Distilling the Ecolab Investor Thesis: Lessons from a Buy-Side Analyst

As a former buy-side and sell-side analyst, with stints at Morningstar, Motley Fool, and now as CIO at KNA Capital, Todd Wenning has built a career distilling what makes great businesses tick. On the Business Breakdowns podcast, his analysis of Ecolab is a masterclass. He frames the investment thesis with...

3-2-1: CPG Org Reformulated, Zero-Alcohol Hits $1B, and Loyalty Reframed

3 Insights Worth Your Attention I. Why CPGs Are Reformulating Teams, Not Just Products Along with shrinkflation, CPGs are quietly shrinking org sizes as well. Some companies are replacing function leaders (e.g., R&D, Sales, Supply Chain) with people who bring an “operator” mindset and can navigate across margin, agility, and...

I-Day Playbook Series #1: Start with Your Main Message

This piece kicks off our new series, the Investor Day Playbook, where we cover the fundamentals of effective Investor Day storytelling and show how to take them further. The goal is to give you practical steps so that you’re shifting investor perception and making your investor thesis stick. Investor Day...

How to Talk About Your Moat the Way Investors Do

We’ve been listening to Business Breakdowns, a podcast where seasoned buy-side investors and analysts dissect companies in remarkable depth. These are people who spend their careers studying business models and identifying the edges that endure. What stood out to us is how clearly they frame each company’s investment thesis, especially...

3-2-1: Winning Buyer’s Attention, New Cat Man Landscape and Serving Affluent Shoppers

3 Insights Worth Your Attention I. The Storytelling Shift That Wins Retailer Buy-In “Turn data into a story.” That’s how Julie Craig, in her Shopper Insights role at GSK, described what finally gets retailers to pay attention in a recent podcast. She recalled a Walmart category review from her GSK days, selling...

5 Pillars of IR Storytelling – From Nick Cabraloff, Senior Buy-Side Analyst at Whale Rock Capital

At the recent NIRI Annual Conference, our founder, Harry, had the privilege to moderate a session related to investor storytelling. The goal of this panel: help IROs articulate their company’s investor value proposition to the Street.  The panel featured Debbie Belevan, Duolingo IRO, and Nick Cabraloff, a senior buy-side analyst at Whale...

Do Your Prepared Remarks and Earnings Slides Tell the Same Story? 10 Ways to Check

Earnings season has just wrapped up for many of you. As we look back at recent calls, one pattern stands out: prepared remarks and slides that don’t quite tell the same story. It’s not always a major disconnect, but even subtle misalignment can change how investors interpret the narrative. And...

3-2-1: ‘Newstalgia’ Wins, What Buyers Really Want and The Sour Surge

3 Insights Worth Your Attention I. ‘Newstalgia’ and Indulgence: Two Shopper Triggers Driving CPG Wins At this year’s IDDBA 2025 (International Dairy Deli and Bakery Association) Annual Conference hosted at New Orleans, two patterns stood out driving measurable results across categories.  1/ Newstalgia is beating pure novelty. Millennials and Gen Z crave products...

The Other Two-Way Street of IR: Partnering Internally to Strengthen Your External Story

The best IR teams don’t just bridge the company and Wall Street; they connect IR strategy with execution by involving colleagues a layer or two below the C-suite. Armstrong World Industries’ (AWI) two-person IR team, led by VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, Theresa Womble, runs a tight and...

How We Help Insights and Sales Leaders Deliver High-Stakes Presentations that Move the Needle

Most weeks, we share thought leadership to help you show up stronger in front of retailers and internal stakeholders. Once a quarter, we zoom out and share how we help CPG teams like yours through our services.  This is that edition, framed as a few FAQs. QUESTION 1: What Does...

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