Spirits
Kegan told me they are very
fortunate to be great business
partners. “We are both extremely
motivated, hungry and we embody
our motto, ‘Live Life All In.’ The first
two rounds of funding came from
Nick, who put in nearly $1 million. As
a growing business, we are always
looking for additional capital and we
have been very fortunate. We closed
a multimillion-dollar investment Q2
of this year, which gave us the ability
to grow our executive management
and sales team, along with investing
in company infrastructure. We are
currently closing our 4th round of
financing with an NBA basketball
player. As of now, his name is
proprietary information, but we will
be sure to make an announcement
once the ink is dry.”
Entrepreneurship doesn’t seem to
intimidate the pair, and they take
day to day business operations in
stride. Nick remarks, “Every day
is a challenge. Our days consist
They are laid back in their business
approach, but still have a focus while
running the business living in two
different cities. Nick resides in Los
Angeles and Kegan is based in San
Diego. The distance, which could be
considered a business challenge, isn’t
an issue. They have secured an
experienced executive team and
Kegan says they feel secure in the
direction the business is moving.
“We were very fortunate to have
a terrific team with decades of
beverage industry experience. We
believe in full transparency and open
lines of communication. We have our
corporate office in Newport Beach,
centrally located and where our CEO,
Dan Holland, a 40+ year beverage
industry veteran, can be found on
a daily basis. We are constantly in
contact with our CEO, VP of Sales,
and EVP of Business Development,
via email and cell phone. We are in
our Newport Beach offices five or
six times a month, and working
the remainder of our time in our
of managing our team, continually
innovating and moving the business
forward, managing the budget, and
making daily decisions that can have
a positive and lasting effect on
future success of the company...
these are challenges that we love.”
They are not the first to blend
gold-leaf and a fizzing cocktail
together. There are a handful of
other gold-leaf bubblies on the
market, but they don’t appear to
have a direct competitor in the
United States within the Champagne
and sparkling wine space. Jane Brook
Estates in Australia offers two
23 Karat gold sparkling wines,
a Sparkling Gold (Chenin Blanc)
and Sparkling Gold (Premium).
Lussory Gold launched a nonalcoholic gold-leaf product in Dubai
in September. “We’ve found a way
to differentiate ourselves from
others on the shelf and showcase
a clear point of difference with
our 24-karat gold flakes.”
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respective cities.”
They take each of their
responsibilities seriously. Nick’s
primary focus is marketing and PR
and Kegan supports his co-founders’
assets, “Nick has a terrific ability to
network and connect with those in
the industry who support and sell
our product.”
Kegan’s primary focus is the
operations and production side of
the business. Nick has this to say,
“Kegan loves numbers, metrics and
controlling the controllable. This was
what kept us friends - we stayed in
our own lanes, a Ying and Yang per
say, and we had very similar visions
for the direction of the company.”
As a self-proclaimed entrepreneur
for over 20 years, I went back and
forth on whether or not to ask them
about how their age impacts their
business dealings. They are two
young guys just out of college, they