From Millions in Funding to Self-Funded Candy, a Founder’s Lessons in Pivoting

In this Founder Feature, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Jessica Assaf, founder of All Natural Flavor, a new candy brand built on clean ingredients and a very simple purpose: joy. Jessica is a self-described professional pivoter who previously co-founded the CBD wellness brand Prima.

Jessica’s career began at 13, when a newspaper article about rising breast cancer rates sent her door to door as a teenage activist and later helped pass a California law requiring cosmetic makers to disclose carcinogenic ingredients. She went on to work at clean beauty companies, earned her MBA at Harvard Business School, and moved to Los Angeles to build a career in cannabis, where she co-created a show with Snoop Dogg and built a women’s community of around 80,000 followers. She co-founded Prima in 2019, launched it into stores including Sephora, Nordstrom, Erewhon, and Vitamin Shop, and was also featured in Sean Penn’s documentary The Human Experiment.

Caitlin and Jessica dig into what went wrong at Prima after COVID and unresolved CBD regulations, a failed merger, and how Jessica found a buyer after 80 conversations. They also cover what business school doesn’t teach founders, what it is like raising money for women’s products, and why she is self-funding All Natural Flavor, a candy brand with no refined sugar, sugar alcohols, artificial colors, or seed oils, built for people who simply love candy.

Listen in as they discuss:

• How a newspaper article about breast cancer rates at age 13 launched Jessica’s career as an activist
• How her activism helped pass a California law requiring cosmetic makers to disclose carcinogenic ingredients
• Why she moved from activism to building cleaner products, from clean beauty brands to Harvard Business School
• How a Harvard cannabis case study led her to Los Angeles and eventually to Prima
• How Prima launched into Sephora, Nordstrom, Erewhon, and Vitamin Shop right before COVID
• Why CBD marketing, advertising, and payment processing limits stalled growth for Prima
• What she learned from a failed merger, and how she found a buyer for Prima after 80 conversations
• Why All Natural Flavor is a candy brand for people who love candy, not another functional gummy
• Why Jessica is self-funding her new brand, and what she values about staying in control
• Why a small first run and flexible packaging make it easier to pivot based on customer feedback

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Episode Links:

• Jessica Assaf LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaassaf
• All Natural Flavor LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/all-natural-flavor/about
• All Natural Flavor Website: www.allnaturalflavor.com
• All Natural Flavor Instagram: @allnaturalflavor
• Prima Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/prima-co
• Prima Website: www.prima.co
• Prima Instagram: @prima

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Show Links:

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• Visit host Caitlin’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinbricker
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics