Benjamin Witte - Founder and CEO of Recess

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All right, what is going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we have Ben Witty here with us, the founder and CEO of the drink Recess. Thanks so much for coming on the show, Ben.

Thanks for having me on. Excited to talk to you.

So I personally, I've seen Recess everywhere for a while now, man. And when I first tried it myself, I was like, this is dope. And then I know when, when we first got connected over email, I was like, I'd love to have you on the show to really dive into the story of it. But for those that may not know what recess is, I'd love for you to give them an overview of the beverage that you created.

Yeah. So I'll kind of first describe our first product and then, like, throughout the show, I'll describe, like, more broadly how I actually think about Recess. But our first product that's on the market today is a flavored sparkling water with CBD and adaptogenic herbs that's designed to deliver kind of a feeling of calm and relaxation as opposed to stimulation from coffee or energy drinks or intoxication from alcohol. We really think a new kind of category is emerging, which I can tell you about.

Absolutely. Where did this journey begin, man? When was that first product created at Recess? And where did this idea originate from?

Yeah, maybe I'll kind of start, like, go all the way back because it's one of these ideas that, like, the dots connect backwards. Like, if you would have told me a few years ago I was starting a beverage company, I would have said, you're crazy. But it kind of, you know, it makes sense as things, you know, do. So. I grew up in Southern California in a small kind of surf town called Laguna Beach. I was kind of a surfer growing up, and very much like, I'D say creatively oriented. I was really into making movies and I made like a, you know, a documentary about surfing and skimboarding in my town. That was like really my first kind of creative project and entrepreneurial endeavor and you know, was a thing and. But you know, anyways, thought I was going to study film in college, but ended up going to college in Boston actually instead studied undergraduate business which I kind of regret in retrospect, but just because I don't really believe in business school or at least undergraduate business school. But interestingly, I'm 33, so I graduated in 2010 right when the kind of the Silicon Valley startup scene was starting to explode and I was very attracted to what was happening there and so decided when I graduated I wanted to move to San Francisco and work for an early stage startup and was there for seven years at two early stage tech companies, both in the kind of digital advertising space. Actually the first company was a three person startup and we were like building an influencer marketing platform for social media back in 2010, MySpace. And so it was like right idea, wrong time, like wrong team type of thing. But like I very, from the earliest days got exposed to thinking about how would brands build themselves in a social media and digital driven world. Um, and I think a lot of that translated to recess, you know, but long story short, you know, the more time I spent, you know, within, you know, these even fast grow, you know, super fast growth startups, the more I realized like I wanted to go out on my own and start one. But I also realized that my passions and strengths were better suited to build like a consumer brand or experience, not build some B2B company. Because like inherently, you know, what I'm passionate about I think is like creativity, design, like you know, where what consumers are going to want in the future, right. And so I set my kind of eyes to kind of explore things in that space. I spent a year exploring like a hotel concept like Soho House meets a high end hostel target. The wework crowd decided like I didn't, wasn't like real estate development was not the business I wanted to be in. So scraped that moved to New York and look, the origin of recess was, you know, this was basically a year after Trump had got elected. And I remember thinking to myself when Trump got elected, like I don't know anything about the future other than that it's going to be crazy, right? And that I think, because I think it's symbolized that we are like living in this transformational period in history which is like overwhelming and stressful. Right. And people are trying to make sense of it. Right. You know, I'm a politically independent person, but, like, it was still like a significant event that was like, wow, the future is going to be nuts. And so that was like, initial kind of inkling. And then about a year later, I was in New York. I had started to see CBD oil kind of bubbling up on the periphery in natural food stores. And I've always been like a naturally kind of anxious, stressed out, wired millennial. And at the time, I was working with kind of two different friends in this kind of incubator that we were starting called Life Capital. And kind of our observation was basically that the user experience of putting CBD under your tongue is not a great one. But the way to think about CBD is as a compound, no more interesting than caffeine or alcohol even, for that matter. Ultimately, it's just a commoditized, functional ingredient that delivers a feeling, in our case, like, calm and relaxation, and that the opportunity would be to effectively go build the Red Bull of the category. Right. And that it just made sense as an ingredient and beverage. And this idea of calm and relaxation as a value proposition just made sense, right. For consumers. I'm like, I think this is going to be something people are going to be looking for in the future, right? This idea of products that we consume that help us relax. So that was like, the initial insight. And when I had that, I had never. I didn't know a single person that had ever worked in the food or beverage industry, or cannabis for that matter. You know, all my friends were more. More in, like, tech and finance and, like, real estate. But what I observed. So I started looking, thinking about, like, the food and beverage space. And I had a number of, you know, really interesting observations. Like, if you. I looked at Red Bull and I'm like, Red Bull's. You know, what is Red Bull is like, is it just a company about putting caffeine in cans or is it this whole, like, lifestyle brand, this world? And it's fundamentally a business of creating and integrating in the culture. And you're all. It's all a huge, like, brand marketing exercise. Because beverages have this very unique attribute in that there's no other product that we have the potential to buy every single day and use every single day, right? So people that drink Starbucks or Red Bull or Lacroix or Coke tend to drink it multiple times per week. Right. And that creates this very interesting dynamic where basically, like, if you own a category and define a category in a Consumer's mind, like you have a very big brand, like in society, right. And I saw this opportunity to kind of do the same. Right. And that this, my bet was that basically relaxation as an idea would be like something, you know, you know, in the future. Right. And the third thing I saw was that basically we were entering a new era in terms of how these brands would be built. Right. And that Red Bull, Coca Cola, White Cloud, they were all fundamentally built the same way in an analog world. Right. And those brands were really not designed for the Internet. Right. And that my observation is that basically like in the past brands were built on the shelf, quote unquote. And in the future that would, you know, brand building would increasingly take place on our phones and in social media. And that's a fundamental game changer, right, for everything from distribution to brand building to what your business model is. And so, you know, the bet was like, all right, one, like, I think this category relaxation is going to be big. I think CBD and adaptogens and other ingredients can be used to deliver that feeling. I can go create a brand like Red Bull, which is like really like a lifestyle brand focused on culture and that I'm going to try and do it in a new way. Right. And I view Recess as like the first digitally native beverage brand to some degree. And so that's, that's, that's it.

That's so cool, man. So what year was that when you guys officially launched the product?

Yeah, so we launched in late October 2018. So just over two years ago, I launched it out of my apartment in the East Village, tiny one bedroom apartment. I had one other full time, like quasi full time employee at the time.

Okay.

And it was one of these things we like press live. We did like a direct to consumer. Direct to consumer Internet only launch. Yeah, both. Because like, you know, that's just how I thought, you know, you would do things. Right?

You guys were making the product, like traded the product. And then we're like, okay, we're going to market, we're going to build a brand on social. And here we go. Test it out.

Yeah, that's. No, no, no, I don't. Like, I was running the company out of my apartment. Like we had a, you know, like a manufacturing partner. I like a design, like a couple freelance designers. But like, you know, man, like, you know, this was not a big operation. Right. But I did, as you can see, the brand, I was like, what I, what I saw is like, you look, you hear about all these like food and beverage companies that like, emerge so many of them, like, we're literally like, someone made the granola bar in their kitchen. They made the label on, like, PowerPoint, and, like, then they went to market, and then they would, like, build the lifestyle. The brand, like, five years later.

Yeah.

No, like, beverages are fundamentally about the brand, right? And it's about transferring, like, an emotion and like, an idea to into consumers, right? And that, like, you have to go to market with a very polished idea, right? And everyone else was just, like, slapping CBD on the label and just, like, thinking that was sufficient. When with recess, I think we created this whole kind of story and narrative around the idea, right? And antidote to modern times, take a recess so you can feel calm, cool, collected. Not like, hey, like, we're water plus cbd, like, no one cares, right? And, like, go look at any other category, right? So that's the thing I felt to be strange is that, like, I've never heard anyone refer to Red Bull as a caffeine company in my life, yet people refer to Recess as, like, a CBD company. And I'm like, no, you're, like, kind of missing the big idea. Like, it's like, one ingredients that we can use to deliver a feeling. And so I think all of that, those early insights of what, like, driven, like our strategy and our brand architecture which you see out there, I love it.

And even too, when I first checked out your website, I was blown away by just how you guys are not only positioned, but the brand and the feeling you give to the customer. Like, for everyone listening, if you go to the recess, take a recess dot com. Like, just that whole flow and vibe, like, you instantly get what you guys are about when it comes to the positioning and the brand. And that feeling overall when you. When you talk about building brands, I'd love to hear, like, sort of, you know, did it start out with this simple, clean, colorful can that you guys have today or has it transitioned over time when it comes to the look and feel of the actual product?

Now there's the look and feel like, that, you know. You know, we created in the earliest days. And I think some of my thinking was, again, we want to come up, you know, the brand that's marketing the usage occasion and the feeling, not the ingredient. So back to the idea of, like, not marketing cvd, but of marketing the idea of recess that, like, it was a route like calm and balance, not like thc, like getting you stoned or putting into sleep, right? It was, like, much more meant to be more nuanced. Like, the original, like, usage occasion that we thought would be the main one would be, like, in the afternoon, like, as a substitute for coffee. And so it's really, like, that was the original idea. We wanted to feel like I was trans. We were transporting you a little bit right into this world. Right? It's meant to help you, like, kind of escape reality when you think about it. Like, that's what you use caffeine and alcohol to do. Like, we don't talk about these things, but it's the truth, right? Like, that, like, you know, you want to feel something, right? And this is a new feeling that we had to, like, bring into the world, right? The idea of feeling calm and balanced, but not, like, sleepy and, like, stoned. Right? That distinct nuance right there. And so it was meant to be somewhat, like, uplifting. We wanted to market the brand towards, you know, millennial creatives and creators. Right? Just like Red Bull focused on the action sports community, and Gatorade focused on professional athletics. Like, we are focused on, you know, activating and, you know, the millennial creator creative community. Right. And so. And then you can see, I would, in addition to our website, I would suggest checking out our Instagram, which is also at. Take a recess. Yep. And that's a big part of our. That was basically our whole marketing strategy in the early days. Like, our strategy was one Instagram post a day. Like, that was it. But the posts were, like, very thoughtful and, like, well designed, and we created this whole world. And what I describe our Instagram strategy as is a social commentary on the millennial existence. And, right. We're creating these pieces of content every day that is meant to, like, touch on all of these things that we're all, like, living through in this moment in this, like, funny tongue in cheek way. Right? So our brand voice is very sarcastic. Like, I describe it as profound wisdom delivered with humor. Like, each of the cans has, like, taken on a personality, and those personalities are meant to, like, represent, like, a millennial archetype. So, like, Peach Ginger is like the party girl. Black Cherry is like the goth girl.

Yeah.

Coconut Lime is like the Miami hustler. Right? And they're all, like, you know, this, like, archetype of, like, millennial types that we know and that allows us to kind of, you know, comment on things happening in society. Right. And just do, like, infinite interesting ideas. And I think we have a lot of opportunity to scale, you know, our content, right? We're all, we haven't used talent, we haven't used influencers, we haven't Used photography. I don't use video. Right. Like, we haven't gone into TikTok. Like, there's a lot of things we can go do.

Totally. That's amazing, man. And I remember I took a look at your Instagram briefly, but now that I just kind of take a look and jump down it, like, you guys are. You guys are on top of not only trends, but the look and feel of it is just epic, man. So congratulations on that. That's super cool. When you think about just the business model and, you know, if someone's out there looking to launch a beverage, what was the process from going to idea to direct to consumer to, you know, being at Airwinds and all these different types of stores that you guys are in? Like, what was that process like for you and some of the challenges and hurdles that you had to jump through?

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because, you know, when I started working on Recess, like, food and beverage was not like a hot space that, like, a lot of startup and entrepreneurs were tackling. Right at that time, it was pretty much like tech and app focused. Right? But then, so, but I saw that as an opportunity. Like, I think you want to, like, kind of get into spaces that are early where there's going to be a lot of change. And I saw, like, some of the dynamics in food and beverage. So first thing I'd say is, like, I literally had no idea what I was doing. Like, I went on Google, like, how do you make a drink? Like, reached out to the first, like, formulation company that was probably running search ads, right? Like, yeah, you know, but I think it's about, like, breaking down something into its parts. Like, this stuff is not rocket science, right? You needed a formulation, right? That formulation, in our case has going to have flavor and functional ingredients that, you know, have to be combined to deliver it. You need the formula to meet a few attributes, right? I want it to be under 30 calories, under 5 grams of sugar. You know, made it through your fruit, you know, flake, carbonated. Like, I was like, I'm going to do a flavored sparkling water. And like, that feels like that's going to be the trendy category, right? So you just have, like, you start to set some, like, design constraints, right? So then, so that's the liquid, and then you're like, okay, there's the brand, there's the outside. Like, I have to. How, you know, what's the name? What's the value proposition? Like, how am I going to communicate this? And I think it's always Important, like, when you're doing something new, to figure out, like, what is changing in the world. Like, how am I going to do something differently than everyone else, right? So I have this idea of, like, you want to, like, identify things that were, like, you reject the premise. Almost like, I was like, I reject the premise that we are a CBD company. Like, CBD is one of a couple ingredients.

I love that.

Go look at, like, other labels. Like, everyone in the label is, like, just blasting you with, like, we're 30 grams of protein, we're glute. You know, we're gluten free, we're organic. Like, we're all of these things and just, like, stickers on them. I'm just like, we're recess. Like, that's it. Like, we are recess, right? And so I was like. And everyone told everyone still, like, a lot of people tell me that's dumb. Like, you should be calling out all this stuff on your label. I'm like, no, it's clean, right? So I think you want to, like, as you're developing, like, your idea, figure out, like, what is your different angle you can take to break through, right? Because it's so crowded now in every industry, right? Like, whether you're starting a podcast, a food beverage company, an app, like, whatever, it's very crowded. And so, like, you need to differentiate. And so that was the thing with our Instagram. Like, our Instagram looks. There's no reference to it. Literally, like, yeah, I think we really did invent something, like a new style. And it's. But you remember that that's very memorable. And then when you see recess out in the world, you have all these interesting associations with that. So I just think it's like, you know, breaking a project down into its parts, figuring out, like, how is your strategy going to be differentiated to allow you to break through? And the final thing I'd say is, like, making sure you know this directly what you asked. But I think it's very important. It's like, you know, making sure it's the right opportunity to pursue. Like, and it's like, both in two, two forms. First and foremost, is it, like, am I the right person to go build this? Does this opportunity play to my strengths? Like, I see too many, like, founders that are, like, you know, they're more like the business school MBA type. And they, like, did some analysis that says, like, this industry is, like, hot, and they have no, like, passion or connection to it. Like, whereas I had no connection to feeder. Like, no direct, like, experience there. But then I'm like, you're really in the brand building business. I've always loved food. I've always been trying to solve this problem for myself, right. So it just felt like I'm building something for myself that was. Happens to be relevant for others. Right. And I think that's really important because it's so fucking hard that, like, if it's not. If that's not the case, you'll just like give up. Pretty much not worth it. Right? So for sure.

No, absolutely. That totally makes sense. And I know we were jumping around, but back to the thesis of like getting it now, you know, you have this product, you created it, now what's next? You know, how do you get into a physical store? What was that process like? Is it knocking on doors? Is it having the connections? Like, what was that process to get into your first store at recess? And what was that?

Yeah, no, it was. My strategy was launch online first. Like, basically create the buzz online in order to go offline. Right? And the reason, like, for food and beverage especially, why I think online is the right place to launch. And I think you should quickly go into retail. But you're fundamentally about introducing a story into the world, right? Food and beverage are culture, right? It's like almost. It's an idea, it's like a meme, like, to some degree, like in the meta sense, right? So I had to, like, there was no one out there even talking about relaxation or products or beverages. Like, there was common headspace, but no one was like, going into a store looking for products that help them relax directly. They're going into a store looking for, you know, caffeine drinks, you know, kombucha, alcohol, but not this idea, right? And so we had like, the idea of our website was it's very much a narrative, right? Of the idea of taking a recess, which is like our fundamental, like, purpose. And that, you know, you know, we were able to get a lot of buzz is one of these things that like, just we launched it and we did like 40 times our first month's projected sales, which were ridiculously, conservatively low. Like, but it was still one of these things that we pressed go. And it was just obvious that, like, this was an idea that consumers were connecting to. And then it becomes a different exercise, right? Of like, okay, like, what are my next moves I have to make to scale this? Right? But we stayed online only for like the first three or four months. Okay, right. Because we wanted to create that. And then, and then we went and then we launched New York and The reason New York was the right market to launch in is because New York has by far the like, obviously it's the most dense city and it has the most, like, independent account. Like bodega is basically, which LA doesn't really have. And so within a few month period, like, we were everywhere in New York and everybody bodega. And it just felt like recess was just all around you. Yeah. And so, but that was running out of my apartment still. Like, you know, this is not like I hired this, you know, one of the first, you know, three or four hires was this, you know, lady who was a. Who was our first sales hire. And we, I was like, you know, just walking into bodegas, just hustling, like. And then we signed a distribution deal. And, you know, I ended up hiring executives and raising money along the way. Like, not, you know, I can talk about that, but it was, yeah, it was just one foot in front of the other, step by step.

I love that, man. When did you guys raise money and what was that process like for you guys internally at recess?

Well, we each, my initial partners and I, we each put in some money to start, like, to get, you know, the product developed and like the brand developed. And yeah, like, I was like, willing to. I was like, yeah, you know, it was like less than $100,000. Like, but, you know, I was like, we are going to. I was like, I'm going to invest in the brand because fundamentally, without a good brand, you're not gonna break through and people cheap out. I'm like, it's very important to recognize, like, what is the business you are in. Like, you think you're just in, like the putting ingredients in a package business, but that's not really how it works. Right? So, like, we probably invested more in a brand up front relative to anyone else at the time, but it obviously made sense. And then right before launch, when I had pretty much a finished product, finished formula brand, and I had this thesis. I had very much a thesis about the world and that this category, here's what's gonna happen. And it kind of played out. And so the thesis made sense. The brand made sense as a way to go after the opportunity. And we ended up raising 2 million bucks right when we launched from, like, to New York City, consumer investors and people like that. And it was not easy at the start. Like, it was. It was not. And then. And then, yeah, we've, you know, we've raised a good amount of money throughout the process. And, you know, I came from San Francisco, so I Knew like the culture like around venture capital and a lot of my friends were in it. But you know, in your first company, yeah, I can understand how it can be tough to break into, but now they're to an extent. But now there's just so much like it's such a more of a part of our culture like entrepreneurship and startups. Right. It's just like infused into everything right now.

What were some of the. Because I'm actually right now we're raising for my company mediakids.com, we're raising a million dollar pre seed round. We're about halfway committed and you know, we've had hurdles along the way from pitching all these different investors. For you, what were some of the hurdles and lessons that you want to tell early stage founders? When going to raise capital, you have some traction with a product or you're just getting it started and, and you really want to raise capital to scale the business.

I think, I mean obviously you have to like lay out the opportunity and like what your vision of the future is because all these opportunities are fundamentally about some things changing in the world that will change people's behaviors. Having the right like plan to get there. And I'm not talking like five year plan, like one year plan, like what are the step by step things we need to do to be able to get to that step? Like so for me it was like launch like show people want this, then hire like a salespeople, put it in stores, show people that that's moving, sign a distribution deal, hire another executive. Right. Like step by step. Right. But I think there's also pre product market fit and post product market fit are also two fundamentally different things. Right. Like the early stages are about validating that you created that something some people want. Right. And there's sometimes that can take a lot of time. Right. And then once you do validate that and like determining like what is the right information to determine that, it becomes a different exercise, scaling. And so just knowing like what part of the journey you're in I think is important and not trying to scale too quickly, which typically requires raising money and all that stuff, more money and that becomes this dangerous dance. Right. So figuring out what stage of the company you're in and then most importantly is your team. I had a vision and idea I couldn't do. I'm not a designer, I'm not a formulator, I'm not a copywriter, I'm not good at finance. But I was able to identify undervalued talent that was Able to get them to believe in what I was creating and that we created and that just complimented me. So I think being founder is about creating a system that allows you to do what you do best and not focus on your weaknesses.

Totally. I love that, man. And since you're currently in LA now, how has it been from expanding from New York to la? What are the differences in the market and people that may not know? Like, how many stores and areas do you guys cover in the U.S. yeah.

We'Re in 2,000 stores plus in the U.S. we have distributors in nine states. Sorry, let me turn my messages off. There we go. Sorry about that. So Recess is carried in 2,000 stores approximately in the US at this time. We have distributors in nine states. The new York, Tri State area, Texas, Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Chicago. And we'll be expanding into new markets throughout the year because we have CBD in our product. In this current product, we are not carried in the national retailers yet. So we're in like the Erewhons, but not Whole Foods. Right. And so that's been a whole constraint in the business that I could spend kind of hours talking about. But in some ways it's actually a benefit to us because it's given us the time to kind of establish ourselves. We have a big E commerce business on our website and we'll be soon launching on Amazon. And so we have a bunch of different channels and we work in a lot of different types of accounts, from a cafe to a grocery store to a bar to a yoga studio to offices. It's pretty diverse in terms of where the product can be sold.

I love that. When it comes to the future of Recess, what are you guys most excited about and where do you see the product going as the founder and CEO?

Yeah, well, we think there's just a lot of, like, what we see is a lot of different moments throughout, you know, a consumer in our days where we are looking to kind of calm down and reset and like feel a distinct feeling. So how you start your day is different than like what you're looking to feel around lunch, which is different than what you're looking to feel, you know, in the afternoon when you would traditionally go for your second cup of coffee, which is different than what you're looking to feel in the evening, like perhaps you need to turn alcohol, which is different than before sleep. And so we think of Recess as a brand that can create products that play in all of these different distinct usage occasions throughout your day. Tough. Basically optimize your mentality. And your state of mind and feel better. We think basically all people use right now are caffeine and alcohol. Again, an opportunity to. Not like, I'm not like, I drink both. Right. But it's, do I need, like, do I need two or three cups of coffee a day? Do I need to drink every night? Do I need to drink multiple drinks a night? Right. Or can products like recess play a role there? So that's, I'd say, what the future is about. Very cool.

Well, last thing before we wrap up here, Ben, is just if you were to give yourself advice when you were starting all over again with recess, what would that advice be and why?

I think it's kind of what I alluded to earlier, which is making sure you're picking the right idea. And I think there's definitely something about just like getting started and hustling. Right. And that's a different. There's like different types of startups. Right. Like, there's a startup where like, it makes sense to be all in on and then there's other, like, just like hustle side hustle projects. Right. And knowing the difference between the two is important for a startup that you're gonna be like, all in on. And you're basically signing up to dedicate 10 plus years of your life to. It's very important that it's something that I think you're passionate about. And so when I was in this phase of my life where I was trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life, I met someone who is a pretty seasoned executive and he told me something that I appreciated was like, pay attention to what you pay attention to. Basically the idea that the things you're thinking about, like in your free time, are what you're naturally most curious about, which is probably what you want to spend the most amount of your time thinking about. Right. So if you're committed to going on an entrepreneurial journey, make sure the idea that you select you are well suited to execute on and that the opportunity is big enough. Right. Because it's also small stupid to waste your time going after things that are not that. Not gonna work or are not that interesting. Totally.

Well, Ben, I just wanna say thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I learned so much and I'm sure the D audience did as well. Where's the best place for everyone to stay connected with recess and yourself and overall actually get their hands on the drink?

Yeah. So our website is takeareces.com and you can kind of buy one of our sampler packs or subscribe our Instagram is also Aker Recess and then on Twitter I'm Ben Witty W I T T E and feel free to DM me any questions.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th.

This place.

It's not ours. Believed me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything.

I promise.

My God.

Go Monarch. Legacy of Monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV Plus.