Jake Miller, founder of coffee accessory company Fellow, believes that one should do something they are passionate about. Speaking to Fortune about how he grew his company despite 73 rejections from institutional investors, the entrepreneur said the difficult times provided a litmus test: Does this career get me out of my bed in the morning without any pay?
For Miller (41), founding Fellow was that career path. “Great entrepreneurs all think the same way. Nothing was going to stop me,” he told the publication. The San Francisco-based company now has over 100 employees.
The report noted that from raising money through crowdfunding, the company has grown to attract $30 million in a recent Series B round from investors, including venture capitalist Peter Fenton (gave early funding for Yelp and Twitter — now Elon Musk's X).
About Fellow: From idea to entrepreneurship
Miller had the idea for a minimalist, dual-purpose coffee steeper designed for both hot and cold brews while pursuing his MBA at Stanford University, as per the report. This has now grown into a company that retails a number of coffee accessories, including kettles, coffee grinders and coffee makers at Costco, Nordstrom and Target in the US.
Further, the company's official website also displayed option for a store in Thailand. It further showed that Miller began crowdfunding the coffee steeper, dubbed “Duo” through a campaign on Kickstarter in 2013.
“It was very hard to convince people to see the future the way I did,” Miller told Fortune, adding that he received 73 rejections from angel investors and small funds before he got success. He added that this did not deter him
“Nothing was going to stop me. Each no was simply one step closer to the eventual yes, and if it would have only been no’s, like, I would have figured out how to sell a kidney,” he added.
Career path? Find what you are passionate about
According to Miller, he started work in construction and found early success in the field but was not passionate about the job and walked away in 18 months. “You have to wake up every day crazy-obsessed with what you’re working on. I wasn’t obsessed with construction—and that’s how I knew it was the wrong category,” he told the publication.
Later, when he worked marketing at 800-chain strong Caribou Coffee, Miller says he saw an equipment gap in the home-brewing market, and that got the ball rolling on his career change. He enrolled at Stanford for an MBA and founded Fellow.
Miller believes that “great entrepreneurs all think the same way”, they go full throttle ahead for their passion. The sentiment has been expressed by noted names such as Warren Buffett, Ray Dalio and others.
“Make your passion and your work one and the same and do it with people you want to be with,” billionaire investor Ray Dalio advised his followers on social media. While Warren Buffett told students at the University of Florida: “There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning.”