Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Will Hench, Co-Founder, and CEO of NIPYATA!, located in San Rafael, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are a B2B2C E-Commerce Platform for Beverage Alcohol. We service beverage alcohol brands to help them sell online, ship compliantly, and scale their digital marketing through unique gifting and paid media campaigns. On the consumer side, we sell to a 21+ crowd who love fun, humor, and unique boozy products.
Tell us about yourself
I've always loved building new businesses, selling new products, and coming up with new ways to do things to better serve the customer. Most of my career has been in start-up-related technology companies in E-Commerce, DTC, and FinTech. I love building companies where we can build a team we love working with every day. We love helping customers have an amazing and happy experience with our brands. Whether it's helping a small craft whiskey brand sell their product online or delivering a unique boozy birthday gift to a consumer client - we want our customers to have a huge smile on their faces every time they work with NIPYATA!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Being able to wake up every morning to work with people I love and work on products or services that bring me joy- and of course, hopefully, brings our clients just as much joy and happiness.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Financial stress is really hard, and it's also hard to keep a positive mindset of grinding and keep working on the business when everything seems to be going sideways for you and your team.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Get a financial plan in place from day 1 - cash reserves, savings, cash burn, runway - do all of that before you even start working on it - even if it's a side project- it will help a ton as you grow the business, hit pitfalls, etc.
- Get a mentor who has done it before that you can text, call, and email as often as you need.
- Keep it super simple - don't be tempted to add new features, new pricing, new service levels, new markets, etc. - complexity makes it really difficult to run the business or to know what's working vs. what isn't working. Do one thing at a time until it works or fails. Then try another thing.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://nipyata.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NIPYATA/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nipyata/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nipyata
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhench/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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