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Articles by Neil Grimmer
How to Raise Money (Without Losing Your Social Conscience)
So you have a profitable business idea that could, if executed as you see it, also produce social impact. But what about higher cost of goods that force tougher pricing, and finding investors who will let your mission color all aspects of operations? Actually, the prognosis is good for you. Millennials notice socially responsible businesses, and are willing to pay a premium for good products made by good hearts.
How to Sell Your Company Without Destroying Its Soul
Reader Resource Apply now to be an Entrepreneur 360??? company. Let us tell the world your success story. Get Started » From the headlines and from the outside, it can seem that selling a startup to a much larger company is the end game. For some, it can be.
5 Essential Hiring Tips When Launching a Lifestyle Brand
We all have filters for the people we hire. Google used to give esoteric tests that only the most "Googley" could pass. The FBI goes way back to know you've mostly followed the straight and narrow. Some companies hire from certain schools, others just hire their friends (mistake). I look for characters. I look for unique personalities. I look for people who are "living the dream." People who embody the ethos of the brand we are building.
3 Things Uber Could Have Done to Save Its Culture
In today's world, brands are defined by the culture of the company. It's your impact in the world - good or bad - that becomes your company's essence. In a transparent marketplace, your internal culture is your external brand. As such it is as important to invest time and dollars in building the right culture, as it is to build the right product or marketing campaign. Fail to make that cultural investment, and whatever success you are having today can easily be taken away tomorrow.
The One Perk No Company Can Thrive Without (and 4 More That Make a Difference)
Finding the best people for your company, and keeping them there, is often described as a "war." For many startup CEOs, especially in Silicon Valley, fighting that war has prompted an arms race of foosball tables, massages, and dry-cleaning services. If you are outside of the boundary and culture of the tech world, that may sound simultaneously like a dream, but also a bit ridiculous. I am with you on the ridiculous part.
The CEO's Secret Weapon for 2017
We're at the calendrical starting line once again. All revved up to speed off to whatever glory we've planned for the year (I can tell you I have a lot planned). But all those plans will come to nothing, if one critical thing is ignored: your health. I've come to view well-being as the key to being a great leader. Better health brings more energy, of course, but that ripples out to greater creativity, tighter focus, and faster reactions during crunch time.
5 Ways to Fight a CEO Breakdown
As a CEO, the list of people you serve and the commitments you have are seemingly endless. There is your team, your investors, your partners, your consumers, and of course your board. And since life isn't all work, there is your family, your friends, and the broader community. Most of us try and meet all those commitments, with admittedly varying degrees of success day in and day out, but we try. Where CEOs fail badly and consistently is with one person -- themselves. I certainly did.
The Internet of Omelettes
In the oft-repeated words of Marc Andreessen, "software is eating the world." I agree with that, but that doesn't mean you can eat software. When it comes to how we sustain ourselves, the art of food can't be lost in pursuit of the science and technology of food. I ordered a number of prepared meals recently from a delivery service that shall remain nameless. Among the dishes was an omelette. Carefully packed in ice packs inside a cardboard box, shipped from almost 800 miles away.
The Personalized Nutrition Revolution Starts Now – Habit Expert Insiders
I’ve always played with my food. I’m not talking about sending peas and carrots skittering off a plate, it’s the lifelong practice of tweaking what I eat to get the most from what I put in my body. Over time, how I’ve hacked my food has changed. In my teens and 20s I was a punk rock musician into animal rights. Food was politics for me, and so I became a vegan. In my early 30s I was focused on pushing my body to its limits as a triathlete.
Never Let an Investor Tell You How to Run Your Business
The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “What did you learn from one of the toughest investor meetings you’ve ever had?” is written by Neil Grimmer, co-founder and chairman of Plum Organics. In the early stages of Plum Organics, we needed to make a leadership change, and I was tapped to be CEO.
Rejection Is in Your Future: 5 Ways to Handle It
Every startup faces a chorus of "no's" in the early days. It's that stage when a company is little more than an unproven idea, a few slides in a PowerPoint presentation, and unbounded optimism. Inevitably, would-be investors, potential employees, and prospective customers will all take swipes at your baby. Somehow, you have to shrug it off. The key is to learn from and get past that culture that will tell you to your face or in subtler ways: You are doomed.
Why Hiring an Outsider Could Be the Best Decision Your Company Makes – Fortune Insiders
The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “How do you leverage a non-traditional background in a new role?” is written by Neil Grimmer, co-founder and chairman of Plum Organics.
What Russian Hackers, WikiLeaks and Twitter Can Teach You About Transparency
In an older, more analogue 'command and control' world, an organization's actions and communications took place inside secure walls and behind closed doors (for good or for ill). In today's digital world information flows freely--tweets happen, in many cases whether you'd like them to or not. Obviously it isn't just celebrities and politicians that are grappling with the fluid nature of digital communication, it's also everyone in business.
Why Every Company Should Give Employees Unlimited Paid Time Off – Fortune Insiders
The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “How important are employee perks when first launching your startup?” is written by Neil Grimmer, co-founder and chairman of Plum Organics.
4 Reasons Instagram Execs Were Happy to Call Mark Zuckerberg Their New Boss
I sold Plum Organics, the baby food company I co-founded--and obsessed over, bled over, and was so proud of--to Campbell Soup Co. in 2013. We were a Northern California-based, tattooed, bike-riding, organic-eating collection of people and products getting bought by one of the oldest food companies in the nation. It could have gone like many acquisitions do. Step 1: The team that built the company and its products get bought by a larger company.
How Dollar Shave Club Earned Its $1 Billion Price Tag
You could almost hear the collective cheers from startup land when the news broke that Unilever was buying the five-year-old Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. The Dollar Shave Club acquisition was an affirmation of a type of company-building that can be seen in everything from Airbnb to Warby Parker and Casper. These are companies driven by technology, with products and services sold directly to consumers for the most part, although online mattress company Casper recently did a deal with West Elm.
Four Powerful Approaches to Becoming More Creative
Creativity is all about combining what may seem like disconnected ideas and approaches and them making them your own. In my career I've drawn on my experiences in the contrasting worlds of punk bands, chefs, and designers. Great insights, and different approaches to solving a problem, free your thinking and often spark that idea that makes all the difference.
How to Capture Steve Jobs' Success Without Being a Tyrannical Leader
Here's my designers-as-leaders quandary in two simple parts: You see my dilemma. And I point it out with all the love and respect for designers, since I am one myself. The good news is great designers can become great leaders, far easier than your typical CEO can become a great designer. So let's break down the need for creative types in the c-suite, and how they can improve their leadership game.
5 Habits This Former Punk Rocker Used to Find Entrepreneurial Success
I don't have a traditional business background. I was a punk musician and an artist before I became a consultant, entrepreneur and CEO. When we were launching my company, Plum Organics, folks would take a long, slow look at the tattoos on my arms. I saw their skepticism. This guy? I often wondered myself if I had any business starting a business. Since then I've put trust in--and leaned on--my outsider status.
Team Building Tips for Leaders in Business
The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “How do you build a strong team?” is written by Neil Grimmer, co-founder and chairman of Plum Organics. If you want to build strong teams, you need to start with a clear purpose.
How Much Does Pay Matter?
The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “In choosing a career, how much should pay matter?” is by Neil Grimmer, co-founder and chairman of Plum Organics. Pay doesn’t matter, but being great at something does. If you build a career around something you are fanatical about, and at which you excel, the money will come.
Into The Trees, by Zoe Keating
Richard Weems I first learned of Keating on an album celebrating Tarry Riley's classic minimalist piece In C. Most notably, the tracks that used Riley as an inspiration, and Keating's Zinc (on this album) took my fancy completely. Cello is such a wonderful instrument--deep and rich and versatile, and such range. Keating's music is ambient, haunting and complex. Well, well WELL worth your time! Favorite track: Forest.
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