Career Pathway Video Series Interviews CEO and Co-Founder of Shake Smart, Kevin Gelfand
Kevin Gelfand
CEO and Co-Founder, Shake Smart
Management/Entrepreneurship, 2011
In true entrepreneur fashion, Kevin Gelfand saw a problem and fixed it.
There is a common notion among physical fitness buffs that protein should be consumed within 30 minutes after a workout. This meant that Gelfand, who earned his degree in management with an emphasis in entrepreneurship in 2011 from the Fowler College of Business, did not have enough time to whip up a protein shake at home after the 30-minute-plus commute from his on-campus workout.
Gelfand thought that he was probably not alone in his predicament and, while he was still an SDSU student, he started Shake Smart with a fraternity brother. In the beginning, Shake Smart sold protein shakes and healthy to-go food to people leaving SDSU’s Aztec Recreation Center (ARC) after their workouts. After graduation, he continued to operate and expand the company as Shake Smart’s president and CEO.
As part of the Career Pathway video series from San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business, Fowler alumnus and host Andy Esparza (’81, management) interviewed Gelfand via online chat to discuss his path into successful entrepreneurship.
Esparza: What is your typical day as a business owner?
Gelfand:
- January through March: I spend time doing all of our end-of-year finances and other kinds of financial forecasting.
- April through June: I’ll spend most of my time doing enhancement projects, working on ways to carry Shake Smart forward on the technology side and the nutrition side.
- August through October: This is our busy season. That’s when we’re always opening our stores.
-
September through December: I do more strategic planning for the next year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: What do you like about running your own business?
Gelfand:
- People are spending their hard-earned money on the idea you created: That’s something that really inspires me and motivates me to continue going forward.
- The team we’ve developed: It’s more like a family and we have an especially young team. It’s awesome seeing them grow into professionals as we continue to expand the brand across the country.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: What did it take for you to start the company. How did you raise the capital?
Gelfand: We needed about $50,000 to launch the first little kiosk outside the ARC, but I had
zero dollars and my business partner also had zero dollars. But we thought we had
a great idea, so we’d just go pitch it to a couple of people and they’ll just give
us a loan. After attempt number 20, we realized that wasn’t going to happen. Luckily,
my business partner hadn’t taken any student loans, so he was able to take a student
loan to help us get a portion of the money and I was fortunate that my grandma was
willing to give me a loan. Both are paid back now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: How many stores do you have now? Tell us a little about your growth.
Gelfand:
- Currently, there are 21 university locations across the country
- 10 states
- Hoping to be at 40 universities by the end of next year
I think we’ve really hit a tipping point in the last few years, transcending the blended
drink industry because the tradition smoothies are very sugar filled.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: What do you think are the most important skills for an entrepreneur and business
owner to have?
Gelfand:
- Grit: hands down, number one
- Hard Work: If you have grit and hard work, you can learn anything online and then you can apply it.
- Organization: There’s so many things you need to think about and being able to stay organized with your thoughts is important.
- Leadership: You won’t be able to build a company by yourself, so you have to be able to lead and inspire a team to share the vision you want to carry out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: How do you lead and motivate a team?
Gelfand: Servant leadership is how you’d define my leadership style. I would never ask anyone
to do anything I haven’t done myself. Whenever we open a location, I still go to every
grand opening for free shake day and work behind the counter, but I think that showing
them that I’m willing to put in the hard work makes the employees believe in the concept
even more.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: How did San Diego State help you prepare for Shake Smart and everything you’ve done
since you’ve graduated?
Gelfand:
- Interpersonal skills
- Connections on campus
- How real the learning was and how you can apply it
- Great entrepreneurs from SDSU that I’ve gotten to enjoy listening to
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esparza: What advice would you give entrepreneurial-minded SDSU students?
Gelfand:
- Jump and jump now: There’s so many people who say ‘Oh, I thought of that idea, but the difference between entrepreneurs and everybody else is they actually took the leap into it.
- Get involved on campus
- Become a part of organizations
- Connect with people
- Read: Applying everything you learn from others and what you read is really what’s going to carry you into your own venture one day.
