Articles From Kara

Barriers. Set up to stop people. Some. One of the questions I still get asked about being an entrepreneur deals with the fundraising process. “As a woman, was it more difficult to raise money when you were starting Hint?” A barrier set up to stop some. But not all. I still don’t know how to answer […]

Over the years, I’ve witnessed countless entrepreneurs disrupting established industries. And while it may be surprising to some, the most innovative thinking often comes from people who leave one industry to join another. These people bring a different perspective. A new lens. A fresh pass that often drives change. Yet, conventional wisdom doesn’t often lead […]

“Just start. Because you will never succeed if you don’t.” I’ve given this advice countless times when I see future entrepreneurs hesitating on taking the plunge. The logic behind it is self-apparent: you’ll only ever achieve success if you actually get out there and try. No alt text provided for this image But there’s another […]

‘I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,’ That mantra was introduced into popular culture by a 1990s “Saturday Night Live” character named Stuart Smalley, who mindfully recited his daily affirmation into an ornate, full-length mirror. While my twenty-something self (at the time) enjoyed the sheer comic value of Stuart’s shtick, […]

Options. What so many forget to make sure they have. In life – and in business. I learned that lesson the hard way about ten years ago when I got a fateful call from our buyer at one of our most important accounts at the time. Starbucks. And I was told that what had been […]

Entrepreneurs come in many forms – each with different origin stories that led to the founding of their companies. Some look for white space in a category and then fill a consumer need that hasn’t been met. Others spot inefficiencies or irregularities in an industry that technology can fix. My own path to launching a start-up […]

Hello Everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read this. This month I’m hitting a big parenting milestone. My first child graduating from college and embarking on “real life.” It brings up a lot of emotions and memories for me, going through the same rite of passage many years ago myself. My first job […]

2020 was a year that made us all stop and think. For me, I thought a lot about fear. About family. And about being a parent. A mom. And since this coming weekend will be all about celebrating mothers, I wanted to take a moment to share about my own family, starting first with my […]

Imagine this sign: Seems impossible right?  And well, maybe to most it is. I frequently say, “Starting a company is like climbing a mountain. But creating a new category within an industry — that’s like climbing Everest.” We climbed Everest when we launched Hint. (Well, not literally.) You see, two months into launching Hint in […]

This past year has shined a light on how critical soft skills are. Soft skills are the intangibles. The art of understanding people, working in a group dynamic, communicating productively so that ideas can turn into action – and then action can transform into results. The importance of effective communication has never been more obvious. Especially […]

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to look back at the early days of Hint and recognize the key turning points in the growth of the brand. I can clearly identify those critical junctures where the business made a huge leap forward. And, interestingly, those leaps sometimes occurred at the most unexpected moments. People […]

“Just start. Because you will never succeed if you don’t.” I’ve given this advice countless times when I see future entrepreneurs hesitating on taking the plunge. The logic behind it is self-apparent: you’ll only ever achieve success if you actually get out there and try. But there’s another lesson embedded in there, and it’s this: […]