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In This Episode, You’ll Hear About:

• [02:39] Alec’s childhood in California and his first taste of entrepreneurship.

• [10:57] How his almost-pro athletic journey demonstrates Alec’s perseverance and drive.

• [14:04] The shoulder injury that led him to the corporate world (and what he learned there).

• [21:15] What working in a tech startup taught him about failure, focus, and being a founder.

• [24:34] Why Alec decided to build a sustainable ice cream brand that tastes good too.

• [30:23] Regenerative agriculture, A2 dairy, sourcing an organic dairy supplier, and more.

• [42:37] The complexities of running a retail business while driving change in the industry.

• [49:07] Advice for getting your product on shelves: think about the retail buyer!

To Find Out More:

Alec’s Ice Cream

Alec Jaffe on LinkedIn

Alec Jaffe on Twitter

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

AWESOME CX by Transcom

Quotes:

“I maybe had one or two lemonade stands, but I wasn’t the kid with the lemonade stand on the corner every single weekend!” [0:07:35]

“Seeing how my athletic journey transitions to what I’m doing now demonstrates so much perseverance and hustle and willingness to overcome all the obstacles put in my way.” [0:10:29]

“At AEG, I got to deal with [how to] grow businesses and also work with clients and people who were way older than me and expected me to be on top of my game.”  [0:19:56]

“Focus is in everything that we’re doing as far as who is our customer target? — What retailers do we want to sell our product in? We don’t want to be everywhere all at once to start with. What is the product? Does this match the vision for what we want the product to be? Being really clear about that is the biggest thing that I’ve learned and then, on top of that, create a really amazing product.”  [0:22:36]

“There is a cool opportunity to create an amazing-tasting ice cream that also talks about sustainability and uses really great ingredients because nobody is doing that.”  [0:29:25]

“I wanted to create an ice cream that didn’t have to sacrifice flavor for sustainability. It would be an additive experience where, because of the sustainable ingredients, you’re actually creating a better product.”  [0:30:09]

“Finding an organic dairy supplier]allowed us to further our mission in a way that I didn’t even know was possible through regenerative agriculture and also added a cool component with the digestion benefit through A2 dairy.” [0:34:11] 

“One of the bigger challenges in the regenerative space is creating a market for regenerative products.” [0:45:23]

“How is this product going to be better for the shopper, for the consumer? Of course, your product needs to answer that question, but a lot of people don’t think about how their product helps the retail buyer.”  [0:49:47]

“Take the time to get the details right, understand what you’re doing, and don’t just immediately rush into everything.”[0:56:01]