Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Max Born. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Max thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
I tell my wife quite often these days, that it might be better for me to go back and find a job. My last position was six-figures, with a lush office and awesome team to lead. I was Vice President, with a comfortable and stable job in a growing company. I had 401k, health insurance, but a strict schedule and fast-paced environment. I was responsible for food safety audits, which could make or break many of our client relationships with national brands.
3 years into quitting my day job and running my own business, and I’m finding myself at that make-or-break point. I still have a roof over my head and food on the table, which means everything to me and my family. Our company has made it past the point of no return and I keep shoveling money into it, hoping for the next scale-up to be our savior.
But, I hadn’t anticipated the struggles of building a household food brand. The retailers make more money than the manufacturers, and layers of distributors, brokers, etc taking their cut in the middle. Sure, we can build online sales and in-person farmer’s markets and fairs in order to keep more of the revenue for the company. Only, that would entail a larger team, more marketing expenses, and even more hours put into building this machine.
The thought of having a stable income and future, versus driving someone else’s dreams and being at the mercy of their schedule and needs, is a constant battle. I love working for myself, and I love the team we are building. I wouldn’t go back to it, but I’ll watch my limits and boundaries to know if that switch may have to come in the future. Basically, what needs to happen is opening up the ownership of the company to investors, bringing in the capital needed to scale, and sacrificing a bit off the top for the help needed to continue the growth.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Chili Beak is our main brand, which started in 2014. I took the reins in 2019, when the founders had taken it as far as they could and wanted someone else to take it from there. I left my corporate job in January 2020 ready to take on the retail world. Covid hit and I struggled, in fact, suffered hard. With no markets or demos allowed, no food shows to attend, and no way to travel and grow the business, I had to pivot. I worked on our website and launching new products. I started side hustles in consulting and coaching, finding that I had a true calling for helping others with their businesses.
In 2021, I launched Saucetown.com and started a plan to create a food business incubator. My many years of experience in food safety, food manufacturing, marketing and logistics offered a unique edge on services to offer. Plus, my ADHD creative-quick-start brain decided to launch several other projects. We produced the Sauce Lake City Fest, the first hot sauce festival in Utah. Now, we’re launching even more products while keeping our main brand true to its customers.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Founder’s syndrome. Many years ago while working for a quickly growing company, they began hiring more and more people and putting them to work underneath me. Having built much of our systems in years prior, I felt attached to my responsibilities and struggled with passing them to someone else.
I quickly learned that I wasn’t in the mindset needed for a leader to grow with a company. I felt threatened by new people with new energy and skillsets doing parts of my job better than I had been previously. But then I learned that having 5 people do my job meant that I was doing far too much to be sustainable in my role.
It wasn’t until I broke my leg one day, that I actually started to see the light. Rather than get up from my desk to walk out to the factory and show someone how to do a task, I learned to communicate more clearly, I learned to trust the managers with the knowledge I passed and know they would get it done just as well as I [thought I] could. I learned patience, I learned I was also replaceable. I learned to excel in my leadership skills and enjoy working smarter, instead of harder.
Now running my own business, I recently came to that point yet again. I saw right away that it was happening, I pivoted fast. I hired a sales rep to help me manage our customer relationships. I hired more people to help in production. I hired a graphic designer even though I’ve been doing that for 25 years. I outsourced accounting and marketing to professional companies who provide that service. I took off many hats. It feels good, I’ve got to say.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I grew up poor. I’ve been homeless twice in my twenties. I’ve worked for others for almost 30 years. I’ve started and closed several businesses, from an art magazine to a skateboard company, art gallery, photo studio and others.. I always thought that the reason they didn’t succeed is that I had a 9-5, and wasn’t able to put my whole heart and focus into the business.
When I acquired Chili Beak, left my job and went on my own, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I hadn’t planned out a long term financial strategy. I had no background in business or fundraising. I had gotten lucky by buying in a small chunk of equity in the company I was working for. Ten years later, I cashed it out and invested it into the business. But, I had also just bought my first house, a nice new truck, and had no income coming in. I didn’t get any Covid assistance, and the next two years watched my bank accounts get smaller and smaller.
Sure, the value of the business was growing, in fact it’s worth 10x what it was when I purchased it from the founders. We’ve got receivables, inventory, and nationwide brand recognition. But, the company needed more money. I sold my house, and again put more into growing the business.
Now I think what it could’ve been like had I kept my day job and built this company slowly and methodically. Having an income would be nice, and many others who work in the hot sauce industry have their day jobs, and this being a passion project. Except that my dreams are bigger than just selling bottles at a market and to friends and family and random people who find us on Amazon. I’ve helped two previous companies grow from zero to $MM. I’ve seen what it takes, and the perseverance and patience to grow a household brand.
All I need is a bit more patience.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chilibeak.com
- Instagram: @chilibeak
- Facebook: Facebook.com/chilibeak
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidborn2/
- Other: www.saucetown.com www.chillbeak.com www.saucelakecity.com www.creamy.biz www.ideafarm.app www.davidborn.co.uk
Image Credit:
Cat Palmer (Main Photo)