# Live Episode! New Belgium Brewing Company: Kim Jordan

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2018-09-10
- Length: 44m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan

## Summary

Kim Jordan, co-founder of New Belgium Brewing Company, recounts how she and her husband Jeff Lebesch started the brewery in their Fort Collins basement in 1991, financing it with a second mortgage and bootstrapping through manual labor. Jordan details the early struggles of securing bank loans, the decision to reject outside equity to maintain control, and the pivotal hiring of Belgian brewmaster Peter Buchard to specialize in Belgian-style beers. She explains the company's evolution into a quarter-billion-dollar enterprise and its unique culture, culminating in the decision to sell 100% of the company to its employees through an employee ownership trust.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan#t=0) Introduction: Kim Jordan and New Belgium Brewing
- [15:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan#t=920) Early Days: Basement Brewing and Bootstrapping
- [23:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan#t=1395) Financing Challenges and Bank Rejections
- [29:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan#t=1794) Scaling Up: Hiring Peter Buchard and Specializing
- [38:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-10-live-episode-new-belgium-brewing-company-kim-jordan#t=2291) Company Culture and Employee Ownership

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- New Belgium Brewing Company (company)
- Fat Tire (product)
- Jeff Lebesch (other)
- Peter Buchard (other)
- Great American Beer Festival (other)
- U.S. Bank (company)
- American Express (company)

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- [#126 The Rise of HOP WTR with Jordan Bass](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2024-01-30-126-the-rise-of-hop-wtr-with-jordan-bass) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
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## Citing this page

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