Hardware Podcasts

Guayakí Yerba Mate: David Karr and Chris Mann

How I Built This · 28 Nov 2022 · 1h 11m

What this episode covers

Guayakí co-founders David Karr and Chris Mann explain how they built a $100 million beverage company by introducing yerba mate to the U.S. market, starting with hand-packing loose tea and touring in a VW bus to demo the product. They detail the strategic pivot to bottled and then canned ready-to-drink formats, which allowed them to scale beyond niche natural food stores into broader retail channels. The founders also describe the difficult decision to build their own direct store distribution network using Chevy Bolts to maintain control over their brand and supply chain relationships.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Guayakí, Whole Foods, GNC, Vitamin Shop, Ben & Jerry's, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Costco, Walmart, Pepsi
Products
yerba mate, Honest Tea
Also
VW bus, Chevy Bolt, Money Magazine, Women's World

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