Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Cate Havstad-Casad, Part 2 - Building Businesses for the Greater Good

Mar 9, 2023

01:06:20

If you’ve listened to Mountain & Prairie since the early days, then I’m sure you remember Cate Havstad-Casad. She first joined me on the podcast in early 2018 for a conversation about her life and career as a hatmaker and farmer. In late 2019, she was one of the four amazing women who joined me on stage for a live podcast at the Bozeman’s Ellen Theatre. And today, more than 5 years after that first conversation, she joins me once again to talk about her continued personal and professional evolution.

Over the past few years, Cate has been working at a dizzying pace, focusing on creating and building several purpose-driven businesses. She’s the founder and CEO of Range Revolution, the world’s first regenerative leather luggage company, as well as the co-founder of Agricultural Connections Co-Op, a regional food distribution business based in Bend, Oregon. Additionally, she and her husband, Chris, have continued to grow their organic farming business, and her hatmaking business, Havstad Hat Co., continues to grow and evolve in unexpected ways. And to top it all off, in 2021, Cate and Chris welcomed their first child into the world.

So, we had a lot to discuss! We started by talking about how Cate thinks about her work today versus five years ago, and why she feels it is important to continue to take business risks even after taking on the new responsibilities that come with parenthood. We talk a lot about Range Revolution and the Agricultural Connections Co-op, and Cate shares a ton of lessons learned from the process of founding these vastly different businesses. We discuss leadership and management, and Cate offers up some excellent books and resources that have helped her to become a better leader. We talk about fundraising, the importance of self-awareness, thinking versus doing, mentors, Wendell Berry, and our mutual love of hard work.

Cate obviously has a full schedule, so I appreciate her carving out time to chat with me. Check out the episode notes for links to her businesses and all of the resources we discuss. Thanks for listening, hope you enjoy.

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Havstad Hat Co
Range Revolution
Casad Family Farms
Agricultural Connections Co-op
Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/cate-havstad-2/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED

4:00 - Comparing 2017 Cate Havstad to Cate Havstad now
8:00 - Talking about starting businesses and incurring risk later in one’s career
11:15 - Discussing Range Revolution
15:00 - Where the business of Range Revolution stands
18:00 - Cate’s work ethic and how she got potential business partners to take her seriously
20:45 - Cate’s relationships with hard work and rest
23:45 - How Cate learned to build and manage teams in her work
27:15 - Cate’s business book recommendations
30:30 - Cate’s red flags in a teammate
32:00 - Discussing Agricultural Connections Co-op
34:30 - Defining a “cooperative entity” or “co-op”
36:15 - How Cate raised the money to start her co-op
38:00 - Why Cate is so good at fundraising and how she networks to that end
43:30 - Mistakes Cate made that taught valuable lessons
49:15 - Where Cate finds balance between action and reflective self-awareness
51:15 - Cate’s mentors
53:45 - Cate’s suggestions for Wendell Berry reads
58:00 - Other book and podcast recommendations from Cate