Darren Spicer is the co-founder and CEO of Clutch Coffee Bar, a drive-thru coffee chain recently acquired by Dutch Bros in a $20 million exit. Born in Roseburg, Oregon, Darren graduated from the University of Oregon, where he played basketball and studied sports marketing. Out of college, Darren moved to California, where he took his first job selling tickets for the Sacramento Kings. After realizing the job only looked good on paper, he transitioned into medical device sales, where he had a successful seven-year career. Having worked as a barista at Dutch Bros throughout his teenage years, Darren always had an itch to franchise his own store. But when Dutch Bros changed its model and took away franchising, he knew he had to start his own thing. That’s where Clutch entered the picture. In 2018, Darren co-founded Clutch Coffee Bar, launching its first store in Mooresville, North Carolina. Over the next eight years, Darren and his team scaled Clutch to 17 locations before Clutch became Dutch Bros' first-ever acquisition. Today, Darren leads 110 Ventures, where he helps companies take their brand and team to the next level. He also serves on the advisory board for the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business. In this episode, we cover Darren's origin story, entrepreneurial lessons from basketball, why he gave up his medical device sales career to start Clutch, building and maintaining culture, recruiting mission-oriented people, lessons on leadership, how he balanced building a business while raising a family, and more. Darren is one of the most exceptional, caring, and hardworking human beings I know. I’m grateful to call him a friend, and to have had the opportunity to learn more about his story. I hope you'll find this conversation as valuable as I did. Appreciate you and enjoy the episode! FOLLOW DARREN: Darren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenspicer25/?hl=en Darren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darren-spicer-44243a74/ FOLLOW 110 VENTURES: 110 Ventures: https://110-ventures.com/ 110 Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/110-ventures-consulting/ FOLLOW CLUTCH: Clutch: http://www.clutchcoffeebar.com/ Clutch on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clutchcoffeebar/ Clutch on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutchcoffeebar/Clutch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clutch-coffee-bar/ Clutch on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutchcoffeebar Clutch on X: https://x.com/clutchcoffeebar TIMESTAMPS: 0:21 - Childhood in Oregon 1:31 - Entrepreneurial Lessons from Basketball 2:38 - Choosing the Entrepreneurial Path 3:30 - Parental Influence 4:09 - Values His Parents Instilled 4:57 - The Story of Clutch 6:10 - What Makes Clutch Different from Starbucks 7:09 - The 3 C's of Clutch 8:50 - Building Culture 10:03 - Maintaining Culture 12:08 - Recruiting Mission-Oriented People 14:31 - Investing in Your People 15:54 - Can Hunger Be Taught? 16:47 - Qualities of Exceptional People 17:27 - Starting in South Carolina 18:11 - COVID-19's Impact on Clutch 19:44 - Clutch's Opening Day Procedure 21:03 - Managing Business and Family Responsibilities 22:34 - Balancing Career and Family 24:28 - Biggest Mistake Building Clutch 25:30 - Darren's Principles and Values 27:56 - Leadership Lessons 29:05 - Darren's Definition of Success 30:15 - Raising Kids with Strong Values 31:57 - Advice to Young People PODCAST LINKS: Podcast Website: https://thedefaulttrap.substack.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/max-weinstein-podcast/id6790938651 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033zC4AzpSlCiiNsr16RCs?si=097bb00195f747e5 Podcast Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXCRPst3uY2M&si=tdeFU38NGS6bUUm SOCIAL LINKS: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxweinsteinn/ Substack: https://thedefaulttrap.substack.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@maxweinsteinn
