EY Announces Hint Founder Kara Goldin as Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Award Finalist

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) — EY today announced that Kara Goldin, hint® Founder and CEO, is a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2017 Award in Northern California. The awards program, which is celebrating its 31st year, recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Kara was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 23rd at The Fairmont in San Jose, California. Kara is also an alum of EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women program.

hint started with Kara’s own story. Twelve years ago, after leaving a senior position in tech, she was looking to clean up her diet and recognized that diet soda was controlling her life. Once she gave up the diet soda, many of her health issues went away. To get herself to drink more water, she started throwing fruit in water and discovered that it made water that much more enjoyable. Nobody was producing a product quite like hint, so Kara did! Today, hint produces the leading flavored water with no sweeteners and nothing artificial. Since its launch in April 2005, hint has helped consumers live healthy lifestyles by making water taste better. hint has received numerous accolades including Best Flavored Water (Health, Men’s Health, and SELF). Flavored only with natural fruit, hint delivers refreshment without unnecessary additives. hint’s water brands include hintfizz, a carbonated drink that received Better Homes and Gardens’ Best New Product award and the Silver Stevie award for Best New Product of the Year. hintkick, another offering, is hint’s first all-natural, unsweetened caffeinated beverage. Recently, hint launched its own sunscreen using the essences from the original product, hint water, for scent. In addition to being the best smelling sunscreen on the market today, they have again pushed the boundaries by eliminating oxybenzone and parabens, which have been tied to some health issues, from their sunscreens. hint has also made its product widely available not just through grocery stores and tech offices but also through its own website at www.drinkhint.com.

Prior winners from the EY Northern California Region include Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google Inc., Nick Woodman of GoPro and James Park of Fitbit.

Other finalists for 2017 include:

1. 8×8 Inc. | Bryan Martin, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer and Vikram Verma, CEO | San Jose, California
2. Ambarella | Fermi Wang, CEO | Santa Clara, California
3. App Annie | Bertrand Schmitt, CEO & co-founder | San Francisco, California
4. Big Switch Networks | Douglas Murray, Chief Executive Officer and Kyle Forster, Founder | Santa Clara, California
5. Bill.com | René Lacerte, CEO and founder | Palo Alto, California
6. C3 IoT | Thomas Siebel, CEO, Chairman, and Founder | Redwood City, California
7. Center for Learning and Autism Support Services, Inc. (CLASS) | Denise Pollard, President / Chief Executive Officer | San Mateo, California
8. CoverHound Inc. | Keith Moore, CEO & Executive Board Director | San Francisco, California
9. CrowdStrike | George Kurtz, President and CEO | Sunnyvale, California
10. Doximity | Jeff Tangney, CEO and Founder and Shari Buck, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder | San Francisco, California
11. Financial Technology Partners | Steven McLaughlin, Founder / CEO / Managing Partner | San Francisco, California
12. Five9 | Mike Burkland, President & CEO | San Ramon, California
13. HotelTonight | Sam Shank, CEO | San Francisco, California
14. IronPlanet | Gregory Owens, Chairman and CEO | Pleasanton, California
15. Kateeva, Inc. | Conor Madigan, Chief Operating Officer, President & Co-Founder | Newark, California
16. Liftoff Mobile, Inc. | Mark Ellis, CEO | Palo Alto, California
17. Nevro Corp. | Rami Elghandour, President and CEO | Redwood City, California
18. Opendoor | Eric Wu, Founder and CEO | San Francisco, California
19. Peek.com | Ruzwana Bashir, CEO | San Francisco, California
20. SST, Inc./ShotSpotter | Ralph Clark, Chief Executive Officer | Newark, California
21. Tanium | David Hindawi, Executive Chairman & co-founder and Orion Hindawi, Chief Executive Officer & co-founder | Emeryville, California
22. Tradeshift, Inc. | Christian Lanng, CEO, chairman, and co-founder | San Francisco, California
23. TRX FITNESS ANYWHERE LLC | Randal Hetrick, CEO/Founder | San Francisco, California

Now in its 31st year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in over 145 cities and more than 60 countries throughout the world. Regional award winners are eligible for consideration in the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, November 18, 2017. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner moves on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in Monaco in June 2018.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the US by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In Northern California, regional Gold sponsors include SolomonEdwards; Silver sponsors include Big Picture Inc. and Chatham Financial.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® is one of the world’s most prestigious business awards programs for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy

About Kara Goldin and hint Inc.

Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of San Francisco-based hint® Inc., which produces the leading unsweetened flavored water. Hint® makes it easier for consumers to live healthier lives. The company’s products have received numerous accolades, including Best Flavored Water (Health, Men’s Health, and SELF), Best New Product (Better Homes and Gardens) and the Silver Stevie Award for Best New Product. Since its founding in 2005, Hint® has been making water taste great without making it taste sweet. hint’s brands include their flagship product, hint® water, their sparkling product line, hintfizz, and their lightly caffeinated line, hintkick. hint’s products are available nationwide in most major natural, specialty and grocery stores and are available at http://www.drinkhint.com for delivery direct to your door.