Abstract

The case presents the story of Ido Leffler, an entrepreneur from Israel, who, with his penchant for extracts from natural resources, created the brand Yes To. In 2005, Leffler and his friend Lance Kalish acquired the brand Yes To from an Israeli company Sea of Life, that used Dead Sea mud in its cosmetics. Leffler with his unique marketing practices took the brand initially to the US and then to other markets across the globe. Under the guidance of Joy Chen, Yes To became the # 2 brand in the organic skin care segment with annual revenues of about $ 60 million. The case traces the growth of the brand, Leffler’s passion that drove the brand to new heights, the funding of the venture, and its expansion overseas. The case also presents the story of a passionate entrepreneur, oriented to offer the best to his customers. It also captures Leffler’s continuing entrepreneurial pursuits with companies like Yoobi (schools supplies) and Cheeky (disposable table products), where he promoted the one-for-one model, giving away school supplies to other schools in the US which needed them through Yoobi and donating a meal for every Cheeky product purchased. His next venture was a consumer commerce company Dhosi, expected to commence in 2017.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Presents the entrepreneurial urge to develop new products, after identifying the gaps in the existing space.
• Presents how entrepreneurial passion creates good products in the best interest of the consumers and then build the brand out of the product.
• Explains how a product born out of utmost conviction and passion can take on the existing market leaders and create a space for itself to become the market leader.
• Understand how to find space in a saturated market.

Keywords

Ido Leffler, Yes To, Carrots, Blueberries, Organizational Values, Lance Kalish, Yes To, Seed Fund, Yoobi, Cheeky-Home, Feeding America, Uri Ben Hur, Walgreens, Simon Equity Partners, San Francisco Equity Partners, Joy Chen, Ingrid Jackel