08/06/2026
→ This is post 9 of my Walking The Talk Summer Thursday series: a transparent look behind the scenes of building my product innovation brand in the music space, Toneoptic – a humbling and rewarding experience of me choosing to walk my brand talk ←
I spent my career as a brand strategist preaching to companies to be better. Better to their employees, better to their customers, and last but not least better to the environment.
When I started Toneoptic, it was deeply ingrained to walk my talk.
Fast forward, pictured: Me horribly stumbling on my walk of shame.
How did I get to a point of cutting corners?
Simply put, it came down to startup survival.
Our first product had to be made outside the U.S. to keep the cost low enough that all 143 premium parts were still somewhat affordable (to the few). Producing it in the U.S. from the get-go simply was not an option that customers were ready to open their wallets for.
I wanted packaging to be sustainable. Reading the fine print of biodegradable peanuts, I learned that they are made of corn and will attract rodents. That, we can’t have in the factory. Unless we create a ginormous sealed container for the huge amounts of peanuts. And that we do not have the resources for yet.
Early on, we decided that we’d like to not support certain industry giants that don’t share our values as a brand. That, too, became impossible when cost and speed to market became realities for survival.
This list goes on, and I find myself walking this walk of shame daily. Daily, until we will be at the point of creating a business that is financially sustainable; and I promise myself (and you, and my stakeholders) that the minute we can, we will. And that will start with becoming a B-Corp to be held accountable across the entire supply chain. It will be the next difficult step to take, and one that I can not wait for.
But for now, I am proudly holding a ginormous bag of horrible-for-the-environment peanuts from ULINE, padding our backs that we are producing the new products locally now, and we are packing deliveries securely so our customers will love their products. The brand will have to follow suit.
Until we are a sustainable company, we simply, and sadly, can not be as sustainable for the planet as we wish.
One step at a time. Even if it hurts.
That is the real painful cost of starting small. And a wake-up call for me.
Will I go any easier on my clients? 99% of them, I sure will not. But that 1% that is in true startup mode like we are now, you bet. I might even swing by to lend a hand.
⚫ Learn more about the Toneoptic brand: toneoptic.com
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