Mar 1, 2026
In this episode of the Grow A Small Business Podcast,
host Troy Trewin interviews Daniel
McDonnell co-founder of Maple
Movement, shares how severe gut health issues during
his professional Ironman career led him to discover the power of
maple syrup as a natural fuel source and launch Maple Movement.
What began as a house-deposit gamble quickly evolved into a
fast-growing gut-friendly energy gel brand now stocked in 125+
stores across Australia and New Zealand. Daniel opens up about
bootstrapping the business, learning margins from scratch, managing
rapid growth from his living room, and transitioning to a 3PL. He
dives into brand positioning, organic content strategy,
subscription revenue, and building a lean, aligned team. It’s a
raw, practical story of turning personal pain into a scalable FMCG
business with purpose and momentum.
Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you
signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and
business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most
of this year. Let’s get
into it by clicking here.
Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of
success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point
during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business
growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team
building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice.
And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions:
What do you think is the
hardest thing in growing a small business?
According to Daniel McDonnell, the hardest part of growing a small
business is keeping up with rapid growth before scalable systems
are fully in place, especially during big sales months when demand
spikes beyond operational capacity. He shared how he and his wife
were packing nearly 95 orders a day from their living room while
trying to maintain a personal brand touch, highlighting that the
real challenge wasn’t generating sales but managing growth
sustainably while building the right infrastructure to support
it.
What's your favorite
business book that has helped you the most?
Daniel said his favorite business book that’s helped him the most
is “Built to Sell” by John Warrillow — a practical guide about
structuring and scaling a business so it’s not dependent on the
founder and becomes sellable. He’s mentioned it shaped how he
thinks about systems, value creation, and building something that
can run beyond him.
Are there any great
podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow
a small business?
According to Daniel McDonnell, one podcast he highly recommends for
small business growth is Chew the Fat by the Greive brothers, where
they share real, relatable stories after building and exiting
Realbase. He values listening to founders who have scaled and
exited businesses, as their practical lessons help avoid costly
mistakes. Daniel also emphasizes learning directly from experienced
mentors and operators rather than figuring everything out the hard
way. For him, real-world business conversations and founder-led
insights have been the most impactful learning resources.
What tool or resource
would you recommend to grow a small business?
Daniel McDonnell would point to a tool that helps you systemize and
scale without chaos, and one he personally recommends is Notion —
it’s where he organizes products, SOPs, content calendars, order
processes, and more in one place so nothing slips through the
cracks. He also emphasizes tools for automating the parts of your
business that don’t need manual work, like Mailchimp or Klaviyo for
email automation, and Shopify + a good 3PL integration to handle
orders cleanly as volume grows. For analytics and ads, basic
dashboards like Google Analytics and Facebook/Meta Business Suite
help you make smarter decisions instead of guessing. The key, he
says, isn’t having every tool under the sun — it’s picking the ones
that actually save you time and help you standardize your processes
so the business can scale.
What advice would you give
yourself on day one of starting out in business?
According to Daniel McDonnell, on day one he would tell himself to
raise far more capital than he thinks he needs, understand margins
and cash flow from the start, and build scalable systems
early—because growth can come fast, but without enough cash and
structure, it becomes far more stressful than it needs to be.
Book a 20-minute Growth
Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming
course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small
business to new heights!
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Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small
Business podcast guest:
Solve a real problem and the market will pull you forward -
Daniel McDonnell
When the team wins in their own lane the whole brand moves
faster - Daniel McDonnell
Build systems early because growth exposes every weakness - Daniel McDonnell