Becca Schepps

Tell me about your time in advertising. How did you get started and why did you leave?

I got started after graduating college, working at an architecture firm and having no idea what the hell I was going to do with my life. I took some classes at SVA in NYC and a teacher there told me that I had talent, but I was tired. At the time I was traveling from Philly to NYC twice a week for classes while working an 8-5 job that I did not really enjoy. From there I explored ad schools, went to Creative Circus and then landed my first job in San Franciscos at Riney working for Roger Camp. I miss him. He’s so funny and such an inspirational boss. From there I survived and thrived through the ‘09 recession, moved to NYC, worked at Lowe (now Deutsch) Saatchi and R/GA. Then I went to Boulder to work at CPB. After CPB I freelanced for 10 years. It was during this time that I had the epiphany that maybe working for an ad agency wasn’t everything. I loved working in advertising but there’s so much baggage that comes with it at all. Ideas getting twisted and diluted. I wanted to do something that was purely from me, by me and owned by me - so that only I could ruin it. I started Mortal while freelancing.

What are you doing now? 

I work at an ad agency and I run Mortal. Lol. Mortal gives me a lot of perspective for why clients sometimes dilute stuff. But it also gives me a lot of perspective on how and where to push.

How did the idea for Mortal Kmobucha come about? 

Mortal came while freelancing at an agency and being on  the 7th round of feedback on how to say “good for you” without saying “good” because it had way to much sugar to be good for you at all. I cracked. I was drinking kombucha and looking at the bottle and thought, “hey, this thing is good for me  and it has sugar, what does it say?’ Then I had this epiphany that all kombucha market themselves as a very hippy namaste love peace yoga drink. But the drink literally was explosively violent, super effervescent and had sugar and a bit of caffeine. I was like - kombucha has a marketing problem. And right there started making jokes that I was going to make an aggressive kombucha with NO LOVE. I made a Mortal Kombat/Mortal Kombucha pun and the rest is history.

What was your first step in starting Mortal Kmobucha?        

I made a pun. Got back to my desk at my freelance job. Secured the social handles. Bought the domain. Made a website. Made fake product names and mocked up a bottle. Turned on the e-commerce store. Started posting about it on social. There was no product. I thought people would know it was a joke. But then people bought it and then I had to figure out how to make kombucha. 

What struggles did you have? Did you have ideas that failed?

Everything was a struggle. How to make kombucha at scale. How to get a HAACP plan. How to fill a keg. How to keep alcohol out of it. How to make an alcohol on purpose. How to get an alochol license. How to make a marketing plan. How to raise money. How to do trade spend. How to book freight. How to do logistics and forecasting. How to expand nationwide. How to hire. Everything Was a struggle because I didn’t start a business with a plan. I just googled and said yes. 

Lots of ideas failed. Hell, the whole thing may still be a failure. We launched a prebiotic soda line that we didn’t have enough money to really push and maybe were too early to market. We pulled it and now I see so many drinks copying it. 

Did you have help along the way?

Google and Youtube were great. Then I would tell everyone my problems and ask for help a lot.

Did you ever consider giving up?

Yes. And had multiple conversations with my lawyers on learning the different types of bankruptcy. Lots of tears. Lots of hardship. Lots of creative problem solving.

What would you do differently if you did it again?

I would start with a team. I would not be a solo founder. Or I would not be a solo founder with no money to hire the right experts from the jump. You need partners or money. Or better yet both.

What advice do you wish you had before you started?

I think I had all the advice. It was that I didn’t believe it. It’s like being a parent for the first time, you cannot imagine how hard (and sometimes rewarding) it’s going to be once you’re in it.

What's the single biggest mistake you made in doing this?

Giving away equity to someone I thought was going to be a real partner and who eventually left (with a nice chunk of equity).

What is the single most important thing that contributed to your success?

Creative problem solving and always finding a way to yes when everyone told me no.

Do you miss your old life?

Not at all.