How Mark Rampolla Played the Long Game with ZICO

Mark Rampolla

with Mark Rampolla

Author of High-Hanging Fruit and Founder of ZICO Coconut Water and Powerplant Ventures

How Mark Rampolla Played the Long Game with ZICO

How Mark Rampolla Played the Long Game with ZICO 1200 957 33Voices

Mark and Jenna discuss pioneering the coconut water industry with ZICO and how to compete in the food world.

Learning Points

  •  How to raise your first round of funding and how much capital you need; It’s a momentum game. Focus on your first commitment. 
  • How to break down your vision into realistic goals; Mark kept a small notebook with his large vision, five year goals, annual initiatives, quarterly goals, and top 4-5 daily tasks that he read every morning 
  • Mark’s early morning rides with beverage distributors delivering ZICO; “It wasn’t going to happen unless I took personal responsibility.” 
  • Why there are rarely breakthrough moments in startup life and how to play the long game; Luck favors the prepared mind.  
  • Advice for food entrepreneurs on navigating retail competition; You need to be performing in the top 10% before you expand. Choose your biggest competitor and be on par with them. 
  • The foundation of ZICO’s culture and what gives a company soul; Caring and giving is a business strategy.
  • The life-changing advice Mark received in ZICO’s early years on perspective: “You can’t control everything that happens to you. You can control how you react.”
  • How to take charge of your startup’s opportunity moment; “Inflection points are opportunities to redefine your direction in life.”