Entrepreneur Profile: Max Chautin Founder of KegSkins

The KegSkin is an insulating wrap that keeps your keg cold for 5 plus hours, eliminating costly spending on ice, prep time and inconvenient messes. To adequately keep a keg cold, the average consumer spends roughly 10- 15 dollars worth of ice per keg. On top of this, a receptacle or container must be handy to hold the mess made by the melting ice, causing you to spend extra money. Keg's are already heavy and hard to transport, so why make the process more expensive and complicated?

The KegSkin will keep your beer cold for the duration of your gathering. Thus, the KegSkin saves you money and piece of mind. It pays for itself after only 2 uses and is fully customizable.

In less than 1 year of business, the KegSkin had already been featured on some of the most popular websites on the internet, such as Gizmodo.com, MSNBC Gadgetbox, Business Insider, urbandaddy.com, groupon.com, brobible.com and totalfratmove.com. The company is also currently being used by Wrigley Field in Chicago and the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Was their a turning point in your life, an event that led to your current career?

I wouldn't say there was a defining "Hollywood" moment that made me pack my bags and reach for the stars. I had some extra time to assess what direction my life was going while taking an extra "Bonus" semester to graduate and there were a few projects that I was interested in pursuing. While the process of actually committing to a project was slow and calculated, I recognized pretty quickly that taking the opportunity to execute an idea would not only serve as a fantastic learning experience, but also offered me the reward of creating my own vision.

What is the biggest failure you have experienced in your career?

Everyone experiences failure. If you're operating a business and not encountering roadblocks on a consistent basis, you're not extending yourself enough. It's important to constantly push the boundaries of your vision in order to have a complete understanding of the limitations concerning your business's progression. By constantly exhausting each option failure becomes inconsequential and, in most cases, should be used as a tool to refine your strategy. Similar to attracting the opposite sex, you need to identify your place in the market and not be afraid to hear the word no. That being said, if you're an ugly guy with no personality then don't expect a lot of traction. Luckily, business concepts aren't as permanent as unfortunate genetics.

Tell us your three tips for success?

1. Believe in your Business – the passion you have for your Business should translate in everything you do. Positive energy is contagious, and will certainly translate to your success 2. Think objectively – It's important to not internalize problems and to make decisions based on what's best for the image and brand of your company. 3. Learn from your mistakes – don't let the same mistake happen twice. Running a business is a learning process and plenty of botched decision will happen – learn and grown from them.

What does success mean to you and your business? What is your dream accomplishment?

Success to me was taking a concept and transforming it into an efficient product that met the needs of the consumer, while solving a problem. Once this was validated by our customer's, the goal of the project had already been met. While we are still a very young company with plenty of room for expansion and improvement, it has been a very rewarding experience thus far. My dream accomplishment for KegSkins is to attain national distribution with the largest beer companies in the industry. Providing the consumer with an option at their point of purchase to choose either ice and an oversized tub, or to rent/buy a KegSkin. I'm confident after weighing their options that any logical person would choose the reusable, cost effective and hassle free product.

Everyone aspires for success, but what drives you to work so hard?

Coming into my freshman year of college, I truly believed that talented individuals could succeed solely based on natural ability. This assumption was quickly refuted during my first fall semester at Johns Hopkins University. After four years of balancing academics while competing for the nations most storied lacrosse program, I learned a great deal about myself and what it takes to be successful. These lessons and experiences have undoubtably translated to my life post college, more specifically running my own business. Potential is nothing without hard work; this ethos could not apply any more directly to operating your own business.

Who’s career inspires you the most? If you could collaborate with any business, who would it be?

I'd have to say my father: he started a company when he was my age and has been in charge of his own destiny ever since. I find that incredibly inspiring and I'm very appreciative of all his guidance and help. As far as collaborations are concerned, we are currently working on a few in the beverage industry that have the potential to be very helpful. That being said, I certainly wouldn't mind teaming up with Sports Illustrated in February.

What kind of training and preparation do you go through every day?

Every day presents new opportunities. The nice thing about being entrepreneur is that you can make your own schedule, so I can't say that I necessarily have a specific routine. At the beginning of each week I draw up 5 to 10 opportunities or ideas that I'd like to attack, and I do my best to get the ball rolling on each of them before the weekend.

What plans do you have for your career that we would have never suspected? How do you plan on expanding your business, keeping it relevant in the future ?

As our product continues to grows in popularity the opportunities to establish relationships with reputable brands and institution's expand. I am very optimistic that we can continue to illustrate the effectiveness of our product by proceeding to build endorsements and accounts like we have with Wrigley Field and the Venetian in Las Vegas. The customizable nature of the product lends itself to unlimited creative options; as our company expands, so will our options to utilize the advertising feature the KegSkin presents.

With so much going on in your life right now, how do you keep yourself humble in light of your accomplishments? 

Being humble is one of the most admirable characteristics a person can have. It's important to remember that while being an entrepreneur is great, it's also a position with associated risk. Staying humble and level headed is important because of how very quickly one's luck can change. On the other hand, displaying confidence is very important, recognizing the difference between the two is something you learn as you mature as a person.

5, 10, 50 years down the line, when you’ve achieved everything you aspire for today, where do you see yourself?

Lot's of racquet sports.

Elite.