and allows us to emerge from bankruptcy five years ago fighting to keep the lights on to a company that did $300 million in sales last year. to know where every dollar goes, you can still take risks. we acquired dot popcorn because it was heavy into the mall segments. so by acquiring dot popcorn we were able to co-brand which got dippin dots more points of presence in the mall location. i had a strategic purpose to us. i think it s really important for companies not to get d distracted by shiny object and for example, dippin dots, we have our core business in parks, sustainable revenue stream been around for 30 years. it has generational brand equity with our consumers. that s really special. we ve had different opportunities with say dippin
development. but these entrepreneurs say they believed in their partners and the products right from the start. you have to be able to say, you know, even if we weren t working together, i would go and buy this product. the benefits and the pitfalls of co-branding are unique to each arrangement. but these entrepreneurs say co-branding is a risk worth taking. if co-branding doesn t work, if something continues to hurt, stop doing it. if it feels good, do it more. the co-branding absolutely can work for a lot of companies. and if you haven t tried it, give it a try. everybody s doing it. partnering with another small business to co-brand is a great marketing tool and it can work for all kinds of companies. let s turn to this week s board of directors. jen is a serial entrepreneur best known for starting her lifestyle brand empowered. and the founding partner of the ad agency with deep social media roots and you are both regulars on the show.
the products right from the start. you have to be able to say, you know, even if we weren t working together, i would go and buy this product. the benefits and the pitfalls of co-branding are unique to each arrangement. but these entrepreneurs say co-branding is a risk worth taking. if co-branding doesn t work, if something continues to hurt, stop doing it. if it feels good, do it more. the co-branding absolutely can work for a lot of companies. and if you haven t tried it, give it a try. everybody s doing it. partnering with another small business to co-brand is a great marketing tool and it can work for all kinds of companies. let s turn to this week s board of directors. jen is a serial entrepreneur best known for starting her lifestyle brand empowered. and the founding partner of the ad agency with deep social media roots and you are both regulars on the show.
here s how it works with the patri . those sales belong to patric, the money sold at the bar belongs to them because they pay for the labels. they wanted for their stores kaldi s specific packaging that looked like any other kaldi s product, which made sense to me. the bars we sell to them are less expensive wholesale because they ve already paid for part of it, essentially. kaldi s sells their beans and there s also trade involved. for these companies, agreeing to co-brand was as simple as a handshake. but it s not always as easy as that. if you re going to get into a co-branding situation, make sure it s somebody you know, trust. i ve had people contact me about co-branding where i think it would not be a good idea. getting the products launched took months of research and development. but these entrepreneurs say they believed in their partners and
here s how it works with the those sales belong to patric, the money sold at the bar belongs to them because they pay for the labels. they wanted for their stores kaldi s specific packaging that looked like any other kaldi s product, which made sense to me. the bars we sell to them are less expensive wholesale because they ve already paid for part of it, essentially. kaldi s sells their beans and there s also trade involved. for these companies, agreeing to co-brand was as simple as a handshake. but it s not always as easy as that. if you re going to get into a co-branding situation, make sure it s somebody you know, trust. i ve had people contact me about co-branding where i think it would not be a good idea. getting the products launched took months of research and