Chaz is the CEO and Co-Founder at Starday, a next-gen food conglomerate. Starday’s first product, Gooey, is low sugar, dairy & palm oil-free chocolate hazelnut spread. The company recently closed a $4M seed round co-led by Equal Ventures and Slow Ventures.
On his morning routine.
I’m up pretty early, typically around 6 am.
After rolling out of bed, I quickly change and head to the gym for a morning workout. My workout routine involves lifting 4 to 5 times a week and integrating cardio or soccer on the remaining days.
The walk back from the gym is almost equally as energizing as my workout: the vibrant energy of New York in the morning is unparalleled.
Once I’m back, I’ll cook breakfast, shower, and then head out of the door before 8 am. Breakfast is big for me, and I try to make sure that I have time to make a big one most days of the week. If I’m working from home, I make sure to set a dedicated area for the day so that there is a boundary between home and “work” locations.
To finish off my morning, at work I dive into my daily workflow: triaging email, socials, and Slack to kick the workday off.
On habitual guardrails.
One of the main things has been understanding myself.
I wake up early in the morning and have a few hours to myself because that’s when I am functioning at my highest level.
I try to schedule low-stakes meetings or administrative tasks in the afternoon because I know my output is lower during those hours. My mornings are usually dedicated to setting a game plan for my day or week and taking any high-priority meetings or tasks head-on.
My creativity bursts usually come in the evenings, during the time when my brain can process the activities and conversations of the day, so I make sure to add a block for that to my schedule.
On learning to lead.
A lot of it was self-actualization, and developing the culture that I wanted to build.
I’ve been a GM, and I’ve been part of a founding team, but this is my first time being a CEO. I’ve worked for good leaders and bad leaders, and I learned very quickly the kind of leader I don’t want to be.
I’ve been very lucky in that my co-founders and the people on our team are amazing.
The best thing I can do for them is clear the path in front of them, let them do what they’re great at, and figure out where I can add the most value.
With that, something I prioritize is cultivating a culture that gives them the space to perform. About 3 to 4 times a week, my team has a “hangout time” where we’re all online and working together. Giving ourselves that digital space to sync up with active conversations has been massively useful.
I’m usually the last to speak so that everyone has the opportunity to give their raw opinion.
On overcoming obstacles.
When we were raising our seed round, I came down with COVID.
I was completely out of it for a couple of weeks — it was pretty brutal by all accounts.
One of my favorite lines from my dad is, “There’s no way around it but through it.”
When that happened, I knew that I had to rest up, then put my head down and close the raise so we would have the capital to start building on our vision.
Sometimes, you just have to look past excuses and get shit done.
On choosing his cap table.
I’m definitely not interested in investors who just want to write a check, disappear, and then pop up on Twitter when something good happens to the company.
That’s not my scene.
I’ve always focused on aligning myself with those that like to think about high-level strategy and can understand the company’s potential trajectory.
More importantly, I wanted folks on the cap table who can take a long-term view on partnerships and always lead with empathy and integrity.
From a tactical lens, you need to have a blend of investors and angels who can advise on strategy paired with folks you can turn to that can help with day-to-day business-related obstacles.
On the pros and cons of e-commerce.
People don’t think about supply chains enough.
Cash flow is everything, and inventory is the devil.
I’m still learning a lot, but the times I’ve learned the most are when I’ve made mistakes, not necessarily when I’ve done things right.
On life outside work.
There’ve been moments in my career where I’ve worked every weekend for months at a time, which led to some pretty brutal mental and physical burnout.
Fortunately, I’m more guarded about offline time these days, and I like using my weekend to pay it forward by taking calls or coffee meetings with other founders.
Part of our investment from Alpha Bridge comes with a coaching and therapy stipend, which has been absolutely crucial to my mental health.
Be it working out, taking the time to read, or spending time with friends, I think it’s super important to invest in the habits and relationships that bring me the most joy.
On managing relationships.
You should always approach relationships with a long-term view, and think about how you can help one another grow.
For one, I am an extreme extrovert, so I get energy from being out and about with people.
As a CEO, I find myself often in a position where I need to be selling or pitching, which can be a draining process for anyone. I try to focus on the relationship-building instead of the “sell” because that is the part I truly enjoy (and, I think, when I’m at my best).
Relationships are at the core of every business, and as a result, you really need to put in time to nurture those relationships and really get to know people at a deeper level.
On his nightly routine.
Admittedly, I haven’t been great in the past at separating myself from my phone in the evening.
I’ve been working with overseas teams for the past 5 years, so typically I would have a second wave of work kickoff at around 8 pm for an hour or two. With Starday, I’m working a more typical schedule.
Once I’ve responded to what I’ve needed to respond to (which isn’t always everything– accepting that I can't always get everything done has been crucial to my psychological safety net), I exhale and start winding down for bed.
