Howard Shultz’s recent move to blockchain technology is the most important in history | by Jayden Levitt | October 2022
You’ll see why sometimes it’s the one you know in the business.
Before Howard Shultz transformed Starbucks into the global powerhouse it is today – people drank crap coffee.
When Schultz joined Starbucks in the early ’80s, they had three stores that sold ground Indonesian coffee that you could take home and make yourself.
Shortly after joining the company, Shultz was inspired by a trip to Italy.
He noticed the sense of theater and community around the coffee shops, which made him realize that Starbucks was not in the right part of the coffee business.
The real business and opportunity was to integrate the coffee and the destination to create a sense of community in the store.
Shultz felt that he could bring that same atmosphere to the United States and that serving coffee in an open and welcoming environment could be refreshing to the people.
What a brilliant idea.
He ran home to talk to the founders of Starbucks about his experience.
They rejected the idea.
And continued to reject it for almost two years.
So, as any good entrepreneur would, Shultz went and started his chain of Italian coffee shops.
Not surprisingly, Starbucks ran into financial difficulties, and the founders crawled back with an offer to Shultz to buy the company.
Jerry Baldwin, the founder of Starbucks, gave Shultz a 90-day exclusive offer to raise $3.8 million.
After about 60 days, Shultz raised about 50% of what he needed before he got the call from Baldwin.
Jerry Baldwin: “We have a competitive buyer,”
“One of your investors from Il Giornale has turned up and offered me $4 million in cash without due diligence.”
Shultz’s heart sank, and his excitement was short-lived, as he recalls:
“I remember that moment as if the world had just ended,”
“I knew who it was. At that time – there were three business titans in Seattle – and he was one of them. …I didn’t know what to do.”
When Shultz broke the news, his lawyer tried to help and asked Shultz to stop by his office so he could meet with the firm’s senior partner, whom Shultz had never met before.
The firm’s senior partner was Bill Gates Senior.
In stark contrast to his son, 80-year-old Bill Gates Senior Shultz went to Baldwin’s office.
Bill Gates Senior talks to Jerry Baldwin:
“You should be ashamed that you are going to steal this boy’s dream. That will not happen. Both you and I know this is not going to happen.”
Within 10 minutes of the meeting, Baldwin agreed that Shultz would buy Starbucks in line with their original agreement.
Shultz bought Starbucks for $3.8 million in 1987, which included six stores.
According to Google Finance, Starbucks is now worth 100.79 billion dollars
Making good on Shultz’s original investment by a factor of 26,500 and make him a billionaire three times over.
Starbucks, led by Shultz and his early Vision, releases its own NFT platform.
Starbucks Odyssey will launch later this year. The new digital experience combines an already successful Loyalty Rewards program with an NFT platform.
The platform is built on a side chain Polygon and does not require you to use a Crypto Wallet. It will allow customers to earn and purchase digital assets that unlock exclusive experiences and rewards.
They have completely removed the friction and create a more immersive and practical experience than going down to the coffee shop.
It’s absolutely brilliant.
It has made NFTs the entry ticket to their digital community, but they have purposely avoided highlighting the technology.
Starbucks is trying to put the consumer experience first by bringing more non-technical people onto their Web3 platform.
They even do away with technical jargon and don’t refer to the word NFT; instead, their collectibles are named:
“travel stamps”
Starbucks just landed a killer blow on its competitors
It is the world’s most significant coffeehouse chain in terms of revenue, generating more than ten times as much as its nearest competitor Costa Coffee.
The coffee giant shows no signs of slowing down.
Starbucks is already way ahead of some of its closest competitors. And it’s easy to see why.
Howard Shultz’s DNA for challenging the narrative runs through Starbucks, especially when others reject their ideas.
They are not afraid to innovate and have a forward-looking and adaptable management team.
Sometimes great things are possible with the help of friends like Bill Gates Senior, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 95.
