Goldman co-founded Honest Tea at the end of January 1998. He first conceived of a low-calorie beverage company as an MBA student at the Yale School of Management in 1995. After doing a case study about Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi for a competitive strategies class, he discovered "many high-calorie, sugary drinks and many no-calorie bottled waters on the market" but few beverages in the middle. He pondered concocting a low-calorie, flavorful beverage, but did not execute the idea until three years later on a trip to New York City. He trotted around Central Park with a friend and ate together at a restaurant afterwards. They looked at the menu and found none of the drinks pleasing. Goldman emailed Barry Nalebuff, his former Yale professor, asking him if the low-calorie beverage idea still was sound. Nalebuff mentored Goldman and together they decided to create a new tea. Nalebuff provided most of the $500,000 in seed funding, while Goldman contributed a smaller amount after fundraising from his friends and family. Nalebuff came up with the name "Honest Tea", which sounds like "honesty". Goldman built an office in the guest bedroom of his home, which he shared with his wife and three small children. Coca-Cola paid $43 million for 40% of Honest Tea with the choice of purchasing the entire company in 2011. Several organic aficionados disapproved of the sale to Coca-Cola because Goldman was required to purchase several dozen contracts from independent distributors that aided in growing Honest Tea. In 2013, Goldman coauthored a graphic book with his Honest Tea co-founder Barry Nalebuff, detailing their experiences founding and running the company. Jason Abbruzzese reviewed the book for the Financial Times, writing, "The narrative is at its best when balancing the personalities of the founders: Goldman's socially conscious side and Nalebuff's economic expertise." Goldman stepped down from his role as CEO of Honest Tea in 2015 and became the executive chair of Beyond Meat. He retained ownership of no more than 10% of Honest Tea. Goldman kept the same salary as he moved to a part-time position at Honest Tea in which he would assist Coca-Cola's Venture and Emerging Brands Unit with connecting with customers. He made the change in part because his youngest son graduated from high school. According to a 2019 article in The Washington Post, Goldman continued to do work for Honest Tea.
Beyond Meat
After his wife reviewed a piece discussing Beyond Meat, a company that created meat substitutes, in 2012 Goldman invested in the company. He became executive chairman of Beyond Meat in 2015 and worked part-time for Honest Tea in Bethesda, Maryland and part-time for Beyond Meat in Manhattan Beach, California. When Beyond Meat held its initial public offering on May 2, 2019, Goldman owned 2% of its shares.
