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Finding Passionate Partners: Roberta Greenspan

Roberta Greenspan’s Story: Roberta Greenspan spent many years working at high-tech startups in Silicon Valley, waiting for her own “gee whiz” idea, one that would compel her to take the plunge and start her own company.

But that spark didn’t ignite until Roberta, Napster’s former executive director, left the high-tech world to raise a family. When it came, the idea wasn’t even close to hi-tech. Her dream product was essentially cardboard and water.

Once she became a mother, Roberta began looking for ways to make her life easier. The Belmont, Calif., mom and her husband had decided not to give juice to their new daughter, Megan, because of its high sugar content. She set out to find a healthy take-along beverage for preschoolers – but there weren’t any.

She’d fill a toddler’s sip-cup with water whenever she left the house, and it inevitably made a mess. “One time it leaked all over my purse and I knew there had to be a better way,” Roberta says. “That’s when I had my light-bulb moment.”

Her idea was to put water in a drink box. “How hard could it be?” she says. “I knew nothing about the beverage industry, but I knew a heck of a lot about networking from my days in high-tech startups.”

She decided to finance the venture herself and was determined to find partners who shared her passion for the idea and would stay with her for the long haul. “In the startup world, partners were often only in it for a short-term gain. I learned from those mistakes.”

Roberta's Key Move: Finding Passionate Partners

Through networking, she learned about the bottled water business and the role of co-packers, which allow companies to lease space on their production lines. “Once I learned that, I knew it was a matter of finding passionate partners, and away I went,” she says.

Greenspan launched the Maddie Beverage Co. and began searching for partners to help her create Wateroos, sugarless natural and flavored waters sold in drink boxes. “I didn’t know the intricacies, but I was good at reaching out to people.” Through her contacts, she learned about pricing, production, graphics, packaging, suppliers, minimum volumes, distribution and sales.

As she was negotiating cost with co-packers, she started a market research study. “Again, I turned to outsourcing. I knew I didn’t want to become an expert on market research. My dream was to get water boxes on store shelves, so that’s what I concentrated on.”

The results of the third-party market research validated the demand for Wateroos. So Greenspan signed a contact with a co-packer and continued collecting partners to help with all the aspects of bringing a product to market.

“I knew I could outsource all of it – it was just a matter of finding the right people,” she says. “I just managed the process and continued to bring in partner companies.”

She hired a graphics firm to design the water box – including games on the back – and a website to promote her products. She worked with someone else on brand positioning and strategy. “Slowly, I was defining what my company was going to be, and along the way, I partnered with others who were just as passionate about my idea as I was.”

In August 2005, Greenspan had her first run of drink-box paper and spent the next few months working with the co-packer’s flavor formulation department to come up with appealing flavors.

Then she turned to experts in sales and distribution. Greenspan hired brokers and a sales management company to augment her own sales efforts. “Through my networking, I had an ‘in’ at an upscale grocery chain in the Bay area,” she says. “I made an appointment and got my very first sale.

“I knew I needed to stay focused on my ultimate goals and outsource the rest so I wouldn’t get distracted.”

Wateroos are on grocery shelves in the Bay area, the upper Midwest including Chicago, and will debut in early ‘07 in the eastern U.S. Until then, the drinks can be bought on the Web site.

Meanwhile, daughter Paige arrived, and Mom continues to concentrate on raising her, Megan and the fledgling company. “It really is like a child that I’ve nurtured,” Greenspan says. “The company is still in the toddler stage, but next year, it will be ready to go to school.”