Seth Goldman (businessman)

Early life and early career

Goldman was born in 1965 and was raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Goldman is Jewish. His father is the economist Marshall Goldman and his mother, Merle Goldman, is a professor of Chinese history at Boston University. Goldman attended Harvard University, where he studied government affairs. At Harvard, he was a student athlete, competing in cross country running and track and field. After graduating from Harvard in 1987, he taught English for a year in Russia and at a Beijing university. Afterwards, he worked on Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign in 1988. He then served for three years as a deputy press secretary for Dukakis' running mate, United States Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. According to the Boston Herald, he exited the political arena and enrolled in the Yale School of Management after determining that "private enterprise could promote the public good".

Goldman was a volunteer for Americorps. He interned for the United States Department of State. Goldman married Julie Farkas in 1990, whom he met at a cooperative school in Moscow where they both taught English.

After graduating from the Yale School of Management in 1995, he worked at the mutual fund company Calvert Investments, which concentrates on socially conscious investments. He served as a vice president for the company.

Honest Tea

Goldman co-founded Honest Tea at the end of January 1998. He first conceived of a low-calorie beverage company as an MBA student at the Yale School of Management in 1995. After doing a case study about Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi for a competitive strategies class, Goldman discovered "many high-calorie, sugary drinks and many no-calorie bottled waters on the market" but few beverages in the middle. Though at the time, he pondered concocting a low-calorie, flavorful beverage, he did not execute the idea until three years later on a trip to New York City. He trotted around Central Park with a friend and ate together at a restaurant afterwards. They looked at the menu and found none of the drinks pleasing. Goldman emailed Barry Nalebuff, his former Yale professor, asking him if the low-calorie beverage idea still was sound. Nalebuff mentored Goldman and together they decided to create a new tea. Nalebuff provided most of the $500,000 in seed funding, while Goldman contributed a smaller amount after fundraising from his friends and family. Nalebuff came up with the name "Honest Tea", which sounds like "honesty". Goldman built an office in the guest bedroom of his home, which he shared with his wife and three small children.

Coca-Cola paid $43 million to buy 40% of Honest Tea with the choice of purchasing the entire company in 2011. Several organic aficionados disapproved of the sale to Coca-Cola because Goldman was required to purchase several dozen contracts from independent distributors that aided in growing Honest Tea.

In 2013, Goldman coauthored a graphic book with his Honest Tea co-founder Barry Nalebuff, detailing their experiences founding and running the company. Jason Abbruzzese reviewed the book for the Financial Times, writing, "The narrative is at its best when balancing the personalities of the founders: Goldman's socially conscious side and Nalebuff's economic expertise."