From Technology to Better Snacking: The Business Journey of Naushad Parpia

Entrepreneurs rarely stay in one lane for their entire careers. Some begin in technology and eventually move into consumer products. Others start with a product idea and build the business around it. Naushad Parpia's career has followed a similar path, moving between technology, entrepreneurship and the consumer food space.

Based in New York, Parpia is the Founder and CEO of Earthside Farms, a company focused on better-for-you snacks. The business launched in 2022 and has developed a product line that includes items such as candied nuts and dried fruits.

What makes his career interesting is less about having one particular job title and more about the shift between industries.

A Business Background That Started in Technology

Before Earthside Farms, Parpia built experience in technology and business consulting. His education at the University of Virginia included finance, information technology and economics, a combination that gave him exposure to both the commercial and technical sides of business.

That background is useful when looking at the way he approaches a consumer brand.

A food company still has many of the same basic business problems as a technology company. There are customers to understand, products to improve, operations to manage and a market that can change quickly. The difference is that the end product is something people buy, open and eat.

That transition from technology into consumer products is one of the more notable parts of Parpia's professional story.

Why Earthside Farms?

Earthside Farms grew out of an interest in healthier snacking. The company's stated focus is on snacks that are healthy, wholesome and enjoyable, with products made around natural and nutrient-rich ingredients. Its LinkedIn profile describes the business as a food and beverage company headquartered in New York.

The idea itself is straightforward.

People snack. They also increasingly pay attention to what goes into the food they buy.

The challenge for a snack company is finding the balance between those two things. A product can be positioned as healthy, but if people do not actually enjoy eating it, the positioning only goes so far. Earthside Farms has built its brand around trying to make those two ideas work together.

The company previously operated under the Keto Farms name before becoming Earthside Farms in 2023, according to an announcement published on the company's website.

Building a Consumer Brand in New York

New York is an unusual place to build a consumer brand.

It is crowded, expensive and full of businesses competing for attention. At the same time, the city offers access to a large consumer market and a deep network of companies, professionals and entrepreneurs.

Parpia's professional profile places him in New York, where he continues to work on his business ventures.

For Earthside Farms, the New York connection is also reflected in the company's corporate presence. Its LinkedIn profile lists New York, NY as its headquarters.

That makes “New York entrepreneur” a reasonable description of where Parpia's current professional work is based, rather than simply a keyword attached to his name.

A Different Kind of Career Progression

There is a tendency to describe entrepreneurship as a straight line: identify an opportunity, start a company and grow it.

Real careers are usually messier.

Parpia's path shows several different stages. His education combined business and technology. His earlier professional experience was connected to technology consulting. He later became involved in building businesses of his own, including Plative and Earthside Farms.

The move into food is particularly interesting because it requires a different type of thinking.

Technology businesses often sell systems, services or expertise. A snack company has to think about taste, packaging, ingredients, retail, distribution and repeat purchases. The business may have the same founder behind it, but the day-to-day questions are very different.

That kind of change can be useful for an entrepreneur. Experience from one industry does not necessarily stay in that industry. It can influence how the next business is built.

Where Earthside Farms Fits

Earthside Farms is now positioned around healthier snacking, with products including candied nuts and dried fruit. The company has also published material featuring Parpia discussing the future of snacking and the direction of the category.

For Parpia, the company represents a move into an area that connects business with a personal interest in health and longevity. His own entrepreneurship site describes those themes as part of the motivation behind the company.

Whether a consumer buys a snack because of its ingredients, its taste, its convenience or simply because it looks good on a store shelf, the underlying business challenge remains the same: give people a reason to choose the product again.

That is where building a brand becomes more complicated than launching a product.

Looking Ahead

Parpia's career is still developing, and Earthside Farms remains a relatively young company. That makes the next stage more interesting than trying to put a final label on what he has accomplished so far.

The company has moved from its earlier Keto Farms identity into the Earthside Farms brand and is continuing to build its presence in the snack category.

For Parpia, the bigger challenge will be scaling that idea without losing the reason people noticed it in the first place.

That is a familiar problem in business, but it is also one of the hardest.

Starting a company can happen quickly. Building something that continues to work as the company becomes larger takes a different kind of discipline.

For a New York entrepreneur like Naushad Parpia, the next part of the story will likely be less about starting another venture and more about seeing how far an existing one can go.

‍