Enterprenuer
In 2007, Daniel Nicholson received a degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Mechanical Engineering major.
Daniel moved to Madrid, Spain shortly after he was accepted into Fundacion Consejo Espana – Estados Unidos.
He was offered a nine-month job at Iberdrola Renovables.
This allowed him to pursue his dream of working in the sector of sustainable energy.
After the program was over, he returned to Austin and started reconnecting with his Austin friends.
He was then introduced to a product that would transform his life.
After being introduced to the founder and her business partner, CFO, NadaMoo! in 2008, Daniel found NadaMoo!” for himself.
NadaMoo was born from a love for the brand and product.
Since then, NadaMoo has been his sole focus for the past 13+ years.
After three years as Controller, the company’s founder was ready for a change.
After much reflection and thought, Daniel decided to take on the role of President and CEO. NadaMoo!
The company’s revenue has increased more than 50x since 2011.
It was distributed in only a handful of stores, but now it is distributed in over 10,000 stores across the country.
And it is starting to be distributed more widely throughout Canada.
Daniel has been the driving force behind building awareness about sustainability, health, and wellness.
These are the issues he and NadaMoo want to solve! The team intends to continue solving these problems.
What is the story of NadaMoo! Where did the idea for NadaMoo!
It was an original recipe that our founder created for her sister, who is dairy- and gluten-intolerant.
Before the brand and company existed, it was a homemade recipe.
Our founder saw a bigger market for her recipe because it tasted great and had a texture similar to traditional ice cream products.
NadaMoo was born! A man approached a local Austin juice shop in Barton Springs and requested a sample.
The experience was so unique that he turned to our founder and told her that he was a Whole Foods Market buyer.
He said that he would put the product on the shelves at the Whole Foods Market flagship store if she could build a brand and package it well.
It was a unique and fortunate moment that drove our founder to start the company in 2005.
They landed on NadaMoo after she worked with an Austin marketing agency.
NadaMoo, which means No Dairy, was chosen as the brand name. As they say, the rest is history.
How do you stay productive?
My experience has been that it is essential to begin my day with some form of exercise.
I enjoy exercising, whether running at Town Lake, lifting weights, or doing yoga to clear my mind before getting on with my workday.
Emails account for around 20% of my workday.
My time is spent connecting with my team through phone calls, meetings, and chats.
A more personal and interactive approach to the team helps us feel more prepared and confident in completing the task.
My experience shows that productivity is achieved efficiently by using the time to drill through the highest and lowest priorities.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Every idea we come up with as a team is thoroughly discussed before creating an action plan.
This will ensure that the concept can be brought to fruition cost-effectively and adds value to both the customer and business.
There are many opportunities for team members to discuss and share ideas.
We believe every idea should be considered and examined thoroughly before being scrapped or pursued further.
To ensure that the idea/solution is viable, it must be tested in numbers.
Once all of that work has been completed, we can work together diligently to achieve the final result.
What’s your favorite trend?
I find the trend that excites the food and beverage industry the most today is our pursuit of plant-based alternatives.
We are clearly out of sync with Mother Nature.
We believe organic; regenerative agriculture practices are the best way to harvest the raw materials needed for the plant-based movement.
We need to be more mindful of how we consume food and beverages.
What habits make you productive?
Habitually, I do what is necessary to give back enough.
It’s been 13 years since I started, and it has not been an easy journey.
Every stage of the business presents new challenges, and you learn how to overcome them. Personal health and fitness are priorities to me, as well as rest.
It would help if you took care of yourself. To ensure that you have the clarity and motivation to keep your head up, you must recharge your battery.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
Prioritize your time and your resources above all else.
Younger generations are often impulsive and don’t realize that their time and energy are finite.
We must value what is limited if we are to realize our full potential here on Earth.
You should make the most of every second and do what you can to maximize your time.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
As we look at solutions to the sustainability issue, I think that continuing subsidies for the dairy industry and other industries by the government is not a good policy.
If we want to encourage the adoption of alternative industries that can provide greater hope for a sustainable world, we must do so.
We must reduce the prices of many products that negatively impact our health and the planet’s health.
This will allow consumers to make more informed, conscious decisions at market rates.
What’s your rich strategy?
My most significant breakthrough was when I learned to be more comfortable letting go of responsibility and hiring highly skilled and talented team members to fill the roles and responsibilities I needed to move up in my career.
A highly engaged, collaborative team of people works day in and out to achieve business goals.
How do you overcome Failure?
After the founder left, I took over the company’s reins in 2011.
Although I had many responsibilities, I was determined to keep the company running and prepare it for further growth.
We had identified a new supplier of organic coconut milk, which could result in significant savings for the company.
We reviewed the spec sheet and discussed it with our production manager.
It was very similar to our current source.
To reap the cost savings, we decided to make the supplier change.
We were operating the business with a very tight budget and all the years before that.
Therefore, pilot trials weren’t necessary since the specification sheet stated a statistical match.
It turned out that the final product was not NadaMoo when running the product.
Although it was not terrible, it wasn’t NadaMoo. However, we knew that we had a problem.
We couldn’t afford to throw away all the products we had made, so we made them available for sale.
Customers immediately noticed that something was different.
Our beloved customers were constantly sending us emails and social media outreach.
They wanted to know the truth. Each customer reached out to me individually, and I responded, letting them know the truth.
Everybody was grateful for our honesty and openness.
They admitted that they still ate the whole pint in most cases but wanted to tell us they noticed a difference.
We had to wait for our customers to help us through all the products before we could return to NadaMoo. Standard. Transparency and honesty are my beliefs.
Integrity is a core value of our company. When faced with difficult situations, we always look to this value to find the other side.
We want to remain authentic with all who come in contact with our brand.
Can you share a business idea?
When I have the mental space, I tend to think more about soil.
I have been wondering if there is any business solution that would allow large farmland areas to be freed from pesticides and chemicals used in harvesting.
Is it possible to dig deep enough to burn pesticides and chemicals to make the soil more fertile and natural so that you can produce organic raw materials? Just a thought.
It is our responsibility to protect and sustain our soils. It is essential.
What’s your recent best buy?
To achieve the best life outcomes, it is essential to take good care of your body.
My best investment was the small group, 12-week personal training program.
It has boosted my physical performance to levels I haven’t seen in a while.
I look forward to continuing my personal growth from here.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
Microsoft Office tools have been vital to the success of workplace communication and productivity.
The value of teams has been invaluable in ensuring that our team can communicate effectively and stay in constant contact throughout the pandemic.
Although it is difficult at times, the remote environment has provided a lot of value, efficiency, and benefit.
Which book would you recommend?
NadaMoo! is a massive supporter of Conscious Capitalism.
Conscious Capitalism is based on four principles: Higher purpose, Stakeholder Orientation, Conscious leadership, and Caring culture.
While it is clear that our capitalistic system is flawed in general, some businesses can outperform others because they are more mindful of their profit pursuits.
It is becoming more apparent that Conscious Capitalism is the way forward.
This is where Conscious Capitalism will thrive and help us all create a better world.
What’s your favorite quote?
I love the quote that reminds us how necessary humility is. “Be humble or humble.” It doesn’t matter where you are in life.
I believe it is vital to practice humility. Our planet is terrific and vast.
We should remember how important and yet small we are when we consider the immenseness of our world.
With all our decisions, it is essential to recognize each other.
Our connection with each other, people, plants, and animals, is sacred.
TL;DR by Daniel Nicholson
Prioritize your time and energy over all else.
Relax and let go of all responsibility. Hire a talented and capable team.
When we consider the enormity of all that is on this planet, we should remember how significant and insignificant our contribution is.
Be honest and authentic with all people.
