February 03, 2022

Alex Abelin, BA 05 - Growing a Sustainable Future for the Next Generation

37 minutes

Alex Abelin had an early exposure to sports, theater, arts, and traveling, yet his hidden passion is in business. At 30, the entrepreneurship calling grew louder that he decided to transition away from his comfortable job in Google to be a trailblazer in tech. Alex launched two tech startups: LiquidTalent and LQD Wifi. The acquisition of LQD Wifi by telco giant Verizon in 2016 marked his successful exit from the company. As part of the deal, he had to reintegrate back to the corporate office and manage the Urban Affairs for Verizon.

A few months after his son Alakai was born, Alex discovered a major gap in the infant formula market: no plant-based, soy-free, and dairy-free options are available. This led him to build a business around solving his own pain point. His guiding principle is to create something that brings people life, positivity, happiness, joy, and vitality.

Alex is BA 2005 alum at Berkeley Haas. In this episode, he takes us back to his favorite college memories, his experience working at two Fortune 50 companies, launching three startups, and now working towards a sustainable future through plant-based foods and beverages.

Episode Quotes:

On having his parents as role models

[02:49.23] I had two role models and parents who really kind of shone the light on what the working world was like. I learned a lot from them about the value of hard work and commitment. What I think my parents did is they brought a lot of heart to their organizations. My parents brought their full selves to their work, always led with their hearts, and were always very compassionate and spirited. So, I get a lot of that from them.

On his experience moving from San Diego to Berkeley for college

[00:15:05] For me, this was the first time living alone. It felt empowering. It felt great just the simple stuff of making sure I had three meals a day, knowing how to do my laundry, and making sure I show up to class on time. You know, these kinds of social life skills came into play. I think half the fun and half the reason to do a four-year institution is to acquire those resilience skills and the autonomy and the sovereignty. It's a huge rite of passage. It was so nourishing, so fun, so expansive. Looking at photos of me going into Cal and looking at photos of me going out to Cal, you could see a real, much more mature, and different human. Those four years really did a lot for me, a lot of good.

On transitioning from corporate career to entrepreneurship

[00:13:52] I was about to turn 30, and I used that as my fire under my butt to become the entrepreneur I always knew I was. The first thing I did was travel to Asia solo. I gave myself a couple of months to exhale and transition from my Google career to my future entrepreneur career. I know I'm blessed and very humbled to be able to do that. It's not the same for everybody, but I took those months, and I recalibrated. I spent that time traveling alone, thinking about what I wanted to build and what the world needed.

On his motivation for his third startup, PlantBaby

[00:22:49] PlantBaby, for me, is the first time I'm building a business around solving my own pain point, which I always wanted to do. PlantBaby is coming from the gut. It's coming from the heart. And that gives you so much more passion, motivation, and enthusiasm to see this succeed because you want to solve your own problem. It's great, and I also knew that sage advice always was out there is to solve your own problem.

Advice for people who might be interested in going to school or straight into entrepreneurship for food or sustainability

Build it if you want to be the consumer of it. Don't build anything that's a fun or smart, profitable business. Build it up as you want to buy it. That's a good piece of advice that I think will drive you when the nights are long and cold, and you need something to drive you. Solve your own need, buy your own product. Think about the environment. Think about different stakeholders than just yourself. Don't be intimidated by the entrenched, established players. They were small at one time too. There's enough success to go around. Change the way you look at competition. We all can win. It is not a zero-sum game.

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