Deal Hound
Daina Trout founded HealthAde Kombucha with her husband, Justin Trout, and best friend, Vanessa Dew, in 2012. During the next five years, the company released many flavors of its probiotic tea and opened its own brewing and bottling facility just south of Los Angeles. By 2021, Health-Ade was profitable and generating $200 million in annual revenue, but its investors were eager for a return. That is, until the company’s steady growth led its first investor to rethink its exit strategy.
—As told to Christine Lagorio-Chafkin
As CEO, I’d heard horror stories from founders about what happened when they sold their businesses—like they were fired, or strategic investors installed their own operations and killed the culture. But I had been giving my all to grow this company for 10 years, and was excited to have the experienced hands of a large company guide us. I did probably 30 meetings in 2019. We met at least four times with Coke, but they didn’t make an offer—they wanted to invest. It was a trying time. Investors were continuing to apply pressure. I was getting only three hours of sleep a night. I had a miscarriage. It was time to find new ownership and a new CEO.
In November 2020, I was walking my dog, Holly, while having a conversation with our board member from our first investor, First Beverage Group. We were talking about doubling our revenue in four years. All of a sudden he said, ‘First Beverage is in for the long haul. We agree this is going to take another four years, and we’re excited. We want to help build a business internationally.’ I texted my co-founders: ‘You won’t believe it. First Bev wants to double down!’
Vanessa didn’t want to be our sales and distribution chief forever–she wanted to be CEO. She’s a tested leader, and there’s nothing as powerful as having a founder as chief executive. In September 2022, Vanessa was named CEO. It’s taken me about a year to recover, physically and mentally. Now, I’m working on what I love: content, nutrition, and wellness—all the areas I am most passionate about. And I get to see my kids and my dog every night. My balance is back.