Insight
Kauss: Win big retail buyers by showing complete assortments and POS displays
“Make it as Easy as possible for the targets of the world to say yes to you. Show what that assortment could be. Show what the point of sale material would look like. Really make it a whole concise package that the buyer could just look at and say, yes, you kno…”
Disclosure
Kauss: S'well was always profitable throughout slow and rapid growth phases
“We grew really slowly and then really fast. However, we were always profitable”
Insight
Kauss realized the reusable water bottle market lacked fashion-forward accessory designs
“This was a very crowded marketplace, but what I discovered was there wasn't anything that really looked great. I mean, everything was appropriate for the gym. Everything was fine for hiking, right? But there wasn't anything that I thought could catch, like, wi…”
Insight
Kauss delayed fundraising until S'well's traction provided a stronger investor pitch
“I considered it, but then quickly discounted it, because I thought, you know what, this is going to be a big waste of time, and I'm not really sure if it's going to work, and so why don't I just wait until we're bigger and more successful, because we'll have a…”
Disclosure
S'well self-funded its growth and avoided raising outside venture capital
“So luckily, we were self-funding pretty well at that point. We really didn't need the outside capital.”
Disclosure
Kauss confirmed in 2020 that she still owned 100% of S'well
“I do. I do.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kauss: S'well Sold Over 50 Million Bottles Before Spending on Marketing
“Because, you know, my example is with Swell, we sold over fifty million of our original Swell bottles before we spent a dollar on marketing. We asked our consumers to get out there, take the product, and to ask Ask other consumers to give it a try.”
Disclosure
Kauss: S'well partnered with TED for 10 years after donating 2,000 bottles
“We worked with the TED conference for probably 10 years, and we, it was expensive when they first called Adam. It was a very big decision for me to donate, you know, 2000 bottles and you know, pay for the shipping and all of that”
Disclosure
Kauss launched S'well entirely funded by $30,000 in personal savings
“So I had 30,000 dollars in the bank at the time.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
S'well's website crashed immediately after being featured in Oprah's magazine
“Well, the web traffic went up so much that we, when I say we, I was still the only employee. I had to really work on the back end of the website because we crashed immediately, so there was absolutely an Oprah effect”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
S'well generated just under $100,000 in revenue during its first year
“I think my sales in the first year were just under a 100,000 dollars.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
S'well's early corporate orders came from executives attending the TED conference
“Some of the first bigger corporate orders that we received were CEOs and founders of companies that had, had attended TED, and they actually wrote to us from the TED conference.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shonda Rhimes purchased S'well bottles for six television shows after attending TED
“And so in a couple years ago, Shonda Rhimes was one of the TED speakers, and she wrote into, you know, info at Swell Bottle herself, and said, oh, hi, I'm Shonda, and I just got a Swell Bottle at the TED conference, and she purchased Swells for all six of her …”
Assertion Supported
S'well won multiple IP lawsuits, including $19 million in trademark damages
“Correct. So we've had a number of lawsuits, that one included, of individuals and companies that are there making products that directly a fringe upon our intellectual property rights.”
Assertion Supported
Starbucks expanded S'well distribution to over 10,000 global store locations
“That's right. So I think 10,000 stores in the U.S. And Canada, 25 countries in Europe, all over Asia, Russia, South Africa.”
Disclosure
Kauss appointed a new S'well CEO six weeks before COVID lockdowns
“And I'm following the leadership of the CEO who started, you know, just six weeks ago.”
Insight
Kauss: Founders selling their business should negotiate lifetime discounts
“All founders out there, when you sell your business, negotiate a lifetime discount because I forgot to ask for that.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Entrepreneurship was not heavily emphasized at Harvard Business School in early 2000s
“It really wasn't a thing when I was in business school. I think I took one half class on entrepreneurship, but it was more how to finance a business than how to start and grow a business.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kauss earned less in her post-HBS job than before business school
“Myself and just a couple of my friends, we actually wound up staying at Harvard Business School, and the school created jobs for some of us. So you're working in a position that, you know, quite honestly, I was making less after business school than I did befo…”
Disclosure
Kauss founded S'well to combine insulated water bottles with a social mission
“So the first Thing that occurred to me is, wouldn't it be great if somebody invented a water bottle that actually kept things cold? And then I had just recently been at my business school reunion at Harvard, and they had a professor that made a presentation ab…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
S'well's first production run consisted of 3,000 identical blue bottles
“So I made 3000 pieces, and they were all blue, they were all the same size, they were all exactly the same, and I had them shipped to my apartment.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kauss originally named S'well 'Can't Live Without It' and bought the domain
“I actually originally named the company Can't Live Without It, because I thought you can't live without water. Yeah, I thought I was a genius. I actually spent a thousand dollars on the URL, can'tlivewithoutit.com, and, which is available if anyone's intereste…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bloomingdale's initially rejected S'well because they did not sell water bottles
“You know, I wrote that manifesto, that, that small business plan, and said, you know, we're gonna be sold in Bloomingdale's, and the buyer said, no way, we don't sell water bottles.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
S'well's customer demographics are balanced fairly evenly between men and women
“Now we're actually pretty Balanced in our customers being women and men, but that's really where the idea started in the beginning.”
Sarah Kauss