Innovation doesn’t always start with the product. It starts with paying attention. Most founders talk about what they built, but successful ones listen for what consumers need fixed.
When One Trick Pony launched, it looked like how you’d expect a new peanut butter would look.
Clean ingredients, fun branding, Argentinian peanuts. But shoppers didn’t care about the story. They cared about the mess.
Oil separation. Slippery jars. A chore to stir.
So founders Lucy Dana, Andrew Dana, and Dani Moreira stopped talking about ingredients and started improving the experience. They designed a jar that sits upside down to prevent oil separation, borrowing from cosmetic packaging instead of grocery conventions.
The new design didn’t just look better. It worked better. Sold better. And turned a small peanut butter brand into a viral retail success.
Solve the pain, not the pitch. Customers didn’t care where the peanuts came from. They cared about the messy oil on top. “Every time I talked to people, it was the same thing: ‘I hate the oil separation. It’s so messy,’” says Lucy. So they flipped the jar and turned a messy problem into their market differentiator.
Good design is good strategy. Every natural peanut butter looks the same: neutral palette, “natural” message, clear jars. One Trick Pony went the other way, with bright colors, a playful logo, and packaging inspired by cosmetics. "People weren’t really loyal to a specific brand, so we saw white space to have a fun, cool brand that you remember.”
Turn stunts into strategy. The brand sells a nine-pound bucket of peanut butter. Originally for food service, they sold it online as a joke for National Peanut Butter Day. Customers loved it. Influencers started posting “trying to finish my nine-pound bucket” videos that grew into a low-cost viral engine.
Start small… smaller than you think. Their first production run filled a 20-foot shipping container from Argentina… and the lids didn’t fit. “We got advice to go big, that it’d light a fire under our butt to sell it all. Looking back, I would’ve done it differently,” laughs Lucy.” Start with less and fix fast.
Future-proof your pricing. It’s easy to think you’re making money when you’re selling at a farmer’s market. But scaling adds middlemen, and margins disappear fast. “Most distributors take 15–20%. Retailers want 40%,” says Lucy. “If you can get your gross margin to 60%, that’s a good place to start.”
Market insight → Any added friction between buying and enjoying your product kills momentum. If customers have to work to use it, you’re not innovating. You’re in their way.
Oil separation becomes a thing of the past
The friction finder
Customer complaints aren’t problems. They’re product ideas waiting to happen.
1. Collect 10 complaints: Pull comments, DMs, or reviews where people are frustrated. Not just with your project, but with your whole category.
2. Label the friction. Tag each complaint as one of three types:
- Functional: “It’s hard to use” (messy, leaky, clunky, heavy)
- Emotional: “It feels off” (guilty, boring, old-fashioned)
- Visual: “It looks cheap” (packaging, colors, presentation)
3. Rank the complaints. Which complaint comes up the most? Which one feels most passionate or specific? That’s your signal.
4. Prototype a fix. Ask, “How would this look if it just worked better?” Mock it up fast, get it in front of people, and see if it clicks.
The flip framework
Innovation often starts by turning a norm upside down.
1. What does everyone in your category do the same way?
Same size, shape, flavor, language, order, or pricing.
2. What would be the opposite?
Upside down, smaller not bigger, fun not serious, visible not hidden, subscription not retail.
3. Try and and see what changes.
Does it make the product easier, faster, or more memorable? If yes, consider baking it into your business.
Write down three things everyone in your space does the same. And flip one.