In 2016, shortly after teaming up with two fellow University of Oklahoma grads to launch a mission-driven drinkware company, OU 2003 BBA alumnus Mike Beckham secured a licensing deal allowing him to print the university’s logo on tumblers, water bottles and travel mugs. Although the deal with OU was not an easy sell, Beckham jokes, it led to a meeting with representatives at Sam’s Club. The big box retailer placed a large order of Simple Modern drinkware—and the company began to quickly scale up.

Now a leading drinkware company with 16 million units in sales, over $200 million in annual revenue and products sold by major retailers such as Amazon and Target, Simple Modern has also donated over $10 million in cash to charities that focus on issues ranging from homelessness to clean drinking water to education. That’s because, for Beckham and co-founders and fellow OU alums Bryan Porter and Micah Ames, giving back was part of the business plan from the beginning. 

“The idea is that you’re trying to create an environment where everyone who comes in contact with the company is experiencing generosity,” Beckham says, including customers, employees and manufacturing partners. “It makes people want to root for you. It makes people want to buy from you.”

In addition to donating 10% of profits to charitable organizations, Simple Modern has built a culture of generosity in its Moore, Okla., office. Beckham says a collegial atmosphere, generous health care and childcare benefits, as well as involving employees in company decisions, are some of the characteristics that set Simple Modern apart from the majority of businesses. 

“The most effective organizations help their people connect what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis with larger meaning and purpose,” he says. 

Mentorship 

A former adjunct professor and entrepreneur-in-residence at OU’s Price College of Business, Beckham takes every opportunity to share his expertise with students, whether that means organizing tours at Simple Modern, meeting one-on-one or speaking at a variety of events. 

“Mike has a very unique view of organizations and leadership,” says Ron Bolen, OU associate professor of entrepreneurship. Bolen, who has spoken alongside Beckham at many entrepreneurship events, says his business philosophy of giving back reflects the principles OU tries to instill. 

“Here is somebody who is extraordinarily accomplished, he’s very busy,” Bolen adds, “but still finds time for students.”

OU 2014 alum Corbin Wallace remembers meeting Beckham during his first day on campus. Beckham was then working with a nonprofit Christian ministry, Cru, and part of a team helping students move into residence halls. The two struck up a friendship over the next few years and continued to keep in touch after Wallace graduated.

“We’d talk a lot about e-commerce and customer acquisition, how you build a brand and how you build a business,” says Wallace, who considers Beckham a mentor. “How do you cast vision? How do you get folks to believe in a core mission of a business or an organization?”

In 2016, Wallace was among the first handful of employees at Simple Modern and has grown with the company ever since. In November, he took over as CEO of Trevi, the company’s newly launched electrolyte brand. 

“I think Mike does a fantastic job—not only in a business setting, but in a personal relationship setting or mentorship—of helping you figure out the things that matter and making sure that you can orient your life and help build a life of importance,” Wallace says. 

The path to entrepreneurship

Beckham, who studied finance at OU, pursued mission-driven work with Cru after graduation but eventually changed course, teaming up with his OU alumnus brother Matt Beckham to establish an e-commerce company that quickly became a success. 

“I couldn’t have dreamed up a better way to complement the education that I got at OU with on-the-job learning, where you’re really ‘drinking through a fire hose’ because you have to,” Beckham says. “That’s what’s beautiful about startups; you get to the point where you’re forced to learn things you don’t know anything about because somebody’s got to do it.”

Launching an online auction website in the early days of e-commerce meant wearing dozens of different hats, from digital marketing to website analytics and supply chain management and human resources, Beckham says. He and his brother also dealt with uncertainty and disappointment as some ventures failed to thrive.

Beckham says hard-earned lessons taught him that, “it’s easy to forget how difficult business can be” and helped him hone strategy and brand messaging later put into practice when Simple Modern was created. But despite the success Simple Modern has enjoyed, he says there is still work to be done to articulate the company’s vision to a wider audience.

He points to one recent project that had remarkable success. Simple Modern partnered with OU Athletics on a pilot program to create unique drinkware designs for each of the Sooners’ home football games this past season. 

“I think all of them sold out before kickoff,” Beckham says. “I was inundated with texts from people asking, ‘Hey, where can I get more?’ 

“You’re trying to tell a story about what your brand means and what it stands for that is memorable and resonates with people,” he says. “I think we’re starting to get there.”

Alice Popovici is a freelance writer currently living in Bucharest, Romania.

To comment on this story, click here.