{"id":6036,"date":"2014-02-07T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=4659"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:09:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:09:13","slug":"dwyl-alex-kravets-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/dwyl-alex-kravets-story","title":{"rendered":"Be prepared to work for it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We sat down with <a href=\"http:\/\/launch.cognitea.com\/\">CogniTea<\/a> founder Alex Kravets for this edition of Do What You Love \u2013 a series that showcases the entrepreneurs behind startups and small businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Seven months ago, the 25-year-old Boston native and co-founder of I Am Hungry and Zaang decided to create an all-natural alternative to coffee and energy drinks. He recently ran a successful <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiegogo.com\/projects\/cognitea-productive-energy-for-mental-clarity-focus\">crowdfunding campaign<\/a> for CogniTea that surpassed its fundraising goal in roughly nine hours and is still going strong.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what Kravets shared with us:<\/p>\n<p><b>CogniTea is a company that supports people to achieve their goals.<\/b>\u00a0We make a tea that helps you have mental clarity, focus and energy without the jitters and side effects of coffee and energy drinks. Everyone has things they need to get done or achieve, and we just help you achieve your daily pursuits a little bit better.<\/p>\n<p>I did a lot of research, but the formula came together in the first couple of months. It\u2019s made with a blend of teas, herbs and L-Theanine, an amino acid that\u2019s found in green tea, to help promote Alpha brain waves. It\u2019ll help you get to that state of feeling centered and focused.<\/p>\n<p><b>I\u2019m passionate about building companies.\u00a0<\/b>I created something that would be a healthier and better alternative to coffee and energy drinks. Then, others started to tell me that it was a great idea, so I realized there was an opportunity. It wasn\u2019t a choice to start a tea company. I don\u2019t even think of it as that. I say we\u2019re an aspirational lifestyle brand that will sell a lot of other products.<\/p>\n<p><b>If you want something, go get it<\/b>. But you also have to be prepared to work for it. You have to work your ass off and eventually something good will happen. It\u2019s hard to work when you don\u2019t necessarily see a clear end goal or see things working for you. I don\u2019t know if CogniTea will work for me obviously, but the more you work and the more you put yourself out there, good things will happen.<\/p>\n<p><b>It\u2019s a complete roller coaster ride every day.\u00a0<\/b>It\u2019s also the most manic-depressive life you could ever choose to live. Sometimes you have real highs and sometimes you have real lows. Find a support system of family and friends and just find a way to deal with it. You\u2019ll be okay because all entrepreneurs face it.<\/p>\n<p><b>My first startup idea came to me when I was in college.\u00a0<\/b>I wanted to create a wireless communication system on cruise ships where people can use their smart phones. This was back in 2007 when everything was starting to emerge with voice-over IP calling and we wanted to find an alternative to walkie-talkies that people used to bring on to communicate with their families. Cell phones on sea don\u2019t work all the time and it can get really expensive. It didn\u2019t end up working out, but this was the first one that I got behind.<\/p>\n<p><b>I wouldn\u2019t be happy doing anything else.<\/b>\u00a0My whole family is entrepreneurial so it has always been in my blood. I\u2019m clearly passionate about it, so if we can spread that message to other people and motivate others to go after what they want, then that\u2019s a win-win for me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/alexkravetz_2.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4676 aligncenter\" alt=\"alexkravetz_cognitea\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/alexkravetz_2.jpg?resize=450%2C677\" width=\"450\" height=\"677\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3441 aligncenter\" alt=\"DWYL-Footer-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/DWYL-Footer-1.png?resize=300%2C59\" width=\"300\" height=\"59\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We sat down with CogniTea founder Alex Kravets for this edition of Do What You Love \u2013 a series that showcases the entrepreneurs behind startups and small businesses. Seven months ago, the 25-year-old Boston native and co-founder of I Am Hungry and Zaang decided to create an all-natural alternative to coffee and energy drinks. He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":887,"featured_media":34325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Be prepared to work for it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We sat down with CogniTea founder Alex Kravets for this edition of Do What You Love \u2013 a series that showcases \u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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