These guys, the Hatchery team, are the real deal! It is one thing to say your company’s culture is generosity and creating community, it is entirely another thing to live it out and CREATE it. These guys do it 110%. I cannot say enough of good about them. We have loved partnering with them on our Hatchery styled shoots here and here. I had the privilege of interviewing Max, the founder of Hatchery, about the heart behind what he does and his business savvy.

Read on, you will be encouraged and inspired by his solid business perspective and his passion for helping others.

(Don’t miss the promo code at the bottom for your Hatchery Tasting Box).

Meet the fantastic Hatchery team….:)

Hey Max! When did you start the company?

At the end of 2013 and then we launched January of 2014.

What made you decide to start the company? Where did your inspiration come from?

Prior to starting hatchery, I owned and operated a small boutique branding and product development agency. I spent five years working with independent makers, small brands, entrepreneurs, and startups. They had really great ideas and really great products and they needed a lot of help. I was coming early on when they just had an idea when it was either a prototype or a sample product. They didn’t know what to do next but they wanted to be successful. After going through the process of helping them name their product, package it, fulfillment, building their website and all the design to make them successful, we learned a lot. I saw a lot of success during that process but I also saw, unfortunately, a lot more failure. And the reason why I saw failure was because they / I wanted to get into retailers like Whole Foods and fresh market and local grocery stores. I launched over 50 different brands and products over five years.

After five years, I got to a point where I said the retail process that was in place was just not fair for the small maker. We would try our hardest and put everything we had into getting products onto the shelves of these big retailers to bring success to these small makers that were our partners in our lives at that time. It is very difficult and challenging to be successful in a big specialty retailer because they charge for everything and put a lot of financial responsibility and limitations on you. If you want premium shelf space, want to do an in-store demo, or want to participate in their events; everything is costly. If you are not able to invest in advertising and marketing and PR to drive sales and get your products off the shelves, they have a very tight window in there where they’ll actually liquidate your inventory and clearance it and never pay you. And as a small business, it is very, very challenging. I witnessed too many amazing people with amazing products, give up on their dreams. I got to a point where I said retail has to be done differently for these artisan makers. Let me do what I can to change that. That was the moment I decided to shift gears.

I love that. So your bottom reason for starting the company was simply to help people?

Absolutely. That’s what it’s all about. We partner with brands and then people who we believe in and then we give them the world. We give them everything they need to be successful.

Tell me about the journey of growth. I’m amazed at how your company has grown over this past year and a half. How did that happen?

Really it comes down to community, having a strong group of people that believe in what we do. We connect with people that help tell our story. We have a really awesome team that is always passionate and dedicated to our mission of helping people be successful. We depend a lot on our community and giving back. We give back to our makers, to our chefs, to farmers. We really depend on and rely on those that are able to help tell our story and influence and explain to others the value of supporting local small businesses. We invest a lot of time, energy, and resources into each of our makers to give them tools they need to succeed. Whether it’s through helping with packaging or helping with logistics or labels or design or photography, whatever it is they need, we’re here to help them do that. That community approach is what has driven our success because we believe in helping people and we align with others who feel the same way. It’s all about community for us and building authentic relationships with individuals that care. 

What are some of the most significant lessons you have learned since you started Hatchery?

Really it comes down to listening. I think you need to listen and understand the needs and the opportunities for each and every maker. Every maker has their own needs, goals and challenges. When you work with people, there isn’t a one size fits all type of solution. You have to listen and learn about them and hear their story and learn where they want to go. That’s what separates us from everybody else. Most of the other retailers out there will put you into a system and then let it go. But we treat everything unique to the needs of the maker. We craft a campaign and an objective around them to make sure we meet their goals and their needs. Each person wants to be somewhere different in the future so we start by asking, “Where do you want to be in five years or ten years and how can we help you get there?” That listening experience is so crucial to what’s setting us apart from everyone else and what’s allowing us to grow and find success in this industry.

How do you invest into your team and create such a great culture at your company?

We’re very much focused on culture and having a really great, fun work environment. It comes down to hiring. Everybody that we hire, is a decision of the entire group. Everyone that joins our team, meets everybody and everyone is part of the interviewing process. We actually spend a few hours with them socializing and getting to know them on a personal level and understanding what drives them, what motivates them, what’s appealing to them. Hiring is a communal activity for us. Number one, is finding good people. Then it is having good people who believe in what you’re doing, and believe in the people around them on their team. That’s when you see really amazing things happen. And I’m so lucky and fortunate to have such a remarkable, energetic, passionate team. That’s the driving force for me. We have a very unique opportunity because we’re small, everybody here has the ability to lead the company in different ways and really contribute and give their ideas and have ambitions make a difference. Everyone here makes a difference in our business every single day. Many of the things you see and hear about what we’re doing was initiated by one of our team members. Everyone here is defining what is going on at hatchery and that is why we are very selective in the people who we bring in.

What is the best reward of running your business?

Changing people’s lives. We’re giving these independent makers the ability to follow their dreams. That is when we get a thank you letter sharing with us their excitement and their decision to quit their full time job and move into this full time because we give them the confidence to do that. That was what motivates us here. That we are able to find success for these independent makers that are super passionate and that have a recipe that’s been passed down through generations or a recipe that they came up with in their dorm room or whatever it is.

How did you learn your business skills?

Through experience, learning, trial and error, through failure and success, and learning through others. I listen and observe a lot. I read a lot and I’m all about change and trial and experimentation. You have to be able to embrace change and whenever there is an opportunity to make a change and to try something new, I always take that opportunity and test it out.

What is a philosophy that you live by?

I think it’s just GIVE. Give as much as you can. Be a giver and don’t look for anything in return. Give to the community, give to yourself, give to others. And I think that is what drives me : making others happy, making others successful, and giving them the ability to really fulfill their dreams.

Thank-you Max for the incredible inspiration and solid advice. Thanks Hatchery team for creating these images for us!

Follow all they have going on to day to day on instagram.

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