Steeping Success: How CEO Sashee Chandran Brewed a Tea Empire

SASHEE CHANDRAN is the Founder & CEO of Tea Drops, offering organic, bagless whole leaf teas. Tea Drops are available in 2,000 retailers and are loved by Oprah, Chrissy Teigen, and Michelle Obama.

What inspired you to start Tea Drops?

I grew up in a pretty tea-centric household. My mom is Chinese, and my dad is from Sri Lanka – two of the largest tea-exporting countries in the world!

Loose leaf tea was always present at family gatherings, and I came to love the ritual of it.

After college, I worked at eBay in Silicon Valley, where coffee culture was huge. But in the break rooms, all I saw were stale tea bags. I learned that many tea bags contain microplastics and bleach.

So, I set up a loose leaf tea station at my desk with a kettle and strainer, but brewing tea took at least 5 to 7 minutes. If you’re someone on the go, running from meeting to meeting, that’s just not sustainable.

I knew there had to be an easier way, but nothing in the grocery store offered both the quality of loose leaf tea and the convenience of a tea bag.

Then one day, I saw a bath bomb at Lush Cosmetics. I thought: Why can’t you make tea in a form factor like that? Something easy to prepare, with less waste than a traditional tea bag.

That inspired me to spend the next year and a half experimenting with different formulations and trying to see if this concept could work in a bath bomb format.

After I made my first prototype, I shared it with friends, family, and coworkers, and eventually, I went on to patent the idea.

What have you learned about growing a business?

With anything, things take time to build, especially if you don’t have many resources or capital from the beginning.

I started by selling at artisan shows and farmers markets, getting feedback, and building from there. Then, I launched my own online store and began approaching small mom-and-pop stores, and saying, “This is my product, would you consider carrying it?”

I did a lot of wholesale shows, like the San Francisco Gift Show and the LA Gift Show — events where your products can be seen by potential buyers.

It was a lot of grassroots building. Over time, I learned how to raise money, and we used those funds to start accelerating online marketing, email marketing, creating content, and more.

I think everything is an evolution. You have to start small! It all began with taking one step at a time and figuring it out along the way.

You raised $8.5 million in venture capital funding! What do you think contributed to your success in pitching to investors?

I’ll start by saying: not everyone’s journey involves raising VC capital. Some of the best businesses are self-sustaining. What’s even harder – and more impressive – is running a profitable business from the start and building it over time.

I had to learn along the way how to raise capital. I wasn’t part of any groups educating people on VC or angel investing. Once I understood that angel investors are people who invest in your idea in exchange for equity – and that they have to believe in you and your product – it began to click.

I learned that there are individual investors, and then there are venture capital firms that raise money from limited partners and invest based on a “thesis,” a set of guiding principles they use to decide which companies or industries to invest in.

If your company aligns with their thesis, then you might have a shot at raising money from them. I read “Venture Deals” by Brad Feld, which gave me a great introduction to the basics of startup fundraising.

From there, it was a lot of conversations and trial and error. I didn’t raise the $8.5 million all at once. It happened in stages. Each time, I would have 75 to 100 conversations, and maybe 5 to 10 of those people would end up investing.

I also entered pitch competitions, especially ones focused on female-founded companies. That exposure and visibility helped me connect with even more investors and build momentum.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t force things to be exactly how you imagine them. That’s hard advice to give, because as an entrepreneur, you’re imagining what could be, right? You have to push for that vision.

But at the same time, you also need to trust the process and the path. Let your journey unfold rather than trying to control every part of it. That takes patience.

Also, as you grow, there is so much input and external noise. I’ve found that when I rush a decision, or when I’m being swayed by external advice, it usually doesn’t go well.

When you’re the one who’s spent countless hours on your idea, you have a strong intuitive sense of what it should be and where it should go. It’s important to tune in to what you know deep down.

As a CEO, how do you maintain your personal well-being and work-life balance?

When I started Tea Drops, I was building nonstop, handling packaging, and attending trade shows (sometimes 30+ a year)!

Unless you make the conscious choice early on to be a more well-rounded individual – meaning you carve out time for friends, family, your physical health, and your spiritual well-being – those things will get pushed aside. It’s so easy for them to fall through the cracks.

Over time, I began to realize that I had goals and aspirations outside of Tea Drops too, and I started making more space for those parts of my life.

What skills have helped you most in your leadership journey?

My mental and spiritual attitude.

When you can see challenges as tests for your personal growth and well-being, you start to approach problems differently. It stops being a chore to deal with everything and becomes more of an opportunity for growth – for both the business and yourself.

Having a strong support system has also been instrumental. For me, that looks like a great group of founder friends I can turn to, and support from my parents and husband.

And finally, just recognizing that there is so much more to life than the business you’re running. There is so much joy to be experienced outside of work, and it’s important to allow yourself the space to live and enjoy that too!