Your operating partner for founder-led consumer brands.
Build the brand. Build the engine.
For founders with a proven product who are raising capital and going after major customers. You lead the vision. Together, we build the engine that grows it.
The moment
Your product is working. Let’s build for what’s next.
The idea has legs. It’s ready to sell, or already selling faster than the business behind it can keep up.
The idea has legs.
Shoppers are buying and retailers are interested. The momentum is real.
The business has to catch up.
Growth calls for skills beyond the product: channels, pricing, a plan, a team.
Your vision stays at the center.
You bring the idea and the passion. I help build the business around it, without changing what makes it yours.
You lead the vision. We build the engine together.
What we do
We build the brand and the commercial engine behind it.
Three areas of work, each generating the next stage of growth.
Brand & Go-to-Market
Who the brand is for, and where it wins.
- Target consumer and the occasions to grow into
- What to launch next, and where it fits
- Which customers and channels, in what order
Commercial Excellence
Turn distribution into sales.
- Pricing and promotion
- Trade spend that pays back
- Retail execution that holds the shelf
Operating Model
Build the team that runs it.
- The right roles and structure
- A weekly operating rhythm
- Growth that runs without you doing every job
How we work
Start, build, then run.
Every engagement starts small and earns the next step.
Diagnostic
A clear read on what’s working with shoppers and retailers, what’s holding growth back, and a 90-day plan.
The diagnostic →Build Sprints
One piece of the commercial engine, built and running: Brand & Go-to-Market, Commercial Excellence or Operating Model.
The sprints →Fractional GM
I work alongside your team as a part-time GM, then help you hire the person who owns it next.
Fractional GM →The story
A craft brand that kept growing inside a big company.
At Hormel Foods, I ran Columbus Craft Meats, an acquired brand, as its own business: one team across marketing, sales, R&D and operations. When Columbus was pulled into the larger company, we held firm to the plan that was working.
Read the story →The purpose
Why Adeline Grove?
Adeline is my daughter. Alameda, where it all began, takes its name from the Spanish for “grove of poplars.” Together they stand for planting something new and helping it grow.
Read our story →
Let’s build what’s next for your brand.
A 30-minute intro call: where the brand is today, where you want it to go, and whether we’re the right fit.
Shane WardFounder, Adeline Grove