By Kendall Fisher, executive producer at Grow Wire
In short:
- Kara Goldin(opens in new tab) dreamt up her beverage brand Hint(opens in new tab) in 2005 after growing frustrated with the lack of sugar-free soda alternatives in industry.
- She started Hint in her home kitchen, then grew it into a $90 million company.
- In the video below, Goldin shares the daily practices that allow her to be a stellar CEO, including one very calming morning practice.
Kara Goldin(opens in new tab) isn’t just an entrepreneur and a business owner. She’s also the founder and CEO of Hint(opens in new tab), a wife, a mother, an animal-lover and an all-around inspiration.
Goldin, a former AOL employee, founded Hint in 2005 out of her San Francsico home kitchen. To make a long, awesome story short (don’t worry, we plan to dive into it on “The Grow Wire Show(opens in new tab)” soon!): She was addicted to diet soda(opens in new tab), drinking about 10 to 12 cans a day, and when she finally decided to give it up, she lost 45 pounds within three months and almost immediately realized the massive issues in the food and beverage industry, especially around the way consumers are presented with the words “diet” or “zero-sugar." In fact, at that time, she couldn’t find any beverages on the market besides plain water without some kind of artificial flavoring or sweeteners.
Being a tech executive and being no stranger to innovation, Goldin simply wouldn’t stand for not having something healthy and tasty to drink. She decided to take matters into her own hands.
Learning everything on her own, she created Hint water right in her kitchen(opens in new tab) through a process of pressing, heating, cooling, filtering and dissolving fruits into water. The outcome? A refreshing, and tasty, water-based beverage with a hint of fruity freshness that’s free of diet sweeteners, preservatives, calories, and only uses real fruit essences (oils from the skin) to personify each flavor.
Hint water comes in a variety of flavors. Its summer suite includes pineapple, peach and watermelon. (opens in new tab)
After testing Hint water among her family and neighbors, Goldin, at the time pregnant with her fourth child, marched 10 cases down to the local Whole Foods(opens in new tab), and a few days later, they called her and informed her every bottle had been sold.
Fast-forward 13 years and plenty of challenges along the way, Hint Waters has now grown into a $90 million company(opens in new tab) in annual revenues, and Goldin remains an entrepreneur to learn from.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Goldin to glean some of her daily tips and tricks for building a successful business around the consumer, and beyond than that, a successful life. Check out the video above to hear how she does it!
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