Neil Grimmer began making the connections that would allow him to be a successful entrepreneur on his first day at Stanford.
“You’re immediately surrounded by people willing to help you and teach you,” says Grimmer, co-founder and CEO at Plum Organics.
Plum was founded in 2007 when a small group of parents, including Grimmer, came together and reimagined the baby food category by introducing the first spouted baby food pouch. The company was acquired by Campbell Soup Co. in 2013, but continues to sell its line of organic snacks and meals for babies, toddlers and kids.
The company is officially known as Plum PBC, which stands for public benefit corporation, a legal status that allows a company to balance profit interests with its stated social or environmental mission.
Grimmer’s ability to launch a business that has become a leader in the baby food industry got a big boost from Stanford.
“As a Stanford student, I felt so fortunate to have been plugged into a design community and be introduced to one of the world’s most renowned design firms, IDEO,” he says. “Having the connection with IDEO ultimately set my future career path as I ended up accepting a job with the firm following graduation.”
Grimmer was a design leader at IDEO for seven years and came up with health and wellness innovations for food products. Then he became a father and decided the time had come to start his own business and bring the same kind of innovative thinking to baby food products.
“Prior to joining Stanford, I didn’t have any formal business training,” Grimmer says. “I received my undergraduate degree in fine arts and later ended up showcasing my artwork at commercial galleries. While that process was highly entrepreneurial, it definitely didn’t teach me what I needed to know about the ins and outs of running a business. To say the least, I was a rookie.
“Ultimately, Stanford’s product design program enabled me to use creativity as a means to solve problems in people’s lives. It gave me the tools and confidence to run a mission-led organization while still receiving an income.”
It’s difficult to find things in this world that are not changing. Grimmer strongly believes that universities need to adopt an approach that lets students use their creativity and imagination to make sure those changes are for the positive.
“The types of problems we’re trying to solve today are going to require creative, disruptive solutions,” he says. “You aren’t going to find that in the classic programs that currently exist. Stanford is on the cutting edge of providing such structure and I attribute a lot of my success to the atypical foundation that the d.school (Stanford University Institute of Design) offered.”
Grimmer has remained in contact with the school and is struck by the effect the school continues to have on today’s graduates.
“It’s so clear that the ideals and spirit of the Stanford education continues to be strong and lives within this next generation of entrepreneurs,” he says. ●
