Tea Without the Waste of a Tea Bag - Tea Drops (Full Episode)
Channel: Startup to Storefront
Date: 2021-08-10

Today’s guest is Sashee Chandran, founder of Tea Drops. She found a way to eliminate the tea bag by pressing tea into fun little shapes. Just drop them in hot water, et violà! You’ve got tea. What’s most impressive about Sashee’s story is not that she found a way to eliminate the tea bag, but that she shows how to build a successful company through incremental progress and learning from mistakes along the way. There was no “aha!” moment, just a series of steps that eventually led to her running a national brand and raising millions of dollars in VC funding.

So listen in as we cover everything from why she initially wanted to sell customizable made-to-order cookies, tips for digital marketing both in the present and future, and how Chrissy Tiegen became her company’s biggest fan.

#entrepreneurship #businessinterview #podcast #podcasts #startup #startupcompany #losangeles #DoMore #tea #teadrops #brewingtea #drinktea

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Tea Drops Social Media:
Website: https://www.myteadrop.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myteadrop/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyTeadrop/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/myteadrop
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXD5T8uVDJChFLtS8ld_4qw
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myteadrop/_shop/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tea-drops/

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Cat Footwear Social Media:
Website: https://www.catfootwear.com/US/en/home
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catfootwear/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/catfootwear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catfootwear
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CatFootwearGlobal

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Startup to Storefront Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startuptostorefront/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startuptostorefront
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-to-storefront/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/startuptostore
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/67EyhF5DGLPucswOrS7LhK?si=IUPguzApRm6nnhlIHUBJxQ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-to-storefront/id1477095646 
Website: https://www.startuptostorefront.com/

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Our Team:
Diego Torres-Palma: https://www.instagram.com/diego_ventures/
Nick Conrad: https://www.instagram.com/nickgconrad/
Natalya Cappellini: https://www.instagram.com/natalya_curato/
Lexi Jameson: https://www.instagram.com/lexijamesonyt/
Owen Cappellini: https://www.instagram.com/owencapp/

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Our Music:
https://www.instagram.com/doubletouchofficial/

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Timecodes:
00:00 She just knew this was it...
00:36 Intro to Tea Drops Episode
1:38 About Tea Drops
2:11 When did you start Tea Drops?
3:50 How did you get your start at eBay?
5:20 What was your first step to solving the tea problem?
6:28 No one has innovated on toilet paper!?
7:08 Were there any complications along the way?
7:23 How do you make the tea?
8:07 Using a local business resource center
9:09 The initial launch...
12:31 Free Idea: Someone should create tea cookies!
15:08 So when did you decide to leave eBay?
17:46 Is business school worth it?
19:51 Turning her apartment into the Tea Drops Factory
21:34 How did you become confident enough to go all-in with Tea Drops?
27:30 Tea Drops was built on trade shows
29:27 Why did you pursue eCommerce so heavily?
31:08 About the Wood Sampler Tea Drops
32:49 And then Sashee Chandra started thinking about raising capital
38:13 Accents make pitching more difficult
41:08 Would you ever add additional ingredients to your tea?
42:15 People are going to soon be looking for CBD alternatives
44:55 Does this make you want to experiment?
46:39 Chrissy Teigan's endorsement and the aftermath
49:54 The secret is to focus on quality
51:08 How do you view digital marketing?
53:32 How much is a carton of Tea Drops?
54:49 Bobba sales took off last year
56:06 What else is on the horizon?
58:17 Go Follow Tea Drops!