Episode Details

In this episode, Travis sits down with Mesh Gelman, founder and CEO of Cumulus Coffee Company. With a career spanning entrepreneurship, retail innovation, and leadership at Starbucks—including running retail partnerships and its innovation incubator—Mesh brings decades of experience to the world of coffee. After years of R&D, he launched Cumulus to solve one of the biggest challenges in coffee: delivering high-quality cold brew at home in seconds. His journey blends curiosity, resilience, and a relentless drive to build something truly differentiated.

On this episode we talk about:

• Mesh’s unconventional path from teaching to textiles to coffee innovation
• Lessons learned scaling a retail business and landing major partners like JCPenney
• What he learned working closely with Starbucks and Howard Schultz
• The massive shift from hot coffee to cold brew and what it means for the market
• The 4+ year R&D journey behind building Cumulus Coffee

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Curiosity and asking better questions can open more doors than having all the answers.
2. Building your own brand—and owning the customer relationship—is critical for long-term stability.
3. The best innovations often come from solving operational pain points that others overlook.

Notable Quotes

• "The smartest people I knew were asking questions, not just giving answers."
• "The world will be fine tomorrow without us—we have to earn our business every day."
• "It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had—and it brings me more joy than anything I’ve done."

Connect with Mesh Gelman:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meshgelman
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meshgelman/
• Other: https://cumuluscoffee.com

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