"But at Stanford, time on campus has proven to be a critical launchpad. Famously, alumni from the Silicon Valley-area school have gone on to found dozens of major companies, including Google, PayPal, and Snapchat. An over $100 million startup, the premium coffee and kitchenware brand Fellow, is striving to join their ranks. Heavily caffeinated while pursuing his Stanford MBA, Jake Miller envisioned a minimalist, dual-purpose coffee steeper designed for both hot and cold brews."
"Miller secured early funding through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, but when it was time to raise institutional capital, the momentum stalled. By the time Fellow finally broke through, Miller had racked up 73 rejections from angel investors and small funds. For many founders, that would have been the end of the road. For Miller, it was fuel. "Nothing was going to stop me," Miller said."
Jake Miller launched Fellow while pursuing a Stanford MBA, designing a minimalist dual-purpose coffee steeper for hot and cold brews. Fellow expanded into a retailer of dozens of products, including coffee makers, grinders, and kettles, and earned placement at Target, Costco, and Nordstrom. Miller raised early funds on Kickstarter but faced 73 rejections from angel investors and small funds before securing institutional capital. Miller framed repeated rejections as motivation and used persistence as a core strategy. Earlier experiments in construction and marketing helped Miller identify his passion for building products and businesses.
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