Emma Rose Cohen - Founder, Final
Emma is the CEO & Founder of Final, a brand creating sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic that helps people reduce waste in their everyday lives. Featuring products like FinalStraw: the world’s first reusable, collapsible straw as well as FinalCutlery and FinalWipe — which was inspired by the uptick in single-use products due to the pandemic — Final was built on a dream: to rid the world of single-use plastic.
The Basics:
Hometown: Santa Fe, NM
Current city: Santa Fe, NM
Alma mater: University of California Santa Barbara; Harvard Business School
Degree: B.S., Neuroscience; Master of Sustainability & Environmental Management
Very first job: Collecting fallen fruits from neighbors trees and selling it at the farmer’s market (I was 7).
Hustle: CEO & Founder, Final
The Interests:
Babe you admire and why?
My mom, for always telling me that I can accomplish anything and I can be anything I want to be. I also admire Laurie Ann Goldman who was the CEO of Spanx from 2002-2014. Although she didn’t receive the same public recognition that Sara Blakely received for the success of Spanx, she played a huge role behind the scenes in building the company from the ground up. I think it’s really admirable to put so much work into something without caring about being in the spotlight.
What’s your favorite way to start (or end) your weekend?
I love to head out into nature and get into a flow state. I ski, mountain bike, and horseback ride, so my weekends usually revolve around one of these activities outdoors.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
A friend commissioned an artist to draw a picture of my dog, Burrita, and it’s the most beautiful piece of art I own.
Go-to coffee order and/or adult beverage?
My go-to coffee is a french press of dark roast coffee with collagen, reishi and lion’s mane mushroom powder, MCT oil, frothed oat milk, and a little bit of turbinado sugar sprinkled on top. Of course, sipped out of my FinalStraw.
Dream concert to attend?
Billie Eilish & Paul McCartney… together!
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
I’m the CEO & Founder of Final. Final creates sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic and helps people reduce waste in their everyday lives. All of our products are super convenient and designed to spark some excitement. We’re making sustainability sexy—one fork, spork and straw at a time! As the CEO of a startup, I’ve done a little bit of everything. During the first two years, I was in and out of the trenches on a day-to-day basis. Today, a good portion of our team has been with Final for more than two years. We’re made of independent self-starters—this has enabled me to shift my focus to the higher level work and the vision of the company. We’ve been bootstrapped since day one, but now it’s time to bring in investment and pour a little fuel on the fire.
When did you first spark the idea for FinalStraw? How long did it take to make your vision a reality?
FinalStraw is the world’s first reusable, collapsible straw that fits on your keychain. It folds up in a cute little carrying case that also includes a telescoping cleaning brush. I became hyper focused on straws after taking a trip to Thailand in 2013 where I would take walks on the beach and pick up straws by the handful. Every day, I’d clean up 3-4 handfuls of straws. The next morning, they’d be back again. I became obsessed. When I returned to the United States, I did a TEDx talk on single-use plastic straws and came to the realization that people don’t respond well when something is taken away from them, but they can change their behavior when provided with alternatives. It took about 15 months to bring FinalStraw to life, from conception to delivery. I started working loosely on the project in October 2017. I quit my job and fully dedicated myself to Final in January 2018. The FinalStraw Kickstarter campaign launched in April 2018, and we delivered the product in December that year. I wasn’t totally pleased with the original design, so I redesigned it and launched a new model in June 2019—which is what you’ll find in stores today.
Have you always been passionate about sustainability? At what point did you know you wanted to pursue a career in this field?
I didn’t grow up in a household where sustainability was talked about a lot. I do remember when I was young, my dad showed me a photo of starving children and he said, “be grateful for what you have and always finish your food.” That lesson stuck with me over the years. Now, looking back at that experience, it was the first time I thought about waste in a different way. It was a really powerful moment. I studied neuroscience at UCSB and thought I was going to take the pre-med route, but I never felt fully convinced that was my path. During college, I got really involved in the single-use plastic bag ban in Santa Barbara. My friends and I would dress up like mermaids, attend city council meetings and offer council members “plastic sandwiches” to make a statement. I discovered my passion for sustainability (and inner mermaid) at these meetings and came to understand this was a career path I wanted to pursue.
How has Final evolved since inception? What was your approach to scaling?
Final was built on a dream: to rid the world of single-use plastic. Everyday that we work, we’re still working toward that same goal. Since launching our first product, FinalStraw, we’ve prevented more than 400 million single-use plastic straws from entering the environment. We’re not stopping with a straw. In Summer 2020 we launched FinalCutlery (FinalFork & FinalSpork) to help people say *fork no* to single-use plastic cutlery. As we’ve grown, I’ve continued to focus on the problems I face on a day-to-day basis. I know that I’m my target customer. If I’m solving a problem for myself, then I’m solving a problem for a lot of other people too. This is where I find my inspiration. I look at everything through a sustainable lens and think about how I might be able to redesign it because I believe waste is just a design flaw—one that I’d like to fix!
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurial women who want to access crowdfunding?
If you have an idea, develop that idea. Is it solving a problem? Will people resonate with it? If so, get out there, create a video, put energy and resources into marketing your campaign and get after it! I have three pieces of advice when it comes to crowdfunding.
1. Do your research. Tim Ferris has two articles on how to raise money and how to create a substantial email list. These are guidelines I’ve followed closely. He highlights the Harry’s razor model in these articles and provides detailed steps on how to mimic that system.
2. Make sure what you’re doing (or creating) solves a real life problem. If this is something you’d buy, there’s a good chance there are a lot of other people out there like you.
3. Ignore the haters. No one believed FinalStraw would have the success it did. My biggest supporter, my mom, begged me not to quit my job. My friends patted me on the back and said, “cute project,” and then we raised $1.89 million. It’s important to listen to advice and process it, but at the end of the day it’s equally important to trust your gut to guide you in the right direction.
What effect(s) did COVID-19 have on your business and industry? What business decisions did you make related to the pandemic?
As soon as the pandemic hit, our sales slowed massively. Our bread and butter was a travel straw and when traveling came to a halt, so did our sales. I made a quick decision that was a little out of our element and veered from our product roadmap when I created FinalWipe. In the midst of a pandemic, I found myself using a ton of single-use cleaning wipes and realized there are no good solutions to making wipes more sustainable, so we decided to create one. In a matter of days, we mocked up the idea for FinalWipe Home and FinalWipe Travel. We started delivering orders in March!
How have your past professional and academic experiences and lessons prepared you for the work you do today? How have they not prepared you?
Nothing prepares you for starting a business. The work is never ending, and no amount of schooling or education prepares you for all of the problems and challenges that arise. One of the most challenging things to do is to show up as a leader everyday. Society tells us you’re either a natural leader or not, but I disagree. Leadership skills are developed and refined over time, and through creativity and learning. It’s been challenging at times to step into my role as a leader and show up to lead and inspire my team on a daily basis. However, at the end of the day, I know it’s up to me to make sure every member of my team feels heard and is inspired to further our mission. While I don’t think any job will fully prepare you for running a business, my education definitely provided me with lessons that have served me well. I earned my master’s degree in environmental management and sustainability from Harvard. This program provided me with an incredible base of knowledge in the sustainable space. I also spent four years working at Los Alamos National Laboratory which helped me understand the barriers that needed to be broken down to implement sustainable practices on a larger scale.
How has being a woman impacted your professional experiences? What can we collectively do to support and empower women in your industry today?
I think the times have changed considerably for women. A lot of women pushed really hard to make the workplace an even playing ground for both genders. The community of female entrepreneurs in the sustainable space is incredibly supportive. We share information and ideas about what’s working, and what’s not working, because ultimately, we’re all doing what we do because we believe business needs to change. It’s our collective goal (and responsibility) to make the world a better place. While there’s a healthy level of competition, there’s also transparency. At the end of the day we’re there to support one another and lift each other up.
What would you say is the most valuable strength someone can possess in your role?
Listening. By nature, I’m very reactive and I like to dive in head first to fix things. That doesn’t work when you’re in a leadership position. It’s important to learn to pause and listen and then respond, instead of reacting.
Do you have any routines that keep you balanced throughout the day?
I meditate first thing when I wake up, then I do three rounds of wim hof breathing, make my bed, drink a glass of warm lemon water, and pull a spirit card. I stick to this routine around 60-70% of the time. Sometimes I jump out of bed and get at it, but I find that when I do dedicate myself to this routine, my day is more balanced and productive.
What’s one thing you’re proud to have accomplished in your career thus far?
I’m really proud of the fact that I listened to my gut and turned down the sharks on Shark Tank when the company was just a few weeks old. Shark Tank contacted us two weeks after launching FinalStraw (on Kickstarter) and asked us to appear on the show. I hadn’t ever pitched a business deal in my life, but it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity. I received two offers, but I knew they weren’t right for the company at the time. I also knew the value of the company, so I said no. Most people think I’m crazy when I tell them I said no, but I needed to trust my gut and make sure our mission remained a focal point as we started to grow.
It’s been almost three years since you first launched Final Straw. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Yes, there’s a ton of things I would have done differently. When you go from living life as a ski bum to a CEO overnight, you make a lot of mistakes. The biggest lesson is: slow down to speed up.
How do you deal with competition in the world of e-commerce?
Our biggest competition is knockoffs of our product, so we differentiate ourselves with our voice, brand, and our mission to create change in the world around us.
Who are some women in your field that you look to for inspiration?
Sarah Paiji Yoo, Co-founder and CEO of Blueland; Lindsay McCormick, CEO & Founder of Bite; Kat Nouri, CEO & Founder of Stasher
What tips do you have for balancing health and safety while trying to reduce waste and live sustainably?
Covid has caused an 30% increase in single-use plastic waste, but there are small hacks to help reduce waste and stay healthy. I use a reusable mask and wash my hands instead of using the little hand sanitizer packets. When they weren’t allowing grocery bags in the store, I would unload my cart at the car. And though I have been ordering more takeout, I will bring my containers with me to the restaurant so I don’t have to create a bunch of take-out waste.
Career and/or life advice for other babes (both inside and outside of your industry?)
I think the most important thing is that we learn from previous experiences. These are my top four pieces of advice for anyone launching a business.
Trust your gut. I have hired people I knew were not right for the job and as a result created a lot of problems that otherwise could have been avoided.
Know when to pivot. Good CEOs make just as many bad decisions as bad CEOs, they just pivot faster.
Write solid contracts. My co-founder and I split ways early on. It was messy and very distracting as I was trying to get FinalStraw off the ground. A well written contract would have made the split much easier.
Hire experienced people for certain jobs and trust that someone’s drive to learn is enough for others.
In partnership with: Allbirds
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