Clean Energy Drink For That Instant Boost With Sean Ross of Pureboost

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keeper captains counting beans Contador quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos El gordo, the taco standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana esti be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the moon SD Tecos with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, and I'm thrilled to have you here. On the Tacos and Tech Podcast. We interview builders of technologies, of companies, of communities, and we do it weekly, so thanks for tuning in. Every Tuesday, a new interview and on Fridays we talk about what's new in the San Diego tech ecosystem from a news perspective. So make sure you join us there as well too. We also have a tech newsletter that comes out every other week@freshbroodtech.com you can subscribe to listen to it without further ado. Enjoy this episode and welcome back to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I am your host, Neil Bloom, and I am thrilled to have on an inventor himself, Sean Ross, inventor and co founder of PureBoost energy and hydration Mix. Hey Sean, thanks for joining us on the podcast.

Hey Neil, thank you for having me. Really appreciate it.

It's good to get a conversation on recording. We've talked for a bit now. Been watching you build some brands and I'm really excited to see the pureboost brand being built with some other local talent here in San Diego, which we're going to talk about. Do you want to give us a quick overview of what pureboost is?

Yeah, absolutely. And likewise, I've admired and very impressed with what you've created over the last couple years since we've been Talking and it's exciting to finally come together and do something. So this is an honor and a privilege. So thank you again. Yeah. Pureboost, very simple. We are the original clean energy and hydration mix on the market. And, and we have 25 vitamins and minerals in there with 100 milligrams of caffeine from green tea. So it's essentially a multivitamin, an energy drink and hydration mix in one that tastes absolutely delicious. I'd like to say we cracked the nutritional code on creating feel good energy. There really wasn't much out there in the marketplace and we have a pretty good foothold on this claim. It's portable, it's a stick pack that you could take with you on the go. You can throw it in your pocket, you can put it in your purse, your backpack, and all you have to do is have a bottle with shake it up and away it goes. It's very simple. You can build that into your routine, your lifestyle, no matter where you are, where you live or what you're doing. And really, really super convenient. And I'd say the biggest thing for pureboost is that you really don't get that crash that comes along with other energy drinks. We formulated this specifically so that parents like us don't have to have those challenges of worrying about when we're going to crash. Especially when my kids hit that witching hour between 3 and 5pm I'm sure you can relate to that a little bit, Neil. And none of our Pure Boost SKUs are made with any sugar. No sucralose, which is an artificial sweetener. And again, we have no crash. So you can say goodbye to the dirty sodas and the canned energy drinks and the coffees and you've got something that really fits almost everybody in the marketplace.

Really exciting. And it gets them in hand, obviously for personal reasons, because, you know, trying to find that. Whereas the nearest Starbucks drive thru just doesn't cut it every time.

Well, I got a good discount code for you, Neil.

Okay, we'll give it to our listeners if that's okay. Get people in. But while cureboost is a newer brand, you've been formulating wellness products for quite a bit now. How did you get into this space of building products? Where did it all start?

I've been in the industry my entire career, so just over 15 years now, and I haven't done anything else. And I think that's a testament to how exciting and passionate I am about this business and this industry and really giving back and creating Products that are healthy for people, that are helping people. That's really critical for me and my personal mission. But your question is more about how did I get into it? And it's really an interesting story. I'll keep it super brief. I was in law School in 2008. The economy crashed. I was panicking with all the student loan debt. I wasn't one of those guys that was smart enough to get any scholarships. So I had to pay my way through school, undergrad and law school and realized that there really wasn't much of an opportunity for a graduating attorney, seeing a lot of my friends not getting jobs and a lot of law firms laying people off. So I decided I was going to take a break. And on my flight back to San Diego, where my wife was going to school, I met a very nice plumber. And this guy was like my therapist on this five and a half hour flight from the east coast to the west coast. And I poured my heart out to him and he gave me some advice that literally was just life changing. And this is advice that his grandfather gave him when he was graduating high school in 1980, when the economy was also in a similar place, was not doing very well. And so I will share with you the advice he gave me. Am I allowed to curse on your podcast?

Absolutely.

So he said, there are two things that humans will always do. They'll eat and they'll shit. And if you pick one of those two industries, you will always have a job. So clearly I wanted nothing to do with this, the other human need. And as I'm driving down to San Diego from lax, I'm thinking about, how do I take this advice and put it into reality? Ended up looking for a job working for a nutrition company. Ended up working for the world's largest sports nutrition company. And that company is called Glambia. And they own a lot of brands in the marketplace like Think Thin, SlimFast, Optimum Nutrition, Amazing Grass, BSN, the list goes on. And so I was very fortunate enough to be on the manufacturing side of finished products of ingredients and learn the ins and the outs of what goes into making a nutrition product and realized that I had enough skills, at least I felt like I did, to jump into it and start my own business.

Wow, that's a bold move. You know, lots of us dream of it and you actually did it. So I'm guessing you didn't just wake up one day and say you did it right? What were the steps you took to, you know, was it by night, working on your own idea or just one day you said, I'm done. I'm all in on myself.

I think part of it was my wife getting really frustrated with hearing me say, I can do this, I can do this. Why am I working for somebody else? And I think some of you out there listening can probably relate. Either you're the person listening or the person saying what I said all the time. And she had enough of it and realized she's like, look, I don't hear this ever again. So can you just go and start your own business and not have to complain to me anymore about working for somebody else? And so the fortunate part was, throughout my career, I met a lot of really, really talented people, a lot of good people. And so I wasn't jumping into starting a nutrition company completely blind. Right. Really understand the supply chain side, the manufacturing side. And I've made a number of connections and people that I call friends to this day that I've been around for a very long time. And so piecing it together really wasn't too challenging. I think the challenging part was coming up with the idea. And so a lot of talented people out there in the marketplace that I knew it was a matter of how do I pick those right partners and how do we come up with this concept?

And did you do it with people you'd previously worked with at that first company, or what did it look like? What did day one look like in the garage, Apple style?

So we were in the garage. I had all of my neighbors over. It was a ton of fun. I had some of their kids over as well. And yes, one of my main partners is someone that I did work with previously, actually manufactured his nutrition drink and a business where he did over 1.2 billion in sales and did extremely well. Extremely well. And so we decided we wanted to create something and we didn't know what. And we got together through some mutual friends with two other partners. And so the team's made up of Ray Fultinski, who owned the nutritional drink company, Danny Demichel, who owned an Amazon marketing agency, and Brian Engie, who is a seasoned veteran CEO and was CEO of Skills and a number of companies and had a few exits under his belt. And so very sophisticated, very talented group. And so we decided we all liked each other. We felt our talents, complimented each other really well. And we jumped in the conference room, and when we were there, I won't name who someone was drinking a very unhealthy canned energy drink, and. And we were just ripping on him for how bad that was. The chemicals Just all the garbage that was in there. And that's when it dawned on us. There really wasn't much in the clean energy and hydration drink space. And so we just threw out there all the names we could list off we could find that we knew. And we were looking at the supplement facts panels and the ingredients and digging into what we felt were good for you ingredients and not good for you ingredients. And guys, I think we found something here. And so that's why I say we are the original clean energy drink mix company. That's how we started.

Really cool. There's definitely like supplement packets and I'll admit what I use because I've been an ultra runner, I've looked for electrolyte kind of packets and I've used emergency as my electrolyte packet. And it actually took a local startup called Vessel where I started doing weekly P test strips, determined how through the roof my vitamin C was because I was using these vitamin Cs as electrolyte packages which in the app told me why, how it affects my sleep and others. So anyway, yeah, I gotta imagine there's a lot of people using all sorts of things that have been handed down or they saw ads for on late night TV or at their gas station. Who, I'm kind of curious, like who's the original Persona you thought of for this?

So we, we wanted to target moms and dads because we all are parents. Between us four founders, we have 15 children and I'm a father of four. So that, you know, we wanted something that we knew was good for us, something that was going to carry us through that day, through that witching hour and hopefully give us a little bit of time after we put our kids to bed so we can enjoy that show that we've been meaning to watch. And those binging days of watching TV shows are kind of over when you're, when you're a dad of four. So that, so yeah, I think hopefully that answers your question.

Got it. So a bunch of sense entrepreneurs teamed up to co found a company. I know you've been pretty involved in the in EO Entrepreneurs organization, right? Which is this supportive community of entrepreneurs. How important is it, has it been in your career to be surrounded by other entrepreneurs lamenting in catharsis and sharing, but also mentorship from other entrepreneurs?

EO has been extremely critical for my personal growth as well as my business development. When I decided to become that entrepreneur five and a half years ago, I didn't really know a lot of entrepreneurs. I knew a lot of Talented people that were heads of marketing, heads of operations and finances. But I didn't really know a number of entrepreneurs. And so it was actually my business partner, Ray, who recommended it, who was in a similar organization and felt as though I could really get that support and guidance. And, boy, has it completely changed everything that I thought about business. And it was just so nice to have what I call my board of directors, you know, people that I can completely just lay it all out to trust completely. Whatever I say with them is going to stay within that room and they're going to provide really honest and supportive feedback through their experiences that they're going through in their businesses. And nobody in my networking group we call a forum, there's seven of us is in a competing business. And so it's not like someone can give me advice in nutritional manufacturing. And that's not really what I would be looking for. It's more of, you know, I've got this employee issue or, you know, I've got this business issue. Have you been through something similar? And that's really helped an immense amount. It's also helped a lot, I'd say, with my own personal confidence. I lacked a lot of confidence before I was an entrepreneur. And even when I started and hearing other people tell me that I'm doing the right thing and I'm going on the right track and supporting me and lifting me up when I felt like I wasn't doing a good job, I think was equally as important as everything else. And I think that's human instinct. Right. I think a lot of us doubt ourselves every single day. We doubt decisions we make, we doubt things that we are going to do. And I'm one of those people. So I think the probably the biggest thing was probably that support from just being there for me, knowing that these guys are. They believe in me and I should believe in myself, and I believe in them as well. So EO has been a huge support and it's not that difficult to join. So if anybody is out there looking to join a networking group, I would definitely highly recommend it. I know there's other similar ones out there as well. So even if you don't have EO near you, I think there are definitely other options for you as well.

Absolutely. Are your other co founders in EO as well, or have they utilized groups like this as well too?

So they're not in eo. One is in YPO and another one is in what's called Tiger, I think Tiger 21. So they are all in something very similar and that's what's also very nice, is having partners that are in different networking groups really helps, especially when it comes to raising money. Because usually people that are entrepreneurs, they usually have access to funds or they have friends that, that have funds. And so that's been a big part of how we've been able to raise the funds through our network into a pure boost.

Yeah, you bring up a good point. The diversified networks too. Right. And each of your co founders also diversified skill sets too. Right. Having a very complimentary team and diversified networks. I'm guessing that though there's still a local component with a lot of people's networks. And so did a lot of early capital come from local San Diego market?

Yes, I think almost all of it came from the San Diego market. So these are professionals that have been in San Diego for a number of years. These are other business owners that are in San Diego and people that we've known for a long time. I do have to say though, on our first raise, I didn't raise a ton of money because I was probably the novice of the group. But on our last raise, I did raise quite a bit. So I'm picking up some of the slack that I didn't have at the beginning.

That's great. Well, I think the importance of it being local is that when you have success, it returns local and the cash can start recycling. Right. Which I think is something that we could always get better at and improve. Especially you already, like you mentioned, have entrepreneurs who are the ones who are writing the checks. So they're already risk takers and they believe in you really is what they're investing in. And to have a return eventually down the road as well, you know, they'll invest again because it worked out. But along the way you went for an interesting investment strategy. You went to the crowdsource model. What take us through the thinking of how you decided to do that and actually the whole process, because I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs who are curious about crowdfunding. So I would love to hear about that decision making process.

Yeah, this is, this is very new for me as well. I've learned quite a bit in the last couple of months since we've started it before we we went on this crowdfunding platform called We Funder. We raised over $3 million from friends and family that carried us through for the last four and a half years. And we realized that we could continue to raise funds from friends and family. We could go the VC route or an institutional route and bring in a partner there or the crowdfunding route or debt. And as we were evaluating all the different options, something really struck home for me personally and I think some of our other co founders and that is allowing our customers and friends and family members that really didn't qualify previously to invest. Right. We were only allowed to bring in accredited investors. And through this we funder platform, this crowdfunding platform, we're now allowed to bring in anybody. It doesn't matter how much money you make, it doesn't matter what your credit score is, it doesn't matter what's in your bank account. There really is no discrimination other than I think you have to be an American citizen, live in this country. Actually we have investors from other countries as well, but it's that simple. And so we wanted to bring our community together. And out of all those options I laid out, crowdfunding was the only one that was able to really unite everybody across our entire platform. From customers, from friends, from family members, Even suppliers of ours are investing. I can't even tell you how many suppliers and when I was manufacturing at Glambia, I dreamt of having the opportunity to invest in some of these brands and I saw their orders growing month after month, year after year and I'm like, oh my goodness, I wish I had a little piece of that company. Well now these suppliers that I once was are getting a piece of a company that is growing month after month and year after year.

That's pretty great. I think especially not only is it a consumer facing brand, so if people love the product, they also can feel like an owner like you mentioned, but also you, you know, you've built a few other brands as well, public facing and so you have some marketing prowess to now also market your fundraise in a way that's very different than how you market it to a vc. Right. You would never, you wouldn't do it in the same way. So I think that's leaning into your skill sets. Right. You can build a product. Why not build the same kind of following to, for people to invest and feel like they have to skin the game like you mentioned, act like an owner when every time that they're trying it. So it was really smart. How's it going so far?

It's going really well. We are, I think the number one or the we've raised the most money on the we funder platform so far. So if you go on there, I think we've got the most money raised. We have over $2 million. We have another month just A little over a month left on the raise. We've got some very large endorsements that are coming through from some notable celebrities I can't speak to right now because it hasn't gone live. But that's going to really boost up this crowdfund raise. We're trying to get to 4 million and I think we've got a really good shot at selling out before our end date. So we're really happy with the performance so far and just love the comments and the feedback and the emails that we're getting from our customers that are so passionate about the brand and so thankful that we're giving them an opportunity to participate and be part of our success.

That's awesome. Well, it will link to it in the show notes wefunder.com Pureboost Pretty easy to go and get it and participate. So where does this take you? Like where you're raising, you're already in market, you've got sales. So what are the use of funds for?

So we are now moving into brick and mortar. That means retail locations. We're going in. We actually just started shipping into Walmart. We're going into over 700 Walmarts as we speak. Started shipping in two weeks ago. We just went into a retailer in the Midwest called Meijer. We are in another retailer called Ingles. We are on Costco.com and Costco has already placed a second purchase order with us. Huge purchase order. Purchase order. Our sales there are just through the roof. Even the buyer there was shocked at what we've done. We've only been on Costco I think for three weeks. So to get a reorder that quickly from everyone we've spoken to in our network, they said that's unheard of. So the funding that we are raising on we funder is more than 50%, I think maybe 60% of it's going to go to inventory. I mean we've been all online up until Q3 of 2022 and to support these purchase orders that we're getting from all these retailers, as you can imagine, it costs a lot of money to make it and it takes time for us to get paid back. And so the core of it's going to go there. Obviously we're going to expand our line. We're going to create new SKUs. We're also going to have to hire. We're continuing to hire more people and grow the team. We've got our office right there in Cardiff. We got a really nice office. It's great for our employees and plan on getting to grow it locally. And the other part of it would go to marketing and awareness. So we're going to have to support these retailers, work to make sure that we're driving customers to the stores so that we can continue to hit our numbers and for them to continue to take more SKUs.

That's awesome. Love seeing the growth. Love seeing an office too. You know, it'd be very easy for you to not have an office and go full remote. What's kind of the feeling of that and the vibe that I'm guessing it sounds like though you have a lot of customers come through like high end athletes. I think probably because of Brian's connections a bit to the athlete world. Take us through kind of the idea of the workspace in that regard, bringing the team together.

Yeah. So before COVID we had another office in Carlsbad and everybody was going in the office pretty much every single day. Obviously Covid changed that and a lot of our team members, once we started going back, got really comfortable with working from home and we were able to really see if they were able to handle it. And performance has been fantastic and all of our team members are really happy. We've got a phenomenal culture and so even though not everybody goes in the office every day, now it's a home base and I think that's really important. You know, there's a lot of camaraderie that comes through with that and we do require that we have employees coming in at least three days a week so they can have that exposure to everybody else. And everybody's really been thrilled with it. And we've really been flexible with people's schedules and allowing them to take those Fridays and work wherever they want. So if they want to go hiking and put their laptop on top of a mountain and do some work, by all means. I mean that doesn't affect us as long as they're doing their job. And it's been a great success.

That's great. And speaking of employees and talent, really San Diego's got quite the, you know, wellness consumer package goods brands I think are not really known. We don't think. I don't think people know outside San Diego for so many product based brands. But now you've got naturally San Diego bringing a bunch of these together speak a little bit to just the ecosystem for wellness CPG in San Diego.

Yeah, so it's a really good point. I never realized how many brands were born out of San Diego until I started becoming an entrepreneur. Until I became an entrepreneur a few years ago and getting into even just like the EO community and the local chapter there, it just blew my mind. And you know, I don't have a great answer for why that is, but everybody that I ask has a very similar answer. And I think because San Diego is such a health conscious, forward community that it evokes that ideation, that innovation and that push for something better, that push for something healthier, that push for something that's better for the environment. And so, you know, that's not my answer. That's an answer that I've collected from many, many entrepreneurs. And again, I mean, being a local here, Neil, people like to be outdoors. I mean, people don't move to San Diego to be cooped up inside. They're moving from the New York and the Chicago's and the Boston areas so that they can go to the beach, they can go to the mountains, they can really live their life to the fullest and get outside. And I think, you know, people that have that mindset of wanting to go outside, wanting to exercise, wanting to do things inherently are healthier, they make better decisions for themselves. And so I think that's a big reason for why that there's so much coming from the San Diego community so special.

You bring up a great point of people wanted to optimize for themselves. Right. If we already live in a great space, why not work on the things we want to work on? Even some of the other, you know, CPG brands like say cereals like Akashi, which is a health focused brand that's been here for a while or the organifies. Right. One of the first powdered green juice brands. Yeah. I mean, I think it is really interesting even most of the, even some of the alcohol brands are starting to become like health conscious. Maybe June Shine might call themselves that, I don't know, you know, Kombucha, a little healthier than, than your standard stout. So yeah, I think that is interesting. Something to lean into and hopefully as everyone has success, it breeds more success and we build more brands like this as well too. So really excited for what you guys are building. Not just for, for building a great company, but also for powering our bodies. So thank you.

Well, thank you, Neil. It means a lot.

Of course. No, and that kind of precedes the next question, which is you got people coming together in Cardiff. People got to eat. Is there a favorite taco spot amongst you and the office that go to when everyone's here together?

Yeah, well, I'll give you my favorite taco spot and I Don't know if you've ever heard of it. We call it Phillies up in Vista. It goes by Filiberto's. Have you heard of that one?

Definitely Filiberto. I don't think I've been to the Vista one, but love, love the. The call. It's a Phillies, that's for sure.

Yeah, that one. I've been into a lot of the Filibertos, but the one in Vista is by far my go to. I mean, I will drive, I don't care how far, just to go get my carne asada fries. I mean, it is unbelievable.

I understand. I've got one of those as well, near and dear to my heart that I don't release too much often. But Sombreros California Burrito is, for whatever reason my association of San Diego California Burritos. And so I will drive pretty far to the original one that I went to as well. So very much understand that we will make sure that the Vista Phillies gets a tag in the Tacos and Tech taco database, which we now have. We literally have cataloged every answers every person has said and we're mapping them out. So that's exciting. Vista Phillies is going to get a shout out, but sounds like we need to meet up for some tacos next time you're here in town. So, Sean, thanks for being on the podcast and thanks for building some good companies. We're excited for you guys.

Well, thanks for having me. Thank you for creating this podcast so entrepreneurs and other business owners like myself can come on here and share things that hopefully can be helpful to everybody out there.

Absolutely. Thanks a lot. We'll see you soon.

See you, buddy.

Thanks for tuning in to Tacos and Tech Podcast. You can find all of our episodes on freshbrewetech.com as well as on Twitter at Tacos and Tech Pod. Also follow Fresh Food Tech on all of your social platforms and make sure to share and give a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Play. Thanks again.

Startups get the party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech. You know we got it hey. Startups get the party Startups get the party started Startups get the party Startups get the party started started Startups get the party Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos in tech. You know we got it hey.

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