A Day With Squeeze

These past few weeks I have taken an interest in entrepreneurship. About a week ago I attended a panel of local entrepreneurs. Four students were on the panel. Each student told how they came up with their idea and how it became a business. One of the students was a founder of a growing medical supply company in California. He started a few years ago and is now doing very well with 20 employees. Another was a student who took initiative to sell electric cars to businesses in Russia. There apparently aren't many vendors in Russia and he is now selling them in small batches. He has sold 10 and will soon move on to selling the next batch of 25.

The other two students were two of the three students who founded a local lemonade company, Squeeze. These students came together as a group with the common interest in experiencing what it was like to start a business from scratch. They settled on lemonade, a product they did not know much about, but enjoyed. Since then they have created their product, produce it, bottle it, and sell it. The three have branched out their original idea and have made a sustainable business. They host some very well known and cool events around town (example Squeeze 500) After the event the two offered anyone who wanted to come spend a day with them. They are looking for people to pass the business onto as they are fourth year students and graduating soon.

I took their offer.

Last Thursday I went to Squeeze's HQ and spent the morning with them. Our meeting began with greeting and a nice offer of hot drinks. When the supplies for the lemonade arrived we got into a small competition of cutting lemons while sharing stories and talking about Uni life. When all ingredients were prepped the base of the lemonade was made and we had time to talk as everything settled. Members came and left, using the break to gather the bottles and to go do neccessities. When all was ready, we combined the ingredients into the lemonade and bottled it. Then we put the labels on the bottles, completing them. We then made our way to the store were the bottles are sold and ended it back at HQ.

It was a short, but fun day. I learned a lot how they started their business and a lot of decisions they made along the way. They have kept the business small and local. They don't make a huge profit. They are a place to learn the many steps it takes to have a business. they make delicious lemonade :)

Thank you to Squeeze for having me.