How Honest Tea’s Seth Goldman is Changing the World One Tea Bag at a Time [re-release]

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Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea, dipped his tea bag into the world of entrepreneurship when he co-founded Honest Tea in 1998. These days Seth is a multi-millionaire and Honest Tea is owned by the Coca-Cola company.  It’s sold nationwide in 170,000 retailers and is expanding globally …in Europe as Honest Coffee in Spain, a sparkling lemonade in Switzerland and a chocolate drink in Germany. Recently, Honest Tea released an Honest Sports Drink and various other new delicious options. Seth is also the Executive Chairman of the Board at Beyond Meat, a California-based company dedicated to making plant-based meat products taste, look and smell more like the real thing. While you might think all of this was Seth’s dream from the beginning when he was an undergrad at Harvard, it wasn’t. Seth was a Government, not Business or Economics major.  And he started his young adult life after graduation pursuing his passion for social change through government, believing that was the way to popularize Fair Trade and organic foods. He soon discovered that that was not the path for him and that a social enterprise, like Honest Tea, was a quicker and more effective way to have greater impact. 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why college is a good place to experiment with subjects and classes (like Poetry) you never paid attention to before
• Why it’s important to regularly close your textbooks in college and pursue other interests
• How for-profit businesses vs. nonprofits can have greater social impact
• How optimism, relentless energy, and passion grounded in a “mission” can be the rocket fuel your start-up or entrepreneurial venture needs to reach new heights!
• Why relaxing every once and awhile can help you center yourself and become more productive
• The health initiatives Honest Tea has started in the United States
• What Fair Trade is and how you’re helping farmers and their communities when you purchase these kinds of products
• What a social enterprise is