Ep 379 | Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar

Written By Yasmin Nouri

How Two Best Friends Quit Their Jobs at 23, Went Viral, Landed a Khloé Kardashian Collab & Got into Whole Foods and Erewhon with Zero Experience

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Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar are the co-founders of Good Girl Snacks, the brand that turned a TikTok obsession into a full-blown business.

These two best friends didn't come from food. They came from corporate. Leah was in marketing at a tech startup, Yas was at an auction house debating whether to go back for her master's. What changed everything was a lot of TikTok scrolling and asking one question: why is everyone obsessed with pickles right now, and why isn't there a brand that actually feels like us? So at 23, they quit their jobs, hired a food scientist, found a manufacturer in the middle of Massachusetts, and started building. Documenting every messy, unfiltered moment along the way on social. By the time they launched in February 2024, they already had a community waiting. They sold out in under three months, closed a pre-seed round in two weeks, had a collab with Khloé Kardashian, and are now on shelves at Erewhon, Whole Foods, and Bristol Farms. All with zero dollars spent on ads.

In this episode, we get into all of it. The leap they took before they were ready, the social media playbook they built from scratch, and the production nightmares that would have made most people quit. But this isn't really a story about pickles. It's about what it actually feels like to bet on yourself when the odds aren't clearly in your favor. Leah and Yas are proof that the founders who win aren't always the most experienced. They're just the ones who refused to stop.

Show Notes:

  • Leaving corporate jobs and feeling the pull toward entrepreneurship. [02:12]

  • How a TikTok pickle trend sparked the idea for Good Girl Snacks. [03:58]

  • Doing the research before quitting their jobs. [06:52]

  • The confidence that comes from building with the right co-founder. [09:10]

  • Taking the leap and launching the business in 2023. [11:20]

  • Building hype on social media months before the product existed. [12:33]

  • Creating a viral content series to grow an audience. [14:30]

  • Why consistency and daily posting built early momentum. [18:19]

  • Finding the first manufacturing partner and navigating production challenges. [19:36]

  • “Cucumber Gate” and the realities of building a food product. [23:06]

  • Turning startup mishaps into viral storytelling content. [26:31]

  • Why resilience and problem-solving matter more than glamour in entrepreneurship. [29:00]

  • Building community through events, activations, and everyday customers. [31:15]

  • How influencer relationships and brand partnerships fueled growth. [32:19]

  • The Khloe Kardashian moment and what celebrity exposure really does for a brand. [34:09]

  • Landing early retail wins with Pop Up Grocer, Erewhon, and Whole Foods. [38:04]

  • Raising their first investment round after proving product-market fit. [40:00]

  • The long-term vision for Good Girl Snacks beyond pickles. [42:23]

  • Lessons about entrepreneurship they learned the hard way. [43:23]The sacrifices founders make that people rarely see. [44:20]

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Ep 378 | Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton