Jake Schlessinger Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

As a consultant, I specialize in helping innovative food, beverage, and nutraceutical startups with commercialization, innovation, operations, strategic sourcing, and product development.

New York, New York, United States

- Ideated, formulated, and successfully commercialized the world's first piquette spritz canned RTD.Built out and solved complex supply chain and unique product development challenges inherent in utilizing an upcycled ingredient in a shelf-stable beverage.- Oversaw development of and managed production process onsite with the winemaking team, formulator, and co-manufacturer to ensure consistent product quality.- Managed supply chain including raw material+packaging procurement, 3PL,… Show more - Ideated, formulated, and successfully commercialized the world's first piquette spritz canned RTD.Built out and solved complex supply chain and unique product development challenges inherent in utilizing an upcycled ingredient in a shelf-stable beverage.- Oversaw development of and managed production process onsite with the winemaking team, formulator, and co-manufacturer to ensure consistent product quality.- Managed supply chain including raw material+packaging procurement, 3PL, distributor relations, and finished goods production- Architected and ideated with the branding agency on unique brand identity, packaging, positioning, and design.= Managed relationships with branding, social media, and web design agencies to execute our brand vision, architecture, visual language, and design.- Oversaw development of social media strategy and execution.- Opened over 100 doors, including several regional chains, in the NYC market and conducted field marketing and store visits to build relationships with the retail teams.- Conducted over 100 in-person samplings in the NYC market that consistently provided sales lift in those doors.- Built a brand ambassador program and trained two brand ambassadors to conduct sampling in NYCWe make a sustainable spritz, known as piquette, from upcycled wine grape pomace (skins, seeds, pulp) that would typically be discarded. By upcycling the grape pomace, we're able to create delicious products without the need to use water to grow new grapes, as well as create value in the winemaking supply chain. We add real fruit juices, botanical extracts, and a little fizz to our piquette to create delicious, refreshing, and light bevies that we think you'll love. NO WASTE, ONLY TASTE. Show less

- Partnered with founders to ideate and develop several line extensions including, Kin Spritz (RTD), Dream Light (Bottled), Lightwave (RTD), and Bloom (RTD).- Project managed and was the sole internal stakeholder for the commercialization of two canned RTDs and one bottled product. Including product development, co-manufacturer search & validation, regulatory compliance, trial production run, triaging of manufacturing issues, and steady-state production.- Managed and built a complex and… Show more - Partnered with founders to ideate and develop several line extensions including, Kin Spritz (RTD), Dream Light (Bottled), Lightwave (RTD), and Bloom (RTD).- Project managed and was the sole internal stakeholder for the commercialization of two canned RTDs and one bottled product. Including product development, co-manufacturer search & validation, regulatory compliance, trial production run, triaging of manufacturing issues, and steady-state production.- Managed and built a complex and resilient supply chain, from raw material+packaging procurement, ecomm fulfillment, and finished good production, to wholesale and DTC distribution from prelaunch to $10M+ ARR in 18 month period.- Onboard and managed two 3PLs, e-commerce fulfillment, raw material & packaging procurement, and finished goods production.- Manage co-manufacturer relationships, production, and scheduling across three facilities. Traveled to facilities to ensure QC/QA.- Optimize COGS to improve margin through formulation changes and new material/ingredient sourcing. COGS improvements were responsible for a blended ~20-30% increase in contribution margin over 18 mo.- Maintained inventory control of all raw ingredients, packaging materials, and finished goods in both Excel and DEAR ERP.- Interfaced with the brand team and founder to project manage and execute custom packaging solutionsSkills: Commercialization, Product Dev, Supply Chain + Operations management Show less

Greater New York City Area

 Launch team of Pouch Couch, an inflatable lounge chair. Developed Social Media roadmap and content for Pouch Couch, including the production of several mid and low budget videos. Project manager to several e-commerce websites that we developed around product launches. Managed vendor relationships with commercial producer, web developer, social media agency, digital marketing agency. Conducted in-depth market research on dozens of potential product launches. Conducted… Show more  Launch team of Pouch Couch, an inflatable lounge chair. Developed Social Media roadmap and content for Pouch Couch, including the production of several mid and low budget videos. Project manager to several e-commerce websites that we developed around product launches. Managed vendor relationships with commercial producer, web developer, social media agency, digital marketing agency. Conducted in-depth market research on dozens of potential product launches. Conducted customer interviews to generate feedback for manufacturing and prototyping. Edited :60, 1:20 commercial scripts and aided in TV commercial editing process. Interfaced with overseas production team. This included developing requirements documents and managing creation and iteration of CADs for production. Show less

Greater New York City Area

 Conducted market sizing, market analysis, and competitive analysis for a new, real-time mobile gaming platform Developed a growth strategy for a Loyalty/Rewards startup by analyzing competitors and value drivers for customers Conducted market analysis study on Online Music Advertising for a music streaming Portfolio Company. Created informational database of IPO and M&As in Boston for past 6 years. Purpose was to better understand the most frequent institutional investors and… Show more  Conducted market sizing, market analysis, and competitive analysis for a new, real-time mobile gaming platform Developed a growth strategy for a Loyalty/Rewards startup by analyzing competitors and value drivers for customers Conducted market analysis study on Online Music Advertising for a music streaming Portfolio Company. Created informational database of IPO and M&As in Boston for past 6 years. Purpose was to better understand the most frequent institutional investors and individual investors in successful exits so the Firm could co-invest with the most successful other investors. Completed research projects to increase informational database for future investment opportunities. I improved and organized data found on dozens of previous and current portfolio companies and conducted some basic regressions on the data. Show less

London, United Kingdom

Greater New York City Area

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Economics

Activities and Societies: Table Tennis Club

Product Management

Eight-week product management intensive focused on product discovery, design and development sprints (including agile methodologies.

Google Adwords Workshop

Education record