Observed Signal · Jul 21, 2026 · Interview · Source: Adweek · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Jen Zeszut on Building Goodles by Out‑Weirding Giants
Adweek’s Adspeak podcast features an interview with Jen Zeszut, founder and CEO of Goodles, about how the bootstrapped mac & cheese CPG reinvented a stagnant category through taste-first product strategy, bold creative, and unconventional marketing. The conversation covers Goodles’ rapid retail expansion, scaling a mission-driven creative culture without traditional agency support, and tactical principles such as "Lead with Yum" and out‑weirding competitors when you can’t outspend them. Zeszut, who has founded multiple companies and has over 15 years of product and brand experience, discusses opportunity identification in "sleepy" categories and building category-growth motions rather than purely share-stealing efforts.
Profile of a fast-growing D2C CPG brand offers actionable creative and retail distribution tactics relevant to brand and marketing teams, but it is not a platform or policy-level change and does not materially shift the broader AdTech/MarTech industry.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Jen Zeszut is the founder and CEO of Goodles, a fast-growing CPG brand reinventing the mac and cheese category.
- The Adweek Adspeak episode features Rebecca Stewart interviewing Jen Zeszut about Goodles' strategy and growth.
- Goodles is described as a bootstrapped startup that prioritized taste ('Lead with Yum') and bold creative over health claims to compete with industry giants.
- Jen Zeszut has more than 15 years of experience and has founded four companies across software and consumer goods.
- Goodles scaled distribution and grew rapidly while reportedly operating without traditional agency support and using unconventional marketing tactics.
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