Michael Sharon and Kal Freese are co-founders of Taika, a new-wave beverage company that’s creating better coffee drinks that are better for you. Their goal with Taika products is to fuel creativity and reinvent the experience of drinking coffee. They met four years ago after long careers in other industries, and Taika was born shortly thereafter. 

 

In their conversation with Joe Quattrone, Michael and Kal share their stories of how they got connected and started building Taika together. Michael and Kal emphasize the importance of their community in building the brand, and how vital the feedback loop has been to Taika’s development. They also discuss the immense opportunities that exist with coffee and the beverage space, and how Taika can make an impact by fueling creativity around the world.

 

In-flight topics:

• How Taika was born (1:10 - 5:00)
• What it means to be a “destination” company (5:35 - 6:50)
• Innovating through ingredients (7:00 - 9:55)
• Caffeine as a commodity (11:10 - 20:40)
• Pioneering a new category (20:45 - 21:57)
• Sourcing R&D through customers (25:55 - 27:55)
• Integrating Web3 and NFTs into the brand (29:22 - 33:32)

 

Connect with Taika:

Taika website: ​​https://taika.co/ 

Taika Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taika/ 

Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsharon/ 

Kal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalfreese/