It took a year between 20 for me to figure out all the complexities and logistics of launching an alcohol brand. Kyle Cooke with his wife and Loverboy creative director Amanda Batula I figured, what if I create the first better-for-you hard tea? Tea adds flavor without adding calories, and less sugar equals less of a hangover. We'd generated incredible exposure for brands like Whispering Angel and Twisted Tea because we were drinking them every episode. I'd been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into the show, but it was almost impossible to include it organically - plus, it didn't really go hand in hand with a show about partying in the Hamptons.īut I'd started to notice that Bravo's audience was paying attention to what the cast was drinking. When we filmed the first season of 'Summer House' in 2017, I was working on a nutrition coaching app. If I was going to be a solo founder, I needed to be able to get off the ground myself. I realized it's very difficult to raise venture capital if you don't have a technical co-founder. Trying to get those first few startups off the ground was a rude awakening. Now, we've generated about $38 million in total sales and work with over 150 distributors across 44 states - but I definitely faced my fair share of obstacles along the way. An alcohol brand would have the winning factors my past startups were missing: Namely, it was a product I was passionate and knowledgeable about, and it was easy to integrate into our reality show. It wasn't until 2017, after my first season on 'Summer House,' that I got the idea for Loverboy. The problem was that I was stuck thinking I had to be in tech, constantly chasing projects that I thought were trendy - like a beauty app or a restaurant reservation app - instead of what got me excited. Even if I wasn't passionate about the product itself, I could sell it.Īfter I went to business school, I tried to get several startups off the ground, and none of them worked. I always had the entrepreneurial itch, whether it was putting on magic shows and lemonade stands to earn some money as a kid or selling Cutco cutlery when I was 18. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kyle Cooke, 39-year-old Loverboy founder and star of Bravo's 'Summer House.' It has been edited for length and clarity.

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