Rocco Co-Founder Alyse Borkan on The Super Smart Fridge and Creating Community With Every Sip
Alyse Borkan has had quite the career, working on successful marketing campaigns at both big corporations and startups including Our Place, Billie and Casper, but her new startup endeavor, co-founding Rocco and their Super Smart Fridge, might be her most fascinating yet.
The viral drink fridge brand is still relatively new, first launching in November of 2023, but they've already sold out seven times—and for good reason. Rocco fully reimagines beverage storage for a new generation, bringing the art of "living" back to the living room as it invites customers to socialize and turn every moment into a celebration in the process. It blends the latest and greatest in refrigeration tech with a striking design and bar cart functionality, serving as both an appliance and a piece of furniture its owners are eager to show of. It also has a fully customizable interior to accommodate any beverages you can dream up, from big bottles to ginger shots, and from your phone, you can see its interior as well as control temperature, cool-down mode and even lightning. Rocco is a new type of fridge in every sense, and we got the chance to chat with Alyse to learn more about her history in marketing and what makes Rocco so special in the interview below.
Name: Alyse Borkan
IG handle: @alyseborkan
Hometown: Spring Valley, New York
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
1. Alyse worked in the corporate world before transitioning to startups and eventually creating her own startup in the form of Rocco.
"I began my career working on super large-scale projects like Lay's Do Us A Flavor campaign, where you could submit chip flavor ideas and Lays would make them (think cappuccino chips). These were really exciting experiences, but in the end I found it challenging to truly feel the impact of my work because there were huge lead times and teams associated with the campaigns we were doing.
I decided to transition to a startups with smaller teams where I could really make an impact and learn a lot by wearing many hats. I obviously didn't have startup experience yet, so I turned my resume into a bedtime story in a cold email to the mattress startup, Casper, and my creativity helped me get the job.
Over the course of 10 years, I learned so much from the founders I worked with from how to build an exciting brand in a mundane category to how to think outside the box when it comes to growth, and simultaneously built a network of really talented people that I knew would help me when it came time to do it myself. That's when I knew I was ready to take the leap and start my own startup."
-Alyse Borkan
2. The name "Rocco" was inspired by the brand's industrial designer in Italy.
"In Italian the word essentially means 'rest' or 'repose.' My co-founder and I both love aperitivo hours and want our community to spend that time relaxing and enjoying themselves after work."
-Alyse Borkan
(via Rocco)
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3. Rocco's Super Smart Fridge was created to be more than just a functional mini fridge.
"We took a unique design approach when designing The Super Smart Fridge and transformed it into a piece of furniture rather than your typical dorm fridge. Noteworthy features include the top doubling as a bar cart and smart technology that allows remote viewing of the fridge's contents via a smartphone. We also designed it using the best parts and materials out there, like a high-end compressor that makes the fridge ultra quiet, metal that is three times thicker than anything on the market, and a triple pane glass door."
-Alyse Borkan
4. The Super Smart Fridge fits into her routine at every part of the day.
"I start my mornings with Wandering Bear cold brew, then usually have one of United Soda's blueberry drinks during the day, and after work and in the evenings I unwind with Ghia or Aplós.
We also have a house outside the city where we like to entertain friends, and being able to offer them a cold drink as soon as they arrive is a nice little treat."
-Alyse Borkan
5. The best advice she ever received was to think about things a little differently.
"My manager at Casper once told me to think up and to the left, really rooted in our experience working on unconventional campaigns that got a lot of viral attention. At Casper we created 'Insomnobot-3000,' which was a chatbot only available between midnight and 5 a.m. Outside those hours it would tell you it was busy working. This advice about not being scared to be strange is something I've taken with me throughout my career, especially when I think about how to maximize reach and engagement without relying heavily on a paid media budget."
-Alyse Borkan
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6. She says the habit of ruthless prioritization has gotten her to where she is today.
"I make sure to focus my time and energy on tasks that have the greatest impact on the businesses I have been a part of, as well as the one I have founded."
-Alyse Borkan
7. Alyse shares that the most rewarding thing about her work with Rocco has been seeing how it brings people together.
"I've loved seeing how Rocco inspires our community to invite people over more often and find more reasons to celebrate once they get their fridge and want to share their drinks and show off their fridges."
-Alyse Borkan
(via Rocco)
For more insights from the entrepreneurs who inspire us, click HERE to read about Squeeze co-founder and CEO Brittany Driscoll.