Startup Savant Entrepreneurship on Her Own Terms: Alisa Pospekhova of Kindroot
Alisa Pospekhova is the CEO and founder of Kindroot, a supplement company fusing the benefits of herbs into a lozenges that taste like candy. Alisa has a background in global brand marketing, and she used her marketing skills to develop the vision for her company. Alisa always wanted to start her own company, and she developed Kindroot to revamp the lozenges industry, an industry that has seen relatively few changes in the past. When she struggled to find partners willing to manufacture her product, she brought her vision to life and manufactured it herself.
Episode Notes
Alisa’s story traveling and the inception of Kindroot [1:08]
What are Adaptogens? [4:30]
After hearing “No” numerous times, Alisa decided to make her own product and launch it herself using a commercial kitchen [6:35]
Staying organized, scheduling activities, and being hyper focused allow Alisa to run her business while still working a traditional nine-to-five job [11:19]
Making the leap to working on your startup full time [13:00]
Building a large partnership with a retailer can be a large turning point for a company [17:43]
What pushed Alisa over the edge to start her first business, Kindroot [18:49]
Combining two industries to create a new, unique product. “Make a tiny tweak to something that is already existing” [21:36]
Starting a company without any co founders [24:16]
Creating a network of entrepreneurs to help problem solve and combat loneliness [27:00]
Reach out to brands, find other entrepreneurs, and be open to serendipitous interactions [28:59]
The importance of confidence and how to build the confidence needed to start a startup [30:59]
Determining the best marketing strategy for your product [35:37]
Take the time to find your brand’s identity before brining other onboard to help [38:00]
Finding your first customers and using feedback to shape the brand [48:43]
Using old-school marketing and partnerships to get Kindroot out to new audiences [50:52]
Be intentional with your marketing budget [53:36]
How Kindroot got a partnership with Target [54:41]
Alisa’s advice — Find something as an outlook and stick to it [1:04:08]
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