You know when a company brags about its “great culture,” but the employees look dead inside? That’s because culture isn’t what leaders say it is — it’s what customers feel. In this episode, Mark Rampolla, founder of ZICO Coconut Water and managing partner at Ground Force Capital, tells us how culture quietly shapes every customer interaction. From Liquid Death’s branding genius to why “culture fit” hiring is a terrible idea, Mark breaks down what it really takes to build a company people actually want to engage with.We also dive into the “need behind the need” (AKA why customers don’t buy what you’re selling but what it does for them). Mark shares how ZICO won over yoga studios by solving problems beyond hydration and why understanding where your customers make their money is the key to selling. If your culture, hiring, or customer experience feels off, this conversation holds the solution you’re looking for. Key Moments: 00:00 Who is Mark Rampolla, founder of ZICO & managing partner at GroundForce Capital?01:02 Building a Movement02:13 Why Company Culture Matters03:35 Culture in Action: Real-World Examples08:27 Hiring a Culture Add & Customer Obsession17:36 Assessing and Evolving Company Culture24:42 Understanding the Need Behind the Need25:06 Real-World Examples of Customer Empathy26:17 Building Relationships with Yoga Studios29:31 Marketing Strategies and ROI31:34 Hypothesis Testing & the Opportunities in Operational Failure38:17 Active Listening and Empathy in Business41:24 Impressive Brand Experiences43:18 Mark’s Key Advice for CX Leaders –Are your teams facing growing demands? Join CX leaders transforming their AI strategy with Agentforce. Start achieving your ambitious goals. Visit salesforce.com/agentforce Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org
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Culture endures. It can last for generations if done right. This is the sort of stuff that becomes legacy for decades, if not longer.
What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes companies make when it comes to creating a great customer experience?
Assuming they have to solve it all up front before they get out and learn. There's just nothing like getting out and learning. Fail fast, iterate constantly, see reality. What's really going on in your business? What's going on in consumers? What's going on in trends? Be very clear about your intention, what you're trying to build and what the hypothesis is.
We go all in for weeks or months until we step back and look, is it working? Does that hypothesis still hold? Is the intention still clear? We can't control the outcome. Dive back in, do it again.
What if it doesn't work? You have to totally shift gears. But if we look at something as an experiment.
Everything I do in my life now is an experiment. Nobody has it figured out. You don't have to have it figured out. It's all testing. It's all learning.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Experts of Experience. I'm your host, Lauren Wood. Today, we are going to be talking about how culture isn't just an internal aspect of your organization, but a direct driver of your customer experience. And there is no better person to speak to us about this than Mark Rampolla, the founder of Zico Coconut Water, and now the managing partner at Ground Force Capital.
At Zico, Mark didn't just launch a brand. He built a movement by deeply understanding every layer of the customer journey. From yoga studios to retail partners, he knew that delivering a great product wasn't enough. It was really about solving the need behind the need, which we're going to talk about today. I'm really excited. And creating a team that was really obsessed with the mission.
And so Mark now works with entrepreneurs to scale businesses with the same customer first mindset. So we're going to get into culture, accountability and trust building and how that all lines up to a great customer experience. Mark, so great to have you on the show.
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