🚫💥 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 100+ 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭-𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚.

Bill Shufelt, the 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠, wasn’t just trying to make a non-alcoholic beer. He was trying to change a culture. But first, he had to find a single brewery willing to let him test his idea.

💡 Most said no. Flat-out. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝.
He drove 10,000+ miles. Toured 120 breweries. Got 100+ rejections.
Eventually, he found one brewer 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐬.

Today? Athletic Brewing is a $200M+ brand, dominating the non-alcoholic beer category in the U.S.

As Fractional CFOs, this story reminds us:
✅ Resilience matters more than runway.
✅ Your model can be lean, but your conviction better be strong.
✅ And yes—sometimes your first 100 financial pitches fall flat… until they don’t.

Founders: if you’re in the middle of the grind, you’re not alone.
You’re just in the part of the story that nobody talks about—yet.

🧠 At Great Minds Consulting, we help founders build financial models that fuel the mission, not just the burn.
If you’ve got the vision, we’ll help you bring the numbers into alignment.