If you would like to start a business, don’t try to follow in the footsteps of anyone else – not even Daniel Lubetzky.
Lubetzky, who founded Kind Snacks in 2004 and sold it to Mars in 2020 for is estimated at $5 billionhe said Entrepreneur in a recent interview that while his journey may encourage others, he doesn’t want aspiring entrepreneurs following it too closely.
“If you try to follow someone else’s lead or follow their playbook, it probably won’t work because it’s an incredibly disruptive market,” Lubetzky said. “You want to talk to yourself. You want to listen.”
Daniel Lubecki. Photo: Brad Barket/Getty Images for Fast Company
Lubetzky urges anyone considering starting a business to ask themselves, “What do I care about?” find your personal unique purpose.
He said that mission might be as varied as reducing microplastics in the ocean or providing high-quality education to more people. No matter the exact goal, big or small, it must exist to keep the entrepreneur strong.
“It gives you the fuel to be strong,” Lubetzky said. “When you start a business, you will face many challenges. But if you do it in the name of something you truly believe in, it’s much easier for you to overcome those moments of pettiness or jealousy or all those feelings that get to all of us.”
Lubetzky follows this philosophy in his own companies – all the companies he founded have a strong social mission. In 1994 he founded PeaceWorksMediterranean food company with mission “building and maintaining a profitable business while doing good in the world.” The company brought together people from various communities sell food products like sauces.
In 2004, he launched Kind Snacks with the company slogan “Do something good for your body, your taste buds and your world.” According to Kind Impact 2022 reportKind carries out its mission by donating and volunteering with organizations like Wellfare that address food insecurity. Nice employees worked over 55,000 hours as a volunteer since the company began operating in local communities.
Twenty years since their launch, Kind snack bars may be found in over grocery stores throughout the United States, with a global presence in over 30 countries.
Meanwhile, Lubetzky joins the regular forged of ABC’s Shark Tank season 16, which premieres on Friday, October 18. He guest starred as Shark for five seasons, with notable A $1 million investment at Yellow Leaf Hammocks, a company dealing in hand-woven hammocks, in 2020 in addition to cooperates with other corporations.
And although Lubetzky invests in future entrepreneurs on television, he still doesn’t want them to copy him.
“A brand is a promise, and a great brand is a promise well kept,” Lubetzky said. “So if you try to be everything to everyone, it means you are nothing to no one.”