Food Business News: From Conventional Careers to Entrepreneurialism

KANSAS CITY  — During Food Business News’ Food Entrepreneur Experience webinar in April, four of the participating founders discussed how they went from previous conventional careers to becoming entrepreneurs.

The founders came from different backgrounds before launching their startups.  

Food Entrepreneur: What was your background prior to launching your startup? 

Cassie Maschhoff: Cassie Maschhoff, co-founder of a startup called Lottie’s Meats that produces pork sausages and ground pork blends, Denver, had a 10-year stint with Google, where she held many roles ranging from sales and support to strategy and operations.

“That was my first job out of college after Mizzou (University of Missouri),” Maschhoff said. “I kind of stumbled into it. I kind of got to do it all.”

FE: What did you learn from your previous career to help you launch your food startup? 

Maschhoff: While at Google, Maschhoff also worked for Waze, a traffic app acquired by Google. There, she worked in strategy and operations and helped build the application’s global advertising operations.

During her last two years at Google, Maschhoff also was participating in a Master of Business Administration program, which she also attributed to helping build her startup.

“Whenever I was in tech, I really enjoyed building and in retrospect, was very entrepreneurial in nature and the roles I had enabled me to wear all the different hats and get exposure to different sides of the business,” she said. “On top of the scope, Google provided a level of professionalism and practical experience that translates to our business now — like putting together a formal go-to-market plan for a retailer and engaging stakeholders.

“Business school taught me fundamentals that I definitely use now — like basic accounting principles and valuation. I also was able to take some consulting and strategy classes where I was able to work with real CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies and help them bring products to market." 

FE: Is the food industry challenging compared to your previous career?

Maschhoff: Being a food startup owner, Maschhoff said she often wonders if some days or weeks will be the company’s last in an ever-changing industry.

“I think what is so challenging is to remain and grow,” she said. “Because you’re like ‘whoa, how will I ever survive and thrive here when I’ve already had to go through all these huge hurdles and I’m giving it everything I’ve got.’”

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