Honest Tea’s DC roots based on values

The co-founder of Honest Tea came to Washington, D.C. for the politics, but stayed for the values-driven economy.

Seth Goldman came to Washington, D.C. to work on Capitol Hill as a press secretary. Although he veered out of politics and into business, he stayed in the capital region to take full advantage of the values-driven economy, he says.

“D.C. is the world capital of people who are fluent in spreading ideas,” Goldman said.

Goldman and his business school professor Barry Nalebuff built Honest Tea out of Goldman’s Bethesda, Maryland, kitchen in 1998 and the company grew exponentially from there.

“So much of business today is connecting with customers, but we are really selling a mindset,” the entrepreneur said, noting that people come to D.C. because they want to change the world for the better.

Today, Goldman still bikes to work in downtown Bethesda, and more than 1 billion bottles of Honest Tea have been sold. Even when the Coca-Cola Company bought Honest Tea in 2011, Goldman still managed to stay true to his values.

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