Steph Chen: Founder & CEO of Anyday

Episode 468

Steph Chen, Founder and CEO of Anyday, is here with us today to share more about her journey building a modern cookware brand whose purpose is helping make incredible dishes cooking in the microwave. Yes, the microwave! Since its launch in 2021, the brand has garnered the attention of culinary notables including Momofuku founder David Chang. The products which are geared toward teaching home chefs that they can blanch, toast, simmer and cook full meals in the microwave. We hear all about what it means to launch a new category in the cookware space, plus all the lessons she has gained in building her company along the way. This episode is super inspiring and you don’t want to miss it! On this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow.

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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 down 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. I am so excited to have my next guest. Here we have Steph Chen, who is the founder and CEO of an incredible brand called any day, it is a modern cookware brand. That is so, so awesome. And I’m so excited to have her here today to talk a little bit more about how she developed it and what it is exactly as I tease you into wanting to get online and order it right away. But since its launch in 2021, the brand has garnered the attention of culinary notables like mama fuku founder David Chang. And like I said, I just love this brand, not only for their tiny chefs like me, that are not excellent cooks that want to throw things in the microwave. But this really will help you to become a pro at blanching toasting, simmering, cooking full meals, and I just really, really love it. So anyway, without further ado, staff, welcome.

Steph Chen 1:52
Thank you so much. I’m honored to be here truly, super,

Kara Goldin 1:55
super excited. So talk to me a little bit about how did any day come about?

Steph Chen 2:01
It was a very serendipitous accident. And much like, Do you know the origins of the microwave? No, I

Kara Goldin 2:09
don’t actually I’d love to hear it. Long time

Steph Chen 2:12
ago, decades ago, basically, scientist was developing this new technology, he happened to have a chocolate bar sitting in his pocket. As this technology was being developed, he realized that his chocolate bar melted is what is going on here. It’s as we all know, the microwave is amazing for melting chocolate, amongst many other things. But just like probably you and I would say like 95% of America, I didn’t start off as like a particular microwave enthusiast by any means. I was just, I use it just like everyone else does. I reheat leftovers, I reheat coffee. And that was basically the extent of what I did, sometimes frozen food. And it was totally by accident, we were actually in progress of developing what was meant to be just like a food storage product. There’s going to be glass food storage, a glass bowl with a glass lid. And we were like, what else can this do besides just like reheat food. And so we decided to put chicken in there, which, if you’ve never cooked chicken in the microwave, can be a transformative experience if you do it, right. So, so delicious. But we put chicken in there and we’re like, let’s put the chicken in here to like start it off. And then maybe we’ll finish it in the oven. But then it came out of the microwave. And it was like perfectly cooked chicken. And we were stunned by that. Because none of us had ever tried that before didn’t even know it was a thing that you could put raw food in a microwave and have it come out cooked. And it led me down this wild rabbit hole of figuring out everything that I could about what microwave cooking is and is it a thing that could be useful to society at large? And what I discovered was basically that the answer is a resounding yes.

Kara Goldin 4:09
That’s awesome. How long did it take you from that process of, you know, trying what you just described to actually creating this product.

Steph Chen 4:19
So I would say from the pivot in in towards microwaves. From there, I think we launched in, it was about two years. And so there was a there was a long period where I was researching, basically doing desk research, talking to chefs talking to people to see whether is this Is there a nugget of an idea here that is is currently not recognized by society for the value that it could potentially have. And I basically discovered that like you said, people like David Chang of Momofuku and Ken Do you Lopez also serious eats and the New York Times and Mark Bittman and all of these very big name chefs and food writers that I had personally had a lot of respect for. They had all come out and I’m like, Hey, guys, like microwave cooking is awesome. Like, did you know that you could steam perfect broccoli in like two minutes and like, eggplant is amazing. And like, shrimp is awesome. And seafood. And I was like, What is this? This is crazy. And so I knew there was something there that that there was that that’s where like the opportunity, I could see opportunity, right? It’s basically like, The microwave is just another tool that basically happens to be in 90% of Americans kitchens. So you’re not asking someone to purchase a whole new product that takes up space in their kitchen, and they don’t, you know, they they already have a microwave. The question is, how do you make more use of it? And the reason you would make more use of it is that it cooks food really fast and potentially really, really well. Yeah,

Kara Goldin 6:04
no, definitely. It works. Amazing. And I think it’s definitely on my holiday shopping list for more than a few people. Because I think it’s such a great, great thing. So when, when I think about this journey, maybe a lot of people think oh, Steph must be a chef. How did she get into this? You know, I know that you and I talked a little bit about how your father really played a role in your life in terms of his entrepreneurship. So can you talk a little bit about that?

Steph Chen 6:41
Yeah. So I come from a family of entrepreneurs, which is a really, really fortunate background to be part of as part of this concept. I grew up thinking that, of course, you can start something but like, why wouldn’t you be able to start something? It was not like a thing where it was like, oh, it’s really there wasn’t like a huge mental barrier to it. It wasn’t like something big to overcome. My dad started a cookware company, that is MITRE Corporation, and now has many brands underneath it, many of which are very household recognizable names like Antoine Circulon, Kitchenaid, Farberware. And so I I, it’s kind of in my blood that, you know, it was a possibility. But I’d never I didn’t have a particular idea I didn’t set out being like I’m gonna start my own thing necessarily. It started more because of the concept and the idea behind microwave cookware. It started first and foremost from the idea of microwave cookware being potentially very valuable, as opposed to from me deciding that I needed to be an entrepreneur. And the reason why the microwave cookware piece was like I latched on to it is that my background is mostly in food, and cooking. I’ve held a number of different food related positions in my life, I was an intern at a shaper nice with Alice Waters. When I was in college. I worked at a restaurant in a restaurant kitchen in Hong Kong, I interned at subvert magazine one summer. And then I ended up working at a food tech startup called just right before I joined any day, or right before we started any day. And so food has has always been in around my life. But what I’ve noticed I gravitated towards, at least from a personal level, I cooked all the time, is I loved cooking foods, especially I loved hosting, I loved cooking foods that were very, very delicious and very, very easy. So I always think about it as like a scale of deliciousness to effort ratio. I love cooking, when it’s high deliciousness and low effort. And that’s always been true and long, the true long before I I latched on to this idea of cooking in the microwave. And so when I realized that you could legitimately make really good salmon, really good broccoli, really good potatoes in like, literally 20 to 30% of the time that it would take to cook something on the stove. I really resonated with that idea. And it’s, it’s a it’s a concept that, you know, we ended up launching and deep pandemic and people were right in the middle of feeling of needing to cook for their families three times a day, clean up three times a day. And so it just becomes as much as I love cooking. It can become a slog after time, you know and even depending on who you are, it might be a slog immediately. Or even if you love it, it can still be, it can still be tough to find the time in your day to do that. So that’s what we, that’s what we set out to do is basically create a brand and a product that can give people their free time back.

Kara Goldin 10:17
I love it. So where did the name come from?

Steph Chen 10:22
We went through a bunch of different potential names. But I love the idea of having a name that can noted immediately keynoted something related to time. Initially, I was really banking on like, let’s call it like Monday, or Tuesday or Wednesday. Because I wanted the idea of like, it’s really easy to cook on a weekday, which is normally for people you’re just like, it’s, it’s after work, what do I do? How do I get dinner on the table, especially now that I’m actually a new mother. And so the concept of like finishing work, dealing with baby and cooking simultaneously is is quite daunting. So I was I was really into this idea of calling it like Wednesday. But we ran into lots of trademark things. You can’t do that. Like, okay, someone on my team was like, what if we said any day, and I just loved it for like the, like just a hint of whimsical reality, and a hint of freedom to it. Like it doesn’t have to be every day. You could put it any day, you know. But something that I hear I see and hear again and again from customers is they’re just like, Steph, I use my any day every day. And so I guess it could have been every day as well. But I love I latched on to the name any day. I

Kara Goldin 11:47
love it. So you started initially, as direct to consumer, you talked about the pandemic. And you’re going to be going into some retail partnerships coming up. Can you share a little bit about that? Yeah,

Steph Chen 12:04
we’re so excited to launch. Our first brick and mortar store launch will be with William Sonoma. And it will be in January. And I truly couldn’t have asked for a better partner to launch in real life real brick and mortar stores with they are there. They’ve been the crux of the premium gourmet, gourmet kitchen ware world for forever. And I think it’s a it’s a very solid nod to how even people who love fancy stuff. You know, they like the idea of cooking in the microwave doesn’t have to be something that is for low, like new cooks. Or it doesn’t have to be for people who aren’t great cooks or, you know, it can be for people who love cooking. It spans a wide wide range. And well internet was just a fantastic they’re so good at storytelling that as well.

Kara Goldin 13:08
Yeah, no, I think it’ll be great. And, and definitely I see a cookbook in your in your future as well. So it’s, I mean, there’s, it’s not that you necessarily need it, but I think you could definitely do that. And you totally include a bunch of different recipes in the box. Absolutely. That I received, actually which was, which was super, super helpful. So what’s the key difference between the your cookware and like a glass dish, for example, if somebody is, and maybe even some of the plastic that’s out there, too. What are some of the key things for people to visualize about that?

Steph Chen 13:50
Right? Totally, totally. So if you were to cook in the microwave, here’s some options that you could do that. Obviously there’s any day, you could also take like a Pyrex bowl, like a glass bowl, like you said, in theory, you could put like plastic wrap on top of that. Or you could take like a Pyrex dish and like use their plastic lid to put on top of that. Or you could do like, you could even do a ceramic bowl, although glass is better for a couple of reasons. But you could do a ceramic bowl, you could also like put a plate on top in theory, like as a lid. There are options out there and and there are also like plastic, like fully plastic pieces of microwave cooker. Like if you looked on Amazon right now. You you’d see quite a lot of plastic there. Two things. Well, starting with the plastic of all of the things that people have preconceived notions about the microwave like people think, oh, it’s not safe. It’s not healthy. If it can’t cook really good food, you shouldn’t put plastic in. Of all of those things. Literally, the only thing that is actually true is the plastic one, you should not put plastic in the microwave. And a big study actually just came out in Nature magazine in the in nature publication that basically shows just how bad it is for you. And not to scare not to do do any kind of scaring here, essentially, in short, it releases a lot of these like microplastics and nanoplastics directly into your food. And those are proven to be really bad for the body. And

Kara Goldin 15:41
you’re talking about the actual containers as well as like Saran Wrap, or

Steph Chen 15:47
both. Yeah, both of them are interesting, even if it says it is microwave safe. Basically, there are there, there are very few FDA regulations on what microwave safe actually constitutes inch bass, the primary criteria is that it doesn’t melt in the microwave, if you do it for like a short period of time. Now when you’re cooking in the microwave, you can cook for it can take, you know, depending on what the thing is like broccoli, three minutes is enough. But if you’re doing rice, you probably cooking that at the lower power level for like 20 minutes, for example. Or potatoes, you’re probably cooking that for like eight, nine minutes, depending on how many are in the dish. So microwave cooking, you’re actually using the microwave is going for a significant period of time, the plastic lids and plastic containers, definitely just don’t cut it from a sturdiness perspective. And so what the anyday does instead is we have the magic of the mic OF THE MICROWAVE COOKING really lies in the way that our lid is designed. So it’s a it’s a glass lid, which is doesn’t exist out there in the market. And it has a silicone rim around it. So what that silicone rim does is it traps the steam inside the dish and doesn’t let it escape. Because if you didn’t have a lid, basically what would happen is your food would end up dry and tough because all of the moisture in the food would evaporate. And that’s what ends up with with bad food coming out of the microwave. But if you have a dish that traps the steam in, it basically effectively turns your microwave into a super powered steamer. It’s a steamer but much faster, because the microwave is cooking the food itself. And then that fluid is generating the steam. And that’s that’s also what’s helping it cook very evenly.

Kara Goldin 17:48
This episode of the Kara Goldin show is sponsored by Nord VPN, the fastest VPN out there, let’s add some context, because maybe there are a few of you listening who aren’t quite sure what a VPN is and why you might need it. A VPN is a virtual private network that protects your internet connection and privacy. It allows you to take control of your IP address, so you aren’t worrying about cyber threats or data security. Have you ever used a public network to connect? Of course you have. Maybe you didn’t realize what kind of threats your info might be vulnerable to, using these public networks is exactly where so many get hacked. But using Nord VPN allows you to browse in full privacy and not worry about anyone being able to see your data. And that means those sneaky hackers won’t be able to see your info. Really, or how about when you’re shopping online. We all have experienced or heard about credit card theft. Using Nord VPN for this activity is useful as well. You can avoid targeted pricing, fake websites and bait and switch attacks and shops securely knowing your credit card details are safe from snoopers even on those public networks. Maybe you’re thinking that using a VPN is complicated. No, it’s super easy to use. It just takes a few clicks. And you’re done. Nord VPN has over 5000 servers worldwide covering 60 countries running on every major platform, even your TV. And speaking of TV, don’t let your location limit what you can watch or the games you can play when you’re traveling. If there’s a streaming platform or a game not available in your country, you can simply change your virtual location and make it all happen. And the best part is there’s no more bandwidth throttling with Nord VPN, it encrypts all of your traffic. So your internet service provider can’t slow down your streaming speed. And that my friend is okie, using Nord VPN is really a no brainer. Plus with my exclusive Nord VPN offer, it’s really easy to make the decision to give Nord VPN a try. Go to Nord vpn.com/kara Goldin show to get my exclusive offer that’s Nord vpn.com/kara Goldin show. So you mentioned that you had worked at or worked with Alice Waters, did an internship there when you were in college, which is amazing. And she is the legendary shaper, nice. But you also went to Hong Kong and worked at the drawing room and you work for a startup called just for a while? What do you think you pulled away from all those experiences that maybe gave you the courage? I always say like, it’s very difficult for people to admire their parents until later, right? Audit life, and you probably, you know, look back and ask, ask your parents, your dad questions about different aspects about the business, but I have to believe that all of those different experiences that you experienced outside of your house was really instrumental, and helping you know, that you could write, but I’d love to hear that. Yeah,

Steph Chen 21:31
for sure. I have so much respect for all the people and companies that I’ve worked for in the past, at just i The most recent, the role that I had, most recently, before I started any day was as chief of staff. And I would say that role more than anything, allowed me to understand the scope of what running a business entails. Because as Chief of Staff, you’re essentially, you’re essentially helping the CEO with whatever is highest priority of that moment, whether it is something internally or something externally, like fundraising, and restructuring and maybe getting projects off to a good start and then handing it off to someone else to finish. It’s just a very good, very good look into lots of different parts of the business. So that prepared well, I would say, for figuring out what what the first steps of creating any date needed to look like, from a marketing standpoint, from a product standpoint, even from a just a company building standpoint, like who do I need on my team, what kind of people are the right people on my team. So that was, that was really wonderful. And then even just from like, two of my two of my previous work experiences really helped shape values of what I what I wanted to do with my life as well, I would say just and working with Alice, both of whom were very, very focused on this idea of accessibility of really good food. And from Alice’s angle, it’s like she started the entire sort of local and organic food movement on the West Coast. She believed that local and organic did not have to be for just this, you know, tiny slice of the population, it should be much more available in grocery stores and in restaurants. And I think she contributed a lot to the fact that organic is and logo are such big concepts as they are today. And yeah, so you know, she she really believed that if as long as you have, you make it, you put it in front of people, and they can taste how good it is. That’s really a really big game changer in getting someone to I think an E commerce term. So I’m thinking convert. Yeah. And in that way, and in the same way, in a similar way, I would say just my former CEO, Josh Tetrick. Was laser focused on this idea, just as a company essentially makes plant based eggs plant based Manet’s, etc. They were really focused on this idea that that the good option should be the easy option. So good meaning healthier and more sustainable. options should be really easy as in, it should be affordable. It should be accessible in in grocery stores. And it should be maybe most importantly very, very delicious. So just as delicious as as what the conventional method is, the same types of ideas shaped my thinking on any day. For me, microwave cooking should Should never be an inferior way of cooking, it should be the results, the literal results of the food should be just as good if not better than the conventional method. So just take like mashed potatoes, for example. Typically, when you make mashed potatoes, you’re taking out a pot, boiling a lot of water, you’re putting the potatoes in, you’re cooking them, that whole process probably takes like at least 30 minutes. And then you’re draining it, you’ve like dirtied a lot of dishes in this time period. For the any day, you just put the potatoes in, you microwave it, you add some cream and butter and salt. And then you mash it right in one bowl. And it’s just like, literally from end to end takes 10 minutes. So probably like a fourth of the amount of time that it takes to make mashed potatoes normally. And yet the results are even better than within what you would get on stovetop, the potatoes don’t lose any potato Enos to the water, they don’t lose any nutrients to the water as well. And all in all, is just like a much better user experience. And that’s critical for me that to me that signals. That’s really what we’re all about is we’re not trying to find something that is almost as good as but not quite as a normal way. It’s really about like, what are we? What do what does the microwave excel at even more than any other method?

Kara Goldin 26:31
So as you get people excited about your brand, and people are purchasing any day, how do you stay connected with this consumer? Because obviously, you talked about the potatoes and and making all this great food, but you don’t control you’re not in their kitchen. So how do you get them excited? And and so that you really understand maybe how else you can help solve problems for them. But also, what are kind of their pain points?

Steph Chen 27:05
Right? That’s a great question. The main way we do it is by creating a lot of ongoing content that is intended to sort of pave their pave their path to cooking in the microwave. So it starts from, you know, obviously, I guess the whole journey starts before they convert. But even right after they convert, we put a lot of emphasis on onboarding, and what that experience looks like. You know, we have a whole landing page, we have recipe cards, like you mentioned in the box. And, and if they engage with us in any way over email over social, or we have like a Facebook community. That’s a really good way for us to get real time feedback for them, both for us to deliver them actually useful content that allows them to just make the most of their dishes, which I just strongly, strongly believe in the flywheel. So I just believe that if a consumer is greatly delighted by a product experience, they will definitely tell all of their friends. It’s a very, it’s the type of product that it’s very easy to tell something about. It’s like Whoa, did you know that I could use the microwave and they’re like, What, like that’s crazy. Yeah, yeah,

Kara Goldin 28:23
I love that. So if you had to name the hero product from your line, what

Steph Chen 28:29
would that be? The product we started off with is still probably are either one or two bestseller which is the everyday set. It comes with four bowls, four of the four of the glass dishes with lids in four different sizes. So we’ve got like a large shallow dish large deep dish, medium shallow dish and and medium deep dish. And the sizes are intended to cook different things like you can use any of them to for example steamed vegetables, but like the large deep dish is really the one you want to use when you’re making rites or like quinoa or pasta. The large shallow dish is one that you want to make if you’re making you know crispy bacon or salmon or like long long vegetables like sweet potatoes or asparagus and mediums the mediums are just like a smaller vessel to cook smaller things. So like poached eggs are really perfect and like the medium shallow dish, and medium deep like any I use basically use the medium deep for all vegetables. So it has all the different sizes and the idea is that you’re not just cook you don’t. The dishes are not just for cooking. They’re also for serving and storing. And reheating right so it’s a it’s a it’s a single single dish that goes that feels very at home in many different environments in your kitchen and in your home. Which is part of the magic of The experience that is, it’s hard to, it’s hard to sort of visualize how that feels until you actually have one and are using it. But yeah, I would say the everyday set is our main bestseller, followed pretty closely by the complete set, which is the same thing. But also has two small dishes, as well, which are, which are primarily really, really good for reheating.

Kara Goldin 30:23
Awesome. So what has been the biggest challenge or sort of surprise challenge and building your own company? Obviously, you’ve been around incredible entrepreneurs and disruptors, and people that have scaled businesses. But now you’re sitting in this spot, and you’ve got to figure stuff out, as every great entrepreneur has to do. What has been one of the more challenging aspects that maybe has surprised you.

Steph Chen 30:56
I feel like I had, I had a lot of challenge, especially pre launch. It’s that moment where actually not just a single moment, many, many moments, I feel like I would like lie awake at night thinking about this is you haven’t, you’re still in the process of building something but it hasn’t home launched yet. You haven’t, you don’t have something to show for yourself yet and show show the world yet of what you’re working on. You just have a concept that you are that you’re building. I think in those moments, it’s very, it was very easy for me to become pretty paralyzed by self doubt. Like, is it? Is this even a good idea? Like, I don’t know how people are gonna respond to this, I can ask friends, you know, and they’re kind of like, they kind of feel obligated to tell you like, oh, yeah, that’s really cool. But they’re, you don’t know how the larger public will react and especially for the any day concept in particular, where we’re, we’re going pretty out there, you know, we’re telling people to use their microwave to cook food. It’s just a very foreign concept for a lot of people and I was I was, I have a lot of self doubt that it would be received in a positive way. I got over the self doubt, which is amazing. Primarily, I think Dave, Dave, David Chang, had a big part to play in, in helping me realize that like no stuff like this is actually like a really big opportunity like this could our goal with this is to have the any day become the next instant pot, it fulfills a lot of the same value props, right of like, cook in a very fat cook very quickly, in a very hands off way. And end up with really good results, except for more instant than the Instant Pot. So it’s pushing through pushing through the moments of difficulty in the moments of self doubt, and knowing that you feeling confidence that you are on the right path, if you believe in it strongly.

Kara Goldin 33:02
I love it. So when you close your eyes and think about the brand that you’ve built, what are you most proud of? I always love to ask this question because of everything that you just said, where you have a lot of self doubt. But yeah, there’s a lot of stuff that you’re doing in the background that you don’t get any credit for, not only as an individual, but as a company that you feel like, wow, like we’ve really done amazing things. I mean, at hint, in the very early days, we were able to, to do a product that was shelf stable without using preservatives in it. Yeah. And we were able to figure out for the industry, how to do that. We didn’t come from the industry. And so it’s something that I’m incredibly proud of, and that extended over the years, you know, when I met consumers and how we were helping people to get healthy, but I’m always I think it’s something that all entrepreneurs need to kind of reflect on too, because it’s really picture, right? Yeah. What’s the big picture? And maybe it’s something that you know, you don’t get interviewed for very often because there’s other things that are more important, like a new item that you have and you’re sad or whatever it is, but I think it’s it’s always something that that you should look at and what would you say that would be today?

Steph Chen 34:34
I think it’s that we have made big inroads in changing people’s minds about the microwave and created it as a legitimate cooking. It basically rebranded reframed this, this the microwave and helps people see that it is a legitimate cooking tool that’s already in your kitchen. And to me that’s reflected in a number of different ways. It’s It’s reflected in the New York Times writing an article about how a perfect way to cook rice is in your microwave. They didn’t mention any day, but the fact that they had an article out the New York Times is feels comfortable going out there and be like, Hey, you should cook rice in your microwave is incredible to me. And a lot of a lot of bloggers and one that I have a lot of respect for in particular is called simply recipes. Earlier this year released an entire library of microwave cooking recipes, they did feature any day, which I was excited about, but that the fact that we have changed the societal discussion of what a microwave can do is it makes me feel there’s a lot of validation there in like the work that my my team has put in whether or not we are, you know, mentioned in the particular pieces, it’s just now it’s not something at least it’s starting to become, it’s not just a thing that like, you know, in the beginning, we might have put ourselves out there. And we’re like, we’re explaining much more about how you can cook in the microwave. And now it’s not so crazy to people anymore. They’re like, Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that. I’ve seen David Chang do that before, oh, I’ve seen this on New York Times, you know. So we’ve actually had to change the way that we talk about it. Now it’s no longer as much of a shock factor. And it’s more now about like, how to make MICROWAVE COOKING even more optimal, and get the best results out of it. And what is the breadth of what you can make, as opposed to you can cook anything and you can cook like vegetables in a microwave, that concept is less foreign to people No, because of any day.

Kara Goldin 36:55
So last question, best advice that you’ve received? That’s really been helpful in building your business? Or what advice would you give to people who are thinking about starting their own company? hire the right

Steph Chen 37:10
people? Yeah, I think the team is, the team is just the most, the most foundational part of what a company is all about, and what you’re able to accomplish on a day to day basis with the right team, and I love my team. We’re a group of eight right now. And they, you know, everyone is everyone is really engaged really in it, they believe in the vision and the mission of what we’re trying to achieve. And that makes all the difference because that that scales, what I’m able to do what the whole company is able to do, right? It’s no longer like, there’s no need to micromanage. It’s just like, give a general the general goal, the general interest in various different categories of things that we do, and they can run with it, which is just like, both very productive and also very empowering for everyone.

Kara Goldin 38:12
Definitely. And,

Steph Chen 38:13
you know, you touched on the mission and the purpose. And everybody believes in it when you have somebody expecially early on, that is skeptical. They’re just doing it for a job like that is it’s poison, and an organization as small as yours to. Exactly, exactly. So not just you’re completely right. It’s are they the right cultural fit? Like do they embody the types of values that you want on your team? Because every single team member for a group that small makes an outsize impact both on the work that gets actually gets done and also on the culture of the team? And I would say like a part two piece of advice on that. So if Part one is like hire the right people part two is as a founder I think it’s incredibly important to imbue that foundational why into your team and that foundational vision and mission and it’s actually not just to your direct team members to which is a definite you definitely need that. It’s also for your partners and it’s for agencies that you work with your paid marketing your PR your anyone that you work with if they if their team members to Riley we have to remember that it’s not just like a separate like barrier thing, right? It’s if you bring them in on how how you see the brand and how you see the world changing as a result of it. They are that much more bought in to what you’re trying to do and they are that comes through in the work that they do for you. So

Kara Goldin 40:00
true. So Steph Chen, thank you so much. We’ll have all of the info for any day in the show notes. But really appreciate you taking us through your journey and telling us a lot more about the brand. It’s very, very inspiring, and I appreciate you coming on. So thanks again. And thanks, everyone for listening. 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. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my book undaunted, which I share my journey, including founding and building hint. We are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And thanks everyone for listening. Have a great rest of the week, and 2023 and goodbye for now. Before we sign off, I want to talk to you about fear. People like to talk about fearless leaders. But achieving big goals isn’t about fearlessness. Successful leaders recognize their fears and decide to deal with them head on in order to move forward. This is where my new book undaunted comes in. This book is designed for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of fear, overcome doubts and live a little undaunted. Order your copy today at undaunted, the book.com and learn how to look your doubts and doubters in the eye and achieve your dreams. For a limited time. You’ll also receive a free case of hint water. Do you have a question for me or want to nominate an innovator to spotlight send me a tweet at Kara Goldin and let me know. And if you liked what you heard, please leave me a review on Apple podcasts. You can also follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn at Kara Goldin. Thanks for listening

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