Isaac Heymann, Gabriel Heymann, Michael Goldberg Of Space Tea On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Love truly is all you need. I personally drink Arnold Palmers all day long at meetings. As a kid I drank 8 Snapple Ice Teas per day. When my brother sent our final Space Tea blend, I knew I wouldn’t have to buy another iced tea product in a store again. I LOVE Space Tea so much! If I love it I knew everyone would drink love it!
As a part of our series called “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Isaac Heymann, Gabriel Heymann, Michael Goldberg of Space Tea.
Brothers Gabriel and Isaac Heymann, along with Isaac’s partner in Rick Rubin’s American Songs, Michael Goldberg are the founders of Space Tea.
Isaac Heymann is the co-head of Rick Rubin’s publishing company American Songs, and executive producer of the Grammy-nominated Showtime Series Shangri-La. He is an A&R exec, music manager and transcendental meditation teacher.
Gabriel Heymann started out in music as a drummer and then dove into the beverage industry creating products and working with major distributors and retailers across the country. Before Space Tea, Gabriel owned a beverage consulting company called Collaboration Company, helping early stage brands and entrepreneurs launch new products and accelerate growth. Gabriel is passionate about innovating health-conscious products that enhance people’s everyday lives.
Michael Goldberg is a record executive and music manager with over 25 years in the music business. Goldberg currently runs Rick Rubin’s record label American Recordings and created Rick Rubin’s publishing company American Songs (Run The Jewels, Brockhampton, Kaytranada, among others). Goldberg helped create and is Executive Producer of the T.V. Series Shangri La on Showtime.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you .Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
Isaac Heymann: My brother and I have been brothers all of his life. Michael & I have been partners in the music industry for 15 years. We help run legendary music producer Rick Rubin’s record company American Recordings (Johnny Cash, The Avett Brothers, Kae Tempest, Marcus King) and his publishing company American Songs (Run the Jewels, Kaytranada, Chad Hugo from The Neptunes/NERD, BROCKHAMPTON, Jean Dawson, Freddie Gibbs, Turnstile). During quarantine the only place open was our indoor/outdoor studio Shangri La in Malibu. We kept a doctor there testing 24/7 and rotated all of our artists to make their albums. At American we help our artists with their mental wellness and give them space to create at Shangri La. Working so closely with them during quarantine I noticed the increase in artists using mushrooms daily and seeing the immediate benefits the mushrooms brought to the creative process. I called my brother Gabriel who has an incredible history in the beverage industry and helping launch new drinks. He began working on the perfect formula for the greatest Arnold Palmer blend of iced tea + lemonade combined with Reishi & Lions Mane mushrooms. The tastemaker artists became our taste testers. HK from the group Brockhampton created the Space Tea can design and logo artwork. Then Gabriel got it launched at all Erewhon Market locations in Los Angeles and select stores in Colorado August 1st 2021.
Our mission is mental wellness through Music Meditation & Mushrooms. We aim to be the iced tea for this new health-conscious generation.
Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?
Isaac Heymann: When we were brainstorming names on the phone Gabe said “SPACE TEA!” and we all knew we had it!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Gabriel Heymann: Funniest / most painful mistake was leading up to the launch of our Golden Mango flavor early in 2022. It was the right decision to get it on the shelves quickly for a display opportunity at Erewhon. But the timeline was too short to get cans labeled ahead of time. So I had to hand label every can! Thousands of cans! I labeled each can slowly and boxed them up. I was up for multiple nights labeling and boxing. We shipped on time and got them on the shelves on time. No one knew except me how painful / funny it was! Classic entrepreneurial story.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Gabriel Heymann: One of the most common mistakes is trying to move too fast in the early days. I always give the advice to people to move slower to move faster. Meaning that moving slower and doing things right, will result in moving much faster in 3–6months. Getting the foundation right is so important and leads to faster growth.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
Gabriel Heymann: Do as much as possible yourself. Get started immediately creating a prototype in your kitchen for as cheaply as you can. Get on one or 3 store shelves. Start sampling in store.
Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?
Michael Goldberg: Building the right team members to make it into a business is most important. creating a new business venture as a solo mission will always be more difficult than a team of people working together towards a common goal.
Isaac Heymann: Yes, as Rick Rubin says, “The synergy of a group is as important if not more important, than the talent of the individuals.” I believe we have that with the three of us as partners in Space Tea.
There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?
Isaac Heymann: DIY always!
What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?
Gabriel Heymann: I believe in bootstrapping as much as possible. Every business is different, so infusion of capital and timing is different for every business. But if you create something great, there is plenty of capital in the world to help you along your journey. Focus on creating something great for the world, and the right people will join you to make it a reality. If your product fills a void or helps consumers solve a need, it will happen. Stay with your day job as long as possible until your business pulls you away full time. Your day job can help fund your passion.
Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?
Gabriel Heymann: Google everything. Pick up the phone and call people. Talk to everyone about what you are looking for. And you will find the answers that will help you take the next step.
Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why?
Isaac Heymann:
1) Love: Love truly is all you need. I personally drink Arnold Palmers all day long at meetings. As a kid I drank 8 Snapple Ice Teas per day. When my brother sent our final Space Tea blend, I knew I wouldn’t have to buy another iced tea product in a store again. I LOVE Space Tea so much! If I love it I knew everyone would drink love it!
2) Faith: Faith in your creation when no one else believes. Someone will always tell you why it won’t work. Our meditation teacher Nancy Cooke de Herrera would say “All you need is Love & Faith.” Life has proven this to be true over and over again.
3) Innovation: You need to create something that doesn’t exist. For us we set out to create the World’s First Mushroom Tea + Lemonade in the marketplace. That separates us from every other drink out there right now.
4) Vision: You have to have a full vision for your product. How big can it be? Can you see it? Can you feel it being the next biggest thing? You become what you believe yourself to be.
5) Team: Create a team of co-founders that support your idea. Togetherness will get you to your goal. There is no greater gift to yourself than a team of people who love and support you and your vision.
Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about’?
Gabriel Heymann: Create something you love. If you love it, most likely others will too. Think from the consumers perspective. We are all consumers, so create something you need and would love to buy. Something that fills a void in your life. Solve a problem for yourself and others. Keep it simple.
Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Michael Goldberg: Everything we do is to help make the world a better place. It’s hard to not smile while drinking a Space Tea.
Isaac Heymann: And smiling is the highest form of meditation.
You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Isaac & Gabriel Heymann: Mental wellness through Music, Meditation and Mushrooms.
Our meditation teacher Nancy used to say that if 1% of the world meditates there will be world peace. That is our mission.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Isaac Heymann, Gabriel Heymann, Michael Goldberg Of Space Tea On 5 Things You Need To Create a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.