Be embarrassed about the launch of your new business or product

Ben Martinez
Jul 23, 2017 · 4 min read

Almost 60 days ago we launched Sumato Coffee Co. Like any good evolution story we are only getting better each day. Sumato crosses between three areas I enjoy — coffee, technology and marketing.

One day, I will be embarrassed about the first bag of coffee we roasted and shipped. Key word is “embarrassed”, not ashamed. Creating something new is exciting and also a vulnerability test. There is a lot of work behind a new product that does not get to see the light of day. I am happy with the launch of Sumato Coffee last month but after almost 60 days, we have evolved and gotten better as looking back at a few things — now looks embarrassing.

Our value is repetitive but highly effective. We roast within 48 hours of your order and ship to you immediately. We are laser focused on fresh roast and the roast date stamped on your bag. Coffee has a shelf life of 14 days and 30 days tops. Pay attention to the roast dates on coffee bags. Grocery stores do not care if your coffee is old.

We have been getting great media coverage. Good write up from Silicon Slopes HERE, Odyssey Online HERE, a Daily Coffee News just did a story HERE. Rather than read and share my own press releases written by someone else, I would rather personally give you an update.

UPDATE:

*Coffee ☕ — Freshly roasted beans are tasteful. There are over 1000 good anti-oxidants in coffee and they oxidize once the beans come out of the roaster. After 14 days coffee beans start to go stale. Our value is freshly roasted — we roast your coffee within 48 hours of it being ordered and ship immediately. I am obsessed over the roast date on your bags. I care more about your roast date than I care if you buy my coffee. Freshly roasted coffee should be available to all coffee drinkers.

*Coffee offerings — Stay tuned for more “Single Origin” coffee offerings. A couple weeks back I did a cupping of a new Guatemalan and a Costa Rican. More to come. Our most popular blend has been “Thousand Mountains” and our most popular single origin has been “Guatemalan” (my fav). Other upcoming offerings — An Espresso roast and sample bags to sample other coffees.

*Marketing learnings- I do Facebook lives one to two times per week and we focus on Facebook, Instagram and a little Twitter and Snapchat. YouTube brewing guides and tutorials coming soon. Plan to continue to offer insight and education about coffee or people’s coffee drinking rituals. Time is more of an issue here vs. money. Sounds easy but harder to execute. Doing my best not to shove ads in your face and will get better with my Fb ads.

*Community — With Sumato Coffee we have a community of people who understand the importance of freshly roasted coffee beans and enjoy experimenting with different brewing methods. I have had old friends, new friends, family and complete strangers buy our coffee. It feels good when people bond over coffee. Thanks to each of you for your orders. We have had 180+ coffee orders.

*Barista As A Service — BaaS. There is Saas and there is Baas. We have done 2 Barista as a Service offerings in the workplace. In BaaS — We come to your workplace and do brew to orders for your employees and give everyone a chance to bond more as a team while tasting our freshly roasted beans and learning about coffee. I look forward to doing more BaaS for Companies. See pic of what we brewed at HireVue last week. Notice the roast date on the bag.

Like a good evolution story, we are continually evolving and embarrassed by how we look today after yesterday’s advancements. Each day we have more customers than the day before which is a sign that our business model is working.

This reminds me of times when you look back at old black and white photo shoots of someone’s early days…we are quickly evolving. We will always get you our freshest roasted beans and work with importers of coffee beans to make sure our beans continue to evolve with each coffee harvest.

Cheers — Ben

Ben Martinez

Written by

Founder/Principal Consultant @RampTalent — www.ramptalent.com | Founder @SumatoCoffee Buy our coffee → www.sumatocoffee.com

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade