Jordan Nathan: The Caraway Success Story
Jordan Nathan is the CEO and Founder of Caraway, a non-toxic ceramic brand that makes thoughtfully designed cookware. Jordan decided to launch Caraway after he and his wife suffered Teflon poisoning from a pan Jordan had forgotten on the stove for 45 minutes. \n\nDespite working in cookware before, Jordan learned of the terrible health effects of PTFE-based non-stick coatings and the harmful output during production on the environment. After vetting for ethical manufacturing and quality and finding a factory that would meet all of his standards and fundraising, Jordan launched Caraway in November 2019. He was previously the CEO of Vremi, Founder & CEO of Wanu, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colby College. \n\nThis Episode\u2019s Heavy-hitter\u2019s:\n\nJordan\u2019s first company was called Wanu, which was a DTC marketplace for cool, emerging brands. Although it wasn\u2019t ultimately successful, one regret Jordan has was not building out a real MVP to give the idea a better chance to be validated by the marketplace.\n\nAfter that, Jordan went to work for The Mohawk Group where he started his stretch of launching wildly successful brands under their brand, Vremi. Within a year, he was promoted to CEO of Vremi, which was at the time a kitchenware brand that\u2019s since expanded into homeware products. \n\nOne thing Jordan wishes he would\u2019ve done differently at Vremi was to launch fewer products, as he launched over 200 within the first two years working there.\n\nAlthough the Caraway product is made of premium materials, ease of use was always a priority for Jordan in the design stages. Since he wasn\u2019t really sophisticated in the kitchen himself, he wanted a solid, healthy non-stick option that was easier to use than cast iron pans, for example.\n\nJordan\u2019s first round of the fundraising process took about 10 months, taking 5-8 conversations a day. He ended up taking investments from over 100 investors by the second round. The network effect of having more investors that already have relationships in relevant fields has been huge for Jordan and Caraway.\n\n\nFor more, please visit https://www.carawayhome.com/\n\nIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast\n\n#thePOZcast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller \u2013 the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you\u2019re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on #thePOZcast.\n\nCheck out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ\n\nIf you are curious about how Adam has created #thePOZcast and turned it into an ecosystem that builds real relationships, clients, thought leadership, and content, check out www.thePOZcourse.com. \n\nFor more, please visit www.thePOZcast.com Thanks for listening!