Built to Scale: Lessons from a Founder Who Sold

In this Founder Fundraising Journey episode, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Zoë Sakoutis, Co-Founder and CEO of Bittman’s and founder of Blueprint, to trace her path from bootstrapping a cold-pressed juice brand to a full acquisition, and now to raising capital again for a whole grain sourdough brand.

Zoë’s first business was a dog grooming shop in the basement of her family’s optometry center at age 12. She went on to found Blueprint with roughly $5,000 borrowed from her brother, scaled it profitably without outside capital, and sold it to Hain Celestial after five years, staying on for two more. Since then she has started other brands, advised founders, and angel invested, and four months ago she launched Bittman’s with Mark Bittman, starting with whole grain sourdough bread shipped nationwide to your door.

Hannah and Zoë dig into what the acquisition process really looked like behind the scenes, why four production facilities, 10-year leases, and 120 employees complicated the deal, how discovering high pressure processing (HPP) unlocked retail for raw juice, what changes after the deal closes, and how fundraising for Bittman’s has shifted her perspective now that she is back on the founder side of the table.

Listen in as they discuss:

• How a dog grooming shop at age 12 foreshadowed Zoë’s entrepreneurial career
• How Blueprint scaled profitably on a $5,000 loan from her brother with no outside capital
• Why a call from Howard Schultz signaled that the cold-pressed juice category was about to get crowded
• Why Zoë chose a full acquisition over a minority investment, and the “bird in the hand” thinking behind it
• What diligence really feels like, and how leases, facilities, and 120 employees complicated the deal
• How discovering HPP gave raw juice a kill step, extended shelf life, and opened the door to retail
• Why founders should think about their likely acquirer from day one, including whether to own or outsource production
• What it is like to stay on after an acquisition and watch someone else run your brand
• Why Zoë learned to hold a clear thesis while pitching, so she doesn’t “sell five different companies to five different people”
• How to explain team building in a fundraise, from staying lean to leveraging AI

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Episode Links:

• Zoë Sakoutis LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/Zoë-sakoutis
• Bittman’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bittmans
• Bittman’s Website: www.bittmans.com
• Bittman’s Instagram: @bittmans
• Contact Zoë directly: [email protected]

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Show Links:

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• Visit host Hannah’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-dittman-011b844b
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics