Episode description

Seth Goldman co-founded Honest® Tea in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Thirteen years later they were acquired and are now a $160 million division of Coca-Cola.

Today, Honest Tea is the nation’s top selling ready-to-drink organic bottled tea and Honest Kids® is the nation’s top-selling organic children/youth beverage.

The brands are carried in more than 100,000 outlets in the United States, including all Wendy’s and Chik-fil-A restaurants.

It was a long, tough, and fun road to get to where they are today. One of the best food business books I have ever read, Mission in a Bottle tells their story. I interviewed Seth about the book and he responded with sage advice for emerging food startups:

• "I can't ask others to invest if I'm not completely invested in myself."
• The biggest mistakes that almost put the company under
• Why the company needs to shift and evolve along the way
• Dealing with competitors inside the tent
• "Creating a successful company depends on your ability to successfully two questions"
• How to sign on and have success with distributors
• Learnings from an unsuccessful run with Barnes + Noble
• How he sold Canada Dry Potomac after 4 years of rejections
• Why the "little things" add up and can make or break your company
• "You have to win in New York" - Learnings from a Red Sox fan
• On selling their company to Coca-Cola
• How Seth managed a harmonious and prolific relationship with his co-founder
• Negotiating shipping rates
• The main problems he sees in advising food startups

Selected links from the episode:
Honest Tea
Mission in a Bottle (note from Matt: Read it!!)
Coca Cola Venturing & Emerging Brands
Ripple Foods
Beyond Meat
Calvert Investments
American Beverage Association
Bethesda Green