Mike Wystrach | He Had $15 Left… 10 Years Later He Sold His Company For $1.5 Billion
Mike Wystrach | He Had $15 Left… 10 Years Later He Sold His Company For $1.5 Billion  
Podcast: School of Hard Knocks Podcast
Published On: Wed Aug 26 2026
Description: Mike Wystrach is the founder of Freshly, the prepared-meal company acquired by Nestlé in 2020 in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. Before Freshly, Mike experienced business failure, lost his home, faced a $1 million judgment, and at 35 had just $15 in his bank account.In this episode, he explains how he rebuilt his mindset, scaled Freshly to more than 1 million meals per week, navigated fundraising and hypergrowth, and ultimately decided to sell the business. Mike also shares lessons on entrepreneurship, customer obsession, building great teams, wealth, failure, and what he is building today through Petfolk and Cutting Horse.Find Mike Wystrach here:Website: https://mikewystrach.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikewystrach/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwystrach/ Check out Mike’s businesses: Petfolk: https://petfolk.com/ Cutting Horse: https://www.cuttinghorse.com/ Listen to The Advantage: https://mikewystrach.com/podcast/ https://mikewystrach.com/newsletter/Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.