Meet Adriaan Zimmerman of Ned in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriaan Zimmerman.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Adriaan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m half-Finnish, half-Dutch, and American-raised. I was raised on the East Coast and graduated CU Boulder in 2005. Shortly after that, I started my career working for a venture capital fund in Hong Kong and Paris focused in clean tech and sustainable technologies.

After some time abroad, I returned to the US and became a founding Partner of BroBible.com, a popular men’s lifestyle and entertainment brand that grew to over 15 million readers per month. After BroBible was acquired by Uproxx Media in 2012, I scaled a multi-million dollar business within Uproxx and began advising a number of startups, including TheLADbible Group, which is now the 4th most viewed global Media and Entertainment property in the world.

By 2015, I was 5,000 miles away from CO in the UK, starting a big new job with the company named above. While I was seemingly living the high life full of fancy dinners, weekend getaways, and plenty of shiny new material possessions, below the surface, a looming feeling of discontent and angst was growing.

Coincidentally, this all happened precisely ten years after finishing college without a clue which direction my career would go or what awaited me in the years ahead. And right on cue for my 10th anniversary, deeper questions about my life and the years past started entering my mind.

I did my best to suppress those struggles, but after only a few months in the UK, the avoidance finally erupted like a volcano, resulting in a full-blown burnout, topped off with a major panic attack while presenting in front of 75 employees. That was followed by about of the shingles and a string of anxiety attacks every time I stepped foot in the office.

I was fired shortly after that, which turned out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I was given a rare opportunity to take a step back from it all. I bought a flight to Central Asia thinking I’d travel for a couple of months. What transpired was nearly two years of wandering, looking inwards, and exploring other undertakings like writing and photography. I rediscovered three things that had escaped me whilst in the rat race – nature, simplicity and human connection.

Upon my return, I had a new lens from which to view not just work, but also existence.

This long story all fed into the creation of Ned (HelloNed.com), my latest venture, which I co-founded in 2017. It’s a wellness brand that’s rooted in the belief that we can all feel better and live better through simple means and a deep connection to the natural world.

We launched with a line of Full Spectrum Hemp (CBD) products and are expanding into other categories by sourcing other natural remedies from around the world.

Great, 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?
No, it most certainly hasn’t been a smooth road.

I had some successes, but some major failures as well. I completely got my ass kicked on my first start-up, I’ve been laid off, I’ve been embarrassed – and even all my successes were peppered with small failures.

Prior to the burnout, my career had been my primary focus and I constantly weighed my worth by what I was accomplishing professionally. My identity and self-recognition were directly correlated to what I was doing in the office and it fed right into my personal narrative; whether it was in dating, socializing or even amongst my family. I rarely created space for myself and being “busy” was almost a badge of honor. I would constantly wake up with the feeling that my life was not my own and time was slipping through my fingers.

And it’s still a struggle. Despite Ned’s early success, we’ve stood at the edges of many cliffs and have been lucky enough to make it through.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Ned – what should we know?
Ned is a wellness brand that’s rooted in the belief that we can all feel better and live better through simple means and a deep connection to the natural world.

My partner, Ret, and I launched in 2018 with a line of small-batch Full Spectrum Hemp (CBD) products and have quickly grown into a leading brand in the space. We source exclusively from an independent farmer in Paonia, CO and have developed a strong reputation for quality, transparency, and integrity above all else.

I’m most proud of the community and business we’ve built with zero outside investment. I designed the Ned brand to be approachable, simple, and colloquial and our approach has landed. Our ever-expanding Ned family is made up of tens of thousands of customers from around the world and it’s fueling not just our growth, but the decisions we make every day.

We have new product lines in development that are direct responses to customers needs and requests.

Most importantly, we work with extraordinary people every day across our value chain, who share in all the successes with us.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Honesty.

During my time away, I truly learned how to listen to myself. Finding that honesty with myself enabled me to find honesty with others, which impacts the way I exist both in and out of a professional environment. It’s enabled me to find a true relationship. It’s enabled me to create an authentic path for my business. And it’s removed some (not all) of the friction in my day-to-day.