Goldman Sachs Talks

Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO of Beyond Meat

In this episode, filmed at Goldman Sachs’ Builders + Innovators Summit, Ethan Brown discusses the mission behind the plant-based meat company and how the company’s product and business model is connected to tackling broader global issues.

On the mission of the company: “I look at the solution that we’re trying to provide, and I’ve never seen anything like this in my career, where you can focus on one thing, which for us is building protein for the center of the plate, and simultaneously solve for significant global issues.” 

On building the company’s culture: “The culture’s very clear at Beyond Meat, and we do it in the language we use to describe our facilities and our program….  And the idea was let’s bring together the very best scientists. Let’s bring together the very best engineers and the best managers. Let’s fund them properly and let’s give them a goal that’s worthy of urgency, and that goal is not to tell people not to eat meat. That would be a big mistake.… And that, in my view, is to build that piece of meat directly from plants.”