Naman Shrestha
It’s one of the hottest days of the year; you are hiking across a secluded area and need some refreshing water to keep you hydrated and going. Well, if you have one of the Coldest bottles filled with water in your backpack, you would have access to cold water even if you had filled it several hours before. In ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ season 15 episode 15, the founders of Coldest (stylized as COLDEST) pitch their brand and products in front of a host of sharks, hoping to strike a deal with them. With a promise to keep the water colder for a longer duration of time, it has the ability to leave a significant mark on the industry.
Coldest: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
A Florida State University graduate, David Stark put his engineering degree to good use and decided to kickstart the journey of Coldest from a 1-car garage in Naples, Florida, in 2015. Before that, he owned a few software and media companies, all of which didn’t do that well. With an aim to create the Coldest products to tackle the hotness in the hottest state, David faced struggle during the formative couple of years, from 2015-2017, as his team made mistakes, grew, and learned what would be good for the brand through sheer determination and hard work.
In 2017, David and the rest of the team moved the headquarters of Coldest to the founder’s new backyard — a 2500-square-foot warehouse. The new workspace also came with an outdoor space, making it 25 times bigger than the garage it all started in. A year later, David’s twin, Joe Wayne, offered to help him out on the marketing front, allowing David more time and focus on creating the best Coldest products. So, in 2018, the twin alliance was formed, making Joe the co-founder of the company.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Florida Atlantic University, Joe Wayne worked as a Civil Engineer for the Connecticut Department of Transportation for six years, from 2012 to 2018. He used to work on his side business when he was not doing that. After more than 10 business ventures ended up crashing and failing, Joe learned almost every other way he should not run a business. With all the learnings fresh in his mind, he decided to propose an alliance to his twin brother and became an integral part of Coldest.
Between 2018 and 2020, David and Joe began expanding the business as the former designed and tested different kinds of Coldest products, including the 1-gallon & 1/2 Gallon bottles. Colder was growing at a fast and unimaginable rate, much to the delight of the twin brothers and the entire team. When COVID-19 hit, the uncertainty caused the team to doubt whether to speed up the production or slow it down. Despite the tough period, it turned out to be one of the best phases for the brand as, in 2021, they moved to a brand new warehouse and a workspace of 15,000 square feet in Fort Myers, Florida.
Soon after that, the first Coldest retail store was inaugurated in Coastland Mall in Naples, Florida. With Coldest, the cofounders aim to provide their customers with products, such as bottles, bedding items, ice packs, and others, that help them keep colder longer. They started with Coldest water bottles, which are designed to keep the water cold from 36 to 100 hours. Not only that, these bottles are highly durable, leakproof, and compact so that you can fit them anywhere.
Coldest Update: Where Are They Now?
Bootstrapped since it was founded in 2015, Coldest is headquartered in Naples, Florida, where its journey began. The brand has amassed more than 500,000 followers across all social media platforms. As per their claims, they keep dropping some secrets and free drops every now and then in the VIP Facebook group, where most of their loyal customers are present. After featuring on ‘Shark Tank,’ the headquarters of Coldest was maxed out and they had been on the lookout for a newer and larger warehouse.
Currently, the new warehouse is under construction and is expected to be completed by the winter of 2024. On their website, you can find different items on sale every other day. On the other hand, they hold plenty of giveaways on social media. As for the founders’ plans for the future, they are working towards building Coldest World, a theme park that would let one get an immersive experience in the ever-so-expanding universe of Coldest. Meanwhile, Colder continues to advertise its products’ utility and features on social media platforms and provides colder and cooler products to its customers.
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