Brewing A Legacy: How Peerless Coffee Created the Perfect Blend for a Century of Success
Friday, September 13, 2024
In 2019, Peerless Coffee was named roaster of the year by Roast Magazine — the most prestigious coffee award in North America.
Sure, you might think, a coffee company that has been around since 1924 is bound to pick up some awards along the way. But for YPO member, President and Master Roaster George Vukasin Jr., this moment was particularly meaningful: It recognizes superior quality, sustainable practices and commitment to community. What’s more, roasters can only win it once, and recent winners had all been newer, trendy upstarts.
“The coolest thing for me is that it wasn’t a lifetime achievement award, because we could probably win one of those at this point,” he says. “It was more about what we’re doing now in the industry.”
Vukasin and his sister, CEO and Vice President of Administration Kristina Vukasin-Brouhard, are the third generation of the Vukasin family to run Peerless. For the siblings, maintaining the company’s relevance and success is a tribute to their family’s legacy.
“It’s usually the third generation that kind of screws everything up,” he laughs. “So, turning 100 is incredible. My grandfather wouldn’t even recognize the company, but he would be so proud of where we are.”
Today, Peerless is recognized in the U.S. as a leader in the coffee industry, specializing in small-batch craft roasting and the distribution of premium gourmet coffee blends sourced from top coffee-growing regions worldwide. Their extensive product range includes artisanal blends, single-origin coffees, and organic teas for consumers and hospitality businesses alike. They also offer a comprehensive suite of services – training, equipment, marketing – that supports their partners in creating profitable and impactful coffee and tea programs.
My family has made three generations’ worth of business mistakes. But we typically don’t make the same mistake twice. We learn from them and pass down the lessons to the next generations.
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— YPO member George Vukasin Jr., President of Peerless Coffee
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Sitting in the office his father occupied for decades, he shared advice for other executives leading multigenerational companies who want to respect history and find ways to evolve.
Create a legacy of choice for the next generation.
When Vukasin’s Yugoslavian immigrant grandfather, John Vukasin, founded Peerless in Oakland, California, USA, he involved his two sons in the business from the start, planning to eventually pass on the reins. When his eldest opted for law school, Vukasin’s father was told to forget his plans of pursuing a career with the FBI to come work for the family.
“Because of that, my parents were very hands-off with us,” Vukasin remembers. “While I effectively grew up in this building, it wasn’t a path my parents really pushed.”
Turns out, Vukasin was, in fact, interested in joining the family business. And he didn’t plan on simply maintaining the status quo: He became a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef so he could elevate the creative art and exact science of coffee roasting. Knowing he’d be the coffee buyer helping his dad procure the raw beans, he moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, for a year to gain hands-on experience with producers. He became one of the first roasters in America to create long-lasting, farm-direct relationships with coffee growers in the world’s premier high-elevation regions from Costa Rica to Ethiopia.
By giving his sister and him space to explore their own paths, Vukasin’s parents ensured that they’d bring genuine passion to the company’s next chapter.
“Ultimately my parents were very happy to hand over the reins. That’s not always the situation in a family business,” he says. “They wanted this business to continue, and they wanted to keep it in the family.”
A lot can change in 100 years, but your ethos should not.
Amidst the changes and growth Peerless experienced in its first 100 years, its core tenets have remained the same: quality people and a quality product.
“It might sound cliché, but if you asked my parents and my grandparents, they’d say the same thing: Put your people first,” he says. “The people we have today and those we’ve had throughout all our generations — they’re a big reason we’re here after 100 years — and not just here but thriving.”
Since becoming president of the company in 2008, Vukasin has encouraged an open-door policy with his employees and describes his managerial style as hands-on — his office shares a wall with the production floor — but he avoids micromanaging. He also doesn’t ask his employees to do things he wouldn’t do himself. So, during COVID-19, when production leaders were still coming in five days a week, he was too.
“The word ‘integrity’ is etched in my brain,” he says. “It’s very important to me, and that came from my grandfather and my dad.”
Be bold during challenging times.
As a commodities-based company, a century of operations translates to plenty of highs and just as many unavoidable lows. From World War II to the financial crisis of 2008 and COVID-19, Vukasin’s perspective is that during hard times, you can retreat and go back into the bunker to wait it out. But if you’re proactive, there are benefits to be had.
“It’s not just about how to handle the day-to-day during the tougher times. It’s knowing that we’ll get through it, and then asking ourselves: Where do we want to be when we do get through it? Then we can act when our competitors are still being more careful,” he says.
And when in doubt, multigenerational companies can fall back on decades of institutional knowledge to navigate new challenges with more confidence.
“My family has made three generations’ worth of business mistakes. But we typically don’t make the same mistake twice,” he says. “We learn from them and pass down the lessons to the next generations.”
Each generation can pour their own way.
When John Vukasin started Peerless in 1924, it was one of the very first craft roasters in the Bay Area. He wanted to bring traditional European style richness, guaranteed freshness and artisan blending to the hospitality and retail industries.
Second-generation George Vukasin maintained his father’s commitment to excellence, growing the company’s production and revenue as well as positioning them at the forefront of the certified organic and fair-trade coffee movements.
Now it’s George and Kristina’s turn to maintain the quality of their product — all Peerless’s single origin and blended coffees must earn a minimum quality score of 84 out of 100, well above specialty market standards — and find their own ways to evolve their offerings and practices.
For him, that means weeding through the noise to see what keeps coming back as true trends before figuring out how to capitalize. It also has meant purposefully staying in the Bay Area, despite being able to operate cheaper elsewhere, because it’s the region most abuzz with industry innovation and competition in North America.
Heading into their next century, Vukasin and the team aren’t slowing down. Peerless was recently recognized as one of the first hospitality craft roasters to perfect nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee on tap.
And in celebration of their 100th anniversary, in early 2024 they presented regenerative organic coffee at the Natural Products Expo West, the largest natural food show in North America. For the uninitiated: Regenerative organic coffee practices improve soil health and promote biodiversity instead of depleting or leaving the ecosystems “neutral” — all while meeting organic certification standards. Peerless is one of only a handful of roasters in the United States dabbling in this type of sustainable initiative right now.
“A big part of my job is to figure out where the coffee landscape is going and decide what we need to do today to make sure we’re in the place we want to be tomorrow,” he says.
Redefining Fitness Retail: The Rise of Dalibor Cicman’s GymBeam
Friday, August 2, 2024
By now, we’re all accustomed to technology’s complete infiltration of the fitness industry, from smart bikes to group fitness booking apps to wearables that meticulously track our personal stats. If you have a health and fitness goal, there is a gadget, a platform and digital experience to help you achieve it.
But the innovation translates to businesses in the industry too, and EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2023 Slovakia, Dalibor Cicman, founder of GymBeam and YPO member, is taking full advantage of it. He leveraged his expertise, his relentless drive for excellence and his keen eye for emerging trends to set a new standard for customer experience and business growth in the e-commerce fitness sector.
As a result, GymBeam sits firmly at the forefront of Europe’s health and fitness market and is a leading provider of sports nutrition, supplements, gym accessories and fitness apparel on the continent.
Programming prodigy to international entrepreneur
Cicman’s entrepreneurial journey began at computer camp as a child. He took quickly to programming languages and was coding full websites as a 12-year-old. By 2002, at just 15, he began programming websites for profit, also learning web development, web analytics, digital marketing and how to manage IT teams.
In 2003, he founded his first e-commerce project, EMI.sk, a pioneer of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model in Central Europe. While running EMI.sk during that decade, he launched other digital companies, some of which failed but others that succeeded.
In 2014, Cicman exited EMI.sk, by then a mid-sized enterprise with 50 full-time employees and a gross merchandising value (GMV) of EUR5 million, and started GymBeam, expanding it into the Czech and Hungarian markets within its first year.
Making global gains
Under Cicman’s leadership, GymBeam has experienced remarkable growth and expansion over the years. In 2017, the company achieved a GMV of EUR12 million and relocated to a new 8,000-square-meter (2 acres) warehouse. By 2018, the company reached 1 million customers. The following year, GymBeam secured a EUR6 million investment — the largest e-commerce investment in Slovakia — and saw GMV climb to EUR24 million. The growth continued in 2020 with an expansion into Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Greece. In 2023, the company achieved an impressive GMV of EUR175 million, establishing local teams in 16 European countries.
“Managing this rapid growth and diverse supply chains became increasingly complex. To address this, we implemented a robust data-driven strategy that allowed us to optimize operations and make informed decisions,” he says.
Cicman also credits the insourcing of the development of their operational software such as CRM systems for truly giving them a competitive advantage.
“In the early stages of the business, my academic background and business acumen played a crucial role,” he says. “Leveraging data was a foundational strategy. My technical background helped us implement new technologies effectively, not just following market standards but identifying the most advantageous technology for the company each year.”
Setting high standards
As the company grew, Cicman’s biggest challenge was maintaining his high standards and the company’s core values, one of which is sustainability. The company meticulously tracks waste production, water and energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions through ESG reporting. In 2023, GymBeam reduced carbon emissions by 36% over 2022, decreased water consumption by 21%, and reduced energy use by 10%, all while growing the company by 66%.
Cicman also invested heavily in talent development and technology to streamline processes to keep up with the company’s growth, focusing specifically on his hometown of Košice, Slovakia.
“Building the company in a small city meant hiring many graduates and young professionals, and we have consistently invested in their education and development through regular training programs, mentoring and workshops,” he says. “This focus on team development has been instrumental in our success.”
Throughout their international growth, he and his team have been steadfast in making sure their technological prowess is felt by their customers too.
For example: after detailed data analysis of customer search patterns and preferences, they recognized a need to offer a more comprehensive range of fitness essentials. So GymBeam expanded its product line to include gym accessories and clothing.
And as they’ve expanded their range of products, it’s been easier for GymBeam to attract new customers and boost their brand awareness–making them the go-to destination for fitness enthusiasts.
Another data-driven innovation ties back into their sustainability values: Their private brand, VanaVita, offers bio-certified products in biodegradable packaging. This approach minimizes their environmental impact and sets a high standard for sustainability in the industry.
“Today, we focus on innovating primarily to enhance the user experience with our physical products,” he says. “As a digital-first company, with almost all our revenue coming from online sales, we have the flexibility to develop products tailored for the online market, allowing us to introduce numerous innovations.”
YPO is proud to collaborate with EY, its Strategic Learning Adviser, to help global leaders drive innovation, accelerate growth and create long-term value. Learn from the successes of thousands of the world’s fastest-growing entrepreneurs and realize your ambition faster. Consider nominating yourself or a fellow entrepreneur for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.
Thriving in an Age of Disruption: How One Greek Entrepreneur Navigates His Family Business
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
The story of Eftichios Vassilakis — EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2024 Greece winner, Chairman of Aegean, CEO of Autohellas and Group CEO of Th. Vassilakis Group — presents an interesting study on risk and resilience in a country that has experienced several major challenges, including the Greek debt crisis that began in 2009.
For the past 12 years, Vassilakis has led his family-owned automotive and aviation businesses. The auto business is closely tied to the local Greek economy, while the aviation company competes in an increasingly global landscape. With guarded optimism, he shares insights that can apply to all business leaders facing what PwC’s bi-annual Global Crisis and Resilience Survey calls “an age of disruption.”
Entering nascent markets
“My parents started the automotive services business in the 1960s, mainly in rentals,” Vassilakis says. Growing up, he worked with his parents, officially joining the company in 1993 after six years studying in the U.S. — earning his undergraduate at Yale and his MBA from Columbia University.
In 1999, Vassilakis led Autohellas to get listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. At the same time, Vassilakis’s father made the risky decision to venture into the airline business. “He ordered two aircraft and asked me to do the funding. The idea was his, but the strategy was mine,” recalls Vassilakis. By 2007, Aegean was publicly listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.
“Despite going through the 9/11 crisis in our formative years, the 2009-2013 Greek financial crisis and COVID-19, Aegean has grown and established itself as the flagship carrier of Greece,” adds Vassilakis.
Two businesses moving in different directions
Today, Vassilakis and his brother, George, lead Th. Vassilakis Group, with its primary businesses, Autohellas and Aegean. Each business has a different structure and set of challenges.
His mother continues to work with his brother in the auto business. “Navigating relationships in family business is never easy. But so far, we have made it,” says Vassilakis.
The aviation business, by contrast, was set up as part of a partnership. He is the only family member involved. “I’m probably the last one as the industry is getting more globalized and, eventually, we have to be part of something bigger.”
Both businesses were heavily impacted by Greece’s financial crisis. Because the auto business depended on the local economy, it suffered the most. But, Vassilakis adds, they are now market leaders thanks to acquisition and consolidation. The aviation side also suffered from the crisis, but it successfully brought in more travelers to Greece.
While the aviation side continues to face global competition, the automotive sector is dealing with electrification and the entry of autonomous vehicles. “It is not about selling cars anymore,” says Vassilakis. “Major technology disruption in aviation is expected in another decade or two, but the car industry disruption is already here.”
Entrepreneurial skills not taught in business schools
A solid business education provided Vassilakis the foundation for leading in times of change, experience taught him how to persevere, and capitalize, on a crisis.
“In the first crisis, I was just frozen,” he admits. “In the second, I was frozen but better equipped.” In subsequent crises, he says, “I managed to do something extra, to recover what was lost and gain more.”
Some of the qualities that Vassilakis prioritizes in building foundational resilience are:
Agility. Keep finding ways to adjust to a fast-changing environment. Learn to deal with partners and depressed markets, and use these as opportunities for growth.
Family loyalty. In a family business, no matter how much you value skills and new talent, culture and loyalty will play a major role in the success of your business . Trust, commitment, and a long-term vision become a priority. Embracing these values while navigating change is challenging but essential.”
The right partner. Marry someone who supports you in business and life. Vassilakis says his mom was the decision-maker while his dad was the visionary. He says, “It was a good combination, and I like to say I am somewhere in between, looking back and forward — but always count on the support of my partner.”
Honest failure. In Greece, unlike in the U.S., “failure remains punitive,” Vassilakis says. People don’t distinguish between honest failure and fraudulent failure. “As an entrepreneur, honest failure is part of taking risks,” he adds.
Speed of recovery. If a business is in trouble in Greece, it typically takes 15 years to recover. He says that’s because failure is still stigmatized in Greece, and because the culture holds out for “God to save us.” Unless you find a way out of a problem by identifying it and restructuring, you will drag the business and industry with you, he says, adding, “Banks, governments, business people in both public and private sectors, need to become faster at adjusting for recovery.”
As for the future, in five-to-10 years, Vassilakis says his children will have to choose between coming into the family business or going out on their own. “Disruption and change are common today, so they need to develop an independent path and not take things for granted before they consider working in the family business.”
YPO is proud to collaborate with EY, its Strategic Learning Advisor, to help global leaders drive innovation, accelerate growth and create long-term value. Learn from the successes of thousands of the world’s fastest-growing entrepreneurs and realize your ambition faster. Consider nominating yourself or a fellow entrepreneur for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.
From Startup to Industry Leader: Przemysław Gacek’s Journey with Grupa Pracuj
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Przemysław Gacek, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ 2023 Poland winner, is no stranger to entrepreneurship. His uncle founded a company in southern Poland, and his parents also briefly tested the entrepreneurial waters. In the late 1990s, several of his colleagues ventured into startups of their own.
Shortly after graduation, Gacek joined a large consulting company in London as part of an internship program. Working abroad for an international company was one of the possibilities he considered when thinking about his future. However, he quickly realized that this type of work did not meet his expectations and he began to consider the second scenario – starting his own business. He was inspired by the activities of one of the London publishing houses, which was responsible, among others, for the publication with employer profiles addressed to students and graduates. It was accompanied by a website, and Gacek believed that such a solution could be adopted in Poland.
“I wanted to show young graduates a path toward better work,” he says, recalling coming up with idea for Grupa Pracuj. “And that’s how we started in early 2000.”
At a time when internet penetration in Poland stood at just 14%, Gacek developed a recruitment website that functioned as a job board for students and graduates. Today, Grupa Pracuj is one of the largest Polish public companies and a leading provider of technological solutions for employee recruitment, retention and development across several European countries.
The company now operates several job classified websites and offers a SaaS-based talent acquisition suite that better enables employer-employee matching. It’s listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and employs almost 1,100 people across Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.
“The company has gone from being a startup, then a startup with an investor, to a developed company that has implemented many investments – those that were very successful, as well as unsuccessful ones that were valuable lessons for the future,” Gacek says.
Focusing on the bigger picture
While providing valuable resources and practical support to both employers and employees has been the focus of Grupa Pracuj, Gacek and his partners have also co-created and supported initiatives focused on reducing inequalities in recruitment for years.
“The aim is to equalize opportunities on the labor market, provide a better start for young people and support education,” Gacek says. “Better education means an easier start in the labor market and candidates more suited to the needs of employers.”
One such initiative is the Partnership with Beyond Theory Foundation (Polish name: Zwolnieni z Teorii), which has been ongoing for six years now. The foundation has allowed students from Polish schools to independently organize social projects and acquire future-proof competencies. More than 2,800 initiatives have already been organized with tens of thousands of students participating in the project.
Additionally, based on the latest knowledge in the field of recruitment and technology, Grupa Pracuj supports the Teach for Poland Foundation to improve the quality of education. EduLeadership, the most important part of the activities of the Foundation, is a free development program for teachers who start working in schools. The program shapes leadership attitudes, teaches effectiveness in working at school and provides tools and competences for effective development of teachers and their students. Each EduLeader supports approximately 400 children and 4,000 people in their environment.
“As part of the EduLeadership program, we work to improve the quality of the education system so that children in Polish primary schools have the opportunity to discover their potential during their formal education and are prepared for the current and future requirements of the labor market,” Gacek said. “EduLeadership program is a great opportunity for primary school teachers to develop their skills and introduce positive change in the Polish education system.”
Grupa Pracuj also cooperates with the Batory Foundation on a scholarship fund that supports young technological talents. Scholarships have been awarded to 76 students, with an additional 10 scholarships given in the current academic year.
Creating a culture of giving
Charitable giving extends to Grupa Pracuj’s company culture as well. The company offers financial support for charitable ideas that its employees bring to the table, supporting various local initiatives each year from children’s hospitals to hospice care.
Since 2006, Robota.ua, a leading online job board on the Ukrainian market that posts job adverts for both common jobs and specialist professions, has been part of Grupa Pracuj. In response to the war in Ukraine, the company paid Robota.ua team’s salaries in advance for several months. Transport and accommodation were organized for employees who decided to come to Poland with their families, and Grupa Pracuj also donated PLN1 million to humanitarian organizations working for Ukraine in Poland. An additional UAH5 million went to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Looking ahead
As for his future, Gacek says his ambition is to create a leading HR tech platform in Europe. He emphasizes how his organization focuses on sharing knowledge and integrating the HR industry.
“For over two decades, we have been faithful to the mission of creating a good future for talents in Poland,” he says. “My company actively co-creates and supports initiatives for professional recruitment, the development of digital competencies and counteracting inequalities as well as shaping a sustainable environment.”
YPO is proud to collaborate with EY, its Strategic Learning Advisor, to help global leaders drive innovation, accelerate growth and create long-term value. Learn from the successes of thousands of the world’s fastest-growing entrepreneurs and realize your ambition faster. Consider nominating yourself or a fellow entrepreneur for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.
Riddle Me This: A Doctor, a Tween and Two Tots Walk into an App!
Friday, July 12, 2024
I’m a research clinic co-founder, retina surgeon and entrepreneur, but I most value my role as a father. I cherish the time I spend with my three young children – driving to competitive dance rehearsals, overseeing homework and tucking them in every night.
But I was frustrated – like many parents today – by the eye-rolling when I asked my kids about their day and the pushback when I enforced our ‘no phones at dinner’ rule.
I have that frustration to thank for WhoRiddle. Now a patented mobile game app, it started as a parenting hack. I had leveled up my eye-roll-inducing dinnertime Q&A to fun quizzes – guess how many flowers are in that vase – how many stars are on mommy’s shirt – get three correct and you earn a dollar! Shocked and buoyed by my kids’ willingness to put down their phones, I leveled up again, covertly firing up both sides of their brains with riddles.
From parenting hack to kid app
On 40-minute excursions driving my kids home from after-school practices, I work against sweat, hunger, hormones and sibling rivalry. I’ve worked a full day comforting patients who fear losing their vision to macular degeneration.
To abort the launch of expected and understandable meltdowns, I ask if they want to hear a riddle. Evaani, 7, is the first to answer. My tired little firecracker musters a ‘YES!’ Kavi, my five-year-old son offers the first guess to my made-up riddle, and Mahi, the tween, chimes in hers.
My blood pressure begins to lower.
My desperate survival tactic transforms into upbeat problem-solving sessions that last long after the car ride. It’s these magic moments that led to me to design an app with weekly riddles.
Crafting riddles for our kiddos was a sweet break from ophthalmic clinical research, my primary passion.
A family techventure
A colleague recently asked me why I decided to channel my inner Josh Wardle to pursue the development of a mobile app for kids. Unlike Wordle’s founder, I have zero experience in this space, and it’s no secret that sophisticated app design is not for the weak of wallet.
My colleague also asked me if this was a hi-tech hobby and quality time with the kiddos, or something that, like Wordle, would one day be picked up by The New York Times.
The answer is yes, and no. Blown away by how the riddles played to our diverse processing styles, I added a level of competition and texted riddles to friends and family, acquiring 150 players.
I treasured the Saturdays spent at Starbucks brainstorming with my daughters. Mahi, our creative director, is my oldest, and was still a tween at the time. A creative thinker and published author, she took immediate ownership of design and identity and helped write the app story requirements. My middle child, Evaani, took on the digital sound director role, picking out app sounds.
I read blogs about founder stories, including Wordle. I also followed my ‘rule of three’ and sought out three points of view, something I do for large purchases or big decisions when my knowledge is limited. Of the three teams I met with, one shared my excitement about WhoRiddle’s potential and could see his young son playing this with him. His company was also willing to work with a more modest budget and proceed in stages that allowed me to solicit creative content from Mahi, Evaani and Kavi. During the app’s early development, their inclusion was key and helped bring clarity when my judgment was clouded.
Powered by passion
Working with a company based in India required me to attend pre-dawn conferences before my full day working on complex cases as a retinal surgeon. The payoff was minimal. Fixing one glitch led to a downstream glitch. It became apparent that my app lacked the infrastructure to scale. Because this was a passion project, I overlooked the importance of an advisory board with knowledge of daily user metrics.
Hiring a marketing director was a pivotal wake-up call that prompted me to cut my losses, take inventory and, well, level-up again. She shared my app with tech experts, who all agreed that WhoRiddle needed to be completely rebuilt if it had any chance to execute on my vision.
Find the answer to the riddle at the end of the story.
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I brought on board a New York-based tech entrepreneur with impressive credentials and a young father’s unique belief in our mission. We proceeded with WhoRiddle 2.0, created a mascot, Scoop, and added animation features. We discussed riddle bandwidth, retention, additional animation – and the value (and cost) of exceptional design. I had to ask myself how much more was I willing to invest to test my hypothesis that WhoRiddle is a scalable product that brings families together?
At home, WhoRiddle passed the test. Evaani had shared an early WhoRiddle with her class and her dance friends, riding a roller coaster of pride and embarrassment through the steady stream of glitches and fallout. The delayed gratification (in today’s swipe culture) from waiting an entire year for the app to emerge anew (a SUPER long time for child), will serve as a valuable lesson.
Lessons learned
It’s been two years since I decided to enter a highly competitive tech space introducing my quirky, layered riddles to the world. Working with a six-member team in the U.S. and Europe to break down barriers to entry is a different kind of adrenaline fix than I get when my patient can see her granddaughter’s smile for the first time in years.
WhoRiddle 3.0 was built to prove that we had a scalable app with the potential to build 100,000 or more steady users. We’re on our way to building a user-based platform that appeals to complementary brand sponsors we admire like Hugimals – and even more famous ones that everyone knows such as Chewy or Nike.
With all I’ve learned about the nuanced world of daily active users, stickiness, dopamine effect, and the threat of Chat GPT cheaters, I make no apologies for my pie-in-the-sky launch. My parental heart took the lead. It all came from a place of passion and purpose, and that’s a payoff I can live with.
We learned countless lessons on this ride. Here are two that apply to any entrepreneur coming from a place of passion:
Know when to let go. I came to accept that my family’s personal connection to weekly riddles was not the magic bullet I believed it was. Holding on to that almost prevented me from giving WhoRiddle a chance to scale.
Bring in pros. In the early stages, I overlooked the importance of an advisory board with knowledge of daily user metrics. I let my sheer passion for the project influence my actions.
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(Riddle answer: A starfish!)
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Meet the Startup Turning Pesky Processing Fees into Wins
Friday, July 12, 2024
Regardless of team allegiance, most sports fans agree: Ticket processing fees are the worst.
Another thing a lot of sports fans seem to agree on lately: It’s incredibly fun to bet (legally) on athletic events. In the United States alone, online sports betting is projected to reach USD9.65 billion in 2024, with the number of users projected to reach 54.7 million by 2029.
TicketBook is a startup aiming to create a better experience for users, tackling fee frustrations while harnessing the growing sports betting market.
A digital marketplace that allows sports ticket buyers to earn back processing fees, TicketBook is a convenient place to browse events, select tickets and place bets on the games they attend. If the user wins their bet, their fees are returned to them and can be used for future ticket purchases.
The company was initially conceived during a startup weekend hosted by YNG, the community of young adult children (ages 18-30) of YPO members, in collaboration with YPO’s strategic relationships Techstars and Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in March of 2023 in Boston. The goal of the event, championed by Anaya Barmecha of YNG New York, Yohan Khan of YNG Boston, and Micah Chase of YPO Gold New England, was not only to give YNG members an in-person opportunity to meet and connect, but also to provide a safe space to create and build out innovative ideas with world-class resources and mentors providing support throughout along the way.
And while co-founders Jack Dretler, Ariel Aldrin and Foster Counts all hail from different backgrounds and locations and didn’t even know each other before that long weekend, these three YNG members are now betting they can make waves in the sports industry.
“People intrinsically want to be more involved in whatever event they are attending and watching. We’re leveraging that and think we could take it to the next step,” says Aldrin.
“Our goal is to be more than just admission to an event,” adds Dretler, who serves as the company’s CEO. “We’re looking to revolutionize the sports ticketing industry.”
From idea to reality
More than 50 YNG members at the startup weekend met with representatives from YPO, Goldman Sachs and Techstars and were invited to make a one-minute pitch for their business ideas. Five businesses were selected to move on, and the young professionals split into teams to focus on their respective business ideas for the next 48 hours.
Dretler was approaching college graduation from Bentley University in Boston, and while he’d never engaged in any YNG events — and there was a snowboarding trip with friends taking place on the same weekend — he had the makings of an idea and was curious to talk through it with other business-minded young professionals.
Counts was a recent Southern Methodist University graduate living in Dallas, Texas, USA, and working at his family’s photography software company. He had just started to dabble in YNG’s mentoring program and online events, but he had never traveled to attend one before.
Aldrin came into the startup weekend with entrepreneurial experience, having launched a company based out of her home in Indonesia. She had already graduated from Berkeley and was currently pursuing her MBA at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. While she didn’t have a set business idea in mind, she’s been involved in YNG before and the weekend gave her a chance to meet other young professionals and gain more experience.
The trio quickly found each other that first night, united by Dretler’s idea focused on tickets and sports betting, and along with three other YNGers, they spent the next two days creating a business plan, working with experts from YPO, Techstars and Goldman Sachs.
“I think the competitive aspect really helped us fine-tune our idea,” says Counts, who serves as TicketBook’s CFO. “It’s all about adding entertainment value to the ticket you’re buying and making the process something you don’t dread. Because for some, that processing fee is enough to affect your decision on whether you buy the ticket at all.”
By the time their team took the top prize — an opportunity to receive continued mentoring from Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management leaders and a meeting with one of Goldman Sachs’ Growth Equity teams — Counts says the win validated that what they’d created was something special.
I think the competitive aspect really helped us fine-tune our idea. It’s all about adding entertainment value to the ticket you’re buying and making the process something you don’t dread. Because for some, that processing fee is enough to affect your decision on whether you buy the ticket at all.
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— Foster Counts
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Aldrin, the company’s COO, agrees. “For us, it made sense to keep working on it. People naturally dropped off, just being busy with school or internships, and we were happy that the three of us stayed along for the ride. We also found that our backgrounds complemented each other very well.”
Maintaining momentum
Coming off their success in Boston, Aldrin, Dretler and Counts returned home but set up weekly calls to keep things moving.
They decided to submit TicketBook for the VIP-X accelerator program in Philadelphia, where Aldrin was living and attending The Wharton School. They were one of seven startups selected for the intense three-month program and the only one that was virtual. The program gave them more validation as well as support through advising, coaching and resources.
The year since that initial YNG startup weekend has also been filled with talking to experts in fields related to sports betting and ticketing, collecting data to make their product the best it could be, and working with their developer to create the platform, as well as harnessing the knowledge and support of their advisers, Bhanuka Harischandra, Founder and CEO of Surge Global, and Greg Krug, Senior Director at Navigate, a sports vendor consulting firm.
Betting on themselves
“We’re very proud to be in a situation where we can show potential investors exactly what our company looks like,” says Dretler. “We can take them through our business model, walk them through a clickable prototype, and show that this is something that’s going to be big in the next 12 months.”
They share that there has been a lot of interest in TicketBook, and that they are currently fundraising for their first round of investors through October 2024, with an anticipated launch of a beta test of the platform in Massachusetts by the end of 2024. They are also looking into different partnerships with both buyers and sellers, since they are working within a two-sided marketplace.
TicketBook has been Dretler’s sole focus since his graduation, Aldrin graduated from Wharton this May, and Counts has continued to work on the idea alongside his family’s company. The trio combats issues of time and distance with their weekly check-in calls, and all three stress the importance of clear communication and supporting each other.
“Motivation can falter when you’re not sitting in a room together,” admits Dretler, adding that the weekly calls and checkpoints get them back on track when they fall out of sync.
Being in three different locations has had a surprising benefit, allowing each to harness three different networks to work toward their shared goal.
“I think one of the things that has kept the three of us together is that we really believe in the idea, and we are building something we would want to use ourselves,” says Counts, explaining that, combined, they bring ample experience in attending concerts and sports events and betting on sports. “We know what we want to see in the market, and we know it does not currently exist. So we’re trying to bring that to people like us.”
Techstars and Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management are YPO strategic relationships. YPO members can learn more on Connect+.
CEOs Harness Juneteenth to Lead, Inspire
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
When Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, it was bittersweet for YPO member Jason Edwards, CEO at Providence Realty Investors Inc. Thrilled that Congress approved the bill, he was unable to share in the celebration with his father, Albert Edwards, who had died in 2020. The elder Edwards, a former Texas state representative, is considered the “Father of Juneteenth.”
In 1979, the freshman legislator authored and championed a bill through the Texas state legislature that formally recognized the Texas emancipation from slavery – Juneteenth – also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. Getting the 19th of June recognized as a state holiday was the prime reason Rep. Edwards ran for office in 1979.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 – two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed – when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, USA, to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed.
Texas was the first state to recognize the day as a formal holiday.
“That’s my father’s true legacy,” Edwards says. “Dad thought Juneteenth needed to be not just a Black celebration, but a Texas-wide celebration. Three to four million Americans came out of slavery to freedom on that day. And even though that freedom was tenuous at that time, it was still freedom.”
Rep. Edwards founded the nonprofit Juneteenth USA in 1979, which his son now serves as chairman and president. Through corporate speaking events and educational programs, Juneteenth USA works to increase corporate adoption of the holiday, support historically Black colleges and universities (HCBUs) and uplift under-resourced communities.
Edwards often speaks at public events and for companies about Juneteenth, reminding his audiences that Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the second most impactful day in the country’s quest for freedom – coming in just after the Fourth of July.
As a leader in YPO, Edwards says it’s vital that his fellow members lead those conversations and see Juneteenth as an opportunity.
“Use Juneteenth as a day to communicate to your company and the descendants of American slavery, that you hear them, you see their history and you recognize their story,” Edwards urges. “Turning a blind eye to our painful past just slows that healing process.”
The power of Juneteenth and YPO
Juneteenth represents brighter days filled with celebration and joy but also as a reminder of the pain and struggles America’s Black community experienced – and still experiences. At YPO, with its vision to inspire and support leaders to make a difference in the world, the day also serves as an opportunity.
YPO member Mandy Price is CEO of Kanarys, a technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create systemic change around diversity, equity and inclusion. She says she hopes her peers use Juneteenth to open a dialogue, talk about the importance of equity and inclusion, and create change.
“It takes active participation by everyone to create the kind of environment where everyone, irrespective of their background, is afforded the opportunity to thrive and contribute to society,” Price says.
Growing up, Price’s family’s Juneteenth celebrations always included the historical perspective, which helped her understand the sacrifices made to secure freedom for all Americans.
“Our society doesn’t just happen on its own,” she says. “It takes all of us to ensure that we are creating a world that is working for the betterment of all. It’s not just a moral imperative, but societal necessity.”
That message of involvement and equity is one YPO member Ernest Hunter II, Navy veteran and CEO at the Frenchy’s Companies, is very familiar. Growing up in Bryan, Texas, USA, Hunter remembers Juneteenth as more of a cultural celebration. His grandmother’s house sat on the Juneteenth parade route and served as a gathering place for families from around the neighborhood to grill and celebrate after the parade.
His view of Juneteenth has evolved since then. “Juneteenth is the true acceptance of the Declaration of Independence,” Hunter says, adding it was when the country began its long journey to accept that all people are created equal.
“It’s a journey that is not over for our country,” he says. Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday is a moment in U.S. history when the country decided that “we could be better, and we were going to be better,” he adds.
Creating even more impact
Hunter has made this goal of “being better” as part of his company’s mission. Frenchy’s Chicken has been part of Houston’s historically Black Third Ward since 1969. For 2024’s Juneteenth celebration, Frenchy’s is partnering with a young Black-owned company, a competitor, to create a menu collaboration for the community.
“We hope it shows the community, and really everyone, that Juneteenth was just the beginning of the journey,” Hunter says. “The way we continue to improve Black-owned businesses is to work together and cross competitor lines.”
Leaders working together and supporting each other is fostered through YPO, Hunter says. “YPO is helping us live out our dreams and helping us grow our companies, which allows us to have a greater impact on our communities,” he says. “Hopefully, we are helping others in YPO, who don’t look like us, to push the envelope within their businesses and their communities.”
Celebrating and supporting Black leaders is one of the biggest benefits of YPO for member Devon Henry, President of Team Henry Enterprises, LLC. He finds the most joy and support within the Black YPO Network.
“We share our joy and celebrate each other’s wins,” he says about the smaller group of YPO members within the larger organization. “We’re constantly asking how we can help each other,” Henry says, adding that one of the reasons he is in YPO is to help others enjoy the same success.
“Before YPO, I never understood as a Black business owner what I didn’t know,” he says. More Black professionals need the resources and access he has as a member of YPO, he says. “It could help save your business and take your business to different levels,” says Henry, who recently stepped up to serve as the diversity and inclusion officer in the Southeast U.S. to help ensure YPO grows its diverse membership.
Pessimistic Canadian CEOs Becoming More Optimistic?
Friday, May 31, 2024
As the President of Canada’s Fraser Institute, an independent, nonpartisan public policy think tank, I have the good fortune of studying and analyzing business and economic climates worldwide. The success of any economy hinges on its institutions — laws, regulations, property rights, governance structures and cultural norms. While entrepreneurial talent is universal, these institutions ultimately determine whether entrepreneurs engage in productive, society-enhancing activities. That’s why it is crucial to understand both the empirical data and the perspectives of business leaders and entrepreneurs regarding their country’s business and economic environment.
At the Fraser Institute, we annually produce the Economic Freedom of the World Index, which measures the degree to which citizens in each of 165 jurisdictions worldwide are able to make their own economic decisions without constraints imposed by others. It was developed in consultation with over 60 scholars, including the Nobel Prize winners Douglass North, Gary Becker and Milton Friedman. Our Index ultimately determines how conducive a country’s institutions are to fostering economic freedom and entrepreneurial activity by evaluating five key areas: size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.
So, where have we been and where are we going?
Globally, economic freedom rose throughout the 1980s and 1990s as Western democracies deregulated and formerly socialist nations liberalized. But since 2000, the pace of reform has slowed. The high mark for both U.S. and Canadian economic freedom occurred in 2000. Since then, both countries have steadily curtailed their citizens’ economic freedom, undoing decades of progress. Not since the early 1980s did Americans and Canadians experience such low levels of economic freedom, with their business and economic climates suffering.
That’s the macro, backward-looking, empirical assessment of our business and economic climate.
But how do business leaders and entrepreneurs feel currently?
That’s where I put on my other hat as a member – and Incoming Regional Chair for Canada – of YPO, a global leadership community of 35,000 chief executives and business leaders.
Each quarter, YPO conducts its Global Pulse Survey to gather insights and opinions from its chief executive membership. One of the things I love about my YPO colleagues is their optimism, which the Global Pulse Survey quantifies.
This quarter’s survey produced some interesting results. When asked how the overall business and economic climate in their country affected their companies compared to six months ago, 38.7% of global respondents said it’s much or somewhat better. At the same time, 37% reported that it’s about the same. That means fewer than 25% of respondents feel things are getting worse. In addition, a majority of respondents, 61.8%, don’t expect a recession in their primary market either. In the most optimistic region, South Asia, 59.3% of respondents feel things are getting better, followed by the Middle East and North Africa region at 54.2%.
Unfortunately, my home country, Canada, was the most pessimistic region. Nearly 30% of Canadian respondents expect a local economic recession in the next year, compared to 19.6% of respondents in other parts of the world.
Canada also had the most respondents say that the business and economic climate is ‘much’ or ‘somewhat’ worse, at 28.0%. The good news is that Canadian CEOs are more optimistic than six months ago, when 48.3% of Canadian respondents said the economic climate was worsening.
But this uptick in optimism may not last. The YPO survey was done before the last federal budget, delivered on 16 April 2024. That budget will worsen Canada’s investment climate by increasing taxes on capital gains, deterring investment and encouraging a more significant outflow of capital. The budget also forecasts deficits for at least five years, which increases the likelihood of future tax hikes and creates more uncertainty for entrepreneurs, investors and businesses. The response in Canada’s business community and, more broadly, throughout the media was that the budget was a significant step backward for Canada.
It will, therefore, be interesting to see what next Quarter’s Global Pulse Survey brings for Canada.
Niels Veldhuis is President of the Fraser Institute and Chapter Chair of YPO British Columbia.
Living the Peer-Supported Life
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Mike Novakoski, a YPO member and President and CEO of EV Construction and EV Group in Holland, Michigan, USA, reaps the value of peer support in every aspect of his life – with his wife and kids, other CEOs and industry colleagues, and business partners and suppliers. Like many busy executives, he started out believing he didn’t have the time for peer support groups, but now can’t imagine life without them.
YPO member forum
For the past 17 years Novakoski has been in a peer group with fellow YPO members, all chief executives. YPO calls these groups ‘forums,’ and Novakoski’s monthly forum meeting is a can’t-miss event on his jam-packed calendar.
Novakoski shares the impact his forum has had on real people, real businesses. Recalling a Friday night amid the Great Recession that began in 2007, Novakoski says a fellow forum member shared that he didn’t see a way to keep his business afloat. Forum members dropped everything and spent an entire Saturday dissecting the member’s challenges and helped him develop a plan. Without the forum’s encouragement, trust and accountability, Novakoski says, his fellow member would have gone out of business.
The forum has also been instrumental in Novakoski’s personal and family life. It offers a place where “members can be real about their true financial situations, about troubled relationships and the ebb and flow of their marriages and can find hope and support through a level of vulnerability that members have not experienced elsewhere,” he says. While professional therapy can help at one level, Novakoski explains, “they are not in the arena with you in the same way that your peers are.”
YPO’s industry network forums
In addition to his primary forum, Novakoski is also part of two YPO Construction Industry Network forums, made up of non-competing building contractors in North America. He has met with the first forum for the past 11 years, and the second for three years, about every six weeks on Zoom, and semi-annually in person. These peer groups are about much more than the how-to of running a construction business. They discuss strategic, financial and operational best practices and share business plans, giving each significant competitive advantages in their respective markets. Members also help each other with tough leadership questions around hiring and culture. Most recently, Novakoski’s forum mates have helped him develop a Virtual Design and Construct (VDC) department, an essential need given EV’s 600% growth in the last five years. In another case, the forum brought a program to Novakoski’s attention that will enhance EV’s bottom line by more than a million dollars. “That’s a high-value takeaway!” says Novakowski.
With one of these network forums, Novakoski and his peers have built “sub-forums” where the department heads of each of the YPOers’ companies meet virtually and have in-person sessions twice a year to share specific items that relate to their area within the business (e.g., CFO, COO, HR, Pre-Construction, etc.). Novakoski comments, “It’s hard to put words to how powerful these meetings have been for these next-level leaders. We’ve had incredible advances in each area of our business due to the giving nature of these peers who lend a hand to bring us to the next level.” He adds that EV shares their best practices and programs as well.
Peer support inside EV
Novakoski has brought a “forum code” into EV, too, infusing his business with the best practices of peer support groups.
In a multi-year strategic planning meeting, he begins by saying, “We’re going to go personal – talking about the things that worked, the struggles we’ve had in the last several months, what we are looking forward to personally, for our families and professionally.”
Novakoski has introduced the classic “lifeline” exercise, with each person sharing high and low points from birth to the present day to achieve greater depth, with his executive committee, field managers, superintendents and administrative staff.
He has employed forum-style exercises on company retreats, which has created unexpected bonds.
Employees regularly use a forum issue-clearing model to resolve conflict and move forward. As Novakoski reports, “Sometimes I am the one who needs to give the example to model for others, to demonstrate that admitting errors or failures is the kind of vulnerability we must all be willing to show.”
In company meetings, he encourages the use of a forum exploration model. Employees share experiences and feelings and talk about what comes up for them, rather than jumping immediately to tell each other what to do.
Members of EV’s senior leadership team serve as moderators of EV contractor roundtables, building their competence as peer group leaders.
According to Novakoski, these activities have helped build EV’s culture and low turnover and highly engaged, closely connected people. He says, “It’s really about building trust and vulnerability, encouraging meaningful, substantive connections between employee and employer.”
Contractor roundtables
Seeing the value of forum in his personal and business lives, Novakoski wanted to bring similar value to the leaders of EV’s partners in the electrical, plumbing, drywall and other trades. As a general contractor, he recognizes that EV’s success is based on their relationships with these partners.
“We wanted to create a community of equal peers,” he explains.
In the past eight years, EV launched multiple contractor roundtables, each comprised of about 10 non-competing trade partners meeting every six-12 weeks.
He chaired the first roundtable meeting, opening with the icebreaker question: “Tell us about a time when you failed in your business.” Modeling vulnerability and setting the tone for the group, Novakoski went first, sharing the story of losing a million dollars in a startup. He says after everyone had taken a turn sharing, they collectively observed, “So we’re all a bunch of losers; how did we make it in the world this far?”
One member of that group was a high school graduate who had built a 50-person company on his own. He reported to Novakoski after their first roundtable, “What’s amazing to me is the comfort I had when I laid my head on the pillow that night, that I now have a group of peers with whom I can really share where I’m at. They’re telling me their doubts and fears and successes, and I have an outside group I can confide in and who can coach me. I can’t tell you how comforting that is.”
In parallel to Novakoski’s network forum, these contractor roundtables have also been expanded to add field manager/supervisor “sub-forums.” These sub-forums meet regularly to talk about items that are most relevant to their role in the industry. Novakoski’s shares, “These new groups have been instrumental in further cementing key relationships and completing some incredible, mutually beneficial projects.”
The business value to EV is direct and quantifiable. Trade contractors have told Novakoski that because of the trust he has built, they will save their best, limited capacity in a tight market for EV. Others have told him, “I’ve priced all of the other general contractors at 15% higher, but I trust you guys to run a better job. You’ll look out for me; together we’ll make money.” Because of this approach to building deep relationships, EV has won the coveted Michigan Contractor of the Year award (MCOY) three times, most recently in 2023-2024. Novakoski also credits YPO and his rich forum experience as the primary driver in the book he wrote, “Becoming Unmistakable: Start the Journey from Commodity to Oddity.”
Forum at home
Peer support skills are life skills, and Novakoski uses a similar approach at home. He says that he, his wife and their children discuss their biggest struggles of the past week and what they are looking forward to in the next week. Mike remembers one day driving with his daughter, who was struggling with her boyfriend.
He says, “All I did was float down the river, sharing a journey I had as a kid at the same age with a girlfriend. And that was it. I gave her no advice. I just told her my experience.”
Mike and his wife, Elizabeth, also started a forum for couples. He says the YPO forum format has helped them learn to “talk to each other, to be close to and support each other in new ways.”
Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Novakoski believes that “with the support of our peers, we can be the change we wish to see in the world,” and he’s doing his best to live a life that makes that possible.
Adapting to Thrive: The Agile Journey of CEO Andy Gatesy
Thursday, May 9, 2024
The story of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2023 Malta winner, Andy Gatesy, is one of humble beginnings, big-picture thinking and an absolute dedication to remaining agile while leading a more than 50-year-old global company.
Gatesy’s father, Zoli Gatesy, founded Toly as a manufacturing company specializing in cosmetics packaging in 1971 in Malta. The elder Gatesy had fled his home during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and as a refugee in the United Kingdom, became a mold maker during the height of the mid-20th century plastics boom. Andy joined the family business in 1986 and became CEO when his father died in 1991.
“When I was growing up, if somebody asked my father what Toly was, he would say we were an engineering company that converts plastics and builds molds. We were a British company with a satellite manufacturing plant in Malta, and all our customers were British or American brands like Estee Lauder and Revlon with British factories,” says Gatesy. “When I took over, I knew we needed to change our mindset.”
Today, under Gatesy’s leadership, Toly still builds molds and converts plastics. But they’ve also become the go-to packaging supplier for 23 of the top 30 beauty brands around the world, including legacy brands such as Chanel, Loreal and Unilever, and buzzy, celebrity-backed lines such as Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. They boast 8 offices and 5 production facilities as well as a network of partners that are scattered across the world in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In 2022 alone they banked EUR97 million in sales.
How did Gatesy shape his father’s business into the global powerhouse it is today? Gatesy outlines the three pillars from which he has expanded Toly:
The future is not an upgrade of the present. It’s an invitation and an opportunity to think in a completely different way. I think that’s what we try and do: think differently and be different for a sustainable future.
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— Andy Gatesy, CEO of Toly
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A global mindset
Shortly after joining the family business, Gatesy visited the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. In their beautiful displays of the storied department store he saw the French and international brands not working with Toly. It inspired him to think bigger. He focused first on expanding Toly in the United States. They initially struggled to sell a Malta-manufactured product in the U.S., but the tide turned after they opened a sales office in New Jersey in 1987. Gatesy counts this as the beginning of their international expansion which later led to locations in Paris, The Netherlands, China and beyond. It’s a strategy that is paying off in 2024.
“It’s clear we are moving toward a deglobalized world right now. If we want to be a global leader, we need to offer local manufacturing solutions to our customers,” says Gatesy. “And that is what we’ve done with this network of factories and offices we’ve built.”
Product diversity
Toly’s heritage is plastics manufacturing, but if plastics are no longer the material of choice for the beauty industry, where does that leave them? Prepared. Because they no longer just deal with plastics. They now also offer packaging comprised of various materials from glass to metal and new, eco-friendly options.
“We are always finding new materials to plug into our platform,” he says. “But we aren’t going build our own glass factories or metal factories. We do it with a network of strategic partners and alliances, so we have the credibility of manufacturing, but the agility of partnerships in other areas.”
Innovative service offerings
Gatesy positioned Toly to be flexible in their manufacturing as well as in the non-packaging services they offer their beauty industry customers. Their division Beauty Trill offers filled, ready-to-go packaging for white label products, and Toly Design Studio offers brands full service for primary and secondary packaging.
They also pride themselves on product innovation, opening their Innovation Academy in 2003 and the physical Innovation Centre in Malta in 2014. By Gatesy’s count, the company innovates 200 new products every year, including their patented Powder Queen, a loose powder dispenser that won’t break or spill all over your luggage the next time you travel.
Prepared for challenges
Even the best-intentioned executives face unforeseen challenges, and Gatesy is no exception. He has directed Toly through multiple Gulf wars, several economic crises and a pandemic. Ask anyone in the beauty industry what it was like selling makeup products when no one in the world was leaving their homes and when they did, they wore face masks. But because of the agile culture Gatesy created, Toly has not only survived but thrived.
Now the next challenge putting Gatesy to the test is succession planning. As one of the only long-standing, family-owned and operated companies in their industry, he knows he has continuity in his corner. His competitors are predominately private equity firms. And, he has four adult children all involved in Toly.
“I have four smart, committed, hardworking entrepreneurial kids. So, though I don’t have plans to leave anytime soon, I’ve started early and I’m getting them involved in the strategic decision-making processes, so hopefully it will be a smooth process,” he says.
Another challenge that many executives can relate to? An increase in the demand for sustainability, both from companies who themselves want more eco-friendly practices and optics and legislation throughout Europe requiring it.
Toly is a founding member of the Malta ESG Alliance and sees the push for sustainability in the cosmetic industry as an opportunity to push innovation.
It’s clear we are moving toward a deglobalized world right now. If we want to be a global leader, we need to offer local manufacturing solutions to our customers,” says Gatesy. “And that is what we’ve done with this network of factories and offices we’ve built.
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— Andy Gatesy, Malta’s 2023 EY Entrepreneur of the Year
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“Our core purpose at Toly is to make a positive impact on everybody and everything we touch,” he says, citing Toly’s core values as people, passion, pride and creativity. “The future is not an upgrade of the present. It’s an invitation and an opportunity to think in a completely different way. I think that’s what we try and do: think differently and be different for a sustainable future.”
YPO is proud to collaborate with EY, its Strategic Learning Advisor, to help global leaders drive innovation, accelerate growth and create long-term value. Learn from the successes of thousands of the world’s fastest-growing entrepreneurs and realize your ambition faster. Consider nominating yourself or a fellow entrepreneur for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.
