Enjoy the Simplicity - Top Tree Herbs

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Soren Shade, co-founder of Top Tree Herbs, located in Denver, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Top Tree Herbs is a kratom tea bag company with a mission to normalize a traditional Southeast Asian tea leaf with an undeserved negative reputation. We uniquely service the kratom market focusing on high-quality products, education, and reinvestments back into science and advocacy.

Our customers are diverse and wide-ranging, encompassing many demographics with the common thread of enjoying and benefiting from kratom tea. Most of our customers gravitated towards us because we are the only kratom company focusing on making traditional tea preparation easy and accessible. Our reputation as truth-tellers and committed advocates has earned us the trust of many in the kratom space, self-proclaimed advocates who have been passionate and active since at least 2016. However, our foundational belief is that kratom tea bags are the necessary tool to normalize kratom and bring it. It's 15 million US consumers out of the shadows.

Tell us about yourself

The co-founders of Top Tree Herbs were students of Dr. Carl Hart at Columbia University when they first met. Influenced by the power of Dr. Hart's arguments rooted in science, they both gravitated towards the union of science and the underground upon graduation. Sam Weber joined a cannabis remediation start-up in Denver, while I, Soren, produced the third season of the science documentary television show Hamilton's Pharmacopeia.

We reconvened in late 2020, both interested in continuing to work for a world not weighted down by the War on Drugs. Both of us were regular kratom tea drinkers but had always made do with low-quality kratom powder that tasted awful. We rather quickly agreed that we'd like to fight for the acceptance of a plant we both loved while providing a higher quality experience to our customers. We created the first kratom tea bag company with these principles founding our journey.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

We're incredibly proud of our product. We consider everyone who converts from swallowing gross kratom powder to drinking traditional kratom tea an accomplishment. We've had scores of customer emails thanking us for their improved quality of life because of the transition.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Kratom tea has a legacy of stigma and bad PR to shed. With this comes a prohibition of utilizing traditional marketing channels to promote our brand, such as Instagram, Facebook, Google ads, etc. We have the truth on our side, so once we can get people to hear the fact, they will discard the ridiculous kratom myths. However, getting the word out is immensely difficult because of the channels that are closed off to us.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Make sure you are able to say you love your mission honestly. A protracted startup period without being able to pay yourself is only manageable if you love what you are doing.
2. Work with partners/friends who prioritize honest communication above all else.
3. Constantly monitor and be aware of your risk of burning out and adjust accordingly.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://toptreeherbs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toptreeherbs/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toptreeherbs_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/toptree_herbs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/top-tree-herbs/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.