Founders often see the entire product line before they sell the first unit: every flavor, format, size and bundle. That vision can guide the company. It should not become the first production order.
Every stock-keeping unit (SKU) commits cash. Each one needs packaging, a forecast, a production run, inventory, a sales story and a path to replenishment. More choice can help customers. It can also divide a startup's capital and attention before the founder knows what customers will buy twice.
"It is easier to boil a bathtub than to boil the ocean." A founder I respect said that to me, and it is the launch decision in one sentence. A startup has limited heat: limited capital, time, inventory and customer attention. Concentrate it where the company can produce a result it can measure.
Launch with enough choice to learn. No more than you can support.
◆I. What a minimum viable product means in a consumer brand
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the simplest real offering that tests an important business assumption with customers. In consumer packaged goods it must still be safe, reliable and good enough to deliver the promise on its label. "Minimum" describes the size of the experiment, not the quality of the product.
The assumption is usually one question: will customers pay this price for this benefit, and come back for more?
One strong product may answer it. If flavor preference is the critical uncertainty, a small set of flavors in one format may be necessary. The right MVP is the smallest assortment that produces a clear decision. Principle 09 — Find the Kill Assumption™: name the one belief that, if wrong, ends the plan, and build the launch to test it.
◆II. One powder in a white bag
Huel launched in June 2015 with one product, a powdered meal in a plain white bag. The range came later: the Black Edition in December 2019, and over the following years ready-to-drink meals, hot meals, supplements and snacks. Its accounts for the year to 31 July 2025 show revenue of £254 million, up 19 percent, and pre-tax profit of £19.4 million. On 23 March 2026 Danone announced an agreement to buy the company; Danone did not disclose the price, and the financial press reported it at about €1 billion.
Huel's history does not prescribe one SKU for every startup. It is one example of a large proposition tested through a focused first product, with the range added over the following years. This is a strategic reading of Huel's product history, not a claim that SKU discipline alone caused its growth.
◆III. A SKU is a unit of complexity
A new flavor or pack size looks like a small addition on a website. Inside the business it is another inventory position, another demand forecast, another minimum order quantity and another use of working capital. Law VIII — Complexity Must Earn Its Keep™.
In the model I use, a founder has $120,000 for opening inventory. Spread across eight SKUs it is $15,000 each, and when one of the eight sells through the money to replenish it is sitting in the seven that did not. Concentrated in two, $60,000 each, the winner has a reorder's worth of cash behind it and the founder can see which one it is. The right number depends on minimum order quantities, shelf life, margin and lead times; the risk is the same in every case. Slow inventory holds the cash the next production run needs. Trap 02 — The MOQ Trap™, and behind it Trap 10 — The Second Run Trap™: the first run is funded by the founder, and the second run's deposit usually falls due before the first run has paid, so the gap is planned before the first order.
The cost of a SKU is larger than its first manufacturing invoice. It includes the attention required to explain it, sell it, track it and manage it, and the attention is the scarcer of the two.
◆IV. Give the first launch one job
The first launch should produce evidence.
Will the intended customer understand the product? Pay the price? Use it? Buy it again? Can the company make it consistently, deliver it reliably and earn an acceptable margin?
A focused assortment makes the answers easier to see. When one hero product sells through and earns repeat orders, the next investment becomes easier to defend, to a retailer, to a lender and to the founder's own board.
A retailer's opening order matters. What happens after the product reaches consumers matters more: sell-through, reorders, repeat purchase, contribution margin and the cash required to replenish. Law IX — Motion Is Not Progress™. An opening order is motion. A reorder is progress.
◆V. Decide by the question you need answered
| The central question | A reasonable launch design |
|---|---|
| Will customers buy the core proposition at this price? | One hero SKU |
| Which taste makes the proposition most appealing? | A small number of flavors in the same format |
| Which distinct use occasion has demand? | One tightly defined product for each occasion the company can afford to test |
| Does a new size or pack count improve the economics? | Test it after the core product has a performance baseline |
For each proposed SKU, ask five questions:
- What distinct customer need does it serve?
- What will selling it teach us?
- How much cash must we commit before we learn?
- What result earns a reorder?
- What result tells us to stop?
If the founder cannot answer them, the SKU belongs in the roadmap, not in the first production run. Principle 12 — Subtract Before You Add™.
◆VI. Earn the next SKU
Expand when the first assortment gives a reason to invest: demand, repeat behavior appropriate to the channel, reliable production, acceptable contribution margin, and a replenishment cycle the company can finance. Principle 06 — Earn the Next Dollar™.
Then give the next SKU a specific job. It should reach a distinct customer, serve another occasion, improve a retailer's productivity on the shelf, or add profitable purchases without moving demand away from the hero product. A flavor that cannibalizes the hero has added a forecast and an inventory position and no revenue. Trap 08 — The Complexity Trap™.
A new SKU is a capital allocation decision. Treat it as one.
◆VII. What we believe
We believe a startup can hold a broad vision and launch with a narrow assortment.
We believe an MVP must deliver a complete customer promise while testing the fewest critical assumptions possible.
We believe a hero SKU that sells, replenishes and generates cash is worth more than a full product line sitting in a warehouse.
We believe customer behavior should shape the assortment that comes next.
- We launch with enough choice to learn and no more than we can support.
- We name the assumption the launch is testing before we order the packaging.
- We count a SKU as an inventory position, a forecast and a minimum order, not a line on a website.
- We count the second run's deposit before we place the first order.
- We measure the reorder, not the opening order.
- We ask five questions of every proposed SKU and put the ones without answers in the roadmap.
- We give every new SKU a job it cannot do by stealing from the hero.
- We treat the next SKU as a capital decision and defend it like one.
Dr Scott Kimball · 28 September 2026. Public figures from Huel's accounts as reported by The Grocer, Danone's announcement and financial press reports, cited at the end; illustrations marked as illustrations. Start-stage companion to First Batch™.
Sources: Huel Ltd accounts for the year ended 31 July 2025 as reported by The Grocer, "Huel profits race 40% higher ahead of Danone €1bn takeover" (revenue up 19 percent to £254m; pre-tax profit £19.4m); Danone, "Danone to acquire Huel, extending its portfolio in Functional Nutrition," press release, 23 March 2026 (price not disclosed; subject to customary closing conditions); Huel, "About us" (started June 2015); the 2015 powder in white bags, the December 2019 Black Edition and the later ready-to-drink, hot meal, supplement and snack ranges per Huel's public product history (Huel, "About us"; Wikipedia, "Huel," read 28 Sep 2026). Read 28 Sep 2026. The number of flavors in Huel's first launch is not confirmed by a primary source; the body says "one product," which is. The bathtub line is deliberately unattributed. The $120,000 example is an illustration.