Young, Smart, & Battling Broke

#4: Alex Michaelsen – The 26-Year-Old Founder & CEO Who Bet It All at 22 to Build a National Beverage Brand

• Cole Hume

Share episode

At 22, Alex Michaelsen quit his job to chase a startup dream.
At 24, he was nearly broke.
At 26, his beverage brand, Leisure Hydration, is now stocked in every Whole Foods nationwide.

In this episode of Young, Smart, & Battling Broke, Alex shares what it really looked like to build a consumer product in a saturated market — from zero income and credit card debt to standing beside Coke and Pepsi on store shelves.

We talk about:

  • 💳 Surviving two years with no income and how he made it work
  • 🧃 Cracking the code to standing out in the ultra-competitive beverage space
  • 🤯 The mental load of entrepreneurship — and what he wishes he’d learned earlier

This episode is full of sharp insights and hard-earned advice. I learned way too much from Alex.

🎧 If you’re neck deep in building something, wondering what entrepreneurship actually looks like, or just want some wisdom on your walk to class — this one’s for you.

Try a Leisure for free with this link: https://try.gotoaisle.com/leisure-hydration-onefree

Follow the show on Substack at Young, Smart, & Battling Broke, and find me on LinkedIn or Instagram @colehume.
Let me know what you think — I’m always trying to make the show better.

Time Stamps:

00:00 – Intro  
02:47 – What it really means to launch in Whole Foods  
08:49 – How Leisure stands out in a sea of lookalike drinks  
12:40 – The genius strategy of getting stocked in tech fridges  
19:24 – Competing with giants without getting crushed  
27:20 – Entrepreneurial traits that actually make a difference  
34:50 – Alex’s favorite failure and what it taught him  
39:18 – What he’d shake into his younger self  
42:11 – Personal finance lessons from 2 years with no income  
51:17 – Is meaning worth more than money or stability?  
59:05 – How to choose the *right* cofounder (and build trust)  
1:05:39 – The most undervalued resource no one talks about  
1:11:52 – Final thoughts + my takeaways  

Email me at colehume1@gmail.com for any feedback, ideas, or notes!