[SPEAKER_00]: When you open the fridge and there's a cadence, you're like, that's what we've created.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's $2 luxury.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's nothing in the world.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's $2 luxury.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's Ross McKay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Second time founder and the mind behind cadence, a $2 sports drink built like a luxury brand.

[SPEAKER_03]: After a successful exit from his first company, daring foods, he's now moving faster and smarter to redefine with modern hydration looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Moe is the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the packaging.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the liquid of course.

[SPEAKER_00]: This little white [SPEAKER_04]: As a seasoned entrepreneur, Ross knows that to compete against the biggest brands in the world, he has slain on his greatest event.

[SPEAKER_00]: Speed is fundamentally the most important trait he has in the series from the packaging, AirB8, Go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don, I will have in the space of five minutes made decisions that we will see on shelf in three, six months.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ross isn't just fast.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's precise.

[SPEAKER_00]: He understands that brand is a superpower.

[SPEAKER_04]: Every decision from liquid to the can is a marketing opportunity.

[SPEAKER_00]: No funders you care of with distribution, I don't care how many stores you're in and care about how much you turn in store per day per week per minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not as the heartbeat of any consumer business.

[SPEAKER_03]: In this episode, Rosha is what it really takes to build a breakout brand.

[SPEAKER_03]: From moving with relentless speed to crafting a brand so strong it's impossible to ignore.

[SPEAKER_04]: Whether you're a founder, marketer, or just brand obsessed, this one's a masterclass and how to build a brand that we use a legacy.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's get into it.

[SPEAKER_03]: This is now your second nine figure business that we're building.

[SPEAKER_03]: We want to reach over a billion dollars with cadence.

[SPEAKER_03]: When someone's building their second brand like this, it's not luck.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's something that you've actually already done before.

[SPEAKER_03]: Walking into cadence, what are you going to change about the first company?

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, what are you taking into the second company?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just like my first company.

[SPEAKER_00]: This one.

[SPEAKER_00]: definitely still started with a purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think some great businesses are born out of like, well, keep you off at night, scratching an inch, like it's not there in the market.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me fix it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I would say there's similarity there for cadence for me, you know, pretty average endurance consumer didn't see the opportunity with electrolytes or, you know, performance supplements.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me go and fix it myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the things that, you know, I'm doing differently or better this time is like huge emphasis on prioritization and saying, no, you know, in the beginning of my first business like every opportunity seems like the right decision and you kind of taking quick opportunities here there left like for me now I'm like taking a step back on everything and being like if this doesn't equate to X or Y and I have kind of my levels of importance, whether it's brand equity value, revenue or other, I'm very, really strict with time allocation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas, again, my first business, like you catch me on a flight for a meeting, you catch me seeing yes to every retail opportunity, whereas now I'm just a bit more methodical, a bit slower to say yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's probably fundamentally one of the most important things that's allowed us to grow so quickly, because we're just so focused on certain KPIs.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a million other things, but that's probably a number one thing, saying no is important.

[SPEAKER_04]: You have an example of something that you said, yes, for your first company that you're like, absolutely not, will not do this.

[SPEAKER_04]: Don't even ask.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, so many, I think, to one would probably be like capital raising, um, I think there's a really big difference between need and want need is needs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I need it to survive and you take opportunities because you fundamentally need is need and then one is one.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm moving into this business thankfully after a successful exit, therefore I do everything that I want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so aren't forced to take, you know, capital from partners that I am in the line with.

[SPEAKER_00]: in terms of mission and patience, etc.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then also in retail.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think when you scale into retail, whereas you put this product versus my last business, we went, we're going a bit slower into retail.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're taking our time, we're making sure the business can scale in retail, making sure the business is ready for scale, which is like can you afford it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you make money, etc., whereas last time it was like, hey, X calls, like take it all, let's go, like we'll figure out later.

[SPEAKER_00]: So probably two things we're thinking about differently this time.

[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like I'd probably make a lot of those same mistakes because when you're first starting out at the first business, everything probably sounds so fucking exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 100% and I also came from the UK.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not from here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, first time in America was 2019 December, this thing called COVID happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: Frozen food kind of went through the roof.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone was queuing up at Whole Foods for like three days to buy whatever they could buy, so like naturally the business progressed very, very quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so we are kind of operating this time in a bit more of a flat market where it's a fair competition.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last time was just like, I picked the right category at the right time in a place where frozen food was up 1000% year over year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we didn't have the right fundamentals to build the business.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like very glorified.

[SPEAKER_03]: When you go about raising money, there's obviously the pro of not raising money and being in full control, and then there's this other side where it's like, if I want to reach this crazy goal, I want to have a billion dollar brand, I want to sit with the glides of this category.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's something that probably most people have to do to get capital.

[SPEAKER_03]: When you think about both of those sides of it, why did you end up raising money, like instead of just saying, like, you know, I'm going to bootstrap this and I'll grow it much slower, or I'm just like curious about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a great question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably the most common question I get is how to raise money.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you said one thing at the beginning, keeping control of business by not raising capital, you can still raise capital and keep control of your company.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm living proof of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've raised capital for cadence, but yeah, I still, I'm the sole bold member of the board.

[SPEAKER_00]: Still control majority of the business.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think there is, [SPEAKER_00]: uh, an ability to do so.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, it comes being a second time funder now, having leverage and being like basically, you know, like, it's my terms or nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: First time around, it was, you know, neat.

[SPEAKER_00]: We needed to raise capital to scale the business.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had X opportunities.

[SPEAKER_00]: We couldn't afford to do without capital.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a little bit of leverage if I'm the right partner to fund us through a life cycle and then we continue to raise capital.

[SPEAKER_00]: And last business, we raised a lot of money over about $150 million in the space of 11 months.

[SPEAKER_00]: With that does come losing control of your business because as a funder you're not focused on the certain things that you should be focused on you only focus on the capital but with capital does come Hicks and claws in terms that isolate you from the end goal which is control.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and this time we've decided to do a small amount of financing, just tourist-to-teachic partners.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, between me and my co-founder, we funded the business, and then we found people that we really fuck with along the journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm being like, hey, we know we're going to turn this into the next X.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want you to be part of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And last about like, hey, we really need money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, can you please help us out?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's being like, hey, my sister, like, my dad, like your friends, like, we'll let you into this because we know we're [SPEAKER_03]: So round two, it's so much easier because you've already, you already have the proof.

[SPEAKER_03]: But round one's very difficult to even keep any terms because they're like, it's such a bet on you, correct?

[SPEAKER_03]: Is that what I'm hearing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's little data, you know, you go and raise money as the first time funder you've got, you've done a million in your last eight months.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you're like a couple, you know, you're a hundred, hundred grand a month.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, whatever it is, so there's very little data to show this is going to be a success and every early stage VC or funder will bet on the person and potentially the team.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to make a bet on like the category the person, do they believe you are going to go and take my money, execute on and give your life towards the mission?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think as a fund we have to be extremely set, like you need to be able to sell the business extremely well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that is fundamentally communication, passion, ability to take calls and [SPEAKER_04]: I'm pretty bummed that we didn't get the call.

[SPEAKER_04]: But for after trying on my body, I would have invested.

[SPEAKER_04]: Hey, you bring up an interesting thing that you're so bought in and when you are raising money, you really have to live and breathe the brand and convince people to give you their money.

[SPEAKER_04]: You're super in the weeds of training and running and the culture of what cadence stands for.

[SPEAKER_04]: And so when you were thinking about the product, how did you think about the positioning of how to position cadence?

[SPEAKER_04]: to stand out from the market and also when it comes to the branding side because the branding is impeccable.

[SPEAKER_04]: So I would love to know about positioning from the terms of how to stand out from the market from other beverages that may be similar to yours and then also like how to stand out from the branding perspective.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our mission is to fuel the goal or into the consumer.

[SPEAKER_00]: And to us, that means thinking about the consumer pre-during or post exercise for us, our primary exercise is running our cycling during sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we took a step back there, and ultimately we were a sports drink, we were a sports performance supplement company, other brands in the space offering you similar minerals are for more for lifestyle, for mum and pop, for hangovers.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are in terms of functionality, but we position the brand to be for that goal or in the consumer.

[SPEAKER_00]: The individual doing their first high rocks, the first half marathon, the first 10k, the first marathon, the first ultra marathon, running across a country, whatever it may be, and we go in after them, we find brands that they aspire to wear [SPEAKER_00]: And we identified that there was a huge gap, what we felt, the biggest gap was for Gatorade 2.0, it's a sports drink, where we are completely focused on this sporting occasion.

[SPEAKER_00]: So post exercise pre-exercise, whereas most drinks now are lifestyle.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a lifestyle drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: You drink it with your sweet green or you drink it with your dinner or we directly build the brand, the positioning to be built and consumed after exercise, which no one else was really thinking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, with the adoption of running and run clubs and sport and high rocks, there was this influx of consumers who were moving their body more versus moving their body less.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they were then going to coffee shops or restaurants and buying a die coke or another popper and poppy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we wanted to win them over at that moment in time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we built a brand that was a sports drink, modern sports drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen soda disrupted.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen energy disrupted.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've never seen hydration in this sporting category disrupted.

[SPEAKER_00]: You look at our can.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a [SPEAKER_00]: when objective and key electrolytes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're literally a fuel guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a menu of when to consume the product.

[SPEAKER_00]: And no one's ever done that before, for example.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how we think about the category, that's how we think of positioning branding with scarce on a note pad by myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love branding, I love creative.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, don't get to spend as much time in it day to day because we have a team executing on it.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, but, um, I think the only real mode you have as a CPG bat business and you can claim IP and we have IP and we formulate everything ourselves is the brand is the community and the brand communities of buzzword and everyone's talking about it now, but, um, Mo is the brand is the packaging is the liquid, of course.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of brands are white labeled.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't do any white labeling.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't just pick a product off the shelf and put it in our branded packaging, but for the most part that is a good solution when you're earlier in business, but this little white can is you're marketing the CMO of Coca Cola said the best for marketing is the red can.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we think about that the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we see it, we see tag pictures.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone's holding it down.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a trophy.

[SPEAKER_04]: When in the process does branding come into play?

[SPEAKER_04]: Are you first like, I have this idea for the beverage?

[SPEAKER_04]: Let's get the actual product down.

[SPEAKER_04]: Then we can figure out branding or is it Brandings pretty fucking awesome.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like a fun to work on.

[SPEAKER_04]: So are you working on those simultaneously simultaneously?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're like the debt come first and then the formulation is fun to work on like logo and tagline, but ultimately, you know, it's a great question.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in the past, I was more like, let's build a brand out and then let's find the formulation and so on.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife has a business and I always tell her, get your liquid right or get your product right first.

[SPEAKER_00]: because the brown's going to iterate so much when your contract manufacturer tells you cannot do X.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for our argument sake, we want to do a zero calorie, zero sugar hydration drink, the super sporty, and then you go to your manufacturer, we can't do that and it's to have sugar in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, give you an example.

[SPEAKER_00]: So therefore the brown's going to change.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they have to work too.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they have to work together.

[SPEAKER_00]: You also have to show people things, you know, together and excited.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what it's going to look like.

[SPEAKER_00]: And also we were just talking about this in the car like momentum brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you're building a brand, you're looking at logos, get you excited, get you get some momentum going, get you thinking about things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So simultaneously for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I will just say is like your first iteration probably and where the brand ends up being are wildly different.

[SPEAKER_00]: So get your product right on the brand should evolve naturally.

[SPEAKER_03]: in the very beginning, did you notice that traction?

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I know you're partnered with Georgia on it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, he has a built-in group from represent, and whatnot, and like, you know, you're doing YouTube now, which is amazing.

[SPEAKER_03]: I really like those vlogs are very like long form, just getting to know you and like the voice behind it.

[SPEAKER_03]: What was that like in those early days?

[SPEAKER_03]: Building content?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and no, just like with building momentum around the brand with, when you put it out to the world, where you surprised it where it was at, did it gain traction very quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, I mean, in the beginning, we launched a brand and like a run event and run didn't be in George flow, and it was like 600 people came through and like now there's run clubs every day and there's hundreds of people and sometimes last or more about a hundred percent.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think the thing we were just so excited about is the reaction to the liquid.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I think getting liquid to lips was, you know, super important early on, but, um, yeah, the momentum and the adoption of the brand over the last, we've been going for about 400 days has been wild.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I already were, I have surpassed where we are as a business and we will completely blow out the water of my last company in, in 16 to 18 months.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, um, so I think our partnerships with the likes of Bandai with the likes of all and with the, you know, last night we sponsored thing like 1200, um, people at Nike event.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think our, I know our, our pulse on the key partners in key cities around the states on the broad is really strong.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we looked at, you know, how we could differentiate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we've done a great job with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have someone internally, CamK is just crushing that, and it's definitely what different shades.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hope you're enjoying this episode real quick.

[SPEAKER_03]: Want to let you know about an awesome free product that we got linked in the description.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, we got five prompts for you.

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[SPEAKER_03]: How much did you have to put in, and George, like right off the bat, to just get the thing off the ground?

[SPEAKER_03]: Get this in the hands of you guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm just so curious.

[SPEAKER_00]: We started with like 120 grand each.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_03]: And does that just get you like one that's like one run and then continue to for business.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but we are, yeah, like that's that was the start.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we've continued to evolve it instead of going out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like capital and raising from like, you know, VCs because my phone definitely not in no ego, but our phones have definitely been going, you know, but I've just been like, [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it doesn't make sense for us right now, like I'll allow to do it myself unless you give me really good terms and like Steven Bartlett's a good friend of mine, he invested in the company.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got a great fund out of Paris who have ties to the largest family in Europe, they've invested in the company we haven't announced it because I think funding use is so glorified.

[SPEAKER_00]: The only thing that really matters is creating a great business.

[SPEAKER_00]: With great business comes great optionality, selling it, running it, doing what you want with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's all we're really focused on, but we chose a beverage instead of a powder product when we launched the company.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a much higher MLQ, minimum order quantity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And therefore, if you want to launch a sashye version, the buyer to entry is, so we could string up a sashye brand in 15 minutes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can launch it with like five grams.

[SPEAKER_00]: 10 grams.

[SPEAKER_00]: Super little buyer to edge.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like a powder to powder.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like a, I don't want to name any brands, put them on, but like salt and a stick.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are like super low minimums, very cheap to make and you know, put a logo, TikTok shop it and just go for it, hack your way through the world and never build them in great and sustainable and well-changing, but maybe make some money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas we wanted to go the hard route, which is essentially beverage.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have other optionality in portfolios, sachets, and jails, and bars for the consumer, but our core business is the beverage.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're a printed can.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make it at a large scale manufacturer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Minimums are at least, we've made five million cans this month.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, this month.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I have no million cans.

[SPEAKER_04]: When did you know you had something?

[SPEAKER_04]: Because I think about you show up to the first run club or [SPEAKER_04]: I could imagine you went through quite a few iterations of getting the fucking formula down, right?

[SPEAKER_04]: So then you and George are trying and you're like, this is the one.

[SPEAKER_04]: Tase great.

[SPEAKER_04]: Then you launch at this run club.

[SPEAKER_04]: You got 600 people.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that people could tell you, how this tastes great.

[SPEAKER_04]: But then never go out and buy it again because they're in front of you.

[SPEAKER_04]: They want to be nice and they're just be like, oh, it tastes good.

[SPEAKER_04]: You clearly have something that's sticking and that works.

[SPEAKER_04]: And so was there a moment where you were like, [SPEAKER_04]: people genuinely really like this, and I know that we have some.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, iteration wise, a year ago we had a can, this is a 335 ML, a 35 ML, a year ago we had a can that was 250 ML, made in the UK and a completely different liquid, different design.

[SPEAKER_00]: a year ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we've iterated on formulation, manufacturers.

[SPEAKER_00]: We now make it somewhere else and the cans of evolved and that sounds like three simple things but that is like reformulation and transferring that to a manufacturer and changing can supply or an artwork.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's a big lift.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can take six months at a time while flying the plane.

[SPEAKER_00]: So of course, when we went to the Rung Club, genuinely there's like fans of the brand and fans of George and everyone's loving it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the one thing I'll say about George is like, he's a big critique of his own stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he'll never put out anything he doesn't believe in or love.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think having that and not believing in our own bullshit is really important.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we were pretty confident in the liquid when we tried it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It took several months to get there and I [SPEAKER_00]: But when we had the cans, we ran a marathon, a malbe with our buddy, a man, me and George, and we finished it after, and it was like, this is really strong.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the first time we'd really tried the production samples, then we flew to UK launched it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think the main point of inflection where we had something was when we sold I2K to a retail buyer, who didn't like sports drinks, hated our biggest competitor, was just like, [SPEAKER_00]: Hold on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, and I was like, okay, if I can sell to the runners, no problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to win them over.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a couple million of them, but if I can then transend this into the consumer whose drinking soda and make them switch, I have a big category and energy, I have a big category.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that was the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was only about, I'd say, eight months ago, but we've only going for like 15 months, but it was really early on.

[SPEAKER_03]: What are some of these strategies to actually get someone to buy a drink multiple times?

[SPEAKER_03]: Because we were talking with someone from a very, very large company that couldn't get people to buy their drink a second time.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we've seen it a lot in the beverage space where people might try to once, but that doesn't mean anything.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like the repeat buyer.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, how do you go about getting someone to actually go out and purchase it a second time?

[SPEAKER_03]: And like, give it another go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like this question.

[SPEAKER_00]: You look like you thought actually.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's very fucking fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank God, come on, they're really pretty good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got a couple couple couple answers there.

[SPEAKER_00]: One is, do you take any supplements?

[SPEAKER_03]: I take creatine or take ganko or take a lot of like Yeah, are you on a cycle right now?

[SPEAKER_04]: You don't look like that.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't really fit in that chair.

[SPEAKER_03]: Are you branching this?

[SPEAKER_03]: I like three, 15.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like pure encapsulation.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Those guys and I like the ones from I think like magnesium and stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like to listen to like human men.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like the little stack man.

[SPEAKER_03]: I try that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If any of those supplements make you feel instantaneously better.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, none of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just take them because you believe in the data.

[SPEAKER_03]: I believe in the data and I believe in what?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the only way.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the only way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So believe in the data and you understand that there's clinical studies or other and you believe in the thought leaders who are promoting the supplement.

[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a headache and you're doing kind of light your light.

[SPEAKER_00]: instantaneously better.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the only minerals in the world to make you feel better.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instantaneously, I take greenspotters, I take my boy Gruns' brand, I do, I take, I take creating and I take other supplementation depending on like blood work, etc.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you take it because you trust it, but you really don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just in there and you're just like, all right, fuck it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can do blood work every three months, six months, to identify key metrics.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you don't feel good or you've just finished a run and you drink an electrolyte, mine or other, you feel better.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that helps with your peak purchase because when you feel better, you're going to try it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you run every day or you're on three days a week or you're doing whatever training, therefore you're going to start to implement it the way you implement coffee in the morning because you want to caffeine uptake.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for us, we see that as the big factor in, if I can win over that consumer because they feel good after they work out and they have a [SPEAKER_00]: Six, seven days a week, if not, 10 times a week, they're going to take my can.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the drinks of fun one, because we were talking about just brands and we went out to Texas.

[SPEAKER_03]: We interviewed Christian Guzmone, who owns 3D energy.

[SPEAKER_03]: And like my drink of choice in the very morning is your Bammate.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like the like the orange exuberance drink.

[SPEAKER_03]: I have it every day.

[SPEAKER_03]: And the people that also have it.

[SPEAKER_03]: We talk in Instagram DM and it's funny because it's like it's ritualistic.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's your coffee.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's whatever you drink in the morning.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like a drink is very ritualistic.

[SPEAKER_03]: And if you can get someone to really enjoy it, it's like it's a repeat on Amazon.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like I'm just I'm just [SPEAKER_03]: on the subscribe to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's what I'll boom.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it doesn't think that's a great secretion to get homey.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm going to wet them well.

[SPEAKER_04]: I also think the branding plays a part into that too.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like you guys have clearly built out story when it comes to cadence.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like it stands for something, but they brand like you guys fucking nailed it.

[SPEAKER_04]: And like [SPEAKER_04]: as I've kind of gotten into the world of running.

[SPEAKER_04]: There's like a certain swag that comes with running.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you can't swag, we're still getting here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what it's the champagne of a let, it's the champagne of a lettrelite.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what like the kind of thing he is right now, and thankfully someone else did that know me, but, you know what you're going to like, [SPEAKER_00]: You go into someone's house, you go into the bathroom, and it's a tiny little studio apartment in Brooklyn, and there's an ASOP kindle burning in the bathroom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I thought of this guy like, he's got the risk.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's locked in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, doesn't matter, you're not just on the floor, like struggling, I get it, but he's got that ASOP burning in the bathroom.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got the ASOP.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: His finances are, he's putting priority on the right thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you open the fridge and there's a cadence, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we created.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's two dollar luxury.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's two dollar luxury.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: How do we go about getting this to be two bucks and still actually make money?

[SPEAKER_03]: I've done a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've done a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's 250.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: 250.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've done a lot of read.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm very intrigued by just the beverage space.

[SPEAKER_03]: I might want to get into it one day.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I know how difficult it is with the weight.

[SPEAKER_03]: We talked to a guy who was a huge investor in liquid death.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's made a lot of money in multiple ventures.

[SPEAKER_03]: It is he was explained to us how difficult it was because liquid death originally started in Europe and then they were trying to get it to go over to the US and it was very difficult with shipping and all that good stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: How do we end up making money on 250 and how how does that process come to be how do you decide to play it to 50 and not $4 like all these other brands when we go to the store.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's ridiculous to buy a drink for $4.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's crazy, but that's how much they all cost now and I I remember when you told me like it's 250 like.

[SPEAKER_00]: How.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you told us that that was important.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was very important.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's very important to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because we don't think about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we think about one brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gatorade.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they are about 11 a bit billion dollar business primarily hot filled plastic bottles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it affects our pricing strategies, your distribution strategy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you want to go after that market, not the beautiful little farmers market, air one, fresh time, I mean, those are customers that hopefully will do business with, great business with, but we isn't going to help us towards our mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we think about distribution in price, we think about the big Gatorade monster that are doing 12 billion dollars of hydration a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I also we talked about like David's bar and how they build their distribution.

[SPEAKER_00]: They want us to be everywhere as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it was like, why aren't you going to like, Whole Foods and then use like because I'm going straight after the biggest competitor in the market?

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be where Mars were.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how I think about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And therefore, in order to achieve that mission, we have to be as close within the pricing category of the bid, we have to be as close with price in the category.

[SPEAKER_00]: What that means is when I look left and right, if you're 25% outside of the category, I eat everyone else is too, and you're five, like chances are, middle of America, still care about that $3 delta.

[SPEAKER_00]: and in order to achieve scale, you have to win over people outside of this bubble we live in in LA in New York.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think about that consumer, which is affecting my distribution strategy, February, we go target, we go July, we go Walmart, we go CVS, Walgreens, like we're going blitz in distribution because as I have Gatorade, and obviously they have the infrastructure or Pepsi and all the capital in the world, but it affects that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think price is such an important [SPEAKER_00]: And we're very focused on scale within the beverage.

[SPEAKER_00]: How we achieve it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Relationships with our co-man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when I rock off and say, I, hey, I ordered 27 million dolls of cost in my last company a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do that to you too, and I'm going to scale this to be Times 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're probably willing to open the door and probably give me good terms.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second of all, we have a blended portfolio of not only parents, we have Sashie's barge and gels that are higher margin products, when I bun them together, it gives us a better blended margin.

[SPEAKER_00]: B2B, we ship direct, so we load container loads on a truck, and we ship them direct into distribution today, which helps middleman and people touching the product, which therefore eats away margin.

[SPEAKER_00]: So a combination of strategy, contract manufacturers and our supply chain, have allowed us to prices at 250 and still make great margin.

[SPEAKER_03]: So interesting.

[SPEAKER_03]: Does it worry you at all to go into these six at once?

[SPEAKER_03]: Like does that cross your mind at all?

[SPEAKER_03]: I know you've done it once with the big one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, it's very expensive.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care about distribution and no funders You care about distribution.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care how many stores you're in a care about how much you turn in store per day per week per minute That's all that matters is that group that is the heartbeat of any consumer business units per store per week in dollars per store per week [SPEAKER_00]: If you are outside of the category, I, you are like, if my biggest competitor is performing at 10 units a week per store, and I'm at one unit a week per store, they're gonna take that off the shelf and they're gonna put a strawberry vanilla from now on they're brand right there and take me away.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't care about brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no loyalty in this fucking world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely not in retail.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if anyone thinks the risk, oh, we have a cooler brand than like, they don't care.

[SPEAKER_00]: They care about money.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a problem.

[SPEAKER_04]: The money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the person buying my product is Margaret.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he lives in Minneapolis and she gets her bonus at Christmas on how well her shelf did.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm bringing her a shelf down just because we have a sick brand doesn't matter so she wants to build her portfolio on the shelf of her 50 brands [SPEAKER_00]: of what's going to sell the most.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to just drive traffic.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's tactics we use in the team we've hired now to help drive tactics, which can be in the store, which stores don't really do anything for you, they give you shell space.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's all they'll ever do for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It might help you work on trade, promotional pricing, two for five.

[SPEAKER_00]: little shelf tag, whatever, but everything you do from a brown perspective, from a odds perspective, from a community perspective, from an influencer perspective, to create awareness and then drive it into retail is all you should really care about, and that's what we're focused on.

[SPEAKER_04]: I want to touch on that, but your guys are growing so fast, and I want to, [SPEAKER_04]: I want to know how you think about speed as a founder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: So you've got all you got.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got to get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're never going to win on cap to a resources.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're only going to win on speed.

[SPEAKER_00]: with discipline, of course, you know, it's not frivolous execution, but I am going to wait on speed because I made five decisions on a phone call outside the board came into this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like packaging A or B, A, go, done.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll make, go, B, flavor A or B, artwork, go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that would take six months for my competitor to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I will have in the space of five minutes made decisions that we will see on shelf in three, six months.

[SPEAKER_04]: So I think Speed is fundamentally the most important trait you have as an early stage funder because you were talking about when you guys were dialing in the formula and the packaging and all that kind of stuff it's like it's a six month process potentially even longer knowing that are you like we got to get this fucking done quicker because speed is my advantage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 100%.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have super fortunate.

[SPEAKER_00]: My last company to be gifted a mentor for a short period of time, Gentsman, who has an amazing book.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's called Amped Up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're ever an early stage funder and you're looking for like a leadership, you're looking for like a leadership.

[SPEAKER_00]: kind of a device, Frank Slutman, he has an amazing book amp it up and he talks about like just a relentless execution on the mission and there should be zero light between you in the mission and as you scale the business and you hire people don't let those individuals who frankly and I love my team will never care as much as you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what happens is people often see it as a job and it's your job to make them feel 13 feet tall and change that mentality, but the reality is they can turn off.

[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot as a founder.

[SPEAKER_00]: So sometimes they bring the energy down a notch or two.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you become, okay, like, okay, I believe then because he was really successful with his last job.

[SPEAKER_00]: And no, he works for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he knows better than me because he's an operational, he's a killer in operations.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's an operational, she's a sales executor.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they said, oh, no, we got to do it and you bring it down and your job is to be like, nope, nope, nope, when can I get that?

[SPEAKER_00]: 10 days from now, well, can I get it in two days?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then maybe you get in four days, but at least you cough six days.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, as a funder, you're only real job in the beginning is to set the vision for the company, finance the company if you need to, yourself or other, and hire the best fucking team in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's all you should really focus on.

[SPEAKER_03]: Is it possible as you be turned into this behemoth that you're thinking you can be that the speed stays or is it inevitably isn't inevitably really really seen behemoth 100 million dollars are still a rounding here.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to be I'm going with a B.

I want to be a evaluation or revenue.

[SPEAKER_03]: I want to rev maybe I want to be rev.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_03]: I believe I believe you can do it.

[SPEAKER_03]: We have Billy in the revenue then there's to make does is there just so many people are being there okay Honestly, I don't know what's happened in a year.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but okay just as you grow with speed It does it slowly as you've getting of course tent.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's slowly More kicks in the kitchen more kicks in the kitchen and again like everything within reason when I see speed It's not like we're just [SPEAKER_02]: Let's go.

[SPEAKER_00]: 12 new cash.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ship it!

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we have stage gates in process.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have amazing individuals who, like, tighten the reins, I call it a glue.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I get another one of these?

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we get another one?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we try cream soda?

[SPEAKER_03]: I'd love to try cream soda.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to be over, I'm going to be over, I'm going to be over, I'm going to be working already.

[SPEAKER_04]: You brought up hiring, and so when it comes to hiring, obviously you want to bring on a kick-ass team, but like what was that first key hire you guys brought on?

[SPEAKER_04]: And what do you look for when you bring on people to the cadence team?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we we kind of went from like one to ten instead of like one to two to two to four to five to seven.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was kind of like identifying what I wanted.

[SPEAKER_00]: I brought a lot of people from my previous company that I wanted to go to war again with and I just called them up and I was like hey I'm doing this again.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's fucking rock and like already under row their Skill set was written five years because I worked with them for a while My cousin was my first employee in my last company and he was my technically my first employee of this company as well He runs operations and finance, which is kind of important [SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm fucking useless at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Joking, but I think like personality trades, you know, there's a few that we think about.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have like this HR booklet and like values document yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we just, we were just running this thing like kind of from like a bunch of people that really care about the mission and want to do very well in life.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, we also don't have an HR department.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think you're an HR brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nice to meet you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nice to meet you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think like the one thing which we care a lot about is like sell starters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think your job is a funder.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said it earlier is like to make people feel 13 feet tall and give them up sound box.

[SPEAKER_00]: That allows them to feel important.

[SPEAKER_00]: Driving impact towards the mission is nothing worse people talk about okay, what makes you excited about work and you're fucking lying Sorry for swaying so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm from Scotland, so it's kind of like it's always here if you don't care about financial goals I don't believe you if you were like, oh, I know I'm just kind of focused on the mission I'm like how you gonna pay rent because it's kind of important So I truly believe that my job is to put people in a different position in life if the game in the best they got [SPEAKER_00]: and like I'll show you what best you got is because my pace is so like I'm so on it I can see people when I'm on a call and I'm like all right what's your problem?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what's the problem yourself?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll spend eight hours screens up and I'm like okay what's next and I can see their face like I've been at this is what the pace looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: like, this is what it should look like.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, okay, what tomorrow we go, 70, I'm gonna call it's cool for the next thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like literally there in front of them, working through problems.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think your job as a funder is also like show people while greatness looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where does that come from?

[SPEAKER_04]: Was that, is there something from your childhood that you experienced or is it just, you've always had that like, I'm a fucking go get this shit.

[SPEAKER_04]: Or is there something that like happened as a kid that you're that really, [SPEAKER_04]: brought that drive and you were just kind of naturally born up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of easy, honestly.

[SPEAKER_04]: Really.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I played sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was very talented at tennis, but like didn't really care, but like I'd be like six-law up through five level up and like thinking about my dinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I played in Spain.

[SPEAKER_00]: I played for my country and like, [SPEAKER_00]: I just didn't really care and then I was like, okay, it's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I dropped out of college.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have to like, year, went on my own crazy journey and like, here I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I honestly don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I just similar to you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, potentially was exposed to greatness and great people.

[SPEAKER_00]: and understanding there's pattern and recognition and like I need to be like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need a lot of motivation to get up and run anymore for I don't need a lot of motivation to get up and like work 12 hour days.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know where it's come from.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wasn't some book or some cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that I have a specific goal in life and I understand by looking around me that the people who have achieved the goals that I personally have in life [SPEAKER_00]: have one to three traits, and one of them is like an obsession around work crate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like they just work hard, they work at such a level where as like, okay, if you're doing that and you're doing that and you're there, then chances are I probably need to do the same, and then now over the last five years I haven't still done.

[SPEAKER_04]: On the topic of that, because I've been watching a lot of YouTube stuff, and I've also talked to Cole about this.

[SPEAKER_04]: and it's something I really admire about you, about the way you operate with your family and your daughter.

[SPEAKER_04]: And Cole is like, I love Ross, it can get kind of frustrating because the only way we'll hang out is if we're going on a fucking run.

[SPEAKER_04]: And sometimes, [SPEAKER_04]: He's just fucking doubling the pace the last two miles because he needs to make it home because you have a non-negotiable of, I'm gonna see my daughter wake up every morning.

[SPEAKER_04]: As someone who's trying to build a giant fucking company, but you prioritize your family.

[SPEAKER_04]: How do you set those boundaries in your business where you could work 12 to 16 hours a day, but you've set those boundaries for yourself where you have non-negotiables when it comes to your family and your daughter?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I remember that run a couple weeks ago with cool, but I run Main Street, were you there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Run Main Street, and I'm like, bro, we're gonna have to have some six minute miles on the way home.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, well, he's on like, I wake up my daughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not on the goash boy, I wake up my daughter every weekend, when she wakes up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to see her father because money to Friday, I'm a little bit busier with day job and I travel a lot, I'm like, I'm on a flight tonight, you know, like, I want to put it to bed tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's like a big thing for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I see it's my goal is not theirs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that's what I see to myself like my goals my time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if I'm going to do something that is a self which is running for four hours, it better be on my time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, this sort of goals I have outside of business, which are training, for example, then I make sure that they don't need to affect everyone else around me because that's selfish.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so the hours of four to seven are called that hours, um, the hours of seven p.m.

to nine p.m.

or my wife spent on my wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a great relationship that I have with my wife and she understands the mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was there the day I came up with a pretty much the name for my first company.

[SPEAKER_00]: She helped me pack the boxes, um, so she understands what I'm doing now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, within reason we've all benefited from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but I want to be out of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ashley of the year, you know, that's my goal.

[SPEAKER_03]: There was something I also saw, you've said, you said in our pod, you've said this in your vlogs, how is a founder?

[SPEAKER_03]: It's really important to be like neutral and never be too high or never be too low.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it's funny because I was working with the Lakers during our playoff run.

[SPEAKER_03]: I remember LeBron would say this in the locker room.

[SPEAKER_03]: He'd be like, never too high, never too low.

[SPEAKER_03]: No matter if we're up a lot, we need to be even kiltered.

[SPEAKER_03]: No matter if we're down a lot, we don't need to be down ourselves when to keep even kiltered.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I noticed you said a very similar quote, like in your vlog about how there might be a fire that day, but it's not my job to be like reactionary to this fire.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's my job to figure out how to put this fire out and not like bring that to the rest of the team.

[SPEAKER_03]: How do you do that?

[SPEAKER_03]: What's that look like an actual practicality being a founder and a company that's growing this fast?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I said that a couple days ago and it was like real, it was a very raw like that that week I had landed our biggest honestly a company changing deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: We we landed 4,000 stores probably multiple eight figure deal on our first order was like close to nine figure over two years.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a massive deal on Monday on by Thursday.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like companies.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's gone, like I'm falling out with this guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cleanser falling off a truck, like renegotiating terms that are gonna affect, like it was, it's like so, the highs are so high and the lows are so low that if you are affected by them, [SPEAKER_00]: You're just going to tread water, you know, honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's nothing wrong with feeling them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think feeling is super important, but I have also become a little bit numb to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be honest, which makes me judge myself sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, wow, am I just like, do I care about anything anymore?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you could tell me we're going to land a $50 million contract.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, all right, because I expect that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to say, like, that's the expectations I have on the business and the people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then if things go wrong, I'm like, I've solved just about every problem, everything is solved.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like my buddy Chris meshes me me like I disagree.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's one of the funers of bomb and bomb energy and and raw And he's like I disagree you need to feel absolutely everything let it like so can but the issue is for me personally I was like the head of the company everyone looks to me for where we're going and if I'm stressed out Then sure is hell the first time operations manager is gonna be like pretty stressed out too so [SPEAKER_00]: I think, um, I've just been through so much, um, any second time found or even any first time found or is being through a five, six years of building consumer brand has probably dealt with just about everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, in the beginning, did I remember crying in my wife's apartment, uh, the time girlfriend that my packaging, how does spelling mistake?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like crying.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, the whole company's gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now it's like, I'll print five million cans with a, with a, is there a small [SPEAKER_03]: there is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there you go.

[SPEAKER_03]: See, right under zero.

[SPEAKER_00]: That would have, you know, like, who cares?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've made so many millions of those, but like, oh, no, and there's not, there's not on that.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and I bet you if you didn't point it out, I would not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on the production line.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where is that, you know, it's like, dude, like, next, you know, so yeah, it just comes with time, it's like, anything, you know, I'm Kevlar, Kevlar, I'm, Kevlar, sit on all the time.

[SPEAKER_04]: That's awesome.

[SPEAKER_04]: You told us you're going from you're being, you're in 2000 stores right now, but you're going to be scaling to 50,000.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so we're in all of the vitamin shops nationwide, we're in just about every gene see nationwide with our cans, depending on flavor, on some of our ready to mix products.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we have a huge launch in February, which is announced here for the first time as target.

[SPEAKER_00]: Once you can target, besides different hydration beverages, and then, as you think about the rest of the year, you're going to find us in CVS, Walgreens, nationwide, going to find us in Walmart, July, and all stores, HAB, Publix.

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, the number I'm not sure about.

[SPEAKER_00]: distribution points definitely like TDP's 40,000 for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: So probably like 8 to 10,000 stores.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's insane.

[SPEAKER_04]: You told us that cadence is built for scale.

[SPEAKER_04]: The only way you're able to do that kind of distribution is if you're built for scale.

[SPEAKER_04]: So how have you set up cadence to be a brand that is built for scale?

[SPEAKER_00]: you need economics is the first thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what allows a business of scales if you can afford it, one of the things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if everything else is clicking and we'll talk about that in a second, then X retailer comes along and wants to order five million cans.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have to be able to make it for less than you're selling it for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds like a very basic thing, but some people don't get that right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have to factor in all the other costs of doing business with a retailer, promotions, trade, freight, you know, anything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we've got that right.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that if we make it for X, I have the ability with my sales team, or they can basically go and say, if this opportunity is right for the brand and if we feel like we can sell units per store per week, i.e.

[SPEAKER_00]: do we think our shopper is there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do we think our consumer is going to that location?

[SPEAKER_00]: For example, arguably you could say that my shopper isn't a Walmart.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would disagree because I think my shopper is going to buy hydration there from another brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: The data is showing me that.

[SPEAKER_00]: The buyer is telling me I'm selling a billion dollars of liquid IV last 52 weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: My job now is to say, okay, marketing team, let's make sure we win over that consumer and swap them going from X to Y because there's already money being spent in that store.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just not on me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I need to bring in a new consumer or convert a customer.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in the life cycle of a brand, you probably want to bring in an incremental customer first.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today, you might not go to target.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then if I am my first distribution point to the target and you're an advocate for the brand then it's kind of an oiling to order a counter my website, five day shipping, kind of expensive.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to order 12 as a minimum.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to go to target.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to bring an incremental customer into the store.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I can multiply that scale, it's going to add, [SPEAKER_00]: like unit dollars for store per week to the set and Margaret in manyapolis is going to be pretty happy with me and she's going to expand my distribution out of the new flavor.

[SPEAKER_00]: But next the other thing is his brand so you have to be able to have the right and it's kind of a chicken and egg because with distribution comes awareness right because everyone you know an end cap in in target like the end situation where you see these brand displays get us about 40 to 70 million people walk past at a court.

[SPEAKER_00]: Find me a shopper tactical hacker guy on Twitter that can get me 40 to 70 million organic views among.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's a max was telling it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Max Chang was telling us all about the, when he got into Target, they're like, Max would really like you to be at the end cap because super excited about that.

[SPEAKER_03]: And they're like, it's going to be an extra 50,000.

[SPEAKER_00]: Per story is like more, more, more, more.

[SPEAKER_00]: A fed up for an end cap if it's done right.

[SPEAKER_00]: It could be 500 bucks.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing 4,000 in caps and July.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like three million dollars of fitho fees.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fitho fees.

[SPEAKER_04]: And that's just kind of the price of rice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just have a blah blah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, I'll fat it into like, okay, when you look at the opportunity in a store, I don't know how tats could want to go into it, but I'm basically saying, okay, buyer, Margaret, what is my competition selling every single week?

[SPEAKER_00]: And she'll give you that data.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I know that this can, if I forecast it will sell, [SPEAKER_00]: eight units a week per store multiplied by 4,000 stores.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have four skews of some kind ofization because people are not going to buy all four.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to buy, you know, opt into buy one or two maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm going to build a business case for that business.

[SPEAKER_00]: So how much am I going to potentially achieve from a base case and then upside case?

[SPEAKER_00]: If this goes really well and frickin Joe Rogan starts to talk about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to have a higher base case, but I build my marketing spend and what I can afford to do based on my base and I'll do that over let's say a 12 month period so I know the business is going to bring me in 3 million of gross sales based on my wholesale price into distribution and I'm going to probably spend around 20% trade I'm going to take that 3 million spent 20% of that 600 grand on building the awareness so.

[SPEAKER_00]: all the influencers going to the target and like come with me is I buy my first hydration round of target and we're going to five thousand of those and then we're going to do all sorts of shifts.

[SPEAKER_03]: So when you go into, you mention a lot of different stores.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's there's CVS, there's A, A, G, B, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: Is there a chance that one of them doesn't do what you think it could do, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: And then what happens with that?

[SPEAKER_03]: Do you lose that relationship if it doesn't sell very well?

[SPEAKER_03]: Do they put you the bottom and then slowly you're like, fuck, we didn't make it in this store.

[SPEAKER_03]: We didn't do what we were supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_03]: And now we got to focus on this other one.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like what is that like?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, 100%.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely, um, has happened to us before I've lost one account in my last business.

[SPEAKER_00]: We weren't performing right, looking back at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: My consumer wasn't there.

[SPEAKER_00]: We took the opportunity, but, you know, we didn't invest into it and my customer wasn't there.

[SPEAKER_00]: As I think about cadence, you know, we're probably taking on a lot of costs.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can probably take on one to two retailers a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the number is.

[SPEAKER_00]: There'll be someone who's smarter than me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll tell us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas I'm also, I'm a believer that this category is expanding so quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you turn on your phone today.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's hydration, hydration, hydration, hydration, creating, creating, and hydration, hydration.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like, I haven't nearly be very advantage with a great liquid, great relationships and wealth on the business where I can kind of feel that I can just go at it and fix it as I build.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and that's different.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm entering the coconut water market, like chances are it's a little bit harder for me right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's brands that are doing [SPEAKER_00]: you know, you probably have to be more methodical because you're not going to displace a brand this doing well.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's not really that many hydration carbonated beverages that taste like your favorite soda right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we kind of doing something unique and we have the ability to basically take that business, build a team around it and make sure we execute.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the point is yes, it's nervous, it's definitely nervous.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where it comes into building the brand and the marketing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because your pitch change as you go to different retailers or is it relatively the same?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, within a, a at a time is the same spiel, um, you know, most retailers want to know a little about how you're going to add in mentality to the category.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're about gatoried willing to pee them to not have you in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, there he's getting her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we call yourself a midi-biter, you know, you take a little bit off that, like we're not a shark, we're a midi-biter, mosquito, without your call, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, [SPEAKER_00]: We're definitely not the threat to anyone right now, but, you know, yeah, we, you have to build, you have to build a strong, you have to build a strong presentation for retailer, the number one thing that you can do for retailer to get them excited to bring your product in is data.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, if you launch at the local shop, you say, well, we are outselling this brand that you already [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, okay, that's pretty cool, and you magnify that now where I turn around and say, hey, invite them in shop.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm performing better than most of the major brands in those fridges.

[SPEAKER_00]: The brands that are owned by the big guys, Celsius, etc.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I turned around to the retailers, and I say, I'm the, my, my, my malinberry in G and C is the third best selling out of 40 brands.

[SPEAKER_00]: my citrus and coal and the vitamin shop is top 10 out of 50 brands.

[SPEAKER_00]: So then I'm taking that date and I'm turning around to buy her eggs and Margaret.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying, you don't have this.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and in those stores, they're making all this money.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want someone that too?

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we'll bring you in.

[SPEAKER_00]: She doesn't compete with vitamin shop.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like you're sitting in me like I'm going to go to Ralph's her vitamin shop.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're cleaning the different consumers, and they're completely different decisions.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you try an odd value, and then also the last thing I'll say is you try and get retailers different opportunities, case sizes, flavors, something you don't have that they don't have, etc.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, so it's very, it was very conscious to, I mean, like, I can't really think of many million berry things I've ever had.

[SPEAKER_03]: Honestly, like, can't really think of many things.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's because we're like, Jolado, not ice cream.

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk to them now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fuck yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Love's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're luxury.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're through to all the luxury.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's how conscious was that.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like it's kind of like a tagline like we are $2.50 We're true 50 luxury.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, this can feel premium as fuck the branding's on point.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you feel like I feel expensive right now Yeah, I'm feeling dude.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like I'm gonna walk to the airport on Thursday.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, people are gonna be asking What you get that I might might sneak this through TSA.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they might have a no [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's meme culture, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the white monster means that you see a guy in a white monster, you know what he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: You used to drink that shit in college.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'll crush your white monster.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got nothing to do with it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Whatever the UK, white style.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's different.

[SPEAKER_03]: They don't have other stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm obsessed with the consumer.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm obsessed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what that guy pays for a ran.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what he had for dinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it says so much about you.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you drink?

[SPEAKER_03]: Or the guy that's drinking the gorilla mind and I'm like, whoa, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's true.

[SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's totally just you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, the bank energy.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, brother, hey, keep it chill, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: Be nice to the guy that's drinking the bank energy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like, jokingly, you know where he trains.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know what his split is.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just know when you see it a guy or girl, because we have a really strong female audience, which I think is part of the strategy here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, very, no, this is unisex.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's really 100%.

[SPEAKER_03]: You see those other drink cans and you don't want to be caring.

[SPEAKER_00]: 200 to 250 tag pictures a day on social or a year off.

[SPEAKER_04]: Do you know what like road man was it bumped up with the with New York On you always agree.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't go actually because first question you asked about what I'm focused on I just don't do this distraction [SPEAKER_00]: uh...

i'm not gonna go because it's too busy is too much noise and i'm not the guy like i got my team like they're gonna be i'm not i don't need to be at all that and rasmataz and the run clubs and i think we do it but like i got cam i got alics i got her got the squad there will show up and some of the fun like you know like i'm i'm in the p&l i'm like figuring this can printing issue out so i didn't go because it's like a bit of a distraction was one of the busiest weeks for us as a company [SPEAKER_04]: You bring up data though and how important that is when you're pitching retailers is there's something that is almost harder to track, but makes you feel or believe that you're on the right track, for example, getting tagged in an Instagram post or like seeing your product on a flat lay for the marathon as opposed to some like another company.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I had the mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: I used X a lot and I said, like a year ago, that I wasn't reposting anyone who used their first product can because I could see too many other brands on the flat way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fast forward in New York.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just like, did the roads were covered in cadence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like covered.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got people messaging me like, what the hell happened?

[SPEAKER_00]: and flat lays all over being like jail bar sashie bottle can.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of sick.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna go around saying like we were 250 tags this day, like by our business, you know, like, but anyone who's smart enough where you're who you're selling that to is primarily probably an investor, and you're like, we're building this community, we're building a cult.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we got like 40, 50 people with the daily discipline tattoo, daily disciplines are tagline.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, it's kind of our version of like another brand that I've lost in the half of their tagline.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's tattooed on my arm here, and I think we put a tweet and like anyone who has it, I'll fuel them for a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it got like 60, 65 people who had the tattoo.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, early indicators that you're creating a movement and a lifestyle brand that people want to be associated to.

[SPEAKER_03]: That is so, so interesting.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, that's like, that's the hardest thing to do.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's like, yeah, the cult, like you're building a movie.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't fake it.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, like I just like, you know, I just do, we don't, like, we said, you don't, we don't know each other that well, but like, we really, like, George and like me and there's nothing fake about it, you know, like, you don't, we don't have to try that hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: We really do it, like he, he called me and like, bro, I'm running like 350 this morning, brought us to a real life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, like this concept of like on a mission daily discipline, guys, now I think the modern influencer, you know, is inspiring through different means, whereas before it was like who's partying the hardest and like who's poppin the biggest bottles at the club and eleven in Miami and now when you think about who you're influenced by, like I'm influenced by the dad.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a couple hundred million the bank and he's got some shredded apps in a hot wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: like those are the end of some drip and so I'm sorry to sound like that guy but when I like turn like times have changed I think people are influenced by different things so when I think about how we've built the community is because we you know I think a fundamental this times of shifted between what the young man or a woman want in your life and it is fitness and it's hydration and it's [SPEAKER_00]: performance and its aspiration.

[SPEAKER_03]: Being fit is also, I think, a sign that someone is, it's discipline.

[SPEAKER_03]: Someone that's someone that cares, they give a fuck.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's like, it is not easy to be fit.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's a requirement there.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, you, when you see someone that is fit, that's someone you want to do business with.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's someone you want, you're cornered.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I know that this person goes to extra mile with, like, little details.

[SPEAKER_03]: The Jews have been paid.

[SPEAKER_00]: 100%.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a fair sport in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're body other than people who have health issues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, totally right.

[SPEAKER_00]: To keep that from conversation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You shouldn't want to get canceled.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like factually speaking, how you look is economic circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: I understand that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, totally.

[SPEAKER_00]: Me and you, same everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we have the same opportunities.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can go over on you and go over on you and go over on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can check and arise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you want to eat in your life, can you calories?

[SPEAKER_00]: I like it's a pretty fair, it's not a opinion-based sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: Business is in the opinion-based sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: You like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a decision-maker.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I go up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I go down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas like how you look, she generally is a pretty even keel.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a pretty even sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I like those odds where you can control things.

[SPEAKER_04]: When you think about your marketing, though, I want to get into like, because we've talked about the branding of the actual can.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: The branding of cadence itself and the marketing, your guys can't payins are fucking next level.

[SPEAKER_04]: The actual content is second and [SPEAKER_04]: How do you think about that?

[SPEAKER_04]: From I know you said you're not crazy in the weeds of it, but when it comes to doing new campaigns, launching new products, the content that you guys are putting out on social media, your website, how do you think about that?

[SPEAKER_04]: To allow you to create a court-like audience and a culture around your brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would say I definitely spend more time than I shoot on it I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like my favorite part of the business, and I work closely with Alex Who I have to give most of the credit for Alex always I mean Alex Lopez.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry [SPEAKER_00]: who's our creative director and has a great pulse on, you know, where we want to take the vision of the brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's also important is I work so closely with him, so he can soak up where my vision is for the brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think any people who have a pair like that, you have to work simultaneously because you have to work in tandem.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do a lot of storytelling.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think in a world of maximumism and consumerism where everyone's trying to sell you everything on an ad on a discount on AI generated like best in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've kind of taken a different approach.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we think that inspiration, aspiration comes from storytelling.

[SPEAKER_00]: For us, it was through athletes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Individuals running the fastest marathon in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Individuals running across the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what's the brand who did that the best?

[SPEAKER_00]: Red Bull.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no pictures of their can.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone talks about that on their social media.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have people jumping at a planes or off buildings or BMX is doing 500 flips, you know, whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we took a lot of inspiration from that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And say, OK, let's step away from the product.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at who we want to appeal to and what they're interested in.

[SPEAKER_00]: My consumer wants to watch will good run across Australia.

[SPEAKER_00]: and then he feels with cadence.

[SPEAKER_00]: So naturally we integrate product, but through storytelling, and that's always been kind of how we wanted to position the brand in front and forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: That we really don't have a lot of pictures of our counter Instagram, not specifically because we want to do it just because we want to differentiate yourself in a crowded category of people who are just constantly selling you what they have to offer you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, in addition, um, I'm surrounded with people with who just have a creative pulse, Georgian, the guy's there and Caesar and Alex and kind of live in the world of fashion in luxury.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, something that has always been important and I go back to the fact that it's how you really got in the end as your brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, yeah, if you become a me too, just become, you know, a race to the bottom on price.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, we're some of these bottlenecks that popped in as the brand has scaled.

[SPEAKER_03]: There were really important that we had to fix to keep growing and keep excelling.

[SPEAKER_03]: There would save a founder from a lot of headache.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the hardest thing in a business when you're scaling from zero to ten or one to ten million, I think is demand planning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to go and make my minimum of these and they're going to last me till here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm going to probably use that cash in order again, you know, here.

[SPEAKER_00]: The issue is, if you sell out here, you didn't demand plan, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So it didn't forecast how many cans and consistently for about the last 365 days.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've not been in stock for 200 days in our website because we continuously sell out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a glorified thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think people should necessarily be proud of selling out because we sell a subscription offering where people should drink it every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if they can't drink it every day, it goes against my mission of, [SPEAKER_00]: feeling the athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: So with all that being said, the hardest thing to do is how much do I need to have to buy what I think I can support for a period of let's say 12 weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Problem is if that sells out in four weeks, you kind of screwed because your manufacturer does not have time to produce for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to book it over here, buddy, during the wait list.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if it last you too long, you can't you don't have the cash generation to do the fun stuff and the cool campaigns [SPEAKER_00]: sponsoring of X and Y.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just this like constant threading of the needle of like inventory and cash and then it's called the bound planning and it's one of the hardest things to do as a business because you go from selling 100 grand a month to a million a month to 10 million a month and like what I always say is companies we're going to grow 500% this year for sure second year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and do you know anyone that grew 500%.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, you know, grow 1%, just get ready, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, by the time you don't know, yeah, no, not at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you just doesn't happen.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: I hope I get this question later on this week from somebody else, but like, no, I actually do, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, let me show you what I'm saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what people and companies don't grow at the same pace.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's insane.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's just not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you'd be happy if you grew 100%.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[SPEAKER_03]: You'd be stoked, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's a lot of brands right now.

[SPEAKER_03]: They're down 70%.

[SPEAKER_03]: on the year.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Big brands that are down a lot.

[SPEAKER_03]: Do you know Sweet Green and Kava down fucking crazy.

[SPEAKER_03]: So that yesterday, man, as a, as a, you know, overrated salad bowl.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like sweet, but I eat sweet green.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nick job.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very good for a boy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a bowl guy, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: I, I love the bowl situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that I love to see.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the brown.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's one of the best consumer brands.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Sweet Green have a great product and I love the team there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm bias.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nick's up very good friend of mine.

[SPEAKER_00]: his wife is so family-or-mazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think naturally speaking, you know, same as us, like their gatorade is like Chipotle and McDonald's.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like it's hard to sell people with 20-dought.

[SPEAKER_00]: My silence, we agree, by the way, is like 30-dought.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why, I put in it, but it's not a cheap, yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's hard to bring us America, so go back to that question, like the gatorade for them, like you just rock up to Burger King and get like, for it all, a meal deal.

[SPEAKER_03]: Even Chipotle has gotten more expensive than my Chipotle over the other day.

[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't binge Chipotle in a really long time and I was in a pinch of like, I'll go get a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll go get a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'll go get a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know you like Chipotle.

[SPEAKER_03]: I just, I really prefer now to cook at home.

[SPEAKER_03]: I cook at home most of my time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mean to that hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: I cook at home as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you mean to the one, uh, uh, uh, a taller organic.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, they have a totally arc that's a great killer.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to try it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've been, you know, there's a spot over in Santa Monica that I really like that's a beef-tell of burger and fries.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's called a silly ass name, horrible name.

[SPEAKER_03]: I can't remember it so bad.

[SPEAKER_03]: Poms and patties.

[SPEAKER_00]: Poms and patties.

[SPEAKER_00]: Poms and patties.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not being fired though, actually a really good burger.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's super interesting though, because...

[SPEAKER_03]: The health conscious person going for a man.

[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like a, like, [SPEAKER_04]: They used to be positioned in a place where it's like 13, 14, maybe 15 dollars.

[SPEAKER_03]: The cost of risen.

[SPEAKER_04]: And like now you're talking about something that's costing like 22 to 26 dollars, you're like [SPEAKER_04]: This is getting kind of an expensive record.

[SPEAKER_04]: And if we're feeling like that in LA, you're in a bubble where you can go to fucking air one and spend $35 on a hot plate and be like, yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: If I get air one under $30, you're like, I won.

[SPEAKER_04]: But now you talk about middle America, you're like, [SPEAKER_04]: They're looking at a $22 smoothie or a $22.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's a lot.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's absurd.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't even know how that little earth bar place survives, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a $20 smoothie.

[SPEAKER_00]: You buy it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's aspirations.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's brand.

[SPEAKER_00]: People want it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's very, very interesting.

[SPEAKER_04]: You also brought up in a YouTube video that you had a great [SPEAKER_04]: conversation with a partner in the Middle East.

[SPEAKER_04]: And you said that distributing a broad is like difficult.

[SPEAKER_04]: And if you're partnered with a wrong person, it can hinder the brand because it's like, that's your baby and distributing a broad is tough.

[SPEAKER_04]: So what about the deal with the partner in the Middle East like works?

[SPEAKER_04]: And what are you looking for in a partner when you go to distribute a broad?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I also said that like, I hate international business because I believe that until you achieve the certain scale, like, why would you take your resource allocation?

[SPEAKER_00]: So if all you have is speed, you're never going to win on resource or capital, then why you taking your resource and your capital, the two things that you can't be other people on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, the prioritizing the core strategy of the business, I US retail and having them going over here and deal with a very small rounding air because you're not just going to hire more people to deal with like a couple of peels a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I generally hate it and I don't think many businesses should do it until they reach, let's say a hundred million dollars.

[SPEAKER_00]: When it's the right time to do it, it probably comes down to a couple things.

[SPEAKER_00]: like operational complexity and lift for us when we went to Australia way way too early probably we had to change our artwork and our can.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our ammo cues are so high so I have to get regulatory in having this Australian business set up an Australian lawyer, reprinting the can, shipped them off to Australia, tie up our cash, send it off and like it's been an okay business, it will grow, we're launching seven eleven there, seven hundred fifty stores, a couple of other big gas stations, petrol stations, but you get excited by like, [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing else matters other than this four walls of America.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, Celsius, however many billion dollars here, monster, ghosts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at all these brands, they're just focus on this market, and that's what I'm trying to instill my team.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what do I look for?

[SPEAKER_00]: I look for brand alignment in terms of, are they going to represent the brand well?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you don't lose control of the brand, but chances are you're not going to be signing off on every moment pop shop they put it into.

[SPEAKER_00]: And thankfully, for us, we're okay kind of being in a lot of places, but, you know, if I see a cadence run club in the Middle East and it's like, I'm like, I'm pulling the plug on that thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's just jeopardizing my core business because people are going to get confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I start seeing athletes who are fueled by cadence and they're not, so there's certain rules and regulations we put in place contractually if they can't do X and they can't do Y.

[SPEAKER_00]: This individual hamdan happens to be a very good friend of mine, a very successful entrepreneur and has full alignment on who the brand is and we want to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last thing I'll say is like it's a very easy supply chain.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's buying the same can as we make today.

[SPEAKER_00]: No artwork changes, no labeling changes and he picks it up on our factory and a truck.

[SPEAKER_00]: like, I don't have to do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, for me, it's like, you know, it's a nice, I mean, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, [SPEAKER_03]: Damn, that's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is so true.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Emeritz is...

[SPEAKER_00]: That's tip tip tip top of the building but all the cool there's a big food culture there Are you don't really don't drink a lot of alcohol?

[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly Emirates local culture and obviously there's Brits of Broad He drink enough for everyone, but It's a big food culture people eat a lot of coffee a lot of coffee shops great chains So it's an okay market it will be generally, you know one to two percent of the business But we can still do a couple of million dollars there for sure.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that's really solid.

[SPEAKER_04]: So I got a stick on Emirates for a sec [SPEAKER_04]: you talk about having leverage and being able to like do these deals on your own term.

[SPEAKER_04]: Are you working into an Emirates deal first class flights?

[SPEAKER_00]: Me personally?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need an agent or something.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather just take the money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you flown Emirates first class?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've never flown Emirates first class.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the goal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I actually leaked it in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going over to Dubai in December.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're launching in November.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know the Georgia going out and then wheels out and I'm to activate and I just can't make a work because I'm traveling too much I'm going to London next week to do some cool stuff and then I was like, let me take my wife as being through the ringer with me and my daughter go for a holiday I wouldn't opt to choose to buy naturally I've got other places in the world but because we're launching I looked at first class flights and I was like I need to sell a few more cans [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, or I'm like, I'll do some influence just now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do I post it again?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm like, first class fighter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, that's probably gonna be you too.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, that's probably one of the things I like would do it for.

[SPEAKER_00]: But um, that's, you know, I've been business class.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been fortunate enough to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: but also like a few years ago when flights weren't as expensive.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to New York tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like faking a red eye which is like the worst flight.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm like, [SPEAKER_03]: I have a love hate relationship with running because I wrestled in high school, so we'd run a lot late at night every single day like all of high school.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I can't wait.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I was trying to tell Robert.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a lot of trauma was running.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's like not my love, but we're talking to our buddy, Johnny Hockstattler, Jayhawk, and he's like, we should run New York.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I've been seeing the stories.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm very, [SPEAKER_03]: It's like that looks like a fun time and all our friends that live in New York are like this is the marathon to do Orange County didn't feel any vibe There's no vibe in the city in Orange County man.

[SPEAKER_03]: We were running through like a local high school There's no one there for like hour and like two hours of the run It's just me and this one dude who we kept going back and forth with passing that's all you really running with there's no like City kind of I'd see my mom and my girlfriend and my aunt like be like And that was it, you know, so I like we kind of want some vibe [SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, a major mayor like the vibe is I ran London around New York last year and I was meant to run this year how the meeting had to cancel whatever but I deferred and my promises I'm always going to run you on that's my city.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's where I met my wife like to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's really home and the energy in that city especially like mile one to 12 coming through Brooklyn like there's something they got people shut you know one of the tactics.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say is print your name when you're Jersey.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, [SPEAKER_00]: Lots of stimuli going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, and she's also, it's a, one first of all, it's a very tough course.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to like try and PR, like I wouldn't pick New York.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got friends with PR in New York and like fair play to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got to be really strong on the hills and the bridges.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like you can go see your buddies.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you drag a crack of beer, if not, you crack a cadence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have a slice of pizza on my 12 at the dirty bird pop up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just like an energy or you just, I don't, I want to be out here for five hours.

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I don't want to be, I don't want to be done in two and a half.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be out here for five.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, my buddy this year did a reverse, do you see that?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, Hercules.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went to the start.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went to the finish line at 1 a.m.

ran to the start line and then ran the marah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy shit.

[SPEAKER_00]: He ran 40 some, ran 80, ran 80, ran 84, 85k, yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, math isn't really pretty strong.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to math, so yeah, do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not coming out with that guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He ran two marathons.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, like actually ran two marathons.

[SPEAKER_00]: He also went through miles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Then just didn't just jog it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was like, I mean, he can run a, he's a very fast marathon.

[SPEAKER_00]: He just ran across Montenegro last month.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's done 150 miles in a day.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, he works with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has a brand in the UK for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He also happens to be like a top top runner But he ran with his fiance, but you know, he does a lot of content and it was kind of like when kind of iron on lying He got a lot of hate for it, which is part of the I mean running's a funny sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: There's an interesting group the rounds man.

[SPEAKER_03]: Interesting group.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's funny He just chill out a little bit.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, people need to relax.

[SPEAKER_04]: I saw wait.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'll talk about eating.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah [SPEAKER_04]: I'm getting some chill, dude.

[SPEAKER_04]: I, um, on the topic of running and it being kind of a weird sport.

[SPEAKER_04]: I saw something, it must have been on TikTok or somebody was telling me that they were posting on Strava and it's like really like really successful, like fast runner was like commenting hateful shit.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to guys it like ran and call it now you've got like guys getting bag for like running a slow marathon You know, it's a pretty like my thesis in my style so it is like Like if you're moving more than less like generally it's a good thing [SPEAKER_00]: Now do I believe that all the flowing of money is going towards influencers instead of like professional runners?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, but as a as a brand that has sponsored the number two American marathon runner top 10 finishing Olympics and paid them six figures and I have paid influencers five on a box [SPEAKER_00]: this guy, then there's no return in investment other than like brand equity value and these guys can pump for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I understand why a lot of the capital from the larger brands is going into the influencers because they're actually adding a lot of incrementality to the sport.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I understand why these guys are annoyed and if I'm these guys I'm my I'm cashin in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm cashin in because this is my job.

[SPEAKER_04]: On the topic of content you've been posting some awesome vlogs on YouTube.

[SPEAKER_04]: I want to know why, as a founder, what is the point or what is the benefit of being forward facing on YouTube?

[SPEAKER_04]: You don't have to.

[SPEAKER_04]: You could build cadence without being a well-known founder.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: We see you doing it.

[SPEAKER_04]: We see George doing it.

[SPEAKER_04]: Why be forward facing and create content and put your face out there?

[SPEAKER_04]: Is it to have more of an impact?

[SPEAKER_04]: Like, why do it if you don't have to?

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I found it very hard in the beginning.

[SPEAKER_00]: When my last company I pretty much didn't show nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we did some crazy stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter Teele wrote my series C-Term sheet on a private plane.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me $42 million on a flight from Elie de San Francisco.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like Peter Teele, like Gates, Drake was an investor.

[SPEAKER_00]: We threw the Coachella party just to be like, we, I could have a bazillion YouTube like if I had a document to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was a level of regret to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, none of that created great business, so I'm like, that doesn't mean we were like, like, I'm, I'm fundamentally that's not impressive.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, I've always been inspired personally as a consumer of founders that have documented their journey George as a huge inspiration to me and I'll tell him as my best buddy, like he inspired me through his content.

[SPEAKER_00]: I started in cadence, I understood the value it could create on a company through Funderled content.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted to take it on and I built a small team around me to help me do that because fundamentally when I wake up in the morning and I don't think about let me like think through the list of content like I'll miss it's terrible, I need you to be my brain on this because I'm focused on X and Y, like we've just talked about like operational sales strategies like that gets me off.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing is, I actually just feel hugely inspired by the fact that when I am 40, 50 years old, 60 years old, my daughter will watch this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It'd be like, wow, my dad was savage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine your dad built Rebel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can watch that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I got to watch my father use super big inspiration to me firsthand.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think I'm inspired that my daughter, who's now nearly two years old, when she's old enough to watch, will watch for dad build, what will be one of the biggest drinks companies in the world.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's amazing.

[SPEAKER_04]: You said a quote to me.

[SPEAKER_04]: My family gives me meaning, but purpose gives me direction.

[SPEAKER_04]: Can you tell us a little bit about what that quote means to you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it kind of came off the back that I think, it's a good one, that was an interesting quote.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think...

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, um, I think it's over glorified to think that, um, balance and being like quote on quote, I guess happy all the time is really going to be existence.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have everything going for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a great business time and love with.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have wife and a daughter, but it does feel selfish that when I wake up in the morning, I think primarily about my work, you know, honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's other, there's two other living beings in my life that I am fundamentally responsible for, to some extent, my wife is a huge factor from my child, my daughter because she cares for her and she's a full-time mother, but you know, when I wake up in the morning, I'm strained to the office.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm working all day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I come home and I have my non-negotiable as a taker to the park at 3.30.

[SPEAKER_00]: Non-negotiable don't call me phone is off and I bath her at night.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the two moments in time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But work is just such a big part of my life and it does make it is fundamentally, again, the most important thing for the mission of the family.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that it's hard to find the balance and I'm not balanced, but this is my version of balance.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like 99% work, 1% here, half percent here, whatever the mass not mapping, but [SPEAKER_00]: to go back to that, it came back from the fact that maybe this is okay, maybe this is normal and I think a lot of people comment and be like, oh, you've got such a good balance, but they don't see behind the curtain.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not necessarily this perfect guy who's spending all their time when they're family or in the gym and not for whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I think that came from the fact that it is hard to prioritize other things that could be prioritized when you're so focused on [SPEAKER_04]: I want to stay on this for just a sec because, so I just got engaged a few months ago.

[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I've always struggled with like, I know I want a family, I know I want kids for sure.

[SPEAKER_04]: having a kid, we're having multiple changes things a lot.

[SPEAKER_04]: And as someone who, you know, we're building the podcast, I mean, bringing both have like big goals for ourselves.

[SPEAKER_04]: And maybe things change like once you do have a kid and your priorities change and everything, but like I admire you because you are such a like from what I've seen an amazing family man, but also like a fucking killer entrepreneur.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I think what I worry about is like, once you do have a kid, it gets harder to do the business shit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Focus on you, 100% you're selfish guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I am too, you know, I always want to kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to kid, I grew up with two sisters and I've always been inspired by like big families.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have like a lot of like big family cousins.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like, [SPEAKER_00]: and all that around me, but like I've always wanted that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I always told myself the same story.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you're telling yourself the story, like I can't have this if I have this.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like, yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: or like I can't have a kid until like so and so is set up.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then like when you get so and so other problems and other goals exist, like it does not have a ending, it's unstoppable, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not big, it's like the unstoppable.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I win my first, when I sell my first company, I'm just going to know you're not, bro.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in the hospital.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife was five centimeters dilated.

[SPEAKER_00]: I signed the term sheet to sell my business.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in the laptop in the corner.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, when it comes out, when she comes out, I got you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But until then, like, I'm crank.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: But also my wife understood that's who I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't just like have a baby after meaning for a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're like, yeah, not in the NBA.

[UNKNOWN]: So, [SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, all that being said is there's truth to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's okay, honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't do it all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I see unconvenient truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think anyone who comes on here and maybe people disagree and says, no, you can do it all.

[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot be the best father in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can be the best father.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can be giving your circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, the best father in my agreement with my wife, and I think it's important to have agreements because I fucking hate expectations.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like expectations of the worst thing that you could have come on here, but I thought he would be great But we had to call before and we briefed and we understood where the relationship was going to be My ex my relationship with my wife is that like I'm going to do this You're going to do this and we are signing up for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a joint business plan all for the importance of my daughter What did my daughter need you need certain things?

[SPEAKER_00]: We got to pay for you know You got to pay for shit.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's the truth and I think anyone is like no, there's perfect balance and all this stuff It shouldn't be 50 50 [SPEAKER_00]: My version of 50-50 is different.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't do half the child care, and she does half the child care, because I do, I don't do 50 percent of the work, and she does 50 percent of the work.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the agreement I have with my wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's okay with that, I'm okay with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think to go back to it when you do decide to have a kid, it's obviously with a partner that you've had a discussion with where you want to be in life, where she wants to be in life, and I do think the inconvenience [SPEAKER_00]: It's like colleges and she talked about like the reality is it's like generally speaking the father is last important to the newborn between the ages of one to three your job the baby doesn't need two months.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a truth so I have allowed my wife has a loud for us and me to focus on certain things that are going to have longer term value for the family and I know that come three four years old I'll be in a position where yes I can take 12 o'clock off because my I've got a team of 200 and it's okay I just got to get there.

[SPEAKER_03]: just got to build that and keep going with that.

[SPEAKER_03]: What have you noticed from having Steven as an investor?

[SPEAKER_03]: That's someone that I admire a lot.

[SPEAKER_03]: Some of it, I think we've watched.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've watched him grow.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've modeled certain things that we've done after him.

[SPEAKER_03]: What have you noticed from working around him?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, and we were up at his house the other day and I think the one thing this even has is an obsession around Source of truth So when he is he's one of the best interferes in the world and you guys, obviously We're second but he will we're coming watching the last he will read books about people We'd books about people who think like he is so obsessed around the source of truth, so when I [SPEAKER_00]: I've spent time with him, you know, understanding how deep people's into the individual that he is interviewing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And not only that, the level of depth he goes into about what other people are saying or the creator economy around the tags and the likes and the comments.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, for example, there's a subject on electrolytes.

[SPEAKER_00]: he's going to find out who the thought leader is on that, you know, he's so data obsessed.

[SPEAKER_00]: This guy is not a opinion based at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's so, he's so data obsessed and just being able to see how his mind thinks about the obsession over that source is amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the level of depth he goes into the work he does and the team he has around him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you go up to his house, his teams are armies on working on many projects and sprints, it's like it's a really impressive [SPEAKER_00]: and the other thing I'll say is, he gives you his time.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll sit there and his phone, I mean, I see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: His phone is going.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you people's names, I'm like, you should barely pick that up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was in the White House, not too long ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's got you, he's locked in.

[SPEAKER_00]: No problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've got his time, you've got his time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I find that extremely respectful because he's not like, oh yeah, no, I brought that sentence really great.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's something that I am like, wow, if you can do that and I've seen what people are doing is to be just calling them back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just calling him, it's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's locked in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I find that like, honestly, that's pretty sick.

[SPEAKER_03]: that's crazy.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome.

[SPEAKER_04]: Is there something?

[SPEAKER_04]: Is there somebody else maybe similar as Steven who you've been fortunate enough to spend some time around that you've learned quite a bit from or that you admire that you're like, I want to bring this into my life?

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, I, through the last company raised, from some great investors, you know, um, raised from like finer Starbucks, um, we raised from obviously Peter Teele and raised from Down Sunheim, which is one of the best hedge fund managers probably to ever live.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just being able to spend time around them, whether it's in board meetings or whether it's just on off-site, just two, three hours can be life-changing, the way they think, the way they operate, I think without sounding cliche, I'm hugely inspired by my father.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's taught me a lot, you know, modest business scoring up, never, you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: changed the world or anything, but I had a lot of aspiration when I grew up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got to see him build a company from one person to five people to ten people and a very different industry but like used to take the boss after school and sit in his office and like his office was like half the size and then it got a little bit bigger and then it became the size of this home and I was like [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, like that's pretty cool and like always on like always in his team used to sit right in the middle of the office, no corner office bullshit and that definitely ingrained a lot in me and how he deals with people and how we like to think about like success.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's always been super inspirational.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think like just the amount of time I've spent with him has been.

[SPEAKER_00]: probably the biggest impact on my life.

[SPEAKER_03]: Was he always like working with his team?

[SPEAKER_03]: Did you notice that he was always like in the weeds with them?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he was in recruitment.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a very like sales personal, you know, very hands-on business.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was from a small town in a small country.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm from Glasgow in Scotland, which isn't like the average income is $21,700.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the average.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not like, it was making six figures a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: So everything in relative terms, if your business does a million a year, that was like, [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it dropped off in a Volvo to school.

[SPEAKER_00]: If someone turns up at a BMW, it's like, what the hell?

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's just, I want to just share that light, but what didn't change is like, how we handled people and how he, well, he looked for one of his hiring and the level.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like that's instilled in me for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I also played sports.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like coaches that I've hired in my life have definitely shaped my opinion on working hard and all that stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Huge, huge amount of patch recognition in this game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, um, and I think just surrounding yourself with the right people is definitely the best thing to do.

[SPEAKER_03]: Have you gamified business?

[SPEAKER_03]: Do you feel like you look at it as a game?

[SPEAKER_03]: What are some of those key things that you've noticed?

[SPEAKER_03]: Like what are some of those patterns that you can instill to someone listening to this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Depends on the business, honestly, within my category, there's definitely patterns.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they were evolving over time as consumers have its change for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I might not be able to give like key specific points, but I have gamified it, everything, I'm playing the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really aware of it, and I'll play the game as long as I need to play the game until I don't need to play the game.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, do you think you would be able to do that?

[SPEAKER_03]: Like do you think I'll play the game?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, with your brain.

[SPEAKER_03]: You feel like you'd be able to not play the game and just get out and be like, no.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you don't think so.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think I could either.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, definitely no.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I would like to not be CEO forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, to be honest with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I mean, I enjoy the brownside like chief brand officer would be amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: right now that's we're just not the area you know and I take a lot like even George for example we've talked to him a lot but like seal founder for 15 years or 14 years and then he builds a team and now he's you know creative director because that's what he does he's like in the fabrics and design photography and art direction and creative direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: like does he want to build a P&L?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, so like I love, I think a great founder knows what rims they don't need to pick, what tables they don't need to be in all the time, and then they put a person in that position who can execute on that, and I think for me, I would love to continue to be building businesses in consumer space.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's anything more inspirational when you see someone use your product, or there's a feedback that is possible in your product.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it hits every time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could line the massive store today, doesn't really [SPEAKER_00]: When I see a costume, I mean, like, this is helping with my marathon, bro, I'm bugging this because I know that it's just, like, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just like, it's different for me, but running the day-to-day business, honestly, I think this is my last time.

[SPEAKER_04]: it's funny we say that about the pod like we'll get messages online and it's fucking awesome anytime you get a message.

[SPEAKER_04]: If you get someone you know who's like y'all that was a second episode of I'm actually listening.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's different.

[SPEAKER_03]: Do you see him in person if you meet someone like I love your bottom like shit.

[SPEAKER_03]: You real man.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's not this isn't just like a comment online and it's kind of hard to like you see the numbers online.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's cool because like they're going up and maybe hit different milestones and stuff, but it can be hard to like internalize it of like, well, that's kind of a lot of people watching every episode or every week, every month.

[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, sometimes it can hit different if it's in person or if it's like a close.

[SPEAKER_03]: Makes my whole fucking day if I meet some of the persons are crazy.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure seeing it out in public.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like in Brooklyn a couple of weeks ago with my wife and we're like pushing and my daughter For whatever reason she like now because we have like the fridges in the house and the cadence for just like cadence She's only only two didn't we speak the first word I swear to God there's a guy with a water bottle like in the line for coffee and she's like [SPEAKER_00]: K-dance, I was like, no way, that's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, we're the cool moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, right outside, like, where did you go up to?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did she know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's like in my office.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: She doesn't have some.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's kind of cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know how I mean, you must be like the white, the logo, like the white space, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was also like this far away, but.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then yeah, we just see it all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, upstate New York, it's like, my friend will say me a picture of like, you know, your upstate New York, three hours in Hudson, and the barista has a cadence water bottle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, wow, that's kind of crazy to me, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: But we do have a mission, and the goal for the company is to be as ubiquitous as a red bullcat, you know?

[SPEAKER_04]: Well, like it.

[SPEAKER_04]: If you were able to talk to a founder, or if a founder is listening to this, and you know, they're doing million, maybe a few million dollars a year, what are like those mindset shifts?

[SPEAKER_04]: a founder needs to have to be able to scale 10 million plus.

[SPEAKER_00]: My intention, I think to go back to the very first question, I think it's really important to identify the three to six things that are company changing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to get every decision right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Heck, if you get 50%, you're probably on your, you know, it's probably a good odds.

[SPEAKER_00]: Three to six things that are going to fundamentally change that will come on the business.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm a size of the price perspective and that's all you should only in on because like one to ten million is kind of this graze on of like you've really not made it out yet even ten million you've really not made it out yet, you know, but like the things that you deal with every day is a founder because your team at like one to [SPEAKER_00]: Two million dollars is probably one to three people.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably not more than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't imagine So you're doing everything and you can't really get out of the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're dealing with the lawyers on the IP contract Manufacturing agreement.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're dealing with the common and you're not an expert on product of the liquid But you're doing that too and you're probably in the social media and you've heard of it There's paid out things.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to do that too and you kind of forward to hire the agency that everyone's talking about She'll like oh shit, and there should be on Amazon too [SPEAKER_00]: But look, my name is on ECC, so you're doing all this stuff, but like my advice is like, great, measurable outcomes for all these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I do this right, it's going to be worth this, it's going to take up this much time and it can be done in this amount of time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And identify those three things, probably channel strategy, product, etc.

[SPEAKER_00]: and take away the bottom 70% and just like, well, do that because they're not going to be as impactful to the company and focus on those one two three things get those right and you'll get to the next stage and at the next stage you can hire people you can raise money and you'll get those other 70% of things that are rounding errors to the business if you get the one two three right.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm massively, I think that's the biggest thing if I'm looking to do.

[SPEAKER_03]: Last one, what were those top three for cadence?

[SPEAKER_03]: What were the top three in your opinion?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's for us this distribution stores, which ones were focused on which ones were not an innovation.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we've kind of halted innovations as a company because we've got quite horizontal ambitious about the portfolio of ready to drink ready to mix and other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have the balance sheet to launch 15 new flavors.

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, we could launch 20 new flavors.

[SPEAKER_00]: We could do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know they'd be successful, but we said, okay, stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the most important thing for the company?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get each one of these skis to 100 million until we launch another Flier.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until we get there, we have an unlock the ability to do X.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we probably will before, but as a general purpose, I'm saying that needs to be in, I need two to five percent of America to try that can before I launch or in soda.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's based on my thesis.

[SPEAKER_03]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_03]: This has been such a fun episode.

[SPEAKER_03]: Ladies and gentlemen, there's been episode 183 with Ross McCabe.

[SPEAKER_03]: You're still here.

[SPEAKER_03]: Please hit the subscribe button.

[SPEAKER_03]: Drop us a comment.

[SPEAKER_03]: Leave us a like.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll see you guys all next week.

[SPEAKER_04]: Peace.

[SPEAKER_04]: PPD.

[SPEAKER_04]: Some people say they just come for this part.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's where a lot of people are saying.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: So speed can be fast.

[SPEAKER_03]: Gotta be fast.

[SPEAKER_03]: Gotta be for three, eight, 40.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's quick.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's what Pete.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's a Ross is running out.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, he's making five decisions in the car before we hit record.

[SPEAKER_03]: He made a through decision sitting on the couch right there.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's like, we're gonna pause the pod.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, gotta make this call.

[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't do that, but he could have.

[SPEAKER_03]: Cut it if you wanted to.

[SPEAKER_03]: I would have respected it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I would have been like, okay, game is game.

[SPEAKER_03]: What are we making?

[SPEAKER_03]: Can we make a decision?

[SPEAKER_03]: Can we help make a decision?

[SPEAKER_03]: What do you need help with?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Where can we take this?

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you know, actually we had some thoughts Ross.

[SPEAKER_04]: After talking to you, we had some thoughts about cadence.

[SPEAKER_04]: I will say, and I feel like I say this after a ton of our episodes, but this truly was one of my favorites.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was great.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was a masterclass in building a very successful CPG brand.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, he's exited before from daring.

[SPEAKER_03]: So it was so interesting to hear what he's taking into this new venture.

[SPEAKER_03]: This is something that him and George heat and co-founded.

[SPEAKER_03]: And just to see all of the decisions that go into sipping the liquid that was on the table.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it was really good.

[SPEAKER_03]: Very good.

[SPEAKER_03]: Very good.

[SPEAKER_03]: I loved the flavor that I spilled all of myself.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was fantastic.

[SPEAKER_04]: A lot of spillage this episode.

[SPEAKER_03]: We had a lot of spillage coming.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Low scores and the corner.

[SPEAKER_03]: Ross thought it was going to be easy.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: You know what's also interesting is he made it seem like he kind of got lucky with daring foods in a way.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like with right time.

[SPEAKER_04]: Right like COVID hit.

[SPEAKER_04]: It was frozen food.

[SPEAKER_04]: It just so happened that it took off.

[SPEAKER_04]: I don't think he gives himself enough credit, like he's smart dude.

[SPEAKER_03]: So he's so smart.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's so dialed on just the details that go into this stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's not just like, oh, is it liquid good?

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like the world.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a world that he's building.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's the YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_03]: I want to say to you, this is really interesting.

[SPEAKER_03]: I just found him through like cadence through YouTube.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's how I got exposed to the brand.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I think it shows the importance of founder-led content, how important YouTube is and why after our trip to Hong Kong, we are starting, we started a second YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_03]: Specifically for the case that if you just come to the show and hang out with us here You only get do you only get the PPD to really get to know us?

[SPEAKER_03]: I know you only get the PPD I mean, I don't want to take away from this time.

[SPEAKER_03]: I want to add more to this time [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and it's so funny, because after the episode, I was, my wheels were turning.

[SPEAKER_03]: Wheels were turning.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm like, I got to make something.

[SPEAKER_04]: I need to, I wanted to exit.

[SPEAKER_04]: Got to build, you know?

[SPEAKER_04]: Got to build something.

[SPEAKER_04]: So we've been, we've been blinded, but just no dude, whether it's, whether it's the thing that me and Brad are gonna do together that we're super excited about.

[SPEAKER_04]: We're not.

[SPEAKER_04]: ready to talk about it yet.

[SPEAKER_04]: But I also have some ideas, like I know you want to get into beverage.

[SPEAKER_04]: I kind of came up with an idea for a beverage myself, but after hearing like Christian Guzman and him talk about like how hard it is and how much time and effort you actually have to put into a better way.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's got to be a thing.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's got to be like that.

[SPEAKER_03]: That has got to be the thing.

[SPEAKER_03]: What I also thought was really interesting that Ross talked about was, [SPEAKER_03]: It's like you're solving a problem that you have.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, like a lot of the start of an entrepreneur's journey is looking at your life and thinking about like, what are the super annoying problems you want to solve, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: Whether looking at the lights in this room, I'm assuming the founders of these lights, we're like, I think we can make a better light that does X, Y and Z.

I think that I can make a better beverage that is taste better.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Is more functional has better ingredients in it, whatever, more caffeine, whatever the heck the thing may be.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, well, many of you listening to this right now, [SPEAKER_03]: probably have an idea that bothers you.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's something out there in your life where there'd be a shoe on your feet, pants, shirt, a software that you can think can make your life easier, lean into those things.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I bet you, you might, one of the biggest companies in the world might be listening this right now.

[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you think about all the most successful biggest brands they all solve a problem.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I think like, we are dream about making this like massive company and you're like, okay, what's the fucking idea?

[SPEAKER_04]: And it doesn't come from you sitting down and being like, I'm going to right now think of a billion dollar brand idea.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's going to come one day and be like, [SPEAKER_04]: This doesn't exist out there.

[SPEAKER_04]: He said the hydration beverage for or the performance, like cadence didn't exist and he needed it.

[SPEAKER_04]: It was like he was trying to find it and he was trying to fuel himself after these workouts.

[SPEAKER_04]: It didn't exist so he went out to go make it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like with low with no sugar.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it doesn't happen if he's just like, [SPEAKER_03]: like if if he's not in the culture of working out and running like he doesn't come up with the idea for cadence without a doubt I thought something that was also really interesting talked about getting outside of his bubble and like making a product that's not just for Los Angeles or New York City, Ross is not just thinking about a product that would land here.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like what could the entire US consume and what would they enjoy and what's our price point that could stick.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's not going to be probably like that $4 price point that we're so used to seeing in these convenience stores out here, which is ridiculous.

[SPEAKER_03]: We got to make them two bucks, get everything should be two bucks, every drink.

[SPEAKER_04]: You go to the Alfrids that we live right down the street from seven dollars for a medium ice coffee, six dollars if you don't choose to do the cold foam, and I've almost just kind of gotten used to that and what's messed up about that.

[SPEAKER_04]: is now I'm like, man, $5 for an iced coffee sounds pretty good, but like, I specifically remember, bro.

[SPEAKER_04]: A time when Starbucks was 275 for a medium or grand day, cold brew ice cold brew, and then I remember the day I went and it went up to 325 and I remember that because I was like, oh my god, it's no longer two, it's in the threes and like man things are getting expensive and then something happened with minimum wage and then Starbucks I went again and it was like five dollars for an ice coffee and I'm like, dude, what are we doing?

[SPEAKER_04]: So expensive.

[SPEAKER_03]: You've lived through so many moments in history.

[SPEAKER_04]: I know, I'm so old.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's crazy.

[SPEAKER_04]: You feel like a dinosaur.

[SPEAKER_04]: But things are getting expensive and you kind of get kind of used to it because you live in LA and it just kind of becomes the norm.

[SPEAKER_04]: And like you think about that is just so not the case.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's outrageous as what it is.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I think something interesting, too, if you looked at like all of the cans, when you looked at, take out something interesting.

[SPEAKER_03]: If you look at all of the cans on a wall, and you stick his beverage on, it's beautiful.

[SPEAKER_03]: It feels good in the hand.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's pretty, it's a pretty can, very photogenic.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: It stands out, and it's a marketing tool itself.

[SPEAKER_03]: You see it, like we talked about it on the flat lays of people going to do their marathons.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like, that's it.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's now part, it's the watch, the shoes, the socks, and then boom.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's the gels and the drink.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Ooh, I loved this.

[SPEAKER_03]: We even put this in the PPD.

[SPEAKER_03]: talking about the price point of the can and being able to have more products in your ecosystem.

[SPEAKER_03]: Because you have these different, like, okay, you have, like, target or something is not just buying that can.

[SPEAKER_03]: You're also getting the gels or the salt, um, you know, I'm talking about those little pouches things.

[SPEAKER_03]: you're able to make more on those than you are on the beverage because the weight and all that stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: So it's interesting to have like different product skews in your arsenal to where when you're going to those stores, you could in theory you can make less on your actual can.

[SPEAKER_03]: You're making it back on the revenue that you're getting from like the pouches or from the gels because it's so much cheaper to make those and like he was telling us about that.

[SPEAKER_03]: So that's a really interesting strategy where a lot of brands are just like, oh it's just the can beverage [SPEAKER_03]: items.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, you know, you can afford to potentially make a little bit less on the price of said can, because you're going to get it back on another product that's going to be in the same vicinity or not in that same ecosystem for your brand.

[SPEAKER_03]: But the what the can is the main thing for sure.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yes, around the brand definitely.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: That's what there's a people know it has.

[SPEAKER_04]: And you start with one and then you build out because he probably [SPEAKER_04]: when he was thinking about, you know, cadence is a brand.

[SPEAKER_04]: He is probably having all these ideas of like, oh, we could make this and this and this, but he's like, let's just start with the can and then as we get the liquid down and we start having traction, we can introduce other things and other flavors as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Roscoe is a better like, APM.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be like, four, three men.

[SPEAKER_03]: Respect.

[SPEAKER_04]: I thought what he said was very interesting.

[SPEAKER_04]: He's like, if I want to train and go on a four hour run, he's like, it has to be on my time.

[SPEAKER_04]: He's come to my impact.

[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not going to impact.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I want to spend time with my daughter.

[SPEAKER_04]: I want to be present.

[SPEAKER_04]: And there's things that I need to do for my business.

[SPEAKER_04]: And also for my family that if I want to be selfish and have me time, I'm just going to have to wake up a little bit earlier.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I honestly, [SPEAKER_03]: respect it and it just kind of scares me because I'm like oh you think I'm not a for a kind of guy like do I have to become that when you know we eventually start having kids oh my god it's not kind of scary the thought of for a I'm makes me want to like bash my head against a yeah getting up at four am so what time my dad gets up dude [SPEAKER_03]: I don't even know what you're saying.

[SPEAKER_03]: What do you do it for?

[SPEAKER_03]: Or some other dad's give it for you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Dude, my dad doesn't even wake him up in a alarm.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's just like they levitate it for him, bro.

[SPEAKER_03]: Anyone over the age of 60, these dads just come to life before him.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like Dracula.

[SPEAKER_03]: They just pop up, pop up out of bed.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a crazy shit.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe that's what it is.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe you become a dad and you're like, okay, you know, you're already getting trained for you.

[SPEAKER_03]: You have no sleep for that first little period of time.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just lock in.

[SPEAKER_04]: Back to the can and how it looks.

[SPEAKER_04]: There's a detergent that we started buying and it looks completely different.

[SPEAKER_04]: I forget the freaking name of it.

[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not plugging them for free.

[SPEAKER_04]: No, no, not definitely not.

[SPEAKER_04]: But then I was thinking about, so like their whole marketing thing is that it's not toxic, whatever, but it looks real sexy.

[SPEAKER_04]: And it looks like something that I would take a photo of and post it on my story.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's like an aluminum can solid matte color.

[SPEAKER_04]: It looks really sexy.

[SPEAKER_04]: And that's like another example of, [SPEAKER_04]: these there's so many brands out there and so many industries that just haven't been disrupted and they all look the exact same oh yeah you like health-ified and then you make it look fancy and sexy I feel like both of those are just it's like a recipe for success which is exactly what uh rusted with cadence.

[SPEAKER_03]: What is the brand, this is what I'm trying to look up of the hand sanitizer?

[SPEAKER_03]: Are you stop?

[SPEAKER_03]: No, no, no, it's like touch free or something.

[SPEAKER_03]: Touch land.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: How much did touch land sell for?

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: On the topic of what you were just saying, this hand sanitizer brand is always purel.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like since I was like a young kid, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: It was like purel in the May bath and body works had some like hand sanitizers, but really it was purel, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: You looked at all of the different sanitizers at the same couple brands touch line came out with like, oh, this is like kind of a cuter little little thing.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like the looks a little bit more premium.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_03]: I literally have it in my back of a photo of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's just pulled it up.

[SPEAKER_03]: I do.

[SPEAKER_03]: I do just pulled it up.

[SPEAKER_03]: That those ones.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yes, they sold for 880 million this year.

[SPEAKER_03]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's just hand sanitizer.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's really nothing different.

[SPEAKER_03]: They changed the packaging of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: They changed the look and feel of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's another thing that from everyone that we've talked to on the show.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a very successful entrepreneur.

[SPEAKER_03]: Many of them really like Ross's Ross reinvented what he wanted.

[SPEAKER_03]: Added like the beverage space, but it's still a drink.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's not like it's it's not like you know I'm saying it's still a drink right it's a beverage.

[SPEAKER_03]: Many of the really massive companies that we see aren't like magical ideas that no one's ever thought of before.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's like a little twist on something that already exists making it more either for them like that's a that's a cooler look and hand sanitizer.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's still hand sanitizer.

[SPEAKER_03]: It still does the same thing that all the other brands are still doing, maybe it smells a little bit different.

[SPEAKER_03]: And like you don't have to reinvent the wheel to go make something great is where I was going with that.

[SPEAKER_04]: 100%.

[SPEAKER_04]: And he talked about he's kind of going after Gatorid, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: We're like Red Bull.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: He wants to make something that big.

[SPEAKER_04]: And right now, you look at Cadence and they're doing very well, but it's like a drop in the bucket and comparison to what, [SPEAKER_04]: the galif of Gatorade is doing.

[SPEAKER_04]: I have no doubt in my mind that he will get to that like billion dollar plus marker.

[SPEAKER_04]: But I think [SPEAKER_04]: There's there's like so much opportunity out there and so much of like a little part of that pie is still so much money and so just because one person is doing it or there's one brand out there doesn't mean that you can't go out there and do something similar change things up change up the branding.

[SPEAKER_04]: And you're positioning slightly and like still have major success 2026.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think or 2025 His shown especially in like your women's fashion the huge players the lullus the alos You had all the littler brands taking market share those littler brands were coming in and taking 10 million here 10 million here 50 million dollars here 100 million dollars here.

[SPEAKER_03]: We see them on our street brother.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah pop-up those Laging brands.

[SPEAKER_03]: They pop-up [SPEAKER_03]: they can compete.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's no longer just like you're having to have.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, if it's not the biggest and the best thing like yeah consumers are spreading out it's not it's no longer like I only buy said brand and I also think.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think.

[SPEAKER_03]: What do you think, or is it what's your thoughts on that?

[SPEAKER_03]: Do you only buy like what, like, like, are you loyal to any direct brand?

[SPEAKER_03]: I do, I literally bought, for example, I, I drink here, but Monta every day.

[SPEAKER_03]: I could totally be persuaded to buy a different drink because of a healthier provision.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I got the new liquid death drink.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like, it's just to try it out.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just to just to see if it's legit, if it tastes, I'll tell you guys if I think it's trash or not.

[SPEAKER_04]: I think that we're seeing a major shift in [SPEAKER_04]: Like, obviously, creator-led businesses are becoming and like forward-facing founders.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's becoming like a real thing.

[SPEAKER_04]: I think that like the opportunity didn't really exist 20 years ago.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like, social media has made it to where anyone can build a brand and create a story around a product and really market it and actually go up against these major brands.

[SPEAKER_04]: I bet you, for example, his co-founder, George Heaton, made 247 athletic where I'm more tempted to go by running shorts in a top from 247 because I resonate with that more so than like this giant Nike thing.

[SPEAKER_04]: It almost didn't like, I resonate more with George Heaton.

[SPEAKER_04]: and Ross McKay, then I do with LeBron, you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_04]: So I would rather go, like seriously, you know, I know.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know, I just wasn't expecting you to say LeBron.

[SPEAKER_03]: I thought you were going to say, like, fill night at first?

[SPEAKER_03]: No, okay, sure.

[SPEAKER_03]: Sure, you just drop, you just drop.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, bro, I was like, they're ass.

[SPEAKER_03]: No, I know, I know, I know, I know.

[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I kind of like do have some residation, you know, okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: We worked the same company.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I get it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I get it.

[SPEAKER_03]: We were co-workers.

[SPEAKER_04]: You guys did completely different things.

[SPEAKER_03]: We both impacted the court.

[SPEAKER_04]: So a lot of stuff different.

[SPEAKER_04]: So different.

[SPEAKER_03]: Stakeholder value man.

[SPEAKER_03]: We were we were bringing that to you.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, him a little bit more than you.

[SPEAKER_04]: What I'm saying though is I don't think that happened before like no, because of social media that's a thing.

[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I don't know if Ross can could have built cadence 20 years ago, because like the distribution of content, distribution of like getting the drink in, you know, in stores is one thing, but like getting the message and building the brand and like creating a movement, it really, it's not possible like it is today, [SPEAKER_04]: without the air without the air and so that's why I think that like you are going to see a lot more of these brands start popping up and taking real market share from these big companies because I think the big companies still are thinking like and these are just like these little brands like we've been crushing it for the past.

[SPEAKER_04]: couple of decades.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think of anything the end of this year and the reports from the publicly traded brands that have come out is shown that they need to be wary of what the littleer brands are doing.

[SPEAKER_03]: Would you agree though?

[SPEAKER_03]: Would you say that you're [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I did.

[SPEAKER_03]: I literally went and brought represent for the first time ever because I enjoy his vlogs.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, not because of any other reason.

[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't see it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I personally really haven't seen many people by represent.

[SPEAKER_03]: You're the first person, honestly, that I ever saw where it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because I, you know, you put me on your in front of culture.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's what it's doing.

[SPEAKER_04]: I'm in front of culture.

[SPEAKER_03]: I was thinking about the only thing you might have been in front of me on.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it might have just been nice set trends.

[SPEAKER_03]: You did also.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm a trend setter.

[SPEAKER_03]: You also put me on a kiff.

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, I just, okay.

[SPEAKER_04]: I just go and what else?

[SPEAKER_04]: I think those are the only two things I'll do but those are life changing [SPEAKER_04]: You know think about how different your life is you said you told me I came into it You told me my hat's a little dirty, so I'm gonna have to get an offer retirees You guys seeing figs brown hat you used to be black The game and I you know it's it's very interesting though It's so it's so crazy because I have one representative hoodie and I want another one and it's this Sit cobalt blue color and I was wearing it earlier today and I realized that when I had it on It's so silly, but I'm like I put it on them like [SPEAKER_04]: kind of feeling like George Lee, you know?

[SPEAKER_04]: Seriously, I'm like dude, am I rip, you know, am I ripped, am I swaggy, like I'm in my Jeep, but it's looking like a retro shirt.

[SPEAKER_04]: No, it could be, that's what I'm gonna say.

[SPEAKER_04]: You know?

[SPEAKER_03]: You just transformed, that's so funny.

[SPEAKER_04]: Different than when I'm wearing my, uh, [SPEAKER_04]: Blank, Heather Gray, Abercrombie, Hoodie.

[SPEAKER_04]: A little different.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: A little different.

[SPEAKER_03]: Dude, it's not a sick.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a power of a power-founder-led content.

[SPEAKER_03]: Dude, come on.

[SPEAKER_03]: Come on, dude, come on.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hope you guys have really been enjoying the, can you figure that out?

[SPEAKER_04]: Brother, it's on, do not disturb.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's obviously not.

[SPEAKER_04]: My fiance just comes through.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's obviously not.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I see.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: The PBDs have been so fun and wanna shout all of you out who've been commenting on all of the pods, because it's so, oh my God, it makes our day.

[SPEAKER_03]: Makes our day to see the comments.

[SPEAKER_03]: You guys are so kind with just supporting us and sharing this with your buddies, just know that none of it's possible without you guys helping us out and doing this whole thing with us.

[SPEAKER_03]: Or if you're a Spotify only listener, know we like you a little bit less, but we'd really appreciate a review.

[SPEAKER_03]: We don't make a sense of stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just know that we love you a little bit less since all good.

[SPEAKER_03]: We love you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Still love you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just a little bit less in the YouTube squad, but really appreciate a review.

[SPEAKER_04]: How is our Hong Kong vlog coming?

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh my god.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's so sick.

[SPEAKER_04]: Are you past just the intro at all?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I've actually, so I didn't actually like go in and cut it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've went through, it's a little bit of an interesting process.

[SPEAKER_03]: I went into all the clips and just like chop the heads and the tails off.

[SPEAKER_03]: So it's like, okay, that's what I'm going to use and like going in.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm probably like a quarter of the way through like all of those clips.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's a lot of footage, but it's so fun.

[SPEAKER_03]: You guys, the first 15 seconds, it's going to be fired up.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, dude.

[SPEAKER_03]: God, it's gonna get you fired up.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got, I got really fired.

[SPEAKER_03]: Did you get goosebumps when you saw where you like, this is it?

[SPEAKER_03]: Was that kind of like, in your head, what was going on?

[SPEAKER_03]: I was kind of like, we're himmy.

[SPEAKER_03]: We're there.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we're there.

[SPEAKER_03]: The first vlog ever is long.

[SPEAKER_04]: I wanted to be like a YouTube person.

[SPEAKER_03]: This is our big break.

[SPEAKER_04]: This is our big break.

[SPEAKER_03]: The first vlog ever is going with Daniel Dale into China to visit factories and it was such a fun such a fun experience.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's when we are first vlog in the second one, we think we'll be like just the overall Hong Kong trip as a whole.

[SPEAKER_03]: Each of those vlogs though are not going to be just like, oh hey, look up.

[SPEAKER_03]: Look, we're doing.

[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to try to make them very value packed.

[SPEAKER_03]: So like every week will have a theme, potentially, you know, maybe call some rocks in on the show to help us, you know, with answering questions or whatnot.

[SPEAKER_03]: You should send me a one handed crack that's not embarrassing on Instagram that I can read.

[SPEAKER_03]: I like that at the very end.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's going to go in every single vlog.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think it should go kind of like at the beginning.

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, there's somewhere in the middle.

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you want to go at the end?

[SPEAKER_04]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_04]: We can go at the end.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's just fine.

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, also, thank you very much to everybody that bought the personal brand, the profitable personal brand playbook.

[SPEAKER_03]: I forgot the name, but profitable personal brand playbook.

[SPEAKER_03]: I say that 10 times faster.

[SPEAKER_03]: We appreciate you guys that was that was epic that directly goes and helps us like go travel and whatnot So if you're thinking about copying it's down the description if you DM me and you're from YouTube only not the Spotify group I will happily.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'll give you 10 bucks off.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah, if you if you DM you got to be subscribed Go on YouTube, but yeah, and not doing that send the screenshot of the subscribe and then So I got like $10 off now for the Spotify folks.

[SPEAKER_03]: No, no, no, no can't do it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I just can't do it.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's where I draw the line [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, this has been, has been so fun.

[SPEAKER_03]: What else is going on?

[SPEAKER_03]: Does there anything else we have to update them on?

[SPEAKER_04]: Holidays are coming.

[SPEAKER_03]: Holidays are coming.

[SPEAKER_04]: Didn't want to stay consistent with the pot as we go into the holidays.

[SPEAKER_04]: We got a lot of travel coming up, but we have some very exciting stuff that we will talk about in a few episodes because 2026 is going to be epic and we have some really fun things coming and I'm stoked.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's go.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's keep it rolling.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, also if anyone's an audio engineer and the group, okay, we got to tell you guys about this is actually insane.

[SPEAKER_03]: So this is our beautiful set, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: We finished the set, looks amazing.

[SPEAKER_03]: The other day, we come here to record.

[SPEAKER_03]: Put the headphones on.

[SPEAKER_03]: Sounds horrible.

[SPEAKER_03]: Literally horrendous, like a little baby squirrel.

[SPEAKER_03]: Don't do anymore.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's what it sounded like.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's what it sounded like.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was horrendous.

[SPEAKER_03]: We couldn't record.

[SPEAKER_03]: We're like, what the heck is going on?

[SPEAKER_03]: We moved the mic closer to the wall, and then we're like, it gets worse close to the wall.

[SPEAKER_03]: We walk outside.

[SPEAKER_03]: Of course, the breaker to the whole entire home is on the back of this wall.

[SPEAKER_03]: which is so epic for us, that we come back today.

[SPEAKER_03]: Nothing changed.

[SPEAKER_03]: Nothing in the home changed.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like AC wasn't on, like that wasn't on.

[SPEAKER_03]: And now it sounds perfectly fine.

[SPEAKER_03]: Why is that a thing?

[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_04]: We think we might have to order this special paint called EMF.

[SPEAKER_04]: We bought, we bought, no, we bought it.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's like $300.

[SPEAKER_04]: We did buy it.

[SPEAKER_04]: And we're thinking we're going to have to take down all of the [SPEAKER_04]: We're going to have to take down these wood panels paint the wall and then use a grounding kit, whatever the F that is Get in like round it ground it send all that frequency down to the ground and then put the boards back up, but yeah, it was we just got very lucky that it didn't happen when we had a guest.

[SPEAKER_04]: But when I tell you that we were over here for I think six and a half hours trying to record something and it was one of the most miserable frustrating days of my entire life because we were like I just want to record we don't understand what's wrong and then we figured out that it was wrong and then when we and then we recorded and it sounded terrible in our headphones, but it didn't sound nearly as bad on the actual recording it was so confusing.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, let us know, though, if you're a podcast rock, and you can help us help us out with that.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I have no idea.

[SPEAKER_03]: Super fun episode that Ross, McKay, ladies and gentlemen, please hit the subscribe button, drop us a comment.

[SPEAKER_03]: Go to 505 studios and be the 67 subscriber, and we'll see you guys all next week.

[SPEAKER_03]: Peace.