Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, describes how he assembled the company's initial funding in small checks from creative director colleagues who understood brand marketing.
“So then I went out trying to raise just from Former bosses I had that were, you know, executive creative directors, probably pulling in 350 plus grand a year. Like they had, they could write a check for five grand on a, you know, as a gamble. And I always had good relationships with people I work with. Like I didn't burn too many bridges. So reached out to those people who really understood marketing and brand. And when I showed them the idea like, oh, this is genius. Like you gotta do this. So I kind of just cobbled together five grand, 10 grand And then basically just, yeah, put together like a 150.”
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More from Mike Cessario
Insight
Cessario: Many people from big success stories just take credit for one genius
“How many times do you realize that like all the people that work on stuff, there's maybe one evil genius that's doing kind of everything and everybody else sort of takes the credit. Then you put them on their own. And it's like, cause I remember the first pres…”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 23:35How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Liquid Death outsells Monster's canned water 4-to-1 in a major southern chain
“And, you know, we just looked in a recent in a convenience store, a big chain in the south, and like, even at more money, Liquid Debt is out selling it like four to one.”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 1:08:53How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
What-if
Cessario: Liquid Death would have died in every traditional focus group
“Clinical focus groups, I don't think really work. Like you can learn a little bit from them, but it's, liquid death would have died in every focus group.”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 55:08How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
AssertionContradicted
Cessario: Liquid Death reached #1 flavored sparkling brand in convenience store channel
“And then by the end of last year, so that was like not even, maybe a year and a half of the, of that product being on the market, we were the number one flavored sparkling brand in total dollars in the entire convenience store channel.”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 1:07:58How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
Insight
Cessario: Negative initial reactions often indicate true innovation
“When you kind of know you're on to something, when people sort of have a really emotional, even if negative reaction to it at first, you know that you're probably in good territory. The stuff when you come up with something and people you talk to say, oh yeah,…”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 1:23:50How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
AssertionSupported
Monster manufactured fake energy cans filled with water for Warped Tour bands
“So they were never going to force bands to drink energy drinks that they didn't want to drink. So they had to manufacture this special product for the bands that was water, but it looked like their product on stage.”
Mike CessarioJul 11, 2024▶ 1:27How Liquid Death built a $1.4 BILLION brand around water (founder Mike Cessario) | Masters of Scale
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