Your product might be the coolest product ever but that is only a small piece of what it takes to successfully launch a consumer product. The path to retail distribution for a startup's new product is not just about getting a meeting with a buyer for a major retailer and asking for a purchase order. That is the easy part. The difficult part is making sure that consumers purchase (whether from your website or from the retail shelf) and then use the product without returning it.

In this panel discussion we will discuss the path for a successful launch of a consumer product – from natural products, food products to technology hard goods. When and how to get into large retail? What are the steps to retail success? And most importantly, what are the key metrics that indicate future sustainable sales and growth in retail.

Hosted by a veteran of the consumer packaged goods industry who has launched several consumer products from concept to national retail distribution, this talk will give insights into the pitfalls to avoid and what is most important to focus on when launching a consumer product. Most importantly, we will discuss the dangers of building distribution before a product and company is ready.

Panelist include:

Brian Ewing, VP Sales of Rachio: Consumer Product / Retail veteran with 24 years of Sales and Marketing experience, Brian has held leadership positions with Black & Decker, Philips, OtterBox and currently run sales for Rachio.

Kerry Gilmartin, CEO Bamboobies: Her 4th startup but first CPG product company, Kerry launched Bamboobies six years ago taking it from a single product to twelve and from a single specialty store to over 10,000 doors in the US including national distribution in Target, Babies R Us, Walgreens, CVS and Kroger.

Bing Howenstein, CEO BackJoy: Founded in 2005, BackJoy was recognized as No. 51 on the Inc. 500 “Fastest-Growing Company” and has national distribution in major retailers.