Day in the Life: Sake High!

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Hello! I am Joe Labes and rising second-year student at UCLA Anderson. I grew up in Detroit, and went to the University of Michigan for undergrad. Before Anderson, I worked for 4 years at ZS Associates doing sales and marketing consulting in Chicago and Los Angeles.

This summer, and throughout Anderson, I am starting Sake High!, a canned sake beverage launching in Los Angeles this fall. As a Wolfen Fellow this summer, I am also taking part in the UCLA Venture Accelerator. Being a co-founder of a start up is extremely challenging and rewarding. Every day involves different sets of tasks from sales to marketing to finance to fundraising to web design.

I started Sake High! in June of 2020, before starting Anderson, and initially thought that I would recruit in tech while doing my business on the side. However, a couple months into Anderson, I realized that there was no better time to go all-in on an idea than while in school. Once I came to this realization, I stopped my recruiting and committed to making Sake High! successful.

Joe1


7:30am – Wake up. I normally wake up and respond to emails from our Japanese partners at the sake brewery that we source our product from. With the time change, most of their communication is while I am sleeping.

8:00am – Something physical. Whether hopping on the Peloton, going for a run, or playing basketball, I like to start the day with something physical to get my energy up

9:00am – Marketing follow-ups. On this day, I first needed to pay some bills for some swag we bought, then I hopped into Adobe Illustrator to design some more gear. We are ordering an industrial sized cooler for events and I was designing the outside of it. I also was in charge of designing bandanas today. This was a fun way to start the work day!

11:00am – Compliance. Starting an alcohol company requires getting many licenses and having many partners. Today,we were on the phone with our compliance partner who is helping us get the proper licenses. We also talked with our insurance provider as our products need to be insured throughout manufacturing.

12:00pm – Lunch. During my lunch hour, I catch-up with my girlfriend and co-founder, who is also free for this hour. We sync up on the days to-do and eat lunch. One of the perks of still working from home.

1:00pm – Fundraising and pitch deck. I work on cleaning up our pitch deck which we are sending to some of our contacts. We are beginning to fundraise in Q1’22, but are already setting up a call list for potential investors.

4:00pm – Networking. On this day, we have a couple of calls with people in the alcohol industry. As outsiders to the industry, we try to connect with as many people as possible to troubleshoot, share ideas, and more.

Joe1



6:00pm – Happy Hour/Product Promotion. When my girlfriend is done with her day of work, we bring a bottle of our sake to Venice Beach Wines. We sit with the bartender and have them try it and give to a couple of customers at the bar to get their reactions. Since sake is not very common at most bars, it is important for us to sit with the different bars and liquor stores and explain to them our sake and why it would be a perfect addition to them.

9:00pm – Connect with Japan team. Now that it is midday in Japan, we connect with the brewery to get updates on our shipping status and product. We also share with them the feedback we receive from the people who have tried our sake.




Student Blogger: Joe Labes ‘22

Undergrad: University of Michigan ‘16

Pre-MBA: ZS Associates

Leadership@Anderson: Vice President, Section D; VP of Education, Entrepreneurs Association; VP of Fall Kick-off, Anderson Onboarding Committee; VP of Events, AnderEATS

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