 So what's really funny is that I hired like a formulator like a dietitian nutritionist and it's funny how like the thing you think is not going to do well is actually it turns out to do the best. It's like you know like a musician writing an album like oh that song it's the last song on the album it's probably not going to be popular it becomes like their number one hit. That's what happened with Genius Juice. This is Startup to Storefront the podcast where we inspire entrepreneurship through truth. Today's guest is Alex Bayer founder of Genius Juice. Alex hasn't always been an entrepreneur but he has picked up several valuable skills along the way that have given him a leg up when he did decide to start out on his own. He honed his sales technique while selling Aflac insurance and he learned all about marketing and distribution during his time at a non-profit. So the preparation was all there when he had his Eureka moment when a friend made him his first whole coconut smoothie. He seized the opportunity and turned a simple healthy smoothie into a nationwide brand. So listen in as we cover everything from the difficulties of having to kick out a partner who was also a friend, the importance of recognizing your own limitations and hiring people who complement your strengths and why the fourth time was the charm when it came to getting on Shark Tank. Now back to the episode. All right guys, welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to Alex from Genius Juice. Thanks so much for joining. People listening, tell us a little bit about your company. Absolutely. Well first guys, thanks for having me here. This is a really, really cool studio. You gave me the grand tour of the coffee truck in the front with the open windows in the back and all the renovations you're doing. So this is awesome stuff. So thank you. Congrats on all your success here and this painting is insanely awesome back here. So I'm the founder and CEO of Genius Juice started it in 2014. I'm going to give you probably the more condensed version of the story since this is not a four hour podcast. I want to make sure I don't bore anyone that's watching this or listening to this. But essentially, you know, I was in the insurance industry for seven years. So I was selling Aflac, you know, the duck and every single morning before I would go out and knock on doors and sell insurance, I would make a smoothie. So I make like an almond milk smoothie or like a rice milk smoothie back when rice milk was popular. Sure. And I just love the concept of having a freshly blended smoothie that gave me a lot of energy and kept me going. And I'd be in the field literally all day. Were you door to door? I wasn't not for homes. I wouldn't be able to do that like a Kirby vacuum salesperson or something. But I went like to like business to business. Okay. So there it was door to door, but each door was separated by about a quarter mile. Yeah. Okay. And so I didn't like going, you know, these are like all these industrial parks, business plazas. What's an industrial areas? You know, there's fast food restaurants, you know, there's not great food out there in most places, even in LA, it's still kind of spotty. So I'm decided I'm just going to bring my own smoothies like a little blender bottle and with protein in it, with banana in it, kale in it and some almond milk. And it kept me going for several hours. And I'm like, you know what, like the human body does not have to have like a huge breakfast. We don't have to have like bacon and eggs and all the things that were all the norms we talked about that we think that we need in the morning. So I'm like smoothies are great. It kind of stuck in my mind in my seven year career. And then in 2012 I left Aflac. I did a little nonprofit stint, left Aflac and I'm like, okay, you know, what's next? So I'm like, you know what, I fell in love with this concept of smoothies, but I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do. You know, there was still wasn't that like, you know, the aha moment, like what am I going to create? So I met a friend through work before I left and then they invited me over for dinner and they're vegans. So surprise, surprise. And at that time I was, I think a vegetarian. So we had dinner, great dinner. And then for dessert, one of them asked me like, oh, have you ever had a whole coconut smoothie? I'm like, what the hell's a coconut smoothie? I've had coconut water, but I hate coconut water. Like I'm pretty much, if someone like as a kid, if someone offered me seas candies, you know, in the box, I would not have the coconut one. I'm the same way, by the way. So you're like anti-coconut. The texture of it. Yeah, like crunchiness. Yeah, I'm just not. I'm just like, why did we ruin a chocolate bar with this? Right. I'm right there with your brother. I just never liked coconut, never liked the texture. I think partly it's because most of the coconut products are highly processed. They seem that way. And they just don't really taste like authentic coconut. So when in that kitchen in 2013 now, when they shocked a coconut, scooped the meat out in the water and blended it from a fresh young coconut from the market, from the LA Produce market, I was just like, oh my God, this is a genius. Like this concept of whole coconut blended. This is what I've been looking for, like this taste, the creamy texture, which, you know, you can kind of taste the knees. We're drinking it now, people who are watching it and listening where you have all the products on the table. And so you were like, this is it. And there's other people clearly who like this too. Exactly. Like coconut water in 2013 was like still escalating. Yeah, like for the hydration value, for like a healthy replacement as a sports drink. Sure. But no one ever used the entire coconut. Like no one used the coconut meat. And to me, that's where the magic is. Like coconut water is great, but the coconut meat has the MCT is the good fats, the protein, the fiber. And I like the taste of coconut meat over just coconut water. So blending the two together and without adding any sugar, any junk, I'm like, this is amazingly simplistic in and of itself. And it's nutritious and it tastes great. So I want to come out with this. And I'm going to call it at the time, I decided to call Genius Juice, which is still the name of the company. But on the label, it says genius, right? With a little like, you know, genius guy on the front that looks like someone we may know. And so from there, that was 2013. We launched in 2014. When you say we, did these two people become your partners at the dinner? Or like that actually was the original intention. Okay. So they were, one was a vegan chef, the other one departed from his job. So I was unemployed. You know, I had like the Aflac residual income coming in, but he was unemployed. I was unemployed and his wife was a vegan chef. So we sat down at a table and we decided, let's go in a third, a third, a third. Once I started working on it, I was so like Elon Musk about it, like really intense in a good way, right? Like a nice intense, but like calling every day, let's get this going. You were actually working. You were doing it. Yeah. And the other two probably. Yeah, they were doing it, but they were not as aggressive as I was. And so they quickly said, you know what? Probably not for us. Like we wish you the best. And if you need our help with formulation or anything or questions on like nutritional stuff, happy to help. That's amazing. And in that, you guys didn't have to restructure anything. They just said, here's the equity back. Like there wasn't any, nothing was even formed yet. Okay. There's no company. This is all like at a kitchen counter where we decided one day and then a week later when we were forming all the paperwork before anything was even signed or done before even the lawyer, you know, billed me. Yeah. They're like, you know what? We're going to, we're going to pass on this just because, and it knows, there's personal reasons as well. Sure. It makes things really easy. I've been on the other way of that where there's three of us, everything's like moving quickly for a month. And then in month two, someone's like, yeah, I'm not sure if this is for me, but everything was formalized. And so everyone on the third of the company, which is another mistake, right? Because when it comes, when it comes to voting, it's like they have a third vote. And so it was like, it was very difficult. And we had to go through some arbitration to finally make it simple. Luckily, the lawyer was a friend of all of ours. And so it was like, it was easy. It was the best possible scenario for a very mucky scenario. Right. But in that it was still like, not pleasant, not fun, kicking a buddy out is never fun. But it just came down to what you're saying. It was like, here we are putting full energy into this and you're, you're kind of treating it like a side hustle and we've made the decision not to. And so you should not retain ownership for that. You know, you can still be a fan, just not an owner. Exactly. That was the hard part. But that's great that at least worked out easier for you. Yeah, it becomes the further that you go along in any partnership. And the more you're like, I guess black, a better word, like entangled, it's harder to reverse that and untangle that. So it was actually a really, to me, a good thing because there's still fans of this day still talks in this day. They're proud of where it's gone, you know, and they say, Hey, I'm glad that it's grown a lot. And there was no way they could have committed that kind of time at that time. So I found another partner. It can get a very confusing story. But be right before I started Genius Juice, I had a stint in a natural food company to learn the business. So I was like, bring in product. Very intentional, like, I may have stayed there if the opportunity was good enough. But I decided like, do I want to build someone else's dream or my own dream? How long were you there? For four months. Okay. Yeah. And I just, I was getting not paid a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and then I was quickly learning. And I was like becoming the director of like all their marketing and sales and like boosting sales online. And I'm like, if I'm doing all this work, and like working 15 hours a day and driving into their office, I might as well just form my own company. So that was like kind of around that time that I'm going out of order. That was before I approached my friends about Genius Juice and found and this idea dawned on me. So was it that linear for you? Or did you spend a lot of like time mentally thinking about the jump? Or were you convinced? Like after all the time at Aflac and even like, was it easy? Because I know some people like for me, this moment, super linear is like, obviously I'm going to quit. Right. But I think a lot of entrepreneurs spend a lot of time in the what if stage and they spend so much time realizing things like the fears will never come true. But for you, it sounds like it was pretty straightforward. Yeah, it was, you know, a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck. They call like paralysis by analysis. Yeah. I was just, you know, I was in a fortunate place where I had some, you know, a little bit of a nest egg from seven years at Aflac. I had residual income coming in. I had savings, which a lot of it, you know, went into Genius. However, it wasn't about the financial situation. It was really about just being hungry for it. And I treat it like a game. You know what I mean? Like it's hard to explain, but it's like, this is fun. And I want to get started sooner because the sooner I can start, the sooner that I can build this up and make this successful. So that was my ethos, you know, in creating Genius. And also like, I really didn't want anyone else to, to pawn or poach the idea. All these brands that are out from the Ziko's, you know, Vita Coco, Harmless Harvest, ONE, all these different coconut water brands. I'm sure they've thought about it and they just haven't executed on it. And if they found out that I was doing it, if I move slow, they could then take the idea and move a lot faster. So by being very aggressive and getting into a lot of like retailers nationally, we got a really great head start on this product. What was the first product, the first iteration of it? So what's really funny is that I hired like a formulator, like a dietitian nutritionist. And it's funny how like, the thing you think is not going to do well is actually, it turns out to do the best. It's like, you know, like a musician writing an album, like, Oh, that song, it's the last song on the album. It's probably not going to be popular. It becomes like their number one hit. That's what happened with Genius Juice. So we formulated our original goal because I was really in the superfoods still am to this day, the previous company I was at that food company did superfoods. So that's how I got influenced by that like Maka and all these different ingredients. I wanted to create a smoothie that had like superfoods in it. And so it was called Genius Juice, organic superfoods, smoothies. And we had all these like chia seeds and Maka and all this stuff, different flavors, you know, we had like a kale flavor, which I never even had. It was not good. We had a cow flavor, we had a carrot flavor, we had a berry flavor. And when we were sitting there in like the kitchen formulating, we, you know, me and the formulator, we looked at ourselves, looked at each other, we're like, maybe we should just do one with just coconut, you know, and not try to add too many different superfoods, because every smoothie had coconut water and coconut meat in it as the base, you know, what the original is, which is delicious, by the way, which is, yeah, thank you. And so we're like, okay, let's maybe just as kind of a flyer, let's do one, let's call it the original, you know, it's state that's the same name it was even back in 2014, seven years ago, you know, I don't know if people are going to like hardcore straight up coconut, because the meat makes it really like strong coconut, a stronger experience than let's say coconut water, but let's just give it a try. 80% of our sales when we launched. So we launched seven flavors. This was 80% of our sales to the point where stores were calling us saying just send the original. Yeah, like forget the kale and all the other ones. So if there's a, I know we talked about business school earlier, I'm kind of dismissive around it. This is the one thing I learned business school that has stuck with me actually, where it's like, it's always you and a friend, you and Ronnie, you and your co-founder, you'll make your product and you'll believe you'll know what the market will want. And you will be wrong every single time. And so they always say like make a bunch of stuff to your point, try something that you might have not tried, keep it simple, complicated, but then bring it to market and let the market tell you, and you'll never guess, you'll never be right about that. And that's the only thing that has stuck with me in business school. And I think for entrepreneurs, it's the most important thing. It's just the ultimate teaching of get out of your own head and stop thinking you know the market. Exactly. They'll tell you. Exactly. But you have to be willing to listen. Exactly. And I think to touch on your point too, just getting it out there. Because like again, over analyzing what the market wants and even doing like Steve Jobs, right, like focus groups, like, you know, it's just getting it out there and learning from the consumer and what they want. And like you said, like, they will tell you. And so I was under the philosophy and ethos of let's just get it out there. We're probably going to fail with some of these skews and flavors, but maybe one or two will stick and then go really deep on those flavors. So we ended up cutting almost all the flavors, except the original. And then we came out with a coconut water. Coconut water did reasonably good, but it was very hard to get into mass market because it's so locked up with all the big brands and they're paying tons of money for that shelf space. So we're just like, you know, let's go with what we're what makes us special, which is the whole coconut, the water, the meat. And we just we rode that for three years. We only had one flavor. How did you guys market it? And so in your sense, like, I was a San Francisco tech guy at one point. And so I would, I'd be like, Oh, this is biohacking, right? This is like literally we're going to put foods in our body that help us perform. So not fast food, which is going to cause me to nap, but something that's going to like help me lead my team, lead my company. And I'm not going to get tired. When you guys went to market, was there already like an established education of the market around coconut products? So it made it easier or did you have to like, how did you market it at the beginning? Well, the good news is that no one else was doing the whole coconut. That's the hard part too. So that was also the bad news. Yeah. Because people were not educated specifically on like coconut smoothies. Like a lot of people didn't know what a smoothie meant with coconut. It was a little bit ambiguous and kind of esoteric. And then also people would think that it's coconut water when they see the word coconut. So we would lose consumers that just never like coconut water when our product is so much more than that, which I'll go into later. It's another whole topic, which is the rebranding we did about a month ago with everything you see on the table here, where we're focusing more on the plant-based functional smoothie category and less just about coconut. But going back to your question, it was tough. And really where the rubber met the road was sampling. Because when someone drinks this product, you realize like, Oh my God, like this is not coconut water. This is tasty. This makes me it gives me energy, makes me feel good. So tastings like at Whole Foods, that was one of our first like national partners we launched in Southern California. Actually, one of our first stores was the West Hollywood one. Fair fact, two blocks away. Yeah. I remember going in there and like selling it in by hand and like bring it in the first boxes and putting it on the shelf and all that before our distributor took over and started doing it for us. So education was really, really key. Sampling was really key. And just, you know, coming out with flavors, I think eventually was really, really important to not just be boxed in as just like, Oh, it's better than coconut water. Because we want to get more than just the coconut water fan. We want to get anyone that wants a plant-based healthy organic smoothie. They want to feel great, no added sugars, clean ingredients, and really filling and functional as well. So that's really the place that we've gone to now with our branding. How much was it when you guys first launched? It was, I know the very first story launched and was Air One, which is LA. Like, you know, got to, you got to love Air One. Like they're the first you want to go into and they're, and you got the Kardashians going there and you want to get it. So it was actually not easy to get in. We had to do a few meetings. But then Vicki, our buyer, she's like, once she sat down with us and we got FaceTime, she's like, I love this. My daughter loves it. Let's bring it in. It was originally at $9.99 per unit. And it was a 16 ounce bottle. We had two sizes. We had 16 and eight. The one that we're drinking right now is 10 ounces. Correct. So we kind of settled. We went from 16 and eight. Then we went to just 12. And then about two years ago, we went to 10. Because it's very filling. Yeah. Super filling. So some people can't, surprisingly, they can't finish a 12 or 16. When you launched, so 2014, we're talking about Twitter, Facebook, was social media a big part of your strategy in terms of educating and creating like a brand or less so? Less so. Yeah. I mean, a lot of like brands now, like call like, you know, like maybe like the dirty lemons of the world and these edgy brands, they really rely on social media and D to C or, you know, a direct to consumer. Yeah. It's almost where they start. They'll start there. Yeah. Like what's the other one that's at 7-Eleven Soylent? Yeah. So the protein drink. Yeah. Like they went completely online and then they shifted to retail. We went the traditional route because that's what I knew. Got it. You know, if I don't know something and I'm unfamiliar with it, you know, it's going to take time for me to learn it and get the right team. And I don't want to blow a bunch of money doing the wrong things. What I knew and what was easier for us was to pick up the phone and call a buyer and say, we'd love to meet with you. Here's our product, get a meeting and have it go to the store shelf. And that was the first way to bring exposure to the brand. But now, you know, with the pandemic, things have shifted, you know, right? We're still retail. We're still going to be majority retail, but there's been a lot of efficiencies done to make it easier to ship perishable product because this is perishable. It's like fresh product. Can you explain that a little bit? Like what changed to ship it? What made it easier? What are the efficiencies? Well, with our scale, we were able to lock in with a partner that does perishable shipping. So I think my opinion, my humble opinion and being an entrepreneur in food and beverage, if you're not great at it, let someone else do it. Whatever you're great at, you know, you handle. It's not easy for everyone to jump to that point, though. Some people, it takes a while, like myself included. Nick, it takes a while for Nick. It takes a while for you to accept that because we've talked about this on the podcast before. It's like you will always be like the best employee or the best one thing. But for me, if I don't know it, I want to know it. And oftentimes, like you said, that takes a lot of time and effort to get to that point where it often is easier just to hire someone else who already knows it and can compliment what you are already doing. It's also cultural. Like I had a Chinese co-founder one time and he wanted to know sales and marketing and even coding. And he would accept that he couldn't code because we had some amazing coders. But he wouldn't accept that he wasn't good at anything else, like the sales and the marketing. And so after messing up our team various times, I was like, why is it that you think you should know the skill and why do you differentiate it from coding? And he's like, well, coding is very different. It's a different sport. And I was like, that's how you view it. And I'm like, but why is it that you can't let go of these two things? And what he explained to me was in the Chinese culture, you saying that you can't get good at something means you're lazy. There's a truth to that. Yeah. And when he said it to me, it was like light bulbs went off. I was like, it's not just, it's obviously in the Chinese culture, but it's this control mechanism I think we all have. It's like a limiting or limiting yourself from where you can be much more. Yeah. Yeah. And we talked to Eric on the podcast, Eric Jorgensen, who wrote a book based on like Naval's teachings and Naval, he talks about levers, everything's like levers. And so an employee or people in general are levers, right? And like social media today is a lever. And so it's like, when you try to do things yourself, you're your only lever. But when you hive and like someone focused on this, on this, on this, all of a sudden you're creating levers. And I think that's a unique way of putting it too, or it's not so much like relinquish control, but it's more of like people and social media will help you grow your retail. These are all levers that are available to us if we just recognize them as levers and just try to maximize that. Exactly. I mean, so many great points you hit on, but it really takes a village to build a brand. I mean, if you think about it, even where I'm sitting right now, we have trucks going out all over the country. I have like operations people, I have marketing people, social media managers, there's like several things that are happening, like in every single minute of the business, and it's getting the right people in place that know what they're doing, but also people that I love to work with, people that are great to work with. It's a family. It's a family. And like there's a culture to it where we all, we're all going to grow together. And I think the central culture should be take care of each other and also take care of the business. Because if the business can grow, that's going to unlock or open a lot of doors for all of us. I'm going to be able to pay everyone more. Totally. You know, we're also forming an options pool, right? I'm a big believer in getting equity and options to employees, because if they are responsible for the growth of the company, they should be rewarded for that beyond just a paycheck. We're like in three years, if the company sells for $300 million, they get a couple million dollar check in the mail. And then it's like, they may not want to retire, but that's a nice check. You know, and they should be credited for all the work that they've done. I think there's like, you know, like GT Dave was like, you know, friend of mine and I love him. Like he calls it like there's kind of a corporate cancer like culture where it's just using people and then letting them go, you know, and I just, I hate that. I do not like that where it's like working with people. They complete a task unless they're a contractor or something. But if they're a team member like employee or someone that you're planning to convert to become an employee, you got to think of the longterm with them. And when I have planning calls with my team, people I know that will be with us longterm, I really map out, okay, we're here now, but where do you want to be? What do you want your compensation to be? What goals do you want to achieve with genius juice? Where do you want the company to go? And that's where the conversation opens up. Well, if you feel that you can add this value and it could be a long term, maybe there could be an option. There's nothing more powerful than a motivated team member. If they're motivated and they don't feel like they're going to get fired at any time or something like that, they're going to be highly protective and motivated to grow the company. So it takes a village. I do agree though, like I have my hands in it on a weekly basis. So it's about being really efficient with your time. So like social media, do I want to be on? Do I want to like take pictures and selfies and post on Instagram? You know, absolutely. No, I was just kidding. It's LA, right? We got him. There's also so many, like we have a social media person for our podcast and she's like amazing. And if I were to even begin to try to learn what she knows, it would be so silly. That's what I look for when we hire people is I want to feel like an amateur when I've seen them do what they do. They tell you what to do. Yeah. And then I'm like, yeah, you're absolutely in. I could never replicate that. Exactly. Hang on. Hang on. If you're not subscribed, can you go ahead and do that right now before we get on with the video? Helps us out tremendously. That's all we ask. And we're back. At what point for your company, obviously you're on Shartank, we have to cover it. At what point were you like, this could be a good idea for us? You know, I applied four times. Yeah. Oh, wow. So I did a lot of, I pretty early on or did you wait? Yeah, first year in business, I applied, or we was me. I had a previous co-founder, Keith, who's no longer with the company. So I met him at that food company that I worked at. So he left two years in, but we applied in LA. We applied in Salt Lake City. We applied in San Francisco. And then I'm like, man, I've done three and I've been rejected all three times. And then in 2019, they were doing an audition at the casino. I think Pichanga. Okay. So, you know, they have these like open ballrooms where they do like all the auditions and then there's like a line, kind of like American Idol-ish. And so I'm like, okay, fourth time, not third time, fourth time's a charm for the audition. And on top of that, I used to, you know, on the side play poker, you know, Texas hold them. So I'm like, and it's at a casino. It's perfect. You know, I'll feel comfortable there. So like 10 years ago, I used to play poker or like at night after working at insurance, just to get my mind off of insurance. That makes sense. Yeah. So for this audition, was it essentially like you had to give the full pitch that you would give on the show in this room? I'm guessing the sharks were not there. It was probably some producers or whoever. It was like not even a producer. It was like people that are just hired to do auditions, to handle the auditions. Like casting. Casting producers of sorts. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. For, it's funny. I don't know any of the entertainment terms and I've lived in LA my entire life. Yeah. I used to work in casting for other reality shows. So there was a lot of crossover with Shark Tank. But yeah, I know that world fairly intimately. So like you had to do that, that full pitch presentation then for them. Yeah. It was like a five minute pitch. The first three times I was very like, like nervous. And it's always good just like be yourself. You know, I mean, I know it sounds totally cliched, but like just don't try to impress someone. Don't try to like speak a certain way or like puff your chest up. Yeah. Just freaking be yourself, man. And so like I went in there and I'm like, I'm going to do an Einstein accent. And I actually went on. It's actually not easy to find clips of him talking. I can't like it's mostly him like riding a bike or so I found clips of him talking. You know, he's like, hello, it's pure genius. You know, and so I did that in the audition. I said, I cannot remember what to say right now. Wait a minute. Let me drink my genius. And I drink it. Ah, now I know what to say. And I did so well that the casting agent actually thought I forgot my lines. It was part of my pitch. I can't remember what I'm saying. Let me drink genius juice. She actually thought I forgot what I was going to say. That's so good. That made it well better. So it was hilarious. Yeah. And I got a callback and then the taping was in 2019 and from there we aired in 2020. So one of the things that we've interviewed a couple of people who've been on Shark Tank and one of the things that we heard is that they will always devalue your company by half. So whatever you go in there asking for, they will always cut it in half. They'll always try to get double. Yeah. Half is actually like generous. On average, that's like the rule of thumb. They sure as hell might go more. But did you do any research before going into the actual tank to figure out like, okay, here's what I think I should ask for and here's what they might come back in me with. Like what was your strategy going in to face them? I listened to a lot of episodes or I watched a lot of episodes, I should say. And I was like seeing really how the deals formed during the airings and what they came in for, what they left with, what was rejected, what was seen as reasonable by the sharks, what was not seen as reasonable. So I wanted to go in out the gate and really talk about her sales. There's usually two reasons that I see why people crash and burn on Shark Tank. Number one, you come in with a ridiculous valuation or number two, or I would say three. Number two, they don't like the product, which I don't think we're going to have that problem. And I was right. They love the product. And you had the traction. And we also had the traction. That was the third point. Right. Right. Is the sales. You know, if you're like huge valuation, you do this great pitch, it looks really good. You touch it, you smell it. This looks really good. And then like I have 10,000 in sales in the last two years. It's like, it just, the sharks cannot get past that. And it's human nature. You know when someone, like if you're in a conversation and someone says something that's like off-putting, that's all you think about for the rest of the conversation, that's how Shark Tank works. Well, because they're wondering why. Like now it's like, what am I missing? It's like, it's like someone's pitching their company to you and they're like, and once I get this money, I'm going to quit my job and go full-time. Right. And I'm like, what did you just say? Why are you not full-time already? You have a job and then they're like, yeah, but once you give me your money, I'm going to go full-time into this product. And I'm like, are you listening to yourself? Like that sounds absurd. It's like a showstopper. Right. You just hear like, it just doesn't give the sharks confidence that they want to put the money into your business because they want the way that they are. Like if you, if you read their stories, like, you know, Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary or Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban was like sleeping on people's couches in college and even after with no money, completely broke. That's why whenever someone's tearing up with a story of struggle, Mark Cuban's like, I've been there. It resonates with him. You can always see it. Yeah. So like showing commitment, showing traction and a great product are three main things. And luckily, like they love the product. They didn't like the turmeric one, which was, it got discontinued about a year ago. I remember Mark saying like, oh, it tastes like turmeric soup. And I'm like, in my head, I'm like, I hope that doesn't get aired. And luckily it didn't get aired, but they love the original. Rohan was drinking. Actually Rohan liked the original because he did. Did you want a certain shark first? Like, like, because obviously you probably did, right? You're probably like, I'd love to do a deal with. Mark Cuban was, he was on your shortlist. Because he invested in like mush, you know, one of my friends' companies. So that worked out for you then. Vegetarian, you know, and he's just a cool guy, you know, like he's energetic and like fun. So when we got the deal on the air, we came in at 250 for 7%. That was my, my offer. And then Barbara's like 250 for 15%. Then I had negotiated 250 for 11%. Mark Cuban was already out. Mark Cuban whispered to Barbara, it's like, how about we both come in, I'll come back in with you, Barbara, and we'll do 250 for 25%, I believe. 500. Yeah, 500 for 25%. And I'm like, that's 12.5% per shark. I was asking for 11% per shark or for a shark. I'll take the deal. And that was it. Eventually the deal did fall through. I'm very open about that. A lot of shark tank brands are not like, I'm just really open about it because it's the reality. Yeah, we've heard that, you know, you can leave the tank and then the deal falls through and whatever formulation process you have afterwards. I mean, what was that like for you? Was it frustrating? At the time, we could have used the money. Like we were, we were doing, I think 300,000 annually in sales or 400,000. I think we're on track to do about 700 that year. So $500,000 is a lot of money. But it's just, you know, the way they structure it is they have so many different deals. There's not a lot of will go room or negotiation. So either you go with it or you don't. And we decided, you know, it was mutual, you know, like they say they're like, it's not going to work. We're like, well, it's not going to work. And then we both walked away. I think though that the best result happened, which is number one, Mark Cuban still orders the product, which is cool. He's a fan. Still goes to his house. You know, he lives in Dallas. So he has a, you know, everyone knows you can Google his address. And then he also, he went to LA for an event. He got it delivered to his hotel. That's really funny. Like I could have gone over there and be like, Hey, what's up, but I didn't do that. Have you ever thought about reaching back out saying, Hey, look, listen, you did, I did. I emailed him. I read an article that he answers, you know, he's selective, but he checks all of his emails, which is exhausting. It takes him like two to three hours a day, but he goes through every email and I emailed him. And I think within a minute he responded. I said, like, Hey, Mark, just letting you know, we're, you know, this is like maybe half a year ago, doing great. Thank you again for ordering the product, for saying great things on the show about genius juice and being a fan and supporting us. And he's like, that's great. All right, take care, like five words, but it was cool that he responded. I think we got the benefit of being aired. So not getting the deal, but airing. And I wanted to make sure that it was entertaining as well. So, you know, we came out, for those that have not seen the episode, I think you guys have seen it, that we came out with the wigs. Yeah. So good. So good. And we did a coconut smoothie song. I have years of karaoke experience. I've done. This is the first. I'm very proud of that, reviewing on the show. Yeah. The karaoke genius. Yeah. Actually, KGB karaoke genius bear, my last name. There you go. A softer KGB. Yeah, much softer. Yeah. I can't imagine too many other KGB guys singing karaoke. No, they're in the back room. They're the ones watching. To go on the tangent, we, I was looking, I got emailed the pitch deck and I met with a founder and I was talking to them and they were on Shark Tank, but it hasn't aired yet. And it was the first time I had seen this being positioned for fundraising. I was like, do you know when it's going to air? We don't know. You don't know until a few weeks before. Right. And I was like, this is so fascinating. It's like such a crap shoot. I was like, this is like gambling. I was like, it's probably going to go well if it does air. That's the good news. So I'm just trying to analyze the deal as just the product without this Shark Tank thing, but it's like something I can't avoid. It's like in the back of my head, like, oh, well, maybe this is a good deal. Because once it does air, obviously, it does these things go pretty well. Takes off as long as the sharks actually liked it. Or that, right? As long as they don't get embarrassed in the room. It could like totally backfire. Yeah. You also have to get a little lucky with, I guess, lucky is the wrong word, but there's a way that for anyone who is going to be on Shark, I know that the auditions are actually coming up. I think, because right now we're taping this or recording this in May. And so June, July is when the auditions start. So having something entertaining, having something that's from the heart, I think is really, really crucial. One of my friends was on not to go too long about this, but my friend was on the show with Pan's Mushroom Jerky. And he's been public about this so I can talk about it. But he did more in sales within 24 hours than I think any brand I've ever heard of, at least for food or beverage. It's like a mushroom jerky, like, but he was very emotional on the show. He actually cried at the end, which is all truth. Like I know him personally. You know, he was struggling, no money in the bank. And to get this big break, it's very emotional. Like it all comes to a head within like, you know, one hour when you're there at the Shark Tank studio. So yeah. So he went through all these struggles. He succeeded. He got a deal with Mark Cuban, which did go through. And he did almost a million in online sales, I think within one week. But we did like 300,000, which is still nothing to scoff at, but a million. And he was backed up because he has his own facility. He was backed up for probably about three to four months. And as soon as he got his head above water, like he was, we were texting back and forth. He's like, I actually ordered during the Shark Tank, because I wanted to see how long it took. It took a couple months to get one pack. So I knew, but the people are so loyal that not many people canceled. They wanted to taste it. Sure. Right. It wasn't available everywhere. And I wonder if they understood too, because like that, when I hear like, oh, I did a million in sales after Shark Tank, it's like, great, if you're not expecting that, if your production facility isn't geared towards that, it's going to take you a while to fulfill all of those orders. The growing pains are insane. He was posting videos from his facility like, oh, you know, we're, we're working on it now. And he has like his hair net on and like, he's like, breaking down walls and like hiring new people. So he finally caught up on all of his orders. But then they got, where are they now re-airing? And that's within four months. I mean, that's, he aired in November. And where are they now in like, it was in February. Okay. Like usually it's a year or two or more. To give them time to actually. But he exploded so quickly. They're like, where are they now? Three months later, and he's like, getting his head above water, they got dunked again. Even more sales came in. So it's a great, it's a great platform. But anyone who's applying, you know, recommend just be heartfelt, be you, and be passionate, and you'll get through. Commit to being yourself. Yeah. Let's talk about your rebrand. So you recently rebranded. Yep. Like I was mentioning before, I think the key thing we wanted to go after was casting a wider net like in stores and retail and also online, getting to consumers that really love plant-based. Because plant-based is growing 30, 40% or more year over year. People want to be healthier. They don't want to have dairy. So with this rebrand, we didn't want to be pigeonholed as a coconut drink. It could be polarizing. You can love coconut. You can hate coconut. Original, this one's pure coconut. You gotta, you gotta like coconut. But even then, people that hate coconut water actually like this, which is ironic. But we have other flavors where they're creamy, they're filling, simple ingredients, organic, no gums, no natural flavors, no junk, no cane sugar, they're great products, and you do not have to like coconut. But it's powered by coconut. It has the meat and the water. So it gives you like the hydration. It gives you the protein and fiber. It gives you everything you need and a smoothie. And so on the side of the label, we even say, you know, it's the perfect snack. You know? And then even down here, we say no dumb stuff. Yeah. To play on a play on the brand. I love how everything is in line with genius. Plant-based brilliance. Yeah. Right. So we wanted to tie everything in neatly on the package and also send a message and really tell people, here's how we're different. And guess what? You don't really have to like coconut to drink our product. So now we're already seeing an increase in sales about maybe 15, 20% just happened a couple months ago. Because people that normally do not like coconut are seeing this and going, maybe I'll try it because I like smoothies. I like plant-based. You've marketed this really well. I'll sort of tell you why. So recently, I've been getting a lot of pitch decks around Lines Main, Makarut, around activated creamers. And I'm like, this is really interesting and everyone's going after like the powder market. The problem I have is as I'm looking at this and I'm an investor in a company that just released a product like this. And so not like yours, but like an activated creamer. So as I'm looking at this, I'm like, okay, clearly the market is growing in an interesting way, but I know nothing about it. And it for sure doesn't seem approachable. As I look at your drink, which actually contains Lines Main and Makarut, like the first thing you see is genius smoothie protein. And so there's this instant thing of like, oh, it's just a smoothie, but it's a protein smoothie. There's really no mention around the benefits of Lines Main until you start reading it, right? And in that, you've made it so much more approachable than everything I see on the market today, which is basically like Lines Main, you need it, here's why. Which forces me, the consumer to do calculus, which I can do. But I don't want to do that when I'm buying a product. Nobody does. I don't know if that's intentional, probably, but it's really well done and kudos to you. And I think that's why it's growing, but you've also, you know, Lines Main should thank you, Makarut should thank you because you've made these things really approachable. Exactly. That was really our goal, where we wanted to really make it approachable because this is an exclusive launch, the chocolate and vanilla proteins that are on the table here. They just came out a month and a half ago, exclusively at Sprouts. We wanted to make this a mini, we didn't want to go everywhere with it. We wanted to start with a retailer that there's health conscious, progressive consumers. And Sprouts has a huge supplement section. And they have like, you know, the Lines, they have all that. So I knew like, these are consumers that it would resonate with. However, we wanted to lead with what's most friendly, with what people know, people know protein, people know smoothies. But then when you actually engage and you buy the product or put the product in your hand and look at it, you're like, oh, and here are the benefits to it. So we want to get people like, roped in to actually looking at the product and getting their attention with very mainstream, simple things that everyone can understand. But then as you drink it, you're like, oh, there's added benefits now. I mean, it's weird. This has been my favorite, the original forever. And it probably still is. But I find myself drinking the vanilla and the chocolate protein more. And in Sprouts, and even in the first month, the proteins are outselling the original. And it's at the same price. They're all, they're all line priced. So there's no price difference. What's the price of it now? Is it the same? There was a pricing error, which I won't even get into how that happened, but it happens in this industry. So it's at $649 right now at Sprouts, at retail, and it's still selling extremely well. But eventually we're going to adjust it and correct it. And it's going to be at around like $499. So but even at, we learned that even at $649. Yeah, that's a great signal. People are still buying this. People are posting Instagram where they're taking it off the shelf. They're tagging us. And it's funny, even I was on the road somewhere and I was just like, man, I'm malnourished. I'm tired. There was a Sprouts. I went in and bought my own product. I went in and bought my own product. That's amazing. For $649. Now I did have a dollar off coupon on me, so I got it for $549. But you know, even if the founder's going in and loves the product, that's a good sign that you got a damn good product on your hand. So we're very proud of this. It's also really, really tasty. It tastes like kind of decadent, like creamy. It's hard to get a protein drink right. It can be very bitter. So I think we got it close to right. You know, this is one of our first runs on it. And it's decadent, creamy, and also very nutritious. And that's a nice fusion to have. Do you guys ship it to people too? Like you can order it for someone's home. I can order it for my home. Yep, so we have a new website which is launching in early June. We're going to do a SMS text subscription model. So kind of following, you know, like the soylents of the world and the dirty lemons of the world where you can text. You don't have to ever log in on a computer. You can do everything. You can text a number. I want to order. Here's my credit card. It will send you before you get a new order sent out. It will text you. Hey, we have a Genius Order that's on the way. Press 1 to accept. Press 2 to modify order. Press 3 to delay order. I mean, how cool is that? So it's through recharge on Shopify. So you can order on GeniusJuice.com, Amazon. The protein will launch online and about like in June for those that are listening in June. How does it come? Does it come refrigerated like in a cold store? Okay, cold pack. Yeah, and that's going back to the earlier question. That's the hard part, yeah. Like, you know, packing it correctly, making sure it gets there. Cold is really important. We don't want it arriving like spoiled and that person having a bad experience. So we've partnered with one of the most premiere perishable shipping services in the country. They do millions of shipments per year and they've actually tested it out three days. So even if it gets delayed by a day, the way that the ice packs are in there, the way it's built, the way that the insulation is in there, and we don't use Styrofoam. So it's all eco-centric. So we use corn starch insulation. So yeah, you can order online and because of them, they've made it economical to get it to people without like losing our shirts basically. Like we're still making a profit. I love the story. Tell everyone where they can find you and support outside of Sprouts and Whole Foods, Erwan. Geniusjuice.com. Geniusjuice.com. Yeah, Amazon. We're also for the Bay Area people, we're on a... Molly Stones. Molly Stones were there. Okay. We're in Whole Foods up there. But there's like an online one. Good Eggs. Good Eggs, okay. So there's Good Eggs. There's also Fresh Direct in New York. There's all these online regional players popping up where you can order in. It goes direct to your door, which is pretty cool. And then also Costco. You know, we're in Costco LA. Big retailer. Costco Hawaii. You may have heard of them. Yeah. They're all like little street corner with the size of a football field. And we're in Costco, Texas. And we are launching in Costco East Coast, North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast in about two weeks. Real quick, just because I know this could be a conversation to itself, did you have to alter your product for Costco? Because I know they typically sell bigger sizes or maybe like bigger container units. Did you have to do anything to get into Costco? Yeah, we had to. I mean, it took years to get in. Their bar is really high. They got to see market traction. And they have to see that the product is safe and formulated in the right way and consistent. So the first couple of years, we tried to pitch Costco, but they got different samples. And one was thicker than the other. And that caused a concern. Yeah. Because it was, we were batching. Consistency. Yeah. Once we got a bigger, you know, co-manufacturing facility. Right. We got full consistency on it. So once we got, once we pitched them, there were two ideas. One was a multi-serve, you know, of the original where people could use it as a creamer. They could use it as a cereal, like dairy alternative, or as a base for a smoothie. Right. This could be a totally a base for a smoothie. Yeah. 100% The water and the meat. But ultimately, I think we wanted to get just the brand out. And people know the single serve. They don't know the multi-serve. So we did a four pack. And the four packs, $11.99, which comes out to $3 a bottle. Costco, $11.99, Texas, LA, Hawaii, and East Coast. So, and look at our store locator online to figure out where we're at. Well, Alex, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks guys for having me and inviting me. And wish you guys a lot of success. I'm sure you guys are going to continue just to scale and grow and blow up. So great stuff. Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it.