You know when something you’re cooking is almost there, but just not quite perfect? Whether it’s that little kick of chili, a dash of salt, or a touch of soy sauce for an umami boost, there are usually just a few ingredients you can count on to take a dish to the next level.

The same goes for building a business, or anything you care about. It’s up to you to keep trying new iterations until something truly works. And one day, you may need to reformulate it again!

That’s what Ash Baxter spent 2.5 years doing until she made her perfect protein snack. And yes, in a world obsessed with protein pitches, Takeaways really did stand out to me.

Ash made the savory, cheesy protein snack she’s always craved, whether as a D1 athlete at Stanford or working long days as a CPG investor. She has a “salt tooth” in an industry full of sweet treats to keep us fueled, which is pretty backwards if you think about it.

But it took years of recipe development and R&D with a food science team for Ash to perfect the product she could feel good about putting on shelves.

I took a cue from Ash this week and reformulated this newsletter a bit. You’ll now find a new “Business Bites” section, where I include a few news items and resources for the industry category of our featured founder each week. So this time around, you get some fun ideas to push forward your own CPG concept!

Keep testing—you never know when the next experiment will prove your thesis.