Advice Line with Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

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2:07Hello and welcome to How I Built This Lab. I'm Guy Raz. So on this show, as you know, we talk with founders behind some of the best known brands in the world. And the thing is, a lot of founders come onto the show because they want to share their knowledge, their mistakes, their fumbles, their failures, and the lessons they learned along the way. So today on How I Built This Lab, we're starting a new project, a kind of mentor's edition of the show. And on the lab for the next few months, we'll invite a former guest, someone who built an iconic brand, back onto the show to give advice to people like you.

2:45And by the way, if you are building something and you need advice, give us a call and you might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298, and it's also in the podcast description if you missed it. Okay, let's go. So today our guest mentor is Fawn Weaver, the founder of one of the fastest growing whiskey brands in the world, Uncle Nearest. Fawn, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me, Guy. So we first had you on the show in 2021 to tell us the incredible story behind your whiskey brand. It's actually a story of a guy named Nearest Green. He was a formerly enslaved man who actually taught Jack Daniel, yes, that Jack Daniel, how to distill Tennessee whiskey.

3:34You were so inspired by the story that with no distilling experience, you took a massive leap. You built a whiskey brand in his name and his honor. And so, Fawn, one of the reasons why we asked you to come on to be our first mentor is because aside from, of course, being a great whiskey maker, you are an awesome storyteller as well. And all the startup founders who are going to call in today, I think they need some help refining the story of their brand. So, you know, in general, when you think about storytelling around a brand, where do you start? Yeah, I think it has to come from the heart. a lot of times founders will go outside of themselves to build a story and you can't replicate heart.

4:19If it hasn't really touched your own soul, you're not going to be able to make that resonate with other people. I don't care how many people you go to or how much money you spend. It really has to start from your own heart. So the storytelling, the art of storytelling from me is, is it touched your own soul and you're able to share it with other people in such a way that it touches theirs. There's a word that I use, and I've written about this in my book, when thinking about story and it's why. Why did I make this? Why does the world need to hear about it? Why does it add value to your life? You know, and those are questions, right, you have to answer when you're starting to think about the product, the brand that you're putting out into the world.

5:02Absolutely. And why does it matter to anyone else? Exactly. Because something can matter to you. And if you don't cause it to resonate with other people, it doesn't matter that it resonates with you. That's not going to help you with whatever it is that you're trying to sell or give. It has to be something that you have connected to the heart, mind, soul, body of other people. Yeah. Well, I think we've got some callers who are waiting, excited to talk about the brands that they're building. And here's how this is going to work. We're going to take three calls from early stage founders. We're going to get a little background on each of them.

5:40And then they'll ask a specific question about their business. So let's bring on our first caller who is on the line. I think it's Kevin. Is Kevin there? Hello, Guy. Hello, Miss Vaughn. How's it going today? Hi, Kevin. Kevin, please introduce yourself. Tell us where you live, what your business is. Yes. Hello. My name is Kevin Orida. I'm the co-founder of Puente Coffee Co., a small coffee trailer here in Southwest Austin. Puente actually means bridge, and our goal is to be the bridge between the actual farmers and consumers. I actually grew up on a coffee farm in Honduras, and I have all these wonderful memories from the start of my life, being around a coffee farm, getting ready for market.

6:24I remember going and picking the cherries, extracting beans from the cherries, drying the cherries, putting the sacks in the back of a pickup truck and driving these dirt roads. I mean, we lived in the mountains, in the western side of Honduras. So you went to this huge warehouse where they bought your coffee. It was just like those, I don't know, that's the memories that I have as a kid. I mean, Fawn, talk about a story. I mean, that's exactly what I was thinking as he was talking about it. You keep referencing cherries and forgive me. I do enjoy coffee. My husband is a massive coffee connoisseur.

7:00But what do cherries have to do with coffee beans? So coffee, the plant produces cherries. So there's two beans per cherry. The actual cherries are picked ones are ripe enough. And usually it's when they're very red, like very ripe red. You have a machine, which is called a despurpuladora. You have the skin that kind of gets thrown out to the back and the actual beans come to the front. The beans themselves have this like honey texture to it. So I keep saying cherries because the actual coffee beans are harvested or grown in an actual cherry. And yeah, and Fawn, it's so cool. If you go to a coffee farm, you just see these berries on these bushes.

7:41And basically, if you squeeze them, the beans pop out and they're obviously they're unroasted. They're green. But that's coffee. and then you roast those and you have coffee. Who knows this other than y 'all? This is amazing. Yeah. So just to clarify, so you actually sell brewed coffee and you roast coffee. Yes. So there's two parts of the actual business. So Puente is our customer facing. Right now we have one coffee truck. We're in the process of building a second one. We have a small micro roaster, which is called A2A Coffee Co. And right now we're actually working with importers to get the beans from them and we roast the actual beans.

8:22And so A2A, what exactly does that mean? Because I want to hear more of this story and I'm not getting that from the name. Absolutely. So A2A is the enzyme that allows your brain to take in the caffeine. So it's what facilitates the caffeine to enter your body. My business partner, Patrick, is a nerd about biology and he came up with a name. Like that's the acronym for the enzyme specifically. And it wasn't taken. So I was like, hey, let's just get the name A2A and kind of go from there. So I actually really like the name A2A. I think the story of the enzyme is really cool. But I wonder why. I mean, I'm looking at your website, Puente Coffee.

9:01Why not Puente Roasting, too? Is it just because you guys have two separate companies? Honestly, that's one of the things that we're actually in conversation at the moment to rebrand the actual roasting part. So A2A is a roaster. Puente is the coffee. But they may merge them. Okay. let's go to your question because it is about storytelling, of course. So, Kevin, what's your question for fun? I have the hardest time in terms of storytelling. That is not my strength by any means. I know that we have a story and we're trying to build on it, but I just don't know the best way to say, okay, this is who we are, what we're trying to build.

9:41I mean, any type of guidance in terms of how to best tell our story and what our mission is. First of all, you are a great storyteller. Yes. So whoever told you you're not a good storyteller, including yourself, if that's who told you that, you need to just go back to that person. Disabuse yourself. Yes. You are a fantastic storyteller, so much so that I could do this for the next hour easily, just listening to you talk about the farmers and the farm and the cherries. Yeah. So you are a fantastic storyteller. What I think you're probably saying is that you don't know how to articulate your story quickly.

10:18Yes. Right? And to be able to distill it down into bite-sized pieces. But here's the thing. You don't really have to do that. You can write out your entire story, literally every element in it, and then break it into sections. So, for instance, when you hear me talking about the story of Nearest Green in the press all the time, I'm usually talking about a particular section of the story because once you bring my story into it my team member story into it or distillery into it I've got 25 stories and no one has time for all of that right so the question is is who is the audience that you're talking to at any given moment and what is the section of your story that relates to that so if you can really hone in on learning each aspect of your story separately.

11:11Yes, they're all intertwined, but the ability to give every section of your story a start, a middle, and an ending so that you're touching people's hearts and minds at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of every section. I love that advice. I'm going to build on what Fawn said and give you some practical suggestions. the story you just told us about being raised on a coffee farm in Honduras. None of that is on your website. None of that's on your coffee bags, I imagine. I mean, I would start by just putting a little letter, a love letter to your customers, you know, starting with, my name is Kevin.

11:49I grew up on a coffee farm in Honduras. And I would watch as, you know, we harvested whatever story you want to tell, Just a brief paragraph. Paste that on the back of every coffee bag that you sell. Maybe you even print that on the cup of coffee that you serve to people. Just three or four lines about you and your connection to this world because that is so powerful. So I would just start very simply by getting your story on your product. And I would add to what Guy is saying. the consumer, especially when you come to Gen Z and millennials, they love a give back. And you are giving back to those farmers simply by acknowledging who they are and putting a spotlight on them.

12:34So even if with every bag, you're spotlighting specific farmers, where it came from, you're actually giving people a face and a name so that it's not just coffee beans that are coming in. It's the people who are actually taking the time and doing the hard work of picking these cherries and getting these coffee beans out. And so you tell this incredible story about you, but you also add a line or two about where that coffee is coming from and put faces and names with the product. Kevin Arita, Puente Coffee, thanks so much. Good luck. Congrats. This is amazing. We're going to be following you. Yes, we are.

13:13Thank you, guys. I sincerely appreciate from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for everything you guys who do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Fawn, I cannot believe he didn't think he was a good storyteller. Oh my gosh, I could listen to him for hours. I mean, right? Oh, this is something that I would have so much fun picking up this story and just sharing it with the world because it is so special. So cool. Yeah, it is. Fawn, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to be back with another caller in just a few moments. Stay with us. You're listening to How I Built This Lab.

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17:25Hey, welcome back to How I Built This Lab. I'm here with Fawn Weaver, the founder of Uncle Nearest Whiskey. Fawn, we just talked with Kevin, whose coffee company has an awesome natural story, right? Because he grew up on a coffee farm in Honduras. And of course, your company had a natural story. But what about brands that don't have a natural story or a clear story? Like, where do they start? Every brand has a story because every human has a story and every brand is founded by a human. And so if your brand itself does not have a story, there's a story behind why you are doing it. So if you look at Uncle Nearest, on any given day, there's between five and eight press hits around the world, major publications, and they're all telling different stories about the brand.

18:12And a lot of those stories are not the story of Nears Green and Jack Daniel. I'd venture to say that most of them aren't. because I've now told the story of my upbringing, how I came to the story. I've now told the story of my all-female leadership team that I've had from day one. I've now told the story of the importance of this, not only being black owned, but remaining black owned and passing to the next generation so that we can begin to decrease the wealth gap. And I tell that story on a daily basis. So you also have to figure out what are elements of your story that are interesting to people.

18:48Yeah. Well, Fawn, let's get to our next caller. I think it's Elizabeth on the line. Elizabeth, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Hi. Hello, Elizabeth. Please introduce yourself, what you do. Yeah. My name is Elizabeth Crossley-Wright, and I'm the founder of a jewelry brand called With Love Darling. And we produce in developing countries, creating income for vulnerable communities such as Maasai tribeswomen. And we plant a tree for each other. Wow. So you're a jewelry maker. So let's break this down, Elizabeth. And where are you based, by the way? I'm based in Monaco, but the business is in Denmark.

19:24And you are Danish? I'm Danish, yes. Okay. So first of all, tell us about the jewelry. What does it look like? What is it made from? So the jewelry is made from either recycled silver, that's gold-plated, or brass, that's gold-plated, depending on where we produce it. So we either produce it in Kenya or we produce it in India, where we know it creates income for these communities. Tell me how you started this, because from what I understand, you were actually in the military for like five years. You were a captain in the Danish Army? Yes, that's right. I was the captain of the Danish Army, and I served in two NATO missions, one in Bosnia and one in Kosovo, and it was my early 20s.

20:06And it was a really impressionable time of my life. I mean, when you saw how really difficult life is, just two hours by plane from where I grew up. And that really inspired me to try and make a difference. And that's why I started the jewelry brand, trying to tell a story about a better future, literally where the change you want close to your heart was my idea. So how did you start it? How did you get it off the ground? You know, I've always been pretty creative. So I started drawing designs and then I started researching where I could produce these pieces. I went to India and I visited a lot of workshops and found one that was really what I wanted sustainable recycled fair trade really treated their people well and I went to Kenya I visited the Maasai tribes women who do these beautiful beads and because we're wearing these things anyway so why not just help a person for whom you can really make a difference like I think the more jewelry we sell the more people we help the more people we empower and so that's really my my mission.

21:07Yeah. I'm looking at your website. First thing I did when you began talking is to type in with love darling. And I love that you came up first because in a space where we are being inundated with paid ads and paid everything. Right. And so if you're going to tell your story and get your story out there of a small brand, you don't want to have the hurdle of it being difficult for people to find you. And so you chose a name with love darling that you could pop up first. So kudos to you. Absolutely brilliant. I love your story. I love your purpose. I love that when I'm on your website and I scroll down, there is a section of Kenyan women that have those beautiful beads that we have all seen in photographs.

21:57You put their faces on here and it says these women made your bracelet. So now I am automatically drawn to your bracelet over another bracelet because you've just shown me the women who made my bracelet. What's so cool about this is every single piece of jewelry has a story, right? And some of them are connected to the, I guess, the UN sustainability goals, right? But now here, this is going to be, I'm going to push back a little bit. And Fawn, this is important because as you know, most people, they might be interested in, or they might learn about Uncle Nearest because of the story. They might want to try it.

22:33But that's not enough. It has to be a good product. You have to make a good whiskey. So ultimately, people are going to buy Uncle Nearest, not even because they care all that much about the story, but because they like the product. They like the bread. You have to. So the story can bring them in, but you've got to make something that's going to keep them coming back. And so my question is, ultimately, is the story about how these are made, who they benefit enough, right? Because I'm looking at the pieces and they're beautiful. They're great. And I think that's what ultimately has to be emphasized.

23:11Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. The first thing that I saw when I came onto this website was that she had a thousand plus five-star reviews. Now to Guy's point, I would figure out a way to weave that in as a part of the story. So one of the things you will see, if you see a billboard or an ad from Uncle Nearest anywhere, it's not actually telling the story. There's not enough time in any type of ad. What you will see is we're the most awarded bourbon in the world for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Every year we update those ads and all we do is add a new year on it every time we're the most awarded.

23:50So people know from the beginning, even before they learn of the story, that the product is one of the best bourbons in the world. That's where they start. And then they hear the story and go, whoa, whoa, whoa. So the story becomes the surprise element when it comes to Uncle Nearest. And that's intentional because to Guy's point, the story may get someone to buy something or to be interested in something, but it will not make them a consumer. Yeah. Before we dive a little further into that, Elizabeth, you have a very specific question for Fawn. Yes. So Fawn, what I really want to do, I want to scale.

24:25We're direct to consumer because that way I can control the narrative. And I intend to scale through advertising and storytelling. And my issue is that there are so many great messages to communicate. Do I focus on the symbolism of clean water and peace? Do I focus on the tribes, women and their story? Do I focus on the fact that we plant a tree, that we're all recycled? I feel, you know, that there's too much and I need a really crystal clear narrative where I can just retell that story again and again in all my ads. and communications to my customers? Right, so the tree planting, I would not because there are, number one, a number of different types of companies that do tree planting, and it doesn't have a natural tie because your jewelry is not made of wood.

25:11And so there is not a natural tie to that story. When I am looking at your brand, if I am going to scale and I'm trying to reach beyond this sort of going directly to the consumers and go beyond that, I am looking at number one, what are people saying about your jewelry? What makes your jewelry special? But I am looking at not only what are they saying about the quality of it, why are they buying it? What is the story behind it? Because you have something that a lot of companies, a lot of founders don't have at this stage. You actually have other people to tell your story for you. Those are the best people to tell your stories.

25:49If you can let other people tell your story, that is more authentic and you are more likely to land a sale from another person who is a consumer than you are from you as the founder. I would also add that if you are looking to do something around some initiative, right, I'm assuming that I think that a lot of the jewelry is made by women in the developing world. Maybe for every order, you work with a group that focuses on maternal health in the developing world, right? Something that's more connected to the women who are making this and probably to your customers who are probably, I would venture to guess, more women than others.

26:32So maybe something around that. So actually, I went and visited the women in Kenya. And one thing that really shocked me was that they don't even have period products. So we started an initiative where every time you buy two bracelets from them, we donate these products to them. But again, that's not to do the jewelry, but it's something that helps the women. And also, it's also part of the story, too. I think that there is a great balance here because between design, a design focus, and just beautiful things, and then the other side to it, the sort of bonus you get is a story that you can tell.