Victor Macias

Santana Snacks founder

I built a Shark Tank company, lost it, and started over.

I'm Victor Macias, founder of Santana Snacks. I co-founded Nui Foods, pitched it on Shark Tank, and lost it. Now I make premium organic corn chips in my hometown of Santa Ana, California.

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Victor Macias

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From cookies to corn chips

Three chapters. The hard one in the middle is why the third one works.

  1. Nui Foods

    My friend Kristoffer Quiaoit and I baked low-carb cookies in his mom's kitchen. Two Kickstarter campaigns raised more than $100,000. Then we landed a deal on Shark Tank.

    See how we raised $100K

  2. What went wrong

    Nui grew faster than our operations and cash could support, and we ran out of runway. We were losing money on each order, and we shut down. I filed for bankruptcy.

    Read what happened to Nui Foods

  3. Santana Snacks, round two

    Premium organic corn chips, built on everything Nui taught me. I started it in 2023 in my hometown of Santa Ana to make the chips I grew up with, inspired by Mexican antojitos and made with three ingredients, and you can find them at Mother’s Market, Lassen’s, Thrive Market and Instacart.

    Find Santana near you

Where to start reading

Browse all writing
Founder story What Happened to Nui Foods? The Nui Cookies Shark Tank Story Playbook Crowdfunding for Startups: How We Raised Over $100,000 on Kickstarter Playbook Pre-Selling for Startups: How to Test Your Idea Before You Spend Money Interview Michael B. Jordan on Rejection, Confidence, and Legacy Interview Troy Polamalu on Confidence, Respect, and Humility Interview Landon Donovan on Meditation, Self-Doubt, and Ego