Description

Managing accelerated growth and remarkable success

In late 2016, Norm and Natasha Strim, co-founders of Nonna Pias Gourmet Sauces, earned the largest reinvestment in Dragon’s Den history — $250,000 from Dragon Investor David Chilton. Natasha will share her fast-growth success story which began in her kitchen, grew with the family at the Farmer's Markets, and is now producing for international expansion from their Function Junction facility after appearing on  Dragon's Den and winning  Best Company and Product of the Year at the 2015 Small Business BC Awards. Hear first had, how they increased their distribution dramatically to become a household pantry staple and increased their store-count from 358  to over 1600 even before their Dragons Den episode aired. Natasha will also share her experiences around the importance of communication with fellow entrepreneurs and the ever-present entrepreneurial challenge of finding balance while your business is booming. How does one take a day off after Dragon’s Den?

Key takeaways

• Lessons from their Dragon on maintaining focus, building confidence and critiquing decisions
• Managing cash flow during steep growth
• Taking a leap of faith and being prepared to “do it yourself”

Guest Speaker:  Natasha Strim
Co-founder of Nonna Pia’s Gourmet Sauces Ltd.  
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Natasha Strim is the co-founder of Nonna Pia’s Gourmet Sauces Ltd.  Prior to starting this business, Natasha was a physiotherapist for 12 years in Whistler, BC, where she still resides with her husband, Norm. He is the creator of Nonna Pia’s Balsamic Reductions. Their two children, Georgia and Oliver, also live with them and help out with the business. 
In 2010 Natasha decided to leave physiotherapy and follow her passion, working full time at Nonna Pia’s.  Natasha primarily focused on growing sales while Norm worked on maintaining a premium-quality product. In 2014, with some fantastic mentoring from their new partner David Chilton who they met after appearing on the hit TV show “Dragons’ Den,” Natasha managed to get Nonna Pia’s Balsamic Reductions onto the shelves of every major retailer in Canada. She also expanded distribution into Food Services and launched their products into the USA in 2015.  Since launching the product into the USA Natasha has picked up listings for Nonna Pia’s in various major banners including Whole Foods, Albertsons/Safeway and Kroger which she is thrilled about. To help support their USA expansion, Nonna Pias is proud to have a very new investor on board, “Jim Pattison Group”.

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