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How Honey, Hustle, and Hard Lessons Built a $10M Brand | Jack Espy by Bleav + Ryan Hanley

How Honey, Hustle, and Hard Lessons Built a $10M Brand | Jack Espy

from Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley

by Bleav + Ryan Hanley

Published: Wed Nov 12 2025

Show Notes

Join our community of fearless leaders in search of unreasonable outcomes...

When COVID shut the world down, Jack Espy lost his job, mixed a cocktail, and accidentally discovered the idea that would change his life.

Connect with Jack Espy

Fast-forward five years and he’s running Spirited Hive and Strive Soda — two honey-sweetened beverage brands rewriting the “better-for-you” playbook.

In this unfiltered conversation, Jack and Ryan Hanley dig into:

  • How to turn early failure into a profitable foundation
  • Why naïveté can be a founder’s secret weapon
  • The brutal truth about distribution, marketing, and shelf space
  • Building slow, selling smart, and setting up for acquisition
  • What “better-for-you” really means (and what it doesn’t)

This one’s part business therapy, part entrepreneurial bloodsport.
Grab a drink, settle in, and take notes.

Because growth done right still takes sweat, humility, and a little honey.

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