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Barry Nalebuff: A fateful encounter in Aspen, a missed opportunity (Honest Tea), a second chance (Real Made Overnight Oats). Try them?
By
Published: May 09, 2021
Category:
Food and Wine
He was a bartender, with bartender’s good looks and a cheerful bartender personality. He liked to party. I know this because when he was interviewing Colin Powell for Plum TV during the Aspen Ideas Festival, he asked the four-star General then serving as Secretary of State where he liked to party. That is why Plum TV asked me to sit in the Matt Lauer chair the following year.
Our daughter was three years old that year. Strolling down Aspen’s main street on our first day there, she spotted something in a store window. She dragged us in, and we bought her something we — and she — had never seen before: a chunky rubber shoe called Crocs. A few years later the company went public. Opening share price: $15. I didn’t buy the stock. Last week, the stock hit an all-time high: $109.
One of the cultural treats of the Ideas Festival was my interview with Barry Nalebuff, a professor at the Yale School of Management. He had the usual credentials — dual degrees from MIT and a Rhodes Scholarship — and a great approach to problem solving in the form of a question: Why not? He wrote a book about it: Why Not? How To Use Everyday Ingenuity To Solve Problems Big And Small. In that book, he recounts a story he told me in Aspen about a tea company he had co-created. It was called Honest Tea, an organic, non-sweet drink. He invited me to invest. I was writer-rich with AOL money that year. I reviewed the book. But I didn’t invest.
Andy Tobias, who is smarter about investing than anyone and shared the basics in The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need, has great karma. Before the inauguration of Bill Clinton, he went to Renaissance Weekend. Going in to dinner, a Secret Service agent asked him, “Do you have any interest in working in the Clinton Administration?” Andy said he didn’t. “Come with me,” the agent said, and sat him next to Hillary Clinton. A while later, Andy became Treasurer of the Democratic Party.
Andy invested in a play called “Nunsense,” which ran forever. And he invested in Honest Tea. In 2008, Coca-Cola bought a 40% stake for $43 million. In 2011, it bought the rest of the company in 2011. I have to think Andy was pleased.
Andy writes a smart daily newsletter. Some politics. Some investing. You’d be wise to subscribe. Last week he wrote about Barry Nalebuff, who is now involved in Real Made Overnight Oats, one of those new-fangled breakfast cereals you make the night before. (Add milk. Shake. Refrigerate.) Each serving contains 7 grams of oat fiber and 7 grams of protein. Sweetened only with dried organic fruits nuts and spices, Almost entirely gluten free. Available in 3 flavors: Apple coconut. Banana coffee. Mulberry and Chia. Five 2.12oz packs for $14.99. [To buy a package from Amazon, click here.]
But wait… there’s more! This time, you don’t have to know Barry Nalebuff to invest in Real Made Overnight Oats. From the website:
Real Made Overnight Oats is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise currently retailing at over 750 stores across the country through national chains such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Safeway, amongst others. We’re also a leading brand in dollar velocity at Whole Foods with distribution in 3 regions. Since launching our own online store in late July, we’ve had steady growth without any marketing initiatives. We’re witnessing this same e-commerce sales traction through Amazon, with over $180,000 in sales in 2020 and a 5-star rating. We expect to generate $3M in revenue in 2022, and continue to grow at a rate of 58% CAGR, reaching $12MM by 2024.
Some encouraging facts:
– USDA Organic, Vegan, non-GMO, and No Sugar Added overnight oats
– Retailing at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Safeway, Amazon, Walmart.com,750+ stores
– Leading brand in dollar velocity at Whole Foods
– Over 2MM servings sold since launching in June 2019
– Raised $1.5MM in last capital round
You can invest as little as $100, as much as $100,000. [For information and to invest, click here.] As with all investments, it is possible to see no gain in your lifetime. It’s possible to lose it all. Me? In honor of the bartender whose dumb question got me to Aspen and because I’d never bet against Andy Tobias… I’m in.
