How This Addictive Cheese Brand Turned Startup Mistakes Into a $20M Empire | Entrepreneurship | How We Profit | E1

Young and Profiting with Hala Taha

YAP Media Network | Hala Taha

Entrepreneurship, Business, Marketing

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2026

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Starting a business from scratch is hard enough, but Rebel Cheese co-founder Kirsten Maitland did it by borrowing against her home, only for COVID to hit three months later. With no outside investors and everything at risk, she pivoted from a physical restaurant to an online business, learning e-commerce, logistics, and marketing on the fly. Years of relentless work eventually led to a Shark Tank deal with Mark Cuban that fueled massive business growth. In this episode of How We Profit, Kirsten breaks down how she scaled Rebel Cheese into a $20M+ business with over 60% profit margins while retaining 90% ownership. In this episode, Hala and Kirsten will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (03:34) Inside Rebel Cheese's Business Model (07:26) Revenue Streams and Shipping Challenges (14:52) Kirsten's Path to Entrepreneurship (23:10) How Shark Tank Fueled Business Growth (27:30) Rebel Cheese’s Branding and Marketing Strategies (33:26) Making Sales and Doubling Revenue in CPG (49:24) Using AI in Business to Scale Operations (1:00:28) Founder Pay, Equity, and Ownership (1:07:20) Entrepreneurship Lessons for Startup Founders Kirsten Maitland is the co-founder and CEO of Rebel Cheese, an artisanal plant-based cheese brand based in Austin, Texas. She bootstrapped the business from scratch, landed a $750K deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank in 2023, and has since scaled to a $40 million valuation, now on pace to generate $21 million in revenue this year. Kirsten is also a passionate advocate for AI-powered business tools, having built her own shipping audit tool that recovered $400,000 in overcharges. Sponsored By: Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/profiting Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Quo - Run your business communications the smart way. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/profiting Remitly - Transfer money internationally across 100+ currencies with no hidden fees. Download the Remitly app or visit remitly.com to get started. Use code BUSINESS to get a $100 bonus after you send $300 or more. New customers only. Prolon - Reset your body with Prolon’s five-day plant-based program. Go to ProlonLife.com/PROFITING for 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program. Northwest Registered Agent - Get a complete business identity with Northwest. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/YAPFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Resources Mentioned: Kirsten’s Company, Rebel Cheese: rebelcheese.com Kirsten’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kirstenmaitland Rebel Cheese Instagram: instagram.com/rebel.cheese How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger: bit.ly/DrMG-HowNot2Die Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Newsletter - youngandprofiting.co/newsletter LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Startup, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, Passive Income, Solopreneur, Networking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention all passengers.
0:04.0	The Uber ride for Jeff's rugby team will depart in five minutes from Platform 15.
0:10.0	Your ride comes with six toilets and a refreshments carriage that you'll empty within five minutes.
0:16.0	Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber.
0:20.0	Trains on Uber.
0:24.7	Hey, App Bam.
0:25.8	We're about to launch something that might be my favorite thing we've ever done on the podcast, a brand
0:30.7	new series called How We Profit.
0:33.3	Now, I've been doing Young and Profiting podcasts for eight years, and my listeners are successful.
0:38.3	We are real entrepreneurs with real businesses, and a lot of you guys are crushing it behind
0:43.0	the scenes.
0:43.8	You may not be super famous.
0:45.2	You may not be a billionaire yet, but you've got a business that you've learned how to scale.
0:50.0	And we want to hear from you.
0:51.6	One of the best ways to learn as an entrepreneur is from your peers.
0:55.5	And I found it super helpful to be in these peer entrepreneurship groups and learn from other
1:00.5	entrepreneurs who are at my level, but just in a different industry.
1:04.2	So that's what I want to bring to this podcast.
1:06.1	I want this to be our own peer group, but on the podcast.
1:09.5	And so I'm going to be interviewing people who are making
1:11.4	anywhere from $500,000 to $10 million a year. They're not super famous. They're not the typical
1:16.9	billionaires that are on my show. These are real entrepreneurs who are crushing it behind the scenes,
	...

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