Stairway to CEO

Joining the show today is Sahand Dilmaghani, the Founder and CEO of Terra Kaffe. Sahand shares how moving to Berlin to work for a startup changed his life, how he came up with the idea to build a new coffee machine, and why luck comes to those who are prepared to receive it.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:10) More about Terra Kaffe, a direct-to-consumer luxury coffee machine brand, founded in 2018 on a mission to transform the in-home coffee experience. 
• (2:20) What it was like growing up in Virginia, but also hopping around to China, and how he was an energetic kid, and always on a mission to beat his older brother at things
• (4:20) One of the first businesses he started at just the age of 16, a frisbee club for all of Northern Virginia
• (8:00) Why he wanted to start at Wind Farm when he was younger, due to his love for environmental science but ended up learning more than winning
• (11:15) Why he chose to move to Berlin for a corporate development role to work for a startup
• (26:21) Where the idea for Terra Kaffe came from 
• (36:55) How he demoed the product in the early days, by going door to door to businesses and asking to set up shop
• (41:16) One of the biggest challenges he’s faced in building the brand, in that he almost had to close down in a matter of a week
• (47:00) The reminder that even in the losses, you have to remember to celebrate the wins
• (51:00) His advice for early-stage founders, and what’s next for Terra Kaffe

https://www.terrakaffe.com/

“I aligned with the notion that one should really be competitive with themselves and constantly progress forward.”

“I knew I was gonna wanna do something myself at some point, and I thought what better experience than going to work at a startup.”

“I was always thinking through different ideas that I thought would be clever businesses that were unique opportunities.”

“It really can be a death by a thousand cuts but it's also resilience by a thousand bandaids.”

“I kept looking back at the home experience and realized there's nobody doing anything different here. This is just the same rinse, repeat, same brand, releasing different skews that do the same thing.”

“It's okay to acknowledge those feelings. It's almost more important to actually acknowledge that they exist instead of burying them.”

“There are no promises that anything works out.”

“Even when you're still sprinting, you gotta remember to pause and appreciate the win.”

“​​It can feel like a barrage at times, as you're just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. But doing that in a clear, calm, collected headspace is incredibly valuable. It also speaks volumes to third parties that look at you and how you operate as a business.”

“Build a space for your team to be able to say things they need to say and to be able to take a minute to pause.”

Liz Whitman joins the show today to talk about her journey to becoming the Founder and CEO of Exponent Beauty. Liz spoke about what it was like growing up in New York City as an only child, to building an apparel business with a friend before earning her MBA, working for American Express and Beauty Bar, to building her second startup Manicube, which The Red Door by Elizabeth Arden acquired, to having an aha moment that inspired her to reimagine what truly effective skincare could look like.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:54) More about Exponent Beauty, the first skincare system that fully preserves active ingredients for peak effectiveness.
• (3:14) What it was like growing up in New York City as a kid, and how she grew up wanting to go into environmental chemistry
• (6:15) Why she chose to go to Harvard for school because it provided a lot of different academic opportunities, and the first few jobs she had that led to an entrepreneurial journey
• (10:30) How she and a friend started a fashion line together in college and ran it for two years, which began to ignite her entrepreneurial spirit
• (16:24) Her career journey from working at American Express to Co-Founding Manicube, with her Co-Founder Katina, who we had on Episode 102.
• (22:30) Where the inspiration came from for Exponent
• (30:00) The first steps she took begin building the brand, from uncovering the problem to solving it
• (37:12) Liz walks Lee through assembling the product, and how to use it
• (52:30) Some of the most challenging things she’s had to overcome in building Exponent
• (57:00) How she built herself a community of founders, and what keeps her going through the tough times
• (1:01:00) What specific skill sets she thinks makes a great Founder
• (1:05:00) Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and what’s next for Exponent

https://exponentbeauty.com/

“The intertwining of how your business affects your actual life is just something that's part of the process.”

“Learning by doing is exactly what entrepreneurship is.”

“I have this fascination with what people and culture can actually do in terms of driving impact in a business”

“Being an entrepreneur is a very specific personality type who sees these open doors and these opportunities as they come.”

“We traded convenience and scalable distribution with efficacy.”

“I'm somebody who thrives on getting a product out there and having consumers and seeing how they’re interacting with it.”

“You can get sucked up in these reactive tactical needs, and so carving out time in your schedule for the important but not urgent keeps you focused.”

“Be clear with yourself on why you’re doing this.”

“Investors get excited about huge growing categories that can be very profitable and that have logical exits. If you can do something truly differentiated in that space, that's exciting.”

“Being true to why you're doing it. That has to be your north star when times are tough and they will be tough. This is not glamorous at all. There're ups and downs all around”

“Our whole entire premise is taking fantastic ingredients and innovating on form factors. So we're delivering the best clinical results to you.”

Sharing their story today is Hailey Schwartz, the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Actual Veggies. Hailey chatted about her childhood growing up in California, running cross country and biking in the mountains, to working on the advertising team for her school newspaper at the University of Michigan, to working at a startup where she realized that work can actually be fun. She talks about how she met her Co-Founder in 2020, why they decided to launch Actual Veggies on QVC of all places, and how she fundraised a $4M seed round during Covid over Zoom.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:30) More about Actual Veggies, the new food brand reinventing veggie burgers to make them healthy and delicious with naturally colorful patties that taste just like their primary vegetables and have no oils, fillers, or preservatives. Now available in over 2,000 retail stores nationwide.
• (4:00) What it was like growing up in Agoura Hills, California, and spending a lot of time being active with cross country, biking, or going to the beach
• (6:45) Why she believes she never thought she was entrepreneurial but was always working and planned to go the corporate route
• (7:50) Some of her first jobs after graduating from the University of Michigan, like working at AOL to her first startup, and what she learned 
• (12:00) Why she thought it was impossible for work to be fun until she got the entrepreneur itch
• (15:10) How she got the entrepreneurial itch, knowing that she wanted to be her own boss, and meeting her Co-Founder who had the idea for Actual Veggies
• (17:30) How they validated that they’d be good Co-Founders together, and how to find the complementary skill sets
• (25:00) What makes their veggie burgers different from the others, and how they got to market and validated the idea
• (28:20) How they launched on QVC, and why it ended up being a great option for them
• (33:00) The events that food brands should be invested in going to for opportunities
• (38:50) The grand vision for the brand, and the best pieces of advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs

https://actualveggies.com/

“I saw that everyone was having a lot of fun and it really opened my eyes to this idea that work could be fun.”

“I think I was necessarily not in the right role for me and I didn't know how to get to that right role.”

“I knew that I wanted to be my own boss.”

“I liked hearing people who got to do so many different things all day long because I loved wearing multiple hats.”

“They all taste like their primary ingredients. So what we're doing is making a clean, really good-tasting veggie burger.”

“Our retail strategy is mostly our focus.”

“Make friends with other founders and expand your network.”

“Don’t ask a million people, have one or two advisors and trust yourself.”

“You’re never going to get everything right, you just have to execute the plan you put in place.”

“Trying something new and just doing something is really important. I see people get scared of how they start and I think just actually putting one foot forward really helps.”

Today, Lee sits down with Eunice Byun, Co-Founder and CEO of Material. Eunice talked about how she grew up in San Diego with parents who owned a Chinese restaurant, how she started out working for the school newspaper at Northwestern University, why she invested heavily in PR from day one after launching Material, what she did early on to build the brand, and why it's important to align on what success looks like with investors in order to filter for the right ones.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:30) More about Material, a modern kitchen brand. If you're looking to upgrade your knives, cutting boards, cookware tools, or really anything you need to prepare a delicious meal, Material designs and manufacturers kitchenware for the modern home.
• (3:40) What it was like growing up in San Diego, surrounded by food and spending time in the kitchen due to her parents opening different restaurants
• (8:00) Why she believes entrepreneurship comes in all shapes, sizes, and forms, and that for her it looked really different compared to others
• (9:40) Not knowing what she wanted to do throughout college, some of her early jobs working at her parent's restaurants, and how she ended up at Goldman Sachs
• (20:00) How she processed working in a startup and transitioning to corporate America, and knowing that one day she would have her own business
• (21:50) How she met her Co-Founder, David, and how they came up with the idea for Material
• (30:00) The steps they took to get Material off the ground, and how they began to validate the idea
• (33:00) Why they chose to start by selling to friends and family first and pushing the brand forward with PR
• (39:00) Why building early relationships is important to help build influencer marketing
• (40:20) Why she believes building capital ebbs and flows, and how to filter for the right investors
• (54:17) The advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs and what’s next for Material

https://materialkitchen.com/

“I truly had no idea what I wanted to do or be when I was older.”

“It was also almost an insatiable thirst for being able to learn stuff.”

“I love being able to figure out what people need and how they can't articulate it, and figure out how can I unearth that within them and then help them.”

“What’s hard in the early days is knowing how everything is intertwined and working together.”

“We realized that there's this real empty space for well-made, high-quality things for the kitchen and for this more modern home cook.”

“We really wanted to make a brand that made sure our product over delivered.”

“We didn't know how to talk about the things that really make us who we are as a company”

“We realized this is a relationships business. It's not just about sowing your seeds and spreading them far and wide. It’s about going deep.”

“Be mindful about the deployment of capital, rather than sitting on it.”

“The speed of growth can really undermine the quality of growth.”

“Be okay with changing your mind”

“Tomorrow's another day. Dust yourself off, and pick yourself back up. When you love what you do and you love the people you're doing it with, you're able to roll through it.”

“Be in community with other people that are doing this.”

Coming to share their story today is Vanessa Dawson, Founder and CEO of Arber. Vanessa talks about her childhood growing up as the oldest of three in Vancouver, Canada, her first job working at a bed and breakfast cafe, how she came up with the idea for Arber, and how she secured Walmart as her first big box retail partner shortly after launching the company on Earth Day in April 2021.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (3:40) More about Arber, a plant wellness company providing gardeners with the safest and most effective products for their indoor and outdoor green spaces
• (4:30) What it was like growing up in Vancouver, Canada as the oldest of three, always growing up in nature, and how that brought her full circle to Arber
• (7:30) One of her very first jobs working at a bed and breakfast working under a small business, and how working in this environment gave her the idea of entrepreneurship
• (11:09) How she was working in private equity when she got the motivation and passion to support female entrepreneurs and launched a digital accelerator to help bring together a community of female founders and investors
• (15:45) How the idea for Arber came about, how she was looking for a brand in the nontoxic garden space and it made her realize the need for something new
• (20:16) How she validated the concept of Arber, and began looking at it globally 
• (23:00) How she began fundraising early on so she could get to launch and build the brand with a small team to grow distribution, and how they worked to tackle retail sales
• (29:40) She talks about the products, the four different types, the manufacturing process, and why branding was so important
• (35:00) The challenges she faced in building a seasonal business and building a team
• (44:00) How she keeps stress down and gets excited to stay motivated to keep building
• (49:00) What’s next for Arber with new launches in store and new product lines
• (51:00) The final advice she has for other entrepreneurs 

https://growarber.com/

“I feel like my personality has always been very much wanting to own and control my own destiny in an entrepreneurial way.”

“The energy of creating your own thing and controlling your own destiny and seeing the passion that the entrepreneurs had around their products and their projects was a huge inspiration for me.”

“When you build something, they will come.”

“I couldn't find anything as a consumer that I really identified with”

“As a smaller brand, you really don't wanna be too top-heavy from a resource planning cost-wise.”

“If you do take on capital really focus on the core assets that you need out of that, or the core skill sets you need to leverage it in a big way.”

“Setting those longer-term goals and then setting the path towards it and making sure that you check out and reset every once in a while is key.”

“I think surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs is honestly the best thing that you can do. Getting yourself involved in those communities is such a fabulous way to continue to test your ideas and bounce ideas off people.”

“Surround yourself with a good community.”

Today, Lee sits down with Vimla Black-Gupta, the Co-Founder and CEO of Ourself, the first-ever sub-topical skincare system. In this episode, Vimla talks about her childhood growing up in Washington, DC, to realizing her passion for business at a young age. She shares her impressive career journey, from working at Proctor and Gamble to Bobby Brown Cosmetics to becoming the global CMO of Equinox and then starting Ourself.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:34) More about Ourself,  the first ever sub-topical skincare system defining a new beauty category. By bridging the gap between traditional skincare products and clinical procedures, Ourself formulations leverage biotechnology to provide an at-home alternative to needles and lasers, delivering clinical-level results without the clinic.
• (3:25) She talks about her childhood growing up in Washington, DC where one of her first jobs was selling ice cream from a cart at a local mall where she grew to become a manager and realized her interest in business. 
• (14:00) Her impressive career journey, from working at Proctor and Gamble, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and Equinox.
• (16:40) The biggest takeaways from her experience at Proctor and Gamble and how she uses it today as a Co-Founder and CEO
• (28:30) Why she had the sudden change from the beauty industry to the fitness & health industry
• (33:50) How she got the idea for Ourself, based on a desire to do something different
• (40:00) Lee’s experience trying the products, and Vimla walking Lee through how to use the lip filler gloss
• (51:00) What it’s been like to become a Co-Founder and now CEO
• (53:00) The limiting beliefs and fears she has, but how she uses it to propel the business 
• (55:00) The final advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs, and how to overcome some of the biggest struggles

https://www.ourself.com/

“Talk to your consumers, test with your consumers, really get the feedback from them.”

“All customer feedback is a gift.”

“Whether you're working on a new brand or existing brand, you like don't wanna break it.”

“The idea of the fusion of wellness and beauty was becoming this new thing.”

“Keep the old cause the old is still really prescient when it was created but also meaningful today, but just make sure that you're keeping it fresh and making it resonate with where your consumer is at.”

“Ourself is a call to action to be yourself, but just a better version.”

“We’re a company that is developing true science that is going to deliver the results.”

“It is the fear that makes me wanna leap out of bed. But it's the conviction around what we're able to do and resolute on wanting to serve the consumer.”

“My advice to everyone is you should follow your dreams. You should follow that hunch. You've just gotta figure out how and what's the best way to follow it that fits with your risk profile.”

“You have to do something for you every day. You have to just to give your space the time to think. Cause otherwise, you will be lonely, you will just be in your thoughts. So find out whatever that is.”

Amy Shecter joins the show today to chat about her journey to becoming the CEO of Ever/Body. Pioneering a first-of-its-kind approach to cosmetic dermatology, Ever/Body is on a mission to offer results in under 60 minutes. In this episode, Amy shares her impressive career journey, and how she’s earned the CEO title three times. She talks about how she raised $94M in just 11 months, and what she does during an all-hands meeting each month to ensure her team is being acknowledged for their hard work.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (3:30) More about Ever/Body, a brand pioneering a first-of-its-kind approach to cosmetic dermatology, offering a curated collection of clinically tested face and body treatments delivered by trusted medical professionals and designed to deliver natural-looking, not obvious-looking results in under 60 minutes.
• (4:40) What it was like growing up being the youngest of three sisters, with a strong sense of family, and having early signs of being a leader
• (13:39) Her impressive career journey from working at Footlocker, Diesel, DKNY, Juicy Couture, Cole Haan, Tory Burch, and C Wonder, and what she’s learned along the way.
• (21:00) Some of the biggest challenges she’s faced in her career
• (27:00) The advice she has for those needing to take risks in their businesses 
• (30:00) Her thoughts on quiet quitting and how she thinks people should really be handling it
• (38:00) How she’s earned the CEO title three times at Core Power Yoga, Glam Squad, and now at Ever/Body
• (49:18) What she thinks some of the qualities and skillsets are that make up a great CEO, and what she thinks people don’t know about being a CEO
• (59:10) The final advice she has for those aspiring to become CEO

https://everbody.com/

“You learn something about being a competitor that gives you tools that are helpful as you begin to explore the world and become a business person.”

“Evaluate, assess, develop a rapport, and connect with everyone.”

“Fundraising is not something we're not necessarily taught, but yet we have to compete.”

“Definitely take risks, there's no question about it. Never stay in a job because you feel like you have to, and never be afraid of not being able to do a job.” 

“My resume is my story of my brand.”

“You are not an individual working, you are curating and crafting your brand.”

“Sometimes when you work for a company, you’re not working for a brand.”

“You control what happens to you as much as you're part of an organization. You have to be an active participant in what happens next.”

“Networking is critical to your success.”

“A great CEO thinks about people first.”

“Craft your vision. How are you going to get there? Create your mood board for the steps that you have to take and understand the skills that you need and how you're going to get them to get that job.”

Yanni Hufnagel joins the show today to chat about his journey to becoming the Founder and CEO of Lemon Perfect, a great tasting flavored lemon water. Yanni shares his story from being a college basketball coach, to launching his first startup Lemon Perfect. We talk about how the name Lemon Perfect came to him, why he almost hired a CEO, and how he keeps the energy in his organization higher than ever and his team either sprinting or resting, but nothing in between.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (1:30) More about Lemon Perfect, lemon-flavored water with zero sugar and no artificial flavors or sweeteners powered by organic lemons, containing electrolytes from potassium, and packed with Vitamin C, making healthy hydration more refreshing than ever. 
• (4:00) Why he believes entrepreneurship is a lot like coaching a team, and why you have to constantly be looking at the scoreboard 
• why he almost hired a CEO, but then decided against it in the last moments before signing the contract 
• (7:50) What his life was like growing up, how he always had the inclination of being a coach
• (12:40) How he ended up being a student manager of the basketball team at Cornell, and how that kick-started his career in coaching college basketball
• (19:10) The a-ha moment for Lemon Perfect, how the name came to him, and why it was important to him to buy the domain name
• (25:30) The launch strategy for launching Lemon Perfect, knowing that flavor was the most important, and how to make it great flavor and good for you 
• (30:51) The story of how they got Beyonce as a celebrity investor
• (36:00) What fundraising has been like, what the process has been, and the advice he has for other aspiring entrepreneurs 
• (45:00) How to persevere through the everyday rollercoasters 
• (50:00) What he’s taken from being a coach that makes a great CEO
• (54:00) How he maintains the excitement across the company, and having the leadership team invest time in their people
• (57:00) Why he decided to pull back in hiring a CEO, and build Lemon Perfect himself based on gut instinct
• (1:06:00) The final advice he has for entrepreneurs tuning in

https://lemonperfect.com/

“We tried to create packaging that was a fashion show on the shelf, in a cooler, or on display.”

“There is no scoreboard when you're first starting.”

“It was really this intersection of flavor that's also good for you, and how do we get there, and the idea just stuck with me.”

“We have to create a product that's delicious and refreshing that hits on relevant consumer treads.”

“We are delivering real innovation to a stale, enhanced water category.”

“Have the perseverance to keep going.”

“I don't have a choice but to be the last team standing.”

“I have the burden of delivering something to the market  that can truly make America and eventually the world a healthier place.”

“Entrepreneurship is a high-stakes game.”

“We don't allow people to walk or run here. We only sprint or rest.”

“I've always been about compressing our gross margin story today to build a big share story for tomorrow.”

“Run the race until you have nothing left.”

“Focus on product. I've talked a lot about recruiting and retention, but you do have to focus on product, because product market fit is ultimately really the most important.”

Joining the show today is Alexandra Clark, the Founder and CEO of Bon Bon Bon, a chocolate company, reinventing bon bons. Alex talked about how a raspberry truffle during a visit in Europe changed her life and inspired her to use chocolate as an art medium, why she created her own manufacturing, starting with a 650 square-foot space in the back room of a diner, and why she advises entrepreneurs to prepare for best case scenarios. 

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (5:40) More about BonBonBon, a chocolate company reinventing bon bons, their packaging, and the experience of eating and enjoying chocolate. 
• (10:00) What it was like growing up outside of Detroit, growing up being adventurous, with a natural internal commitment to things
• (15:30) Her first job working at an ice cream shop, and how she fell in love with food and customer service and ending up at Michigan State for a dairy science program
• (24:00) How traveling throughout Europe led her to fall in love with chocolate and eventually inspire her to create Bon Bon Bon
• (32:00) How she ended up buying her own factory to create the best chocolate and the best level for the tasting experience
• (37:00) Her advice for preparing for best-case scenarios, and thinking through what you’re going to do if it does work out, not just thinking through worst-case scenarios
• (38:50) How they came up with the packaging experience, how having single-serve packaging was ideal for them, and using honeycomb material
• (48:50) The times when she got knocked down in business, and how she built herself back up, and the limiting beliefs she’s had to overcome
• (56:00) Some of the best advice she’s been given, and the grand vision for BonBonBon

https://bonbonbon.com/

“Everything I was worried about didn’t happen.”

“It started to hit me that there's so much uncertainty in the chocolate industry of what is being sold and then what is actually happening, and I wanted to fix that.”

“Just because you started something doesn't mean you need to do it for the rest of your life.”

“Something really cool and universal about chocolate that I appreciate so much is you can buy the best piece of chocolate in any city and it's generally going to be less than $5.”

“A lot of what we're doing is imparting fresher more real flavors into the chocolate that we make in order to make a more accurate experience.”

“We don’t do a lot of planning around the idea of what if it all works out and goes well, and we all should be doing that.”

“It felt like we were stuck between a rock and a hard place of, we didn't know how to stop and we didn't know how to not stop and everything was broken.”

“When you're absolutely exhausted and you're thinking about quitting, cause everybody does when it gets hard, don't think about quitting while you're still walking. Keep moving forward. You don't have to be sprinting all the time, but at least if you're contemplating stopping all together, don't sit down and contemplate it. Keep moving in the direction you already decided.”

“Walk through being overwhelmed.”

Will Nitze joins Lee on the show today to chat about his journey to becoming the Founder and CEO of IQBAR, a brain-body nutrition startup based in Boston. In this episode, Will shares his journey from growing up in New Jersey playing competitive soccer, to studying neuroscience and psychology at Harvard, to learning about the impacts of food on our brains, which inspired him to start IQBAR. He talks about CPG hyper-growth and valuations, how he hacked his way into launching a successful Kickstarter campaign, and the lifestyle implications of being an entrepreneur.

• Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.com
• Get 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.com

• (2:03) More about IQBAR, a brain-body nutrition startup known for their keto, vegan, plant protein bars that come packed with 12 grams of protein and six brain nutrients
• (2:45) What it was like growing up in New Jersey, with a competitive spirit and wanting to be the best at everything
• (13:11) What life was like after college, not knowing what he wanted to do, but taking a job in software
• (17:50) How he got really interested in nutrition and how what you put in your body affects your brain
• (28:00) How he came up with the idea for IQBAR, based on how he was just looking to be inspired
• (30:00) Why he thinks everyone is inherently passionate about something, but entrepreneurs pursue it more intensely 
• (33:55) Why he chose to go with bars first, and the first things he did to prepare to launch his business
• (35:30) His experience in fundraising, and the challenges he’s faced, from focusing on sales through a Kickstarter campaign
• (42:00) How he continued to grow the company and his advice on CPG hyper-growth and valuations
• (49:00) The challenges of being a younger entrepreneur and hiring people older than him, learning what the right fit is, and the hardships of firing
• (53:00) How to show compassion in tough times, while also being objective 
• (57:40) The lifestyle implications that come with being a Founder, and being prepared for them, and the final advice he has for aspiring entrepreneurs

https://www.eatiqbar.com/

“Part of being who you are is momentum” 

“I was always into the startup world, just because I thought it was cool so I was always thinking about what I could do.”

“I loved the grittiness and the grind and the adventure of creating something from nothing.”

“I was just looking to be inspired.”

“It is fairly universal that people like being passionate about whatever it is. Passion is a fairly universally sought-after thing. But people seek, seek it out in different intensities.”

“Bars are just a form factor of what's the point? The point being brain and body nutrition.”

“Be obsessive about equity and ownership and fight tooth and nail every point of equity.”

“Almost never does someone regret firing someone.”

“Let's say you wanna be an entrepreneur, don't just go start the company, go get a job, do the travel thing, be a professional, get a job, have a boss, learn that it kind of sucks having a boss go into an office. Understand how the world works in that way, and how you interact with coworkers, what a meeting is like, how you lead a meeting, learn all of that.”

“One key piece of advice is just to understand the lifestyle implications. Like I said earlier, it's an objectively on paper, terrible lifestyle. I chose it and would choose it again, but you gotta understand the second, third, fourth order consequences of this path.”