The Startup Story

Clay Alexander, founder of Ember

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About this episode

My guest this week is Clay Alexander, the inventor and founder of Ember. Ember is a temperature control brand that seeks to disrupt how the world eats, drinks and lives. Their very first product was a Travel Mug and was launched in 100 Starbucks locations. Since their launch they have expanded to other product lines.

Clay has an incredible founder story that I hope more people discover because I think it brings encouragement and inspiration to so many. Let me be clear, when I say "encouragement" I am not talking about the type of fuzzy-feelings you get when you receive a Hallmark card. I'm talking about the actual meaning of the word "encourage", to place courage inside of. That is what Clay's story will deliver to you, courage to keep moving forward despite the obstacles or challenges you might be up against.

See Clay grew up incredibly poor, in fact to use his words "dirt poor." Aside from his economic challenges he was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia, and he still is. Yet despite all these challenges he has founded two amazing companies and invented numerous patented products, that I'm sure when the story is over will deliver well beyond $1-billion in revenue. I know this episode will quickly become one of your favorites but like all other founder episodes we need to start at the very beginning.

In this episode, you'll hear
  • How Clay's upbringing was not one where entrepreneurship was an inevitable journey for him. In fact, everything about his upbringing would have pointed towards obtaining a steady 9-5 job to help simply put food on the table.
  • About how his creative and inventive mind was at work from a young age and how he even replicated the famous Inspector Gadget bicycle, including switches for smoke screens
  • The journey through college helped set the stage for him to refine his lighting expertise and led to his inventing the brightest LED bulb in the world
  • The steps he took to negotiate a licensing deal with GE for that very bulb he invented
  • How cold scrambled eggs became the catalyst for the first temperature controlled coffee mug on the planet
  • The reason why the Ember mug, iPhone, Macbook Pro, and Apple iPad all look so good together
  • Why any inventor or entrepreneur should never accept the answer of "No" as final and complete
  • Clay unpack the future of Ember and the various industries that will benefit from his many temperature control solution ideas
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    Ember website: https://ember.com/

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    The Startup StoryBy James McKinney