“You might be the only one who realizes you’re the only [woman] in the room, so stomp around, make some noise, get there early, take the best seat, sit at the head of the table. Why not?” – Sarah Kauss
This week we are celebrating entrepreneur and businesswoman Sarah Kauss! Sarah is the founder of S’well, a reusable, insulated products manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer.
Sarah grew up in Jupiter, Florida, with her parents, who were also small business owners. She went to the University of Colorado Boulder, where she got her bachelor’s degree in accounting, and worked for Ernst & Young for a few years, before deciding to go to Harvard Business School for her MBA.
After Harvard Business School, Sarah worked in a number of nonlinear careers before working for a publicly traded real estate equity investment trust. In 2009, Sarah decided to take a vacation. Sarah went to a retreat with her mother in Arizona, enjoying mindfulness, meditations, and hikes. On one of these hikes, Sarah had her trusty reusable water bottle, a plastic bottle she had had since her days at Boulder. Taking a sip of warm water from a bottle that no longer matched her style or career advancements, Sarah realized she could create a reusable bottle that looked better and worked harder.
Sarah wasted no time in laying out her business plan, and launched S’well in 2010. S’well started with a 17-ounce bottle with a triple-insulated design that kept cold cold for 36 hours and hot hot for 18. During the first two years, Sarah was the only employee, which meant she was handling the sales, accounting, marketing and logistics of S’well. Sarah bootstrapped S’well with $30,000 of her own savings to reach over $100 million in revenue as the CEO. From the very first bottle, Sarah was working with nonprofits like WaterAid and UNICEF, trying to bring clean drinking water to those in need. S’well has become so popular that it consistently partners with brands like Starbucks, Lily Pulitzer, Bearaby, Zuri, Crayola, and more! The brand also has expanded its drinkware line and includes reusable bowls, containers, and culinary sets.
Sarah has helped to make sustainability more mainstream while displacing more than 4 billion single-use plastic bottles. S’well was named one of 25 designs that helped shape the world by Architectural Digest. In 2014, Sarah was in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list and was selected as a member of EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women. She has also been awarded the Harvard Business School Club of New York’s Entrepreneurship Award. Sarah sold S’well in 2022 and now focuses on making an impact by advising a range of public and private companies. Sarah has proven herself a capable and confident businesswoman, and a champion for products that not only fill a need but can improve the world.
