Operations for founder-led CPG brands
I’ve built the brand.
I’ve been in the mess.
Now I fix yours.
20+ years on the operating side of consumer brands. I’ve built brands from zero with investor money and a blank sheet of paper, and I’ve operated consumer brands at $30M scale. Founder-led CPG is where those two worlds meet.
I didn’t advise on it. I did it.
20+ years
CPG operations
Zero-to-one
Brands built from scratch
$30M
Operating scope
$18M
Amazon channel
DTC + Amazon
Retail + wholesale
02Built from zero
I didn’t just operate brands.
I built them.
These weren’t client projects. Investor money came in, and an idea had to become a product people could actually buy. There was no operation to optimize, no supply chain to inherit and nobody to hand it to.
I was the department.
I know what happens after the idea.
Founders get sold the exciting part: the product, the brand, the packaging, the launch. Then reality shows up.
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An idea is not an operating company. The operating company is everything underneath it — and that’s the part I build.
03And then the numbers got bigger
Same operating problems.
More zeros.
Building from zero taught me how every piece connects. Running bigger businesses taught me what it costs when they stop connecting.
$18M
Amazon operating scope
$7M+
Annual purchasing managed
$3M+
Inventory assets managed
$180K
Annual fulfillment savings
70%
Faster delivery
~25%
Reduction in product damage
~$14M
Retail revenue enabled
16,000 sq ft
Fulfillment center built
~$170K
Annual freight savings, six brands
Puracy. Multi-brand operations. Amazon. Retail. Manufacturing. Warehousing. ERP. 3PL. Different companies, same job: find what’s actually broken and fix the thing underneath it.
04This is usually where I come in
Your company grew.
Your operations didn’t.
None of this means you did it wrong. It usually means the business worked — and grew faster than the operation underneath it.
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At some point,
the founder becomes
the operating system.
That doesn’t scale.
The goal isn’t more process. It’s fewer problems landing back on your desk.
05What I actually do
Fix.
Something is broken.
Find what’s actually broken.
The failure rarely shows up where it started. Late orders might be inventory. Inventory might be planning. Planning might be purchasing. A “3PL problem” can start three decisions upstream.
The mess travels.
Start with the DiagnosticBuild.
There isn’t a system yet.
Build the damn thing.
Zero-to-one. Product, manufacturer, packaging, inventory, systems, fulfillment, Amazon, DTC, retail — and someone who owns each piece. I’ve done it with investor money on the line. More than once.
Build from zeroLead.
Someone needs to own it.
Somebody has to own the whole thing.
Recommendations don’t move inventory. I step into the operating function: make the decisions, run the cadence, manage the people and own the outcome. Then I build the team that makes me less necessary.
Embedded operationsWhere the work lives
One operating system.
Twelve places the work shows up.
See all 12 capabilities →
07James Coccaro
I’ve spent my career turning ideas and messes into operating companies.
I didn’t come up through consulting. I came up doing the work.
I’ve built brands and launched products. Sourced manufacturers and negotiated with them. Opened warehouses, ran Amazon, implemented ERP and managed 3PLs. Supported major retail. Hired teams. Owned the purchasing, the inventory and the consequences when either went wrong.
Both ends. That’s the point. I know what founders are carrying because I’ve carried it.
20+ years CPG · $30M operating scope · $18M Amazon scope · 16,000 sq ft fulfillment build · multi-country manufacturing · DTC + Amazon + retail + wholesale
Bring me
the mess.
Tell me what’s happening. I’ll tell you what I think is actually broken, what I’d look at first, and whether I’m the right guy to fix it.
Don’t feel like scheduling a call?
Send me the problem. I’ll take a look.
Prefer a call? Schedule one →