Veteran CPG executive joins to scale AI copilot for product development
Indianapolis, IN — September 10, 2025 — Alloy Partners today announced the appointment of Danyel O’Connor as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) to lead Umami, a new company incubated in the firm's Fieldbook Studio. Umami is the first AI-powered product development platform specifically designed for food and beverage brands, turning consumer insight into concepts that connect and resonate while fueling crave-worthy growth.
The appointment comes as Alloy Partners continues to expand its portfolio of innovative technology solutions for the consumer goods and retail sector. Umami is being incubated within Fieldbook Studio, Alloy's venture studio based in Bentonville, Ark. It represents a strategic response to the explosive growth of upstart CPG brands and products in recent years that demand faster, more agile product development approaches.
As EIR, O’Connor brings over two decades of CPG industry experience to scale Umami's market presence and accelerate adoption across both emerging and established food and beverage (F&B) brands. Most recently, she served as CEO of Cravings by Chrissy Teigen and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Good Foods Group. She also serves as Senior Advisor at Altamont Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on middle-market consumer and restaurant investments.
"Having spent my career building brands and launching products, I know the challenges R&D, brand, and innovation teams face when trying to identify the next winning product," said O’Connor. "Umami makes that process smarter and faster, providing real-time, actionable insights that reduce risk, accelerate development, and fuel growth. As Entrepreneur in Residence, I'm excited to partner with teams across businesses of all sizes to help unlock this massive opportunity."
Umami functions as an AI copilot for new product development, leveraging machine learning and market intelligence to help food and beverage companies identify emerging opportunities and validate concepts with real consumer data. The platform streamlines traditional product development processes, significantly reducing both costs and time-to-market for innovation teams.
"The CPG landscape has fundamentally changed since the onset of AI. We're seeing unprecedented growth in new brands and products, but traditional product development approaches are too slow and expensive to keep pace," said Elliott Parker, CEO at Alloy Partners. "Umami is built for this new reality, where brands are in desperate need of agile, AI-powered insights to win quickly. We've already proven this approach works by surfacing a product opportunity that led to the creation of another CPG company within our Fieldbook Studio portfolio, demonstrating the platform's ability to drive real business outcomes."
Umami representatives are set to present at the upcoming Embark Summit in Bentonville, Ark., where the company will demonstrate how AI-powered consumer insights are reshaping food and beverage product development. The platform is in private beta for food and beverage brands looking to accelerate their product innovation processes.
To learn more about Umami or sign up for its product waitlist, visit https://madebyumami.com/.
For more information about Alloy Partners and its venture-building approach, visit alloypartners.com.
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About Alloy Partners
Alloy Partners (formerly High Alpha Innovation) is a venture builder that co-creates advantaged startups and venture studios with corporations and large organizations. Alloy Partners works with partners through their journey from defining a venture strategy to systematically conceiving, launching, investing in and scaling a portfolio of venture-backed startups. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Indianapolis, the Alloy Partners portfolio includes over 30 companies and seven venture studios started in partnership with leading organizations across industries, including Huntington Bank, Eli Lilly, Elanco, Capital One, Catalyst by Wellstar, Warner Bros. Discovery, University of Notre Dame and more. For more information, visit AlloyPartners.com.
Media Contact:
Sarah Smith-Ruehle
PANBlast for Alloy Partners
alloypartners@panblastpr.com
