“(PartnerSlate) really is a dream for entrepreneurs and a dream for really the industry. It really is disrupting the industry.”
– Susanne Brose, Fenomenal
Challenge
Fenomenal needs high quality co-mans for their portfolio of brands, and doesn’t have thousands to waste.
Susanne Brose and her Fenomenal team specialize in crafting iconic branding, packaging, and strategic marketing to help entrepreneurs take their products from concept to market, launching or relaunching their CPG businesses. Brose and her team have worked with brokers and consultants in the past to find co-manufacturers but after thousands of dollars wasted and poor matching, knew there had to be a better way for their business as well as their clients.
Luckily, Brose found PartnerSlate and revolutionized Fenomenal’s go-to-market process, allowing them to build their own brand and utilize their resources more efficiently while growing CPG brands to household favorites.
“In my experience being a food and beverage entrepreneur myself, there’s a lot (of co-mans) out there that will screw you. That’s not what is in PartnerSlate. You guys do such a great job of keeping out the toxicity.“
Solution
Thorough and anonymous project listings on the Marketplace bring compatible co-mans to Brose’s team, eliminating their initial searching and vetting.
Brose and her team convert their brand needs into a project listing which is reviewed over a call by our Matching Advisor team for anonymity and accuracy before publishing to the Co-Man Marketplace.
1. Matching-AI alerts the top 20 co-manufacturers within seconds
“And that’s why we’re doing this on PartnerSlate. This isn’t about asking a friend of a friend, ‘Hey do you know anybody?’ No, no, no, no, no. There are specific requirements you have.” Rather than relying on directories or web searches, project listings are published and PartnerSlate’s proprietary matching AI cross references the listing with thousands of co-manufacture profiles and alerts the most compatible. The co-mans are able to review all the information they need to know anonymously before indicating their interest in connecting.
2. Fenomenal creates a shortlist of potential partners in just a few days
With just a few back and forth emails, Brose’s team is able to identify the most viable partners from a list of compatible and available co-mans and pass the shortlist on to the client for final conversations. “Two emails back and forth… Is this a good fit? We’re not in here kicking tires. we’re here to take everyone seriously.”
3. Within weeks, samples are made and a final partner is selected
“I call it the Goldilocks.” The expedited process allows Brose’s team to focus on creating the best product to their client’s specifications, and select a manufacturer that is a good relational fit as well as production fit. What previously took months or years and cost thousands of dollars requires only $199 and a few weeks. “It’s reliable, legally tight, very serious. They have just taken all the bull**** out of it. [PartnerSlate has] taken the ‘expensive’ out of it too.”
“100% the process and security of it. Like that’s why Fenomenal uses it, right? We can vouch for it, that we can bring this to our clients and say, this is fully secure. They (PartnerSlate) have a tight process. We don’t do anything without an NDA, but I can get an NDA in 30 seconds. And that is the difference, that it’s reliable… There’s no better value in the business.“
Results
Fenomenal cuts clients’ time to production by up to 75%.
“Acceleration is there. That is really a value of (the PartnerSlate) platform…You can compress this from 12 months, two years… you can compress this to four months.” Brose and her team expedite their own business cycle, getting their clients through to production in a quarter of the time.
“Get on the platform and you can go to market in four months. You can stop dreaming about your food product and just do it.“
Explore how PartnerSlate can help your team at partnerslate.com.
Learn more about Fenomenal’s work here.
