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Entrepreneur Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm partnered with Entrepreneur Media that is dedicated to backing passionate and innovative founders as early as day one. In this series, we are profiling the amazing entrepreneurs Entrepreneur Ventures is working with to share their insights on building and growing a thriving business.
Darin Alpert is the co-founder of Gheelish, a CPG company that is taking over snack aisles across the country. He spoke with Entrepreneur to share how he and his co-founder brought his concept to life, and all of the small details that resulted in nationwide success.
Please give us the elevator pitch of Gheelish.
Gheelish is a snack brand —popcorn, chips and soon cookies — made with organic ghee and super clean ingredients. Ghee is clarified butter originating from ancient India that is created by simmering butter until its water evaporates and the milk solids separate out. Removing the milk solids strips away almost all the lactose and casein, making it much easier to digest for those sensitive to dairy.
What inspired you to create it?
I’ve got a gluten and lactose intolerance. After an exit with my last company, Find Me Gluten Free (app for finding gluten-free restaurants/bakeries), I always wanted to start my own CPG brand. I fell in love with ghee a few years ago and saw a gap in the market for a snack brand with ghee as the focus. It boasts a rich, nutty flavor and is packed with fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K), antioxidants, and beneficial fatty acids like butyrate, which support gut and immune health.
What do you look for in an investor, and how have they impacted this company and past companies?
Mark Cuban invested in Find Me Gluten Free and Gary Vaynerchuk is one of our Gheelish investors. Both obviously super successful and entrepreneurial. They’ve both taught me that outworking everyone is one of the easiest ways to succeed and execution beats ideas. Everyone has ideas, but 99% of people never execute or make something of them.
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