Founder and CEO of Chilli Beans recalls the beginning of his career and talks about how he imagines the future of the market, with companies that will be built under horizontal management and without ‘the story of a CEO, alone, in a room’
Caito Maia was still speechless on the day of the interview due to Superdose 2022, an annual meeting of Chilli Beans that returned to being face-to-face after two years. Held in São Paulo last month, the event brought more than 3,000 people to the Anhembi Convention Center.
“It was the best overdose in history,” said the CEO and founder of the brand.
With 25 years in the market, Chilli Beans has become one of the main brands in Brazil. The secret to it? “Keep your ears open and have the humility to know how to listen,” said Maia. In addition, the entrepreneur adds that the future of companies will involve dialogue and diversity.
“[No futuro] I think there will no longer be companies, I think there will be cooperatives that are built on horizontal management without the story of a CEO, alone, in a room”, he guaranteed.
25 years
I’ll give you a scary fact: only 15% of the fashion brands that were on the day I opened my first kiosk at the Villa-Lobos mall exist. I’m not saying that the rest of them moved from there, no. These are companies that no longer exist. When you ask me how I see it, I say it’s with great pride. Because keeping a brand alive for 24 years is a hell of a challenge. You have new generations, renewals of your consumer, you can lose this guy, he never comes back, and you just die. As I said, I am proud to be alive and to recycle these last few years.
Longevity
One of the secrets is to always keep your ears open, to have the humility to know how to listen, to renew your team with the new generation, who bring you information. But really listen. Also because it’s no use having a new generation and not listening to what they have to say, in addition to building together with them.
overdose
This year’s event was a hurricane, I’m speechless to this day (laughs). It’s amazing how we’ve been repairing certain demands repressed because of the pandemic. When you put 3,000 people in one place, you see how much these people were willing to let it all out, to spill it. It was the best overdose in history.
conversations
We believe that dialogue is the future. I think there will no longer be companies, I think there will be cooperatives that are built on horizontal management without the story of a CEO, alone, in a room. The future lies in the construction, in the conversation, in the dialogue, and in the diversities being truly contemplated.
ecological stores
In Brazil, we have a problem: cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, we couldn’t enter, because there was no mall, and the account didn’t close to open a store, with the costs, investment, that thing. We saw an opportunity when a supplier came to bring us a container made of recyclable material, which is totally sustainable because the roof was able to capture solar energy. So we created this project called Eco Chilli. With it, we will be able to place 400 points of sale in Brazil in cities with less than 50 thousand inhabitants. Today, we have Eco Chilli in eight cities across the country.
Creation
Everything we are going to release until January 2024 is already decided. The production time is almost ten months, that is, from an idea that I have today until the product is ready, on the shelf, it takes ten months. It starts a very interesting work of the team, which builds everything together. We get together, make a plan for the following year and all the opportunities. We choose themes based on our four pillars: music, fashion, art and the geek world. On top of that, a team of almost 25 people gets together and starts giving input, something about the release of a certain movie or about the year that will celebrate something, for example. On top of the pillars, we build this calendar, and we learn to place these calendars on the right dates of the years. But I will give you an example. Next year a new Harry Potter movie will be released. So, it’s the month we talk about Harry Potter, and so on. Per year, on average, we have around 30 launches.
The Shark Tank Brasil
Now in June, I will be recording the seventh season of the show, which has been an incredible experience for three reasons – the first is to learn how this new generation thinks about business, the second is to be able to reach out, do with new entrepreneurs what they they didn’t do it with me, make an investment and help; and the third is when a mother of mine stops to take a picture with her 10-year-old son, because the boy is my fan. Knowing that I am doing something for my country is very good, it is gratifying.
