How Dream Water Created a New Consumer Category and Achieved a Successful Exit

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Episode 54, with David Lekach How Dream Water Created a New Consumer Category and Achieved a Successful Exit Now playing: Introduction & Exit Readiness Resources

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From Angel to Exit: Overview

About This Episode.

Start with the key takeaways, the ideas worth bringing back to your leadership team. Then read the full story of the conversation, or use the chapters above to jump straight to the moment that matters most to you.

Key Takeaways

Focus on execution rather than obsessing over predetermined exit valuations.
Great founders create value by consistently improving business inputs.
Building an entirely new market category requires patience and persistence.
Data-driven retail testing creates stronger scaling opportunities.
Relationships with future buyers should begin years before an exit.
Legal and operational setbacks are normal parts of entrepreneurial growth.
Resourcefulness often outperforms experience when building startups.
Successful negotiations require understanding both your priorities and the buyer's constraints.

The Full Conversation

What happens when a founder ignores conventional startup advice and simply focuses on solving problems better than anyone else?

David Lekach grew up immersed in entrepreneurship, learning firsthand from his family's successful retail businesses before launching ventures of his own. His entrepreneurial journey eventually led him to discover an early natural sleep aid product that inspired the creation of Dream Water, a beverage designed to become the "anti-Red Bull."

Rather than chasing lofty exit valuations or rigid business plans, David concentrated on consistently making better operational decisions. He discusses how launching first in New York through Duane Reade allowed the company to validate product-market fit while gathering the retail data necessary to expand into larger national chains like Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart.

The conversation explores the realities behind building a completely new product category. David explains how competition emerged almost immediately, why category creation often requires competitors, and how founders must balance innovation with disciplined execution.

Bruce and David also dive deeply into the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship, including fundraising, scaling retail distribution, cash flow management, legal battles, and surviving a multi-year class action lawsuit. Throughout each challenge, David emphasizes the importance of remaining resourceful, data-driven, and willing to question conventional wisdom.

One of the episode's most valuable discussions centers around Dream Water's acquisition. David explains how years of cultivating relationships with strategic buyers positioned him for an eventual exit. He also shares unconventional negotiation tactics that helped keep the acquisition moving while protecting the company's financial position.

The episode concludes with practical advice for founders preparing their own exits. David argues that business owners should avoid becoming fixated on valuation targets and instead focus relentlessly on building stronger companies. Enterprise value, he believes, is ultimately the result of consistently making excellent operational decisions over time.

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From Angel to Exit: The Guest

About the Guest.

The background behind the conversation, and where to find this guest online.

David Lekach

Founder, Dream Water

David Lekach is the founder of Dream Water, the natural sleep shot he set out to build as the "anti-Red Bull." He grew up in a family of retail entrepreneurs, started his first ventures during the dot-com boom while still in college, and earned a JD/MBA before going on to work as an investment banker in New York.

He launched Dream Water in New York through Duane Reade, then used that early retail data to win national distribution at Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart. The brand grew to more than 30,000 retail outlets across North America. Along the way he worked through fundraising, fast-following competitors in a category he helped create, and a multi-year class action lawsuit.

In 2018, Harvest One, a publicly traded Canadian company, acquired Dream Water USA and Dream Water Canada for about C$34.5 million, and David stayed on as president of the combined Dream Water Global. Since the sale he has advised companies in consumer packaged goods, direct-to-consumer, and travel retail on innovation, team building, and deal structuring. He is now with TrinityBI, a business intelligence firm.