Commercialization Is a Team Sport: How to Make Yours Work Smarter

Commercializing a food product isn’t a solo mission—it’s a team sport. And the brands that consistently win are the ones that know how to work cross-functionally, communicate clearly, and keep everyone pointed at the same goal.

Over the years, we’ve worked with teams of every size and stage—from billion-dollar corporations to scrappy startups bringing their first product to shelf. And one thing holds true: when the team works, the launch works.

Here are a few tips to build a stronger, smoother commercialization team:

Tip #1: Align on the “Why”—Not Just the What

Here’s one key lesson I’ve learned in my career. 

In working with billion-dollar companies, small companies that haven’t even gotten a product to market, those scaling rapidly to those figuring out how to bring their ingredients to market, and everyone in between, I’ve learned that every member of the team is adding value.

Every team member has a different perspective on how the business operates and how to successfully make the new product.

If you can synergize and harmonize those perspectives; creating a common vision around where income comes from, where it’s going, and how every member of the team supports that as a cog in the machine, you can build a system that is greater than the sum of its parts - a system where everyone is pointed in the same direction.

Organizations that can accomplish this underlying climate are the ones that ‘make it big.’

So before you get deep in execution, make sure everyone—from R&D to marketing to ops—understands why this product matters.  Who is it for? What problem does it solve? Why now?  When the team rallies around a shared purpose, decisions get easier and silos start to break down.

“When the team rallies around a shared purpose, decisions get easier and silos start to break down.”

“For projects that fall outside your team’s bandwidth or technical scope, it makes sense to plug in experienced help.”

Tip #2: Don’t Burn Out Your Core Team

As brands grow, it's common to overload internal teams—asking R&D, product developers, and commercialization leads to handle product revisions, COGS reductions, and new line launches on top of their day-to-day work.

These teams are often highly capable, but they’re not built to absorb every new initiative. And when strategic priorities shift fast, the workload can quickly become unmanageable.

That’s where outside expertise comes in. For projects that fall outside your team’s bandwidth or technical scope, it makes sense to plug in experienced help. At Catapult, we step in as an extension of your team—providing technical, regulatory, and project management horsepower without adding long-term headcount.

You get the support you need to commercialize faster—then scale back once the job is done. It’s a smarter way to grow without burning out the people already driving your success.

Tip #3: Past Wins Don’t Guarantee Easy Launches

This is something that’s going to put a smile on a lot of people’s faces:

Just because your team has commercialized something before, doesn’t mean that the next time they will find it any easier.

What I mean by that is, commercializing a product would be great if it was only technical in nature. But there are many different people, with many different skill sets that must all be aligned and on the same page about how to do something.

That requires a massive amount of communication, and in some cases, communication in a way that not everyone is familiar with.

Working with a commercialization team like Catapult allows you to tap into their breadth of experience in ways you might not have thought of.

For example, let’s say someone stabs the side of your ingredient pallet with a forklift.

Working with a team of experienced professionals, you will find that we plan ahead.

We don’t just stack ingredients on one pallet—we spread the risk. So we'll actually spread them across two or three pallets and ship them in some cases in different trucks when there's a potential risk of that happening.

I know that seems like overkill, but it's really not when you consider the alternative.

I know that a number of projects have been saved by the insights of experts who have done commercialization before, and by planning ahead to say, "Don't just order 50% more ingredients. Order three times as much, because you don’t know what’s going to happen."

Then, when all of a sudden there's further exploration and R&D that takes place on the production line that optimizes the product to profitability, you’re prepared.

There have been times where orders with Walmart were saved because there were extra ingredients lying around.

There are a lot of different reasons why commercializing a food product is challenging, but with experts, you can make it a lot smoother.

“Commercializing a product requires a massive amount of communication, and in some cases, communication in a way that not everyone is familiar with.”

“We started working remotely in 2018 with our decentralized model, forming commercialization teams from all over the country.”

Tip #4: Tap Into Remote Experts — No Overhead Required

One thing that Catapult figured out early on that gives us a competitive advantage is how to work remotely.

We started working remotely in 2018 with our decentralized model of product development and product commercialization support from all over the country.

That allowed us to tap into a top-tier talent pool of folks who were sitting idle.

By having that in place by the time we hit 2020 and everyone had to figure out remote support, we were already in a place where we could lead and share best practices, rather than simply sitting back and only executing projects.

To that end, we’ve trained a lot of larger organizations in how to execute this, which has led to work-life balance movements within these companies, allowing people to work remotely one or two days a week.

We’re glad to have been part of the industry in that way, and we’re glad to continue leading in how to work effectively in the food industry.

The best commercialization teams don’t just build great products—they build strong systems, clear roles, and trusted partners.

Need a flexible team to back yours? We’re ready to plug in when you need us.

Author: Jamie Valenti-Jordan

20+ years in food & beverage commercialization. If you’re tackling a tricky project, odds are I’ve seen it before. I’ll be sharing the things that worked here—so you can skip the 'learning experiences'.