Business
Title: Following Your Gut with Daina Trout, the Co-Founder & CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha Description: Welcome to the first episode of Stairway to CEO! I am your host, Lee Greene. In this week’s episode, we are joined by Daina Trout, Co-Founder and CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha. Daina not only has one of the most successful kombucha drinks on the market, but she is a candid and powerful business owner that tells us all about her journey in building her company from the ground up. You will hear the raw, fermented truth on fear, insecurity, imperfections and why it’s okay to have them while working towards your vision. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Her early experimental days with fermentation and kombucha both as food to enjoy and also to heal. The ways the universe lined up to put her in contact with her best friend and co-founder Vanessa. What a Kombucha Scoby is, and why you might want to put it on your head. How a focused and inspired one hour meeting led to the famous anchor logo and the Health-Ade brand name. The feelings of excitement mixed with fear that Daina and her co-founders felt when they all quit their jobs at the same time to work full time on Health-Ade. The price that comes with being an entrepreneur and why you should embrace it. The glamorous side of owning a business that we see vs what we don’t see behind the curtain. Challenges within the fundraising process and tips Daina has about negotiating contracts as a founder. What Daina does to keep her 200+ employees in sync and create great company culture. Practical advice for things you should know when starting a business venture. Her personal journey as a CEO and how Daina gained confidence in who she is both personally and professionally. To Find Out More: Health-Ade Kombucha Quotes: “Creative things sometimes best come out from being in a pressure cooker.” “All of our friends and family were asking us to please not quit our jobs and start a kombucha company from the farmers market.” “It’s not about being fearless. I wasn’t fearless at all.” “Starting a business is just constant problem-solving, in every way you can imagine.” “The weird thing about confidence is that it’s already there inside you.” “I did then what I knew how to do, now that I know better, I do better” “Being awesome is wildly inconvenient”