The consumer packaged goods industry is dominated by large conglomerates. These companies have teams of experts and budgets that can exceed the annual revenue of an entire indie brand.
For solopreneurs looking to get a new brand on the shelves, the resource gap can feel overwhelming. That is, until AI came along.
Ezra Ruffino is the founder of Pow Organics, which offers products such as mushroom matcha and mushroom coffee. Michaela Vatcheva (BI)
Ezra Ruffino, founder of functional beverage brand Paw Organics, said, “I’m able to keep up with what big brands with large teams can do,” and how AI has helped fuel his growth. “Wouldn’t it be better if I had a big team to help me? Of course. But it’s much better than just me.”
Rufino is never alone. Hear how he and two other independent entrepreneurs in the CPG space are using AI to expand their capabilities and stay competitive in this crowded industry.
AI shortens the learning curve
Running a consumer brand solo means wearing all the hats in-house, rather than relying on expert teammates. Amber Chaudhry, founder of teen skincare brand Noori, knows this firsthand.
As a pharmacist by training, she is familiar with product formulation, but she also had to learn about Shopify, Amazon’s seller platform, meta ads, Google Ads, complex analytics dashboards, and more.
“It was tough learning over and over again, but the AI guided me,” Chaudhry said. She uploads screenshots of analytics dashboards and onboarding questions for tech platforms and asks ChatGPT to explain what she’s looking at. It’s faster than checking it yourself. “Being an independent contractor is very fulfilling. I feel like I can do anything,” she added.
Amber Chaudhry is the founder of teen skincare brand Noori. Ian Tuttle of BI
For Ann Regan Kearns, founder of athlete skincare brand Medalist Skin, AI helped her make simple yet impactful website improvements that were obvious to user interface experts but not to her.
“Who knew we needed to move the free shipping banner from the bottom to the top?” Kearns said. She said she has spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past on contractors who ultimately didn’t fit, and feels she could have saved those costs in the future.
Rufino similarly turned to AI as a consultant to tackle low-hanging fruit, specifically optimizing listings on wholesale platform Faire. It’s back with a rewritten list, photo suggestions, and other recommendations for improvement.
“We implemented everything and almost immediately our business started growing on Faire,” Rufino said, adding that these AI improvements helped the platform achieve 305% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, according to tracking documents seen by Business Insider.
What are the alternatives to AI guidance? Expensive contractors who may not be the right fit. “Unfortunately, I feel like there are so many things we don’t know that people are taking advantage of solopreneurs,” Kearns said, adding that these consultants can now charge exorbitant fees for simple things that AI can guide them through.
AI helps you keep pace with big brands
Beyond understanding the basics, AI can help these solopreneurs accomplish tasks at a speed and scale that would normally require an entire department.
Ann Regan Kearns is the founder of Medalist Skin, a skin care brand for athletes. Cassandra Klos (BI)
For example, Kearns uses AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Instead of a market research team. She uploads reports from industry publications and chats with the AI about which ingredients make sense for her brand, with prompts like:
- Is this affordable?
- Can it be incorporated into various types of formulations?
Only after an ingredient passes this baseline conversation with the AI does Kearns spend time and money taking it to a fractional product developer.
Rufino has relied on Nano Banana to keep his brand fresh, even next to large companies that spend thousands of dollars on new products and photo shoots each season. “The pictures that can be generated are quite amazing,” he said.
AI provides strategies that work within limits
Beyond tactical execution, AI can help independent FMCG entrepreneurs make smarter strategic choices with limited resources.
Rufino started AI as a pseudo-cofounder, using ChatGPT as a discussion board and training him to push back on his ideas.
Michaela Vatcheva (BI)
“You might get an email about an opportunity and get excited, but that might not be what you should actually be spending your time on. There are only so many hours in the day,” he explains. AI will help keep him in check.
Kearns uses AI to analyze competitors’ campaigns to understand what is actually achievable within your budget. She often uploads competitor campaigns that she admires or that have gone viral and asks the AI for an estimated cost. That amount often far exceeds what she needs to spend.
Far from being discouraged, the insight helps her focus. She often follows up with prompts like:
- What can I get from this campaign for my budget?
- What are some quick return strategies you can implement on your website?
- What are they doing in terms of building a community that resonates with my brand?
“It really helped calm me down in terms of expectations,” Kearns said. She can put on a blindfold and focus on what she can do.
