Resources

The Too Embarrassed to Ask Series

What began as a passion project grew into a LinkedIn series called “Too Embarrassed to Ask.”

I was exhausted by the “data theater” in vendor pitches. Posts on LinkedIn were just downright amateur and cringey:

• Screenshots of scorecards that violated basic professional etiquette AND the terms of service of the data provider

• Impressive-looking charts without an axis (or made-up metric)

• Data points that said very little about how a brand was really performing

AI slop made it even worse! Then something clicked.

As more founders and senior leaders at emerging brands skipped the traditional big CPG career path, they also missed some of the training that used to come with it. Concepts that were second nature to me and other big CPG alums were becoming the language of subject matter experts, not the shared vocabulary of a high-performing commercial team.

And these aren’t obscure analytics concepts. They’re the metrics retailers use to evaluate a business. These concepts are no different than understanding a P&L.

So I created “Too Embarrassed to Ask” as a friendly PSA for my LinkedIn connections who might have had some of these questions but, well, were too embarrassed to ask. These are the concepts I coached my entry-level category analysts on.

The response was incredible! People from all corners of the industry reached out, and the series sparked many fantastic conversations. It introduced me to many new connections and made me realize how much demand there is to make CPG data easier to understand.

Enjoy!