NOVEMBER 26, 2012
TODAY ON THE INKANDESCENT RADIO NETWORK
Our spotlight is on: Seth Goldman, co-founder and president, Honest Tea.
Click here to PLAY NOW!
Our hot topic: How do you build a company you started in your garage into a $90 million firm that Coke wants to buy?
Your host: Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher of Be Inkandescent magazine, and founder & president of The Inkandescent Group, LLC
We are here today with Seth Goldman co-founder, and president and TEO of Honest Tea — the company he co-founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management.
In the last 15 years, the company has thrived with a 66% annual compound growth rate, a statistic he attributed to the fact that consumers have shifted toward healthier and more sustainable diets.
In 2008 The Coca-Cola Company purchased a minority interest in Honest Tea, fueling further growth as Honest becomes the first organic and Fair Trade brand to move into the world’s largest beverage distribution system.
Today, HonestTea is wholly owned by Coke, and Goldman continues to run the company, which will gross more than $90 million this year. With 100 employees working nationwide, HonestTea can be found in hundreds of stores across the country—and it is beginning to get traction in countries worldwide.
A graduate of Harvard College (1987) and the Yale School of Management (1995), Seth holds an honorary Doctorate of Laws from American University. And in 2009, Seth was the recipient of Net Impact’s Member Achievement Award. He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
We are thrilled to be here at HonestTea headquarters in Bethesda, MD to record our podcast interview with Seth. In this episode you’ll learn:
- About Seth’s background, and why he decided to get into the tea business.
- How and why he started HonestTea with Barry Nalebuff, his professor from the Yale School of Management.
- How Honest Tea has community-based partnerships with suppliers in India, South Africa and Argentina—and why that is so important to the growth of the company.
- Why social responsibility is a core value
- Why he created the nonprofit, Bethesda Green
- Why Governor Martin O’Malley appointed Goldman to the Maryland Economic Development Commission, and what he has accomplished in this role.
- Having brought up three sons—two in college, one finishing high school—will they follow in his footsteps?
- Seth Goldman’s Top Tips for Entrepreneurs
Want to learn more? Click here to read our feature on Seth Goldman, our December 2012 Entrepreneur of the Month in Be Inkandescent: The Business magazine for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.
