# How I Built Resilience: Kara Goldin of Hint

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2021-04-01
- Length: 21m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint

## Summary

Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint, explains how she launched the unsweetened flavored water brand after quitting diet soda to improve her health. She details the challenges of entering the saturated beverage industry without prior experience, specifically the difficulty of convincing retailers to stock a new category and the technical hurdle of creating a preservative-free product using real fruit. Goldin also discusses how Hint navigated the pandemic by leveraging its automated US-based manufacturing and pivoting aggressively to direct-to-consumer sales, which tripled during the crisis.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=0) Introduction: Kara Goldin and Hint
- [2:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=139) Origin Story: Quitting Diet Soda and Creating Hint
- [6:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=394) Product Innovation: Preservative-Free Formulation
- [9:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=545) Pandemic Response: Restocking Target and Logistics
- [13:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=789) Operational Resilience: Automation and Essential Status
- [17:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=1022) Strategic Pivot: Direct-to-Consumer Growth
- [19:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-04-01-how-i-built-resilience-kara-goldin-of-hint#t=1150) Advice for Entrepreneurs: Building Teams and Persistence

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Hint (product)
- America Online (company)
- Whole Foods (company)
- Target (company)
- Walmart (company)
- Sam's Club (company)
- Aldi (company)
- Google (company)
- Uber (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#88 Undaunted Leadership with Hint Founder Kara Goldin](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-04-25-88-undaunted-leadership-with-hint-founder-kara-goldin) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Looking on the Starryside with co-founders Liz Seelye & Erin Fasano](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2022-04-12-looking-on-the-starryside-with-co-founders-liz-seelye-erin-fasano) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Amna Mettmann of Brause](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-07-18-founder-feature-amna-mettmann-of-brause) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [259 - It's definitely NOT beer with Not Beer founder Dillon Dandurand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2024-05-01-259-its-definitely-not-beer-with-not-beer-founder-dillon-dandurand) (People of Packaging)
- [#179 - Bootstrap Heroes: Hazard's Hop Water, SWAIR, Gourmend Foods](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-01-21-179-bootstrap-heroes-hazards-hop-water-swair-gourmend-foods) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

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