Guayakí Yerba Mate: David Karr and Chris Mann

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2022

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the mid-1990’s most Americans had probably never even heard of yerba mate, but when David Karr and Chris Mann were first introduced to the South American drink, they were hooked. Together with three other friends, they decided to launch a company that would bring mate to the American market. Based in San Luis Obispo, California, the co-founders of Guayakí Yerba Mate spent years living in a van and driving all over the country, brewing up free samples for consumers, and convincing natural food stores to sell their product. It would take almost 15 years of grinding away before the company turned a significant profit, but the founders were powered by a mission to do business in a way that supports communities and the environment. Today, Guayakí has annual revenue of over $100 million, and their canned and bottled beverages are available all across the U.S.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:11.9	You are on the road setting up demos at any natural food store and trying to get people
0:17.5	to try it, right?
0:18.5	That's a lot of work.
0:19.9	You're right.
0:20.9	It was a ton of work and most people would never do that.
0:23.2	They wouldn't live in vehicles for all those years.
0:25.6	They wouldn't get along.
0:26.6	I mean, all those things, but the Mate was always just so much about bringing us together
0:32.0	and bigger than any one of us.
0:33.4	We actually had a lot of fun.
0:35.6	I mean, it was a blast.
0:43.6	Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories
0:49.6	behind the movements they built.
0:55.3	I'm Guy Ross and on the show today, how five surfers in California bonded over a drink
1:00.7	most people didn't even know existed and how they built a $100 million company to share
1:06.7	it with the world.
1:13.5	Building a brand is really hard, especially when the product is virtually unknown to your
1:18.9	potential consumer base.
1:21.1	This is why you don't see Americans spreading marmite on their butter toast in the morning,
1:26.3	even though millions of British people eat it every day.
	...

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