#7: Lucas Philips - Willing to Lead

Lucas Philips founded BrewBike while he was in college at Northwestern University in 2015.

Pre-coronavirus, BrewBike had expanded to UT Austin, Texas State, and the University of Miami, sold over 100,000 cups of coffee, paid student employees over $150,000 for their work, and raised over $2.5 million in funding. 

But the shutdowns brought on by the pandemic left BrewBike in a tough situation. College campuses had been the lifeblood of the organization; BrewBike, like many food-service businesses, had to adapt overnight.

So they launched an e-commerce shop featuring cold brew kits, original blend coffee, and whole beans.

As Chief Product Officer, Lucas was instrumental in these efforts.

Yet he did so without a team reporting specifically to him. In the past few years, Lucas passed leadership and management responsibilities to CEO Randy Paris and COO Kelsie Hernandez, so that he could focus on growth and innovation.

Now Lucas would like to bring someone onto the team to help him, but he’s terrified that doing so will slow him down.

Aaron and Lucas explore where that terror might be coming from. Aaron offers a quote by Carl Jung, “that which we do not bring to consciousness appears in our lives as fate.”