Books by Jorge Olson
I wrote these so a reader could see the whole operating side of a consumer business before putting money, or a career, into one.
Build Your Beverage Empire
What it costs to start a beverage company, per can and per launch. How to develop a drink in the order that gets it sold. How it reaches distributors, retailers and the consumer, and what each one takes on the way. Taught in university business programs. If you are evaluating a beverage brand, this is the operating model its founders should know by heart.
Wholesale Distribution MBA
The distributor’s chair. I have owned distribution companies in the United States and Mexico; this is what running them taught me about how a product actually moves, who gets paid, and why most brands misprice the channel. For an investor it is the fastest way to understand the margin ladder between the factory and the shelf.
Marketing Karma
Promotion without the noise: how an operator gets a product, a book or a company known by giving first. Short, and the one I hand to founders who think marketing is advertising.
What is next
I am writing about the three things on this site: consumer goods as an asset, Mexico’s power problem, and what early-stage AI looks like from inside the tools. The letter is where the chapters appear first.