Jorge Olson
Contact

Jorge Olson · VC · Managing Partner, CPG Life Fund I

Jorge Olson builds and automates beverage and consumer brands

If you read Build Your Beverage Empire or Wholesale MBA, you found the right Jorge Olson. Twenty-plus years in beverages and consumer goods: distribution companies in the United States and Mexico, more than a thousand products, five companies taken public. Today I am a VC and Managing Partner of CPG Life Fund I, and I build the AI that launches the next brands: the CPG Life App for founders and the Guz.ai lab for brands already on the shelf. One letter a week, Jorge Talks, on all of it.

One email a week. No spam. Privacy.

Jorge Olson, portrait in a blue suit and red tie
  • 30years in business, software first, then consumer goods
  • 1,000+consumer products created
  • 5companies taken public
  • 4,000Walgreens stores, one manager at a time
  • 10books written

Built in beverages. Now I automate them.

Then: operator
  • Beverage distribution from a van to 17,000 accounts
  • Miller Beer for Baja California, 5-hour ENERGY for Mexico
  • 1,000+ products, 4,000 Walgreens stores
  • Five companies taken public
Now: VC and AI builder
  • VC and Managing Partner, CPG Life Fund I
  • The CPG Life App: a founder's journey from idea to shelf
  • The Guz.ai lab: PR, podcasts, ads, video and UGC run by agents
  • AI to incubate and accelerate new brands

I also advise investors. I have consulted for analysts and investors at Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, Oppenheimer Funds, J.P. Morgan, Chase and Morgan Stanley, and for pension funds, hedge funds, venture and angel groups, on beverages, consumer goods and investing in Mexico. How I work with founders, brands and investors is on the CPG and beverage page.

What I am working on now

CPG Life Fund I

VC and Managing Partner, CPG Life Fund I.

AI, from the inside

Founder of Guz.ai and its CPG Life App, building the agents myself, and co-founder of Optoz.ai, AI visual inspection for regulated manufacturing.

Speaking & Training

Keynotes, workshops and working days, led by The Company That Runs on Agents. The talks and the booking form are on the speaking page.

Energy for AI data centers in Mexico

Advising an energy infrastructure company that rents power equipment to data centers in Mexico, where the grid, not demand, is the constraint.

The letter is where I write about CPG, Mexico and AI as they happen.

The route here, in seven stops

  1. ERP software consultant, then VP, then CEOThen project management software. Learned to run a company before I learned to run a route; entrepreneur at thirty.
  2. A van and a mini-storage unitInto consumer goods from the bottom: beverage distribution.
  3. 500 to 17,000 accountsA San Diego distributor with my own trucks and my own reps.
  4. Miller Beer for Baja California, 5-hour ENERGY for MexicoA hundred million dollars in sales across Mexico with Sandro Piancone, more than two thousand products.
  5. 4,000 Walgreens storesNo corporate approval. One store manager at a time.
  6. Five public companiesTwo of them co-founded: Green Globe International by reverse merger, Hempacco by IPO onto NASDAQ.
  7. CPG Life Fund I, Guz.ai, energy for AI data centers in MexicoPart of CPG Life Fund I, building the agents that run brands, advising on power for data centers in Mexico.
  8. Every stop on this line has a row in the claims ledger.

What I write about

CPG and beveragesHow a consumer brand gets onto the shelf and stays there, from the distributor's chair. Business in MexicoSelling into Mexican retail, from Miller Beer in Baja California to 5-hour ENERGY nationwide. Energy for manufacturing and AI data centers in MexicoWhy power, not labor, decides who builds next.

All articles

Books

Eight titles, ten with editions. Build Your Beverage Empire is taught in university business programs, Wholesale MBA is the distributor’s side of the same trade, and the rest are marketing, entrepreneurship, politics and stories. All books, with descriptions.

Build Your Beverage Empire Wholesale MBA Marketing Karma Super Sexy Kung Fu Marketing The Unselfish Guide to Self Promotion Nace un Gigante The Latino Vote Lessons from My Guardian Angel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the Jorge Olson who wrote Build Your Beverage Empire?

Yes. The same Jorge Olson who wrote Build Your Beverage Empire and Wholesale MBA, owned beverage distribution companies in the United States and Mexico, and now manages CPG Life Fund I and builds the CPG Life App and the Guz.ai lab. The CPG and beverage page has the whole picture.

Who is this site for?

Beverage and CPG founders, brands, investors, reporters and event hosts who want an operator's read on consumer goods, Mexico, energy for AI and AI agents, from someone who has run the businesses rather than modeled them.

What do subscribers get?

One email a week with one idea, the numbers behind it and the sources, written by me. No sales pitch. Unsubscribe in one click.

How do I book Jorge for an interview or a talk?

For a talk, the speaking page has the three keynotes, the rooms I have spoken in and a booking form. For an interview, the media kit has bios, headshots and the questions worth asking, and the same booking form reaches me directly.

Jorge Talks: one letter a week on CPG, Mexico, energy for AI, and AI agents.

Written by me. No hype, no pitch. Unsubscribe any time.

One email a week. No spam. Privacy.