This is the full transcript for Episode #350 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Emma Weinberg – Buttah. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Emma Weinberg 0:00
And I used to just cry at the top of the mountain and just say My
Max Branstetter 0:20
hands are cold. Hello. I’m sorry. Welcome back to Wild Business Growth. This is the eighth annual Thanksgiving family, family business special, always one of my favorite episodes of the year. I’m Max Branstetter of MaxPodcasting. And this is also episode 350 today’s family guest is Emma Weinberg née Gottdiener, Co-Founder of Buttah, which just launched this month at the time of this recording, and is a beautiful brand of loungewear and beyond that is soft served daily. Emma is also my wife, Dana’s cousin. She was our maid of honor, and she has lots of nicknames. And in this special episode, we talk all the smooth and learnings with butter so far, and, of course, all the heartwarming and embarrassing and funny, and I don’t even know what stories from Emmy’s background, Emmy’s family and more. It is Em. Emjoyyyyyyy the shoooooow!
Max Branstetter 1:34
Aaaalrightyyyyyyyy we are here for a very, very, very special eighth annual Thanksgiving. Family, family business edition of Wild Business Growth. And right off the bat, sorry to all the UK listeners, viewers for this one, because there’s going to be a lot of you know Thanksgiving theme and Thanksgiving and we’ll do like a boxing day one separately, or guy Fox day, whatever that’s called. Anyway. Emma Weinberg, formerly known as Emma Gottdiener, who this could be a very, very long intro, but we’ll just keep it to Co-Founder of Buttah super cool clothing brand. I’m actually wearing the everyday cotton thong for this interview, and also my wife Dana’s cousin and our maid of honor. So Emma Emmy emulation, whatever Adam calls you. Thank you so much for joining. How you
Emma Weinberg 2:25
doing today? I am good. I’m so excited to be here.
Max Branstetter 2:29
Yeah, of course, you survived that part, so that bodes well for the rest of it. But oh god, we were talking a little bit beforehand. It’s pretty cool. Like this is always one of my favorite episodes to do every year. Always doing around Thanksgiving time. And for the UK listeners, Thanksgiving, no, I’m just going, No, oh my God. You know sometimes it’s like, there are some obvious ones, really, really early on of like, of course, like, I got to interview my parents, I got to interview my brother. Got interviewed Dana right after the wedding. Like, that was amazing. Not often does someone in the family launch a business, literally, like, November, you timed it up perfectly with butter. I know that’s why you you timed it up this way, but before butter, I didn’t prepare you for this. Can you start us off by sharing the beautiful story of how you and your husband, Ben, Benny, as we lovingly call him math, because it is like the most adorable story.
Emma Weinberg 3:19
Oh goodness. Now you did not prepare me for that, but funny that you’re asking me today and that we’re recording today because it is our nine year anniversary. Though, Ben thought that once we got married, cheers. Thinks that once we got married, the nine years go out the window, but until we hit 10, I’m still counting this one. But no, we met. Ben was road tripping through the US. He was with a bunch of friends. One of those friends is actually a distant cousin of mine, who I didn’t really grow up knowing very well, just because of how distant we were. And they live in London, I obviously live in the US. This cousin reached out to me and said, You know, I really want to see what a classic American college is like. I was studying at the University of Michigan, and he said, Can my friends and I come and crash with you? And I was like, Yeah, sure, cousin, I’ve met twice. Cousin and friends show up to Michigan and Ben being one of the friends. We really hit it off, right off the bat. And, like I said, nine years later, still together. So it was kind of one of those crazy, wild, funny things.
Max Branstetter 4:26
Well, you are well prepared for this, because you use the word wild already, but
Emma Weinberg 4:30
oh my god, obviously, yeah, obvious.
Max Branstetter 4:34
It’s a very heartwarming story, and it’s incredible that Ben had planned it out that well, that he knew, like, go to America, find my wife. Like it was that it was step one, step two, and and you’re the lucky victim, but literally, how quickly on that trip, like, was there, like, a an early conversation or like, interaction with him that you had that you’re like, oh my god, there’s something about this guy. He’s stunning.
Emma Weinberg 4:59
No, I honestly. Think it was just the accent. I was so so swept by the accent. It was nothing else. No, we we just really hit it off, and we were super connected. And it was kind of a joke. It was like, wow, we are soul mates, and I will never see you again. You live in another country. I’m in college. I have no interest in finding a boyfriend. He probably wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, and we just thought, hahaha, see you never, but you know, you never know. I don’t think it was any one specific moment. It was just like, hey, they say love at first sight can really be a thing. I don’t know if you ask him, he’d say it definitely wasn’t, but I know he’s lying.
Max Branstetter 5:41
Well, a little birdie told me that he he sent some flowers overseas, and he did something, you know, he wasn’t innocent. Oh, my
Emma Weinberg 5:47
God, you wanted that version of this. Oh no. Oh well, let me, let me give you a little taster. So yeah, we met. We thought we would never see each other again. And then off he won. He went off on his travels across the US. They went up into Canada, and then a week later, roses showed up at my door with London’s calling xx, ironic, because I now live in London, spoiler for the future. And then a week after that, he showed up back at my door. And that’s the final ending to the story, nine years later, together ever since,
Max Branstetter 6:17
well before we move on from the love story, that’s now, like, winning Oscars and Emmy Oh, Emmys. There we go, our first Emmy of the day. What do you if you could, like, go back in time to that moment? Like, how do you think your college self would react if you would know that? Like, oh my god. Like, I’m gonna, like, marry this guy and, like, move to London with him, and then, you know, we’re gonna move to the US and, like, whatever happens next chapter. But like, how would you react to that?
Emma Weinberg 6:46
Yeah, I think if you told me that back then I probably would have laughed, because there’s just no way that you could have planned or even imagined this type of journey, like you said after. I mean, I was in college, I then moved to New York. He came out to live in New York for a little bit. Little bit. I then moved to London through a pandemic, us moving back. I mean, there have been so many twists and turns, not only in our relationship, but just like where life has taken the two of us. And I truly, truly, truly think you could not have written it or scripted it. And you know, a lot of things I do believe are meant to be, and somewhere in this universe, Ben and I were definitely meant to be, but I would not have believed that. Then I didn’t. I didn’t believe in things like that. Then I just was a dumb college kid who would have laughed in your face.
Max Branstetter 7:36
Well, speaking of proper names that start with B, let’s get to butter. Oh yeah. And speaking of London as well, so website, butter london.com, that’s B, U, T, T, A, H, butter. Really, really cool and smooth, like butter, some would say, but this is like a brand new hot spanking off the press business, which is really, really cool, because I feel like a lot of the entrepreneurs I talked to on the show. You know, some are, like, early stage, first couple years, and some have had a business for, like, decades and decades. It’s really cool to talk to somebody. Well, I mean, anybody in general, like, nothing you know special about you in particular, but also family, who, like, just launch a business and can give us, like, insights from like, kind of what’s going through your mind at this moment, like, literally weeks after launching at the time, launching, at the time of this recording. So first of all, congrats, you made it. You made it to
Emma Weinberg 8:27
launch. Oh my god, did we ever
Max Branstetter 8:30
so I’m sure there’s a little bit of relief in all sorts of amazing ups and downs emotions. But for anybody who’s not familiar with like, can you give us the insight the nugget from the nugget, as they used to call you, as why, like, how did butter come across about in the first place for you?
Emma Weinberg 8:48
So I was working, I work in Marketing, and I was working at an agency in digital marketing. So we took brands on, we ran their social strategies, and I was sitting there one day with my, what I would affectionately call her my work wife, who is now my co founder. Shout out, Lou. Shout out, Lou. And through the years of working together, you know, we became really good friends. So we would sit there during the day and talk about many things, not only to do with work. And one of those things was, well, what are you wearing? What are you buying? What’s going on? You know, we’re very similar in that way, and we just couldn’t find a single loungewear brand that we felt like represented us. We wanted something that was fun and bold and colorful, but also, like, cute and comfortable and well priced. And it felt like everything on the market was just either, like, really boring and basic or extortionate or really sexual, and we just felt like, where is this world in between? Where is like the super soft, cozy, casual wear that you can just throw on every day? So it kind of came out of that need and that gap, but also just the really fun idea. Idea of like, wow, we could kind of build something ourselves. You know, I’m in a family of entrepreneurs with you, Max and my uncle and my both my grandfather’s were and why not try, right?
Max Branstetter 10:14
Yeah, exactly. And I’m so sorry at that, if there’s any sort of inspiration you’re finding for me that please shut the business now. No, no, I appreciate the shout out. And like, as you know, I grew up the same way, like being in a family of entrepreneurs is just like, super inspiring, and it’s fun to it’s fun to like to learn and and put into action. Like there’s more possibilities out there than kind of just stay in the corporate path, or whatever the more traditional status quo is. So it’s a great kind of thought exercise, and can turn into something. So that’s really cool. Shout out, Lou for a second. What was it about Lou that you’re like, we’re not only friends and work wives, but like, this is someone who I think, like we could work really well as business partners one day.
Emma Weinberg 10:56
The fact that we worked together already was so helpful, because we knew that we worked well and we had similar work ethics and styles, but also we are complete opposites in terms of, like, our strengths, and I think that’s so important when you take on a business partner in that way. Lou is totally the creative vision behind everything butter. I mean, she really like lives and breathes it and embodies it. And I do not have a creative bone in my body. In that regard.
Max Branstetter 11:24
You take that back many Thank you.
Emma Weinberg 11:28
But where I lack in that part, I am a little bit stronger in terms of, like, the business operations and finance and that strategic angle to it. So it was also really helpful to know, like, we can balance each other and we can complement each other, and we both had the same goal. But I do think the fact that we work together was, like, really the number one thing we knew we would work well together already, and we just had this vision, and we just, you know, really wanted to get it going.
Max Branstetter 11:55
That’s an incredible opportunity that you guys got to work together. Did you meet each other if you work in the first place?
Emma Weinberg 12:00
Yeah, we, we didn’t know each other. I joined her company, noise media, her husband and his co founder are, you know, the leaders there. And it was amazing time. I worked there for three years, ins and outs of digital So, paid advertising, influencer, organic social media, you name it. We touched it, and it was great. Lou, it also comes from an events background. I came from events prior to that. So again, when I talk about that work ethic, you will never meet somebody who works harder than somebody who works in events. And, you know, we just hit it off immediately. And we’re so lucky to have found each other, especially so much later in life. I mean, I’m not saying like old, you don’t, you don’t, you don’t. Tend to think that you can find such like close, true friends through work. But we really were lucky in that regard.
Max Branstetter 12:51
I’m exhausted just you saying the word events, like I got exhausted hearing that it’s more power to you if you’re if you’re working in the event space. You mentioned the creativity and and how you’re the brains behind all the creative. No, but you mentioned, like, I mean, if you check out your website and check out any of your designs and like, the first what do you call it, like, the first launch or the first drop? Yeah, they’re beautiful. And they’re like, they have such, like, a fun and smooth vibe to it. And I’m always fascinated, like, what goes into the actual design and like appearance of well, one, a brand overall, but two, the actual like, if it’s clothing with the actual materials. So can you take us through, like, the creative side of that?
Emma Weinberg 13:34
For us, we come from a marketing background. We don’t necessarily come from a fashion or garment expertise background. So we knew that we had the vision we had, you know, basically a Pinterest board and a lot of notes and a lot of like, crazy scrambled ideas in our head that we wanted to bring to life. We were really lucky to be, you know, connected through friends of, friends of, you know, whatnot, to a team of designers who we started working with, we felt like, you know, ultimately, we could do some sketches and we could send them out and try to get a manufacturer to do it. A lot of people also will what’s called white labeling. So they’ll take garments that already exist and just put their tags in them. It’s not what we wanted. We really had this, like, specific goal of what we wanted to bring to life. So we started working with this design team, you know, big collaboration between the two in terms of where we wanted to be from a price point perspective, which then informed the fabrics that we were going for, knowing it had to be like, super soft, super stretchy, all the comfortable things that you would associate with, soft as butter. And yeah, we started from there. So it’s like 30 iterations of a sketch gets turned into a tech pack, which goes out to a factory. The factory sends you back fabric samples, and then you kind of go back and forth. We’ve been out now to Turkey twice, where we manufacture. So we’ve gotten to meet with the teams, meet with. With merchandisers out there and different factories to find, like, truly our right fit. But yeah, the design process and this whole fashion area is, like, completely new to both of us, so we’ve been really lucky to have some advisors along the way, kind of helping guide us in the journey.
Max Branstetter 15:19
I joked at the start that you launched the business to time it up so you could be on this podcast. But now you’re thrown around the country Turkey, and you’re thrown around a lot, which is a lot of Thanksgiving ties. So I’m even more suspicious now
Emma Weinberg 15:32
Max, I did this for you.
Max Branstetter 15:35
I appreciate a personal business. You know, I’d be asking, like, Dana, like, earlier this year, like, oh, like, you know, how’s everything going with Emmy in the business? And she’d be like, like, seems great. Like, they’re in Turkey right now, like, working with, like, a plant and like, Oh my God. Like, that’s awesome. That’s so cool. Can you tell us, like, what were those Turkey trips? Like, like, how do you I wouldn’t have no idea where to start. Like, plant, like, that
Emma Weinberg 16:00
overwhelming, I think, is the number one word I would use to describe this past experience, but in a really good way. And I can’t even tell you how much I’ve learned, but as I was saying before, we were really lucky to be connected with a couple of advisors who, after showing them the brand vision of what we wanted to do, have been really, really generous with their time and their contacts. And so one of these advisors said, I’ve got a team that I used to work with back in Turkey. I think you’d love them. I think they’d love you. Let’s see what happens. So we booked a flight. And when I say booked a flight, I mean we booked it three days before we flew out to meet these people, sight unseen with basically no communication beforehand. My parents will really hate this story, but we we had a late flight, because that’s what we could afford on the day before the before the meetings, and Lou and I landed around midnight one, we were meeting our advisor out there. So just to be clear, our parents knew we were going, but we were meeting our advisor out there. He was going much earlier, and I texted him earlier in the day to say, we’ll meet you at the hotel. Hope your travel has been great. And I didn’t hear back from him, but I figured time difference phone connectivity issue internationally. I’ll hear from him, sure. So we land at midnight. Check my phone, still no text from our advisor, and I’m thinking, have we just flown into Istanbul at midnight alone, which we practically did. So we get off the plane, we get into a cab, we make it to the hotel at, I don’t know, 130 in the morning. Again, we still do not know if this advisor is in the country, let alone like where we are. So we walk into this hotel, and for anybody who hasn’t been to Turkey, it is beautiful country, and there is so much to be seen, and the hospitality culture is truly incredible, but we didn’t know that going in. So there’s also, you know, some security issues, some might say. And we pull up to the hotel, the security guard comes out, and he starts sweeping the car, walking around it with a magnet. And we ask the cab driver what’s going on. Oh, don’t worry. He’s just checking for bombs. It’s 130 in the morning. We’re here alone, and he’s checking the car for box we are flipping. Finally, get out of the car. Run into the hotel, beautiful hotel. Run into the hotel, and the guy at the front desk says, Welcome Emma and Lou. Your advisor will meet you at the breakfast table at 830 in the morning tomorrow. Hope your travels were okay. The relief I had in that moment, I cannot even tell you. So our trips back to Turkey since have been a lot smoother. Let me say, like butter, like butter, but it’s it’s been amazing. I mean, having a team out there and knowing that, you know, we can get on a flight whenever we need to. We can speak to them. They can ship things back to London pretty quickly. It’s crazy, but I just think it’s one of one of the best parts about this part of the world, and working in this industry, is having access to the people that you work with so closely, and your suppliers. And it’s been really a game changer for us,
Max Branstetter 19:21
the hoops that you have to go through, the scares you have to start a business,
Emma Weinberg 19:25
yeah, for sure. Like I said, my parents won’t enjoy that story. Well, shout
Max Branstetter 19:29
out, Karen and Scott. Thank you for tuning in so that, I mean, that’s a huge part that’s like, a huge piece of the puzzle, obviously, is the manufacturing I guess. How many like iterations, would you say, or like production runs? Did it take for you to be like, here, we’re really happy with this, like, we’re ready to launch with us.
Emma Weinberg 19:47
I think it took us probably six or seven for the lingerie pieces, like a piece of lingerie, a bralette. Not that I think you’re so familiar with this space, but let me just tell you about it, unless you’re wearing. One right now, I’ve
Max Branstetter 20:00
already revealed too much of what I want.
Emma Weinberg 20:04
So the lingerie space for women is a really, really important one to get right from a fit perspective. So that one probably took us the longest, that soft bralette, it’s like the best piece. I can’t even tell you how proud I am of that the comforts next level, but the pajamas in the lounge, probably three to four. Some of them four to five. The robe again, four to five. You just want to make sure it’s right, although I will say one of the like mottos that I do try to live by, as cheesy as it is, is don’t let perfection be the enemy of good. I think it’s so important to just prioritize progress and get out there, even though it might not be exactly what you wanted. Just keep going and having that type of momentum and to keep moving forward, I think, has been a really, really important element of this whole process for us.
Max Branstetter 21:02
Yeah, and it’s, like, your first drop, like, it’s amazing. You guys should be so proud. And it looks great, it feels great. I can tell you from experience. And I think, like, you guys have have, like, a really, like, strong looking brand out the gate. So it’s, it’s really, really exciting that you know, everything that you’re launching with was speaking of the So you mentioned that, like, you know, there’s the bralette or bralette, I don’t know if I even said that, right, there’s that. There’s, like, the undergarments, we’ll call them. There’s the pajamas. You even have, like, some really fun accessories, like a phone case, a butter candle, like, really, really cool stuff on your site. How did you decide, like, what SKUs or offerings to launch this initial time with? It’s a
Emma Weinberg 21:43
really good question. We wanted to test everything. Basically, when we first started thinking of butter itself, like I said earlier, it really was that nothing felt representative of us in terms of like, the fun, the bold, the playful. But we just didn’t really know what that meant in terms of actually bringing it to life. So we assumed we would start with just three styles. We thought we would start with the bralette and the two undergarments.
Max Branstetter 22:05
So it is bralette. So I said it right one of the takes, maybe edit out the other one, Max.
Emma Weinberg 22:11
Yeah, we were going to start with the three styles. But ultimately, if those three styles don’t sell, you don’t really have another offering for anybody else, and truly, we want to show up as a real brand. So for us, it was important that we kind of had enough of a spread so that we could see what types of styles really resonated with our customers, and what they were coming back for, and what they were looking for, and then from there, I think you take all of those learnings and you then move them forward, but we also wanted the collection to still feel cohesive. So obviously, it’s bright, it’s colorful, there’s yellows and pinks and reds and greens, but as like, a brand story and a vision for this first drop, we still wanted it to, like, come together as a whole. Yeah, we just we felt like we needed the breath in terms of skews, which is why we have that wide piece across the board.
Max Branstetter 23:03
Good work. Breadth. You don’t hear that as much. That’s, I can’t even say it. There’s so many consonants. So speaking of the launch, I will say You’re like an expert already at like teasing and launching. Because how far in advance of the launch. Did you start the Instagram?
Emma Weinberg 23:22
We started the Instagram probably three months before. We have been talking about this for about a year. It’s taken us about a year to get from initial conversations to goods on a website that you could actually buy. But yeah, no, we wanted to have a little bit of a social presence, I think, coming from a marketing background, it’s such a double edged sword, like you know exactly, in theory, what you should be doing. But at the end of the day, there’s only two of us, and we have limited time and limited resources. We both work full time while we’re doing this as well. So we yeah, we just wanted to make sure that we started to, like, get the vision out there, even if we didn’t have the products to show and get people excited and on board. You know, we started building an email subscriber list. I’m sure you could tell me a lot about that and how important it is, like, build that community and all of these different places. So, yeah, three to four months for us was kind of the sweet spot.
Max Branstetter 24:21
Yeah, well, I love how you, like you did the true, like, tease approach of like you, I mean, you mentioned, like, Pinterest and vision boards beforehand, but you kind of the vibes of the brand that you’re trying to get, like the look and feel the brand, and like who you’re going after, or who you’re inspired by. Like you can see in each one of your posts, like how well that fits with that. And so like, the fact you guys started doing that months before, all it does is just create more and more anticipation. And here we are now. And like, you guys just launched, and it’s like, obviously we have the family tie. So like, I, you know, be a big supporter of the business anyway. But like, if I was somebody random coming across the business on Instagram and when, like, was following you guys, like, it would make it. That much more rewarding to like, finally see that launch and like, like, you’ve built up so much curiosity. Like, oh, what are these parts gonna look like? You know, especially at the bralettes, if you can pronounce them rightly, rightly. I don’t even know if there’s a word, but rightly so. Oh, thanks, Max, yeah, no problem. The other aspects of the so, like, you had the social presence, but how else did you think through the launch and like, actually getting the word out so smoothly?
Emma Weinberg 25:26
We really wanted to make sure that, from a social media perspective, we were we were there, we were showing up, we had the vision in place, and people knew what was coming. So that’s why we did all of that teasing. I talked a little bit about the email marketing perspective. We also ran a couple of ads from a color testing perspective. So a lot of people had said to us, you should definitely launch with the red or you should definitely launch with a blue collection or whatever. And we said, I don’t really know what’s my gut reaction. So we actually tested that. We ran a bunch of ads with the exact same creative just in three different colors, and we found out that we ended up getting 10% higher email signups for people who wanted to be a part of the first drop and hear from us when we when we did go live on the yellow. So that’s kind of how our yellow bralette came to be, for example. But for us, it was also just about like having these moments that we could talk about and plan for. So we did this launch day at its bagels, which is an iconic bagel brand here in London. We did a collab with them so that on the day that we actually went live, you could come in store to their iconic Notting Hill location. We had all of our garments there for people to see. We were giving away free bagels. Everything was branded. And it was a really fun moment to like, connect with people in real life, because ultimately, we are building this thing in a silo, and it’s so wild to think that this has been between Lou and I, and, you know, our partners for the last year, and then ultimately online. So even still, you’re not getting that, like, tangible connection. And we felt like while the social media marketing is super important, the email marketing is super important, that online piece, especially for like, a physical good a physical garment, was also just as important. So that was one of the things that we, you know, started talking about a lot on social media, sending out those email links, sending out those ads to make sure that people knew that it was coming and, you know, could be there on the day. We ended up having an amazing turnout that day. So we’re really grateful. It’s been like the craziest, wildest experience. And you know, I’ve loved it so far,
Max Branstetter 27:41
that’s awesome. You can, you can hear the passion for in your voice, and it’s so cool to see like, and I think at the time of this recording, you guys just posted a Tiktok where you it’s like you’re sharing, like, UGC, like, you’re sharing, like, people wearing your product. And like, how does that make you feel to like, see this thing that you guys created, and it’s like people are actually like, wearing and enjoying it. Now, honestly,
Emma Weinberg 28:02
this is gonna sound so is gonna sound so cliche, but it is really surreal,
Max Branstetter 28:06
really surreal, not just surreal,
Emma Weinberg 28:08
not just surreal. It’s it is so crazy to me that something that I sketched, and when I say sketch, I mean I also drew it on my iPhone Notes app, using the Annotate piece, something that went from that to what people are wearing is it’s really heartwarming, it’s really exciting, and it doesn’t feel real quite yet. I’m imagining that as this goes on, it will start to settle and sink in. But like you said, we are only about two weeks out from that initial first drop. So the fact that we have so many people already wearing it and loving it and sharing it is the best feeling I’ve ever experienced so far.
Max Branstetter 28:53
Well, congrats on everything like truly an amazing launch, and the world is wondering, Emma, obviously, for the near term, like you guys are going to enjoy and promote like this first drop, but without giving you know too many insider details, do you guys have any like, Have you guys had talks about kind of what future drops, or like future approaches will look like for butter?
Emma Weinberg 29:16
Yes, definitely. I think that’s one of the wildest things about this.
Max Branstetter 29:20
Now you can’t stop saying that word, yeah, oh, my God, no,
Emma Weinberg 29:23
don’t tell me that. I think something that I didn’t appreciate beforehand about this industry is how far ahead you have to plan. So we have our second collection done, designed, sampled in production already that is coming out for Valentine’s Day. It is super cute. It has some of our best sellers from this collection in new colorways and then a few new styles as well. We’re already planning for spring. We have spring and summer fully designed, and we’re sampling for those drops as well. The goal. Goal with this kind of thing is that you start and you never stop, and so we’re just really like trying to ride the wave and the momentum as much as possible. And I feel like that’s kind of any business. But with fashion, it’s so future looking that you don’t really have a choice. It’s either that or you get left behind.
Max Branstetter 30:22
Well, you said it yourself riding the wave, and that’s kind of what people do skiing. And you can tell I’m not a big skier, so I want to switch it up. And you know, this segment is kind of about inspiration and creativity. Typically, it’s just really cool to, like, learn more about like, what like, what fuels the founders and like, what even outside of work, like, how you get energy, how you stay creative? As you said, you’re the creative part of you know you’re you’re all the creativity for butter, but skiing, as I learned very quickly after meeting and starting to date Dana, skiing is like a huge part of the got diner family. You guys shout out Steven Phyllis, like you guys had so many amazing memories growing up in Stratton and going up to Vermont, doing the holidays there, and doing frequent ski trips there. Can you just share a little bit about like, what the what those memories like mean to you? I’m not trying to make you cry, but what those memories like mean to you and like kind of the place that holds in your heart?
Emma Weinberg 31:17
Yeah, of course, although hard to talk about without crying. Geez, Max.
Max Branstetter 31:21
You’re allowed to, you know, we’re explicit so you can
Emma Weinberg 31:25
shed a tear. No. I mean, those are, those are the best memories ever. And I, I feel like we as a family probably don’t even talk about it enough about how grateful we are that we got to do that. It made us as a family, such a close unit. We used to go up to Vermont all the time when we were younger. Obviously, Dana and her family were in Jersey. We were in New York, and so, you know, a couple hours later, we were all together in our grandparents house. It was weekends, holidays, early, very early mornings on the mountain. I have to say, we’re not an early morning family. But if you tell us that Steve gottinger is going to be out on the mountain in the freezing cold at 8am we will be there. Yeah, I think it’s one of those things that when you grow up with it, you just kind of get up and go. And it was really the best kind of way to spend a childhood and to have that time with your family to really bond. But also, skiing is so hard, and I’m so grateful I learned as a kid, because as an adult learning Max, would you like to tell us about that experience?
Max Branstetter 32:30
I gotta take a bathroom break. No. Funny, funny, funny you mentioned so like so I had skied once before meeting Dana, and now I’ve skied four, five times, maybe four times. And I will say Not that I’m a good skier, but those first few times, like, as an adult, picking it back up, I like, improved, like a difficult level, difficulty level each time. And by that I mean going from like the bunny slope to like the beginner. I still don’t know what all the symbols are. It’s color coded. Yeah, I don’t remember what shape is, which color and all that, but shout out Steve and Dana. Like, literally, like, taught me, like, the proper way to ski. And as you mentioned, it’s like, much harder to learn as an adult than, like, a little kid. And you just, you know, you’re out the whim on skis. Basically, once you learned it is, like, so much fun. It’s just like it is. It’s a lot of work as an adult, but there’s something about just like, the being in, like, a cozy, but, like, I mean, beautiful, I won’t even say cozy, but I guess cozy, but big, beautiful home in Vermont in, like, the winter, like around the holidays, like there’s something so, like, picturesque about then it’s so cool that you guys had the, you know, like any childhood memory you have nostalgia for, but that is like, how could it be more nostalgic than that?
Emma Weinberg 33:45
Totally, it’s in my memory. It’s a Hallmark movie kind of setting, and it is cliche, but it was truly the best thing ever as a kid to be able to walk into that house, have my entire family under one roof, get to spend so much time together, and then, like, go out playing in the snow. I mean, come on, what kid wouldn’t want that?
Max Branstetter 34:05
Apparently, you because there’s stories about this is just gonna be for video. But what was the hand thing that you would do when your hands would
Emma Weinberg 34:11
get cold? Okay, let me preface thank you for putting me on blast that, yes, I get cold very quickly. That is my mother’s fault, but my father’s fault was teaching me that when you get cold and you don’t have any blood in your hands, you’re supposed to shake your arms really hard to get the blood flowing. So as a little kid, when I would get really cold, I didn’t realize that you had to, kind of like, Shake your arms with vigor. And I used to just cry at the top of the mountain and just say, my hands are cold, and yes, Dana’s dad, my uncle, absolutely tore me to pieces with that over the years, and here we are, all these later, all these years later, and I’m still getting made fun of. So thank you for that.
Max Branstetter 34:54
Well, thank you for doing that. I never I knew it was because you were cold, but I had never heard the full backstory you got. Like you can tell you’re, like, science and kinesiology background.
Emma Weinberg 35:04
Oh, thank you. Yes, that I was, but I was fully set up for that to happen. If my dad had never said to me, shake your arms, where would I have come up with a waving hand?
Max Branstetter 35:15
Scotty’s on fire. That’s where the term comes from. I also know that you, you grew up a dancer, and like dance was a huge part. So that side not as familiar with. There’s not as many stories about you dancing in Vermont, but there probably is. I don’t know what is it about like dance that you liked growing up or like you liked the idea
Emma Weinberg 35:33
of it’s one of the things that I still like about it. It’s the only time, although, I guess similar to skiing, where your brain shut off for me. I don’t think about anything else except for what I’m doing in that moment. And it’s, you know, I’m sure athletes would talk about it when they’re in the flow and they’re so they, you know, nothing could possibly distract them. That is how I have always felt when I was dancing. And that type of like creative energy and flow, though, I am not the creative vision behind butter. I do get that excitement and that level of like intense focus towards something when I’m working on it. And I think having something that also made me so disciplined. I grew up doing ballet, which is notoriously a very disciplined sport, and I think that type of element also trained me from a really young age, to just keep going, to just dial in to focus, and it keeps you going bit by bit by bit, and then from there. It’s one of those things that you know, you get better with time as well. And I liked the idea that you could always be better. And I think I really learned that in
Max Branstetter 36:39
dance, yeah, that flow state, this is not nearly as, like, beautiful and romantic as that story was, but I find I, like, even enjoyed doing the dishes now, because it’s just, there’s something about, like, being unplugged and just focusing on, like, a simple task like that, which it which is far more simple than dancing in ballet. But it’s, like, really, kind of resets the mind. It’s really refreshing.
Emma Weinberg 37:01
Yeah, I mean, you and my husband both love the dishes, which, that’s great. It’s the best. Dana and I have lucked out beyond words only because you guys love the dishes, no other reason. Yeah, the fact that the two of you find so much joy and comfort in doing the dishes
Max Branstetter 37:19
laundry too. Don’t forget. Don’t forget. I took over laundry during covid and somehow never gave it back. That was, wow.
Emma Weinberg 37:26
Well, then, well, then maybe Dana’s luckier than me. I think Ben and I split the laundry. But no, I completely agree with that. I also think, just look, I work in social media, so it’s ironic for me to say, but we are constantly fed things. 24/7, and any moment where you are not glued to your phone, glued to the TV, glued to your laptop, is a moment that you can like, kind of find that space. I even find myself on a walk sometimes where I’m texting or I’m listening to a podcast, like, just turn it off. Just be where you are. And so doing the dishes where your hands are active, you don’t have a choice. I think is amazing.
Max Branstetter 38:05
If you’re tuning into this podcast right now, don’t turn it off. And in fact, if brownie points, if you are doing the dishes right now, because we feel you a couple quick goofier, if you can believe it, segments to wrap up here, just again, like totally about your personality. You can tie it to work if you can tie it to work if you want, but certainly don’t have to. This one’s called the unusual pet peeves, quirks, weird talents. So what’s something a little quirky about your personality that maybe Ben, your family, Lou, somebody calls you out for but, like, it’s who you are. It’s Emma. A lot of
Emma Weinberg 38:38
people in my family call it like doing an Emma or it’s an Emma ism I’m a very dramatic person, and so I let you know, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. I mean, no, everything I’ve said here is truthful. Let me say that. But generally I, you know, I wouldn’t mind embellishing just a little bit, and that’s probably something that maybe that’s the pet peeve more than the quirk, but that would probably be something that my family and my friends would call me out on, but only lovingly, yeah?
Max Branstetter 39:09
Pulling a lovingly Emma, yeah, well, after Well, yes, that more flare for the dramatic. All right, so you said it pet peeves. What’s something that like literally has like, it’s not a big deal in life, but it’s just like in everyday life. It just like annoys you.
Emma Weinberg 39:23
The way people chew is truly could send me off a cliff if you are a loud chewer, a snack or a mouth noise, kind of person, I am walking out of the room while you eat this.
Max Branstetter 39:36
This explains why every time, like we’re together as a family, when I start eating you. You’re out the room.
Emma Weinberg 39:42
No, definitely not. Because I would tell you, if I love you and you eat this way, I would tell you, if I don’t know you or don’t love you, I’ll just walk away.
Max Branstetter 39:51
I think Dana’s, I mean, I don’t know why I said I think that was putting it. Lately, Dana’s definitely called me out for that before, so I guess I’ve dodged a bullet with you so far.
Emma Weinberg 40:00
Or, oh, yeah, don’t tell me that. Otherwise, I’ll look for it in the next one.
Max Branstetter 40:04
Never eating again. All right? And then weird talents. This is, like, think of it as, like, a party trick. What’s something that you’re like, you just have a random talent for, but like, it doesn’t impact the data. It doesn’t impact your job at all. I really
Emma Weinberg 40:17
know what you want me to say. I
Max Branstetter 40:19
don’t. So
Emma Weinberg 40:21
because it’s, I think it’s the only thing that I could do, and I will say it, but I will not do it. Oh, really, we could do a really,
Max Branstetter 40:31
before you say it. If you, if you bring it up, you’re gonna have to do it.
Emma Weinberg 40:35
No, no, no, I’m not going to do it. But I can do a weirdly good impression of Marcel the Shell, and I can recite almost the entirety of the first video that came out all those years ago, but I won’t do that for you.
Max Branstetter 40:51
What if it was like, what if you just said the word butter in the voice? All right, folks, you’ll have to use your imagination. Let’s wrap up with some rapid fire Q and A, you ready for it? The shell? What’s it? Marcel, yeah. All right. So I have prepared this is going to be like cause like the Capulets versus the Montague is here, but I’ve prepared a New York, first London. Rapid fire, Q, a for you, so don’t feel pressured to answer either way. We know you love both cities, obviously, and spent years in both. I mean, two of the greatest cities in the world. So you’re, you’re a lucky duck, but New York, first London, if a bunch of different categories here, I’m just curious. Like, just pick like, which city you think is better, or like you, like you, like it better in that city. All right, let’s get wild. The wildest, as you would say, food, New York City or London, New York. All right, I knew this was gonna be all New York nightlife.
Emma Weinberg 41:52
Oh, good question. Maybe New York? Maybe because I’m old, I live I’ve only when
Max Branstetter 42:00
you’re younger than the podcast host you can’t see fair enough theater, theater
Emma Weinberg 42:10
West End, London, okay, that’s controversial.
Max Branstetter 42:13
They’re on the board, all right. Which of these is more like reasonable, if possible, cost of living London.
Emma Weinberg 42:21
There’s an asterisk to that London, but the salaries are so much lower, so the cost of living is a lot lower. But there’s it’s definitely feels very similar, because you make so much less. Still Love You, London, but it’s true,
Max Branstetter 42:39
all right. And then this one will be very controversial for your husband, Ben, but which city has a better like sports fandom culture?
Emma Weinberg 42:48
Oh, my goodness, that’s such a good question. I don’t even know what he would say to that. I think London, because of football and how intense it is. There are other sports here.
Max Branstetter 43:02
I can’t name them, but I can’t name them.
Emma Weinberg 43:04
I don’t know them. I don’t care. I think London also, because there’s so many football clubs, just in London, the city alone, versus New York, has a limited amount of teams, even across multiple sports. Do you concur?
Max Branstetter 43:20
I was I was I concur? Yeah, I was thinking about that. It was like, so like, Ben, oh, by the way, Ben and I have gone along from day one, one, because I love London. But two, I always confuse these, empathize, sympathize with him, because I’m a lifelong Cleveland sports fan. We’ve had a lot of misery, and he’s a big West Ham fan and Dolphins fan, you know, same sort of thing there. So, like, we have a lot to commiserate about. But I was thinking about, like the sports cultures when I was writing this question. And it’s so fascinating, how that, what is there, like, six Premier League teams in London? Like, it’s, it’s crazy. How many pro sports just in that sport are there? And then obviously you have the different, you know, League One, League Two, all that sort of thing. And then you have all the other sports. Like, when we visit you guys at the tail end of our honeymoon, there was like that huge, what’s the ashes? Like, the huge cricket event going on, like, three day thing. It’s really cool. But yeah, New York is very every major pro sports team in the New York area, their fans are, like, very diehard and passionate, as Dana would say, Shadow giants. But it is way more concentrated. There’s like, two Macs in each sport. So, yeah, and that was the sports section. Last one more famous accent, New York or London, I guess, English accent, British accent,
Emma Weinberg 44:34
I have to say a tie. Complete, complete tie if you’re talking about like a true New York accent compared to an English accent that I think they both are iconic, not necessarily my accent, like the true New Yorkers, is what
Max Branstetter 44:48
I’m talking you have, like a no ACC, yeah, you’re Dina. Heard it once somewhere middle of Ohio. There’s no There’s a place in Ohio that’s supposed to have no accent. And apparently, like, I think, people from Cleveland don’t have an accent,
Emma Weinberg 44:59
but people. From Cleveland, definitely have an accent. But were you going to say that I don’t have an accent, because I had this argument with Ben when we first started dating, that I don’t have an accent, the way I speak is very neutral.
Max Branstetter 45:11
I agree. Yeah, wow. I mean, maybe if you were to really analyze it, there might be a little bit in people tuning in. Now it’d be like, Who is this? Like, Brooklyn girl, but like, Emma Emmy mo from our wedding. Thank you so much. Congrats again on the launch. Like, super exciting. So pumped for you. And like, it was really cool to like hear from when you first started talking about this, to like seeing it like, like it’s live now and people are wearing it and loving it. And so thanks so much for being willing to do this, even if there may or may not have been a shell accent in there, but plenty of accents, nonetheless, very strong accents. But if anybody wants to try out butter, they can go to again. It’s butter, london.com but B, U, T, T, A, H, london.com and then Emma. Where’s the best place? If somebody wants to like, connect with you online, or just connect with butter on the socials. Where’s the best place for that?
Emma Weinberg 46:05
You can follow us at butter London on Instagram and Tiktok, as Matt said, B, U, T, T, A, H, London. And if you want to connect with me, you can find me at Emma G wine at Instagram,
Max Branstetter 46:19
and that’s wine. Although the family does love wine, that’s wine, W, E, I n, I didn’t, didn’t prepare you for the spelling bee.
Emma Weinberg 46:27
No, I can’t spell my own name. Thank you
Max Branstetter 46:32
perfect, Emma. Thank you so much. Last thing, final thoughts, it could be a quote, just like a motto, whatever you want, Words To Live By. Send us home here. Final thoughts, the
Emma Weinberg 46:41
only thing I have to say, other than Thank you for having me and that I love you and your wife and your daughter is my real motto. Is what I said earlier. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good. Just prioritize progress and the rest will follow.
Max Branstetter 46:58
I love you too, and I love Ben and Dan Marino. So thank you so much, Emma. Really appreciate it. Thanks Max
Max Branstetter 47:11
and Bob’s your uncle. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Emma for coming on Wild Business Growth and sharing the amazing Buttah story and beyond on all those nostalgic Vermont memories. And thank you Wild Listeners for tuning on to another episode. If you want to have more Wild stories like this one, make sure to Follow Wild Business Growth on your favorite podcast platform and Subscribe on YouTube. YouTube is @MaxBranstetter, let me take another night of this banana. I’m sorry, Emmy, I couldn’t resist you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com about the podcast and about the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope everybody who celebrates has a wonderful Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving and everything else there and until next time, Let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
