If you want to start a business, don’t try to follow in anyone else’s footsteps — not even Daniel Lubetzky’s.
Lubetzky, who founded Kind Snacks in 2004 and sold it in 2020 to Mars for an estimated $5 billion, told Entrepreneur in a new interview that though his journey may inspire others, he doesn’t want aspiring entrepreneurs to follow it too closely.
“If you try to follow somebody else’s footsteps or follow their playbook, it’s not likely to work, because it’s such a disruptive marketplace,” Lubetzky said. “You want to talk to yourself. You want to listen.”
Daniel Lubetzky. Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for Fast Company
Lubetzky urges anyone considering starting a business to ask themselves “What do I care about?” to find their own unique purpose.
That mission could be as varied as reducing microplastics in the ocean or providing quality education for more people, he stated. Regardless of the exact purpose, big or small, it has to be there to give an entrepreneur staying power.
“It gives you the fuel to be strong,” Lubetzky said. “When you’re starting a business, you’re gonna have so many challenges. But if you’re doing it for something that you really believe in, you’re much more likely to overcome those moments of pettiness or jealousy or all of those feelings are getting inside all of us.”
Lubetzky lives by this philosophy in his own businesses — all of the companies he has started have strong social missions. In 1994, he founded PeaceWorks, a Mediterranean food company with the mission of “building and sustaining a profitable company while doing good in the world.” The company brought together people from different communities to sell food products like sauces.
In 2004, he launched Kind Snacks with the slogan “Do the kind thing for your body, your taste buds, and your world.” According to the 2022 Kind Impact report, Kind is living out its mission by donating and volunteering with organizations like Wellfare, which addresses food insecurity. Kind employees have volunteered over 55,000 hours since the company started within their local communities.
Twenty years after its launch, Kind snack bars can be found in over 150,000 grocery stores around the U.S. with a global presence in over 30 countries.
Lubetzky, meanwhile, is joining the regular cast on Season 16 of ABC’s Shark Tank, which premieres Friday, October 18. He has appeared as a guest Shark across five seasons, with a notable $1 million investment in Yellow Leaf Hammocks, a hand-woven hammock company, in 2020 as well as deals with other companies.
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And even though Lubetzky is investing in future entrepreneurs on television, he still doesn’t want them copying him.
“A brand is a promise, and a great brand is a promise well kept,” Lubetzky said. “And so if you are trying to be everything to everyone, you’re going to amount to being nothing to nobody.”