Ricky Hirsch was watching poker on TV at home in Austin last month. An employee texted him. One of his company's products was in a new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes. His sriracha honey turkey jerky, it turned out, was her prized snack in a Texas federal prison. It came from a vending machine. The next day he went to see the film in a theater. When his jerky hit the screen, he curled up and briefly covered his eyes.
The cameo paid. Online sales of the sriracha flavor jumped 345% on the company's website. That's worth about $25,000 in extra sales. Fans designed Think Jerky costumes for Halloween and argued about the jerky scenes online. "The brand awareness is unquantifiable," Hirsch said. He's a former Wall Street trader who launched the company from his Chicago living room a dozen years ago. He has four full-time employees and four contractors. He has never taken outside money.
The quaint approach
Hirsch didn't hire influencers. He bet on packaging. His white, minimalist pouch was meant to make a shopper stop at a shelf and try something they knew nothing about. He did sign up a few well-known chefs, including a two-time James Beard winner who developed the sriracha honey flavor. The jerky sells online and at about 10,000 locations, mostly hotel gift shops, gas stations and specialty stores. American Airlines puts it in first-class snack baskets. A Thanksgiving turkey stick with a four-time James Beard winner is launching now.
A Wharton marketing professor told the Journal the hard part comes next. Holding on to attention and turning new buyers into repeat buyers is nearly as hard as getting noticed. Making enough product is the other problem. Hirsch is careful. He says he's spent almost nothing on marketing and doesn't want to make a costly mistake with his own money. He still doesn't know how his jerky got into the prison. A prison spokesperson said an outside contractor fills the machines. He said he's still trying to figure it out so he can thank them.
Our read
This is a Behavioral story about windfalls, and it applies to more than jerky. Hirsch got about $25,000 he didn't plan for and a wave of attention he can't control. Notice what he didn't do. He didn't hire a marketing team. He didn't borrow against the moment. He said out loud what he was afraid of, a million-dollar mistake with his own money. That sentence is the plan.
Most families get a windfall at some point. A bonus, an inheritance, a stock grant that vests, a house that sells for more than expected. The money feels different because it arrived differently, and that's when people buy the boat. Here's the check this week. Write a one-line rule for the next lump sum before it comes. Something like this. First the tax set-aside, then the emergency fund to six months, then the account that already has a job. If you own a small business, add one more line. A viral month is not a reason to sign a long lease. If a windfall landed recently and you're not sure where it should sit, that's a fifteen-minute conversation worth having before it finds its own way out the door.