
After years moving between venture capital, connected hardware and consumer brands, Chaz Flexman found his most useful dataset in the supermarket. At Starday Foods, every snack is also a test of whether software can make product development less dependent on guesswork.
The Scottsdale startup spent four years turning hazelnut spread, chickpea crunch, seasoned rice and sweet-potato crackers into a live-fire test of its software. Now it is selling the decision system behind the snacks to the food companies that cannot afford another pretty dashboard.