After a successful Shark Tank pitch landed BeatBox a $1 million investment from Mark Cuban, the brand broke into the mainstream. But with an alcohol content of 11.1%, neon-colored packaging and around 25 grams of sugar in one boxed drink, it’s hard to imagine the beverage in any other hands than those of a freshly 21-year-old college student.
“What’s crazy is 50% of our consumers are over 40, so you’re never too old to have a great fucking time!” Justin Fenchel, chief executive officer and co-founder of BeatBox, wrote in an exclusive email.
This year, the UT-born brand sponsored a stage for the first time at Austin City Limits Music Festival. Tucked away between BMI and Tito’s Handmade Vodka, the BeatBox stage appeared decorated with the same geometric shapes found on the product’s packaging, featuring artists like Japanese Breakfast and MJ Lenderman.
“We partner with Live Nation and C3 Presents, … so we do quite a few of their different fests,” said Varun Ramanujam, BeatBox regional field marketing manager. “We started off with a smaller footprint, and then through opportunities available, we were able to get our space here at ACL.”
Fenchel said his connection to music began in childhood. He learned guitar, unlocking an early appreciation for music that grew into a love for bands like The Offspring.
“(Music) makes you feel all sorts of emotions,” Fenchel wrote, “which is funny because it’s just a sequence of sounds, but it just does something to you.”
BeatBox began by marketing at music venues rather than chasing traditional markets, senior publicist Stef Shapira said in an email.
“What we’re known for is bringing the party,” said Randy Flores, BeatBox field marketing and media specialist. “It’s a testament to our ability to be creative non-stop and have that challenge at every festival we go to as proving grounds.”
Ramanujam said the brand also gives back through charitable contributions to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
Conceived in the McCombs School of Business in 2011, BeatBox revamped bland boxed wines into juiced-up, sucrose powerhouses with competitive pricing and resealability.
“We said, ‘Why has no one taken all these fun flavors and put them in boxed packaging,” Fenchel wrote. “And then centering the brand around music. And it was authentic to us and I think really resonated with our consumers.”
UT’s MBA program proved instrumental for Fenchel, who used the two years to refine his idea. An Indiegogo campaign raised $8,000 from classmates for the brand, but the real break came when the team was asked to present on behalf of the entrepreneurship program to the UT Chancellor’s Council — a group of major alumni donors.
“One of the guys came up to us and said he could help us out,” Fenchel wrote. “It was Alan Dreeben who was the owner of one of the largest alcohol distributors in the country.”
That same year, BeatBox received its $1 million investment from Cuban.
“There were a ton of people who thought the idea for BeatBox was the dumbest thing they’d ever heard, so getting the $1 (million) from Mark Cuban was more than the money,” Fenchel wrote.
Fenchel wrote that he’s gone to every single ACL – except Sept. 30, 2024, due to the birth of his daughter — so having a stage at the music festival has always been a dream. According to the CEO, seeing the stage felt like a full-circle moment.
“Like how fucking cool is that?” he wrote. “I still can’t believe it but we just ride this awesome wave every day and enjoy every single moment.”
