From Selling Ginger Beer to Beating Fever Tree - Atlas Cheek on Lady Bird's Rise

Atlas Cheek didn’t set out to build a soda brand. He set out to build a premium mixer company after losing his job at a struggling Texas distillery, and ended up stumbling into one of the fastest growing better for you soda stories in the country. In this episode, Atlas breaks down his path from selling wine in the middle of the Great Recession, to being one of the first four employees at Fever Tree USA, to co-founding Lady Bird out of pure hardship with Waterloo Sparkling Water co-founder Daniel Barnes. He gets into the accidental pivot from mixers to soda after watching moms and kids drink his product straight, the case mix-up that had distributors delivering the wrong SKUs to retailers, the credit card swipe that got the whole thing moving, and the undisclosed acquisition that happened three and a half years after founding the company. Topics covered: Landing in the wine and spirits industry by accident Learning premium mixers from Fever Tree USA’s former CEO Why the company almost got named Blue Bonnet, Yellow Rose, or Atlas Mixer Co The case mix-up that had distributors shipping the wrong Lady Bird SKUs to retailers Discovering the soda opportunity by watching how customers actually used the product Raising a seed round from friends, family, and skin in the game Landing Walmart and HEB, and setting up shop next to Poppy at Expo West Getting secretly acquired and what a five year, $200 million goal looks like from here Connect with Atlas Cheek:   / atlas-cheek-54a79a37   Shop Lady Bird Soda: https://www.drinkladybird.com Connect with Connor Macpherson:   / connor-retail   Connect with Luke Anthony:   / luke-anthony-🍵-394052131   Powered by Plus Forty: http://plusforty.co/ Book a call with Plus Forty: https://calendly.com/d/cr89-stz-hcy/s...