Essential Ingredients Podcast 039: The Entrepreneur’s Plate: Reimagining Food’s Potential for Sustainability with Ashwin Cheriyan
Episode Description:
“You can over engineer things like a business plan. I think there's no substitute for going out and just trying things— that's the best and fastest way you can learn.” —Ashwin Cheriyan
Modern life often makes it hard to balance convenience, health, and sustainability, leaving many searching for better options.
Ashwin Cheriyan, Thistle’s co-founder and CEO, is a former corporate lawyer turned passionate innovator, dedicated to bringing health and sustainability to everyone’s table. Ashwin’s work focuses on proving that eating delicious, wholesome, and planet-friendly meals can be both effortless and satisfying
Tune in as Justine interviews Ash about how about Thistle's remarkable journey from a passion project to a mission-driven food company, exploring how they blend health, sustainability, entrepreneurial resilience, and innovative meal delivery to create positive change for individuals and the planet.
Meet Ashwin:
Ashwin Cheriyan is an entrepreneur, recovering corporate lawyer, and a mediocre surfer. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Thistle, a Bay-area-based modern, tech-enabled, organic food and nutrition company. He was also the co-founder of WeGoFair, a social enterprise providing ratings for hotels and restaurants reflecting their performance on social and environmental issues.
Prior to Thistle and WeGoFair, he spent 4 years in New York as an M&A associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he worked alongside senior management and cross-functional deal teams in collective transactions valued at over $100 billion. He received his A.B. in Economics from Brown University and his JD from The University of Texas School of Law.
Outside of Thistle, he spends his energy working with, advising, and investing in startups, mountain biking throughout Marin County, suiting up in neoprene to surf the waves of Bolinas, and enjoying the abundant culinary delights the Bay Area has to offer.
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Episode Highlights:
02:05 Building a Heath and Sustainability-Driven Biz
15:44 Challenges and Growth of Thistle
27:46 Thoughts Before Seeking Venture Financing
31:52 The Importance of Passion and Alignment
36:05 The Broader Impact of Collective Action
39:44 From Skeptical Partners to Loyal Customers