1: Jim Koch, Founder and Chairman of Boston Beer Company

Square One: Conversations with the Best in Business

Jim Koch is the billionaire Founder and Chairman of Boston Beer Company (maker of Sam Adams). Jim is an incredibly sharp operator and is revered as the founding father of the American craft brewery movement. Born into a middle class family in Cincinnati, Ohio, he spent a formative decade of his life in Cambridge, earning a BA, JD, and MBA from Harvard. After 6 years as a Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, Jim took a risk, quit his job and started selling Sam Adams. Today Boston Beer Company has annual revenues of ~$1 billion and sells more than 50 types of beer all over the world. Romeen and Jim discussed his early life, how he made the decision to start Boston Beer Company, and the key lessons he picked up across his career. Jim had many interesting insights, but a few that resonated most were: (1) get out of your echo chamber when making decisions (8:05), (2) laser focus your early career on developing skills (20:36), and (3) always be selling (24:44).