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“It was very hard to accept, but I had to face the reality that our business was never going to give us the return we deserved. That was a mature set of decisions, to give up on dreams and accept defeat,” she says.

As you can see, Kelly Spillane has lived both sides of the CPG journey. She started in Ireland as a founder, building a jam and marmalade company with her sister and even landing on supermarket shelves and high-end delicatessens in Paris, London, and New York. But after years of incredibly hard work, she faced a tough truth: the business wasn’t going where she hoped it would.

Instead of walking away from the industry she loved, Spillane turned her hard lessons into a career helping other founders succeed. Today, she leads investments and accelerator programs at Whole Foods Market, guiding early-stage brands with the perspective only a former founder can bring.

Key takeaways from our conversation:

• Agile growth first: “Being lean and agile is the number one thing. Not raising money for as long as you can is really the number one thing, along with the lean and agile.”
• It’s all about people: “In reality, when you’re investing money, you’re investing money in people. So I look at the founders, their vision, their experience, and whether they’re coachable.”
• The value of the journey: “Even though I didn’t achieve my big dream of making lots of money, I found myself, and I found lifelong friends. The journey was still worth it.”

From winding down her own company to mentoring the next generation of founders, Kelly Spillane’s story is a reminder that resilience, focus, and adaptability matter as much as vision in building lasting businesses.