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ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero says B Corp bylaws limit shareholder primacy

Name: ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero says B Corp bylaws limit shareholder primacy
Uploaded: 2026-07-30T14:24:00+00:00
Description: Mike Salguero says ButcherBox became B Corp certified in 2020 and describes it as a rigorous third-party audit of the company’s values, partners, and environmental and community impact. He says the certification process allowed ButcherBox to change its bylaws to state it is not making decisions solely for shareholders, and argues that approach makes a public listing harder to justify.

Masters of Scale · How to build a $600 million company without raising money (with ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero) · July 30, 2026

Masters of Scale

How to build a $600 million company without raising money (with ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero)

"And so in 2020 we u became BCorp certified which is a rigorous uh third party audit of your business of what you do of what you stand for who your partners are uh what your impact on the environment and community like a whole bunch of different um questions. Um and that is the thing that I um fall back on now."

Mike Salguero says ButcherBox became B Corp certified in 2020 and describes it as a rigorous third-party audit of the company’s values, partners, and environmental and community impact. He says the certification process allowed ButcherBox to change its bylaws to state it is not making decisions solely for shareholders, and argues that approach makes a public listing harder to justify.

About this episode

ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero tells Masters of Scale he bootstrapped the meat subscription business to roughly $600m in revenue, with a target of about $650m this year, after a bruising experience raising venture capital for his prior startup, CustomMade. Salguero describes CustomMade’s shift from a paid listing service to a fee-taking marketplace model, saying the custom nature of transactions made it difficult to keep buyers and makers on-platform. He argues that once venture money backed the marketplace thesis, pivoting became politically hard, and he recalls pressure from investors — including implied threats about being “black balled” — which he says contributed to him “los[ing]” his integrity as a founder.

After CustomMade’s 2015 closure and an employee transition to Wayfair, Salguero says he launched ButcherBox with minimal capital and validated demand via Kickstarter, aided by coincidental timing with a Consumer Reports cover story on grass-fed beef. He credits early customer research by a college intern for broadening the offering beyond beef, and says a curated box model reduced inventory complexity. Salguero claims he declined VC interest, built a positive cash conversion cycle, and later viewed Blue Apron’s post-IPO collapse as evidence he might not have survived on a venture-funded marketing “runway”.

He details a “box one profitable” acquisition rule and an influencer/affiliate strategy with ongoing payouts, while also discussing culture hires and a “barbell” mix of early-career grit and late-career experience. Salguero says ButcherBox pursued B Corp certification in 2020 and entered Target stores nationwide as part of its retail expansion.

Key takeaways

Salguero says ButcherBox is a ~$600m revenue business, aiming for about $650m this year.
He recounts raising around $30m for CustomMade and later concluding the marketplace model was not workable for highly customised transactions.
Salguero alleges founders can face investor pressure, including implied threats about future fundraising, that can discourage pivots.
He says ButcherBox validated demand via Kickstarter, raising $210,000 in 30 days after targeting $25,000.
Salguero says ButcherBox refused VC funding and adopted a ‘box one’ profitability rule for marketing spend.
He attributes early growth to influencer/affiliate marketing with recurring commissions, citing $5m then $35m then $100m revenue milestones.
He says ButcherBox became B Corp certified in 2020 and expanded into Target to reach customers who still buy meat in-store.