Startup Stories: Q&A With Thrive Market Chief of Staff Nolan Green

Welcome to Startup Stories, a series that takes you behind the scenes to share what working at a startup is really like. Our mission at Thrive Market is simple: to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone. But fulfilling our big dreams take a team of dedicated, inspiring, funny, and tenacious people who show up to work every day eager to make a difference.

Today we’re introducing you to our Chief of Staff, Nolan Green. He wears lots of hats around the office, including implementing our new Meat and Seafood Program and running our venture fund, just to name a couple. Read on for our interview!

Let’s start with the basics. Can you describe your role at Thrive Market?

Broadly speaking, my role is to give our CEO leverage on his time. That means taking anything I can off his plate so he can be more strategic. Sometimes that literally means taking meetings in his place, or being a layer deep in the weeds on specific projects so his time can be spent at a strategic level. More recently, my role has been focused on building new business channels for us, the first of which was our Meat and Seafood Program which launched this spring. I also run Thrive Market Ventures, which has made four investments to date in 2018.

Is there anything people misunderstand about your job, or something that might surprise members to learn about your work?

My job has absolutely nothing to do with staffing!

Some of our programs are months in the making and involve lots of moving pieces. How do you stay motivated when most of the details unfold behind the scenes?

I have fun working alongside people I love. It’s gratifying to look back at projects with other Thrivers and say, “We BUILT that!” regardless of whether co-workers or members see all the work that went into it.

What does a typical day look like? Do you have any routines or rituals that help you feel your best? Or a favorite nibble to grab from the kitchen, perhaps?

I commute from the East Side of LA and regiment those 10 hours per week pretty religiously with listening, usually going through a few books or a few dozen podcasts each week. I’ve learned so much in the car, including just how to be a more focused long-form listener. For listening, for learning, for talking with family on the phone, for thinking—I cherish that car time.

What inspires you to live a healthy lifestyle? Is there something in particular that drew you to Thrive Market?

Everything about my body and mind function is better when I’m healthy.

When do you feel most successful or proud of your work?

I’m most proud of our work when I can confidently say that a product, feature, or experience for our members would not exist without us.

Give us a peek at what you eat during the day—breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack!

In the morning, I’ll have a black coffee, sometimes with butter and coconut oil. Lunch is whatever is being served up at Thrive Market, and dinner depends on what produce we brought back from the farmers market the previous weekend, alongside some Thrive Market rice, beans, or meat!

What’s one thing you want others to know about Thrive Market, that they might not learn from ordering, reading the blog, or visiting the website?

There are nearly 500 Thrive Market employees literally working around the clock to continue upping the bar on quality and affordability for our members. Our members might also not know that psst…there are a ton of surprises coming in 2018 that will make the membership even better!

Last but not least, what’s your favorite Thrive Market product and why?

Any of the meat and seafood boxes because I’ve visited the farms personally!