The Ledger
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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”
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…”
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…”
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.”
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”
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.”
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.”
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 …”
Kauss launched S'well entirely funded by $30,000 in personal savings
“So I had 30,000 dollars in the bank at the time.”
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.”
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”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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…”
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…”
S'well recently became a legally certified B Corporation
“Swell recently became an official B Corp, which means the company is now legally required to consider the impact of all its decisions on its customers, workers, the community, and the environment.”
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.”