2016-02-26 - Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, manufacturer of plant-based meat substitutes

Ethan Brown

Reared on a dairy farm, Ethan is deeply concerned about animal welfare. Though he began his career in industry, after completing and MBA at Columbia, he founded Beyond Meat, which develops and markets plant-based meat substitutes. 

1.   Why did you discontinue your clearly successful career to establish Beyond Meat? What motivated you to take the risk?

The process was slow in that I really enjoyed the work that I had been doing in the fuel-cell sector, where I was succeeding, and I had great people around me. I was learning a lot. The experience was beneficial to my career. But I also felt a calling to solve a fundamental problem around animal protein. Eight or nine years prior to establishing Beyond Meat, I remember telling my friend that I did not understand why McDonald’s put animal protein in their burgers. People seem to enjoy everything else that goes around the meat. Though it is a vehicle for delivering flavor, meat is not the best medium. McDonald’s does not serve filet mignon. They are selling highly processed burgers and chicken using ingredients that would probably make most customers recoil if they knew what they were eating. At that point, I thought there was no reason not to create a plant-based alternative for these products and open a competitor to McDonalds.

But I did not have any background in the food or restaurant businesses. I also am from a background that resulted in the expectation that I would work on issues like global climate change through more conventional means. Building a giant tofu factory did not qualify. I initially resisted the idea, but the conviction was there. I was pulled by the call to develop plant-based meat substitutes the way a river flows around obstacles. I would read about the subject a lot at night. I would spend my spare time thinking about it. Ultimately, I began to focus on how to use technology to remove the animal from the protein part of the equation. Finally, I had learned enough about the topic and made enough connections in business and with the scientific community to leave my company. I became a consultant for them, explaining that I wanted to pursue an idea I was passionate about. In a sense, I gradually weaned myself from my previous career, transitioning into my current position.

2.  What were your initial products?

I was passionate about this process that Dr. Fu Huang Shay of the University of Missouri had devised. Through his process, he realigned the protein structure of plants so that it mimicked the structure of muscle. But even before seeing this development, I was selling the best meat replica I had ever seen by importing the product from Asia and marketing it in the United States through Whole Foods. That product was an imitation beef that we no longer sell. I demoed it at Whole Foods, learning a lot about what would be involved in convincing a consumer to eat a plant-based meat.

3.   To develop the technology for a plant-based meat replacement, you collaborated with the Universities of Missouri and Maryland, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and The Obvious Corporation. Tell me about each of these organizations and your collaboration with them. What obstacles did you encounter working together? How did you overcome them?

I first reached out to the University of Missouri. After reading some of Fu Huang Shay’s scientific papers, I called him up. Multinational corporations have large R&D budgets. Entrepreneurs have universities. If I were looking for a novel idea to pursue, I would just stroll through the engineering and chemistry buildings at any major public university. I would talk to the professors to learn about their research. They are paid to think, do research. They are not business professionals. They do not have the time nor inclination to develop a commercial product. I was able to offer them the opportunity to work with an entrepreneur to help them develop a commercial product. I cannot praise the University of Missouri enough. The university is extremely strong academically, and their staff highly ethical. I was very fortunate to be able to tie up with them.

Maryland is my home state. I was living there at the time. I went to the University of Maryland, explained the project I was working on, and told them I needed some funding. They had a program in which the state of Maryland funds professors to work on projects. I worked with Dr. Martin Low, a premier food scientist. I would work on developing the products at the University of Missouri, then take them to the University of Maryland to run them through tests there. I received grants from the state of Maryland twice to continue this development process. Dr. Shay and Dr. Low formed a good partnership of mutual respect.

In 2011, we received investment from Kleiner Perkins in what I feel was a watershed moment for the company. Kleiner is well known, and they are behind some incredible successes like Amazon and Google. I was offered more money for a smaller percentage of the company by other firms, but we decided on Kleiner because of their reach, network and vision. I have to say that they have done everything they had promised they would. Entrepreneurs often hear nightmare scenarios about venture capitalists. Beyond Meat and Kleiner push each other, but our relationship has been terrific.

The Obvious Corporation entered the picture about a year after Kleiner.

There are times that I have to take a step back. I feel like I am now part of something so much bigger than myself. We are on the right side of history. We are trying to do the right thing. Each one of the organizations has played a crucial role. If any one of them had not become involved, I do not think we would be here.

4.   You told me a little about the companies and their contributions. Can you tell me about any obstacles you encountered with them and how you overcame them?

We are a team. I played basketball, so I will give you this analogy. Five players are out on the court. If they are all happy all of the time, they probably do not have the right level of intensity. The same can be said of business. We have encountered bumps along the way, but they have strengthened our collaboration and friendship. When you bring a new partner into a relationship, they will question some of the parameters you have set up with existing parties. We have had to smooth out issues like these, and we continue to deal with them. But if I could take the court with any group of people I wanted, I would take this group. They are extraordinary.

5.   What was the purpose of the energy and environment organization you founded in your 20s? What lessons did you learn from the experience? To what extent have they helped you establish Beyond Meat?

One of the purposes was to live in Charleston, South Carolina, a town I love. More seriously, I had spent a year visiting former weapon-testing sites of the Department of Energy. I went to Oak Ridge and Rocky Flats. At the time, I was working on a paper for a professor. Massive parcels of land had been set aside for weapons, resulting in the externality that people did not use these lands. Eventually, they became these huge reserves of wild animals. No one wanted to go on these lands. I was thinking that if I were Emerson or Thoreau, and I wanted to preserve a place, I would just sprinkle a little plutonium on it.

There were two approaches to the problem. One was to spend billions of dollars on clean up so an infant could safely eat the dirt, which is the EPA standard, right? The second was to leave the lands alone as beautiful preserves for wildlife. I wrote a paper entitled “Waste to Wilderness” for a conservative think tank interested in the idea as a budget-cutting strategy. I did not care for that consideration, but they published the paper. Spending a year researching and writing this paper, I had learned a tremendous amount about what was going on with the environmental protection program by the Department of Energy. A lack of external oversight had resulted in a lot of bloated budgets. Bad decisions were being made without consideration of their full environmental impact.

For this reason, I set up an organization and raised money through the W. L. Jones Fund and the Plow Share Fund to conduct that oversight in South Carolina. This was the first non-academic project I had completed. I set up the organization from scratch. To do so, I had to conceptualize the idea, raise money, establish a board. I was also fired from my job, by the way. So I learned about dismissal, too. This experience has helped me tremendously in setting up Beyond Meat.

6.  Did you learn any particular lessons from being fired from your job?

I learned several lessons. The first was that I had given up far too much control. I tend to be a very trusting person. For this reason, though I had foreseen certain potential problems, I discounted them. I thought to myself, “We are all like-minded people. We are all after the same thing.” I naively thought nothing could go wrong. However, when you raise money, peoples’ attitudes change. This experience taught me about control. I am still learning about this issue, how to strike the right balance between trust and control.

I also learned some lessons about interacting with people. The papers I had written upset some people. The person who signed off on them had missed some critical parts because he had failed to read the documents completely. Instead of dealing with this issue graciously, I critiqued their management. That was a dumb, arrogant move. Within moments of receiving my critique, the board fired me.

7.   I understand that you are affiliated with the Quaker Church. Can you give our Japanese audience an overview of the church’s beliefs? How have these beliefs and your personal values influenced the way you do business?

I attended Quaker schools from elementary school to high school. When I return home, I attend Quaker church with my dad. I have not yet found a Quaker church to attend here. They are all far away. My beliefs definitely influence everything I do. The religion is very democratic. At service, you sit in silence for an hour. If someone is moved to speak, that person can get up and do so, but there is no pastor or minister. Quakerism is a Christian religion, but it is about your own, personal relationship with God. Service to others and nonviolence are the core beliefs. Because my dad is a philosopher, he encouraged me to think for myself, and I have a lot of beliefs different from his. I view violence against animals as wrong. Violence against a sentient being is violence. I do not think this Quaker belief applies just to humans. I have extended the thinking to a broader universe than a single species. This belief influences me every day.

8.    Last December, washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage assets list because of its fresh ingredients and its nutritional balance. Have you considered creating “BEYOND MEAT” products based on any Japanese foods?

In China, citizens are wary of the meat supply, and in Japan, I understand that radioactive fish contamination is a concern. We would certainly like to play a role in providing plant-based versions of these foods. We had been in discussions with one of the world’s largest tuna companies in this connection. Though those talks have recently lost steam, we are still interested in plant-based substitutes of seafood products.

9.   What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in Japan? What education and experiences do you recommend?

I have to listen to my heart first. I try to listen to what is inside me because if I am not driving from that fundamental level of commitment, I would not be able to overcome all of the obstacles. You have to have that underlying motivation. What you are trying to accomplish must be what you really aspire to, not what you think your parents or others would want you to do. You also have to take risks. You can think of a huge number of reasons not to take a risk, a huge number of justifications for not achieving a goal. Just the other day, when I was sharing my goals at a company, one of the meeting participants was pointing out reasons why some of the goals might not be attainable. No one wants to hear that negativity. I want to hear how they led the team to the end of a successful game. I love athletes like Michael Jordan, who played with a 102 degree fever. Success as an entrepreneur requires the determination to pursue goals that seem impossible.