This founder turned her dissatisfaction with warm water into a $100 million hydration brand.

@prasjain

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Promoted product

S'well

Why it worked

The video tells a compelling rags-to-riches story of a female founder who built a successful company from scratch, which resonates with aspiring entrepreneurs. It uses a native_mention approach, weaving the product into a narrative rather than a direct advertisement, making it more engaging and shareable.

Summary

This video tells the story of Sarah Kauss, the founder of S'well, a hydration brand that grew from a personal dissatisfaction with water bottles to a $100 million company. It highlights her journey from bootstrapping the company to securing major retail partnerships and eventually selling it.

Structure

1Introduction to Sarah Kauss and S'well's success
2Early life and education
3The inspiration for S'well
4Bootstrapping and early growth
5Key partnerships and retail expansion

Original caption

here’s what we can learn from how @S'well Bottle became a $100M+ water bottle company: – small starts = global reach: her first order came from a tiny nyc design shop, not a big retailer – visibility > virality: a single O Magazine feature did more for growth than any paid ad ever could – bold moves —> breakthroughs: sarah landed s’well in 10,000+ starbucks stores after pitching howard schultz face-to-face #business #founder #branding #femalefounder #entrepreneurship

More from @prasjain

Product placement

The video prominently features S'well water bottles throughout, showcasing their design and variety. It also mentions and shows images of Nalgene bottles, Starbucks cups, Crate and Barrel, Target, and Lifetime Brands.

Call to action

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On-screen text

this founder turned her dissatisfaction with warm water into 100 million dollar hydration brand FOUNDER FILES where I dive into founders Sarah Kauss grew up in Florida earned her accounting degree University of Colorado Business School in 2009 hiking in Arizona and was frustrated water bottle this is a representation of a Nalgene water bottle would not keep and that's when she was inspired to build a water bottle attractive and actually kept she invested 30k of her own savings to start S'well and for the first Sarah Kauss Founder S'well was the only employee her first production order was 30,000 bottles which she took to 17 different trade shows different investors and that's when she landed her first order from a New York in 2010 Swell was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine which helped build our brand credibility and even secure like Crate and Barrel Swell's revenue grew from 2.5M in 2013 47M in 2015 and over 100M in 2016 100M+ in 2016 was fully bootstrapped Sarah never raised Venture Capital and owned 100% a key retail expansion was actually with Starbucks following a direct pitch that Sarah had Howard Schultz in 2016 a sub brand in collaboration with Target called Sit by Swell also contributing to its retail expansion and success at it's peak S'well was in 75 different countries featured in seasonal product drops eliminate billions of single use bottles in 2019 Sarah stepped down from CEO to become executive chairwoman and in 2022 in S'well was acquired by Lifetime Brands today Sarah serves on several boards Experience Board Member, Audit Committee Chair, Compensation Committee Chair Thorne Jul 2021 - Present - 4 yrs 4 mos Entrepreneur in Residence Harvard Business School Sep 2019 - Present - 6 yrs 2 mos Henry Crown Fellow The Aspen Institute Jun 2018 - Present - 7 yrs 5 mos The Henry Crown Fellowship seeks to develop the next generation of community-cer... see more at the Aspen Institute I should do next

Transcript

This founder turned her dissatisfaction with warm water into a $100 million hydration brand. Welcome back to my series founder files where I dive into founders and their stories. Derek Husg grew up in Florida earned her accounting degree from the University of Colorado and got her MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2009, she was hiking in Arizona and was frustrated that her reusable water bottle would not keep her water cold. And that's when she was inspired to build a water bottle that was functional, attractive and actually kept her water cold. She invested 30k of her own savings to start sweat. And in the first two years, she was the only employee. Her first production order was 30,000 bottles which she took to 17 different trade shows to pitch to different investors. And that's when she landed her first order from a New York Design store. In 2010, Swel was featured in Othe Opera Magazine which helped build her brand credibility and even secure larger retail accounts like Crate and Barrel. Swel's revenue grew from 2.5 million in 2013 to 47 million in 2015 and over 100 million in 2016. And the company was fully bootstrapped. Sarah never raised sales capital and owned 100% of the company. A key retail expansion was actually with Starbucks. Following a direct pitch that had made to the CEO Howard show. In 2016, Swel launched a sub brand. In collaboration with Target called Zip by Swel, also contributing to its retail expansion and success. At its peak Swel was in 75 different countries, featured in seasonal product drops and helped eliminate billions of single use bottles. In 2019, Sara stepped down from CEO to become executive chairman. And in 2022, in a private deal Swel was acquired by lifetime brands. Today, Sara serves on several board as a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Comment who I should do next.