The Startup CPG Podcast

I don’t usually like to play favorites, but this week’s episode is a really special interview, especially for me personally. I LOVE kombucha. I mean love kombucha. And as you’ll hear me mention during the interview, once I found Synergy Kombucha by GT’s Living Foods, I was hooked, and dug deep into the story of the brand, how it’s made, and started following founder GT Dave. I’ve listened to many interviews with GT over the years, so the chance to be the interviewer and spend some time with GT, is a personal dream come true. I also really thought that GT could offer a really interesting perspective to our community. He’s had multiple offers to acquire his company over the years and has taken on no outside investment, which is incredible for a nearly billion dollar brand that owns 40% of the kombucha market. For almost 30 years, he’s operated as the 100% owner and as you’ll hear, has no plans for that to change. I think there’s room for so many different operating models and perspectives in this space, and part of the fun of my job is getting to share different perspectives, hoping that you’ll be able to find and take pieces that resonate with you as you build your own adventure. 

If you aren’t familiar with GT’s Living Foods, you’ve no doubt seen the ubiquitous tall glass bottles with a white lotus - the Synergy line is oven what people recognize. GT was the first person to bottle kombucha back in 1995 after his parents received a SCOBY from a friend after a trip to the Himalayas - and this was well before you could Google making kombucha! As you’ll hear GT mention, he saw kombucha become part of his parents’ lives, help his mom while recovering from cancer, and he decided to try to sell a few bottles to the local health store as 15 year old who had dropped out of high school. He then got the product into Erewhon and Whole Foods and has grown steadily - while other kombuchas have entered the market and now it’s a whole separate category. GT continues to innovate in the living foods space with ancient mushroom elixirs, non-dairy water kefir, and raw, fermented, non-dairy, coconut yogurt. I’ve linked a few of my favorite other interviews with GT in the show notes in case you want to dig into more of the founder story - today’s conversation we really focus on leadership, culture, hiring, and health and priorities as a founder.

Listen in as GT shares about:

This episode was sponsored by Shopify. Go to shopify.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Maven Agency. Go to strategymavenagency.com
This episode was sponsored by Promomash + Crisp. Go to promomash.com/startupcpg

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