 So far in your company's history, what's been the best day? What's been the worst? The day we aired on Shark Tank and then had the double whammy of Kim Kardashian was watching that Shark Tank episode and then tweeted about us three times. Sarah Pajah, you co-founder and CEO of Blue Land. Are you ready to answer some questions? Let's do it. How'd you come up with the name? I wanted something short and simple. I wanted something bold, easy to pronounce, easy to spell. I wanted to own the URL. Did you come up with it? Did an agency, how to come about? I came up with it. And what does it mean? We really wanted something that also gave a nod to the mission without being cheesy. So we love the juxtaposition of blue, which represents our oceans and land, which is kind of what we connote with our home or where we live. Do you feel you could have still done everything with his business with another name? Absolutely, absolutely. But I do love our name. Who did the branding and what was the brief? The original branding was done by Theresa Zass and Megan Eplet. They were the former creative director and art director at Rockets of Awesome. And the brief was revolutionary. It was innovation-driven, science-driven, with a focus on a clean, bright future. What brands were on your mood board? 80s, 90s, Kohler. They position their products as pieces of art. And so that's very inspiring when we really view our products as the last clean products that you'll ever have to buy. 80s, 90s, IKEA as well. They had a very clear and structured point of view, but they also tried to infuse just a ton of fun into it. And so I think that tension really led to a really interesting place. Your brand is unique in that you only buy the physical container once. How long did it take you to design the perfect forever bottle? Almost a year to design the forever bottle. And obviously it was a lot of pressure for us and it was just a critically important piece of the brand because our hope is really that you are buying the last set of cleaning products that you will ever buy. How many different iterations do you think you had? So you went, hmm, she perfect. We definitely had at least over 100 iterations. Aside from Blue Land, what's the best small act of sustainability people can make in their everyday lives? Water bottles, coffee mugs, and plastic bags. Were you always eco-conscious? I really began my journey of becoming a more eco-conscious consumer when I became a new mom. That's when I started to realize that there were all these plastics or micro plastics in our water and our food. And that's when I started to draw the connections between all the single use plastic that we're using as consumers and how it's ending up in our waterways and our oceans. You strike me as someone who can get excited by any business so long as it met your criteria. Am I right? It's true. With Blue Land, this was actually the fifth business that I've had, the opportunity to bring to market. And once I became a mom, I developed a really deep seated desire to do something more personally meaningful. I was going to spend this much time away from my family. There just had to be more in it for me than just putting a new brand or a product out into the world. You posted on Instagram saying, we're not a sustainable company. We're a responsible one. What's the difference? It's being very clear eyed about ultimately we are putting new things into the world and we really do encourage even our customers and community to really think about, instead of just purchasing better, really start with like, do I need to be purchasing this thing at all? There's a lot of greenwashing out there. How can consumers tell if a brand is being performative or authentic? I do think that you can rely on certifications. Look for certifications to really be that stamp of approval that companies are doing. What they say they're doing to sort of a good standard. You attended Harvard undergrad and Harvard grad school, which one was harder? Undergrad for sure. A lot of really academic analytical entrepreneurs I met credit their aha moment to reading research in some sector, discovering a crazy stat before other people and then wisely focusing on that territory immediately. Is that the Genesis of Blue Land? It was the Genesis of Blue Land to the extent that it was an aha moment for me when I landed on I wanna start a company with a mission to eliminate single use plastic packaging. At that point I was very open. It was never about cleaning products. So we landed on cleaning products ultimately because it was a low interest category. People did not really care about what brand their cleaning products were or what brand their hand soaps were versus toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant. Consumers had a much harder time switching from what was tried and true for them. All right, we got our flow code flow card. So this season, flow code is sponsoring I'm with the brand. They are a revolutionary new QR technology that makes gorgeous QR codes with rich information that allows you directly to connect to your consumers. Right now on screen, there is a beautiful customized flow code for Blue Land. People will take their phones out and it will take them to their own flow page that they will design for you. It's a robust kind of micro site. What would you love flow code to put on your flow page? I would love to show everyone how our products work. I would love to do a little fill drop, clean and show our little tablet, tablet effervescing. It seems to me that you had or have the first mover advantage in the reusable cleaning products category, but now I see a ton of cool brands in the space. How do you keep your edge? The innovation and the science. We are absolutely an innovation-driven science-led business. All of our formulating, all of our R&D happens in-house. So we own all of our formulas. We have over 40 patents pending and growing. Sarah Blakeley always talks about patents as more of a marketing tool than anything else. She never actually pursued people who've tried it, but she knew it was a deterrent to say patents. Is it similar here? Because the tablet, like the tablet hand soap, that is a form factor that the world has never seen before. We really can own the method of use with a product like that, so we really can own that tablet form factor. I remember when kids started eating tide pods as an internet trend. I never really had a taste for tide pods, but your beautiful photography makes your cleaning tablet kind of look like candy. Have you ever had a problem with this? I'd be lying if we said we didn't have a problem with folks reaching out and saying, they're dogs eating the tablet, what should we do? The good news is our safety data sheets also show you just have to drink a lot of water. I think to be on the safe side, you should contact your physician, but you will be okay. There are so many products out there. Despite your efforts towards sustainability, do you ever feel like creating yet another product might be inherently wasteful? We have that discussion all the time around sort of every new product we consider we have that exact conversation. And I think what makes me feel so good about being in these sets of categories is ultimately everyone washes their hands, everyone washes their dishes. We truly are operating in a category where people need to buy these products and replenish these products on a regular basis. Influencer boxes, wasteful or helpful? Helpful, but we try not to be wasteful so we try to reach out first and ask if they would like to receive our products versus just blindly sending out a bunch of stuff to people who may not want it. I've heard about you for years, but I've never been targeted with any advertising on any platforms. What's your paid media strategy? I'm a little disappointed to hear that you haven't received an ad because I would assume that you're right in our demographic. But overall, we focus heavily on word of mouth and I know that is not something that a lot of traditional VC-backed DTC brands do, but very proud to say that most of our customers acquired to date still have heard about us first through word of mouth. How'd you get Kevin O'Leary to describe a toilet? Kevin has been an incredible supporter, met him first on Shark Tank, which is where he invested and now that he has skin in the game, he has to do some work for us. Can you describe in detail who you're targeting? I don't think I could say it, where I could describe in detail because ultimately we do believe that we have a product that has mass appeal and I think the efficacy and the price point is the main reason why. What's the best part of the job? The opportunity to create something from nothing. What's the biggest challenge you've had to date? Letting go, let others people take the rain, not having everything exactly the way that I would have ideally wanted. What's the next milestone you're working towards? Channel expansion, entering into physical retail. So far in your company's history, what's been the best day, what's been the worst? The day we aired on Shark Tank and then had the double whammy of Kim Kardashian was watching that Shark Tank episode and then tweeted about us three times. What's your kryptonite? Relentless optimism. What's been your biggest investment to date? Our product, R&D and the IP protections around it. What's been harder than you anticipated? Making cleaning products into tablets. Who do you want to steal market share from? Tied Lysol and Windex. What keeps you up at night and what time do you wake up in the morning? My five month old keeps me up at night and because of him I wake up at six in the morning. What's something popular right now that annoys you? Clubhouse. I've learned that a lot of brands have a certain tribe that really helps fuel their success. Do you have a tribe? Very early days we owe a lot to the zero waste community. What's been the coolest moment so far? Shark Tank. If you had one marketing dollar to spend where would you put it? One dollar. Cup of coffee. What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far? Happiness is a mindset and it's really ours to choose. Where do you go from here? Where don't we go from here? I feel like there is just so much opportunity ahead of us whether it's new products, new channels, new markets. I'm more excited than ever for the future that lies ahead. Sarah Pajiu, co-founder and CEO of Blue Land. Thank you so much for coming on and answering all my questions. Thank you, that was a lot of fun. I'm Ian Wishengrad and I'll see you next time on I'm With the Brain.