Ep 15 | Natasha Case
Selling Ice Cream from a Broken Truck to Becoming a Multi-Million Dollar Household Brand
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Natasha Case is the co-founder and CEO of Coolhaus, a women-founded and led ice cream brand serving premium cookie sandwiches, pints, and bars. After earning her masters in Architecture from UCLA, and landing her dream job at Walt Disney Imagineering, she decided to leave her corporate job and risk everything she had an idea and an old postal van that she purchased on Craigslist. At the time, her partner and co-founder Freya, decided to take this barely drivable van to Coachella to see if their passion for making the first architecturally-inspired ice cream sandwiches would be a viable business for them to pursue.
Coachella was a big hit, and since 2008, Coolhaus has become a multi-million dollar business growing 2-3x per year due to popular demand. Natasha has been named 30 under 30 by Forbes & Zagat and has helped expand the business to over 7,500 grocery stores nationwide, from Safeway to Whole Foods.
Show Notes
How Natasha found a way to incorporate her two passions, food and architecture when she was working at Disney [6:39]
When Natasha decided to take a personal passion of hers to the next step and create a real “business” [8:39]
Why not being able to secure a business loan and launching at Coachella with a broken van was the best decision Natasha made [10:44]
How Natasha and her co-founder managed to launch at Coachella despite having no brand or business recognition [14:35]
How the Coolhaus brand went viral after its launch and changed the trajectory of the business [16:17]
Natasha shares how she launched the company by borrowing only $1,400 [20:11]
Key challenges Natasha faced growing Coolhaus and the importance of being transparent with your customers during difficult times [24:18]
Natasha discusses what it takes to go from start-up founder to a CEO of a multi-million dollar business [27:34]
Natasha opens about life as a mother and entrepreneurship & how her children have motivated her to create an even bigger ice-cream empire with Coolhaus [32:10]
Natasha shares advice on how she mentally handles the stresses and challenges of running a business [37:13]
Key advice Natasha has for women who are taking a leap in their career or want to start their own dream business [38:51]
Follow Natasha:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natashajcase/
Coolhaus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coolhaus/
Coolhaus Website: https://cool.haus/
