We recently connected with Madhu Sharoff and have shared our conversation below.

Madhu, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I started Kimbala in 2019 but the idea came about in 2018 after I left my career in the wine industry. It was time for a change and I had always had this, ‘what if.. [I had my own Brand]’ at the back of my mind. Life-wise I had just gotten married, was living in the Bay Area, life was good and it felt like it was now or never to address that ‘what if’. So, I decided to make the move to Entrepreneurship. Knowing what I do now about starting a brand – starting sooner in my life (early-mid 20’s), perspective is different, energy levels are different and willingness to jump and take risk without thinking much is also different; which I think are all positive things. On the other hand, the focus on CPG was not the same, online shopping was not as popular, Amazon wasn’t what it is now – so many things would have been different! And who knows, it may not have been a beverage brand I would have gone for at that time. I guess I do still wish I would have started sooner, so that at the current place I am in life, in my 40’s and with real-life responsibilities, the business would be larger and further along success wise. In your 20’s I feel I would have been a lot more care-free about running the business and not as worried as sometimes can be the case now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

After spending 15+ years in the beverage industry and handling everything from sourcing to sales to distribution, I decided getting in to beverage was a no brainer for me. Kimbala offers Chai and Coffee products with ingredients sourced from India – the focus of my brand is to provide authentic Chai for US consumers. Chai is largely misrepresented in the US and the goal is to change the way consumers think about and experience Chai. One of the major issues with mainstream Chai is it does not taste like tea and is instead loaded with cinnamon and sugar. The word chai actually means ‘tea’ – when you drink a true Indian chai, it should taste like tea! Kimbala is chai done right. I am proud to be innovating the in the beverage space by offering a cold chain product that is made fresh to order and shipped directly to customers’ homes. There are not many products you will find were made only a couple of days before you receive them – I’m proud to be offering that.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Yes, at Kimbala all of our manufacturing is done in house. I knew how to prepare our products in small portions (ie: at home!) but there was a learning curve to understand how to prepare the products at scale. There are no other companies preparing chai at scale in the same way we are so trial and error was really the way in which I figured it out and built the foundation for our manufacturing. I have learned that forecasting is really important – understanding how much is needed, at what times to prepare the items in order to fulfill your needs. Also having a deep rooted knowledge of the market is extremely important to ensure your sourcing of raw materials is consistent and you have what you need, when you need it.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight was purely an inspiration about the Nike founder’s entrepreneurial journey and really led me to embrace wholeheartedly my own journey. Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss & Tahl Raz helped me improve my business acumen as it relates to negotiation. No Short Cuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viestur really helped shape my entrepreneurial mind as it relates to being persistent and also being aware that things happen at the right time; waiting for the right time for certain opportunities is critical.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ikimbala.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/i_kimbala
• Facebook: facebook.com/ikimbala
• Twitter: twitter.com/i_kimbala