I watched my dad build Cape Cod Potato Chips, and then I built 2 businesses of my own. Here's my advice for founders.

Nicole Bernard Dawes is the founder and CEO of the zero-sugar soda brand Nixie. George Annan for BI Nicole Bernard Dawes built Late July into a successful snack brand before selling it and launching Nixie. A tortilla-chip launch helped Late July rebound from debt and grow before it was sold to Campbell's. Nixie, her current business, sells organic, zero-sugar soda in more than 11,000 retailers. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nicole Bernard Dawes, the 53-year-old founder and CEO of Nixie, a zero-sugar soda brand based in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It has been edited for length and clarity. I was very fortunate to grow up in an entrepreneurial environment. I watched my father, Steve Bernard, start and run Cape Cod Potato Chips, and my mom owned a health food store. They shaped who I am as a founder. Growing up, I spent many days after school at the factory or at my mom's store. My dad really wanted me to understand the business, so he would show me how to do things like read a P&L. I went on to found Late July Snacks in 2003 and sold an 80% stake to Snyder's-Lance in 2014. I remained CEO until Campbell's acquired Snyder's-Lance in 2018, adding Late July to its portfolio. After the sale, we started looking into something we had been thinking about during the Late July days. We saw a gap in the market for a USDA-certified organic, zero-sugar beverage to pair with our chips. George Annan for BI Nixie was born in late 2019, and we're now in over 11,000 retailers nationwide. I've been working with my husband since Late July We have two kids. I was pregnant with my oldest son when I started Late July. I decided I wanted to have dinner as a family every night and be present in their lives. My husband left his film career to join me at Late July, which allowed one of us to always be home with our kids. We didn't travel at the same time for many years. I started Late July with my father as a cofounder. He died relatively suddenly, and our bank put a big loan we had in default due to his passing. It was the height of the recession. I have a roll-up-my-sleeves, get-it-done mentality I had to get myself out of my comfort zone and network as much as possible because I had to repay that loan. I had to fix the company by figuring out why we weren't reaching the next level. We had trouble affording our groceries. One of the things I'm really good at is budgeting, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs probably are. We definitely were not spending money on much of anything, and it was very stressful, but I always believed we would find a way out. George Annan for BI We were able to persuade the bank to give us more time. I rejected some options, such as selling more equity in the company. In the end, a mission-driven lender agreed to refinance the debt. The breakthrough was starting our tortilla chips line in 2010 Late July started in crackers, then we innovated into tortilla chips and eventually other types of snacks. I was never afraid to compete in a competitive category. Our tortilla chips were gluten-free, allergen-free, and delicious, so almost everybody could eat them. That line basically catapulted us into the future. I don't think any of it was a mistake, because it led us to learn what we needed to know about our brand and probably made us stronger. The company went from about $8 million in sales and struggling to repay its loans to being on track to reach $100 million within three years. By the time Campbell's acquired Snyder's-Lance, we were a large, profitable company. Most of our team wasn't being retained by Campbell's We'd spent 10 years building a team of around 27 people we respected and trusted — smart people who were great at their jobs and who really liked working together. That's one of the hardest things to find when you're building a company. We were able to retain a lot of the leadership team for Nixie. George Annan for BI We had that great team, and we saw a part of the supermarket that needed what we could bring to the conversation. Those two things drove us to start Nixie almost right away. Initially, we self-funded Nixie Having $0 in revenue and starting from scratch was quite different, but there are enormous advantages to it being your second time around. I made so many mistakes along the way with Late July. I'm not going to make zero mistakes at Nixie, but hopefully I won't repeat the same ones. We decided to start with sparkling water and put in our own money after the Late July sale. We brought in a few angels who'd been part of Late July, including Short List Capital. Nixie later raised at least $8 million in a 2022 financing. Last year, we raised more than $26 million from investment firm Invus, and its managing director, Evren Bilimer, joined our board. George Annan for BI The best way you can spend your marketing dollars is trade marketing That's spending it directly with a store. You'd be hard-pressed to get a better ROI anywhere than a display with a key reta