From His Parents' Kitchen to the King of Kombucha: How GT Dave Built His Empire Hint: There was no business plan involved.

By Kristen Aldridge

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As the founder and CEO of GT's Living Foods, GT Dave may be known as the "King of Kombucha," but when he started his brand, he was just a 15 year-old working out of his parents' kitchen.

Growing up in a nutrition-conscious household, GT was embarrassed when his parents started brewing their own kombucha.

"I cannot say it was love at first drink," GT jokes. Their home brew slowly grew on him, however, and by the time GT left high school, he had concocted his own formula.

With no formal training and no business plan, GT pitched his new brand to local health stores, carefully measuring each label and polishing the bottles by hand.

"The energy that you put into everything you do is a reflection of how people are going to interact with it," GT says.

Today, GT has revolutionized the beverage industry. As the sole owner of GT's Living Foods, his booming business is now worth over $900 million and growing, something he attributes to his deep passion for the product.

In this episode of How Brands Are Born, see how GT's inspiring persistence proved to be more valuable than a formal education.

How Brands Are Born is presented by Cardone Ventures, in partnership with Original Stories Media. Learn how Grant Cardone and Brandon Dawson can help your business transform and scale to 10X levels HERE.

Kristen Aldridge

Founder of Original Stories Media, Journalist, Producer and Storyteller

Emmy-winning journalist and brand storytelling expert Kristen Aldridge is founder and CEO of Original Stories Media, a production company that specializes in capturing the origin stories behind the world’s most impactful brands. With over two decades of experience in the media industry, she has created content garnering millions of views for hugely successful platforms including Entrepreneur, ESPN, ABC, CBS, Yahoo!, and SHAPE.

Passionate about all things entrepreneurship, Aldridge created the original digital series How Brands Are Born to shine a light on all the remarkable people changing the world one big, bold dream at a time. Her mission is to help leaders reveal their most authentic selves so they can more effectively unleash their vision, inspire their culture, and bring deep value to the marketplace.

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