{"id":83693,"date":"2025-02-04T09:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/?p=83693"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T22:27:24","slug":"how-wild-alaskan-company-mission-sparked-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/how-wild-alaskan-company-mission-sparked-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership: How Staying True to Your Mission Can Spark Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re like many of us, you don\u2019t think much about where your seafood comes from or why it matters\u2014but Arron Kallenberg is working to change that. The Alaska native left a successful career in tech<\/a> to start Wild Alaskan Company (WAC)<\/a>, a sustainable seafood subscription service, not because he was confident it would succeed, but because he believed deeply in its mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\"Leadership<\/a>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave a safe, secure job, growth equity, venture capital\u2014I was newly married\u2014and go sell frozen fish on the internet. It felt like something I had<\/em> to do because I saw the disconnection that humanity was experiencing between natural food systems and society at large,\u201d Kallenberg says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the company launched in 2017, he and his wife, Monica Haim, were struggling with infertility, and he couldn\u2019t help thinking that if children weren\u2019t in the cards, he needed another way to extend his legacy. Though he had no idea whether the startup<\/a> would take off, \u201cit felt too important not to try,\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the son and grandson of commercial fishermen, Kallenberg was compelled to uphold his family\u2019s deep-rooted values of connecting with their food source and with their community over shared meals. \u201cMy dad grew up fishing with my grandfather, and I grew up fishing with my dad,\u201d says Kallenberg, who now has two children with his wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a culture where large-scale, industrial food production has largely crowded out food systems that work in tandem with nature, \u201cthe conversations we\u2019ve been having for four generations\u2026 have all been around how do we pay respect, express reverence for and participate in this natural food system?\u201d For Kallenberg, WAC was the natural answer to all of those questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Broken System <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over time, Kallenberg became increasingly disturbed by the state of the seafood industry. In the 1990s, he saw his family and community struggle due to a salmon price collapse, which he credits largely to the rise of industrial salmon feedlots. As fish flooded the market, prices plummeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, international mining corporations were applying for rights to mine the Bristol Bay watershed, posing a major threat to the world\u2019s largest sockeye fishery. Early on, Kallenberg joined the movement to protect the fish and preserve the local economies and Native tribes who depend on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kallenberg reached a breaking point when he realized how little the public knew about their fish. Most \u201cwild-caught\u201d salmon looked \u201cnothing like\u201d the salmon he grew up with, he says. \u201cYou could call that fish fraud or just plain ignorance,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exponential Growth <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whatever you call it, Kallenberg knew he had to be part of the solution. Fueled by the desire to fix a broken system and to connect people with their food and to each other, WAC has grown exponentially since they sold their first box of fish in 2018. At the time, their team included just four people, including Kallenberg, Haim and two founding members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, they acquired Home Port Seafoods processing, a multigenerational family business they\u2019d developed a close relationship with from day one. \u201cThey processed our first batch of fish for us,\u201d Kallenberg recalls. With Home Port operating as part of their team, WAC is now poised to better meet customer demand and expand offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, WAC and Home Port Seafoods processing include 150 employees in 23 states across various departments, including member experience, finance, operations and marketing, to name a few. In under seven years, they\u2019ve delivered sustainably sourced seafood to approximately 450,000 households across the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identifying your company\u2019s values and mission is one thing, but putting them into action is another. Here are some ways WAC\u2019s practices align with their core values and commitment to sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Superior Supply Chain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like to say that Wild Alaskan is a tech-enabled, data-driven marketing and frozen logistics company that happens to sell fish,\u201d Kallenberg says. As WAC has grown to include a digital product and engineering team, a data science team and many more \u201creally, really smart people,\u201d they\u2019ve leveraged software solutions to optimize efficiency and minimize their carbon footprint to successfully deliver seafood boxes to doorsteps in all 50 states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green Packaging<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every WAC shipment is packed in <\/strong>Green Cell Foam, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional insulation. Made from non-GMO, U.S.-sourced cornstarch, it\u2019s safe to burn in a fireplace, compost or dissolve and pour down the drain. \u201cIt would be honestly cheaper to use a less environmentally friendly insulation,\u201d but WAC won\u2019t skimp on putting their values into action, Kallenberg says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shared Experiences <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The company aims to help people reconnect with their food and their communities\u2014and Kallenberg\u2019s leading by example. For their team meeting, every team member was invited to a weeklong retreat in rural Alaska, where they had the chance to participate in a bonfire, a salmon bake on the beach, a fishing excursion and more. \u201cI really do define success as a happy heartbeat with whatever time we have on this planet, and for me, that\u2019s creating shared experiences,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commitment to the Greater Good <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a public benefit corporation, rather than simply aiming to maximize shareholder value, WAC is committed to benefitting the public and operating responsibly and sustainably. In so doing, Kallenberg hopes to \u201cinspire other food systems, outside of wild fisheries, to adopt similar standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embracing Tradition and Innovation <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tech industry has this hustle culture of \u2018move fast and break things,\u2019\u201d Kallenberg says. In other words, experiment, take risks and switch gears if you fail. However, in commercial fishing, an inherently risky industry, that approach can cost lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WAC aims to fuse the best of both worlds, Kallenberg says. \u201cUltimately, I attribute our growth to staying true to the mission, remembering the legacy and trying to honor it, and taking a lot of the good that technology can bring, from the supply chain and communication standpoint, and meshing them together to [build a company] that is putting this wonderful seafood from America\u2019s backyard on plates across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared in the March\/April 2025 <\/em><\/strong>issue of SUCCESS magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong> Photo from Wild Alaskan Company<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re like many of us, you don\u2019t think much about where your seafood comes from or why it matters\u2014but Arron Kallenberg is working to change that. The Alaska native left a successful career in tech to start Wild Alaskan Company (WAC), a sustainable seafood subscription service, not because he was confident it would succeed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79522,"featured_media":83694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/SOnline25_Pam-Moore_SMAG_Wild-Alaskan.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Pam Moore","author_link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/author\/pam-moore\/"},"yoast_head":"\nHow Wild Alaskan Company\u2019s Mission Sparked Growth | SUCCESS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how the values-first approach of Wild Alaskan Company inspired a winning growth strategy from CEO Arron Kallenberg.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leadership: How Staying True to Your Mission Can Spark Growth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re like many of us, you don\u2019t think much about where your seafood comes from or why it matters\u2014but Arron Kallenberg is working to change that. 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The Alaska native <a href=\"https:\/\/wildalaskancompany.com\/our-story\">left a successful career in tech<\/a> to start <a href=\"https:\/\/wildalaskancompany.com\/\">Wild Alaskan Company (WAC)<\/a>, a sustainable seafood subscription service, not because he was confident it would succeed, but because he believed deeply in its mission. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n\n<!-- \/wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave a safe, secure job, growth equity, venture capital\u2014I was newly married\u2014and go sell frozen fish on the internet. It felt like something I <em>had<\/em> to do because I saw the disconnection that humanity was experiencing between natural food systems and society at large,\u201d Kallenberg says. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When the company launched in 2017, he and his wife, Monica Haim, were struggling with infertility, and he couldn\u2019t help thinking that if children weren\u2019t in the cards, he needed another way to extend his legacy. Though he had no idea whether <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/how-to-run-a-successful-startup-business\/\">the startup<\/a> would take off, \u201cit felt too important not to try,\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As the son and grandson of commercial fishermen, Kallenberg was compelled to uphold his family\u2019s deep-rooted values of connecting with their food source and with their community over shared meals. \u201cMy dad grew up fishing with my grandfather, and I grew up fishing with my dad,\u201d says Kallenberg, who now has two children with his wife. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In a culture where large-scale, industrial food production has largely crowded out food systems that work in tandem with nature, \u201cthe conversations we\u2019ve been having for four generations\u2026 have all been around how do we pay respect, express reverence for and participate in this natural food system?\u201d For Kallenberg, WAC was the natural answer to all of those questions. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-broken-system-nbsp\">A Broken System <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Over time, Kallenberg became increasingly disturbed by the state of the seafood industry. In the 1990s, he saw his family and community struggle due to a salmon price collapse, which he credits largely to the rise of industrial salmon feedlots. As fish flooded the market, prices plummeted. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Meanwhile, international mining corporations were applying for rights to mine the Bristol Bay watershed, posing a major threat to the world\u2019s largest sockeye fishery. Early on, Kallenberg joined the movement to protect the fish and preserve the local economies and Native tribes who depend on them. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Kallenberg reached a breaking point when he realized how little the public knew about their fish. Most \u201cwild-caught\u201d salmon looked \u201cnothing like\u201d the salmon he grew up with, he says. \u201cYou could call that fish fraud or just plain ignorance,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-exponential-growth-nbsp\">Exponential Growth <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whatever you call it, Kallenberg knew he had to be part of the solution. Fueled by the desire to fix a broken system and to connect people with their food and to each other, WAC has grown exponentially since they sold their first box of fish in 2018. At the time, their team included just four people, including Kallenberg, Haim and two founding members.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In 2023, they acquired Home Port Seafoods processing, a multigenerational family business they\u2019d developed a close relationship with from day one. \u201cThey processed our first batch of fish for us,\u201d Kallenberg recalls. With Home Port operating as part of their team, WAC is now poised to better meet customer demand and expand offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Today, WAC and Home Port Seafoods processing include 150 employees in 23 states across various departments, including member experience, finance, operations and marketing, to name a few. In under seven years, they\u2019ve delivered sustainably sourced seafood to approximately 450,000 households across the United States. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Identifying your company\u2019s values and mission is one thing, but putting them into action is another. Here are some ways WAC\u2019s practices align with their core values and commitment to sustainability. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-superior-supply-chain\">A Superior Supply Chain<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cI like to say that Wild Alaskan is a tech-enabled, data-driven marketing and frozen logistics company that happens to sell fish,\u201d Kallenberg says. As WAC has grown to include a digital product and engineering team, a data science team and many more \u201creally, really smart people,\u201d they\u2019ve leveraged software solutions to optimize efficiency and minimize their carbon footprint to successfully deliver seafood boxes to doorsteps in all 50 states. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-green-packaging\">Green Packaging<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every WAC shipment is packed in<strong> <\/strong>Green Cell Foam, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional insulation. Made from non-GMO, U.S.-sourced cornstarch, it\u2019s safe to burn in a fireplace, compost or dissolve and pour down the drain. \u201cIt would be honestly cheaper to use a less environmentally friendly insulation,\u201d but WAC won\u2019t skimp on putting their values into action, Kallenberg says. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shared-experiences-nbsp\">Shared Experiences <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The company aims to help people reconnect with their food and their communities\u2014and Kallenberg\u2019s leading by example. For their team meeting, every team member was invited to a weeklong retreat in rural Alaska, where they had the chance to participate in a bonfire, a salmon bake on the beach, a fishing excursion and more. \u201cI really do define success as a happy heartbeat with whatever time we have on this planet, and for me, that\u2019s creating shared experiences,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-commitment-to-the-greater-good-nbsp\">Commitment to the Greater Good <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As a public benefit corporation, rather than simply aiming to maximize shareholder value, WAC is committed to benefitting the public and operating responsibly and sustainably. In so doing, Kallenberg hopes to \u201cinspire other food systems, outside of wild fisheries, to adopt similar standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-embracing-tradition-and-innovation-nbsp\">Embracing Tradition and Innovation <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cThe tech industry has this hustle culture of \u2018move fast and break things,\u2019\u201d Kallenberg says. In other words, experiment, take risks and switch gears if you fail. However, in commercial fishing, an inherently risky industry, that approach can cost lives. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>WAC aims to fuse the best of both worlds, Kallenberg says. \u201cUltimately, I attribute our growth to staying true to the mission, remembering the legacy and trying to honor it, and taking a lot of the good that technology can bring, from the supply chain and communication standpoint, and meshing them together to [build a company] that is putting this wonderful seafood from America\u2019s backyard on plates across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"fontSize\":\"small\"} -->\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong><em>This article originally appeared in the March\/April 2025 <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/store.success.com\/by-media\/success-magazine-september-october-2024-daymond-john.html\"><strong><em>issue of SUCCESS magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Photo from Wild Alaskan Company<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","tag_names":[],"post_attachment_urls":[],"author_email":"Pam+Moore-author@success.com","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}