Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Steve O'Dell: Spilling The Tea on Entrepreneurship | E17

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

In 2019, coffee has some major competition —> enter matcha, a green tea that offers caffeine without the crash. Not to be mistaken as just another trendy drink sipped by instagram models, the green tea is jam-packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants and good-for-you-stuff that can prevent cancer, improve focus, make your skin glow, promote relaxation and more! No wonder people love matcha so matcha   In our latest YAP episode, we chat with Steve O’Dell, the Founder & CEO of Tenzo Tea, an up-and-coming matcha tea startup. Tune in to hear him spill the tea on launching his company—from getting seed funding to building a brand— and uncover all the health and energy benefits that matcha tea has to offer.   Want to try some matcha? Head over to https://tenzotea.co/ & enter promotion code YAP at check out for 20% off Want to connect with other YAP listeners? Join the YAP Society on Slack: bit.ly/yapsociety Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of YAP is sponsored in part by Shopify. Shopify simplifies selling online and in-person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash profiting. Hey guys, Young and Profiting Podcast has just launched the app society on Slack. It's a cool community where listeners can network and give us valuable feedback on the show. To join YAP society on Slack, go to bit.ly slash.appsociety. That's bit.ly slash.appsociety.

And if you're already active, share the wealth and invite your friends. YAP Society on Slack is sponsored by Compass HQ, a Slack app that gives insights to help your team work better together. Use Compass HQ to get detailed analytics, visualize communication patterns, and run surveys to collect input from your team. Visit CompassHQ.com to learn more. Hey, young and profitors, I've got some great news. Our guest, Steve O'Dell, has gifted you all

with 20% off all 10-ZoT Matcha products. Head to 10-ZoT.co and enter the code YAP to get your discount. You're listening to YAP, young and profiting podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. I'm your host, Halataha, and today we're yapping with Steve O'Dow, the founder and CEO of Tenzo T, an awesome Macha T startup. Stay tuned to find out his tips and best practices for launching a startup from getting seed funding to building a brand and uncover all the health and energy benefits that Macha T has to offer.

Hey Steve, welcome to Young & Profiting Podcast. Hey how's it going? Thank you so much for having me. We're happy to have you on. So you're the co-founder of Tenzo T. This is a T brand that is taking LA by storm and you're revolutionizing the way that we think about energy and caffeine. But before Tenzo, you were focused on a global venture fund called Add Velorum and before

that you started a few other companies. So did you always have such an entrepreneurial spirit? Help us understand what you were like as a young adult. Walk us through your journey, the different companies you started, and tell us about some of the leaps of faith you had to take in order to get here. Yeah, I got it. I would love to. So I would always consider myself a very curious

and passionate guy, but when I was a lot younger, I used to play volleyball. And so once you UCLA, you're playing on the men's volleyball team there, and while I was at school, I wasn't a great student, but I loved to learn. I got really into entrepreneurship. It took a great class, a really good professor, and he was very encouraging and supportive, and then when I went home that summer, I started my first company with my cousins actually just doing odd jobs.

And this all started with literally like my uncle handed my cousin an application to work at Burger King. And we were like, oh my gosh, what's going on with our lives? They could get together. And so we met the next morning at a Starbucks and agreed to not leave until we had a concrete plan of a business that we were going to start. A few hours later, we had an idea to do our jobs. And we ended up creating a flyer. We paid the mailman $10, which is actually highly legal. Would not recommend doing that

for anyone listening. But I really helped this out because we got about 10,000 flyers in people's mailboxes the next day. And what happened was that spiraled into getting a lot of jobs. We hired all of our friends in town that were home for a summer. We had like a crew of 15 working for us within a few weeks. And by all means really a successful adventure. We're really small one for just like some kids.

And then I went back to school. This is now my senior year at UCLA. And I was selling like portable chargers online. I started an on-demand printing company and kind of through those two things, learned a lot about entrepreneurship and what like really it takes to make a great product and to kind of tackle a market.

And then ultimately, like halfway through my senior year, I ended up pulling the plug on college and like a big bet on myself and moved in on my buddy's couch to start a team company. Wow. So let's talk about you dropping out of college. That was a big step. And some of the world's biggest entrepreneurs,

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, they dropped out of college and successfully started billion dollar companies. And actually, this is not an uncommon thing. So in 2016, more than 40% of all students who started at a four-year college, six years earlier had not yet earned a degree. And nearly two million students who begin college each year will drop out before earning a diploma. So clearly you're not alone in making a decision like that. So how did you decide that you would drop out of college? What was that thought process like?

That's a really good question. And nowadays it is pretty common. But I really just believed in myself as an entrepreneur and I was going to make it in this world. I thought I was a really compelling story. And I wanted to kind of put the pressure on what I was doing. I had some support in terms of I knew how to start a business and how to make money essentially so I could live and then I really just wanted time so that I could work solely on Tenzo and kind of just

testing the waters. But it wasn't like this crazy decision. It was more like I didn't have any money. I was taking on a lot of debt. It's very expensive to go to UCLA out of state. And so I had already built up this kind of small network and skill set that I knew I could use to continue to grow. I felt like ultimately school was holding me back and getting a degree would only prove something that's technically already there. Got it.

So, do you think that having nothing to fall back on like a diploma makes you a better entrepreneur? I wouldn't say it makes you a better entrepreneur, but it can. I have several friends who did similar things and didn't work out. It's all about how you react to that. It's very stressful. It's very intense. There's a lot of pressure both to, hey, the bills and to be like emotionally happy. You have to work really, really hard,

and it's not easy. But if you have the right attitude, you're willing to learn, you're willing to put in the time, no matter what ends up happening in the end, you can obviously make it. So you mentioned that when you first dropped out of college, you were staying on your best friend's couch for a while.

Were your parents unsupportive? Like, what did your family think about that decision? So I have a pretty conservative family, two parents, four older brothers, and none of them are entrepreneurs. They all went to college and got to Greece for years. Pretty standard. I didn't initially tell my parents I just kind of dropped out in my flu home. What would have been my spring break or so they thought I told them. It was pretty tough on my relationship with my parents. I mean now they're very supportive but initially they were really upset and the relationship I thought it could have been severed but thank the Lord

it's not and now it's pretty well accepted in my family that I am an entrepreneur and I'm going to be okay. Better or worse. But. But in the beginning, it was really, really hard. So it's kind of good though. Like the bird that gets pushed out of the nest, you need to survive. Yeah, so for our listeners out there, what's your advice on taking effective risks and sticking to your gut despite any naysayers?

Well, I'm a super friend believer in ignoring all the haters. I honestly use them as motivation. Like when I dropped out of school, I posted this long essay on LinkedIn. This one guy named James Gill wrote this extremely negative response. I literally printed it out and taped it on the wall about my bed and I was like, man, if there's one thing I want in light, it's approved James Gill wrong. I really, really believe that you should fall your heart and stick to that. If you do that for a long enough and you're willing to put in the sacrifices,

then the universe and the world will reward you. Yeah, I think that's true. Things tend to just work out. If you work hard and you're passionate and you're moving in the same direction. Yeah. Let's fast forward to 10-0-T. Tell us where it all began.

How did you get an idea to start a T business? Where did your love for matcha develop? Yeah, it's a great question. It really started with something very simple. I googled what is the healthiest form of energy on the planet. And at the time, I was an entrepreneur and I was an athlete my whole life. And so energy was so important.

Pre-workouts before the gym, a morning coffee, maybe like a red bull at night, if you're like studying for an exam or whatever you need to get work done. And so a lot of people do that. And when I Google this, I found MOTHA. And when I drank it, I didn't feel like this need for more caffeine all the time. I felt like I had very consistent energy

and my productivity increased. Literally everything about my life was better. And I knew that I was treating my body the right way, meaning like I'm putting good stuff in it. And so, if you look at a red bull, some of the ingredients, you have no idea what that is. If you look at a pre-workout, it's impossible to read a label

and coffee is even questionable. And so it was like, do I really wanna live my life, knowing that I'm gonna need all this energy, do I really wanna live it, where I'm kinda harming my body? So seeing the meaningful impact it made for me, learning a lot of the things that I had learned in my previous startups, Machia was the perfect business. Very cool. And we're definitely going to get into all the benefits of Machia. But first, I want to focus on the business

side because a lot of my listeners are either young entrepreneurs or considering starting a side hustle and so I think we can really pick your brain on some of the business side. So this is your third or fourth company and you've always founded it with someone else so that your third or fourth time with a co-founder, how do you choose your business partners? What in your opinion is the top two or three qualities that you look for and someone that you want to found a business with. By far, the most important quality is the strength of your relationship with the other person.

It's not perseverance or any like the stereotypical one. It's literally the relationship because startups are really, really hard and you're gonna get in disagreements. You're gonna feel like the company should go different ways. You're gonna put a lot of pressure on each other. And one of the best things that I can say at 100% confidence about my relationship with Rob right now

in 10s of teeth, is that when we fight or get an argument or debate something like heatedly, in a few hours there's no unresolved tension or moving a lot. And so having like this highly developed, like emotional kind of skill set is really, really important. You can understand the other person rather than attack them. And there's no ego involved. And it's like I think that that's really truly found in the relationship. And I'm really

grateful to have Robbie on my side. But I would really look for like strong emotional strength and toughness and grit, things like that that you know that this relationship is going to last because most startups die from co-founder breakups. Yeah. And so, you and your co-founder have actually been friends since you were 12, is that correct? Yep. And so, most people usually say, don't mix business and personal, but you didn't listen to that. I'd really encourage everybody to look for the people that they know and trust, rather

than the random web developer that's the only kid in their classic college. So Tenzo T is a really catchy name. What's your story behind it? So with Advalorum, that means according to value, that's another business that Rob and I own. But for Tenzo T, we wanted something that was meaningful. It was simple to pronounce, easy to spell. It wasn't really confusing.

The T and T, a liberation, tens of T is nice, and then it also means heavenly monk in Japanese, which is one of the past two enlightenment in the Buddhist monastery. More specifically, a tenzo, as a noun traditionally, is the person in a Buddhist monastery that would prepare food and drink for the monks to meditate. Hmm, and you also have a very nice brand. So beautiful colors, imagery, catchy names for your drinkers, like Tenzo Tribe. Tell us the process you took with developing your brand.

That is a loaded question, Halal. To be totally honest, it's been a long journey of incremental progress. We didn't know anything about branding when we started. We had absolutely no design skills, no copywriting skills. We really didn't know what was going to stick. And so a lot of it is testing and just improving over time. And it's also the one thing in the beginning when you don't have any money. And it's just important to recognize the one thing I'm dealing with, even right now, I'm trying not to compare ourselves with these bigger companies that have a million dollar

budget and stuff. You just need to make the most of what you can right now. And I'd highly recommend for young entrepreneurs out there, people just starting, that they're extremely specific about what they want to do, and just to do those things truly great. And once you have that, you want to do what I call stacking. It's like you want to stack your growth. You have a really great website and you stem that out and maybe great, really great packaging.

Once you have those two things down, then you can move into a TENSED Tribe type thing. But it's really like this process of incremental progress and making iterations over time, and just being willing to improve and listen to feedback. From my understanding, you guys started in 2016 and secured 250K and seed funding. So first, can you just explain what seed funding is for those of my listeners who may not be familiar? Yes, of course. Seed funding is basically the first round or the very beginning amount of capital that's injected into a business to help it grow.

It's typically done by friends and family or maybe small angel investors. And then after the seed round you have Series A, which is typically larger, maybe institutional type money. So if you've heard the word venture capitalist or like more or insanely a bank. And then you go to Series B, C, D, and they continue to go up as the company grows. So tell us about the process you went through to raise that initial funding. What was that like? And do you have any best practices or learnings that could help others be successful at it? Definitely. Man, I mean, I don't know if you can sense the pain in my voice, but raising funding is very hard.

And when you're from Rochester, New York, there's not that many people that you know I could write a check though, it was bigger than like a thousand dollars. And so we had to go through this process of making relationships and meeting people and earning trust over a long period of time. And so to do that, I learned a lot along the way about Tenzo and myself

and what I thought the business was. And I love fundraising now It's very exciting and fun, but when you're just starting I would really seriously think about what you need in terms of financial Resources and then making a strategy to only go and get that set them out and then using that well to get more funding And it's kind of like you proved you can spend $10,000 well, there's $30,000, you prove you can spend $30,000 well, you get $100,000. And it really just keeps going up like that.

I would encourage most people to not raise a seed round at all. I would try to get a small bank loan or line of credit and just shows you a zero to 1,000 to 1,000 in a few months. And then you can go and talk to angel investors. And there's a lot of resources and people that are willing to help. But you really need to put yourselves out there and if I could recommend one piece of advice on starting it would just be to ask, literally ask everyone that you think might know someone that could invest if they want to invest and if they say no, say,

oh you don't want to invest do you know anyone else that could be interested and then it kind of like spirals and snowballs into this thing. And if you have enough runway, you'll be fine. So with the seed funding, you got this money from everyone. How did you decide like what you were going to offer them in return? Yeah, another really good question.

We did it on a convertible note, which is a common method in the early stage startup to get capital. And a convertible note, it doesn't set a valuation. So you have a loan and then the loan turns into equity, add a certain time or event. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, that does make sense. And then so what do you suggest is the best way to you seed funding once you've secured

it? I know every business is different, but is there some like standard things that you should kind of use that initial investment for? Yes, definitely. The number one priority for you or for any business person is to increase revenue. And so how I think about it is like a pyramid and what's like hovering above the pyramid

is like brand values and culture. So like you never wanna compromise your integrity and who you are as brand and the culture of your company. That's first and foremost. And after that, you want to sell. The reason why is that selling will A allow you to either get profitable or B, while I raise more money.

And so you really need to reinvest or invest in the things that are making you money in that work. If you're building an app or something like that, then it's all about users. I guess the meta-level concept is like identifying the core KPIs of the business and investing in this. That's really good advice. It makes total sense.

So previously, you alluded that angel investors might be a better idea when you're first starting out rather than using seed funding. So what's your argument for that? Yeah, angel investors are definitely the best in the beginning and I would even say like even now for Tenzo we're raising our series A and I still don't want to raise institutional money like meaning BC money and that is strictly because angels are typically easier to work with.

They're not like ruthless capitalists. They truly believe in what you're doing and why and they have skin in the game and they want us to use succeed. So they'll give you better terms with your financing, let you retain more equity and things with that. But I would highly recommend working with angels for as long as you can. And eventually that's just not possible when you're raising like tens of millions of dollars until you need to go to institutional money, but I would go angel as long as you can.

Cool, that's very interesting. Okay, so tell us about a big challenge that you had with Tenzo. Walk us through that and how did you overcome that challenge. Young and profitors, do you have a brilliant business idea but you don't know how to move forward with it? Going into debt for a four-year degree isn't the only path to success. Instead, learn everything you need to know about running a business for free by listening to the Millionaire University podcast.

The Millionaire University podcast is a show that's changing the game for aspiring entrepreneurs. Hosted by Justin and Tara Williams, it's the ultimate resource for those who want to run a successful business and graduate rich, not broke. Justin and Tara started from Square One, just like you and me. They faced lows and dug themselves out of huge debt. Now they're financially free and they're sharing their hard-earned lessons with all of us. That's right, millionaire university will teach you everything you need to know about starting and growing a successful business.

No degrees required. In each episode, you'll gain invaluable insights from seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors who truly understand what it takes to succeed. From topics like how to start a software business without creating your own software, to more broad discussions such as eight businesses you can start tomorrow to make 10K plus a month, this podcast has it all. So don't wait, now is the time to turn your business idea into a reality by listening to the Millionaire University podcast. New episodes drop Mondays and Thursdays. Find the Millionaire University podcast on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your dog is an important part of your family. Don't settle when it comes to their health. Make the switch to fresh food made with real ingredients that are backed by science with nom nom. Nom nom delivers fresh dog food that is personalized to your dog's individual needs. Each portion is tailored to ensure your dog gets the nutrition they need so you can watch them thrive. Nom nom's ingredients are cooked individually and then mix together because science tells us that every protein, carb and veggie has different cooking times and methods. This packs in all the vitamins and minerals your dog needs so they truly get the most out of every single bite. And NAM NAM is completely free of

additives, fillers, and mystery ingredients that contribute to bloating and low energy. Your dog deserves only the best, and NAM NAM delivers just that. Their nutrient-packed recipes are crafted by board-certified veterinary nutritionists, made fresh and shipped to your door. Absolutely free. Nom-nom meals started just $2.40 and every meal is cooked in company-owned kitchens right here in the US, and they've already delivered over 40 million meals, inspiring clean bowls and wagging tails everywhere. Ever since I started feeding my dog Nom-nom, he's been so much more energetic, and he's getting older, he's a senior dog, but now we've been going on longer walks, and he's

much more playful. He used to be pretty sluggish and sleeping all the time, but I've definitely noticed a major improvement since I started feeding him Nom Nom. And the best part, they offer a money back guarantee. If your dog's tail isn't wagging within 30 days, they'll refund your first order. No fillers, no nonsense, just nom nom. Go right now for 50% off your no risk two week trial at trinom.com slash app.

That's trinom.nom.com slash app for 50% off. trinom.com slash app. Hear that sound, young and profitors? You should know that sound by now, but in case you don't, that's the sound of another sale on Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform that's revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide. Whether you sell edgy t-shirts or offer an educational course like me, Shopify simplifies selling online and in person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Shopify is packed with industry leading tools that are ready to ignite your growth, giving you complete control over your business and brand

without having to learn any new skills in design or code. And Shopify grows with you no matter how big your business gets. Thanks to an endless list of integrations and third party apps, anything you can think of from on-demand printing to accounting to chatbots, Shopify has everything you need to revolutionize your business. If you're a regular listener,

you probably know that I use Shopify to sell my LinkedIn secrets masterclass. Setting up my Shopify store just took me a few days. I didn't have to worry about my website and how I was gonna collect payments and how I was gonna trigger abandoned cart emails and all these things that Shopify does for me was just a click of a button,

even setting up my chat bot was just a click of a button. It was so easy to do. Like I said, just took a couple of days. And so it just allowed me to focus on my actual product and making sure my LinkedIn masterclass was the best it could be and I was able to focus on my marketing. So Shopify really, really helped me make sure that my masterclass was going to be a success right off the bat and enabled focus and focus is everything when it comes to entrepreneurship. With Shopify single dashboard, I can manage my orders and my payments from anywhere in

the world. And like I said, it's one of my favorite things to do every day is check my Shopify dashboard. It is a rush of dopamine to see all those blinking lights around the world showing me where everybody is logging on on the site. I love it. I highly recommend it. Shopify is a platform that I use every single day and it can take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com-profiting. Again, go to Shopify.com-profiting all lowercase to take your business to the next level today. Again, that Shopify.com-profiting all lowercase.

This is Possibility powered by Shopify. Great question. So, probably the toughest thing I ever dealt with is to give a slide more background on the story, we ended up raising $650,000 total over the last year. And that was truncated across the whole year on really the same terms of the convertible note. But around early August, we're speaking with two potential investors, both extremely successful. Everyone on the podcast would probably know their names, not legally allowed to say it, but Oh, come on.

They were going to give us, I know, I'm sorry, I would love to see you honestly, I can't, I can't. They were going to give us $1.5 million, are these two groups, and what happened was about two days before we're going to sign the term sheet and eight days before we run out of cash literally zero were bankrupt. Well. Eight days before we're bankrupt they pull out of the deal. Oh boy. Yeah so I remember so vividly getting this call and I walked out of the office I was like oh great we're gonna talk about a time that we can sign the term sheet and get the money. That's what I'm

walking into this call thinking. And I remember it's like a five minute conversation, they just say, hey, you're too small, we love what you're doing, but we're not gonna invest anymore, we're sorry for wasting your time. And they're like, we don't want to talk about it, the decisions final, let's say in touch. So, I was sweating bullets, you know, like I must have looked like a ghost. I walked back into the office and I got my coat on the robin, I was like, holy crap, I might have just killed my company.

But we didn't, and how we got out of the problem was that over the next 48, 72 hours, I went on this insane learning cycle about alternative financing. I didn't really know a lot about lines of credit or loans or like your debt to income ratio and things like that. And so, Tenzo had really no debt at this point relative to our revenues. So, I went to Chase Bank and they immediately gave us a $40,000 loan. And then I went on this company called Cabbage.com as a credit line. And they immediately gave us a $40,000 loan. And then I went on this company called Cabbage.com as a credit line and they immediately gave us $60,000.

And so that was like, oh, whoo, we have some breathing room. And so we basically saved the company using alternative financing methods when the investors backed out and allowed us to continue to grow. I literally personally guaranteed all this money for the record. So it's exceptionally risky and if it failed I would be in serious trouble financially. But it didn't and it allowed us to grow and then we ended up closing around at the very end of the year with a $1,000,000 investment from the former CFO of Dr. Pepper Snaple. Wow. Which was the perfect strategic investor. And then about another $100,000 kicked in based on his commitment.

And then we closed the round shortly after. Wow, that's amazing. It's a theme with you to take effective risks. You just go with your gut and make it happen. Yeah, I call it my heart, but I'm following my heart and my beliefs. And I think just having an indomitable will get happened. Yeah, I call it my heart, but I'm following my heart and my beliefs. And I think just having an indomitable will is a really powerful thing. And I tell it to

invest it, nothing is going to stop me. I will have to be dead or completely incapacitated for 10zo to stop. So in a similar vein, something that seems close to your heart, 10zo T also has a social entrepreneurship angle to it. For every bag you sell, you give clean water to one person for one year. And so for our listeners who might be interested in doing this sort of thing, how does the mechanics of that work? It's honestly super simple. We work with an incredible nonprofit called The Thirst Project. They are only a few miles away in West Hollywood. a thirst project. They are only a few miles away in West Hollywood. And we were shot to them and said, hey,

we started this company to give back. And we're doing that right now through our product. And it's very nice that we can provide a positive impact on people's lives by giving them healthy clean energy. But we want to do more. We met with their founders, and it was pretty simple. We literally write them a check every month after we get a total of the bags ordered.

And they are building wells in third world countries. And so we work with them. It's honestly so easy. Cool. So it's just like a collaboration and you just pick that social venture. How did you pick them? Great question. They were really close by. The founders were really cool. They're also pretty small. And they specifically work with youth and they work in some pretty cool regions

around the country. And then besides that, like water, we felt was a very foundational piece of even making matcha. You can't make it without water. And so on that same note, kind of the last big reason is that everyone, except for maybe people in Flint, Michigan, everyone in the

US takes water for granted and it's extremely depressing but it also I think instills a sense of responsibility in yourself knowing that there's 800 million people on planet earth that don't have access to clean water. Yeah. It kind of makes you second guess what you're doing with your time. And it only costs 50 cents, by the way. Like I will share that openly. 50 cents is one year of clean water

for people in these communities. Wow. So next time you, on a waste 50 cents, like think about that and what that really means. So our team, like I have two quarters taped on to the window above my desk and I see it every day and it's a very good centering piece. Yeah, that is. That's so nice that you're doing that.

So, I know that there's a philanthropic angle to this, but it's also really good marketing. So, can you talk about how social entrepreneurship can help a business grow? Yeah. So, for tens of specifically, we're really actually not trying to use it as a foundational marketing aspect. That said, in terms of social marketing, I guess, is the word. It is really powerful and I think that goes back to Seth Godin's concept of world views. And a certain subset of the population believes in clean water and sustainability and philanthropy. That's one of their worldviews.

They adhere to that and they make decisions based on that. And so by providing a social aspect to your company, you're technically tailoring to those people's worldviews. So it offers up a new market and you can definitely acquire customers through that way. Cool. All right, so let's spend a little time on matcha. This is the product of Tenzo T. Matcha has been around for a while.

It was part of traditional Japanese T ceremonies for hundreds of years. And it's really popular with millennials. You know, it's all over Instagram. And T in general is popular amongst millennials. 87% of millennials report drinking tea, and matcha is definitely the it tea of the moment, and that's mainly due to its energy boosting and health benefits.

And I heard that samurai warriors used to consume matcha because it's energizing without any side effects. So why is it good for us, and what are the best ways to consume it? So when we originally started, like I mentioned earlier, it was about finding the healthiest form of energy. And like you mentioned, it goes back centuries to ancient Japanese society, and that's kind of where the name Tenzo comes from as well. But different from other teas, is that instead of steeping it traditionally in the bag,

you actually blend it directly with whatever you're drinking. So you get ten times the health benefits, 10 times the amount of caffeine, and really drinking the process all about the caffeine and the health benefits. And so contrary to coffee or red bull or pre-workout, which you can literally read the labels on most of those things, Maucha is extremely pure and it doesn't give you any jitters or that shakiness or the crash or that feeling of, man, I really need more of that. You know, that feeling when you drink cup of coffee and you get a little bit shaky and then an hour goes by and you're like, wow, I'm starting to crash or

need another cup of coffee. That doesn't happen with Macha. You get a very clean focus that happens over four to six hours. And so that's one of the reasons that monks in Samurai used to drink it centuries ago is because Samurai is a drinker before battle for that energy while also staying focused and monks used to drink it so they could meditate for long periods of time. Very cool. I actually am so excited. I've never tried matcha before. Oh my gosh.

I'll send you some as soon as you get off this call. Oh, yay. That'd be awesome. The second part of your question, which is regards the best way to drink it or consume it. Now, one of the best parts about matcha is that there is a lot of ways you can do this, and it really depends on how you get your energy. So it's different for everybody but for me I like discresso, cold blues, red bulls, I wasn't like in the Vanilla Latte group or the Frappuccino group and so I

like to drink matcha straight as what the Japanese call the koitra or Americans would think of it as like the espresso shot version of a matcha. So it just two ounces of water, one gram, or more of a matcha. And then you take it as a shot. I'd maybe take those a lot, but I'd highly recommend trying that if you're going to work out or you're in the mornings, head to work or in the office or going to class. Just take a shot of a matcha. It's awesome.

Also, you can mix like a concentrate, which is also like that. The shot I just mentioned in pour over milk, and form a latte, a lot of people who make smoothies will put it in their smoothie and so they can get the benefits, the health benefits and the energy there. And my mom actually uses it as a frosting die when she wants to make green frosting during the holidays.

Instead of using a green food that she uses a mantra, you can make tons of super cool foods with mantra actually. Very cool. And I think I read that it's high in antioxidants, right? Yeah, so it is. It's the highest amount of antioxidants per gram of any edible food or beverage in the world. So what that means is any oxen's

kind of fight free radicals. You can think of those as like the bad guys of your body. So they help fight free radicals and keep your body really healthy. That affects literally every portion of your body, heart, brain, muscles, you name it. Yeah, and I think that free radicals can lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, heart

attack, so getting your antioxidants is very important. Yes, I know, right? Very, very important. So just drink mantra and you can handle that. Yeah. So how about the skin benefits? What are the external benefits? Okay.

So I personally don't apply face masks too much, but some of our customers do and they will say it makes them glow or shine, things like that. And it's actually extremely easy to make. You just need a little bit of water, some honey and mantra. And you need to rev it on. It's super simple. We actually have it how to make it guide on our website if you want to check it out. Yeah, bam.

If you're ready to take your business to new heights, break through to the six or seven figure mark or learn from the world's most successful people, look no further because the Kelly Roach Show has got you covered. Kelly Roach is a best-selling author, a top-ranked podcast host, and an extremely talented marketer.

She's the owner of NotOne, but six thriving companies, and now she's ready to share her knowledge and experience with you on the Kelly Roach show. Kelly is an inspirational entrepreneur. And I highly respect her. She's been a guest on YAP. She was a former social client. She's a podcast client. And I remember when she came on Young and Profiting and she talked about her conviction marketing framework. It was like mind blowing to me. I remember immediately implementing what she taught me in the interview in my company and the marketing efforts that we were doing. And as a marketer, I really, really respect all Kelly has done, all Kelly has built. In

the corporate world, Kelly secured seven promotions in just eight years, but she didn't just stop there. She was working in nine to five. And at the same time, she built her eight figure company as a side hustle and eventually took it and made it her full time hustle. And her strategic business goals led her to win the prestigious Inc 500 award for the fastest growing business in the United States. She's built an empire she's earned a life changing wealth. And on top of all that she maintains a happy marriage and healthy home life. On the Kelly Road show, you'll learn that it's possible to have it all. Tune into the Kelly Road Show as she unveils her secrets for growing your business. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out in your career,

or if you're already a seasoned entrepreneur. In each episode, Kelly shares the truth about what it takes to create rapid, exponential growth. Unlock your potential, unleash your success, and start living your dream life today. Tune into the Kelly Road Show, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, yaap fam! As you may know, I've been a full-time entrepreneur for three years now. Yet media blew up so fast, it was really hard to keep everything under control, but things have settled a bit, and I'm really focused on revamping and improving our company culture.

I have 16 employees, so it's a lot of people to try to rally and motivate, and I'm really focused on revamping and improving our company culture. I have 16 employees, so it's a lot of people to try to rally and motivate. And I recently had bestselling author Kim Scott on the show. And after previewing her content in our conversation, I just knew I had to take her class on master class, tackle the hard conversations with Radical Cander to really absorb all she has to offer. And now I'm using her radical candor method every day with my team to give insolicit feedback, to cultivate a more inclusive culture, and to empower them with my honesty. And I can see my team feeling more motivated and energized already. They are really receptive to this framework and I'm so happy because

I really needed this class. With masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best anytime, anywhere and at your own pace. And we all know that profiting in life doesn't just mean thriving in business. With masterclass, you can brush up on your art skills or your cooking skills or even your modeling skills with over 180 classes from a range of world class instructors. That thing you've always wanted to do better is just a few clicks away. On Masterclass, you'll find courses from many app-a-all star guests like Chris Voss and Daniel Pink. I've been taking their sales and negotiation classes and I've been feeling like a real shark lately. I've totally leveled up my sales skills.

How much would it cost you to take a one-on-one class from the world's best? A lot. But with Masterclass annual memberships, it just cost you $10 a month. I have to say the most surprising thing about Masterclass since I started this incredible journey on the platform is the value. For the quality of classes, instructors, the platform itself is beautiful, the videos are super high quality. You can't beat it. Gain new skills in as little as 10 minutes on your phone, your computer, tablet, smart TV, and my personal favorite way to learn is their audio mode to listen on the go.

That way, I can multitask while I learn. Get unlimited access to every class. And right now, as the app listener, you can get 15% off when you go to masterclass.com slash profiting. That's masterclass.com slash profiting for 15% off an annual membership masterclass.com slash profiting. Cool. I love face max. I'm like a skin addict. So I will definitely try that once you send me some tea. Yeah. So speaking of your tea, your leaves are sourced from Kagi Shima, Japan. How did you decide to get your leaves from there and what are your best practices for sourcing product effectively? This is kind of like the brand question where what we were doing when we first started isn't

what we're doing now and it's really really a process of incremental progress over time. What I mean by that is when you're first starting and you have no resources, no money, no network, you can't hop on a plane and go to Japan for three weeks and try to find product. So, literally all we did was we went on Google and we typed in where to buy matcha and then we got it from some guy in Arizona who owned a private labeling company and we bought like 10 units. It wasn't the same matcha reason now. It honestly wasn't even that great. Very average. And then after like six months going through him I was trying hard to figure out where is he getting it from.

So you wouldn't tell me. And then I eventually did find out that person when we went directly to them. So this is now a Japanese company. And I think this was maybe 10 months into business. We now had some resources. And so we flew to Japan to visit them and their tea farms. And this is probably my favorite story in the whole history of Tens of Tea, but while we were in Japan, on the very last day we were in the Kyoto Train Station, and we had time to kill. And so I googled where is the closest tea farm. And what happened was we took a train, so we're there, and it wasn't a tea farm. And what happened was we took a train, so we're there, and it wasn't a T-farm. It was just a T-shop, and there's an 80-year-old Japanese couple, and I didn't

speak any Japanese, they didn't speak any English. And so we were like trying to Google translate and pointing on maps of T-farm, like where is the T-farm? No luck. So Google it again, and there's another one, like it's like a 20-minute walk away, we're like 10 minutes into that walk, all of a sudden the black SUV pulls up. The driver's side window rolls down, and it's the old man that we just seen in a shop.

Emotions to us, getting my car, you know, like waving. And so we got in and For the next few hours we drove around visiting all these different T-farts. Wow. It was out of the movie Like all of us were just starstruck so after that happens we give him a business card and really thank you so much We can do anything for you let us know a few hours later we get an email from Neck Eyes boss who turns out to be a team asser and we ended up meeting him a few months later and we created what is now Tenzo ceremonial grade. It's a proprietary blend of matcha

that we have and we can only buy it from us and that's what we sell today. But it was this kind of this long journey with a lot of serendipity and luck and it's kind of just what I was saying earlier. If you fall your heart and put yourselves out there, the world will answer the call. That's amazing, that's inspirational. Everything's always meant to be, right? Yeah, it is, so is. So like I said before,

Macha is really blowing up. The global Macha market size was valued at $2.62 billion in 2016 and it's expected to witness a 7.6% compound annual growth rate increase from 2017 to 2025. How do you plan to capitalize on this market? Without going into too many specifics in case any of my competition is listening, really though nothing crazy. We want to focus on doing what we're already doing really, really well.

We want to be the leader online on Amazon and our own website. And we want to run a great subscription business. And we want to treat our customers really exceptionally well and build a great brand that lasts. Cool. So you were explaining to us before how you got interested in Macho is basically, you love the product. Did you do any research on the Macho market

or did you just decide, you know, I love this product, I'm gonna start this business. No, of course I did some research. So I also knew the staff that you just posted the 7% compound annual growth rate. And what that told me was that, okay, this potential market that's gonna grow, maybe I can start a business in it. But one of the things I had learned when I was in college working on a company called CO2,

and I hate saying this now, it's, it sounds so dumb, but we were an on-demand printing company. So clearly students would pay us, so I'd print something for them and deliver it wherever they wanted. Sounds crazy. And what I learned was that the world's moving digital. So I would just start a printing company. And the meta lesson there is that you want to build a company that's aligned with the way the world is moving. You want to ride a wave. The notion there is like Mark Zuckerberg is thought of as the next Bill Gates, but he didn't build Microsoft.

He built Facebook because social networking at the time was the wave. And all he did was create the best platform to ride that wave. And so when I looked at Mocha, or whatever my next business idea was going to be, I wanted to make sure that my timing was perfect. And so when we started Tenzo, there was maybe three other matcha companies, some small players, but it still is a very small and very new market. It's not matured at all in the United States. And so we literally brought matcha to Los Angeles Cafe scene.

When we started in Long Beach, there wasn't any matcha anywhere. And then when we closed the first 20 or so accounts, that was like, boom, like it's here. When we moved to LA and then like match a bars is doing pretty well. And so, Chao Chao, Malcha is also a pretty big deal. And so, really it was more about the timing and just trying to ride that wave.

And then the other like tangible takeaway that I'd give to anyone is just starting. There's a great website called Google Trends and you can see the aggregate search data for any keyword. So when I did that for Masha, it was like the curve was like far up until the right, so growing really fast and we are so pretty new, we're so pretty early in the market. So I thought that with my competitive spirit work ethic, I could compete and win the market. Very cool. I love that Google Trends.

I think that Steve's on my team. She's our marketing girl. She uses Google Trends for us. Nice. That's great. Yeah. It's super helpful. Okay.

So you did great. You started this company and so far, you've been pretty successful, but if there was any advice that you could give to yourself, 30 of college when you were just starting this business, what would it be? What would your advice be to yourself back then? I would love to say to myself that you're on the right path. And why I say that is that too many people

look at great risks that eventually worked out is Wow, this person's a genius. They knew it's gonna work out this whole time Like how are they such a visionary? But in the end like being real like I didn't know this is gonna work I had no idea that I'd be able to start a much company In the end I was truly wondering can I do this? Am I gonna be strong enough? Can I figure this out? Can I learn financials? Can I learn operations? How do I import something from Japan? I do this? Am I going to be strong enough? Can I figure this out? Can I learn financials? Can I learn operations?

How do I import something from Japan? How do I close a cafe? And even the fact that I dropped out of school was like a massive risk. And in the end, we can back on it. It makes sense, and I say it. So casually now, follow your heart. But that's a lot harder when you're really in the heat of things.

And you lost trust, every lot of friends and family and that brings in a lot of self-doubt, and that's can turn a self-hate on all these questions. And so if I had as strong mentors as I do now back then, I would have been in a lot of other situations, like emotionally and for my own sanity, honestly. So that'd be my piece of advice. Just knowing that I'm on the right path. Yeah, and I think that's great advice. Okay, we'll see if I enjoyed this interview so much. How can our listeners get in touch with you and buy some

matcha? Yeah, so the best way to reach out to me is actually on LinkedIn. I'm super active there. You want to add me on LinkedIn. It's great. Shoot me a message. I respond to every single message that I get. Unless it's like an automatic bot that's a terrible dumb thing, you know? But any of the legit ones or even if the bot is legit enough, I respond to everyone. So if you have questions or want to talk more, please don't hesitate to reach out there. And if you want to buy a matcha head to TenzoT dot co. We have a great subscription, we have T-Ware blender bottles to mix your matcha on the go. And I would love for everyone

to try a matcha. And if you have any feedback, let me know. Cool. Well, thank you so much, Steve. Thank you, Holly. It was great, great, great being on. Thanks for listening to Young & Prophing podcast. Follow you up on Instagram at Young & Prophing and check us out at Young & Prophing.com. And now you can chat live with us every single day on our new Slack channel. Check out our show notes or Young & Prophing.com for the registration link. And if you're already active on YAHB Society, share the wealth and invite your friends. You can find me on Instagram at YAHB with Hala or LinkedIn. Just search my name, Hala Ta.

And a huge thank you to the Yap team. Tim, Danny, Christian, Steve, Stephanie, Nicholas, Ryan, Kayla, Shiv, and Julian. Catch you next time, this is Hala, signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative? I'm Gretchen Rubin, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project.

And every week, we share ideas and practical solutions on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben podcast. My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, TV writer and producer in Hollywood. Join us as we explore fresh insights from cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom, pop culture, and our own experiences about cultivating happiness and good habits. Every week we offer a try this at home tip you can use to boost your happiness without spending a lot of time, energy or money. Suggestions such as follow the one minute rule.

Choose a one word theme for the year or design your summer. We also feature segments like know yourself better where we discuss questions like are you an over buyer or an under buyer? Morning person or night person, abundance lever or simplicity lever, and every episode includes a happiness hack, a quick, easy shortcut to more happiness. Listen and follow the podcast happier with Gretchen Rubin. Get on up! Get on up! Get on up! Get on up! Get on up! First and loose when you're born to say, best and loose! Look for it at your local grocery or community coffee.com.