Interview with Breinfuel Co-Founders Dr. Gerald Horn & Colton Horn

My name is Dustin Betz. I'm the content editor at the Founder Institute, and I'm here this morning with Colton Horn and Dr. Gerald Horn. They're the co-founders of BrainFuel, a Founder Institute Chicago and Select Portfolio company that's offering a scientifically derived blend of coffees, teas, collagen, and antioxidants in a non-coffee base. Colton and Gerald, thanks so much for joining me today.

Yeah, thanks Dustin. We're excited to be here.

Yeah, Dustin, likewise. I'm really excited. I love FI. It's been a wonderful opportunity to be in that incubator.

Awesome. So before we kind of dive into your startup Brain Fuel, I always like to kick it off by asking you to just tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, your personal journey. What were your experiences, professional or personal, that led you to founding this energy and performance beverage company?

Yeah, so thanks for asking that question. I am a physician, I'm a LASIK surgeon. I need energy, I have grueling surgery days. I'm also a pharmaceutical chief scientific officer. I founded a couple startup companies, some of them have produced products that are exited on the market, an eye whitening drop that's an industry leader, doctor number one recommended. I have a topical reading drop that's entering phase 3, we just signed a term sheet with a VC syndicate. So I have this pharmaceutical background and I was playing with caffeine just for fun on my surgical days because by the end of the day, by the time I go home, you know, I'm not at the top of my game anymore. And so that evolved into something really special we're going to talk about and really transformed my life as a surgeon and even my team would start operating in half-day shifts to keep up with me and I'm a lot older than they are. So I had other surgeons start trying it and, you know, we POC tested it on, you know, well over 100 people and I'm excited to talk about what I think is so special, what we discovered.

Fantastic. Yeah.

And just to sort of build off that and give a little bit of an inside look into the story of Brain Fuel, I started working at Founder Institute actually at the beginning of this year supporting the Chicago cohort with director Jason Jacobson. And right around that time, right when I started, is when my dad had finalized or just about finalized the formula. And we started to realize that there was true demand for a product like this. And so the timing really worked out well where one of the first things I did upon starting working with FI was bring my dad in and realize that this was a great environment to grow BrainFuel out of. And it really was, it was a really valuable few months for us as part of the Chicago cohort. We learned how we wanted to build the company. We started building our team. We hired some industry veterans to support us. And it's been a quick process now as we get closer to launch here. So excited to dive in and share more about what we're doing with BrainFuel.

Awesome. Well, yeah, that kind of leads really well into the next question. I mean, I know because I'm somewhat familiar with you guys as a Founder Institute portfolio company that BrainFuel is introducing a new generation of beverages for alertness and focus and productivity. But let's kind of hear it straight from you, the founders. Please give us your sort of elevator pitch. You know, what is BrainFuel?

Yeah, I'd like to think we evolved from other sectors, from coffees, from energy drinks, or nootropic supplements, as opposed to discovering a brand new sector, because that's kind of what happened. In essence, caffeine, despite its 1,000-year history, we think of it as energy. Well, caffeine isn't fuel, caffeine isn't energy, it's a stimulant. And as a pharmaceutical, you know, nerdy type, that scientifically means zero calorie drinks, high fructose drinks don't support caffeine very well. They don't support metabolism very well. And I just started playing around with that. And we discovered 4 blends that dramatically enhance how caffeine is supported. And it changes the entire stigma that some people might associate with caffeine that I'm very, very happy to discuss.

Great, yeah, that again leads kind of well into my next question, because I think, you know, I want to hear a little bit more about the science behind the product formulation, because because many people listening probably drink coffee and they're aware that caffeine, yeah, is a stimulant, as you say, that it can help wake them up in the morning. But tell us, yeah, kind of about the science behind maybe not just the caffeine, but the other things that you mentioned, other fuels, the antioxidants and other key ingredients that you're including in the Brain Fuel beverage formula.

Well, the science behind Brain Fuel starts with the engine, which is the caffeine. So we are what I would call a functional better-for-you category. That category is dominated by caffeine natural sources. So Brain Fuel starts with a caffeine blend. You have naturally sourced caffeines from green coffee beans and from green tea. Now, what does that mean? It means there's potentially more of what's good for you in Brain Fuel than in coffee, even though this is a non-coffee base. Why? Coffee has something you don't see in most supplements or most energy drinks. It has other things that a roast of a coffee bean puts into the liquid. We call those chlorogenic acids and other related compounds. There's probably 1,000 compounds in coffee, and that means they're all coming from a green coffee bean, and they have a lot of potential health benefits. But when you roast coffee, you kill some of those antioxidants. You may add a couple others. You even add a couple carcinogens, which has been a hotly debated opic historically in California where there was a legal case where they tried to force purveyors of coffee to put some kind of label on coffee that said it could possibly cause cancer. So I think that's well exaggerated. I don't think there's enough of a carcinogen in a cup of coffee to really be harmful, but the point is Brain Fuel takes the green coffee bean, which is heated to 100 degrees. It takes green tea leaves, extracts the caffeine. Then we take the green coffee bean extract itself and the green tea extract itself. All of those things are products on the market that are just one component of Brain Fuel. So we naturally source the caffeine. Then to support stimulation, which is what caffeine does, right? To support that, the body's extremely sensitive to any elevated metabolism. We have what's called oxidative stress that we live with every single day. If we have a high fatty meal, if we have no calorie meals, if we're under mental stress, if we physically outstrip our body's ability to work for us, we're in oxidative stress. I don't want that to happen if I want us to get a great caffeine experience. Our fuel blend has low or early, medium, and long-term release fuels. It starts with a natural low glycemic sugar. It goes on to a hydrolyzed protein source, which in this case is collagen because it has great amino acids for your brain. One in particular is called glycine. And we move on to medium-chain triglycerides, not to be trendy because it has keto potential, but it's a great, uh, fuel source as well. And there's many, uh, interactive benefits as we add these blends. Less oxidative stress, better fuel to support the caffeine. If caffeine outstrips its fuel source, the brain sputters. We can't let that happen. So I also believe you can't underestimate how much it takes to make the brain and body happy. So we added powerful antioxidant support in addition to what we were already getting out of our caffeine blend. So you see 1.5 grams of vitamin C, you'll see vitamin E in there, You see other things in there that also add antioxidant benefits. And there's data out there when you combine vitamin C and E, you just look at the brain, less oxidative stress, maybe more cognitive benefits. I mean, there's published data that supports this is a good thing to do, especially for the brain. And then what I call the brain boosting additives, things like zinc. Zinc is really important for many reasons, not because it's popular right now, maybe, in a COVID universe is having something to do with antiviral effects, but most enzymes need zinc as a trace element to support them. Creatine, creatine is not just for bodybuilding and muscles. The way creatine works is we all know what ATP is, that's where energy ultimately comes from. When we deplete ATP, it's ADP. Creatine in the brain, it's called phosphorylating ADP. It makes it really easy and quick for a brain cell to reenergize itself. Okay, so you put all that together. Beetroot powder has terrific health benefits. It's a great antioxidant, the pigments in the beetroot, which is the color of the drink. Okay, those pigments have great antioxidant properties. It also has great blood flow properties. A lot of endurance athletes, triathletes have gotten into, you know, beetroot for that reason. So ultimately you have 4 blends here. And then, when you drink Brain Fuel, you give yourself a day where you're challenged, you need high performance, you need to grind. Some really wonderful things have been happening to people that are using Brain Fuel.

That is such a fascinating story from the beginning to the end, I think. I want to touch on some of these. You went through them quickly and we want to go back and explore maybe some of these other molecules. But even just the roasting thing that you were talking about at the top, that intuitively makes sense that if you roast something at a super high temperature, you're going to like lose something. So I think that extract from the green coffee beans and the green tea, that's quite interesting, as well as all the other science that you talked about. I didn't know a lot of that stuff. But kind of one thing that you mentioned, you saw it sort of at the end there, is, you know, this is for high performers. I want to ask you about your customers, sort of. I know you're pre-launch right now and it's coming up, but obviously, you know, anyone can enjoy a beverage. But tell me a little bit more about your your real target market or your ideal customer? You know, who do you envision, I guess, specifically using Brain Fuel, or who is it formulated for? Is it like people like yourself, you know, career professionals with a, you know, really demanding kind of like regimen, or kind of anybody, I guess?

Well, you know, when you believe you may have found a way to do something better, even though coffee is a wonderful thing, if we're able to ingest caffeine in a functional, better-for-you beverage better than we have before, it crosses a lot of demographic platforms now. So I would say this is a drink for people who demand high performance, who strive for high performance, and that, you know, you could say could be anything from a supermom to a poker player to a golfer to an endurance athlete to UFC fighter to a project manager, students who, you know, used to use Adderall and maybe will find this to be completely different and helpful. But ultimately, I think Gen Zers, from the perspective of their comfort with caffeine, and disruptively have been changing the brand dynamics in the market. You're seeing the big leaders in the energy drink sector declining somewhat. You're seeing functional, better few beverages taking off as people are getting more critical about how healthy the ingredient mix is. So I would say Gen Zers becomes a primary target because of their comfort level, because they're grinding a lot. And then millennials probably next. I think it's sort of an age-related kind of thing. Millennials are very conscious of what they're putting in their bodies. And I think the ingredient list in Brain Fuel is something they're gonna wanna look at really carefully. And I think they should, and I think they'll like what they see. Then as you get into an older population, like my peers, A lot of them either won't touch an energy drink. Now there's a lot of exceptions, okay? But as a general rule, there's a stigma to them about an energy drink. So some of them are coffee drinkers and some don't even want to touch it because they think they're going to get a wired, jittery crash. But that's the side effect of an overstimulated caffeinated situation, not caffeine itself. So the Gen Zers would be, I think, first and foremost, but it's any one who wants to be a high performer.

Yeah, that's really interesting. I hadn't really thought about, you know, the ways the beverage space is changing. I know Gen Zers and millennials are also maybe not drinking the same kinds of alcohol or maybe to the same extent. And I hadn't really thought kind of, you know, about the more traditional, I guess, you know, sugary energy drink and how, you know, the consumer might view that. And certainly, yeah, just being more conscious of what goes into your body. So yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, thanks so much for that. Yeah, I want to kind of go back to one thing we were talking about before. You kind of rattled off some of these, and so feel free to go dive into one of them or any of them. But yeah, zinc, glycine, L-theanine, I think was something I saw on your website looking at the ingredients. So, to recap, I guess, what can the consumer expect to feel in terms of the mind-body performance from enhancement from the formulation in the Brain Fuel product? And then, if you want to talk about just any of those other compounds that you mentioned specifically in the formulation to sort of recap, you know, what the full experience.

Yeah, so I see two questions there. Okay, so there's what are some of the really important reasons I've included certain ingredients in Brain Fuel? And so you have to take a look at the fact that we have zinc in our body. Why would I put it in Brain Fuel? You have to understand what's going to happen when you hit the accelerator on your Ferrari. Let's call your body a potential Ferrari, and Brain Fuel has figured out how to make sure that engine is absolutely ready to perform. That's the concept, right? So you may have zinc in your body, but if you're going to work and rev up your engine and you don't want your brain to overheat, you may deplete what is considered, you know, you may have a little less or a little more than the average person, but I want to make sure you have enough. Okay, because zinc is going to do some good things for you. So what about, um, part of the Fuel Blend has collagen. Why didn't I select whey protein if I wanted a protein? Collagen is pretty much the only protein that is really high in something called glycine. What does your brain do every day? It's 2% of your body weight and it uses up 20% of your oxygen without any metabolic stimulation from caffeine. Now it has one chemical pathway to reverse what we call oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is when you use oxygen to turn fuel into energy, that whole ATP cycle. You get these little oxygen singlet molecules, they call them free radicals or reactive oxygen species. They want to suck electrons out of surrounding tissue. So your antioxidants, whether it's the blend, whether it's a pathway in the brain are the ones we add. If they can donate the electron and neutralize that nasty oxygen radical, they save the day. So they're getting depleted. Where does glycine come in? We have enough glycine in our body generally, but now we're under high metabolic revved up utilization. We want it to make your body happy, right? So one of the key pathways called the glutamic acid pathway that's the only pathway the brain has to try to neutralize antioxidants, a rate-limiting factor can often be glycine, because what's kind of enough when you're not really having to track and really go for it on a given day or grind may not be enough. Probably in reality, if you look at the variables in a human being's daily existence, they have a crappy day nutritionally, you know, they wanted to intermittent fast for half the day, If we don't know how to support what I consider to be the magic molecule caffeine, honestly, if it's well supported, you're not going to get the best resonating result. So what have we found? So it's very interesting to me. I like to start with the fact that a lot of people, first of all, shocked they don't get the jitters and they don't get the wired effect. That's pretty uncommon. I do think we should reference that though. The more you've like not slept all night the night before, you've already fried your brain. I don't think Brain Fuel is going to help you as much. The more you decided you're not gonna eat for 24 hours. Well, again, you can't really burn the candle at both ends and get the best out of anything, right? So with Brain Fuel, what most people are going to see is mood elevation. The last thing you usually associate with caffeine or coffee is that there's a wired feeling. There's mood elevation. There's mental focus. We call it cognitive endurance. People feel like they're in the zone. And there's a sense of well-being. Your body feels really good. If you're waiting for that spiked, jittery, wired feeling and you think that's what caffeine means, I don't know that Brain Fuel is going to deliver that for you, but it's going to make you feel like you're really energized. And it's a combination of more alertness, responding more quickly, reflexes are better. We have some professional mountain bikers that have used this. One of them is on a 7-figure salary with Red Bull. He said a PR, set a personal PR on Brain Fuel. So unfortunately, I don't think he can be an influencer for us. But I mean, that's basically what we've seen. And I personally stopped crashing after dinner when I came home after an 11-hour surgery day kind of thing, right? So towards the very— and it tends to be long duration. It's not— one potential investor tried, he got, you know, he took it 11 in the morning and it just lasted all day into the evening. So you have all kinds of experiences like that. My wife likes to take half of it in a smoothie. Everybody kind of evolves what they like to do. Sometimes you just want the health benefits. Yeah, you're not that interested even in the energy. So we're seeing the kind of things that we don't typically see in an energy drink or maybe in a nootropic supplement. We see a little bit in coffee, but you got to drink, you know, several cups to get as much effect, and usually eventually you do get the wired jittery kind of thing, depending on your experience and how much you've used coffee. So I think from a point of view, if we look at what coffee did for human beings, I think Brain Fuel tries to do something that's iteratively potentially doing more.

Yeah, thank you so much for that full recap, Dr. Horne, on the benefits, but also, like you were talking about, just I think this kind of primer on metabolism, what you were talking about, basically what's happening with our oxidation. People hear the word antioxidants and they're probably familiar with it, but kind of going into what's actually happening with the phosphorylation and ADP. So, uh, it's very, very interesting. So, um, yeah, thanks for kind of taking us down that, that scientific explanation. I think that probably clarifies it for a lot of people who have heard some of these terms but maybe, uh, just not really sure how, how they actually work inside the body. So I really appreciate that. This is kind of one of my favorite questions to ask, is to, uh, ask the founders to make a prediction for, you know, the future of, of the industry. So what, what do you guys what do you see as the future for energy and performance in the food and beverage space over the next 5 years? Do you envision it changing? And if so, how?

Let me let my co-founder go next. I couldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for Colton. So Colton, your thoughts.

Yeah, Dustin, it's a good question. When you look at the functional beverage space right now, over the past few months and even a couple years, it's been a very active space, a disruptive space, and a highly acquisitive space too. And we're seeing bigger beverage brands move into this space. Of both non-alcoholic drinks in general and specifically functional beverages and caffeinated beverages. Why is that? I think it's a couple of reasons. Coming off of this pandemic, right, and during it, I think it's very clear that people are more cognizant than ever about how they're feeling both physically and mentally. And they're looking for food, beverage, any options that are going to support them in that pursuit to feel great. You know, another part of it is that, as something my dad alluded to earlier, Consumers are savvier than ever with what they're putting in their body. They're reading ingredient labels. That's something that people care about. I think that's where Brain Fuel fits in really nicely is that there are a lot of products in the functional beverage space that have one primary health benefit or a couple of health benefits, whether it's a collagen drink, whether it's a drink with MCT oil or a drink with a lot of vitamin C. I think that's where Brain Fuel fits in is we combine a lot of these benefits and we're able to reach a a whole lot of different types of people that are looking for all different sorts of benefits. Now, as far as the space and the evolution itself, you look at some recent activity such as Coca-Cola discontinuing half of its beverage brands just this week. That's a huge sign of where this is trending. Drinks of old, traditional drinks that were very branding-heavy, very marketing-heavy, and maybe weren't able to back it up with product health, those are sort of going out the wayside now. What's moving in is products that are tangibly beneficial, that really help people feel better, not just taste great, but obviously that's a part of it. I think that's what we're going to see over the next few years is quite a few brands that find their niche in a particular health benefit or possibly comprehensively across several benefits, which is what we aim to do. I think that's really what people are looking for now. I think that's what bigger brands are looking to add to their portfolios. Then another part of this is caffeine. That's really a central part of Brain Fuel, of course. One of the things that we've seen in caffeinated beverages is the evolution from coffee into different types of enhanced coffees. I'll name a couple of brands that really stand out that we've looked at as guides in some ways. Bulletproof Coffee and Super Coffee are two companies that have done a phenomenal job of supporting caffeine, the stimulant, with fuel, with MCT or with collagen protein. Now, we think we take it a step further by adding in the antioxidant blend, which my dad spoke to earlier, but that just goes to show sort of the trend of this space and where we could fit into it. I think that it's a bright future for functional beverages for sure.

Yeah, thanks so much for that. I love that prediction. Oh, go ahead, Dr. Horne.

Yeah, let me just, uh, you know, you, you both kind of segued me into something that is, uh, you know, my little soapbox for me. And so I think of the tree of knowledge that it represents civilization is this like infinite tree and the branches are sprouting and every 5 years in any sector you think of, we think we're on to something new. Right? So you could say, you know, when keto came on the scene over the last 5 years and you see what Colton referenced with Super Coffee and Bulletproof Coffee and Dave Asprey and biohacking, you're seeing things change and things change for the better. And fundamental to this conversation and human health to me and the future of the beverage space and other aspects of human health is can we really put out the fire of oxidative stress? Because you age prematurely because of that. That's why people who eat crappy probably get sicker, etc. They don't live as long as a general rule. You know, smoking is not the best thing for oxidative stress, and it goes on and on and on. Cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, I mean diabetes, inflammation of the body, even neurologically, Alzheimer's, neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers see oxidative stress and the damage it causes fundamental to all of that. And then they studied the markers of oxidative stress. And here's what's fascinating. Yes, an antioxidant sounds like the little extinguisher you would use to put out a fire. But if you have fire in the frying pan and you take water, it won't put out that fire. Now you need foam. Well, the human body, it's sort of on fire from oxidative stress, but there's no magic bullet from one antioxidant. In studies, you'll see a lot of data on oxidative stress markers and the brain responding to a lot of things. What happens when we look at analysis systemically on people? They've done studies over 5+ years on people. Here's what you see. You'll see like a Finnish study that shows vitamin C and E showed all kinds of incredible benefits on the study done in Finland. Then you'll see another study, it's done on people, so, but the study wanted to see, okay, if it seems to be helping, let's take people that have heart disease, that have all kinds of what we'll call comorbidities, right? We're familiar with that, from the COVID era, and let's see what NAC should do then, and they didn't get better. Here I'm thinking, here's what's happening. Over the course of our lifetime, including mine, oxidative stress is ravaging our bodies. Once that's already happened, you don't have the prophylactic benefit anymore. No one says it's hard enough to prevent oxidative stress. No one ever said what, what could prevent it will automatically reverse it. So if you look at a study today, the conclusion will be, well, antioxidants don't really help because we studied all these people that are 65 and older, which includes me, and they had all these morbidities and they didn't see the benefit we saw in the Finnish group that was in their 50s or younger. My point would be, why can't nutritionally in a beverage evolve to where we're doing something basic and fundamental we haven't done before And I think every 5 years or 10 years that's gonna happen, and we reduce oxidative stress dramatically. And with regular use, we see all kinds of health benefits. I'm not saying that's brain fuel, right? I can't do that $10 million study right now, but we're certainly on the road to finding better antioxidants than we've seen in beverages before, right? And that's one key plank I think that's going to really have a chance to impact health in a very fundamental way. It's basic, it's critical, and it's, I think, underappreciated historically.

Yeah, yeah, super, super interesting and super insightful predictions. Yeah, I think like, um, for me at least, this, uh, the concept of like the oxidative stress is kind of new, but you know, you mentioned sort of the biohacker movement and things like that, and I think that consumers, like you were talking about reading the labels, Colton, I mean, people are just becoming so much more aware of maybe how metabolism works and how some of these functional things work in the body that, yeah, I love these kind of predictions because I think we're sort of at just the beginning of consumers starting to understand how these things work. And like you said, how you can use this preventatively by having the right antioxidant blends and doing that consistently throughout your life, you can lower that oxidative stress from compounding over time. So yeah, just, I love the science here. I love those predictions. Predictions. I think it makes a lot of sense. I want to ask you guys kind of advice for other early-stage or aspiring entrepreneurs just getting started. You know, you guys have obviously done a lot to build Brainfield to where it is today. What would you have liked to have known maybe, you know, 2 years ago or before you even kind of got started? Any sage wisdom for really early-stage founders just getting started now?

I have a fundamental one. I've noticed this in my pharmaceutical career too. Branding is what sells, but science gives you longevity potentially. So it's not enough to have good science in a drug or in a product. It has to be in the right place at the right time. You have to brand it well. And so I do think consumers are getting more savvy about this. Just taking the same old thing and putting a fresh coat of paint on it If that's what you're doing, I don't think, unless you have an incredible branding opportunity and a fortune to back you, I don't think that's, you know, the ideal litmus test that you have the startup idea you wanted. Make sure you're passionate, that you're doing something you know is better, and then work at how you get the public. The public has a limited attention span for a reason. We're bombarded every day. Make sure you try to find the right way to get that message out and brand it. And we're in the process of learning how to do that. Wonderful.

And I'll add a few things as well that were helpful for me and maybe, you know, for younger entrepreneurs or college entrepreneurs out there. Like for me, I started, you know, I was interested in working with Founder Institute prior to BrainFuel existing, at least in its current capacity. And one of the reasons for that and one of the things that I would recommend for any aspiring entrepreneur is just immersing yourself in an entrepreneurial community. And exposing yourself to entrepreneurial people, you know, feeding your mind with books or podcasts about entrepreneurship. And one of the benefits from doing that is, you know, in working with the cohort of 30+ founders in Chicago, I was able to see some of the challenges and hurdles that they had to go through, both at very early stage, such as how do you explain your product or service concisely, right? Which is obviously important for something like ours, which is very nuanced and sometimes complex and scientific product. How do you explain what you're doing in a concise and captivating manner, all the way through, you know, actually building the company, getting to market, etc. And so, you know, that was valuable for me. And then another thing that I would say is speed and versatility are kind of the two things that have really guided our decision-making throughout this year, is how can we get things done as quickly as possible? How do we delegate, prioritize, and schedule, you know, most efficiently? And also on the cost side, How can we be maximally efficient, minimizing spending as much as possible? And those are some of the questions that I ask myself on a daily basis when we're managing day-to-day operations, is how can we be as quick, as versatile, as efficient as we possibly can? And that, you know, that all started with meeting and surrounding myself with other entrepreneurial people.

Love that advice. Definitely something that, yeah, comes close to home for us at Founder Institute. So yeah, thanks. Thanks for that as well, Colton. Final question is just kind of, you know, your final update, I guess, you know, where is Brain Fuel headed next? Do you have any news or updates you want to share or recap here with the FI community or any asks for the audience who might be watching live or any recording of this?

Yeah, so, you know, the pandemic was a positive for us in some ways because it set the whole industry back and we're getting reviews and all kinds of traction. We're excited by a couple of things. We have a product launch coming up in a couple weeks. We have POs already for our product with some terrific opportunities, people that really understand Amazon, Amazon Analytics. We have a major drug chain that's doing a pilot study with us this quarter, looking to launch us in their, you know, healthier sections of their, you know, their stores. We're getting a lot of traction from distributors. So we're excited about all of it. But I'm not gonna lie, you cannot succeed in this industry without a lot of money. We've raised a fair amount of money and we're looking to do a significant raise now and again by the middle of next year. Awesome.

Well, congratulations, yeah, on that, the traction with distributors. And yeah, so if anybody's listening, we'll definitely include your contact information, you know, the website to reach out. So, if anybody who's listening might be interested in investing, yeah, definitely don't hesitate to reach out. This has been really, really interesting learning about this space. Some of these concepts are kind of new to me, and so I found it really fascinating kind of diving into the science and just want to say thank you both for your time, Colton and Dr. Gerald Horn, co-founders of BrainFuel. We're really looking forward to keeping up with everything that you're doing and headed next. Sharing out these news and updates to come in the weeks and months ahead as you guys push towards your launch. So thanks so much again for joining us today.

Dustin, I appreciate FI. I appreciate FI Nation and their support. I hope we can also offer some support as we evolve, and I've really enjoyed this interview. Thank you.

Yep, thank you, Dustin. I feel the same way. FI has been extremely valuable and helpful for us.

All right, thanks so much, guys. Take care.

Thank you. Take care.