Isabelle and Amalia talk through some business ownership lessons as well as Isabelle’s aim to live a life with no regrets, and the importance of not letting the fear of failing stop you from taking risks.
Isabelle’s is a story of resilience, ambition, and bravery. She’s the co-founder & CEO of Lupii, a plant-based food company. She launched Lupii just two months before the pandemic started and swiftly saw the world shut down in front of her eyes. So, it’s safe to say she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the the twists and turns of business ownership and the lessons to be learned along the way. Isabelle and Amalia talk through some of these lessons, as well as Isabelle’s aim to live a life with no regrets and the importance of not letting the fear of failing stop you from taking risks. It’s one you won’t want to miss. If you enjoy listening, be sure to follow us so you're the first to know when we add new episodes. While you're there, please leave us a review — we’d really appreciate it.
The Whole Damn Pie
Isabelle Steichen Interview
Isabelle: I'm a runner and there's a, there's a term in running that is flattening the course. And it really means that when you're running uphill, you need to slow down and get ready to accelerate when you go back downhill. So like, how do you preserve your energy when things get hard?
Amalia: Yeah.
Isabelle: So you have the energy when things are a little bit easier. That's kind of the concept. My husband taught me that concept because he's a runner too. And, um, I think a lot about that in business. Finding kind of like this like even keel, which is so hard so that like the highs are not so high and the lows are not so low.
Amalia: Welcome to The Whole Damn Pie. Today I'm speaking to Isabel Steichen, the co-founder and CEO of Lupii. Her journey to co-founding the plant-based food company has many twists and turns, and we get into the challenges of keeping calm as a businesswoman when we're really feeling the highs and lows. From veganism to the health benefits of the lupini bean, they seem like a little magic.
To the challenges of navigating business through the pandemic and the concept of perfection, which let's face it, is unattainable. Isabel's journey has taken her all over the world and through many different roles before she found her calling as an entrepreneur. Originally from Luxembourg, she went to school in France, got the courage to embrace veganism, even though it didn't quite make sense to her family.
I mean, no cheese? Hello? And then she moved to New York City, where she worked in urban planning and the startup world. Working in the startup world gave Isabelle the confidence to think bigger, and inspired her to use her passion for plant based eating to actually create a product using the lupini bean.
Okay, so I have to admit I had never heard of the lupini bean until I was introduced to your product. And then, even then, looking at your product, it seems like a magical product that tastes good, has a ton of protein and fiber. And my husband wanted me to tell you that the fiber really, really works in your product.
The first time we brought it home.
Isabelle: I'm so glad.
Amalia: He was like, oh my god, the fiber really works. Let her know. I was like, okay, thank you. But okay, so what is a lupini bean and what is loopy. Like, from my perspective, Lupii’s like this pasta alternative. Like, I don't eat it because I'm a plant-based eater. I eat it because I try to cut out some carbs and have more protein.
But I've tried all the things like the zoodles and the things made of peas and the things made of, I don't know, there's another one. I don't know. I've tried all the alternatives and they're all, the consistency, it's not that great. Just give me pasta at the end of the day. Which, I will get at a very nice restaurant. I will give me the best pasta around. I won't make it at home though because it never hits quite like I want it to. Lupii is really good. The consistency is really great. So okay, tell me about lupini bean and then tell me about Lupii.
Isabelle: Totally. And thank you for that endorsement. Also, thanks to your husband for that endorsement.
Fiber is really important. Fiber is really great for us. You know, gut health is very much has been under underrated for a long time. So, um, yeah, lupini beans are this amazing regenerative little bean. So regenerative means they are, um, nitrogen fixing. So, you know, a lot of crops take nitrogen and nutrition out of the soils.
We know, we hear a lot about monoculture growing and why it's bad. It's bad because there's just the same, growing the same plant over and over again is depleting soils. So what we want to do, we want to add what's called rotation crops. And a lot of legumes like chickpeas and lentils and lupini beans are rotation crops.
So are peanuts actually. And so that's a really great way to give nutrition back into the soil so that the food that we eat is actually nutrient dense. Um, so that's the environmental piece. And then the, the nutritional piece is really incredibly exciting. Lupini beans have more protein than soy, which is generally considered the highest protein, uh, in the plant world.
They also have all essential amino acids, so they're complete protein. And then on the carb and fiber side, they're also incredibly unique because they have virtually no carbs. Um, because they're so packed with fiber. So, uh, it's a, it's a very differentiated proposition. If you look at other beans, usually you eat a lot of carbohydrates when you eat chickpeas or black beans or things like that.
But with lupini beans, no, you get all the protein without the carbs and a ton of fiber. So nutritionally, they are really powerful. They're originally from the Mediterranean. So Italy, Greece, Portugal, Brazil. There's a lot of lupini in the Middle East as well. Um, and then there's other varieties that grow all over the world.
There's South American varieties that are called chochos that look slightly different, but it's the same overall family. So it's an ancient ingredient that has been around for a really, really, really long time. This is not a new thing. Ancient Romans used to eat, like gladiators used to eat lupini beans because they knew they were healthy and good for you. Um, and cheap also at the time. So, so that's what a lupini bean is. Um, and I started researching them. So I was familiar with them from growing up in Europe. And then back in 2017, actually, already, I started researching them, talking to growers in Europe and, and understanding, you know, the nutritional profile and that sort of kind of what gave me this vision. I used to joke and say they're born in the wrong place because they have so you know, so much protein and so little carbs. And that's really not something that European consumers care about so much. Functionality in food is not really the main driver. Whereas here, people think about their macros way more.
And so this is the perfect macro profile for a plant. You know, it's just incredibly ideal. And that's what got me so excited about introducing this bean and building Lupii, which is the company that's basically the brand platform for the lupini bean. And yeah, we have the pasta and then we also have a line of protein bars made of lupini beans.
Amalia: So how did it evolve from you getting excited about this bean that you already knew about, which I never heard of, you're right, it was born in the wrong place, I guess, for the time, right? Um, to, to a full fledged company, how did you build a company off of this bean?
Isabelle: Yeah. So many steps and so much, uh, believing in the vision.
Right. Um, so I had done some research on this and I was kind of ready to, to jump in and create, figure out how, how to create my first product line. But I also was working a 50, 60 hour startup job. So I had no creative bandwidth. Like, to really make space for that. And I told my husband that I wanted to leave and do some consulting work and then have more time to focus on this.
So that's what I did in late 2018. I left and didn't really have a super solid plan, but I knew, okay, I want to explore making products. I had some ideas. Um, one was a jerky made out of lupini beans. The other one was, you know, a protein ball originally. Um, and I was looking at some other product lines as well.
And then I connected with an investor really coincidentally, right after I quit my job and I did some research for them on some other stuff, like consulting. And after three months, I was like, actually, I have a business idea. How about this bean? And we're building a brand around it. And they were super excited and interested.
And, um, at the time they made their investment conditional on me finding a business partner. Uh, you know, I had no food and beverage background, really. I had never worked in CPG. So I went on and spent three months. Meeting different people and ended up meeting, uh, someone who at the time, uh, was working for a big, um, food and beverage company and ended up joining me.
And that was in mid-2019. And then, yeah, we started working on the concept and we launched, unfortunately, two months before the pandemic. So in January of 2020 is when we rolled out our protein bar line. And that was, uh, that was quite the adventure. Just, uh, With the world just shutting down in front of our eyes, we were like, no, we have such great things to bring to you.
We're very limited. So, yeah.
Amalia: Wow. We could talk an hour about surviving the pandemic and like, the mental, emotional, financial health of just surviving that time. I mean, I found you at my local Costco. How fast has your company grown?
Isabelle: It's definitely grown. Um, over the last few years, we ended up launching the second line, the pasta, about a year and a half ago, and we just got a rotation in Costco.
So that has been, uh, very, very exciting. Um, but it's also, you know, it's so interesting because I think we often look at other businesses and we only see the success and what's working. And I haven't so many things that haven't been working and that have been really hard and challenging and navigating the pandemic was a big part of it that I'm now just understanding how much it really delayed some of the growth of the business and some of the opportunities that we wanted to go after because retail was the focus originally and we kind of had to sell online for 10 years, but that was really what we were set up to do. Um, so it's been full of, you know, ups and downs as I'm sure you know, as a business owner as well.
Amalia: Yeah. And you're kind of at a crossroads with this successful business that you've built, right?
Isabelle: Yeah, it's a little up in the air. Right now there's a lot of success, but I've been looking for a more substantial financial partner in the business. Um, my business partner, my co-founder stepped away almost a year ago.
So it's just been me full time focused on it. And, um, I've been exploring some other options, but it's really hard. It's hard to say. And that's the crazy part is I, uh, feel like you're kind of operating always on these two, uh, these two parallel tracks. It's like, okay, like we're, we have to keep this running, but we also kind of don't really know which direction it will end up going into.
So, I'm working through that right now as really we're an emerging brand and do need a financial partner to help grow and expand on the opportunity. And it's been a very hard fundraising climate. You know, I think everyone would probably resonate with that, especially people in food and beverage.
It's just been really challenging over the last two years, since the hike of interest rates and capital has become more expensive. And, but you know, starting a food and beverage company is still expensive. It costs money up front because you have to create inventory. And when you launch in these big accounts, you need a lot of financing for that.
So yeah, I'm working through some options. I have some really great advisors and investors in the company that are trying to help work through that.
Amalia: Yeah, those highs and lows as a business owner, man, I mean, do you feel that, I feel this way. Tell me if you feel this way. There are days where you're like on top of the world, like nailed it, killed it, did it. Like, look at this. We're going to go out to dinner, but somewhere in like the pit of my stomach, I never allow myself to really enjoy those highs because I'm. always kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I just don't, I don't know what it will be. It could be like something completely out of my control, like a global pandemic or, you know, I, do you ever experience that?
Isabelle: Oh my God. Do I ever experience that? I experienced that multiple times a day.
Amalia: Okay. Oh, hallelujah.
Isabelle: Yes, totally. I mean, it's so interesting because I, when you describe it to other people, it's always like, People are like, what, so why are you doing this? And that's a question that I still don't really have an answer for, I guess, because I, I do think that this path is incredibly challenging because it's not just building the business, but it's also the emotional stuff that comes with it, especially when you care.
I'm a runner and there's a, there's a term in running that is flattening the course. And it really means that when you're running uphill, you need to slow down and get ready to accelerate when you go back downhill. So like, how do you preserve your energy when things get hard? So you have the energy when things are a little bit easier.
That's kind of the concept. My husband taught me that concept because he's a runner too. And, um, I think a lot about that in business. Finding kind of like this like even keel which is so hard so that like the highs are not so high and the lows are not so low and that you can just recover faster and get back up and running.
I think that's the whole like secret sauce of surviving this because, um, it's really not sustainable. I find that to have these insane excitements, And then these insane disappointments happening. And yes, you have to feel your emotions, but how do you take a step back and you just have more neutrality towards what's happening?
And remember, it's just a little piece in the bigger puzzle of what the business is. Cause we get so focused on the puzzle piece, right? But when we take a step back, we're like, oh, hold on. There's like other parts here. So that's, I feel like that's what I often try to kind of envision when things get tough.
And even when things are great, I'm always like, okay, like this is awesome. And. And you're right. I think a big problem that we all have is to celebrate the wins. Cause we're so scared of like, if I let go for a second and get excited, like what's going to happen next?
Amalia: I am not a runner, but I love this running metaphor. Flattening the course is such a great way to think about approaching the inevitable highs and lows of entrepreneurship. How do we preserve our energy and strive for neutrality?
Isabelle: I used to not let myself feel my feelings. Which actually created more of a backlash than sitting with the feeling, right? Like when I was younger, when things wouldn't work out, I was just like, heads down, let's work harder.
Amalia: Yes
Isabelle: I can outwork everything that's hard. And I actually don't think that's true. You can't actually outwork everything. That's that. I had to learn that in the last five years that like working harder and working more doesn't mean it's, going to necessarily be a positive outcome. So I feel like just the experience of doing it so many times has helped me create more regulations around my emotions.
And I'm by no means perfect and still have a lot of up and downs, but when I am disappointed, just kind of admitting I am disappointed and I'm sad right now. And I'm just gonna sit in that for like the next hour. And then I'm going to go do things that make me feel better because I'm not going to feel better on my own.
I know running for me is one of those things, or hanging out with friends that I love, or thinking about planning a trip somewhere, you know, things like that, that just keep me excited and keep me going. I've also recently picked up It's so funny. I was visiting my niece and nephew in Europe and we did three days straight of Legos.
And so doing things with my hands, you know, Legos or puzzles and things like that, that have a beginning and an ends and have completion really helps to like regulate. But you know, there's days where it works better and days where it's, it's harder. And I think it's an illusion to tell founders, oh, like there's, you can get to that state of permanent, like bliss.
Like, no, you'll never get to that. It will always be a roller coaster, but you can develop certain mechanisms to protect yourself a little bit more from what the feelings do to you personally, to your self-esteem and things like that.
Amalia: Isabelle is speaking to my soul right now, and I feel like she's speaking to the feelings that women experience more than men. I'm in some entrepreneurial groups, and with men, they, for the most part, just don't seem to ever struggle with these self-esteem issues. I think these struggles make us better business owners and better leaders. And as more and more women run companies, I'm optimistic more of this leading with the heart will take root and grow.
Isabelle: I think so too. I think there's also stereotypes that we're taught. I do think when I watch my husband in business, men are taught that they're not allowed to feel the emotions in the same way, you know, then, then women, and they have to be strong and like, you know, can't cry or be disappointed in that way.
So I think that's really interesting how that translates into business. and our abilities to deal with these difficult situations and how much we show in terms of feelings and emotions and attachment.
Amalia: Yeah, that's a good point. I love you're in one household and you can see both sides of the same coin. It's amazing.
Isabelle: Yeah.
Amalia: Um, I would love to move a little bit beyond Lupe and go into just you. I know that you lead a plant-based lifestyle. I don't know if that's what you call it. You're going to have to bring me along on this ride because I am so afraid of veganism because I think it would be one of those things that I would start, like any diet that I've ever started and like I would do for a day and then I'd be like, fuck this, like, this is way too hard.
But I know that like, this is something that you, you've spent your life building a company around it and you're really invested in this lifestyle. Can you tell me a little bit about your passion for veganism?
Isabelle: Yeah, totally. Um, so I don't think of it as a diet. Actually, I think of it as like a life choice that I've made, which is abstaining from harming animals, for lack of a better term.
I don't wear animals. I don't wear leather or wool. I don't use any beauty products that have animal products in them or that are tested on animals. And I don't consume any animals knowingly. You know, there's always like the, the, this thing at the restaurant that happens where they tell you it's vegan.
And then you find out later that there was cheese in it. It's like, whatever. It's very personal choice for me. I'm by no means here to tell people what to do. It's just something that works really well for me. I always struggled as a kid with eating meat. I really didn't like it. I also didn't understand what meat we were eating and what would, you know, we would have dogs at home as pets, but then, and I'll go to the petting zoo and have like bunny rabbits, but then we'd also eat bunny rabbits for lunch. Like it just made no sense to me. And it's also more graphic, I think in Europe, because you, I remember going to the farmer's market and it's like very, like, you can see the animal and what it looks like.
It still has a fur on it and the eyeballs. So I didn't enjoy that concept. I had to eat everything growing up because my parents are very European as in, we're not. making any exceptions. You have to try everything. It's not polite to say you don't like something. You need to try it. But then the moment I moved out to go to college, I was like, I'm not, no, thank you.
I'm not gonna eat animal products or cook animal products because I just never liked it. I think because it's so much easier when you don't like something because it doesn't feel like giving it up. It actually feels like I'm finally able to do what I really want to do, which is not eat this stuff because I don't like it.
I was still, I was vegetarian first and, and I, I remember in college, I took this class on, um, agriculture and feeding cities and I started really understanding some of the challenges with dairy industry and the egg industry. And, and then I just felt like, okay, now I have all this information and that information is leading me towards saying, I don't want to eat these products because I also don't have to, to be healthy. There's a lot of societies that eat mostly plant based, like 90 percent or 95 percent plant based and then have for centuries. There clearly is a way, as long as it
Amalia: Really? I didn't know that.
Isabelle: Oh, totally. I mean, if you look, actually, there's a really interesting documentary right now.I think it's on Netflix about the blue zones, Dan Buettner. And he looks at these, I think it's five or six different zones in the world. And he studies people's diets and lifestyle and stress levels. And they all have in common that their diets are like majorly plant based. So it's a lot of, vegetables, legumes, grains, and healthy oils.
Some of these regions are in South America, like there's a region in Losara, which is in Costa Rica. There is Japanese Okinawa, where they live, like no joke, 95 percent from Japanese sweet potatoes. Like that's, That's like my dream.
Amalia: That's where you're moving next.
Isabelle: That's exactly, exactly.
I'm bringing the Japanese, or I'm building a Japanese sweet potato brand. I knew that like I could nutritionally be okay because other people are doing it and I have access. That's the other thing. I don't live in Alaska or Kyrgyzstan where I have limited options when it comes to plant-based eating. I can actually access all of it.
And then also New York is very open minded culturally and people don't care if you don't eat. meat. So that's kind of what led me on this journey. And it was really with the food that it started. And then it's, it was everything else in my life that contains animal products that I'm just not trying to purchase if I can.
Amalia: So you've made this choice for yourself pretty early on, which is great. And it seems like, like you said, like if it's something you've already don't like, you don't feel like you're giving up anything really. Me, coming into it now as a grown ass woman, and thinking about like, trying to make a huge lifestyle shift like that.
And I understand. I see like, like the things on, on social media or, you know, this triathlete doesn't eat any, um, or this professional football player, he's vegan and, you know, he's still so strong and fit and healthy and, um, but I also feel like there's a lot of misinformation out there. And I, and I, and I also think there's some sometimes some virtue signaling or judgments when it comes to food and values and and it becomes like the story we tell ourselves of who we are and what we stand for. And do you find yourself even immersed in any of those conversations or because you made the choice so early on, not really?
Isabelle: Yeah, it's been so long that I've been immersed in those conversations because I, I used to be way more, um, my husband would say, a militant about it. I was like, oh shoot, wait, you don't have to eat animal products. And like, also, you know, it's not great. It's not maybe what I feel like is ethically in line with my belief system.
I was very eager to share that with the world and less so with strangers, more with loved ones, like my family, my husband, who ended up transitioning to a mostly vegan diet. He's very athletic and does a lot of, um, uh, ultra marathons and endurance running. And he actually finds that his recovery is way better on a plant-based diet. So he hasn’t eaten, meat, in a very long time. I think it used to be way more that I tried to convince people. And I realized that that was, there was so much judgment attached to that. And actually, I don't want to do this because I'm judging people. I just want to live my life the way I want to. And if that can inspire others, that's great.
And even if it's just partially, even if it's just making people, you know, cut down on their animal, um, consumption, because we do know it requires a lot of resources to grow and feed these animals. And we could go directly to the plants that, you know, the animals consume. So it would be more efficient economically and environmentally.
But I think it moved more towards like anyone who wants to talk to me about it, great. But other otherwise, and you know, when I have people over to my home, I only cook vegan food. That was challenging at the beginning because people kind of weren't used to it, but now people know that and they understand and they are totally fine with it and I don't even talk about it really. It's kind of my default.
So, um, but judgment you're, you're right. And diet choices, you know, at the end of the day, they are really personal and people need to do what works for them. And I, I don't think there's one way to do things. That's the right way. It's just more, what's the right way for myself and how can I find a variation of it that,supports my life and the life that I want to live.
Amalia: So as you're going through this journey of building a company, transitioning a company, you said you like to be creative. You like to live this lifestyle. What is the whole damn pie looking like for you and your life Isabel?
Isabelle: Oh my God. That's such a good question. Yeah. What does the whole damn pie look like for me?
I think what it looks like for me is. It's okay to be ambitious and it's okay to shoot for the stars and to, to set your expectations really high. It's totally fine. And you are going to fail on your way there many times and things might not work out, but I don't think that the message should be, oh, I shouldn't have tried, or I cannot never do it. It's more like, you know, you fail a hundred, what was the quote? You fail a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take. Yeah. That is so true. That is so true. And I, I'm realizing I don't want to have regrets. I just don't want to have regret. That is more scary to me than failure. Even if failure is uncomfortable and can be really sad and hard to work through.
I think regret is way worse. That's what the whole damn pie is for me. I do think that I've gotten more confidence. Over the last few years, especially building this business in an incredibly challenging time. And maybe it's not going to work out the way I wanted it to work out, but the learnings and the confidence that I've built are so much stronger than they were five years ago when I embarked on this journey.
And maybe I wouldn't have dared to ask for the whole damn pie at the time. And now I'm like, no, just gonna just want the whole thing. So it's like I want it all and I'm going to shoot for it all and it might not all work out the way I want it to, but I'm going to learn information on my way there. And so as long as I'm learning and as I'm feeling that excitement, there's another, there's another shot that I can take.
Amalia: Yeah. I love that. You've done some incredibly brave things in your life. Like you moved from one country to another country to a third country and jumped on like these with one thing in mind and then jumped on the startup wagon and then was like, I'm going to do this. Like, that's pretty impressive. Like, you should be in your 60s, I feel like.
Isabelle: Oh, maybe I am in my 60s.
Amalia: Then you got to share your skincare routine, too. It's the veganism.
Isabelle: Thank you for saying that.Yeah. I mean, I do think that's a little bit in line with, like, what I said about regrets. I just don't want to have regret. I have one life and can't do everything but can just like take some big swings here and there and some of them are going to work out and some might not.But like, I think the more you practice, the higher the chances it's successful.
Amalia: I also love this idea of perfectionism not existing, right? So in my company, we always say perfection is, perfection doesn't live here. And I try to instill it also in my daughter. She's, she's. a baby adult. She's 21. And I always think, you know, perfection just doesn't live here.
Like, I've learned the best lessons by just falling on my face and like getting back up and trying again, right? Like, you got to take the big swings. Otherwise, you're just going to play it safe.
Isabelle: Yeah, exactly. And I also wonder if that's a female thing more than a male thing, but we're being told it needs to be perfect.
Amalia: Yeah.
Isabelle: And the problem is that doesn't even exist. Like we all know that that does not exist. And that when you look under the hood, you see, oh my God, how much stuff didn't work. I think about other founders from outside, everything is always shiny and successful, but there's so many times where it didn't work out.
And I think if we talked more about that, encouraged that more, I think that would make us all healthier. You know, it's like, when we talk about scrolling through Instagram, where we're being told a story that doesn't really exist. It's not reality. It's the same with like disillusion of perfection. It's just doesn't. It doesn't exist.
Amalia: Yeah, totally.
Isabelle's story is a testament to resilience, ambition, and the pursuit of a passion driven life. But not at the expense of always being perfect. She's really brave to take on all of these challenges, and she exemplifies why perfection should not and does not live here.