An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be humble: There’s the saying, “the more you learn, the less you know.” I can say from experience that it certainly applies in entrepreneurship. It’s important to ask for help with what you don’t know; and listening intently when working with others makes you a lot more effective. I believe that success is rarely singular; true success comes from collaboration.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Myers.

Bill Myers is the founder and CEO of Mill It, the first-ever plant-based buttermilk and buttermilk dressings that use ancient grains to match the taste, texture and consistency of dairy. Bill received his Bachelor’s in Food Science from Brigham Young University before working as a plant-based consultant for some of the world’s leading food brands. He founded Mill It in 2018 to provide consumers with a healthy — yet tasty — alternative to traditional buttermilk-based dressings, while also using more sustainable, earth-friendly ingredients.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in parts of upstate New York, Northern Idaho, and Vermont. My dad is a food scientist, and I grew up taste testing products he would make, and it really piqued my curiosity around food. I was always drawn to sports which led me to be curious about what nutrients were in different foods so that I could gain any performance edge possible. My generation grew up with a lot of products that were unhealthy and full of sugar and fat, which inspired me to create something that was better and healthier than what we’ve traditionally seen on grocery shelves.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. — Russell M Nelson

When I was 16, my best friend passed away in a car accident. That experience shaped my life in several ways. One thing I carry with me is how important it is to focus on things that truly matter instead of things that are fleeting. I am far from perfect at it, but I try to focus on doing as much good as possible in both my personal and professional life. I’ve found that I am a lot happier when I focus on trying to help those around me instead of complaining to myself when my circumstances are unfair or unideal.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I love Shoe Dog. Phil Knight gave an invaluable gift to the entrepreneurial world with his book. One of my main take-aways from it is how resourceful he was anytime he hit an obstacle that could have derailed his business. There were several times where he could have walked away from Nike, but he always found an outside of the box solution that allowed him to succeed. To me, that’s a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur: finding ways to succeed when faced with serious adversity.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

There definitely are a lot of good ideas, but what gets lost on people is often the execution. Once you have an idea you must determine if it is something that can be scaled into a business. There are many ways to do this, but writing a business plan and trying to create a basic product were some of my first steps when creating Mill It. From there, we had to pivot and improve all our products before they were fit for retail.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I would recommend researching your industry as much as possible and comparing your business or idea to what is currently in the market. With Mill It, we identified an overlooked market and launched several first of their kind products — which have been a huge part of our success. With that said, I do think that just because someone may have invented something like what you’re creating, it doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a fit for your product in the marketplace, especially if you’re able to make a better version of it.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Ideation, product development, patent, branding, marketing, manufacturing, filing a patent, sourcing a good manufacturer, and finding a retailer are all difficult challenges companies will face when they’re scaling a business. Regarding patents, we wrote the initial drafts for Mill It internally, and then worked with a lawyer to put it into legal language that could then be filed as patent applications. With manufacturers and retailers, it can be a little bit of the ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario. Retailers want to see that you have manufacturing set up before sending orders, and manufacturers want to see that you have retailers ordering before they will want to onboard you. Ultimately, you need to have both set up before anything can happen — and that requires building a partnership where all parties can benefit.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

Be humble: There’s the saying, “the more you learn, the less you know.” I can say from experience that it certainly applies in entrepreneurship. It’s important to ask for help with what you don’t know; and listening intently when working with others makes you a lot more effective. I believe that success is rarely singular; true success comes from collaboration.

Embrace the challenge: Every day brings a new challenge. Each day I make a to-do list and then try to complete the hardest and most pressing tasks first. This allows me to keep things on schedule for our company, and my capacity to overcome difficult challenges is increased.

Read and learn as much as you can: I studied Food Science and Chemistry in college and did not take a single business class, so I have had to learn a lot on the go. They say, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and, for me, I’ve tried to read about as many different aspects of a business as possible so that I can be an effective leader. I think it’s important to understand every facet of your business and to embrace the fact that you should always be learning.

Committed versus motivated: I think this is an important concept when it comes to entrepreneurship. A lot of people can get motivated to chase a dream business; but when things get tough, they lose motivation and walk away. You really need to be committed and understand that entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster and not everything is going to go your way. If you’re committed, you can build a successful company.

Be solution-oriented: Especially in the current era navigating COVID-19 and its impact on business, it is crucial to find ways to succeed when obstacles are impeding your brand’s growth. We have tried to be creative at Mill It in how we work with retailers and in how we build awareness. There have been a few things that we’ve tried that haven’t worked but pivoting and thinking of innovative solutions is critical for a business to succeed.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

I would encourage them to experiment as much as they can and to build the best prototype that they can on their own. It’s beneficial to understand what it takes to source materials or ingredients and to then use them to create something. Sometimes people have great product ideas but are unable to source the materials and set up the manufacturing necessary to build a viable product.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Personally, I would recommend trying to build out the idea on their own. I developed most of the technology and the products that we use for Mill It and having that knowledge base has helped me succeed at every other facet of running our company. If necessary, you can bring on a consultant once you have a basic prototype to help you perfect your product.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I bootstrapped Mill It for the first several years and it was some of the most difficult times of my life; but I wouldn’t trade the struggle I went through. Learning to be successful without a lot of resources will help you be more successful when you do raise capital. Most investors want to see you be successful on your own before they take a leap of faith and invest into your company. They want to make sure that you have a product that will bring them a return on their investment.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

When I was 19, I served a two-year volunteer mission for the Church of Jesus Christ in parts of New Mexico and Texas. Several of the areas in which I served are among the most impoverished counties in the United States. One thing that really impacted me was seeing many families with children who went without foods such as bread, milk, meat, fruits, and vegetables. As a missionary we worked closely with LDS Charities to provide food for those in need which really impacted my life and my desire to give back.

During my final two years in school, I was able to work with LDS charities again by running the micro-analytics for some of the products they produced. Since I started Mill It, we’ve been able to work with distributors to donate food to local food banks across the country. I’m very passionate about giving back and want to play a role in ending world hunger.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Our world is so desperate for sincere kindness and authenticity. My generation was the first to grow up with social media and one of the downsides of that is how afraid people are to be vulnerable and connect with each other on a personal level. I would love to be part of a movement that shares sincere kindness and helps people feel and recognize their intrinsic value.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I’d probably pick Jay-Z. I grew up listening to his music and making my own remixes to his songs. I would try to convince him to let me do a feature on his next album. I also would love to pick his brain on how he has used his platform to become a successful entrepreneur, business mogul, and philanthropist.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

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Making Something From Nothing: Bill Myers Of “Mill It” On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.