D2C Powder vs. Retail Drink: Competitor Brand Smackdown! #mattkelly #founder

9 Jan 2026 · 0 min

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Matthew Kelly (speaker/creator) contrasts his direct-to-consumer (D2C) powder-first business with a competing brand that is retail-first and sells ready-to-drink (RTD) canned beverages. He frames the other brand as a strong, non-adversarial competitor, recounts social interactions with that brand's founders (mentions "James and Chris" and later names "James Smith and Luke"), and notes differences in channel strategy (D2C powder vs retail RTD cans). The tone is informal, candid, and conversational.

And also we're a D2C powder first business. They're a retail first drink RTD can business. I think they're a great brand. I'm obviously not a fucking influencer with 5 million followers, unlike James and Chris, who are the founders of that brand. I was out on a bender with fucking James Smith and Luke, two of the founders of that brand, a few months ago. I do buy actually. They're the funny guys, really nice guys, to be fair. So yeah, I don't view them as like a competitor in that way. They're obviously in a similar category, but yeah.