Seventh Generation: Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender. A Partnership that Flourished—until it Failed. (2021)
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How did Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender first meet and decide to start Seventh Generation?
Hey everyone, so the team is taking a break this week, which gives us an incredible opportunity to replay an episode that we still talk about today. And even though it ran a few years ago, to be exact in January of 2021, as you are about to hear, it's probably the most dramatic story we've ever told about a business partnership and what happened to it. The good, the bad, and well, we'll get there. For now, enjoy.
Hey, it's Guy here, and really quick before we start this episode, there are a few bad words that you will hear that we did not bleep out. So if you're listening with kids, just be mindful.
We were working with a tissue paper manufacturer out in Wisconsin that made all the paper products. Yeah. They thought we were crazy, by the way, because You know, we were selling unbleached a hundred percent recycled fiber bathroom tissue, which was the scratchy stuff that you found in a gas station.
And we insisted that it said made with one hundred percent recycled paper. It had always been made with one hundred percent recycled, but they hid that in all the promoter all the material.
Oh, because consumers didn't want that?
No. Why would consumers want recyc toilet paper made of recycled paper? They thought we were absolutely out of our mind.
From NPR, it's how I built this, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. I'm Guy Roz, and on the show today, how two men who probably had no business going into business together went into business together and built seventh generation, a pioneer in eco-friendly cleaning products.
Back in September of twenty twenty, we received an email from a listener named Kiara. She suggested we consider interviewing her father, Jeffrey Hollander. My dad, she wrote, started Seventh Generation in nineteen eighty eight. He is kind, intelligent, and is as interested in doing good as ever. He would never write an email like this himself, but I think his story and the story of Seventh Generation is important to where we are in the world right now. It's filled with hope and And pain, as all the best stories are. Well, we were intrigued, in part because Seventh Generation is one of the iconic brands in the eco-friendly cleaning category, and in part because Chiara said the story is filled with hope and pain.
So we started digging. And what we found surprised us. For starters, we discovered that there was another founder. His name is Alan Newman. And back in nineteen ninety two, just a few years after the company was launched, Alan and Jeffrey had a bitter falling out. Alan was ousted, and since then the two men have barely spoken. So we called them up and asked if they'd be willing to appear on the show together to tell their story. They thought about it, and to our surprise, They agreed, and even seemed to enjoy themselves during most of the interview. Coming onto the show in this episode is the first time they've come together to talk about the founding of Seventh Generation and their very difficult breakup as business partners.
So perhaps more than any other conversation I've ever had with co founders, this one has an incredible amount of insight into what it takes for two people to build something bigger than themselves, and how the relationship between partners is actually more important than the skills each one brings to the table. Seventh Generation started out as a mail order catalog. It sold a curated collection of eco-friendly household goods, but eventually it became one of the first companies to mass-produce detergents, paper towels, and other products that are meant to be better for the planet. By the mid-2000s, the company's products could be found on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in America. And in 2016, Seventh Generation was acquired by the multinational Unilever for between six and seven hundred million dollars.
The small little hippie business Alan and Jeffrey co-founded is now part of a giant company that owns everything from Lipton T to Axe Body Spray. And even though Alan and Jeffrey were and are very different personalities, one thing they did share was a restless and even rebellious past.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender first meet and decide to start Seventh Generation?
0:01–12:30
2
What early challenges and cultural choices shaped Seventh Generation’s office environment in 1989?
12:30–21:00
3
Why did the partnership between Alan and Jeffrey break down and what was the “Dear John” letter about?
21:00–31:23
4
How did Seventh Generation survive the early‑90s recession and what tough decisions were made?
31:23–42:24
5
What strategic shift moved the company from a catalog‑centric model to retail distribution?
42:24–54:18
6
How did the company’s growth lead to board tension and Jeffrey’s eventual firing?
54:18–1:08:07
7
What lessons did Alan and Jeffrey learn about co‑founder relationships and legacy after the split?
1:08:07–1:19:24
8
How does the story of Seventh Generation illustrate the roles of luck, skill, and perseverance in entrepreneurship?
1:19:24–1:31:02
Speakers
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