A Day in the Life of the CEO of BeatBox Beverages, Justin Fenchel

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Justin Fenchel, the 41-year-old CEO of BeatBox Beverages, based in Austin. Mark Cuban joined for a portion of the interview and is an investor in BeatBox Beverages. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was an equity analyst for almost five years but realized I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I was 27, unmarried, and childless, and I thought there was more out there for me.

I went to business school in 2011. There, Brad Schultz, one of my best friends and a cofounder of BeatBox, and I had an idea for a party version of boxed wine. We met Aimy Steadman, the third cofounder of BeatBox, in business school.

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We went on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2014, and Mark Cuban invested $1 million for a third of the company.

BeatBox Beverages continued to grow after that and is now worth over $200 million. It’s a balancing act to be a husband, father, and CEO.

Here’s what a typical day looks like.

I wake at 6:15 a.m. when our 13-month-old baby wakes up

I’m more of a night person, although my schedule has shifted significantly since our baby arrived. If there’s something I need to do, I do it. Having my phone with me always means I can accomplish something.

When I wake up, I can’t help myself and grab my phone. I want to see the sales numbers. I don’t respond to emails then, but I do like to get a sense of what the day looked like.

I always try to drink a full liter of water as soon as I wake up. I make coffee for my wife, Michelle, and me with the Nespresso machine — I’ll have coffee with a little vanilla syrup. I like a cold brew sometimes, and I mix it with a product called Momentum, a longevity powder supplement.

I’m with the baby from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.

I spend a couple of hours with the baby and my wife.

I schedule my first meeting for around 8:30 to 9 a.m. I used to travel frequently, but having the baby helped me prioritize my time more effectively. When I’m home, I’m deeply involved in being a husband and father.

We’ve been a remote company since our inception, but we now have an office in the Austin area that about 40 people visit. I visit the office a couple of times a month. I’ve found that I’m productive in my home office.

I handle investor relations, strategy, and any urgent matters that arise. My office doesn’t have a fancy three-monitor setup or anything like that. I use my laptop, and I finally have a cool background on my shelf.

I have a DJ booth in the office, and I like to have a fun work environment. I haven’t DJed during any meetings (yet). That’s what the BeatBox brand stands for — this feeling of fun, togetherness, inclusion, and party.

My calendar is dialed in with the day’s meetings

I have meetings with almost everybody on the sales side, so I spend a lot of my day talking to our team. When I’m traveling, I have meetings at conferences, major retailers, or our big distributor partners.

I try to avoid any important meetings on Monday mornings, because I mean, who wants to do that?

It’s been a lot of work scaling from four years ago to our current 260 employees. I check in with my team to see what we can do to create a fun and better work environment, and I’m as transparent as possible about what’s happening with the company. My job is to keep our team energized.

I also speak to our investors, such as Mark Cuban

I speak with Mark often. He said he invested in BeatBox because he liked the taste of the product. He’s a great addition to our team.

(Editor’s note: Cuban, who joined the interview, said, “I had the iced tea and the raspberry, and it brought me back to my college days. I liked the form factor at the time; it was fun. I think it’s perfect for college kids.

The BeatBox team is fun. I’ve got the easy job. I show up and play rah, rah! Having fun is great, and now and then we have to answer some questions. They’re smart, and so when you have entrepreneurs who are smart, who are driven, who don’t get down when they run into a problem, my job is easy,” Cuban said.)

I try to eat a healthy lunch when I’m home

My wife usually cooks something awesome for dinner, and I often have the leftovers for lunch the next day.

My afternoon involves more meetings. It’ll vary depending on whether I’m on the road or not.

There are things on the calendar, and then there’s always something new to discuss. Typically, my calendar is pretty clear in the afternoon.

By 2 p.m., I’ll meet with our CFO to discuss the current status

I’m a pretty even-keeled person, and I tend to thrive in a bit of chaos, which you just have to be OK with in a business that’s growing and evolving as fast as BeatBox.

There will be fires that arise or unexpected things that you have to deal with in real time, but I remain grateful and grounded that I get to do what I love with incredible people.

I end my workday around 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m.

Some moments make me feel drained, but I think it goes back to when you’re doing something you love and are so passionate about; it makes the hard days not so hard.

I definitely have to find the time to relax. I feel like I’m at my best mid-week. If it’s a day when I’m on back-to-back-to-back calls, I’ll certainly feel like I have less brain power at the end, but I’m usually good at powering through.

After work, we usually go on a family walk with the baby, and then we’ll take our dog for a one-hour walk. We’ll come home, have dinner, and unwind. I might have a phone call with somebody after dinner, and then we’ll eventually settle on the couch and have some BeatBox wine.

My wife and I try to sneak in our shows, and we have all the streaming services. We like The Penguin and The Righteous Gemstones. We watch a couple of episodes, and it takes us forever to finish them. I don’t read that much, but I should read more.

Each day is exciting, and watching this baby grow is truly surreal. It’s the coolest — cooler than anything in business.

I work a bit on the weekends and hang out with my cofounders

I’ve got my phone, and if there’s an email I can get to or a text I can respond to, I’m available. I have to, and in fact, I want to be better about not always being on. I’m learning to tell myself that if I put the phone down, everything will be fine for a couple of hours.

I love to unwind on the weekends, and that’s what BeatBox Beverages is all about: unwinding. I’ve tried all of our drinks. I often attend concerts with my wife, and we recently saw Jack White.

My cofounders are also my best friends, and we spend our weekends together. Outside BeatBox, I also enjoy beer and tequila. We’re always talking about BeatBox, but we’re also having drinks, going to the pool, and hanging out together.

Every night, I’m in bed by 10 p.m. and asleep by 11 p.m. I wake up and do it all again.