Serial entrepreneur and passionate start-up advisor and consumer goods specialist, Lance is the co-founder of Yes To Inc, which in 5 years with his partner Ido Leffler grew to America’s second largest health and beauty brand, gracing the shelves of 28,000 stores in 28 countries worldwide.
Yes To, now headquartered in San Francisco, sells 80 products, from lip balm to “facial serum,” and will generate $40 to $60 million in sales this year. That’s second only to Burt’s Bees, a $200 million unit of Clorox, among natural-beauty brands sold in food and drug stores. Today, the brand is widely recognized for its unique products, global vision, entrepreneurial spirit and social outreach.
Since moving back to Sydney from San Francisco in 2010, Kalish has immersed himself in Australia’s start-up community – investing and advising young, hungry entrepreneurs to build successful businesses.
Having set up his own not-for-profit organization from the start of Yes To Inc and making it a central tenet of the business, Kalish’s passion surrounds working with companies that combine “doing good” and business pursuits in one. His most recent projects include co-founding Yoobi school supplies and Cheeky Home with national launches in Target USA, where the sale of every item is backed up by a one-for-one donation to those in need.
Kalish is also the author of “Get Big Fast & Do More Good” with his co-founder in Yes To and co-investor in CUZIN, Ido Leffler.
Kalish is Chairman and advisor to several US and Australian start-ups, including Cuzin Global, Bellabox, French Toast Products, and Soma Water.