21 Seeds: Kat Hantas

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Kat Hantas turned her home hobby of infusing Tequila into a $160 million business. Her story began when her nightly glass of wine started to give her headaches, and her doctor recommended she replace it with a distilled spirit, like Blanco Tequila. To soften its harsh taste, Kat infused it with fruit and herbs, and began sharing it with appreciative fellow-moms. She eventually realized that hyper-targeting to moms was the perfect way to break into the male-dominated Tequila business. In 2018, she recruited her sister and a friend to launch 21 Seeds, and despite multiple challenges, their mom-strategy paid off. Just three years after launch, 21 Seeds sold for $160 million to Diageo, one of the largest alcoholic beverage companies in the world.

This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. This episode was edited by Neva Grant, with research by Olivia Rockeman. Our audio engineers were Robert Rodriguez and Gilly Moon.

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