"Entrepreneurial Learning Process: And I went to him and I'm like, hey, I have this concept. How can we take it and, like, create, you know, a manufacturable version of it? So those were like the very first steps. And honestly, I think it was all just like asking questions, like finding people, ask the question, learn, put it together, and, you know, that's kind of how we got the ball rolling. But there were so many iterations, like, you have no idea. There was like a still version, there was a sparkling version. There were, like, different ways of branding it, different, you know, how does this fit on the shelf? Like, does the consumer pick this up? But I think all that was really useful because it was all really data, and I was like a data person."

"Lessons Learned from Product Development: You just pick a lane and stick with it and you don't appeal to everybody. But in the beginning, I was like, oh, well, I want everyone to try to buy it, remember? So, the still version took that out, and then we kind of landed on like, okay, we're gonna be caffeine with vitamins, electrolytes, and like, no preservatives, no gums, no artificial sugars. And so it stayed that way. And then we had clean caffeine in the middle of the label and plant breast small at the top to the point that people were calling us, like, the clean caffeine drink. And we're like, okay. And that's like, how we got that iteration, I think, to your point being, you know, having the ability to run such small volume at that time, like, allowed for all of these, like, trial and errors."

"Insights from Consumer Interaction: So every location that we got as an account, I would go maybe with someone else, and I would just go there and give samples for like two or 3 hours. And then you'd really hear, like, you know, things that you would never have expected. Someone points out to you, like, one thing is, you know, someone's literally like, oh, I would love to have like, a QR code on this can."

"Experience in Startup Financing: Yeah. So the initial trial runs or that full testing period was self funded in the sense of I had to get capital, put it together and just kind of initially get the ball rolling without investors. Also, coming from a science background and not CBG, it would have been very difficult to kind of just say, hey, I have this idea, and try to get funding at such an early stage. So the way I saw it was I have to really pull together solid numbers and proof of product market fit to make this something that an investor would then come and invest in. So kind of once that trial period was over, it was then starting to put the deck together and put the materials together and go to people who have previously invested in this space or who are interested in the product. So your kind of classic friends and family, initial seed round. And I think that was really useful to have because, again, my background wasn't someone who was previously in CPG that had a lot of credibility in the space to say, oh, well, I know that they're going to knock this out of the park. So, yeah, so that was really useful."

"Optimizing Startup Operations: 'The biggest thing that sells this product is demos and sampling. So I'm going to invest like a bulk of our initial marketing funds on just getting people to try the product and like on the ground, boots on the ground, like guerrilla marketing tactics of samplings. In the beginning it was just being really meaningful about every marketing dollar and then the rest of it was really just bringing on people to the team that could fill in the gaps where I really didn't know a lot of stuff. Supply chain like understanding how to optimize your freight from this co-packer to your warehouse to like the new retailer where you can save a cent because obviously like when you're dealing with such small margins already, every cent really counts.'"

"Multi-location Sampling and Demographic Targeting: Yeah, so, I mean, every retail location we opened, we would do like a demo or sampling. And then on top of that, we would try to do, like, for example, in New York City, like on Westside highway. There's a lot of runners. That's, that's a group of our target demographic. So we'd even like, go there and just do samplings there where there's not really retail location and give them to our code store on Amazon, tell them which stores they could buy in the city, get in front of our consumer in that sense. So I think obviously there are parties where you can stock which are like, our product is sometimes used as a mixer. I think that was an avenue as well that we explored a bit. I can't say it was the strongest return on the sampling or the time, but obviously it presented the products in a different light to a newer kind of consumer that would use this mixer, too."

"Innovation and Expansion in the Natural Energy Market: "So, I mean, I think natural energy we've seen in the past year is a rapidly expanding market. Like, there is a new, like, cleaner energy position product coming out, like, every month. And actually our trademark for the clean caffeine that we initially put on the labels has been used, like, over and over again by a new brand. So it's like, we are seeing that pop up and sending letters, like, all the time for it now. So it's, it's pretty incredible at the same time because it's very validating of, like, wow, you know, other people are identifying this need in the marketplace and there's obviously, you know, a consumer there and brands want to create something for it. So I think that space is, you know, it's growing like crazy, but at the same time, you know, I think hydration and, like, the fact that we have electrolytes and, like, that aspect of it makes our products really unique in this space because, I mean, if you look at the hydration category by itself. And, like, the electrolyte powders and even, like, prime was, was an example, I guess."

"The Future of Energy & Hydration Market and Decline of Big Brands": "So it's kind of combining us with more, like, energy and hydration and kind of capitalizing on two really expanding spaces. And I think those are only going to continue to grow as kind of these legacy brands like Celsius and Breadbull and all of that are just showing declines in numbers. And I think retailers were kind of looking at Celsius originally as the healthy player in the space. And we're really relying on that brand to kind of capture that healthier consumer. But we're seeing numbers that are just coming out now as, like, Celsius is kind of declining in the space, too, and, like, they're facing, you know, lawsuits for poor ingredients and sending people to hospital for heart defects and, like, all of this stuff. So we can no longer, you know, retailers can no longer rely on that, you know, giant brand as the, like, healthier version of the traditional one. So it's a really interesting space."

"Changing Market Demands and Company Adaptation": "I think we're in a time period where there is a very urgent need for innovation from these players in order to capture society really transitioning to better for you and, like, more health conscious and there's more health conscious consumers. So I think that's kind of what they're going to need to shift to. Whether it's acquisition of brands that are appealing to these kinds of consumers or whether it's them putting out different skus or different products that are in the better for you space so they can really, like, play in that, you know, newer kind of category. So, yeah, to your point, it's interesting. I think they'll always have, like, a really big."

"Emerging Trends in Retail and Online Distribution: So I would say it's product and distribution. So we have amazing flavors that are ready to launch and I can't wait for our loyal plant press customers to try it. And I think we're in a really exciting time for distribution and getting on shelves of really major retailers around the country, which would just change the game for us a lot in terms of availability, also in terms of reaching our consumer. And I think it's interesting because all of that really funnels into the d two c side of it and Amazon and like consumers learning about the product and they can. Now we're in a phase where everyone's ordering their groceries and like heavy items on Amazon. So, um, even like while we first got our lifetime account, like, we saw our Amazon numbers increase like crazy because it was really getting in front of the right kinds of people. So I think that's something that's like an inflection point that we're at that I think is really exciting because it will kind of show up in various parts of the company in terms of growth."