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CEO and Founder | True Essence Foods
Matt Rubin traces his interest in food and aroma to his participation in an elementary-school science fair. For the past 10 years, as CEO and founder of True Essence Foods, he has run a company focused on enhancing and protecting the natural aromas in food and beverages. True Essence has 37 employees working from a 25,000-square-foot facility just north of downtown and engaging with more than 40 companies in 10 countries. The company launched SoChatti, a chocolate company where patrons can experience firsthand making chocolate from scratch. In addition, Rubin has taught at Indiana and Butler universities and is co-founder of Tau Motors, a rapidly growing company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that builds advanced technology for electric systems.
Getting here: Rubin worked in medical and molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine while in high school and virology, proteomics and chemistry in college. Following his MBA at the IU Kelley School of Business, he worked at the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp., where he managed the commercialization of more than 600 technologies that resulted in many licenses and startup companies while also teaching as adjunct faculty at the Kelley School. He launched True Essence Foods in 2013 and also became full-time faculty and entrepreneur-in-residence at the IU Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship.
First job: Cutting grass
Givebacks: Member, Dean’s Industrial Advisory Council, IU Kelley School of Business
Influential moment: “One year into working at IU Research and Technology Corp., I committed to flying to Siberia to teach entrepreneurship. [Before we left], I hired a local Russian tutor and spent over four hours a day studying Russian. We flew with one-way tickets to Siberia and engaged strangers in a field that I felt passionate about. The commitment to an opportunity and momentum from that experience has carried throughout my career.”
Advice: “Innovation does not require you to start a company; however, it always requires hard work and dedication. Don’t stop at the idea phase before your vision is realized.”•
Check out more Forty Under 40 honorees.
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