Deb Luster and Paul Earle | How Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) & the Co-Founders of Goodles Made Comfort Food Healthy & Fun

Written By Kristel Bauer

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deb-luster-and-paul-earle-how-gal-gadot-wonder-woman/id1500457853?i=1000548933479

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY HERE: https://open.spotify.com/episode/08giKk1aJCn0ZryjQ1BFBU

Are you a fan of healthy comfort food that tastes amazing? Are you a fan of Gal Gadot, also known as Wonder Woman? If you answered yes to either of these questions you will love this episode! Mac and cheese that is so delicious and is also healthy for you may sound impossible but Goodles made it possible! In this episode, Paul Earle and Deb Luster (co-founders of Goodles along with Gal Gadot and Jen Zeszut) will be talking about what makes Goodles nutritious and so good, how to create an amazing product, how to have a successful launch, the importance of better customer relationships, and why Gal Gadot loves Goodles. Don’t miss out on this episode! I was sent free samples of Goodles to try.

Key Takeaways From This Episode

  • How to successfully launch a product as an entrepreneur

  • Nutrients in Goodles mac and cheese that are good for you

  • Why does the fitness community think Goodles is a great post-workout meal?

  • Different ways to raise funds for a product launch

  • How to better connect to customers as a company

  • Great advice for people who want to launch a product

 Disclaimer: All information and views shared on the Live Greatly podcast & the Live greatly website are purely the opinions of the authors, and are not intended to provide medical advice or treatment recommendations. The contents of this podcast & website are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified health professional when you have any questions regarding your specific health, changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.

About Paul Earle and Deb Luster

Paul Earle is a Co-Founder of Goodles and is an Innovation and Entrepreneur faculty at the Kellogg School of Business. Paul has significant experience in new venture formation, design, development of new products and services, marketing communications of all kinds, traditional brand management and strategy, and intellectual property licensing. Passionate for ideas and the people who are behind these ideas, Paul is committed to finding ways to make these ideas real.

Deb Luster is also a Co-Founder of Goodles. She was the First President and part of one of the founding team of Annie’s Homegrown Inc. which was founded in 1990. Over the past 30 years, Deb has been involved on different advisory boards of over 20 companies that were mostly in the natural food space. She has been featured on multiple articles including Enterprising Women Magazine, Forbes, Business, Newsweek, Working Women, Inc., Success magazine and she had also been on CBS, NBC, and ABC News.

Connect with Deb & Paul

 

About Vegamour

Vegamour is the sponsor for this podcast episode. Vegamour is a holistic approach to hair wellness that incorporates clinically tested plant-based ingredients that work in tandem to promote healthy, beautiful hair naturally, without using harmful chemicals or short-term ‘fixes’ that can lead to long-term problems. They study the power of nature through the lens of science to bring you the ultimate in total hair wellness & beauty for a lifetime of happiness.

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Connect with Vegamour

To obtain 20% off from Vegamour, visit their website at www.vegamour.com and use promo code GREATLY20.

 

Kristel Bauer, the Founder of Live Greatly, is on a mission to help people thrive personally and professionally. She is a corporate wellness expert, Integrative Medicine Fellow, Keynote Speaker, TEDx speaker & Physician Assistant experienced in Integrative Psychiatry and Functional Medicine. 

Follow her on:

To Book Kristel as a speaker for your next event, click here.

Episode Transcript

Paul (Teaser)

We are trying to build community and specifically fans, we're trying to build a cadre of fans. Who love us and the feeling will be mutual. We love them. It's a relationship.

Kristel (Guests Introduction)

If you're a fan of Mac and cheese, or if you're a fan of Gal Gadot also known as Wonder woman, you're going to love today's episode where I chat with a couple of the co-founders of Goodles, which is a better Mac and cheese company.

So I have Deb Luster here. Who's the former co-founder of Annie's. Paul Earl here, who's an innovation and entrepreneur faculty at the Kellogg school of business. So Paul and Deb and Gal Gadot also known as Wonder woman. And Jen says that all founded this new Mac and cheese company. And I'm really excited about this because we eat a  lot of Mac and cheese in our house, my kids love Mac and cheese, and I'm always looking for healthier options. We'll also love their mission. They are about making the world a better place and they're having a lot of fun while they're doing it. 

So I'm really, really excited about this. I also was able to get some samples, which were a huge hit.

My kids are already asking for more and I also really enjoyed them. So we're going to be talking about their entrepreneurial journey and we're going to have a lot of fun. So let's jump right into it. And I'm going to welcome Deb and Paul to the show.  

Kristel:

Deb and Paul, I'm so excited to have you here today. Super pumped to chat about Goodles and lots of fun stuff. So welcome. 

Deb:

Thank you. We're excited to be here. 

Paul:

It's very goodles to be here. 

Kristel:

Ooh. I love that. Very goodles to be here. Amazing. 

So to start, I would love for you both to just give like a really quick intro about yourselves, and then I'd love to talk about how you met and what you're doing with Goodles. 

Deb:

Okay. Paul, you start.

Paul:

Yes. I have my intro down to about 55 minutes. Is that okay? 

Kristel:
Yeah. We got plenty of time. 

Paul:

Well address. No, in a nutshell, I am Paul Earle. I am very proudly and happily the co-founder of Goodles and good or foods co I, um, when I'm not noodling, I had a boutique innovation design and branding firm in the Chicago, Illinois area.

And I also teach innovation and entrepreneurship at Northwestern, the Kellogg school at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. And I had the great fortune and we were talking earlier about serendipity. I was introduced to Deb through a mutual friend who was a major entrepreneur and leader herself in the food and innovation world.

And the rest is history. That was the first of a series of massively serendipitous connections that led to the gooder foods company being founded. And we'll talk more about that later

Kristel:
Amazing. And what was exciting is that you guys were on or not you both, but Goodles that you were on the Drew’s show this morning.

Paul:
We're really excited about that. 

Deb:

I mean, it would have been fun if we were there sitting with her eating the Mac and cheese, but it was wonderful to see her. So I am Deb Luster and I was the first President and part of the founding team for Annie's homegrown third, over 30 years ago, which is crazy. And it was a great company to be a part of.

And I'm really excited because after many, many I'm serial monogamous, I would serial entrepreneur. I have one husband, husband for 26 years. I'm a serial entrepreneur and I've tried many. I've started several companies and I've helped a lot of entrepreneurs start. So Paul and I share that same world of really encouraging, inspiring entrepreneurs.

And when Paul brought this to me, I thought full circle, but there's so much more to this company and it's hard. It's magic. So. Really excited to be a part of thi really a groundswell of nutrition packed into noodles. This is huge. 

Kristel:

Ooh, I love it. Okay. 

Paul: 

No one at the ad. There's another very key person, so many key people, but there's as it is our co-founder and CEO who can't join us today, but she's unbelievable.

She's a total force of nature. Maybe the best entrepreneur or tied for first. I have to be careful because I have other partners. Let's just say tied for first as the best entrepreneur I've ever known. She's incredible. And so there are so many unbelievable people involved in this enterprise, just the best and Deb and I are merely two of them.

Deb:

Yes, Jen and we have Molly, Michet, who is our food technologist, and she is an innovator in food that is, she's brilliant. None of this would happen without her. So we have this founding team that also includes a celeb and I get to be a chief impact officer. So it's all about how do I, I get to create impact in the world, which is really fun.

Kristel:

Amazing. And you guys are also partnered or I don't know if you're partnered, how she's part of it with, its Gal Godot. Am I saying that right? Okay. Yeah, I wasn't sure. So, okay. And so that for you listening, that's, you know, Wonder woman who it's such an amazing movie.

I love it, but how did that happen? And what's her role with the company? 

Paul:

Yeah. So Gal and Jen got to know each other through a prior rodeo. She almost partnered up with Jen and her prior company. And so there was a relationship there and we just started talking. She loved the food. She loved the mission. It felt right to her half of Hollywood now is in a tequila deal or sunglasses, apparel, cars, whatever. And this just felt and is totally different from what the entertainment Illuminati is doing. And we ended up working together and she's been a great collaborator and partner and has a huge platform out there and is leveraging that to make sure that the word gets out and there are so many.

Otherwise great ventures that are like a tree falling in the woods. No one hears it. And so we made sure that we will be heard and Gal is making sure of that. And it's been a lot of fun. 

Deb:

She's been great and she loves Mac and cheese. So she tells a story and you may have heard it where she lived in Israel and her aunt and uncle came would come and visit from the U S and her sibs and her cousins would all get like all these dolls and fun things. And she always asks for a bag of Mac and cheese boxes. Though she has been a Mac and cheese lover for so long. It folds right into her life. And she really likes the product so much. So it's been fun to see, to work with her. And she's the real deal. She's a really wonderful person.

And her and her husband and family are really wonderful. 

Paul:

She's all in. I mean, I was very impressed as we got to know each other, she was really kicking the tires hard on nutrition and asking very detailed technical questions about the food that frankly, I'm not sure I could've answered. We had to like refer back to our R and D person to be sure we were answering correctly and she was very smart, totally engaged. And it's been fun.

Kristel:

So let's talk about the product. Okay. Let's talk about Goodles. Am I saying that right? Goodles okay. Sounds noodles. 

Paul:

Some say Goodles we say Goodolds whatever's good for you is good for us. 

Kristel:

I think Goodles like noodles or you could say, so there's some options there to make it playful and fun.

Deb:

I say Goodles. Cause we say noodles, gooder, and that's what our tag, so we kind of keep that, but people are going to do what they're going to do. 

Kristel:

Yes. Right. And my kids, they love noodles. I feel like all kids, the majority of kids love noodles and they love Mac and cheese, and I'm always looking for healthier options.

So how is this a healthier product? What are the noodles made with? Are there some things added to that? I think I've heard that there's some, maybe veggies in there. So if you could give me a little bit of background, that'd be great. 

Deb:

So, I mean, you can see our box here and I don't know what's going to look like on screen, but it's 14 grams of protein.

So first of all, the number one is it tastes amazing and you will find that out when you try it, it tastes like anything you've tried way back in the past and better from our point of view. Plus it has 14 grams of protein, 21 nutrients from organic plants and six grams of fiber. So we're lifting up the actual.

The function of the food, which I know you would love. And for instance, we have spinach, kale, pumpkin, sweet potato, sunflower seeds, cranberry, chlorella, and the talkie and Shataki mushrooms. That's just part of what's in the ingredients in our product and it's actually wheat, wheat based, but it's a special blend that our wonderful Molly Michet has put together. So it's not at this point, gluten free or vegan or anything else, but it is really, really gooder for you.. And the other cool thing is we actually have the clean label purity award. So this product is tested for over 400 contaminants and it has come out at the first Mac and cheese has come out with this clean label award.

Yeah. It's across the board. I know it sounds like an advertisement. 

Paul:

It is cause it's one of the icons on the side panel of our box is a unicorn and we put that on there because there's no way that a food that it's this nutritious should taste this good. So it's like an impossible miracle that we're celebrating with our unicorn is one of many elements in our brand world, but it really does taste incredible.

And we've tested all of the other kind of nouveau better for you pasta is I won't name names, but you all know what they are. And we literally got gag reflexes from young people. You know, there's something about the appearance, the way the noodle choose, the way it tastes, where we've had many people, including my son, take one bite and wince and run to the trashcan to spit it out.

And I think the big breakthrough with our product is that it taste so, so, so good. And there are other interesting things that are happening that we didn't anticipate. You don't really know how something is going to go until you actually launched. That's why design doing is so much more powerful than design thinking. I actually don't like that, that label design thinking about doing. So we got it out there and we received a ton of unsolicited inbound communication from the fitness community. And it just so happens. This was not part of some kind of grand design or overarching strategy, but just so happens. I guess you tell me that the way our product is formulated is just the right amount of healthy carbs and protei that makes it like the ultimate pre or post workout meal we're told. That may or may not be true again, this is not part of the plan, but you learn things all the time. Once you put ideas out in the world. So, you know, we may have a play before us with cyclists and long distance runners and weightlifters for, I don't know, we're learning, you know, we've only been out there for a month now, but it's just, it's really interesting from a food standpoint.

Deb:

Just a month. We've only been out for a month and also we've tried thousands of renditions of this product. We basically all of us during COVID actually had these little packets of noodles and cheese coming to our houses and we would get on these zoom virtual calls and make them up together and taste them, you know, 10 different versions.

Our goal was to jam pack as much nutrients into the noodle. Before it starts tasting any differently. So the taste, the feel, the color, all of that was really formulated specifically to have taste versed and function right underneath that. But it was a real fun process to actually taste a lot of Mac and cheese.

Some of it wasn't as fun.

Kristel:

But how long was it between when Paul you came up with the name, right? Okay. So how long was it? From when this all started to launch, I think for those listening, if they maybe have an idea and they just to get like a little bit of that inside scoop on launching a business, like, what does that timeframe look like?

Paul:
Well, actually, uh, more serendipity, we all met in LA on November 10th or 11th, something like that, something in that ball park. As a team, everybody people flew in from all over and we had kind of a team meeting in LA. Gal was there and it just so happened that that day we met was the one year anniversary of the company being formed. Go figure.

Deb:

We're all documents, product plan. 

Paul:
So it took a year, a year and four days from the company being formed to our first product commercialized, product being available for. And that is fast, I will say. And Deb, I'm sure you have perspectives on this too, but if it takes a long time to develop a product in so many details and what we can talk about this later, if you want, you know, obsessively really like crazy people worked over every single, tiny, last microscopic detail of the brand world.

Like every nano portion of the package was poured over to make everything perfect. The website took a long time to develop. It just takes a long time to do it right. To do it well. 

Kristel:

And there's so many pieces to that. And Paul, I'm sure you had a lot to bring to the table as far as that like branding piece and then dab with your experience with Annie's.

I'm sure you had all that knowledge and it sounds like you just had such an incredible team. I'm curious too, with this sort of venture, do you need to have a lot of funds to put in into it in the beginning, or did you have to go raise, you know, raise capital or how's that work? 

Deb:

Jen and Paul and well, we all kind of raised capital together.

Yes. I think there are people that she's stringing their operations and it can't, it just doesn't happen so quickly. So a year I believe this is the fastest launch I've ever seen and with a lot of Gusto and grit is so. Raising money is, was, and is an important part of what we have done. And thanks to Jen and team, this is a very, very seasoned team.

So it's been really easier than it could be I believe, raising money, but it's important actually. And some people will just put their own money in and that's great. It'll be a slower rollout and that's fine. That's authentic. And it's the real deal. And a lot of companies that Paul and I've worked with have that as they're putting their own money in.

They have skin in the game with all of the time and putting into it and that's okay too. This is a different total launch. 

Paul:

Totally and you know, I'm a, co-founder of a few other projects that are completely different from this one and their approach to raising money and it's bootstrapped and there's an allergy for raising too much funding.

Jen's vision was to make this big fast because she felt like we, and we all agreed. She felt like this is a big enough idea with a big enough market and enough differentiation that merited a go big, fast strategy. It's all a matter of strategy. Everything is very intentional. And I will tell you that just sometimes just laugh.

Jen is the boldest person. She is bold capital B no screwing around let's light this candle and send it into orbit. Like that's her approach to this and bold and fearless. And again, like Deb said, every company, every team, every approach is different. I don't think there's an objectively right way to do it.

Where bowl that the good are foods company and are going big, hard. 

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Kristel:
I love it. I love it. And I would like to talk a little bit dab about your experience as being a woman founder, and you've been. Were you the CEO I'm trying to look or your co-founder Annie's right.

Deb:

One of the founding team, very first president. So I did, I raised the money and wrote the first business plan and took it to, did a direct public offering on the boxes way back, which was really fun. And Paul and I've talked about wouldn't that be kind of fun to do? So we actually raised money on the boxes and got a huge amount of customers involved in the company that way.

And Annie is one of my very first entrepreneurial experiences. And I was really excited to start something because it was a way to communicate with people in their homes, on the boxes. And that was the reason we started. It was to have a better for you, but also to really communicate with people where they live.

And we started the company around with messages around the environment and we were all big and the environment Annie and I and the other founding members of the team, we were all into making sure that we could communicate about the environment and we could communicate about being authentic. And we really held our customers closely.

So the cool thing is years and years later, 30 years later. This company is we're taking all of those wonderful experiences of communicating on a box with really very clear communication, as Paul said, and really inspiring people to do good in the world. That is our, we have something make the do gooder. Our whole goal is to inspire people, to engage in small acts of goodness.

So we have really, really excited about the opportunity to create a community. And we have created a community of do-gooders and we're continuing to create that community, which is the full circle, because that's what Annie's was as well for me, And then I've started a lot of other companies. This is the one that actually has all of the elements in place with a very amazing product, but and a team and a proposition that's purposeful.

So it's just so your question.

Paul:

If I could proselytize for a second, remember I am, I'm also have a foot in academia. Tell me if I'm lecturing too much, but we are trying to build community and specifically fans. So we're trying to build a cadre of fans who love us and the feeling will be mutual. We love them. It's a relationship. And if you want to see me get aggravated start using words like target.

Like, who's your target? Like who are you targeting your target? Raise your hand if you want to be targeted, who wants to be targeted in even worse user? How many users do you have? This is terrible language that needs to be removed from the nomenclature of people in products and innovation and marketing.

No users, no targets. Sometimes you'd have to use the word consumer because.you get really awkward if you try to avoid that one, but I don't love that. We're trying to build fans. And you know, you do that through values, through products, through the kind of community that Deb referenced. So that's how we're oriented.

Deb:

We’re all about Transparency and authenticity, which is way back and also to hold each of our fans very closely, make them almost family.

And, you know, like fan to family, we definitely are working customer, our customer experience to bring people closer to us and make them feel like they're part of our company, which they are.

Kristel:

I love it. And so if you were to give someone one piece of advice who was looking, maybe they're in the idea stage, and they're looking to launch something. I would love to hear from both of you.

What would be your one piece of advice, having all of the different experiences you've had and just launching Goodles. 

Deb:

For me, I'd say, make sure that you're passionate about something because it's a lot of hard work it's gritty and that it is aligned with your purpose. One of my teacher said don't live a life divided.

So you're putting a working hat on and you're putting the mom hat on. Try to be consistent and undivided in your life. So finding something that resonates with your purpose, with aligned with your purpose, because you're going to put a lot of work into it. So for me, it's passion, purpose and the people. 

Paul:

And I would have two pieces of advice, one very kind of pragmatic and practical and perhaps not that interesting, but really important.

And the other is out there. So in that order, the practical piece of advice is to try stuff. Don't think, don't plan. You're not going to walk an IO, have a target or Walmart or Safeway, and nobody buys a presentation or vague idea. You can't buy that. Prototype, do it make it a lot of the best new brands were ours included by the way, were initially created in a home kitchen.

So you don't feel like you need a hundred million dollars in a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. You can just start prototyping and making stuff so you can get people to taste your product, give you feedback. It doesn't have to be perfect. It shouldn't be perfect. So just try stuff. Prototype. don't stink-do.

And then the more out there kind of Gonzo wackadoodle piece of advice, but it's also important. And very qualitative is look for magic, you know, look for something irrational, something a little weird, something that doesn't quite fit. It doesn't make sense in French culture, they call that the genus qua kind of intangible factors something that makes you feel something. Something unusual, the best ideas are a little weird, either naturally occurring weirdness or intentionally. And in our case, it's a little of both, frankly. So look, maybe a lot of both, a lot of both, a lot of both, but, um, the look for that intangible magic, it's kinda like meeting a person.

You know, there's something irrational. We all think of our significant others or your first boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever, there's something. And maybe that person is the same person. There's something unusual about that person. There's an intangible it factor that's hard to describe, but you know it, when you see it because you don't just see it, you feel it.

And brands are exactly the same. And by the way, your relationship with reative arts is the same. The best music is a little weird. I've done an entire lecture on the song. Hey yah from 2003 that we all know it. It's still in regular rotation after almost 20 years after

that's gone. If you deconstruct that song and I have musically, like actually yeah. Absolutely bizarre. It doesn't fit any pattern. The beat is weird, actually, the, from a percussion standpoint, they skip a beat there's anomalous percussion happening, strange instruments, licks, weird lyrics, like, Hey, yeah, it's the weirdest song ever.

It's also one of the catchiest songs ever. Again, that's a straight metaphor for how brands ought to be constructed. 

Deb:

So, and watching magic is like charisma. And so I have, I think that we have found have always searched for a special charisma, like a company charisma, or like a purposeful charisma. You can't see it, but you can know what's there and it's so engaging. It's so inspiring. And that's, I think that's the magic. It's a kind of a magical Charisma. This company, this product, the people that work with it and our fans, we have this charisma with them and around them. So it's been fun. This is the other thing is I have so much fun. 

Kristel:

Love it. I love it. So we're going to be jumping into a wellness.

Quick lightning round. But before we do that, where can people find Goodles? I know you sold out for a little bit, but it's back in stock. So where can people get stock? 

Deb:

We are back in stock. So it's www.goodles.com. So you can find us where you think you might find us. And there are special some codes, some great things coming, and you can also find a lot of information about us on Instagram and our social media.

Paul:

We also have two cases of Goodles hidden at a unicorn farm in Colorado somewhere. I can't disclose the location.

Kristel:

Perfect. Perfect. 

Paul:

But mainly Goodles.com, G O O D L E  S. 

Kristel:

And I'm going to put a link in that episode detail. So you want to access that you can just go right to the episode details and check that out.

Okay. So we're going to jump into the wellness lightning round. So I'm gonna start with Paul. 

Okay. So question for you. You are on a deserted desert island and you can only bring three foods with you. And that's the only thing you're going to have to sustain you while you're there. You don't know how long you're going to be there. What were the three foods? 

Paul: 

Let's see. GoodlesTwist my parm. Goodles shell and Goodles mover and shaker. But other than those three, well, it definitely brings some Goodles. I let's see I'm a fan of magic spoon, cereal and Cheerios. So I'd maybe mix those together. I guess I'd want some cereal.

And then what would be my third food stranded on an island? I. I like Shepherd's pie. How about that? 

Kristel:

Ooh, that was unexpected. 

Paul:

I did not ask for permission.

Kristel:

Awesome. And Deb how about you? Same question for sure. 

Deb:

I just can't even in fact, I want to eat some right now. Avocado. I love avocado and I also love salmon.

So I would probably, that would be my plate. It could be morning, noon, and night. I could have those three things and I know Paul hates salmon. 

Paul:

So one thing I can't eat, but that's okay. 

Deb:

Give me all of his salmons.

Paul:

You can have mine.

Deb:

 And I'll take some of your Sheperd’s pie too. 

Kristel:

Perfect. Perfect. You can share.

Okay. And then this is going to be the last question. So we'll start with Deb for this one. So, Deb, what is a piece of advice that you would have given to yourself, knowing what you know now from 10 years ago? So you're talking to yourself from 10 years ago. What advice would you give yourself? 

Deb:

I know that sounds. Say yes.

Just try things out. As Paul was saying, try things, feel them in your heart, have your heart sifter, but just try and don't second guess your, so don't second guess yourself, just go out there and do it and get gritty. Roll up your sleeves. Put the fear aside and just go out and try something new. 

Kristel:

Yeah. And Paul, how about you?

Same question. 

Paul:

So I hung a shingle in 2017, before that I was running the innovation center at Leo Burnett in Chicago, our shared hometown. And I wish I had started doing what I was doing now earlier. Now what's interesting. I was kind of lamenting this about this to my wife. And she said, Paul, if you had tried to do what you're doing now earlier, you wouldn't have been ready.

You know, and she's right. And it took me to a great Churchill quote. I love Winston Churchill. He said he was reflecting on the extraordinary role. He found himself in, in 1940. And he said that looking back, he felt as though all experiences in his life prior, were merely preparation for that situation. So.

I would have loved to have started creating brands and meeting amazing people like Deb and Jen and others earlier, but I might not have been ready for that. And in fact, you know, a lot of my creative partners today are folks I met in my prior gigs. So had I started10 years ago, I wouldn't have had these incredible design partners and writers and all these incredible collaborators who helped create Goodles with me and with us.

So I guess it all works out as it's intended. 

Kristel:

Well, this has been amazing Deb and Paul, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today and share all these insights and information about Goodles. I really appreciate. 

Deb:

Thank you Kristel. 

Paul:

Thank you.

Kristel Bauer
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