Bootstrapping, Breakdowns, and the Brand That Wouldn’t Quit

About the Series

Building Brands is a founder-led editorial series from ClickZ, sharing unfiltered stories from the frontline of brand building. These aren’t only fairytale exits—they’re the honest, often messy journeys behind the logos.

Meet Simon Reznichky

Before he co-led Dripdash into over a thousand retailers and an eventual exit, Simon Reznichky was watching people yell at baristas.

Not at him—but at staff inside Blue Bottle Coffee, where customers routinely demanded Kyoto-style cold brew. Made through a Japanese slow-drip process developed in the 1600s, the drink had a cult following—and always ran out by mid-morning. Reznichky, who studied quantitative psychology and behavioral economics, saw something few founders do that early: emotion.

When people scream because a product’s sold out, he thought, you're no longer guessing if there's demand.

From Office Fridges to the Retail Floor

Dripdash began with modest ambitions. Initially a delivery service for cold coffee to San Francisco offices, the brand quickly pivoted to supplying Michelin-starred restaurants and boutique food retailers. Its edge wasn’t the caffeine—it was the process. The team believed that after third-wave artisanal cafés, a fourth wave was coming: bottled craft experiences built for on-the-go lifestyles.

The founders, including Reznichky, kept operations lean and learning fast. They produced in-house, experimented constantly, and treated every shelf like a live A/B test. Demoing products in stores, they noticed what pulled attention—from typography to can color. If a change worked, it could be implemented the same week.

Their mantra was Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. Retail wasn’t just a distribution strategy. It was product R&D at scale.

Thin Margins, Tough Lessons

Success brought scale. Scale brought exposure.

Eventually, Dripdash outgrew its in-house setup and moved production to a contract manufacturer. That’s when things got complicated. The new partner began missing deadlines without explanation. For six months, there were excuses—delayed materials, equipment issues, sudden staff shortages.

Then came the truth: the co-packer had filed for bankruptcy.

At a time when Dripdash had just secured high-profile retail slots, the brand suddenly had no product to ship. The team scrambled to preserve relationships, communicate delays, and find a new facility. Each change in manufacturer also meant tweaking formulations to meet different production specs—costly, time-consuming, and risky.

Reznichky now calls that period “the closest we came to going under.”

A Festival Break—and a Bodega Shelf

Not long after the manufacturing scramble, a surprising email landed in the company’s inbox. A manager representing musician Porter Robinson claimed to have found Dripdash at a bodega near Santa Rosa—and wanted the brand to co-sponsor a 100,000-person music festival.

Skepticism turned to reality. The partnership became a breakthrough. Dripdash produced custom cans featuring Robinson’s branding, partnered with Goldenvoice, and introduced a limited-edition NFT for attendees—one of the earliest brand executions of its kind in beverage.

That moment, Reznichky reflects, wasn’t just about visibility. “It reminded us that every random shelf is a potential launchpad. You can’t fake that kind of product discovery.”

What Comes After the Exit

Following Dripdash’s acquisition, Reznichky turned his focus to a new kind of consumer problem: product returns.

His latest venture—still in stealth—uses AI to identify high-risk eCommerce orders and intervene post-purchase but before fulfillment. The idea is to reduce mindless over-ordering by offering guidance, incentives, and alternative options that help shoppers make more confident decisions.

Rather than penalize customers for returns, the platform aims to retrain behavior altogether.

In pilot programs, engagement rates have been remarkably high, especially when interventions are personalized by shopper profile. The long-term goal isn’t to sell more. It’s to help retailers increase net revenue by minimizing friction, waste, and cost.

Why This Story Kicks Off the Series

We met Simon at Shoptalk 2025, where amidst the noise of AI tools and retail tech demos, his reflections on product obsession, supply chain risk, and profitable growth stood out.

In a world chasing virality, he reminded us that real brands are built slowly, sometimes painfully—and with a level of emotional attunement that data alone can’t provide.

That’s why this conversation is the first in Building Brands—because it’s not about scale. It’s about staying in the game long enough to earn it.

Notes for Founders in a Tariff World

For mid-market brands navigating margin pressure and looming tariffs, Reznichky’s advice is grounded:

Have a domestic Plan B. Assume your most critical partners might vanish without warning. And keep more working capital than feels comfortable.

That advice comes not from textbooks, but from glass bottles, broken contracts, and late-night delivery reroutes.

This story is part of Building Brands, a new series from ClickZ featuring unfiltered founder stories from the frontline of DTC, retail, and tech.

Independently Created. Not affiliated with Shoptalk.

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