Success Is Best When Shared
Don't be the only winner in the winner's circle.
Repole structures upside so the whole company wins, not just the founders. At Vitaminwater he set aside a 10% employee option pool; when Coca-Cola bought the company, ~600 employees shared roughly $450M — the shipping clerk got ~$600K, the receptionist ~$400K, ~150 people cleared $1M. He frames it as both values ('success is best when shared,' taught by his parents and grandmother) and strategy ('give people what they want and you'll get what you want').
- Carve a real equity pool for the team before the exit, not after.
- Give people what they want and you get what you want in return.
- The win you share is more satisfying than the win you keep.
Repole credits his parents and grandmother for the principle. He applied it via Vitaminwater's 10% option pool, and names sharing the windfall with employees — not the headline price — as the first real 'oh my God' moment of his career.
Source · VIDEO
Mike Repole on Next Up with Adam Breneman (full episode)