Episode

  • What Ready, Set, Food! is and why Daniel started it

  • The first steps Daniel took to get Ready, Set, Food! off the ground

  • Onboarding allergists

  • Raising awareness around the issue of allergy prevention

  • Cultivating credibility

  • Their experience on Shark Tank and the sustained growth that came from that

  • Having Mark Cuban as an investor

  • The unique challenges for Ready, Set, Food! going through the fundraising process

  • The structure of their original friends and family round of fundraising

  • How Daniel views, manages, and prioritizes partnerships

  • How they've developed and adapted their product over time

  • How they've approached marketing and customer acquisition

  • The biggest challenges in growing Ready, Set, Food!

  • Creating educational content

  • Ready, Set, Food!'s current traction

  • How Daniel's prior entrepreneurial experience has been helpful in running Ready, Set, Food!

  • How COVID has affected their business

  • Daniel's book recommendations

  • How Daniel recharges away from work

  • The story behind Ready, Set, Food!'s name

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