Episode Overview

Podcast: The Investor With Joel Palathinkal
Host: Dr. Joel Palathinkal
Guest: Noah Sanborn Friedman, Co-Founder of Top Shelf Ventures
Date: January 16, 2026

This episode features Noah Sanborn Friedman, a prominent investor focused on the beverage industry through Top Shelf Ventures. The conversation explores his personal journey from a young entrepreneur to beverage executive and investor, the nuances of building an alcohol brand, market trends, and key insights for fund managers and founders in the space. The discussion blends data-driven analysis with real industry stories, practical advice, and a candid look at what makes brands and funds succeed.

Noah’s Early Journey and Entry into the Beverage Industry

Key Points:

• Grew up in NYC; attended Boston University.
• Early exposure to entrepreneurship via a bootcamp sponsored by Michael Loeb.
• Interned and later worked closely with Loeb, gaining hands-on experience with deals, startups, and portfolio operations.
• Took a junior executive role out of college and became COO of an alcohol tech company at age 24.

Notable Quotes:

• "I was just hustling, frankly. I was fortunate enough to get invited to an entrepreneurial boot camp… sponsored by Michael Loeb. That led to him saying, why don't you intern for me?" (01:33)
• "By the end of that summer, we were very close… I was getting to work on deals that I had no business with working on when I was 16 or 17." (02:30)

Breaking Down the Beverage Business & Data-Driven Investing

(04:30–14:41)

Key Insights:

• Early exposure revealed the sheer scale and nuance of the alcohol industry—"a beast of a business that was right under everyone's nose."
• Access to retail transaction data illuminated patterns in consumer behavior and brand growth.
• Many emerging alcohol brands succeed locally before scaling nationally, often lacking access to strategic capital.
• Meeting Jason Sherman (formerly of AB InBev Ventures) led to the founding of Top Shelf Ventures to focus on underserved, highly regulated markets.

Notable Quotes:

• "You kind of have to just see it live… there's a big difference between reading or watching a case study… and actually having a problem in the business that I am responsible and accountable to the board for." (07:36)
• "Business is people, right? Especially once you get into the highest levels of making decisions and allocating capital." (09:04)
• "The thing that was most powerful was understanding how to benchmark both different product categories and different brands to understand relative strength of each brand." (12:22)

Timestamps:

• [06:38] Learning the people side of startups and organizational growth
• [12:22] Using granular data to benchmark brands and categories

Perceived Value, Brand, and Market Realities

(14:41–23:05)

Key Points:

• Much of premium alcohol's value is driven by brand and perceived value, not necessarily the objective quality of the liquid.
• Many products (especially in whiskey and celebrity brands) are produced by the same large manufacturers (e.g., MGP), but differentiated through marketing, storytelling, and packaging.
• Success largely hinges on the brand's ability to tell a story and create a unique experience for the consumer.

Notable Quotes:

• "The margin comes from the brand. That's why they can get away with charging that much." (15:48)
• "The reality… is it's about what does the customer feel when they drink it and buy it. A lot of that is storytelling." (17:13)
• "The most wealth accrual, often tends to be in those who are the best at getting that said brand [off the shelf]. That's why brands are so powerful." (20:47)

Timestamps:

• [18:30] How celebrity and local craft brands use big distillers
• [20:47] Wealth accrual in the booze business

Trends in Local Brands, Consumer Behavior & Metrics for Investment

(23:05–28:04)

Key Points:

• Virality and explosive brand growth often arise from a “lightning in a bottle” combination of factors—timing, execution, packaging, market fit, etc.
• Top Shelf prefers to identify and help scale brands that are already showing outsized local success rather than create brands from scratch.
• The two metrics most critical for investment: velocity (how quickly product moves) and reorder rate (store retention).
• Supply chain, logistics, and founder strength are also considered, but high velocity and reorder rate can solve for other issues.

Notable Quotes:

• "There is this je ne sais quoi, lightning in a bottle factor… oftentimes it is just like the perfect storm happened at the perfect time." (23:05)
• "Velocity and reorder rate tend to be the two most important metrics for us. Everything else kind of falls back from that." (26:18)

Health, Cycles, and the Future of Alcohol & Beverages

(28:04–38:10)

Key Points:

• Sober-curious and health-forward trends are real but often cyclical and sometimes overhyped.
• Mainstream taste and consumption habits tend to return to equilibrium over time.
• Most categories (tequila, rum, RTDs, etc.) have periods of boom and bust—success depends on timing.
• The next major category of growth is predicted to be THC/cannabis-infused beverages, due to growing social acceptance and practical advantages over smoking.

Notable Quotes:

• "To me, I'm hard pressed to believe after workout the first thing I want is a vodka. But the health trend is real… but I think… it's all going to come back to the norm and the equilibrium." (28:58)
• "Fifteen years ago, tequila was nowhere to be found… now it is the thing to drink. Now it's losing a little bit of steam… I have a suspicion rum is going to have a moment once consumers realize it really isn't any more unhealthy than tequila or vodka." (32:01)
• "I think the next big category that's not beer, wine or spirits is most likely to be THC infused beverages." (38:10)
• "Drinking marijuana or THC is not only viable and effective, but it's becoming more and more available." (38:52)

Technology, Innovation, and Regulatory Complexity

(40:40–50:03)

Key Points:

• Psychedelics are seen as a possible future play, but the regulatory landscape is not yet clear enough for major moves.
• Material science in food/beverage (e.g., lab-grown aged whiskey) is exciting technologically but may struggle due to the importance of story and tradition in consumer perception.
• Regulatory hurdles in alcohol (the U.S. three-tier system) shape the business, requiring brands to navigate complex licensing and distribution laws.

Notable Quotes:

• "The consumers of something that is that valuable and rare… really care about the story and the narrative and the weight that they hold in the bottle." (43:34)
• "The booze business has a pretty complicated and often misunderstood regulatory framework that dates back to Prohibition. After Prohibition, a series of state and federal laws… called the three tier system." (46:59)

Fund Management & Final Life Advice

(50:03–54:13)

Key Points:

• New fund managers must have a clear “why,” deep domain expertise, and strong storytelling skills to attract capital and partners.
• Building a compelling ecosystem and track record is essential in today’s more skeptical LP environment.
• Personal advice: surround yourself with people who inspire and challenge you; this principle has been crucial to Noah’s own journey and success.

Notable Quotes:

• "You have to have a very clear sense of the core whys… And you have to be a good storyteller. Funds just like companies… are about projecting a vision and telling a story." (50:43)
• "Surround yourself with people that motivate you, inspire you, and push you to be better… getting yourself into the right room, staying in the right room… is a remarkably powerful life force and life hack." (53:10)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On local brands and the unpredictability of breakout success:
  "Oftentimes it is just like the perfect storm happened at the perfect time… we’re in the business of looking for that lightning and exploding it rather than spark it ourselves." (23:05)
• On success in alcohol investing:
  "If you have high velocity and high retention, you can generally solve for everything else… but if you have big distribution and low velocity, that's generally a tougher thing to solve for." (26:18)
• On the enduring importance of community:
  "You are the product of the people you spend the most time with gets a lot of airtime. I still think it's underrated… surround yourself with people that level you up." (53:10)

Additional Resources Mentioned

• Grazi (premium boxed wine) as a portfolio success story (23:55)
• The legendary Casamigos sale; celebrity brand strategies (19:14, 15:48)
• Ryan Reynolds & Aviation Gin’s playbook (32:43)
• The regulatory “three-tier system” controlling alcohol distribution (46:59)
• Non-alcoholic beverages and THC-infused opportunities (34:56, 38:10)

Closing

This episode delivers a rare, insider’s perspective on navigating the beverage industry, from what drives brand success and investing discipline to how market cycles and regulatory realities shape entrepreneurial opportunity. Noah’s blend of data-driven and people-centric wisdom, plus his practical advice for both investors and founders, make this a rich listen for anyone interested in the intersection of consumer products, venture capital, and emerging markets.