Before getting into growth, distribution, or retail strategy, this conversation started somewhere more human.
I spoke with Marisa Poster, Co-Founder of PerfectTed, live from the Retail Technology Show 2026 in London, and what stood out wasn’t just the brand’s momentum. It was how personal the foundation of it really is.
A lot of founders talk about solving problems. Marisa is someone who started by solving her own.
The problem was familiar to many people: caffeine dependency, energy crashes, anxiety, and lack of focus. But underneath that was something deeper.
“I was heavily addicted to caffeine through coffee and energy drinks… I would feel shaky and then suffer those inevitable crashes.”
That experience became the starting point for PerfectTed.
Not a trend. Not a category opportunity. A personal fix that eventually became a business.
When the Personal Becomes the Brand
What makes PerfectTed interesting is not just the product, but how openly the story behind it is told.
For Marisa, that didn’t come naturally at first. Like many founders, there was hesitation around sharing personal details publicly.
But over time, that changed.
“that was the authentic story and it felt unusual to lean into anything else”
That decision shifted everything.
Because once the story became visible, the brand became easier to understand. And more importantly, easier to connect with.
People didn’t just see a product. They saw a person behind it.
Empathy as a Growth Driver
One of the strongest themes in this conversation was empathy, but not in a vague or abstract way.
It showed up in how customers responded to the brand once the story was shared.
People saw themselves in it. Others saw family members. Many saw something familiar in their own lives.
That changes how a brand functions in the market.
It stops being transactional.
It becomes relational.
And that shift has real business impact.
Scaling Through Distribution, Not Just Demand
PerfectTed did not scale in the way most modern consumer brands are expected to.
There was no heavy reliance on performance marketing or aggressive digital acquisition strategies.
Instead, the focus was physical presence.
Nearly 40,000 stores across more than 50 countries.
That scale wasn’t driven by attention. It was driven by availability.
And that creates a different kind of brand memory. One built through repetition in real-world environments rather than digital interruption.
You see it. You recognize it. You trust it.
Relationships Over Transactions
At the core of everything Marisa described is a simple belief:
“transactions are temporary, but relationships are permanent.”
That idea shows up in how the brand approaches customers, retail partners, and storytelling itself.
It’s not about one-time conversion. It’s about long-term connection.
And in a crowded consumer landscape, that becomes a meaningful differentiator.
The Bottom Line
PerfectTed is a reminder that not every brand starts with scale in mind.
Some start with lived experience.
Some start with discomfort.
Some start with someone trying to fix something in their own life.
What determines what comes next is how honestly that story is told, and how consistently it’s carried into the world.
Because empathy, in this case, is not just emotional context.
It’s a strategy.
And one that is quietly powering a global brand.
To catch more conversations from Retail Technology Show 2026 in London, follow Omni Talk Retail on LinkedIn or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you to Vusion for supporting Omni Talk Retail’s live coverage, and thank you to our listeners for joining us during the event.
Be careful out there,
Chris Walton and the Omni Talk team
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Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.