Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Davenport.
Hi Adam, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name’s Adam Davenport and I grew up in a small town called Duvall, WA. My family planted our roots in the valley when I was 5 years old, ultimately lead by mom who headed every foundation, PTA, and sports board from kindergarten through high school graduation. She’s “Mama Sue” to every kid in our town. My dad Scott (aka Scotty Ice) is one of the hardest working, and most selfless people I know. My little brother Aaron was and is my best friend. He got selected in the 2021 MLB draft by Cleveland after three years of playing baseball and living life at the University of Hawaii. Sports were the biggest part of our lives since the day we could pick up a ball. My dad always said they never knew what they would’ve done if they had a third kid because at least one of them was at EVERY single game our entire lives. Football, baseball, and basketball games every season for over 20 years and my mom or dad was in the stands for every one of them. That sums up my support system.
I’m grateful for the values I gained growing up in Duvall; work hard, be kind, and always give more than you take. My parents pushed me to be as well-rounded as possible. While sports were always at the top of my personal priority list, every other responsibility had to be checked off if we wanted to play year round. I was on the honor roll just about every quarter of middle and high school, went to Sunday school, co-lead the Random Acts of Kindness club, and graduated high school with over 100 hours of community service. My parents always said their biggest hope for me in life was that I had options. Whether that was a choice of college, teams to play for, where to work, or where to live… just never be backed into a corner. Do what you need to do in life so that you keep the pen in your hand when you’re gettin’ ready to write your next chapter.
I went on to play baseball and graduate from the University of Washington with a BA in Psychology. Moving to Seattle and going to a college with a graduating class bigger than my hometown was definitely a change of pace, but that’s where I became addicted to mixing up my comfort zone. I met some of my best friends for life, worked hard, partied harder, and learned how to balance a full-time D1 sports schedule along with keeping my parents off my butt in school. I was fortunate enough to have their help paying for college, and in the spring quarter of my freshman year at UW, I got a 2.7 GPA. The lowest GPA I’d ever had, my mom gave me a very brief phone call while I was playing summer ball in Chico, CA. “Hey bud, hope you’re having fun, miss you already. Hope last quarter was even more fun, the Tuesday morning pool parties looked amazing. Your grades just came in! If your GPA ever starts with anything other than a 3, you’ll be finding a way to pay for the next three years of school, and the last one! Love you.” That was the last time we had that conversation.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite memory growing up was when Aaron and I got to play one season of baseball together in high school. I was a senior, and he was a freshman. All we ever wanted to do was play together, so the pressure on him to make varsity at 14 years old was pretty high, haha. But he took it in stride like he always does and we eventually went on to make a state run together that season. Growing up, it didn’t matter if we were playing one on one basketball, running football routes, pitching to each other, or playing catch. We were competing against each other literally seven days a week, 365 days a year from the time he could walk, so the opportunity to be on the same side for once was really cool.
The moment we both remember the clearest was at the time, a brutal one. When we lost our last game in state, he and I were standing against the fence together, no words, just staring at the field knowing that was the last time we’d put on the same uniform. I looked over at him and realized it was about more than that though. As you know, baseball’s in the spring which meant graduation was in a couple of weeks and I’d be moving out to go to college. Our friendship had been tested plenty of times before, but nothing like this. I chose to go to UW over Oregon State for multiple reasons, but the biggest being that UW was 5 hours closer to home. That meant I’d be able to go to all his games and stuff throughout high school, and have him come hang with us at school. He later went on to return the favor by moving all the way to HAWAII – what a guy. Jokes aside, that was the day we knew we’d always be best friends.
What was your plan after college?
Getting close to graduation, I realized that a psych degree without a Masters or PhD, just about narrowed my options down to being a volunteer psychologist or homeless. It was time to start thinking about what it was I really wanted to do. I was playing baseball at UW with a guy named Jack Enger, whose parents at the time were in the process of starting a spiked seltzer company called San Juan Seltzer. Being a Shark Tank fanatic and infatuated with anything entrepreneurial, I knew I liked the idea of sales, particularly for a startup. After doing a little product testing at a football tailgate, (over/under may have been a personal 12 pack), I went up to Katy and Kyle Enger (the founder and President of Sales) and spilled out that I wanted to invest what I had left of my Bar Mitzvah money in their company. Spiked seltzers were still relatively new at the time, but I thought everything they were doing, from the taste, to the packaging, to the marketing was incredible. And they had done it in such a short amount of time. More than anything, I wanted to learn firsthand how you start and grow a business, all the way from square one. At the tailgate, they said, “clearly you’re pretty into this company, we’ll do you one better. If we ever need a sales rep in the Seattle area, we’ll give you a call.” I was bartending the summer after college when I finally got the call that they were expanding and was invited in for an interview. After getting a closer look at the “in’s and out’s”, meeting our CEO Ron Lloyd, and learning about both his personal history, and the direction he envisioned us going, I knew this was where I wanted to be. Being a small company, I had to interview with every single person involved and get yes’s across the board. I started that October.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I spent the next two years as a sales rep in WA and was fortunate enough to play a significant role growing our company to the #1 craft seltzer in the Pacific Northwest. We were growing fast and had successfully established our roots in “our own backyard.” It was time to test new waters and see how we’d do in a new market. An unpredicted geographical jump pointed us to Dallas, TX. When I first interviewed with San Juan, I told them that “I know that we’re in the early stages on this thing. If you guys bring me on board, I will adapt, change, and do whatever it takes to help grow with the company. I’m all in.” That promise was tested in 2021 when they asked me to move to Dallas by myself and open up our first new market. I took it as a huge compliment that they would trust me with a role that big and was eager to get uncomfortable. I was living at home at the time to save money, had never lived outside of WA, and was coming right off Covid’s 2020 debut. I said yes, and moved to Texas that March.
We are the #1 craft seltzer in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). We make all of our seltzers in Seattle at the world’s only Seltzery (TM) in small batches using only PNW-inspired fruits. We don’t/won’t make a lime, pineapple, orange, etc. flavor because that fruit doesn’t grow in the Northwest, which we actually use in our production process. Popular flavors include Huckleberry, Fuji apple, Rainier Cherry, Peach Rose, and a lot more. We have 16 flavors on tap at The San Juan Seltzery. Our 85 calorie, 0 carb, 0 sugar spiked seltzer has the ‘cleanest’ flavor profile there is. We call it PNW clean as it has no “fermenty” or sugary aftertaste that you can get with a lot of mass-produced seltzers. I’ve got to watch this company grow completely from the ground up. It’s really cool to stop and think about trying the first sample round of Huckleberry out of the Enger’s backyard keg and then to look at how far we’ve come. 16 flavors, 5 states (WA, OR, ID, AK, & TX), and multiple additions to our team later, we are still just getting started.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Challenges in life are very relative. At the end of the day, growing up with a consistent roof over my head, never questioning where my next meal would come from, and getting a full education, my road has been smoother than many. For that reason, I will continuously strive to narrow that gap for those who can’t say the same.
From a work perspective however, the biggest challenge I went through was undoubtedly the Dallas expansion. When we were selling in the Northwest, we were telling a story that was relatable and relevant to the people there. I spent two years perfecting that pitch, only to move to a place where the narrative would completely change. At the peak of my personal success with San Juan as it felt like I could work my way out of any customer’s “no”, I got slapped in the face by a big Texas hand that comes bearing plenty of its own local seltzers and craft beers. And let me tell you, they’re loyal to them. But that’s exactly what I wanted when I first started with the company. I went back to square one, and learned how to sell our product in the overwhelmingly saturated market that is spiked seltzer. While this was definitely an obstacle, it led to one of my greatest growth periods professionally.
Culture shock right out of the gate, but all for the better. I immediately fell in love with the southern hospitality, the weather, and everything else that leads Texans to claim that they’re the greatest “country” on Earth. A couple months in, and right as I was getting in a rhythm, I got an Instagram DM from Jerika Vincent. It completely looked like spam, saying that they were in the casting process for a show called “Twentysomethings” right down in Austin. With only 2,000 Instagram followers, working a normal job, living my day to day life, and therefore obviously skeptical, I went out on a limb and responded. Fast forward, it turned out to be real. I eventually got a call that a guy on the show (Bruce) was heading back home and leaving the house in Austin. I went down to get interviewed by Michael, Keke, and Kamari two days later. With my bags packed in case they picked me, they did (thanks again guys). Austin, let’s ride.
If it hadn’t already been established, that moment was when my love for San Juan was permanently validated. The same way they tested my promise that I would do anything for the company, I tested theirs. Katy, Kyle, our VP of Sales Stefania, and our CEO Ron insisted from the get-go that they wanted more than anything for me to grow as a person, a salesman, and an entrepreneur. So like everything we do as a team, we adapted. They gave me the green light to make this massive jump to go sling seltzers and live life in Austin on a reality tv show. A slightadjustment from living at home with my parents in Duvall just eight months prior. My life goal of getting out of my comfort zone was being fulfilled.
A round-the-clock reality show was an interesting move for a camera-shy guy who, like everyone else, can’t stand the sound of their own voice. It did do one thing though – made me decide exactly who I am, and challenged it non-stop. People aren’t meant to be filmed and analyzed 24 hours a day, that’s what makes it entertaining. New friendships, relationships, cities, and experiences were all coming in at a million miles per hour and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Being a late addition to the show, it felt like I was just thrown into the fire. Because of that jump, I made lifelong friends, found an unexpected passion for marketing and public relations, and walked away from the show as a whole new person. It continuously taught me how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
I’ve now personally grown more in the last nine months that I’ve been in Texas, than the previous 23 years. I’m at a pretty pivotal age in terms of establishing who I am on my own. First time away from home, first time working on my own, first time making friends with a complete group of strangers, first time figuring out how the hell to buy my own car insurance, and everything in between has forced me to grow up. The scary, yet addicting part is now I never want to stop. This was merely a move to another state, in one out of 195 countries. The difference in culture, people, the stories they have to tell, and their outlooks on life have shown me that I haven’t even discovered the tip of the iceberg in terms of what this world has to offer. I want to see it all, do it all, mess up, and do it again. This venture made me think a lot about what I want to see when I look back at my life. I am a big believer that you will regret the things you didn’t do, INFINITELY more than the things you did.
Fortunate doesn’t even begin to cover it, but because of the success of the show, San Juan Seltzer will be expanding through all of Texas this spring. A high reward granted from a high risk. Whether it’s to my family, my friends, or my company, I owe all credit to the support system that I have behind me. They’re the reason I can afford to take risks and try new things without fear of falling too far. For them, I’m grateful. For the opportunities that Netflix and Twentysomethings gave me, thank you. And to the city of Austin that all 9 of us were lucky enough to call an adopted home, you are absolutely second to none.
Contact Info:
- Email: imadamdavenport@gmail.com
- Website: www.sanjuanseltzer.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/adamdavenporttt instagram.com/sanjuanseltzer
