11: Califia Farms Founder Greg Steltenpohl On Kickstarting Two Major Wellness Trends & The Health Crisis That Almost Killed Him

Greg Stehltenpohl is the man behind not one but two major brands in the health food space—Odwalla juices and Califia Farms non-dairy milk and milk products. As perhaps the first environmental sciences graduate from Stanford (he shares that story in future depth in the podcast), Greg started his career when a book literally fell off a shelf and into his lap at a bookstore—and forever changed his life. In this podcast episode, Greg opens up about building Odwalla into a multi-million dollar brand (it was eventually bought by Coke), and the hardships he faced along the way, including how he bounced back from the 1996 E. Coli outbreak that could've sunk the company. He also gets personal, diving into his personal health crisis, the time doctors told him he had 48 hours to live, and how the entire ordeal ultimately gave him a new perspective on business, and life. Now, Greg runs the non-dairy juggernaut Califia Farms, which has single-handedly shaped the alternative milk space. He shares his secrets to building not one but two multi-million dollar businesses, and what's next for the brand. To contact Jason with comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail [email protected]. For all sponsorship inquiries, please e-mail [email protected]. To join our podcast email newsletter, please visit http://bit.ly/mbgpodemail.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices