When 53-year-old Amit Singh and 32-year-old Marcin Malyszko met at a charity occasion in Southern California at the beginning of the pandemic, neither knew they’d develop into greatest associates and co-founders.
It was solely after one other likelihood encounter whereas strolling their canine a few weeks later that they realized how a lot that they had in frequent: Their houses have been simply two blocks aside, and the pair instantly related over their shared enthusiasm for automobiles.
Singh and Malyszko made plans to satisfy for drinks in Laguna Seashore — a night that will finally launch their thrilling journey as co-founders of Mission Cocktails, the corporate behind ready-to-pour cocktails made with premium substances and a giant give-back promise: 5% of all proceeds stream proper again into the sourced-from communities.
Within the 4 months since its launch, Mission Cocktails has already made fairly a splash, garnering quite a few awards, together with double gold for its Mai Tai on the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competitors and double gold for its Outdated Customary on the 2023 SIP Awards.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Mission Cocktails
Entrepreneur sat down with Singh and Malyszko to be taught extra about their entrepreneurial journey — and what makes them the proper enterprise companions.
Associated: The Battle Over Cocktails-to-Go Exhibits How Entrepreneurs Can Conquer the Standing Quo
“We’ve a variety of the identical values, character and integrity.”
Neither Singh nor Malyszko grew up with “a silver platter handed to them.”
Singh’s mother and father have been immigrants; he was raised in Canada and “grew up poor,” although he did not understand simply how little cash there was till he regarded again. He would go on to develop into the primary faculty graduate in his household, incomes his diploma in biology earlier than pivoting to the sporting items enterprise.
Malyszko was raised in Chicago, the place his mom cleaned homes and labored different odd jobs to assist the household. When his father was recognized with an aggressive mind tumor, Malyszko took a job as a financial institution teller at simply 17 to assist with the household’s bills; he shortly climbed the ranks and have become a personal banker earlier than 21.
“We come from nothing,” Malyszko says. “We maintain our household and nonetheless do to at the present time. We’ve a variety of the identical values, character and integrity and [are committed to] simply being good folks.”
The commonalities between their upbringings and values grew to become obvious instantly when Singh and Malyszko met once more over drinks.
“We explored all these similarities,” Singh remembers, “[and] what we actually consider is vital. I consider simply being a greater human being is a vital worth — and it is a tremendous easy one.”
Associated: The 8 Values Each Firm Ought to Stay By | Entrepreneur
“The world is hurting, how can we make a distinction?”
The duo’s friendship was “accelerated” by the pandemic, and inside a 12 months of their first assembly, they determined to launch a enterprise collectively, one that will align with their deeply entrenched need to do good and provides again.
“We thought loads about, Okay, you understand, the group, the world, is hurting, how can we make a distinction?” Singh says. “And I hate to make it sound horrible or [like] a nasty factor, however we’re like, Okay, we may write one other examine, and it makes you’re feeling good, however how can we give again past that?“
So the pair resolved to start out a enterprise that will do exactly that, combining the philanthropic catalyst with their “ardour for cocktails and socializing” to give you Mission Cocktails. (The concept actually crystallized “after the fourth or fifth cocktail,” Singh quips).
One of many first selections to be made? Figuring out simply how a lot of their earnings they’d give again to the communities from which they supply their substances.
“Everybody does 1%,” Malyszko remembers. “[So we said] ‘Let’s do two. No, let’s do three. No, no.’ Then we have a look at one another: ‘We’re like, what’s 3%?’ Then we begin doing the maths backward. And we’re like, ‘We wish to create a perpetual giving machine, why do not we do 5%?'”
From there, it was about executing that imaginative and prescient: committing to a bar-quality drink that they’d be proud to serve their family and friends and discovering a companion that will be simply as devoted to utilizing actual substances within the product.
“We did discover a tremendous companion,” Malyszko says, “and we’re very proud that the whole lot is regionally sourced inside 100 miles. It is tremendous vital to us — our aim is in fact to be a nationwide model, however within the brief time period, it’s [valuable being] positioned in Southern California and understanding that we’re getting high quality substances inside a really shut proximity.”
Associated: From Greatest Associates to Cofounders, How Success Occurred for Hella Cocktail Co.
The co-founders employed a mixologist and labored “tirelessly” to get the flavors excellent in a recipe in a shaker, then to maintain the drink’s integrity intact when it was replicated in a 5,000-liter vat.
Regardless of the stresses and pressures that launching a enterprise can carry, Singh and Malyszko say they have been on the identical web page via all of it — unable to recall a single disagreement between them.
“This goes again to picking your companion correctly,” Singh says. “It is superb: We are saying we’re yin and yang — the yin yang symbols [are] half black, half white, intertwined, and [we have] very complementary talent units. I’ve acquired my talent set; Marcin has his.”
One of the best associates and enterprise companions envision a future stuffed with promise — one that permits them to make use of these complementary strengths and preserve placing their shared values again into the world.
“I believe we are able to make a extremely huge influence,” Malyszko says. “There’s a lot good that we are able to do in an area that is thrilling and that we’re keen about.”
