RxBar taught me lessons that went beyond business.

Peter Rahal and Jared Smith came to work in their tiny office in 2015 in sandals and gym shorts. They had just played some pickup basketball, and they were smiling, shoving each other back and forth while joking about their jump shots. They had around a 14-person team at the time, and they hired an external consulting firm to manage their inventory and assist with their financial records. Two years prior, Rahal and Smith were working tirelessly in the basement of Rahal’s parents’ home just to make the initial version of their product come to life. In 2017, these childhood friends sold RxBar for $600 million to Kellogg.

When I was a 20-year old junior at Northwestern University, I had the fortunate opportunity to intern for a small consulting firm that focused on fast-growing startup companies. A startup of 14 people selling healthy protein bars needed our help in managing their inventory in Excel. Turns out, I spent a summer with this amazing team, which turned out to be RxBar. I learned some incredible lessons about marketing simplicity, door-to-door selling, and clever product placement and strategy. But even more so, I learned some non-business-related gems that would be advantageous for any aspiring founders or best friends looking to build the next multi-million-dollar brand out of their parents’ basement.

1. Play Basketball Every Wednesday

RxBar thrived off of a healthy level of competition. Their sales strategy had various incentives that allowed their reps to shoot for incredibly high numbers and be rewarded accordingly. The founding team complemented this competitive spirit with some competition outside of the office as well.

When I worked with the RxBar squad, every Wednesday after work, we’d head over to the local community center and set up some pickup basketball games. We got to learn how each person at the company acted in a competitive environment. We got to see how they operated in a team. We got to witness how they acted under pressure. We got to see one another let loose, have fun, and play something in which winning was the ultimate goal.

Most firms shy away from competition so as not to create a level of toxicity. But competition does not always have to be toxic. When building a favorable startup ecosystem, consider some sort of healthy competition. Maybe it’s a basketball game, but maybe it’s a weekly board game night. Try to come up with an activity outside the office that fully promotes teamwork and unity and reveals people’s true colors when it comes to their competitive nature.

2. Always Gather for Lunch

Most workers I know in high-paced successful work environments often skip lunch or eat alone at their desks while they continue working. But at RxBar, no matter what anybody at the company was doing, when 12pm rolled around, everyone dropped their activity and gathered in the lunchroom. Nobody was allowed to bring work into the lunchroom. It served as a safe space for informal conversations, team bonding, and lots of laughs and smiles.

A study from researchers at Cornell University found that employees who ate meals together performed better than those who ate alone. “From an evolutionary anthropology perspective, eating together has a long, primal tradition as a kind of social glue. That seems to continue in today’s workplaces.”

Eating together, much like playing basketball, was a time to unwind a little bit. It was a time for RxBar employees to let their guard down and have some fun. I think one of the secrets to their success was their capability to take what they were doing seriously but not take themselves too seriously. This always allowed them to conquer adversity and setbacks with level heads and always push forward with a clear plan in mind.

3. Put Your Head Down and Sell Your Product or Service

“I remember distinctly early in my business when I was asking my dad about all the investor money I needed to fulfill my vision for RxBar. He told me very directly, ‘You need to shut up and sell 1,000 bars.’”

A company stays in business because it sells its product. Many entrepreneurs are quick to think about raising capital. They want to make sure they have the ideal marketing plan. They want the most aesthetically pleasing logo and brand design. But when it all comes down to it, a company stays in business because it sells its product or service. For RxBar, they needed to sell their bars. After this wonderful advice from his dad, Peter Rahal walked door-to-door to coffee shops, gyms, and corner stores just to put his product in front of people. He needed to get bars into people’s hands. Sales will 99% of the time be the most important part of any young business.

Final Thoughts

Peter Rahal and Jared Smith can tell you all about their company financials. They can tell you the ins and outs about how they marketed to CrossFit gyms first, and then went to a more mainstream market. They can tell you each of their employee’s names, their birthdays, their favorite colors. But the one thing they’ll tell you more than anything else is that there is no one way to build a multi-million-dollar business.

But there are ways not to do it. And if you don’t focus on your company culture, getting your product out there, and building up a team of great people, you are destined not to succeed. RxBar has done so many things right throughout their journey to meteoric success. But one thing they have done better than any other company or brand I have worked for, is that they placed tremendous value on crafting their own story. It’s a story they will always remember and one they are always willing to tell.