◆ Follow-up game plan — for Mark
Biggest leverage: The EOS failure is your opening. He tried the obvious system, rolled it out badly, and it hurt team morale and put the weight of the world on Grace. Reframe it: "You don't have an accountability problem — you have a leadership-operating-system problem." That reframe lands hard because he lived the failure, and it's exactly the gap the incubator fills.
Opportunities to open:
- Get Grace on the call. She runs ~80% of the business and personally felt the EOS weight — this is a two-founder problem, and the co-founder seat ($15k for both) is the real unlock. Don't let this be a Billy-only conversation.
- Series A is in early stages (deck circulating). Your investor network + the Ground Force pipeline is directly relevant — a warm intro or two is the fastest trust-builder you can offer.
- Ops is his self-named biggest hole (fractional team holding back speed; weighing a full-time hire). That's a concrete, near-term decision you can add value on in week one.
Watch-outs:
- The human core is real: self-worth tied to monthly goal attainment, 7am–7pm days, weekend burnout. Name it directly — that's what makes this feel different from EOS. If it becomes a pure systems pitch, you'll lose the thing he actually needs.
- Fast growth ($6M → $13M target) means everything's on fire; protect against him treating the program as one more fire.
The ask: Get Grace on the follow-up, present the two-seat structure, and — drink the samples he's sending. The personal touch matters with this one.
Kava Haven: Business Overview
- Co-founded with Grace (life and business partner); Grace leads D2C and digital marketing
- Single SKU: lemon-ginger kava spirit, no added sugar
- Launched April 2024
- Year 1: $1M+ in sales, \~50% month-over-month growth
- Year 2: $6M+ in sales
- Year 3 target: $13M
- D2C vs. wholesale split: 80% D2C, 20% wholesale; wholesale seen as largely untapped
- Amazon: 53% of overall business
- TikTok Shop drove early scale: $100K to $500K/month on the back of it
- Team: Grace, Billy, fractional CFO, fractional ops, Cameron (head of sales), east coast rep, agencies
Product Pipeline and Fundraising
- Shots in development: portability and trial-focused
- RTDs in consideration: spirits sales dip in summer; retail partners report RTD sales spike seasonally
- Series A in early stages: deck circulating, early interest coming in
- Originally targeting close September 2026, but may close sooner
- Preference to grow more before closing to secure better terms
Founder Challenges
- Ops: biggest operational hole; fractional ops team holding back speed; full-time hire being considered
- Time allocation: pulled toward execution (“150 cold calls”) vs. big-picture strategy
- Self-worth tied to business performance: 7am–7pm days, weekend burnout, mood tracks monthly goal attainment
- Management blueprint: wants tools to use with himself and team on a week-to-week basis
- EOS tried but didn’t stick: Grace felt weight of the world on weekly calls given she runs 80% of the business
Incubator Fit and Program Walkthrough
- Billy came via fractional CFO who forwarded Mark’s newsletter; watched the video before applying
- Strong fit flagged: founder-to-CEO transition, Series A prep, ops systems, team leadership
- Program structure walked through:
- Pre-work: leadership/personality assessment, 360 report, 1-hour strategy session with Mark
- 12-week cohort (launching August): weekly live session, one concept + one tool + one shift per week
- Bi-weekly 30-min coaching calls with Mark; WhatsApp access throughout
- AI-driven personalized dashboard; tools kept after program ends
- Closing 1-hour strategy session; ongoing engagement options
- Cohort: 8–10 founders, primarily food and bev, small and confidential group
- Ground Force connection: incubator is a pipeline for GF deals but no investment guarantee; Mark also has broader institutional network for intros
Pricing and Next Steps
- Full program: $12K, split into 3 monthly payments of $4K
- Co-founder add-on (Grace): additional $3K, totaling $15K ($5K/month for both)
- ROI guarantee: 5x ROI or Mark continues working or refunds in full
- Billy’s reaction: “sounds reasonable,” wants to review scope and think through ROI
- Sending Kava Haven samples to Joshua and to Caroline (Mark’s partner, a kava fan) at Ground Force
Next Steps
- Send Billy a recap email with program details and Mark's EA cc'd (Joshua)
Billy and Grace to find time with Mark in the next week or so; Grace should join the call.
- Send mailing addresses to Billy for Kava Haven samples (Joshua)
Include Joshua's address and Ground Force Capital's address for Caroline.
Where they feel stuck
We've proven product-market fit, but I'm finding it difficult to transition from being the person who drives growth to the person who builds an organization that drives growth. I'd love mentorship on leadership, delegation, and building scalable teams and processes.
What they've tried
We implemented EOS to bring more structure and accountability as we scaled, but I don't think I rolled it out effectively. The team began to feel like they were only as valuable as their scorecard, which hurt morale and buy-in. It made me realize that building accountability while maintaining culture is a leadership challenge I still haven't solved.
What would be different in 90 days
In 90 days, I'd like to have a clear operating cadence where my leadership team and new hires know exactly what success looks like each week, are accountable to it, and can execute without me constantly having to step in. My goal is to spend less time managing tasks and more time building the business.
Anything else
A bit of background on Kava Haven...
My girlfriend (Grace) and I co-founded the company in April 2024 with a simple thesis: people are drinking less, but they still want to feel something. Kava Haven is a premium kava-based alcohol alternative that we position as The Original Social Beverage.
In just over two years, we've grown to more than 1,200 retail doors nationwide, are about to surpass $10M in lifetime sales, and are on pace for roughly $12M in our third calendar year while maintaining 70%+ gross margins. According to SPINS syndicated data, we're currently the top-performing non-alcoholic product in dollars per store per week, and #4 overall when THC beverages are included.
Today we're a team of about 10 people (4 FTE + 6 fractional). The business has reached the point where the biggest bottleneck is no longer product or demand, it's my ability to build an organization that scales without relying so heavily on me. Over the next three years, our goal is to scale Kava Haven into the leading alcohol alternative brand, growing from roughly $12M this year to $20M+ next year and $35–40M+ the following year.
How they heard about it
Referral