Krishna Kaliannan wanted to start a tech company but failed at every attempt.
On the side, he was teaching himself how to cook with high-protein, low-sugar ingredients. Not just out of interest, but out of necessity. As a teenager, Krishna had been diagnosed with diabetes and epilepsy, meaning he adopted a keto diet long before it was trendy.
Krishna’s home experiments with pea powder and monk fruit eventually became Catalina Crunch, one of the country’s most popular high-protein, low-carb breakfast cereals and snacks.
In this episode, Krishna shares how a life-changing health condition sparked an obsession with healthy baking— and a brand that reimagined snacking.
What You’ll Learn
- How to turn a health challenge into a business opportunity
- The art and science of baking with esoteric ingredients
- When to trust partners and when it’s best to take charge yourself
- Why the DTC model is great for some industries and disastrous for others
Timestamps:
- Dealing with diabetes and epilepsy as a college student
- What Krishna learns from his early failures in tech
- The first, low-sugar cocoa puffs: “Rocks that tasted like soil.”
- His homemade cereal gets good enough to sell
- Naming the brand: classy alliteration and a nod to a Will Ferrell movie
- Learning to make cereal like the pros at Texas A&M
- Krishna moves from NYC to Indiana to make sure the cereal is made right
- Whole Foods, Costco, and becoming a household brand
This episode was researched and produced by Chris Maccini with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our engineer was Kwesi Lee.
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