750: How hint Founder & CEO Kara Goldin Built a $150 million Beverage Company, Remained Undaunted and Overcame Doubts + Doubters

Support is Sexy

Today’s guest on Support is Sexy, Kara Goldin, is Founder and CEO of $150 million beverage company hint. Kara joins Elayne to explain how she built her business and the hint brand, including hint’s recent product expansion. Kara shares practical tips on getting your products into stores, knowing when to say no, and finding a perfect business partner. Hear all this along with stories from Kara’s newly released book Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts + Doubters in this episode of Support is Sexy.

Elayne Fluker

Elayne Fluker is author of the new book, “Get Over ‘I Got It’: How to Stop Playing Superwoman, Get Support and Remember that Having It All Doesn’t Mean Doing It All Alone.” As host of the SUPPORT IS SEXY podcast, she interviews more than 500 successful women entrepreneurs around the world, who share inspiring, true stories of the ups and the downs of their entrepreneurial journeys. Elayne is also founder of SiS.Academy, an online learning platform for women entrepreneurs. For more information about Elayne Fluker, please visit elaynefluker.com. Thank you for listening!

About our Guest:

Kara Goldin is Founder and CEO of hint, a $150 million beverage company she launched in 2005. After finding herself addicted to diet soda, she kicked the habit and lost 40 pounds! Knowing she needed some more flavor to sustain her new habit, she handcrafted what would become the hint product, a delicious sugarless fruit infused water. She is a keynote speaker and author of Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts + Doubters. Kara also hosts the podcast The Kara Goldin Show.

Insight from this episode:

• Reasons why “no means maybe, and maybe means yes” and how to leverage that in your business and personal life.
• Tips on “considering the source” of advice and criticism to persevere through the challenges of entrepreneurship.
• The benefits of moving slowly with your business for long-term success and Kara’s thought process behind initially not bringing her product to a huge box store.
• Strategies for getting your product into stores in today’s market and using your time with buyers and investors wisely.

Quotes from the show:

• “If [buyers] are like, No, we can’t put your product on our shelf, I was always used to asking, Why? and really believing that if they didn’t actually come up with an answer that made sense to me what I realized is that they often are on autopilot, saying it versus actually knowing why they’re saying no.” –Kara Goldin Support is Sexy Ep. #750
• “There were so many points along the way where there were these people who said, You can’t do that, you can’t do this… what I kept saying is, What can we do?” –Kara Goldin Support is Sexy Ep. #750
• “You need to start somewhere, and you need to get that consumer feedback… the consumer is very open to you upgrading things along the way as you learn.” –Kara Goldin Support is Sexy Ep. #750
• “People will not invest in something that they don’t know… and should you not actually go into the room and have that meeting [with someone who doesn’t know your product]? It depends on how much time you have. Time is my most valuable thing.” –Kara Goldin Support is Sexy Ep. #750
• “You can’t rely on stores or distributors to actually watch your product.” –Kara Goldin Support is Sexy Ep. #750

Resources Mentioned

Link to order Kara’s Undaunted: drinkhint.com/ElayneFluker

Stay Connected:

Elayne Fluker

Website: elaynefluker.com

Twitter: @elaynefluker

Facebook: Elayne Fluker

Instagram: @elaynefluker

LinkedIn: Elayne Fluker

Youtube: Elayne Fluker

Kara Goldin

Website: KaraGoldin.com

Twitter: @KaraGoldin

Facebook: @KaraGoldin

Instagram: @KaraGoldin

LinkedIn: Kara Goldin

Youtube: Kara Goldin

Support is Sexy

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Post-production for this episode was provided by Podcast Laundry.

[Music: “Stomp and Clap” by Scott Holmes from Free Music Archive]

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