Settle's Head of Revenue Recaps His Top Do's and Don'ts After Expo West

LearnMarch 19, 20242 min read
Christopher Dittmer, Head of Sales

The Settle team always looks forward to Expo West as an opportunity to support the incredible brands of the Startup CPG and Naturally Network and this year was no different. The team had a blast last week and our very own Head of Revenue, Christopher Dittmer is now a seasoned attendee! In this post, he shares his learnings and takeaways from this year's event:

Do:

🦾 Wear something that pops! I didn't this year 😭 but the Settle team has big plans for next year - team uniforms, colorful jackets, jumpsuits - comfort is king

👜 Make strategic use of the bag checks during the day (the one on the side of the Hilton near the arena is the least busy)

💰 Spend the extra $ to stay in one of the onsite hotels (ubers in LA, even for CA natives, suck your energy and your time!)

Don't:

Grab a sample before reading what it is 🥨 🥴

Be afraid to cold pitch someone you've never met 🪄 🧙‍♂️(shout out to Jeremy Issakharian of Seven Teas 🫖 who crushed an initial pitch with Rabobank's investment arm!)

You'll see lots of specialty bars, snacks, and drinks...but two brands that really stood out to me:

🐶 🦴Craig R. Park - CountryPet Naturals - direct-to-your-door free range dog treats out of New Zealand - I'm not a fur Dad who has bought into the weekly subscription meal plans for my pup (yet) - this is a much easier entry point to treat my dog, and was one of the busiest booths in their section 👀

🍄 🥓 Greg Shewchuk - MyFOREST Foods - their mushroom bacon was simply the best I've ever tried (and I've tried a lot...)...they're really onto something with their regenerative farming and oyster 🍄 mushroom slabs!

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