Michael Fedele: Founder & CEO of Throne SPORT COFFEE

Episode 713

On today’s episode, Kara welcomes Michael Fedele, Founder and CEO of Throne SPORT COFFEE, a bold new player redefining the future of functional coffee. After helping take BODYARMOR from a $1M brand to over $1B in retail sales, Michael is back to disrupt another category—this time, merging performance, recovery, and caffeine in a way that’s never been done before.
Michael shares the story behind Throne SPORT COFFEE, how he teamed up with superstar Patrick Mahomes, and what it takes to build trust, scale a brand, and win shelf space in today’s crowded beverage landscape. From lessons learned at BODYARMOR to the rise of better-for-you drinks and building around athlete authenticity, this episode is packed with takeaways for entrepreneurs, brand builders, and anyone chasing big, bold ideas.
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Transcript

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. I want to be you. Just want to make sure you will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked out, knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control. Control. Control. Hi everyone, and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs and really, some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Goldin show. Super excited to have my next guest with us. Here Today we have Michael fedeli, who is the founder and CEO of Throne SPORT COFFEE. You may have seen it on the shelf as SPORT COFFEE, but it’s there’s actually a little word that says thrown in there as well, and so definitely have a closer look. But he is someone who knows exactly how to shake up a category and isn’t afraid to do it twice. I’m talking about Michael Fedele, who has not only started this incredible, incredible drink and company called SPORT COFFEE. But also was in another little company called BODYARMOR, which you may have heard about, had sold to at over a billion dollars in revenue to to Coca Cola, and now he’s aiming to go into the ready to drink coffee aisle with a brand that blends high performance, bold flavor and a better for you mindset that’s built for athletes and active adults as well. And I cannot wait to dive into how he decided to do this twice. I’m such a big fan of serial entrepreneurs, as many of you know, but building something that he has already and going back in it now he’s going back with an incredible partner that I’ll let him talk about, and more than anything, how functional beverages are having. We’re having a major moment. Are still having a major moment, and how coffee is kind of leading the way in this next venture for Michael. So without further ado, super excited to have you here. Michael, thank

Michael Fedele 2:38
you, Kara. I appreciate it very much. Thank you and and the whole team on your side for the opportunity to join you here today. And I may have to circle back and license your voiceover in terms of how you describe the product so that we can use it in some some digital advertising, or something that was very eloquent and and well articulated. So we’ll get back to that as we talk about the product. But

Kara Goldin 2:58
very well done. Awesome. Thank you. Well, okay, so let’s start with the moment that made you think, Okay, I’ve got to go and start a SPORT COFFEE, and literally call it SPORT COFFEE,

Michael Fedele 3:11
yeah, without a doubt. So long story short, you know, I’m grateful to have the opportunity and experience of a lifetime to work for BODYARMOR sports drink as the head of marketing. So I joined BODYARMOR back in May of 2012 you know, reporting to our chairman, Mike karpoli at the time. And you know, had the opportunity to get a front row seat in brand building. And again, Mike was successful himself in building vitamin water. And he jumped into BODYARMOR as his second beverage endeavor. So, you know, throughout the nine years there as the head of marketing, you know, I had a chance to work on and oversee everything marketing related, from product development to packaging to creative to partnerships with a host of a list, athletes and other entertainers, retail marketing, you know, sitting and having the ability to work with the targets of the world, The CVSS of the world, the seven elevens, the Costcos, etc. And building a team. Again, we had 35 people on the marketing team once we sold to Coca Cola in 2021 so again, you know, at the opportunity and experience of a lifetime specific to SPORT COFFEE, it was really interesting. So many folks that I crossed paths with or worked with at BODYARMOR that were either professional athletes or amateur athletes every time we were together, whether it was a production day or whether it was a meeting, sitting down and reviewing a plan or, you know, potentially meeting them before one of their games or after a game, or whatever the case may be, they were always drinking coffee. And you know, we created a host of different products for the athlete at BODYARMOR, from sports drink to a low calorie sports drink to a sport water to protein products that we never launched. And you know, caffeinated sports drinks, you name it. But for me again, whether it was with you know Kobe Bryant Rest in peace, who worked extremely closely with or an Anthony Riz. Or Mike Trout, you name it, Naomi, Osaka, et cetera. They’re always drinking coffee. And started kind of talking to them, you know, later on, this was post BODYARMOR, kind of circling back on it, because I found it incredibly intriguing. Why are you always drinking coffee every time that we’re together, or we’re talking, whatever the case may be, and they’re like, listen, we’ve got practices, we’ve got games, we’ve got family time, we’ve got travel, we’ve got team meetings, etc. We just need coffee to get going. And oftentimes they were reaching for a coffee. Sometimes they would drink it black or with very little sugar or dairy or creamer or you name it. And they were drinking it maybe three, four or five times a day as kind of a pick me up. It could be mid morning after a workout or training. Could be, you know, after lunch or early afternoon, or it could be while boarding a flight after, you know, a long baseball series, or whatever it is to fly to the next neighboring city. So I thought there was something there. There was no allegiance to any brand. Either, they would either send an assistant to Starbucks to grab them, whatever it was, they’d look for their, you know, curing one cup coffee machine, you know, whatever’s in the area, to try to make a cup. So I felt, and you know, there should be a great opportunity in some way, shape or form, given the occasion, not only just for athletes, but just for people on the go. I myself, you know, drink a handful of different coffees a day, two to three coffees a day. And the reality is, for active people that are always on the go, there should be a better option. When you look at the coffee landscape right now, you know, you walk into any gas station or convenience store across the country, you know, and you open up that cooler door, and there’s a glass bottle shooting sitting there, and, long story short, it’s, you know, you pick it up and flip it over. It’s got 300 calories and 47 grams of sugar. Of sugar. So why isn’t there a better for you, ready to drink coffee option out there for the active person or on the go athlete? So introducing thrown SPORT COFFEE, that was really the foundation for it, you know, from that standpoint. And so I was kind of there and thinking through the idea. Started working on formulas, packaging and putting together a business plan. And, you know, had the opportunity to think through, all right, who’d be tremendous to partner with in some way, shape or form, when you think about, you know, the ability to bring this to life. And you know, a mutual friend put me in contact with Patrick mahomes, obviously, three time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP. And, you know, at the time, this was when he was only two time, right? So this is about a year and a half, two years ago, before his third championship. And we started talking through the idea, and a few minutes in, he’s like, Oh my god, this is a coffee I said, Yeah. He’s like, I need to try samples. Send me samples ASAP. I was like, Yeah, for sure, that’s the purpose of this call. And I was like, What do you think of the idea? He’s like, I love this idea. He was, I drink four or five coffees a day just for this reason. So the the concept, the idea, the pathway, genuinely resonated with him, and it was very easy for us to collectively agree on a partnership to launch thrown SPORT COFFEE. So very grateful to have him on board, and he’s the number two shareholder. He’s the lead investor. He’s put more of his own capital into the brand than anybody else, and he’s also the face of the brand from a marketing standpoint. So adds a ton of credibility to everything that we’re doing. Uses the product daily, samples it with the team, in the locker room, in the quarterback room. I get videos and text messages on a constant basis with new people that love the brand. So a genuine ambassador who’s passionate about the product and looking forward to continuing to build this brand with Patrick and our collective team as we move forward,

Kara Goldin 8:33
definitely. So when you think about brand names and you were on the marketing side at BODYARMOR. But what have you learned about, about branding that that maybe helped you to think about when you were naming SPORT COFFEE, obviously trademarks, but why thrown SPORT COFFEE and what have you what was the thinking behind that?

Michael Fedele 9:06
Sure. So add BODYARMOR again. You know, for anybody that remembers the launch of the brand back in 2012 2013 2014 it was, it was a premium, better for you, sports drink, right? It was a new and different product. At the time, the only real sports drinks that were out there and that were out there and that were successful in mainstream were Gatorade and Powerade. So, you know, for us with BODYARMOR, you know, the name didn’t genuinely explain what it was, right at the core, right? That was, it was a very cool, strong brand name, but it didn’t talk about how we were, indeed a better for you sports drink option, right? So there was a ton of education that went on behind the scenes from our team, right from a field marketing standpoint, talking about the reasons to believe in BODYARMOR and explaining exactly what was in the bottle that differentiated us from Gatorade and from Powerade. At the time, for me, with throwing SPORT COFFEE, what I love about our brand right now, I think too. I mean. There are many things to be very honest with you, but specific to the name throne, it is something that is short, sweet, catchy, authoritative, and, you know, you can really hit people over the head with that. It’s a pretty strong trademark that, you know, as we continue to build the brand and grow the brand, I can see throne, you know, across a slew of different coffee type products as well as, you know, products beyond coffee, potentially one day, you never know. So we’ll see kind of where that takes us, specific to SPORT COFFEE, and obviously the large branding of SPORT COFFEE on the package. What’s terrific about it is we get folks that encounter the package at retail for the very first time and know they may not be packing up their bag to go, you know, playing a basketball game or a football game or play sports, per se, but they’re going to pick it up and understand this is a product that is more than just coffee. It has functional benefits for it that are above and beyond what your traditional coffee has. And what I, you know, discovered when I was doing my research behind the scenes early on, when I was deciding whether I should, you know, create SPORT COFFEE or not. Was, I think I was looking at a Mintel report and came across a data point that 37% of ready to drink coffee consumers want more from their coffee than just caffeine and energy. And that’s a huge number. That’s a huge number to tap into, especially in a 6, $7 billion ready to drink coffee category, right? So, if we can provide a better option than your traditional, what we like to call, quote, unquote coffee milkshakes, we can, we can really kind of break through and disrupt the category with with some some better for you products. And you know the idea of SPORT COFFEE people, kind of, they get it very quickly in terms of, all right, this is a coffee that has more than your traditional coffee that can help you from a performance standpoint, and that’s what it’s that’s what thrown SPORT COFFEE from a brand name and trademark is intended to

Kara Goldin 11:48
do. What was the most difficult part of actually launching your your own beverage? Was it formulation? Was it actually, I mean, you’ve been working so closely with senior management at BODYARMOR. I mean, when it was tiny, right until it became big, which is awesome, but still, it’s different when you’re the founder, when you’re the CEO that’s doing it. But what was the, probably the most difficult part of knowing that, you know, the buck stops with you, literally,

Michael Fedele 12:21
yeah. I mean, I don’t want to say there’s one, one difficult piece to it. I think there’s a handful of difficult components on a day to day basis, as as you well, know Kara, right from, from, you know, being the founder of your own beverage as well. You know a lot of it. I think that initiating it, you know, from jump, and making the decision that you want to do it yourself. I’d encourage anybody out there that’s ever had an idea for a business or thought through about creating their own brand, go for it, right? There’s never going to be the right time to do it. So many folks put these things off. I had this great idea, and I kind of know how to bring it to life, but now is not the right time. I’m just going to wait and they push it off and procrastinate and push it off and push it off. I encourage you to do it. Take the step. Take the leap, get your ducks in a row and make it happen. Not that that was the toughest thing for me specifically, but that’s always a consideration. As a founder, you got to be ready to put your brand out there, which is an extension of you, and you got to be ready to work and build the foundation for the brand to make it successful, right? And that’s a commitment. So again, I’d encourage folks to think through that, but that’s absolutely a decision. But now that we’re in market, I think a lot of it is, you know, making sure we’re thinking short term and long term simultaneously, right, short term in terms of what’s going to move the needle and allow us, you know, decisions to make in on a day to day basis that are going to, you know, build the business and, you know, continue to gain placement. And you know, so much of that I learned from the team at BODYARMOR and learned from doing at BODYARMOR. But it’s, it’s genuinely micromanaging the business to extend, you know, it sounds crazy, but to extent, you probably wouldn’t believe and that was super important when you think through kind of what it is. Then also the long term vision. You want to make sure that long term you’re setting yourself up for success. So all those short term decisions that you make, you got to have that long term plan and envision in mind, and you want to make sure that you’re taking the right steps to get the brand out there, and also thinking strategically about what you want the brand to be, setting yourself up for the next step and being forward thinking. That’s the only way I think you can be successful, as being forward thinking when it comes to that

Kara Goldin 14:24
as you’re building throne. Obviously, before even embarking on this, you looked into the coffee category. There’s lots of coffee drinks. There’s tons of coffee beans out there, but there’s other ready to drink drinks in in the space. Obviously, yours is different, but where does thrown SPORT COFFEE fit into that space? Like when you’re going and you’re putting it on the shelf, which I know is such a key piece of of business for any ready to drink beverage you. Even though they might have a direct to consumer business, I mean being on the shelf and and is is key. Now the challenge for those who were not in the beverage industry is that you’ve often got to fit into this planogram, and sometimes when you’re doing something a little bit different, which I know that you knew with BODYARMOR and vitamin water and some of the other incredible brands that you worked with that can be a big challenge. And so where exactly does this fit, and kind of, what challenges have you had and kind of getting the shelf space that you want?

Michael Fedele 15:36
Yeah, great question. Kara, so long story short, again, we are a coffee, a ready to drink coffee, and we belong in the coffee set, right? So in a convenience store that’s in the cold cooler, where there are a handful of different ready to drink coffee options, we want to be right next to them. We don’t want to be with energy drinks. We don’t want to be with protein drinks. We don’t want to be with other types of beverages. Ideally, we are with the ready to drink coffees. And the same thing goes for more large stores, right? And we don’t have too much large store distribution right now. Our focus really is more so small store. But if and when we continue to grow in the mass channel and the grocery channel, et cetera, we want to be in ready to drink coffee. We are a coffee. The product is made with premium Arabica beans from Central and South America and primarily Columbia and yes, while we have a different look, a different marketing approach, and we promote a slightly different occasion than most coffees do, we are absolutely a coffee so we have had a handful of different buyers, folks who control the space in these stores, ask us, Hey, where’s the ideal location for you and for me and us, and for our team And for our team and for our brand, it’s absolutely in that coffee set.

Kara Goldin 16:43
So speed versus patience, especially when you’re launching something in a highly competitive category,

Michael Fedele 16:51
yeah, I think it’s a combination, right? It’s speed and execution, and your ability to move, to be nimble, to take advantage of opportunities, but it’s also patience, in part, because Rome wasn’t built in a day, right? And whether it was BODYARMOR sports drink, which was a nine year journey, you look at some of these other brands again, I love the story of Celsius, right? In 20 plus years to get kind of where they were, and then ultimately, kind of exploded on the scene and took advantage of opportunity, but you have to be patient, right? I think one of the things that you know you’ll learn is that if you have the opportunity to get on a shelf, you got to make sure you’re prepared for it, right? Is there enough brand awareness? Do you have the right marketing support? Are you planning to sample? Are you planning to invest in retail point of sale? Are you we’re willing to put the manpower out on the street to make sure that you stay in stock? Those are all considerations when you’re thinking about, quote, unquote, going big. We’re grateful in part, because of, you know, our story, the association with Patrick mahomes, my partner in Throne SPORT COFFEE, you know, the awareness in the industry that we’ve got a team behind the scenes, beyond just myself, that have experience in the beverage industry. We’ve gotten some phone calls from some major, major national retailers, which, you know, it’s incredibly flattering. At the same time, I don’t believe that we’re ready for that distribution just yet, you got to crawl, then walk, then ultimately run, to take advantage of some of these opportunities. And we intend to do that with throwing SPORT COFFEE and be smart about it and be strategic about where we go. There’s huge opportunity for us to continue to grow our brand over time. And I think again, you have to drive awareness in terms of what we are and tell people about it, make sure the education is there before you go everywhere. From a distribution standpoint, distribution standpoint, so we want to be

Kara Goldin 18:24
smart about that. So when you think about going in to different categories too, like, when do you know you’re ready, whether it’s, you know, big box stores, I mean, maybe it’s actually having cash in order to go and do that right. Maybe it’s having the right team in place. Maybe it’s trying to actually make the decision as to whether or not you actually want to be in that channel. But how do, if you’re speaking to a founder, like, how do you make that decision? Sure

Michael Fedele 18:55
you have to have belief and confidence in the brand and right? And some of that’s going to be, you know, subjective confidence, right, in terms of your gut instinct, but so much of it really should be based on facts and quantitative information, right? It’s a combination quantitative plus qualitative, right? So you have to prove it out. Do you have wind in certain accounts or certain chains or other channels already? Have you talked to consumers, and are they looking for it in other accounts? Right? So much of that at our days at BODYARMOR, we’d get, you know, communications on Twitter or Instagram or whatever it was at the time saying, Hey, when are you coming to this account? When you come into that account? When that becomes consistent, you know that consumers are looking for your products in some of these other accounts and some of these other channels, and you may have confidence that it may be that time to go there. To your point about resources, it’s absolutely a big part of it, right? You need to make sure, from a funding standpoint, a slotting standpoint, a promotional support, pricing standpoint, as well as a marketing support standpoint, that you can, you can, you can handle that right, and you don’t want to get in over your skis. And you know, that’s why beverages, as you know, just given your experience, is incredibly capital intensive game, and you need to have a ton of resources to enter into it. And seemingly at times, it’s. Quote unquote, never enough, right? Because you want to be so ambitious in terms of taking on new distribution and growing your brand, but you have to be smart in terms of where you go, and, you know, be successful, kind of in one space before you have the opportunity to go, quote unquote, too big later on. The last thing you want to do is to go into an account too early, when you’re not ready, and not have the velocities and the buyers not be happy. And then, you know, you get booted out when it may take you a long time if you ever get back into there again. So, you know, it’s, it’s a chicken or the egg thing. You just need to be smart and have confidence that you’re taking the right steps to take on that distribution. Then, once you’re in there, and as you plan to get in there, you need to make sure that you win. We had a meeting yesterday with our partners at Whole Foods, I’m excited to say. And you know, it should be fairly widely spread news at this point for folks in the beverage industry, but we got thrown SPORT COFFEE national distribution kicking off with whole foods. So super grateful for that. It’s our new cold brew product that’s going in there for skews. And you know, we met again with our buyer yesterday, and we have a great report and relationship with him, and we walked him and talked him through all the marketing support we have going on from now until year’s end. It includes hundreds of demos in Whole Foods stores. It includes point of sale in every Whole Foods in the country. Includes huge national marketing support and social media support telling the world that we’re going to be at Whole Foods once we’re in there. We need to make sure that we win, and we’re committed to doing that. That’s just one example of how example of how we’re approaching that account with our new Throne SPORT COFFEE cold brew product.

Kara Goldin 21:28
I love it. So you changed your packaging slightly since you first launched. What would you say to a founder who’s thinking about launching something and and trying to figure out, is it the right time? Is it? Does it have to be perfect? I always say to people, it has to be good enough to get it on the shelf and not kill anybody, obviously, and, you know, and your product or get them sick. But you’re always going to find out information once it actually hits the shelf that no one saw. Would you agree

Michael Fedele 22:05
absolutely? I mean, any entrepreneur that thinks that you know the first iteration or the first product, or the first formula or the first package design that they would have market with is the final one, you’re out of your mind. There’s no possible way if you do think that, then I’m sorry, you’re probably not going to be in business one year, two year, three years, four years down the road. That’s the reality of it. Learning in terms of what’s working, what’s not working, and how can you continuously improve and get better is crucial as you build a brand, right? And we’re doing that in real time at throwing SPORT COFFEE. We did that in a major way on a continuous basis when we’re at BODYARMOR sports drink. And that was crucial to our success, just continuing to figure out what was working, and how do we do more of it? What’s not working? How do you just cut that out and very quickly pivot to something else, and no matter what it is, even if it is something that is working, can you do it any better? Right? And that’s an important piece as well. I don’t think a lot of folks you know focus on too too much, but for us at throwing SPORT COFFEE, there’s a ton that we learned in our first year in market that we’ve now implemented into the brand. We’ve just modified even some of the formulas on our cold brew just to make them a little bit more smoother tasting and more flavor forward. Except for consumers we’re looking for in addition to, you know, the bold packaging that we’re rolling out on shelves right now that’s incredibly differentiated when you look at anything else in the coffee set right so, so for me and the team, it’s trying to sort through kind of what makes the most sense. In addition for us, we’re a low calorie, low sugar option. We’re also dairy free. We started doing field marketing sampling events last summer, talking to folks about the product and telling them where they could purchase it, et cetera. And the message point, dairy free around our Throne, SPORT COFFEE cold brews resonated way more than I ever would have anticipated from the launch, and that’s something that, again, you want to make sure that you’re, you’re wise and smart about, and that’s important. And we also just recently launched our latte line, right, which we’re super proud of, that has 10 grams of protein. The protein messaging is so crucial. When you start talking about people like, wow, I’m looking to get more protein into my diet. You know how hot, probably protein is, not just in beverage, but throughout CPG. Right now, everybody’s upping their protein and intake these days, and it’s the hottest new benefit I think you can add and throughout products. So for folks to find out, I can get 10 grams of protein for my coffee as well. It’s a huge sell point. So again, you put the product in market, you talk to consumers, you visit retail, you piece it together, and you try to make the best next steps. And again, at BODYARMOR, we did that in the early days. We’re doing it here in the early days of throwing SPORT COFFEE. But I’ll also say even in 2019 2020, 2021, we still micromanaged our business at BODYARMOR in the same exact way we looked at everything we were doing and figured out how to optimize it. And it was a never settle attitude, and that’s why we won. So I think that’s important for an entrepreneur to be well aware of. You’re never done, you’re always tinkering, you’re always tweaking, you’re always working to get better. And you know, that’s my mentality and our mentality here at throwing SPORT COFFEE. And you know, I encourage other folks to take the same approach to their business and their brand.

Kara Goldin 24:56
I love it. So hiring, what were the first. Roles that you hired for as you’re building out your team.

Michael Fedele 25:02
Yeah, so I’m incredibly grateful, in part because the first five people that I had joined my team and asked to join my team were folks that I had relationships with from BODYARMOR. So I’ll go not in any specific order, but kind of all five simultaneously. They all joined the team and we formed our team, you know, about six months prior to launch, but from a finance standpoint, we had a finance lead join the team again. Well, experienced, you know, finance director from BODYARMOR joined us over at BODYARMOR to throw SPORT COFFEE on the marketing side. And esteemed, you know, sports marketer that worked for me for a number of years joined us on the marketing on the marketing side. From a sales standpoint, had have a very tremendous, very well experienced gentleman who is a division vice president at BODYARMOR, joined us over here to to help oversee our sales efforts. And then, from an operations standpoint, another gentleman at a high level, very experienced 20 years in the industry. Come over from that standpoint, beyond all of it, you know, we needed kind of the glue to hold it all together, right? Sometimes I am the glue. Sometimes I’m pulling the glue apart myself. So we had a function at BODYARMOR called Corporate Development, which was crucial to us in terms of helping facilitate communication, help project manage, helped kind of piece it all together. Who also she doubles as somewhat of a chief of staff to me in terms of just making sure that I’m keeping my head on straight and we’re all doing what we need to do. So that was kind of our core team, our starting five, for lack of better description, as we thought through it, but when I thought through and laid out a plan for throwing SPORT COFFEE, it was around finance, sales, marketing, operations, and then this corporate development function to kind of tie it

Kara Goldin 26:46
all together. So you’ve raised money and you’ve built and scaled brands without massive budgets. What’s your advice to entrepreneurs who are trying to navigate capital raising and especially today.

Michael Fedele 27:01
I think every single you know, entrepreneur who needs to raise capital has thrown unique situation, right? They’ve got whatever it is the product they’re trying to raise for which, again, depending on the nature of the product, of the brand proposition, the uniqueness, what type of white space it may or may not, you know, be entering, or is it a me too, type product you know, it that’ll that’ll command either, you know, a certain level of attention, or it won’t, right? And that’s, that’s an important piece of that’s a big variable. And from a founder standpoint, an entrepreneur standpoint, so many folks do absolutely want to invest in the founder. It’s the person so many folks say, you know, I’m betting on the jockey, not the hook, you know, the horse, even though I love the horse, or whatever the case may be. So it’s a combination, right? It depends on kind of, who it is you’re talking to, and what it is they look in an investment opportunity. What I’d say is that, again, the ability to go out and explain and have a vision for what you’re trying to do is the most crucial piece, right? Is it rooted in, in, you know, any type of strategic foundation in terms of why you’re doing it, not just, Hey, I love, you know, the color yellow so the CANS yellow, like you have to actually talk through what it is specifically about your proposition makes sense. And we did so much digging and research within the coffee category, within sports science, within sports marketing, prior to the launch of throwing SPORT COFFEE that fueled every single piece of it. And I got one of the greatest compliments the other day from an investor, again, who we keep our investors close. We update them accordingly, based on what it is we’re doing. And he said to me, You know what I love about what you guys are doing? Michael, and I said what he’s like every single question I’ve ever asked you about your plan for X, your plan for Y, your plan for z, you’ve already thought through it, and you have an answer. And that, to me, was such an amazing compliment, because I try my best to be thoughtful. And yes, you have to handle what’s in front of you, but be incredibly forward thinking about what the future may hold. And you don’t want to make decisions today that you know you’re going to regret later on. As an entrepreneur, you’re always going to make mistakes here and there. You have to accept that was an incredible compliment to myself. So what I would say to anyone going out to raise money, make sure you do have it thought through. Make sure you do have a strategic plan. Make sure you do think through your marketing, your distribution, and not just, Hey, I’d love to go out and sign Taylor Swift or wild and crazy, everybody would. But can you actually execute it? Right? So it’s having the vision, but then the plan to execute against it, and I think that’s important, as an investor myself, in, you know, a number of brands and products and services, I look at that, you know, the same exact way. Is it a founder that I can believe in? But beyond that, you know, yes, they have a grand plan to do X, Y and Z. Can they accomplish it? Do they know how to do they know how to do the steps to actually execute against it? And I think for a lot of brands and for a lot of entrepreneurs, that’s where the rubber meets the road when I think back of some ventures that may have failed, amazing ideas, even amazing founders, but they didn’t have the plan, the skill set, the experience, or the know how to actually piece it all together. So again, trying to make sure that you have that. Is articulated in the best fashion for a potential investor, I’d highly recommend folks to take that into consider consideration. Well,

Kara Goldin 30:07
you have so much going on right now, and so much good stuff. You mentioned the national distribution with whole foods, and I’m sure there’s a lot of other great things in the hopper right now that are going to be coming for you in 2025 if you have not tried thrown SPORT COFFEE, you must. It is so, so good. And Michael, I am so excited to see where you guys are headed. So it’s, uh, really, really exciting. But thank you so much for joining us today, and thanks everyone for listening. I’ll have all the info in the show notes, but definitely check out Throne SPORT COFFEE, and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review for the Kara Goldin show. Thank you again. Michael fedeli, really appreciate it.

Michael Fedele 30:58
Thanks, Kara. Appreciate the opportunity. Super grateful. And thank you guys, and congrats on all your success and continued success with the show.

Kara Goldin 31:04
Thank you. Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin show. If you would please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit. And of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast, just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin, I would love to hear from you, too. So feel free to DM me, and if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal, best selling book, undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building. Hint we are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now. You.

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