7. Justin Mares | Kettle & Fire (bone broth) Artwork

The Founder

The Founder is a show that features world-class entrepreneurs and their early stories of ingenuity, struggle and perseverance to get their companies off the ground. Kallaway goes in-depth with founders in straight talk, uncensored conversations to understand their thoughts, feelings and actions behind the big decisions that influenced the direction of their startup. At the end of each episode, founders share their 1-2 favorite ideas for other businesses they wish existed and we riff on how they'd bring them to market.Think My First Million meets Joe Rogan meets How I Built This.

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The Founder

7. Justin Mares | Kettle & Fire (bone broth)

June 02, 2020 • Kallaway / Justin Mares

Justin Mares is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kettle & Fire.
After getting his start launching Roommate Fit, an eharmony type service that matched college roommates based on personality to prevent the classic “crazy random roommate” problem, Justin spent a few years in growth and marketing roles before launching Kettle & Fire in 2015. Along the way he wrote a book called Traction, launched a couple of online courses on growth hacking, acquired a couple of Shopify app based businesses and co-founded a second company, Perfect Keto, in 2017.
At Kettle & Fire, Justin and his team are building and scaling the fastest growing bone broth brand in the US. Today, they have over 30 employees and sell a range of products across bone broths and soups. At Perfect Keto, he and his team have built a collection of food and supplements to serve as a launch pad for people going keto. The mission across both companies is simple, to produce and sell products that make people healthier.
This was an inspiring interview that got me excited about changing the narrative around healthy consumption and food trends in the US.
Tune in to hear Justin's story!
Use code "TheFounder" at checkout to get 15% off!
EPISODE TOPICS:

(2:31) What do Kettle & Fire and Perfect Keto look like today (mission, vision, products, size)?
(4:09) What is your background and what were you working on before starting Kettle & Fire?
(11:34) Where did the spark for the idea for Kettle & Fire come from?
(19:37) How did you make the first prototype for Kettle & Fire?
(22:19) What is bone broth and how do you make it?
(25:07) What marketing tactics have worked for you?
(29:29) How do you think about competition?
(32:49) What is your approach to fundraising for both businesses?
(38:08) What characteristics do you look for when hiring?
(43:58) What do you think Kettle & Fire looks like in 5-10 years?
(45:19) What's the best piece of advice you got from a mentor?
(47:14) What has been your most frustrating moment as a founder?
(50:03) What emerging trends excite you?
(57:27) What resources would recommend to others?
(1:00:22) Justin's startup manifesto
(1:04:03) Justin's founder nomination

Kettle & Fire - www.kettleandfire.com [Use code "TheFounder" at checkout to get 15% off]
Perfect Keto - www.perfectketo.com

Follow Kettle & Fire (@kettleandfire) on Instagram // Twitter
Follow Perfect Keto (@perfectketo) on Instagram // Twitter
Follow Justin on Twitter // Website // LinkedIn
Justin's learning and resource recommendations

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