We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aimy Steadman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aimy below.
Aimy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.
Corporate America tries to distill down trends about Millennials and Gen Z into product features — for example, basing a whole brand around being low calorie or around packaging. These values that Gen Z and Millennials care about should be table stakes: being better-for-you, better-for-the-planet, having diverse leadership, and being authentic. Those are the rules to play now. You also need to have a delicious drink and provide a fun experience to the customer while having those things going on, too.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We started our company seeking to create the next generation of boxed wine. We saw boxed wine at every party, every tailgate, every river float, but no one really loved the brands or the liquid itself. We created BeatBox Beverages in fun flavors like Blue Razzberry, Fruit Punch, and Pink Lemonade and centered the brand around music. Starting in Austin, TX in just a few stores in 2013, we had the opportunity to pitch the Sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2014. Mark Cuban made a historic $1M investment in us on the show. From there we experienced the rollercoaster of ups and downs that come with growing a brand in the alcohol space. We pivoted our business model many times from the product to the distribution network to the price point. Today we are one of the fastest selling and fastest growing brands in the ready-to-drink cocktails, wine, and flavored alcohol beverage categories. We are on a mission to increase distribution in every market in the country and have our eyes on international distribution from there.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I joined the MBA program at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin because it was one of the best entrepreneurial MBA programs in the country as well as being in Austin — home to creativity, ACL, SXSW, and all things startup. My Co-Founder Justin and I both applied to be Vice President of Entrepreneurship Society in the program. Justin and his friends had an idea to put “punch in neon boxes” and I had an online marketing agency at the time. I started working with the team on the website and other projects, and quickly became a dedicated co-founder. We were the group of MBAs who always wanted to go to the concerts and festivals on the weekends, we made our dreams come true by making it our life.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
During SXSW in March 2014, my co-founders and I waited in a casting call line to pitch the producers of Shark Tank. We had gotten to a point in our business where we needed to raise funding, and after thousands of folks had suggested we try out for the show, we decided to see if we could make it a reality. To our surprise, out of the tens of thousands of folks that tried out for the show that season, the producers called us back and worked with us to create a pitch for the Sharks. We were able to fly to California and film the episode during Summer 2014 and received a $1M investment from Mark Cuban on the show — one of the biggest ST deals of all time. We closed that round of funding shortly before our episode aired on TV in Fall 2014. As a young immigrant entrepreneur, it was a completely surreal experience and I could not be more grateful for the opportunity Mark Cuban and the TV show gave us.
Contact Info:
- Website: beatboxbeverages.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beatboxbeverages/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeatboxBeverages/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beatbox-beverages-llc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeatboxBevs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNRBA-iRv8D_3ylQTKVkwwQ