Steve Chapman started his career as an accountant at PwC, but over time realized that his passion for an entrepreneurial lifestyle provided much more motivation & excitement. He left his accounting job to go full force towards building his own startup and is now the Co-Founder of Shine+, Australia’s first drink developed to support brain function.
Steve, Shine+ provides unique benefits to any other drink on the market, how did this idea come to you?
The idea for a drink, that uses natural and clinically proven ingredients to support brain function came to my co-founder (Sam Prince) and I after we couldn’t find anything healthy to keep us mentally sharp and focused during the long 16-hour days we were consistently working. Neither of us wanted more coffee, as you get the unavoidable crash a few hours later and we all know that sugar-laden, artificial energy drinks are not the solution either. When looking into the scientific research, we discovered a number of natural ingredients that we could put into a delicious drink that could solve our problem.
You are quite new to the FMCG field, can you talk us through the process of developing this product?
One of my favourite philosophers Epictetus is quoted saying “you cannot learn what you think you already know”, I love this concept as it removes the ego from the equation. If you accept you know little about the space, you’re open to learning rapidly. Our method is to reach out to as many believable people as possible who have achieved something in the beverages space. Often you can avoid the mistakes they made if you truly listen and internalize their failures as your own. We also reach out to people who have failed in the space before, as often they know exactly why they failed and can provide a good cautionary tale.
You mentioned this timeless quote ‘As we let our own light shine, we consciously allow others to do the same.” – who are the thought leaders behind this & why do they inspire you?
This quote sums up the spirit of why we exist at the shine. We want to be able to make a product that helps our customers find their brilliance and shine in their own world and also be able to support a cause bigger themselves by donating a day of clean drinking water for every bottle of shine sold to people who need it most in developing countries.
In terms of thought leaders and our inspirations, we are impressed with leaders like Barack Obama, Oprah and Nelson Mandela. People who truly outshine their starting stations in life and make the world a brighter place.
When it comes to marketing your product, what is your approach?
We are passionate digital marketers who love to communicate with our community and customers in ways they want via social media engagement, videos and interactive experiences. We also love working with people who have an influence on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook and who align well with our brand values of being Humble, Healthy & Smart.
What is some advice you would give yourself in the early stages of a startup?
The biggest lesson from my first startup was the importance of humility. I certainly got this wrong the first time around. Given an entrepreneur is trying to do something new, different and audacious, it can often lead to developing an ego to convince yourself to push ahead with the venture.
Unfortunately, this means you don’t ask for help because you think you know everything and therefore you’ll make every mistake possible instead of finding the smarter way forward from people who have done it before. Malcolm Gladwell’s research points out that you need 10,000 hours of experience to become an expert in a field, if you’re just starting out there is no way you’ve got the hours under your belt, so find people who do to help you.
You seem to have a close relationship with your Co-Founder, Dr Sam Prince; can you share with us how you both met?
I’ll start by saying Sam Prince is one of the most impressive humans I’ve ever met. When I was just launching my first startup at the age of 20, I realized (perhaps too late) that I didn’t know exactly what I was doing and I should try to learn from someone who does. I came up with a list of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Australia and Sam was at the top of my list. I had one mutual friend who I convinced to get me in the same room as Sam so I could ask for advice. It turns out Sam and I are similarly minded in a number of ways, and we developed an amazing friendship from there.
With my new-found humility, I put my first startup on the shelf to join Sam full time as his Personal Assistant. This was an incredible experience for three years that allowed me to be in every meeting, craft every email and run the group of companies by his side. There was plenty of ‘grunt work’ to being a Personal Assistant like getting coffees for the meetings and office management but this only further strengthened my humility.
What are your companies core values & why are these important to you?
Shine has a very strong culture and we live and die by our values. Our values are simple; Humble, Hungry, Smart & Loyal.
Why these four? Because people who are hungry, humble, smart and loyal make the best team players.
At shine, we are trying to win a championship in the beverage game, and therefore we need to assemble a championship team. We see it time and time again, one superstar player often doesn’t win the rings, it takes a whole team working together to win.
What will you be speaking about at Myriad 2018?
I’m very much looking forward to sharing my story in entrepreneurship and the importance of mentorship.
Thanks for your time today!
Steve Chapman will be sharing his startup success story in more detail with tips on how to run a successful business in the food/health sector at Myriad 2018, Brisbane.
