How Pearle created demand for a product that didn’t exist

While most entrepreneurs spend their early days chasing a market that already exists, a smaller group sets out to build one that doesn’t exist yet, betting that consumers will show up once the product hits the shelves. That’s the path that took one founder from the world of luxury events into her own kitchen, testing recipes that would eventually become Pearle, a plant-based caviar alternative.

On today’s episode of Business Trends Today, Ash Overbeek, Founder and CEO of Pearle, joins us to discuss what it takes to build demand for a product the market’s never seen before. 

A gap wider than the vegan market

Pearle starts with a base of tamari, tomato and kombu, a type of seaweed. Overbeek wanted a flavor that could stand on its own, not a copy of sturgeon caviar. The product fills what she calls a celebratory niche, a way to recreate a ritual moment without the original ingredient.

"I don't think the memo was to create something that aspired to taste exactly like caviar. I think the goal was ‘how do you fill a celebratory niche with a completely new food product that tastes delicious.’"

The audience extends well beyond vegans and plant-based eaters, with some customers avoiding caviar over ethics or sourcing concerns. Others simply dislike the taste. Allergies, pregnancy and religious restrictions also keep some people away from the delicacy. Therefore, Overbeek tweaks her messaging for each group and keeps the core positioning consistent. 

According to Overbeek, she searched for an existing version of Pearle before launching and found nothing. She identified the opportunity at the intersection of two things. The first was that the product needed real culinary innovation, and the second was that the brand needed the same emotional weight as the luxury item it replaces. 

From business school to full-time founder

Overbeek came up with the idea for Pearle while working in luxury events, but she didn’t commit to it full time until she finished her MBA at Harvard Business School. The product’s development timeline, plus the need to raise funds, made a side hustle impractical. Going all in, she said, is what convinced early believers to get on board. 

She notes that investors responded to two factors:

• The caviar market showed strong size and growth
• Pearle offered shelf stability that sturgeon caviar can’t match

While sturgeon caviar requires a cold chain through shipping and storage, Pearle stays shelf-stable at room temperature, which opened the door to a direct-to-consumer sales model.

Notably, Pearle’s first product sold out within 48 hours of launch, shipped entirely direct to consumers. That early sellout confirmed demand, Overbeek said, but it also created new pressure around fulfillment planning.

Overbeek is prioritizing channels where fulfillment stays manageable as the company weighs wholesale and retail expansion. Restaurants and aviation rank high on that list, since Pearle travels better than traditional caviar. A refill pack for the company’s reusable stainless steel serving shell launches next month, built directly from customer feedback after the sellout.

No playbook for a brand-new product

Overbeek pointed to two main challenges in bringing Pearle to market. She had to educate consumers on an entirely new product category, and she had to build a manufacturing process with no existing standard to follow. Most food categories come with established production steps already in place. Pearle didn’t have that luxury, so the company built its process from scratch.

The team tested more than 50 recipe iterations before landing on the final formula. Overbeek said finding a production partner willing to take on an unproven product was one of the harder parts of the process. That partner also had to train staff on methods that didn’t exist elsewhere. 

Packaging brought its own challenges. Adjusting one factor, like texture, could shift the product’s color or consistency elsewhere. That made it hard to solve problems one at a time. The company sources its tins from the same French factory that supplies sturgeon caviar producers, balancing size, appearance and shipping durability.

Advice for founders building something new

Overbeek’s advice to founders starts with budgeting for costs and then doubling it. She also points to the balance between conviction and flexibility.

"There's a really interesting balance between having conviction about an idea and having the flexibility to change when new information comes to light."

The biggest lesson from her own experience was learning to make decisions quickly. Getting stuck chasing a perfect decision slows everything down, and that mindset matters even more in a category with no existing playbook.

Overbeek sees Pearle’s current caviar product as a starting point. She pointed to other occasion-based foods, like foie gras, as potential categories for future expansion.

Her longer-term goal is for Pearle to appear alongside traditional caviar on menus worldwide. She wants to give people access to a food experience many previously couldn’t share, whether due to allergies, ethics or religious restrictions.