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Communication is Key to Connecting with Consumers and Investors
- Georgina Thomas
- Jul 3
- 7 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
The Sustainable Times RISE Awards are fast approaching, celebrating groundbreaking innovation in sustainability. Ahead of the event, we gained invaluable insights from Veena Giridhar Gopal, a member of our judging panel for consumer goods categories, including healthcare and foodtech startups. Giridhar Gopal, who advises startups through her independent consultancy Global Sextant, believes that effective communication – to consumers, partners and investors – is essential to success in a burgeoning sustainable landscape. Her perspective is essential reading for both budding entrepreneurs seeking recognition and potential investors looking for the next impactful venture.
Having previously held senior roles at global food and drinks powerhouses such as Diageo and PepsiCo, Giridhar Gopal brings deep and wide-ranging industry experience across the consumer goods sector. This background provides her with a unique perspective on both established market dynamics and the potential for disruptive sustainable innovation.
A holistic view
Giridhar Gopal says startups need to develop and demonstrate a holistic view of the sustainability challenge they are seeking to address, regarding it as central to market sizing and effective communication. While startups often assess market opportunity by the sheer scale of an environmental problem, this is not a reliable guide to the growth potential of an individual firm, no matter how compelling its solution.
Startups often overestimate market opportunity by failing to account for the significant costs and effort required to change consumer behaviour. This oversight, she warns, can lead to businesses "losing funding, losing credibility, and then getting stuck”.
Another crucial element often overlooked is clear communication to consumers. Giridhar Gopal points to the widespread confusion surrounding packaging recycling and plastic alternatives, where consumers frequently lack guidance.
"What's missing is actually telling consumers how to treat that end packaging," she explains, leaving them questioning whether it should be "chucked in the bin, stuck into a recycling bag, or home composted". This lack of clarity, she warns, can lead to high contamination rates in recycling, undermining the very purpose of sustainable packaging and, ultimately, the viability of startups seeking to provide solutions.
For Giridhar Gopal, the balance between impact and commercial sustainability hinges on how well a startup has considered the entire customer journey, including post-purchase behaviour and associated costs. A strong understanding of how consumers will actually use and dispose of a product, along with the costs associated with educating them, is crucial for investor confidence. "If you don't have a holistic perspective about how it is going to be used by the consumer, you're not going to have a full idea of costs of the business," she cautions.
Investors, she notes, are looking for a clear understanding of costs, revenue, and burn rate, all of which are significantly impacted by how effectively a product is used and understood by the consumer.
Opportunities for innovation
Beyond packaging, Giridhar Gopal identifies seasonal produce as another area ripe for innovation and consumer education. Many consumers lack awareness of what's truly seasonal in their region or the carbon footprint associated with imported produce, even if it's 'in season' elsewhere.
She believes retail startups have a significant role to play in educating consumers at the point of purchase. "If you go into a store, you still have fruits and vegetables from different parts of the world. Firms need to get people to understand the trade-offs they are making at the point of purchase." While large retailers may not prioritise this due to cost advantages, startups can leverage transparency as a competitive edge, building a brand identity around genuine sustainability.
Giridhar Gopal acknowledges that while sustainability is an increasingly important topic, consumers are not always willing to pay a significant premium for eco-friendly products. However, she notes they are often open to paying a "reasonable premium”. This highlights a key challenge and opportunity for startups: to offer sustainable solutions that are both impactful and affordable, thus making it easier for consumers to make environmentally conscious choices.
Partners and investors
Giridhar Gopal's recurring advice to startups revolves around communication, not just to consumers but also investors and collaborators.
She highlights a common challenge: effectively engaging with larger corporations. Startups have often focused solely on reaching the 'decision-maker', typically a c-suite executive. However, Giridhar Gopal advises finding an internal "champion" within the larger business – someone genuinely passionate about the product who will advocate for it internally, alongside the key decision-maker.
Meanwhile, investors need to see that a startup has a grounded understanding of consumer behaviour, associated costs, and a clear plan for making their sustainable solution genuinely impactful and adopted at scale. This forms the bedrock of robust due diligence for their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims.
In terms of articulating their value proposition to investors, VeenaGiridhar Gopal believes that sustainability should be viewed as a business growth driver. Instead of seeing it as a separate concern, startups should integrate sustainability into their core business model. As she explains, "These days if you're not sustainable, famines, droughts, floods, all of these things can affect you. It impacts every single thing that we do on a day-to-day basis."
Startups leading the way
For startups, unlike larger, established companies, incorporating sustainability is not a luxury but a fundamental part of their business, considering their entire ecosystem from suppliers to customers.
Giridhar Gopal offers compelling examples of businesses doing just that:
Foreva Farmers: This innovative mixer brand, based in Herefordshire, is a prime example of a startup embedding sustainability into its entire production process. As a family farm that has diversified into a green energy hub over the past two decades, Foreva Farmers generates 100% renewable energy from solar panels and anaerobic digestion. This clean energy is then used to produce and carbonate its tonic waters and mixers directly on the farm. The firm’s commitment extends to using farm-grown ingredients, natural botanicals, and fully recyclable aluminium cans, ensuring every drink is carbon-neutral. Giridhar Gopal ’s advice to them centred on clearly communicating "the difference between their mixer and other mixers," highlighting their unique, vertically integrated sustainable approach. This focus on local production and renewable energy sets them apart in the beverage market.
Notpla: This London-based startup is making significant strides in the packaging space by creating innovative, naturally biodegradable and home-compostable materials from seaweed and plants - some of which disappear entirely after use. Its flagship product, Ooho, is used to contain liquids, replacing single-use plastic sachets at events like the London Marathon. Notpla also develops seaweed-coated takeaway boxes, a solution now adopted by major partners like Just Eat across Europe. What sets Notpla apart is their mission to make packaging "disappear" and their commitment to genuinely plastic-free alternatives, even earning recognition from the Dutch government for their materials.
Notpla's pioneering work was globally recognised when they won The Earthshot Prize in 2022 in the ‘Build a Waste-Free World’ category. This prestigious award, founded by Prince William, celebrates and scales innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges. The win underscored the critical need for Notpla’s solutions and provided a significant boost to their mission to replace single-use plastics. The Earthshot Prize, with its five categories supporting environmental solutions, showcases companies like Notpla that are not only financially viable but also offer tangible, scalable ways to protect our planet. Notpla works collaboratively with brands, often with their sustainability teams, to co-develop tailored packaging solutions, addressing the growing pressure from consumers and policy changes to move away from plastic.
Giridhar Gopal also highlighted Suri, an electric toothbrush company launched in 2022, as another stellar example of a business excelling in sustainability, communication, and facilitating sustainable practices. Suri offers an aluminium electric toothbrush that is both repairable and fully recyclable. Crucially, its plant-based plastic toothbrush heads are compostable or recyclable directly by Suri, as they include a postage-paid envelope for returns with every order. "They tick a lot of boxes," Giridhar Gopal observed, praising its subscription revenue model, significant market potential, excellent communication, and a well-thought-out sales strategy. Suri's commitment to materials science, their B Corp certification, and partnership with ClimatePartner for carbon neutrality underscore their holistic approach to sustainable oral care.
These examples demonstrate how integrating sustainability into the core product and then effectively communicating that value proposition can attract both customers and investors.
Calling all Foodtech and Healthcare Startups!
Giridhar Gopal's insights offer a clear roadmap for startups looking to make a real impact, attract investment and win her support as a judge in the Sustainable Times RISE Awards.
Her comments point towards business models that prioritise transparency, localised sourcing, and closed-loop systems, along with technologies that enable more effective and affordable sustainable solutions. Her consistent focus on communication underscores the critical need for innovations that can bridge the gap between sustainable solutions and widespread consumer understanding and behaviour.
The Sustainable Times RISE Awards are designed to celebrate ventures that are not only innovative but also demonstrate a clear path to commercial viability and widespread adoption.
For Foodtech Startups: Are you revolutionising how we produce, distribute, or consume food? We're looking for innovations in areas such as:
Alternative Proteins: Plant-based, cultivated, or precision fermentation-derived proteins that reduce reliance on traditional livestock.
Sustainable Packaging: Novel, biodegradable, or compostable solutions for food and beverage products, like those from Notpla, that educate consumers on proper disposal.
Waste Reduction & Upcycling: Technologies and business models that minimise food waste throughout the supply chain or transform by-products into valuable resources.
Localised & Seasonal Food Systems: Digital platforms or retail models that connect consumers with locally sourced, seasonal produce and clearly communicate its environmental benefits.
Sustainable Agriculture Technology: Solutions that improve soil health, reduce resource use (water, fertilisers), or enhance biodiversity in food production.
For Healthcare Startups: Are you reimagining healthcare delivery and products with a focus on environmental and social responsibility? We're keen to see entries in areas like:
Sustainable Medical Devices & Consumables: Innovations that reduce waste, are repairable, recyclable, or made from sustainable materials, much like Suri's approach to oral care.
Waste Management in Healthcare: Solutions for reducing, reusing, and responsibly disposing of medical waste, from pharmaceuticals to single-use plastics in clinics and hospitals.
Green Healthcare Infrastructure: Technologies that improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, or promote sustainable building practices in healthcare facilities.
Circular Economy Solutions in Healthcare: Business models that promote the longevity, reusability, or recycling of medical equipment and products.
Digital Health for Sustainability: Telemedicine platforms, AI-driven diagnostics, or remote monitoring systems that reduce travel, resource consumption, or improve preventative care, thereby lessening the healthcare sector's environmental footprint.
If your startup is addressing a critical sustainability problem with a well-thought-out solution and a strong communication strategy, we encourage you to enter the RISE Awards. This is your opportunity to gain recognition, attract investment, and join a community of pioneers shaping a more sustainable future.
See the event below:
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