S1E4 - From Pilot to Scale: How Anna Farberov Drives Innovation at PepsiCo Labs

In this episode of the Retail Transformers Podcast, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden talk with Anna Farberov, GM of PepsiCo Labs, about how one of the world’s largest CPG companies scales startup innovation from pilot to enterprise-wide transformation.

Anna shares her journey from finance and strategy into corporate innovation leadership, revealing how PepsiCo Labs built a structured playbook for startup partnerships that achieves a remarkable 50% success rate. She explains how to avoid innovation theater, define clear KPIs for pilots, and separate AI hype from real agentic AI solutions that deliver measurable ROI.

You’ll learn:

How PepsiCo Labs partners with startups to solve real-world challenges
Why KPIs and clear business cases are critical for scaling innovation
Navigating the dynamics of corporate vs. startup innovation cultures
How to identify AI hype vs. real solutions in startup pitches
Why integrating multiple startups is often key to solving complex problems like digital twins
What makes a startup pitch stand out—and what founders should avoid

Whether you’re a startup founder, a corporate innovator, or curious about retail and CPG innovation, this episode offers actionable insights from one of the industry’s leading voices.

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Guest info:
Anna Farberov, GM, PepsiCo Labs. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-farberov/
Anna leads PepsiCo’s global engagement with technology companies - from emerging disruptors to the world’s largest enterprises. She partners with senior executives to identify, test, and scale solutions that are reshaping how PepsiCo operates across data, AI, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics. Her work accelerates growth and drives transformation across one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies.

Anna brings a unique blend of expertise in strategy, finance, commercial execution, and venturing. Earlier in her career, she led commercial initiatives across consumer, customer, and marketing functions, including new product launches, go-to-market design, and demand creation. She also built a foundation in finance at Procter & Gamble, holding roles in operations, commerce, and strategic planning.

Prior to PepsiCo, Anna was a senior executive at Israel’s largest holdings company, where she led corporate strategy, investments, and the development of new growth platforms. This background in strategy and venturing now informs her work at PepsiCo Labs, where she builds models that connect corporate scale with technological disruption.

A frequent speaker at global conferences, Anna shares perspectives on how leaders can harness technology ecosystems, bridge business and innovation, and lead organizations with clarity and impact in times of rapid change.

Chapters:

(00:00) Previews

(01:03) Show Intro

(05:06) Welcome Anna Farberov

(07:02) Challenges and Risks in Innovation

(09:27) Building a Systematic Playbook

(11:41) The Importance of Clear KPIs

(13:04) Navigating Corporate and Startup Dynamics

(17:50) Secrets to Successful Innovation

(20:46) What Makes a Startup Stand Out

(25:17) Avoid Insulting Your Audience

(26:19) Relevance of AI in Startups

(27:18) Identifying Real AI Solutions

(29:52) Integrating Multiple Startups

(31:45) Future of Innovation and Technology

(33:35) Balancing Innovation and Business Operations

(36:46) Avoiding Innovation Theater

(41:10) Advice for Future Innovators

(44:45) Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voice for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2026. Thinkers 360 has named him a Top 10 Thought Leader in Retail, a Top 25 Thought Leader in AGI and Careers, a Top 50 Thought Leader in Agentic AIand Management, and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Digital Transformation and Transformation. Thinkers 360 also named him a Top Digital Voice for 2024 and 2025. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformationand the Retail Cloud Alliance. He was most recently the partner marketing leader for retail & consumer goods in the Americas at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the North America Leader for Retail & Consumer Goods at CI&T, and CEO of Luxlock. She is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2026, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, Casey is obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer and is slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Tropikool, from the album Future Beats 2, plus Virtual Apology and New Styles, from the album Shimmer Pop, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.