This episode features an interview with Kyle Maggard, West Point grad, class of 2012, CEO and Founder at Over Easy Foods, a healthy snack food company with the mission to help Americans live healthier and happier lives.
Kyle served five years as an Army Engineer before enrolling at Harvard Business School to launch his career goal of becoming an entrepreneur. Now, his products are distributed nationally with grocery stores such as Whole Foods, Wegman’s, Sprouts, and can be found on college campuses, hotels, airports, and professional locker rooms across the country.
In this episode, Kyle talks about his dream of always serving the country, the trials and tribulations of creating his own startup, and the importance of eating a truly healthy breakfast.
“If you think you’re going to do anything alone, if you think you’re going to come up with the next great idea alone, or just do things without guidance, you’re just missing the point. And, I think, the benefit of West Point is that you have all of those people there ready to help you. The sad reality is when you get to the business world, that’s not the case. You know, you can get investors, and I’ve been fortunate enough to get like a great network of investors and advisors, but you have to work to make those relationships. At West Point, you just look around and, like, everybody is there like, ‘yeah, I’ll give you some help’. So, I think getting in a habit of utilizing the resources around you, building relationships, and asking for help when you need help is a great set of principles people who are already independent minded, who are already driven, right, who are willing to do things alone if they had to, but we don’t have to. We can utilize help. And so, that’s the thing that I think people, especially cadets at West Point, might not take full advantage of, but when you leave you will realize that there’s no other place like it.”
—Kyle Maggard ’12
Episode Timestamps
(02:39) Kyle’s background and experience at West Point
(07:28) The origin behind Over Easy
(17:00) Creating the perfect product
(24:01) Successes and failures in entrepreneurship
(33:03) The single most impactful moment in his journey
(35:36) Key takeaways and advice