Sabeena Ladha on Founding Deux Foods, Vegan Edible Cookie Dough, and Entrepreneurial Lessons

The Entrepreneurial Spark

• 💡 Sabeena Ladha, founder and CEO of Deux Foods, shares her journey of creating vegan edible cookie dough.
• 🚀 Her entrepreneurial spirit was influenced by her immigrant father, who built his own American dream through various businesses.
• 🧠 As a child, Sabeena exhibited traits of an entrepreneur, like breaking rules and always seeking improvement.

From PepsiCo to Consulting

• 🏢 Sabeena's early career at PepsiCo revealed a surprising disconnect: marketers often didn't consume the products they promoted.
• 📈 She also discovered an entrepreneurial environment within PepsiCo, fostered by supportive mentors who encouraged rule-breaking.
• 🎓 Her time at McKinsey provided an intensive, fast-paced learning experience, akin to an MBA, teaching her to quickly grasp new industries and offer recommendations.
• 🌍 Consulting offered broad exposure to diverse industries like medical waste management, telco, luxury cars, and fashion, preventing her from feeling pigeonholed.

The Genesis of Deux Foods

• 💡 The idea for Deux Foods stemmed from Sabeena's personal experience with taking numerous supplements during the pandemic and experiencing unpleasant side effects like heartburn.
• 🍪 Initially, she considered a vitamin-infused cookie but pivoted to edible cookie dough due to market saturation in the cookie category.
• 🎯 The edible cookie dough market, dominated by brands like Nestle and Pillsbury, was seen as largely untouched and not modernized for today's consumer, particularly millennial and Gen Z females.
• 📈 Sabeena aimed to re-engage consumers who had left the traditional cookie category years ago.

Launching and Scaling Deux

• 🚀 Deux Foods launched on Instagram in August 2020, taking orders via direct message and Venmo, with initial packaging that Sabeena admits was embarrassing.
• 📈 This direct-to-consumer approach served as a crucial test, with the product selling out quickly, validating the demand.
• 💰 Sabeena invested $20,000 of her own money and initially focused on building a profitable direct-to-consumer business before seeking external funding.
• 📈 After outgrowing commercial kitchens, she raised $1 million in seed funding to scale operations, move to a co-packer, and expand into retail.

Shark Tank and Beyond

• 🦈 Sabeena appeared on Shark Tank after being approached by a producer, a process that involved extensive preparation over several months.
• 💥 The Shark Tank experience brought significant publicity, investor and retailer outreach, and revenue, but also unsolicited negative comments, which Sabeena addressed in a viral TikTok.
• 💔 She did not secure funding on the show, as Robert Herjavec reneged on his offer after negotiations.
• 🌐 Deux Foods is available online at eatdeux.com and in select stores in New York, with a store locator on their website. They also offer two-day shipping.