How Honey, Hustle, and Hard Lessons Built a $10M Brand
From pandemic burnout to beverage mogul—the unfiltered story of Jack Espy’s rise.
Jack Espy didn’t plan to start a beverage empire.
He just lost his job in real estate finance, was stuck at home during lockdown, and started mixing cocktails with honey because that’s what he had in the pantry.
By the end of 2020, that experiment turned into Spirited Hive—a honey-sweetened canned-cocktail brand that exploded across Tennessee.
Five years later, he’s building Strive Soda, a “better-for-you” soda brand competing against giants with billion-dollar budgets.
This episode isn’t a fairy tale.
It’s a masterclass in what happens when you trade delusion for discipline—and build something real.
Connect with Jack Espy
Spirited Hive: https://www.spiritedhive.com
Strive Sode: https://strivesoda.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_espy/
Jack Espy Founder Story
Most founders chase scale like it’s a scoreboard.
Jack Espy learned that velocity beats volume.
While everyone else burned investor cash trying to be in every state, he focused on owning one.
Nashville first.
Then Florida.
Then Michigan.
He built slow, steady, profitable—and impossible to ignore.
It’s not sexy. It’s not fast. But it works.
“You can’t buy trust. You earn it one repeat purchase at a time.”
Spirited Hive
Inside this conversation, Jack walks through the entire blueprint:
The Two-Year Grind – How he spent 24 months failing forward before Hive ever hit shelves.
The Distribution Reality – Why most consumer brands die chasing shelf space instead of protecting velocity.
The Marketing Math – The formula every founder must memorize:
Distribution gets you on the shelf. Marketing gets you off the shelf.
The Second Act – How launching Strive Soda taught him to reuse the scars from Hive instead of repeating them.
The Exit Strategy – Why he builds every brand with acquisition in mind—and how “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” became his mantra.
Beverage Entrepreneur
This isn’t about drinks. It’s about mindset.
Jack’s story proves three things:
Naïveté isn’t a weakness—it’s a superpower when paired with grit.
Profitability is a discipline, not an accident.
Every founder needs a reality check before the market gives them one.
He’s not chasing a unicorn.
He’s building a thoroughbred—fast enough to win, strong enough to finish.
“Sometimes it’s beautiful to be naïve.”
Do This Today
Audit your growth strategy. Are you chasing width or depth?
Map your velocity. What’s moving fastest and why?
Decide who your real customer is. Everyone isn’t it.
The Rub
Most entrepreneurs worship speed.
Jack Espy worships execution.
He’s proof that slow, boring, profitable growth still wins in a world addicted to headlines.
Because hype fades.
But discipline compounds.
This is the way.
— Hanley
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