WEBVTT - ZICO Founder Rampolla on New Book: 'High-Hanging Fruit' (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>West Texas Intermediate crude forty four sixty two. I'm Charlie Pellett.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a Bloomberg business flash. You're listening to taking Stock

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<v Speaker 1>with Kathleen Hay and Pim Box on Bloomberg Radio. Would

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<v Speaker 1>you like to build a great business? Well, one of

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<v Speaker 1>the things you might want to think about before you

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<v Speaker 1>go on that trail is to read a new book

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<v Speaker 1>written by Mark Rampola. He is the co founder and

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<v Speaker 1>the managing partner of power Plant Ventures, but he may

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<v Speaker 1>be more widely known as the founder and the former

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<v Speaker 1>chief executive of Zico Coconut Water that was eventually sold

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<v Speaker 1>to Coca Cola. Here to tell us more in studio

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<v Speaker 1>is Mark Rampola. Mark, thanks very much for coming in

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<v Speaker 1>and congratulations on the new book. Thanks. It's great to

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<v Speaker 1>be here, all right. The title of the book is

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<v Speaker 1>called High Hanging Fruit. Build something great by going where

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<v Speaker 1>no one else will. You looked up at a certain

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<v Speaker 1>point in your career, and not only did you see

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<v Speaker 1>that you needed to fill a void in it, but

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<v Speaker 1>you also saw something tangible and real which gave you

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<v Speaker 1>an idea. Tell us the story. Sure phim So I

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<v Speaker 1>was originally a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America. Soon

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<v Speaker 1>after college, and some years later I was back again

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<v Speaker 1>in Latin America running a multinational operations for international paper

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<v Speaker 1>with my wife, married, with a couple of kids, and

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<v Speaker 1>was just kind of bored and not too thrilled with

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<v Speaker 1>where my career was going and what it looked like

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<v Speaker 1>to be a corporate executive at a big corporation. So

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<v Speaker 1>I was looked around for ideas, what could I start,

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<v Speaker 1>what's unique? What could I contribute to the world, And somehow,

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<v Speaker 1>another week came across coconut water. Well, when you say

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<v Speaker 1>somehow you came across coconut water, you are actually consuming

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<v Speaker 1>coconut water. Your family was consuming it where you lived

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<v Speaker 1>in Latin America. That's right, that's right. Most of the

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<v Speaker 1>locals all across Latin America, in fact parts of Asia

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<v Speaker 1>and in Africa that are tropical, all drink coconut water.

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<v Speaker 1>So we drank it like everyone else had it. At

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<v Speaker 1>the beach. It was known as a safe source of

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<v Speaker 1>clean water, high and a your lights. In fact, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the time that really hit hard for me was when

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<v Speaker 1>my wife was pregnant with our second baby. She was

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<v Speaker 1>having morning sickness. It's really the only thing she could

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<v Speaker 1>hold down. Now, as far as the business plan, imagine

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<v Speaker 1>that people would say to you, coconut water. Who would

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<v Speaker 1>want to drink coconut water? There's no there's no market

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<v Speaker 1>for coconut water in the United States. Did you get that? Along?

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<v Speaker 1>My god? Everyone, I think, without a doubt, most people

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<v Speaker 1>thought I was I was at least a little crazy,

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<v Speaker 1>if not completely crazy. First of all, to try to

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<v Speaker 1>launch any new beverage business in this in this day

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<v Speaker 1>and age, even even fifteen years ago. It's incredibly capital

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<v Speaker 1>intensive and very tough. But the idea that we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to convince American consumers to drink coconut water, that nobody

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<v Speaker 1>had a clue about building a whole new category. It's

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's it's a tough task. And yeah, a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people thought I was crazy. All right, So we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna hold the crazy for just a moment because there

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<v Speaker 1>might be another crazy part of this, which is doing

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<v Speaker 1>good or contributing not just to the bottom line, but

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<v Speaker 1>to something large or tell us about that. Yeah, well, look,

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<v Speaker 1>this started out for me personally, um as well as

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<v Speaker 1>my wife, both of us believing, hey, if we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to dedicate the five, ten, fifteen years that it may

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<v Speaker 1>and very often does take to get a new business

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<v Speaker 1>off the ground. It better fulfill us more than just

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<v Speaker 1>on the bottom line, right, It better be more than

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<v Speaker 1>just about money, because we're going to dedicate time, talent, treasure,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of effort, a lot of stress, and a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of risk to go after something. What does it

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<v Speaker 1>really mean to us? So fortunately we got on the

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<v Speaker 1>same page and in fact, you know, really start to

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<v Speaker 1>set the bar higher. How are we going to build

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<v Speaker 1>a business that not only makes money but makes a

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<v Speaker 1>positive impact in the world. In this case, it was

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<v Speaker 1>bringing a healthy beverage to market, it was making a

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<v Speaker 1>positive impact in the communities that sourced it, and it

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<v Speaker 1>was making a positive impact on all the people that

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<v Speaker 1>were associated with our business. Part of the information that

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<v Speaker 1>I got from High Hanging Fruit is that your program

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<v Speaker 1>or your desire to create a business needs to be

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<v Speaker 1>consistent with who you are and what you want for

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<v Speaker 1>your personal life. Yeah. I think that's true, Phim and

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<v Speaker 1>I do get into that in quite some detail in

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<v Speaker 1>the book, and it worked for me. But what's also

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<v Speaker 1>true is I've seen this happen again and again and

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<v Speaker 1>again with entrepreneurs, and I think in today's obscenely competitive marketplace.

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<v Speaker 1>That is actually a way to differentiate because when you

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<v Speaker 1>think about investors and employees and partners and consumers, everybody

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<v Speaker 1>wants to be part of something more than just a business.

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<v Speaker 1>They want to be part of a mission to the

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<v Speaker 1>to the extent that they know the founder or founders

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<v Speaker 1>are really committed to this at their heart of hearts,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it is more likely that a business is

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<v Speaker 1>going to be successful, and if not, almost a requirement

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<v Speaker 1>for success today. Tell us about what you're doing at

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<v Speaker 1>power Plant Ventures, because I think that definitely connects with

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<v Speaker 1>what you're just described. It does. It does. So we

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<v Speaker 1>believe my partners and I and are investors believe that

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<v Speaker 1>we have a two trillion dollar global food system that's

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<v Speaker 1>fundamentally broken. It's not delivering health and wellness and nutrition

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<v Speaker 1>and certainly not doing it in a sustainable way. So

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<v Speaker 1>we think there's gonna be In fact, already are thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of entrepreneurs that are trying to remake that system, and

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<v Speaker 1>what we want to do is find fund them and

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<v Speaker 1>help them scale and win. The reality is that big

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<v Speaker 1>food and beverage companies are losing ten billion a year

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<v Speaker 1>off their top line because consumers are looking for something

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<v Speaker 1>healthy or something more sustainable, something that's good for them

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<v Speaker 1>and good for the planet. And we believe that there's

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<v Speaker 1>a huge opportunity that businesses entrepreneurs are gonna capitalize on. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>if someone out there listening to you can check at

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<v Speaker 1>least half of these boxes, they should somehow get in

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<v Speaker 1>touch with you. Yeah, we're welcome, welcome to talk to them.

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<v Speaker 1>Market power Plant VC dot com is the way to

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<v Speaker 1>is the way to reach me. Um. Yeah, we're looking

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<v Speaker 1>for those breakthrough entrepreneurs, those that both believe and are

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<v Speaker 1>committed and have a passion for what they're doing, but

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<v Speaker 1>are also smart, effective business people, and that combination is

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<v Speaker 1>the sort of visionaries that are going to break through.

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<v Speaker 1>You're still drinking coconut water day, every day, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks very much for coming in and spending time. Mark

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<v Speaker 1>Rampola is the co founder and managing partner of power

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<v Speaker 1>Plant Ventures, and we're celebrating the release of his new

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<v Speaker 1>book entitled High Hanging Fruit. Build something Great by going

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<v Speaker 1>where no one else will. Thank you very much, Thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>This is taking stock. I'm pim Fox taking a look

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<v Speaker 1>at the SMP five right now, down about a quarter

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<v Speaker 1>of a percent lower by about six points at six.

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<v Speaker 1>Coming up on taking stock will be taking stock of

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<v Speaker 1>the Department of Justice. They may be looking to block

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<v Speaker 1>some major healthcare deals. This is Bloomberg coming up on

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<v Speaker 1>taking stock. We're gonna take stock of online travel. We've

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<v Speaker 1>got Steve Hafner. He is the chief executive and the

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<v Speaker 1>co founder of Kayak. We're gonna tell you how they're

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<v Speaker 1>using artificial intelligence to provide better travel services.