Michael LaVitola (Foxtrot) & Waverly Deutsch

Foxtrot cofounder and CEO Mike LaVitola, MBA ’14, has become expert at hearing “no.” He was not initially accepted into the New Venture Challenge, and after he talked his way in, his team did not make the finals. Despite steady revenue, it took years to put together a seed round.

But LaVitola remained committed to his idea of a reimagined convenience store, with curated locally-made products that could be ordered online for delivery on demand.

The ecommerce model soon evolved to include physical stores after Foxtrot’s first distribution warehouse, in the West Loop, became a community gathering place and organic marketing for the brand.

“People were in and having an espresso in the morning and taking meetings there and grabbing wine after work, and it just became this total embodiment for the brand,” LaVitola said.

Chicago-based Foxtrot in February announced a $45 million Series B round. It has eight stores in Chicago, two in Dallas and two in Washington, DC, with plans to double its store count this year. It is also recently launched nationwide shipping.

In this episode, LaVitola speaks with Waverly Deutsch, a professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth and academic director of University-wide entrepreneurship content. She was on the committee that initially rejected Foxtrot’s NVC application.