Unicorn Bags - Success Stories
As we have grown in our business, others have grown with us. Here we would like to recognize some of the successful businesses we've worked with and highlight their achievements.
Back to the Roots (BTTR Ventures)
an Urban Mushroom Farm in Oakland, California
Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora were headed from college toward the world of investment banking and consulting when they were inspired by a lecture that suggested old coffee grounds could be used to grow mushrooms. After some experimentation, they founded BTTR in 2009 and began building the business without venture capital or equity funding.
At the beginning we provided filter bags to help them get started and worked with them to overcome various production difficulties. Our investment paid off with BTTR's success in the production and sale of mushroom kits and their ability to now purchase 50,000 of our bags at a time.
Some BTTR highlights:
- 2011 Featured in the NY Times
- 2011 Recognized by the White House Business Council as Champions of Change
- 2011 One of Top 5 Trends at the Fancy Food Show
- 2011 Oakland Indie Award: Innovative Newbie
- 2011 Miller/Coors Urban Business Plan Competition Winners
- 2010 BusinessWeek Top 25 Social Entrepreneurs
- 2010 SVN Innovation Award Winners
- 2010 Hitachi Foundation/Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs Winner
- 2010 Wal-Mart Better Living Competition, Western Regional Winners
- 2009 BusinessWeek's Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25
- 2009 BBC/Newsweek Social Venture World Challenge, Top 3 Finalist
- 2009 UCLA Opportunity Green Conference Top 25 Sustainable Company
- 2009 UC Berkeley Social Venture Competition, Winner
BTTR Video
- In the News
- TEDx Presidio Talk
- BBC/Newsweek World Challenge
- Miller/Coors Urban Entrepreneurs Series
- TEDx Courage to Ask
- BTTR on Univision
- David Wolfe and Alice Waters on BTTR
- Opportunity Green - 2009
Congratulations BTTR
Your continued effort in successful marketing is my model for Unicorn. We are very proud of you for your ingenuity in marketing and hard work. This the real American Dream, not through "spreading the wealth," but through generating wealth the old fashion way, like you are doing. Keep up the good work.
Thank you,
Lou Hsu