The Startup CPG Podcast

Tyshawn Bryant
I stood right next to the plant based protein section and I literally just told, you know, the camera, I said, this is why I believe that we should be here. And I really believe that. But I wouldn't have been able to do that if I initially did not learn more about GNC and where they were going as an organization. So I felt very comfortable and I said, you know what, why not? This is the way I look at it was for this type of opportunity. I don't know what other retailer that we can be in that could perhaps give us this type of scale.

00:39
Luke Montgomery-Smith
This competition is going to be savage because we've all come from all over the country at this point and we've got to do a sort of Dragon's Den, Shark Tank style pitch to the board of directors, head of franchise. It was a pretty nerve wracking day and I care, right? It's my business. So as soon as you're there, you're like, you're in it and you're really feeling every moment.

01:02
Daniel Scharff
Hello.

01:02
Daniel Scharff
Hello everyone.

01:03
Daniel Scharff
Today you're going to learn all about GNC's Next Big Thing. This is one of my absolute favorite opportunities in the industry. It's a partnership that we have with GNC where emerging brands from our community get to apply for a national test with gnc. Isn't that amazing? GNC is a cultural icon. They have absolutely launched brands like Ghost Energy and Aulani Nu into the stratosphere. Their customers are incredibly desirable for almost any brand. They're looking for top tier wellness options. They're heavily influential in their communities. So any emerging CPG brand can actually apply for this competition. We have applications that are going to close at the end of April. Check the show notes for the instructions. Basically, you submit, you find out if you're selected to send in samples and then find out if you're a finalist.

01:47
Daniel Scharff
If you win, you get a national test with them. I will never forget the first time that I walked into a GNC and saw the winning brands on a beautiful end cap. Right by the checkout there was a huge promotional poster calling out next big thing, our logo, all the brands. It's so special. So on today's episode, we're going to talk to two brands who were winners last year. We're going to find out about the program. Tips for applying, tips for succeeding with gnc. Thank you so much to our friends at GNC for believing in supporting brands in this way.

02:17
Daniel Scharff
We are so grateful.

02:19
Daniel Scharff
Enjoy.

02:23
Daniel Scharff
Luke, my friend, welcome to the podcast. Always love chatting with the Plink boys. So, you know, I just was so excited when you guys were first chosen as a finalist and then one of the winners for the GNC Next Big Thing last year because I've been such a fan of you guys for so long. First of all, can you just tell me a little bit about what was the experience like for you? What, why did you want to apply for it in the first place?

02:45
Luke Montgomery-Smith
As always, Dan, it's a pleasure to be here. Yeah. So it was part of, you know, whole going in for Expo West. You know, if you're. This was, were told by a friend of ours out here in Vermont, like if you want to expand, you got to get to Expo West. We started looking around, how are we going to get involved with Expo West? We saw that you guys had your startup CPG section. It was our first time exhibiting. It just felt like a soft landing to have some community. So we applied and were very lucky to be part of the startup CPG set. And then you guys inundated us with just a huge number of opportunities of potential meetings. We're like, okay, great.

03:18
Luke Montgomery-Smith
This is, I didn't know how I was going to get some of these meetings, so I applied for sort of every. There was a number of different competitions, supply meetings, lightning 30 second pitches, things like that. And the GNC Next Big Thing was part of that opportunity. Interestingly, for a young brand such as ourselves, it felt potentially a little way off, like weren't quite there. We had just got our first chain of 10 stores and our chain of 11 stores. But that's why were at Expo, right, to take the next step for the business. So we applied on a, you know, just a, you've got to apply for. If you don't apply for everything, you don't get anything. And then we got to the show and obviously you get into say 10% of the things that you apply for.

03:55
Luke Montgomery-Smith
That's the nature of how it works. There's only so many meetings and GNC was one of them. And we had already, because it's such a busy great part of the show, we'd actually already had GNC before the pitch, like come up and have a conversation with us. And hydration is growing and it's not just having a moment, it's just a continual trend that is going to grow. And if you have a wellness store that sells in the exercise space, hydration is going to be a category of interest. So they came up and had a conversation and they were really happy that we applied to the Lightning pitch. And that's how it came about.

04:25
Daniel Scharff
That is awesome. And can you just catch everyone up? What is plinking? What's plank? What's it all about? What kind of hydration are you giving us?

04:32
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Yes, of course.

04:33
Tyshawn Bryant
Yeah.

04:33
Luke Montgomery-Smith
This is Plink. It's an electrolyte drink tablet formulated for everyday use. So we saw that hydration, you know, has been booming since the 60s with Gatorade, and we wanted to create a delicious beverage without the waste of cans of bottles. And we just saw a huge opportunity in hydration to think like a beverage and create a genuinely delicious beverage. So ours is sodium, potassium, magnesium, formulated for daily hydration. Lightly sparkling delicious. Has a beginning, middle, and end. It's just a joy to consume.

05:00
Daniel Scharff
All right, and any progress on incorporating my tagline of don't think, Just plink.

05:06
Luke Montgomery-Smith
As many times as I can.

05:07
Daniel Scharff
As many times as I can.

05:09
Luke Montgomery-Smith
The puns are coming.

05:10
Daniel Scharff
I'm always here for unsolicited marketing taglines for anybody who would like them. Thank you. All right, so, Luke, it was a really special moment to get to be there actually, at the pitch with you. So you guys applied, Obviously, you did a great job, and they liked the product, and so you came out for the finalist pitches at GNC headquarters, which was a pretty cool experience. I'll never forget. Just kind of standing there with you after the actual pitch while you're waiting to find out who's actually, like, in the hallway.

05:38
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Right.

05:38
Daniel Scharff
And at some point, a big wig is going to come and tell everyone who won. Right. I was looking at you and, oh, my gosh, you look stressed out. Just like, you know, all the color gone from your face and just like, oh, like, my heart. You're like, my heart is just racing right now because, I mean, the impact is so big. Right? This is gnc. I mean, they have been incredibly impactful, launching a bunch of very big brands like Aulani New and Ghost Energy. And it's just. It's a huge opportunity for a growing brand. Especially, like you're saying, were in, you know, dozens of stores and, you know, like, wow, this ridiculous opportunity to be tested nationally. Right. Can you tell me what were you feeling in that moment?

06:15
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Yeah, totally. So, yeah, we had the great meeting at the show. We had to do a video pitch as part of it. And then we found out were going down to Pittsburgh to meet with them. And it was. Everyone had got up at 5am or 4am to get that early morning flight to get into the city. So you're already sort of a little bit Sort of jacked on coffee and things like that. And what was immediately sort of disarming and lovely is just how nice everyone was at gnc. And it was like, oh my God, this is six.

06:40
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Not just the GNC people but also the six other founders of teams of people were like, oh my God, this competition is going to be savage because we've all come from all over the country at this point and we've got to do a sort of Dragon's Den, Shark Tank style pitch to the board of directors ahead of franchise. It was a pretty nerve wracking day and. And I care, right? It's my business. So as soon as you're there, you're like, you're in it and you're really feeling every moment. And it was a lovely bit of. We had to go off and do press interviews and go off and do photo shoots and come back and it was sort of a heightened.

07:12
Luke Montgomery-Smith
There was lots of times when I was just sitting in a room on my own just sort of like waiting and then for some reason were up last. I don't know, it's all luck of the draw or bad luck of the draw. But I had to wait until everyone was done and. And then you get to go in and there's always a little bit of a tech issue getting the screen up and everything. And then you just pitch and it was just. And then it was over in the adrenaline just like for a brief period. So when were standing in that hallway, just like, have I done enough? What's going to happen? Like, this feels so good. It's sort of like proud of myself but also like, I don't know, is it going to happen?

07:41
Luke Montgomery-Smith
And I think there were a couple of times where were like, what is today? Like, who's going to happen? Like, how's this going to end? Because there's going to be a lot of upset people. And I think it was incred. Incredible. I'm sure you all knew, but we didn't have a clue that when it was announced at the time when Michael Mike came out and was just like, we're going to launch all of you, it was just such a moment of elation. You've seen the videos that Max shared. We were. It was genuinely pure joy and yeah, it was a real seismic event for our business, to be honest.

08:10
Daniel Scharff
That's incredible. I'm so lucky to have been there to get to see that and I know I did not know. I really equally excited with all of you guys and I knew that they Liked all of the brands, right? That's why, I mean, you know, they're not just picking out of a hat. Like we had hundreds of submissions for this program because it's such a massive opportunity. They very thoughtfully went through all these submissions and you know, it's not just like check a box and submit, like there are videos involved. They're looking for you to understand gnc, their consumer and how your product is going to help them better serve their wellness oriented consumers.

08:44
Daniel Scharff
And so, you know, they were really happy with all the quality of the submissions, the brands from our community and I think really good choices about who should be there for the final. So we like these brands. We. They like them. I mean, you know, it's a lot like that was a special day, right? As soon as the elevator doors open and we walked in, we're like, whoa, this is like nice. They had all the signage out for us. I mean, it felt like really were all being on like real world contestants or something, you know, really like on Shark Tank. It was just like so nicely done. So it was a very special day. It takes a lot for them to invest those kind of resources and prioritize really getting to know the brands who are there for finalists.

09:22
Daniel Scharff
So anyways, all of that to say I did not know they were going to have so many actual winners, but you know, they just, they were really supportive of all the brands who were there and taking time to show everybody around the test store and film all the content. So I was super excited. So, all right, fast forward.

09:39
Daniel Scharff
You win.

09:40
Daniel Scharff
Yay. Now, you know, a couple months later, then actually it starts happening and you know, the prize is a national test best. So getting into about 80 stores nationally on this beautiful end cap right by the checkout. And I know, like, because you guys are hustlers, you're out there in the store because that's like step one as a founder, right? Like actually go in the store, see that it's in there, see what it's like, get some feedback, try to talk to the employees at the store, make them super fans, right? So I know you're out there hustling. Can you tell me what that was like?

10:08
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Yeah. So that, I mean, there's a few steps sort of in between that, which is, yeah, you win the competition. Great. And it's like, okay, now you've got to onboard with a big organization and get prepared to distribute into a massive company that has a different way of working to all of the small mom and pop stores or natural stores that we had already launched in. And I think that was an amazing learning curve that their team, their ops team and their onboarding team were just like incredibly patient with and really diligent at taking us through. And I, we really appreciated that because I learned a lot about the process of working with a big business during that. It was, I can't remember if it was two or three months, however many months.

10:44
Luke Montgomery-Smith
We had a few months where it was just a really detailed onboarding process. And then, yeah, we launched into those stores. We're on the shelf. They're all over the country. So it's like you can't get to all of them. We're a tiny team, but we just hit up like anytime were at a trade show, anytime were at an event, anyone that was within a short flight or whatever it is we got down to. And that was when we really realized just how an exciting and opportunity GNC was going to be for us. Because the GNC stores are just staffed by people that care predominantly. They're like, they're either personal trainers or they're on a fitness journey or wellness is like improved their life and they're really passionate about it. So you go in and GNC call them coaches.

11:25
Luke Montgomery-Smith
And some of the most of them that I've spoken to are legit personal trainers and coaches and have like a real insight into the products they're selling. So they are the consumers of their own good. So it was really interesting going in and seeing and meeting these people and getting excited by it and yeah, I mean it was great. We started, we got on the shelf. Obviously we're a small brand, we don't have a huge marketing budget. We basically just relied on some organic posts and some bits and pieces to get it moving. We also relied on the fact that we're in a. It's a perfect time for hydration. We did a test with them and we jump on a call with Jason and Cody, who are sort of my buyers, because it was six brands across different categories.

12:01
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Everyone sort of went off on their own personal journeys. And yeah, those guys just absolute gents just talked through like what it would look like to graduate, as it were, from the startup CPG set and into their permanent hydration set. And they gave us the benchmarks that we would need to hit and let us know how it work out. And we just really excitingly towards the end of last year got the news that were going to be rolling into their hydration set. So what was great about the startup CPG spot is it was an end cap what was sort of different about it is it for us, it wasn't where you'd find hydration and for the other brands, it wasn't necessarily where you found the other bits. It was like a standalone. It's very well branded.

12:38
Luke Montgomery-Smith
But there's one thing about getting in a promo and then there's a whole nother thing about being next to your competitor at the right price point in the right point with the sort of where people have that high intent to purchase. So it's exciting for us to move in and we launched, we started the year in their gym and campus locations, which is perfect for us, you know, just getting to more of our consumer. And again, I haven't got round to every store because we don't have time and I've been, but I've been calling the store managers and we sent out a welcome pack with a cap, then some product to sample and had really positive feedback. And it was lovely that, you know, I left my mo.

13:11
Luke Montgomery-Smith
My cell number on the pack and people were calling me up going, hey, this is lovely. I love the cap, I've shared it around and things like that. And it's, I'm still getting those calls and I'm making calls to stores. So just if you work, if you're a coach at gnc, in one of the stores with Blink on the Shelf and I haven't yet called you, call me, let's have a chat. I'd love to share more about the brand story. Yeah, sorry about that, Dan. Just sort of getting that in there.

13:32
Daniel Scharff
Let somebody know if you know, somebody works at gnc. I actually love you sharing that because that is what it takes as an early stage founder for a brand is to have that unlimited energy to just go and hustle every single point of distribution that you get, try to turn everybody into a fan and, you know, really just fight, you know, one consumer, one super fan at a time. Because that's how you build and.

13:54
Luke Montgomery-Smith
It'S always the team. If you get everywhere that we've had success in all the stores, it's the store managers, it's the shelf, it's the merchandisers, it's everyone that has like, because they buy it, they shop in their own stores and that's like been huge for us at GNC is one of the things that we love is like drink your water, enjoy every day is the sort of tagline that we go with. And GNC is live well. And we just really love like the live well every Day piece is just like it's so well aligned with what GNC are trying to move. Not trying, they're moving into a more holistic wellness space. As, as the macro trend of wellness expands across everything.

14:27
Luke Montgomery-Smith
You know, it's no longer just the sort of hardcore fitness goers, but it's the people that more like me just want to add a little bit of extra and I think so we feel like a great. It feels just like a really solid partnership in both ways. We're adding something that they didn't have before and that they're providing us to a new audience.

14:45
Daniel Scharff
I was just thinking about yeah, that end cap which is so special. I actually had no idea the first time I went in to go and see it, all the brands final on shelf that it was so cool. It was like GNC X startup cpg next big thing. Like even our logo at the store, I was like, yeah, yeah, it was great. Oh, here we go. So I probably was just as excited as you guys to see like our brand on the shelves as well. It's just such a storied institution, gnc. But yeah, I mean that's so special to just get this unique opportunity from just something that's so culturally significant in the US and you know, I think Luke, you didn't grew up here, right? You're from England, correct? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Cool.

15:23
Daniel Scharff
I have to ask, when you are like talking to people back home and telling them about these kind of stories, like yeah, I went to Pittsburgh for the finals to pitch gnc, are people like, what's going like how do people take it?

15:37
Luke Montgomery-Smith
I mean, yeah, it looks pretty good. I think to the uk America is a big, exciting, big, huge, difficult, challenging opportunity to crack. So all of my homies, all of my friends are very proud for me taking it on, it's a big one, it's. And the thing sort of can't stress enough just how big America is and how so this GNC opportunity is just vast. We're all over the country and it has allowed us, it's helped our dtc, you know, it's helped improve. It's another point of people to see the product. It helps just the brand name of GNC is a fantastic, strong brand. It's got a household name.

16:07
Luke Montgomery-Smith
People know it's like, okay, they've got a big store and there's just been a number of like knock on positive effects from this and just to sort of like emphasize in many ways because of how the competition works, it came from nothing. Like it came from Filling out a Google form that you guys shared on the Slack channel to then nationwide distribution, growing pos, a really great set of buyers that I can build a found relationship with and they're like when we're still growing into our sort of cost structure that will help us to innovate more quickly with npd. But those guys have so much data and they're really excited about like what is the right flavor to launch for the GNC customer and what's the right element to launch for that.

16:45
Luke Montgomery-Smith
So it's, there's so much if you think about it not just as the competition winning, but like a whole sort of specialty channel to explore over the years is such an exciting opportunity.

16:54
Daniel Scharff
I would be doing everything just to grow with GNC specifically if I got this kind of an opportunity. But I imagine also, I mean because of course you're going to be talking to other retailers as well. That's got to be just one of the biggest points of validation when you start off a pitch by talking to them about like, I mean, hey, we won this competition with gnc, we're in GNC as well. I mean that's got to put you off on a pretty nice starting foot with some other discussions as well.

17:18
Luke Montgomery-Smith
We've been really fortunate. We've sort of won where it's mattered. You know, we won the Bevnet new beverage showdown with the first non liquid beverage to win that. So it's sort of like Tick done that. We had a statewide Vermont, we're based out of Vermont. We won the statewide business accelerator Tick like the startup cpg this GNC opportunity. So it's been really lovely. It's lovely to share with our investors. It is great to share with the retailers. They can just see that I think Max and I are really hardworking individuals. We have something that is a little bit different, quite different compared to what's on the shelves and differentiated. So it's like it's a push of willpower to get it out there and to get people to believe in our vision.

17:55
Luke Montgomery-Smith
So anything that can help justify or like to help us feel like we're winning is huge. I think it's been huge. Honestly. We fundraised off the back of the win. So it was sort of like, you know, that's so good, you know. So yeah, it's a huge.

18:11
Daniel Scharff
That's so beautiful. Just, I mean obviously you guys are getting a lot of accolades and you know, just like you seeing how to leverage the momentum. Right. Because that is what it's all about is like yeah, you need to figure out what you do with it when you get these great opportunities and how do you leverage that to grow your brand? And, you know, I'll just say, like, yeah, I really support you guys. Anyone who knows you and Max really supports you as well. You guys are just such a pleasure to watch grow and succeed. So it really doesn't surprise me that, you know, that combined with the hard work that you guys have and a great product that you're seeing, all the success.

18:40
Daniel Scharff
So I just really want to thank you for coming on today and I'm really excited to follow along and keep tabs on how it's going with GNC Tab. No pun intended. Intended. There we go. One to end with, we promised you puns.

18:52
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Yeah. But just to say, you know, to anyone that is thinking about and hasn't yet submitted, like, a deadline's approaching soon, so just get it in. It's like if you back your product and you can tell your story well in that video, you have a huge chance of getting down to Pittsburgh and winning the prize. And I think this is like Dan said earlier, you have to do everything you can, every opportunity to maximize the ability to grow your distribution. And so get involved.

19:17
Daniel Scharff
All right, great. Luke, thank you so much for joining us. Hope everybody enjoyed hearing all about the journey of plink with gnc. Thanks, everyone.

19:25
Luke Montgomery-Smith
Thanks so much. Don't think just plink.

19:28
Daniel Scharff
All right, let's hear from one more guest. Tyshawn, my friend, welcome to the podcast. You recently got some pretty good news from GNC after your run on Next Big Thing. Do you mind sharing with everybody?

19:39
Tyshawn Bryant
Absolutely, yes. So I did receive some great news. So after our initial test with gnc, they contacted me and said, would you like to continue the partnership with us? And I said, absolutely. So they're actually going to expand us to more locations, more GNC locations. Now, these locations are specifically located next to universities and also gyms. So unbelievable opportunity for us to grow.

20:02
Daniel Scharff
That's the dream, right? I mean, gyms and universities, you've got your plant based protein going to be fueling everybody's hardcore gym sessions and late night study sessions probably also.

20:14
Tyshawn Bryant
That's the goal, right? So yeah, no, awesome opportunity.

20:17
Daniel Scharff
That's great. Those are really high value consumers. So take me back. Can you just talk about like, first, why in the first place did you want to apply for GNC's Next Big Thing?

20:26
Tyshawn Bryant
Well, I was thinking this morning and I totally forgot about this, but initially I did not want to apply to this opportunity at all. And I was trying to remember why. And I do remember I initially received the email from startup CPG and I saw in the subject line it said I GNC next big thing. And you know, as entrepreneur you go through different phases. You know, one phase is you're going to apply to everything. Every grant, every opportunity. And then once you receive nothing, you get nothing, you win nothing, then you go into another phase where you're not going to apply for anything. So when I did see the subject line that said GNC, I thought to myself, GNC1. I don't even from what I remember of GNC because I mean GNC was all over my town growing up as a little kid.

21:07
Tyshawn Bryant
I just felt that they were leaning more towards hardcore bodybuilders. So I was thinking, no, you know, through my experience, plant based protein doesn't work with hardcore bodybuilders. So at any rate, I decided, you know what, I'm not going to apply. I would say I waited about a week and I ended up just going to GNC site and taking a look at. I was just curious. And when I went to GNC's website, I was blown away because that's when I learned, oh wow, GNC has really evolved since way back when I was in high school. Now they're targeted more towards active nutrition. And when I noticed that, I said, oh, okay, let me go ahead and actually change my mind. So I applied. I said, why not, you know, give this a shot?

21:47
Tyshawn Bryant
Because now it looks like GNC is more in line with where Green Regimen is online.

21:51
Daniel Scharff
So I remember also Tyshawn because I used to live in LA and I would run into you sometimes actually doing hand deliveries into Erewhon stores. And I would talk to you a little bit about it because I mean that's a pro move. I love, you know, being in the stores. And I remember you explaining to me like, yeah, I mean it's actually, it's really cost efficient to do this. I can do it because I'm here and I'm not trying to expand so fast because it's not like I'm sitting on, you know, millions of dollars in the bank for this business. I'm trying to grow responsibly and this is a cool way to do it.

22:18
Daniel Scharff
So when the GNC opportunity came around, I was thinking for somebody like you, it's actually really sweet because you have a great product and you want to grow, but you don't want to grow in a way that's out of control. Right? You want to have kind of measured growth in places that make sense. And this one seemed like a really targeted way for you to do that and get some good visibility new consumers, but you know, in a way that's kind of like boxed.

22:40
Tyshawn Bryant
Absolutely. Because you know, you figure. And this is what I learned. GNC does have a very targeted customer. And again, once I realized that they are into the more of the active nutrition space and when I went to the GNCs around my area and I looked at the products on the shelf, I was thinking, okay, clearly this is where I would love us to be. So I was happy I applied, obviously.

23:00
Daniel Scharff
Okay, cool. So once you got in gear and you're like, all right, I'm doing this, I'm going to be the next big thing. What did you do? What was the application process like for you?

23:08
Tyshawn Bryant
Well, the application process pretty standard in terms of giving information about your company and why you think you should be at gnc. But then also there was a video that you needed to submit along with your application. So I thought for a little bit and I'm thinking, okay, I don't know how many people are going to be applying to this, but I probably need to do something a little bit different. So I decided to rent a plane and I jumped out of the plane. And as I was falling out of the plane, that's when I didn't do that. I didn't do that. I did something a little bit safer. I decided to go down to a GNC that was in a town right next to me and I filmed the video from there.

23:46
Tyshawn Bryant
You know, I stood right next to the plant based protein section and I literally just told the camera, I said, this is why I believe that we should be here. And I really believe that. But I wouldn't have been able to do that if I initially did not learn more about GNC and where they were going as an organization. So I felt very comfortable and I said, you know what, why not? This is the way I look at it was for this type of opportunity. I don't know what other retailer that we can be in that could perhaps give us this type of scale. So yeah, so I went right to GNC and film.

24:18
Daniel Scharff
I love it. And I have seen that video and I, you know, having seen a lot of the submission videos, I would say that is pro tip number one. Have you been into a store? Do you know what it looks like? Do you actually know what's going on in the store? If not go in and then, yeah, gosh, filming there I think is really also pro move. One thing I really don't love about a lot of videos that I see for submissions is when it's just somebody who looks uncomfortable, they're reading off a script. You're like, is this even your product? Like, why do you have to read off a script? But yours was very natural and it was just, look, here's me, here's the shelf. Here's why we would actually be a great addition for your consumers based on what's in your set.

24:52
Daniel Scharff
Because that is the information that their category managers are looking for, right? Like how can I better serve our health and wellness oriented consumers? What don't we have here? Like, oh, you're in the store doing research. Great. Like please tell me about it. Right?

25:04
Tyshawn Bryant
Yeah, See so you know, like most brands, if they've never had the opportunity to sit on a retail shelf, then they're thinking that hey, you know, we can be in any store and we're just going to blow it out in sales and we're going to make so much money. That's not going to happen at all. So because I had the opportunity, I. We're currently in Air1, some other retailers. I understand how retail works and for a buyer who's going to take the time to review your product and then decide if they want to carry your product, you need to let them know why your product deserves to be on their shelf. Because if your product is on the shelf, that means another product is not on the shelf. So you have to really take it seriously.

25:42
Daniel Scharff
All right, so I mean, did you ever think that you might win this thing when you were going through the application process? What is like, I mean I'm on the inside of it, so I don't know how people view it on the outside. Like, oh, this is like Ed McMahon's lottery thing where like, oh, no one real ever wins this or did you feel like you had a shot?

25:58
Tyshawn Bryant
So okay, so after I filmed the video and I submitted the application, you know, time went by. So you know now months and months went by and then I recall there was a meet and greets at Expo West. So I'm thinking, okay, this is just my mind, I'm just going to be honest. So this is my mom. I'm thinking like, okay, great, you know, I'm just going to show up. I knew there was like a three hour window or something like that somebody show up.

26:19
Tyshawn Bryant
I'm like, there's not going to be too many brands there, you know, because it's gnc and how many brands, you know even want the product at Gen C so I go upstairs to where the meet and greet was held and I turned the corner and there must have been, I don't know, over a thousand people there just waiting in line. And then that's when it hit me. I was like, you live in your own little world, but there's a lot of people out there who want this opportunity as well. So instead of getting nervous, I just, for the most part, I just got more competitive and I was thinking, okay, I do really want this. That's just how I think, right? So from that point forward, to answer your question now, did I think that I was going to win this?

26:57
Tyshawn Bryant
I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to work, but I knew one thing was for sure, that I was going to try my best. So then I kind of like, you know, maybe I just didn't get it. Kind of forgot about it a little bit. Right. Went on to other things and then received the email saying that you're invited to Pittsburgh.

27:14
Daniel Scharff
I love it. I love it. Well, I'm sure you made a really good and lasting impression on them. That was kind of a crazy thing that we did where last year at Expo, you know, we're still learn at startup CPG how to do things the right way. We knew everybody wanted to come and meet their team in the midst of this exciting competition. So were like, all right, just we're going to do a meet and greet at 3pm Come by if you want to talk to their team. And we had seven of their buyers there and it ended up just being a huge line of people that extended all the way down the hall. It was such a spectacle. But yeah, we probably had 200 people in the line the whole time.

27:47
Daniel Scharff
And we were like, all right, we're going to do 30 second meetings with their buyers. And so my team is going crazy trying to administer the whole thing because we want to get actually the people in the line to speak to the right buyer. You know, we want like, if someone's pitching a beverage to actually talk to the beverage buyer. Not because there's a beauty buyer there. Also, like, we don't want to mix them up. So we're just trying to make it all happen really efficiently. But yeah, in general I think everybody really enjoyed now this year we've moved toward, you know, at Expo west we did more facilitated meetings. People applied, said what their product was and then we had timed meetings at our booth. So it was more efficient, less of a S show.

28:21
Tyshawn Bryant
It's understandable that you've optimized it for the second time around.

28:23
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, a lot of. A lot of excitement. So we do like that. Okay, so, Tyshawn, Ben, you were selected as a finalist for Next Big Thing and made the trip out to Pittsburgh. Can you tell me a little bit about what that experience was like for you? Probably. I mean, is it your first time doing something quite like that?

28:42
Tyshawn Bryant
So here's the thing. So I received the email, and we had about two and a half weeks, three weeks to prepare. But when I received the email, that's when I. It was. I was three, like, literally three and a half weeks away from leaving the country because I was doing Versailing to India and all that good stuff. So I was leaving the country, preparing for that trip, and then all of a sudden I get this, okay, you're going to be in Pittsburgh. So I had to really tighten up my. My schedule. And I prepared for this as if I was. I'm a big basketball fan, as if I was preparing for the NBA Finals. So I was so serious about the. The preparation. The thing is when you. And so to answer your question, have I ever done anything like this?

29:20
Tyshawn Bryant
I've done plenty of pitches, but by the time we got to this point, I was thinking to myself, this is the most important pitch that you've ever done in your life. Right. There's no other opportunity in terms of. For green regimen that you've ever had an opportunity to take part in more important than this. So I prepared. I prepared every single day. There was no day that I didn't go over my presentations, but I would say a week to a week and a half in, I knew what I wanted to say, so I didn't necessarily need to worry about being nervous because you just once, you know what it is that's your. The reason why you're there and what. What it is that you need to say, then you know, you can pretty much get through the process. So I believe.

30:01
Tyshawn Bryant
I don't know what day was. Let's say we needed to be there on a Friday. Well, I arrived on Wednesday night because I wanted to be in Pittsburgh for at least a day and a half where I wasn't rushing. I think that was an awesome idea. So that's us. Well, that's me getting to Pittsburgh. And when I arrived, of course I arrived early. And I don't know if I arrived early for everything like that, but I most definitely arrived early for this. All right.

30:25
Daniel Scharff
And take us through what it's like walking in the day of the pitch.

30:29
Tyshawn Bryant
So, you know, it was actually pretty cool. GNC has this huge, nice, newer looking building and as you walked up the stairs and there's really heavily secured. Walk through the stairs, they open the doors and there's these huge signs with different brands and I see Green Regimen's logo and I'm thinking, wow, this is really cool. I mean, I guess if we don't get it, I guess you won't really feel that bad about not getting it because they're treating you so nice. You walk in, you're greeted. They had a nice little holding room and that's when I started to meet some of the other finalists. All different types of products, but they had food there for us. It was a really nice experience, for sure. Yes.

31:01
Daniel Scharff
This was very high production value. It was like being on a reality show, for sure. So, all right, so Tyson, you are obviously very well prepared and you start feeling the gravity probably of the impact. I know everybody there and yeah, so went into it really. The commitment from GNC is that one brand would win a national test distribution, 80 stores, which is a huge thing, right? I mean, you know, for you've got some great regional distribution, you're in Erewhon, it's a great account and some other places, but I mean, the chance to actually get national right where you can go direct with them, which is a huge privilege to get to do and get their support and some really high visibility placement. I mean, the end caps right by the checkout in these stores, that's primo real estate.

31:47
Daniel Scharff
So thinking one brand would win, what ended up happening?

31:50
Tyshawn Bryant
So after I actually went first with my pitch, which was awesome, after I did my pitch, then they took me for a tour, the buyers of the protein category, it took me for a tour. I'd say a few hours later, were all finished with our pitches. And GNC within the corporate office, they have a GNC store with all the products. So we all lined up right in front of the GNC store. We're all just talking and then all of a sudden around the corner comes the main buyer, the main decision maker. And we're all looking at each other like, okay, I guess, much success, you know, and he announces that we all won. And I mean, at first I'm looking around and people are jumping up and I'm like, did I hear him correctly? We all, it was incredible.

32:33
Tyshawn Bryant
Like we just, we started hugging each other. We're clapping. The entire GNC staff was there. They clapped for us, it was. Was remarkable because I don't think any of us, one, maybe even expected to win. But two, the fact that we all won, I think that was just phenomenal.

32:48
Daniel Scharff
So I really appreciated that they did that too. Which, you know, I think they really, they're like, we like these brands a lot. That's, you know, why we want them to come to the office for the finals. But it was, you know, really, I definitely never had the expectation they would be willing to take on so many people in for this test. It was really an incredible moment to watch them announce that and their CEO.

33:09
Tyshawn Bryant
And the CEO was there and, you know, got to take pictures with him, and it was just. It was remarkable. I don't think any of us could have ever expected to have that sort of outcome, but I know that we're all happy about it.

33:20
Daniel Scharff
That's so good. Okay, so, and then fast forward to. Then you get on board and you're doing the test. What did you do to make the most of the test? Like, if a brand wins or they're just working with GNC generally. Any tips for them on how to try to be successful?

33:34
Tyshawn Bryant
Absolutely. So, one, let's just take the. If you happen to win this opportunity and you've never been in a retail store in terms of your product being on a retail shelf, find people who have products or who had products on retail shelves and talk to them. Because I would say the easiest part was to apply. The next easiest part was to do your actual presentation. But the most difficult part of this is to stand on the retail shelf, because your responsibility as a brand is to support gnc. You know, GNC provides you with the opportunity to scale your business and expose you totally different new markets that you never would have had the opportunity to be exposed to. So then part of your job is to then move those units. So I would say making sure that you contact the stores, visit the stores.

34:21
Tyshawn Bryant
Stores in your area, I'm sure, are going to be carrying your. Your product, and you want to make sure that they know who you are. That's the bottom line. Give out samples. Make sure sample, sample. Because how are the customers and how are the employees going to know how great your product is if they don't even get an opportunity to try it?

34:38
Daniel Scharff
GNC really seems like one of those kinds of stores where people ask the store employees for recommendations.

34:43
Tyshawn Bryant
I'll tell you this, it sounds like you've been in GNCs before, because in every single GNC that I go to, I'll stand there off to the side because I want to know the customer flow and the customer employee interaction and the person walks right in the store and beelines right to the cashier or right to the associate and they ask them what type of pre workout should I take? You know, what's the best vitamin that I should take? Right. I'm watching this and I'm thinking, okay, this is how it works here. So you have to be a student of this. I mean if you really want your product to survive in retail, you know you're going to have to give it your all because. And there's a lot of learnings.

35:18
Tyshawn Bryant
So please do not think that if you win this opportunity you can just have your product on the shelves. No support GNC and as a result they will most definitely support you.

35:27
Daniel Scharff
It's something like a pharmacy or like a waiter where you're like, oh what's good? What do you like right now off the menu, you know what? And they're like oh well here's so if you can get them on your side, right, you're going to.

35:37
Tyshawn Bryant
But there's so much like there's so much out there. I mean it's, you know, social media throws so many ads at you, so how do you know? But if you get an opportunity to walk into a store and you can talk to the associate, there's an instant trust between the customer and the GNC employee that I've seen and that's pretty remarkable.

35:51
Daniel Scharff
Distribution that you win is 80 stores around the country. I know you got to go to more than one, right? I know you were in a store in Las Vegas doing a demo there and a couple others. Any differences you saw across the stores or anything that you learned?

36:04
Tyshawn Bryant
Yes. So I went to all as many stores as I possibly could and the biggest difference is just the customer. I know for myself, you know, certain customers like I was in part of Texas and certain customers, you know, and I'm you because I live in Los Angeles and everybody knows what plant based protein is in Los Angeles. But in parts of Texas it's like, oh, you know, I've heard of it but I don't really know much about it. And then once you give them a sample and they try it, then all of a sudden you know, now it's like, oh wow, this is interesting and I'm so glad that you are here to give me this opportunity to try it.

36:34
Tyshawn Bryant
So what I've noticed is the biggest thing is the customers and once you get that list and find out where you're located, then you want to figure out what type of customer that lives around there. You can run ads to target those customers, you know, to go to that specific GNC location. There's a lot of things you can do, but for the most part, just be ready because once it happens, you know, the floodgates will surely open from there.

36:58
Daniel Scharff
All right, Tyson, thank you so much, man. I definitely learned a lot about you and the opportunity during this. Do you mind just sharing for everybody, like, how can they best follow along with you and Green Regimen and support you?

37:10
Tyshawn Bryant
Absolutely. But before I do that, Daniel, I want to thank you. As daughter of cpg, I am so sincere about this because if you didn't establish this partnership, this relationship with gnc, there's no way in the world that Green Regimen would be sitting on the shelves right now. So very appreciative. Thank you very much for that. The best way to follow us, basically, on any social media platform, reeneregimen. Just that simple. All right, but really, gnc, I mean, you could actually support us by going to gnc.com or going to your local GNC and buying Green Regimen's product.

37:45
Daniel Scharff
I love it. All right, well, thank you so much for the kind words. It really is a privilege for us to get to support entrepreneurs like you. And I am so grateful to GNC for this partnership, really. You know, we like to think of ourselves as just so creative coming up with all this cool stuff, but this was really their idea. You know, they. They really wanted to find great new products to offer to their wellness oriented consumers. They wanted to find the most innovative brands out there. And it's just been a real pleasure for us to get to work with them on this campaign and help them find brands like Green Regimen, which they definitely need and you know, obviously is having a huge impact on their shelves given the extension that you've gotten and expansion to more really high value stores.

38:25
Daniel Scharff
So congratulations again to you and we're looking forward to hearing what happens next.

38:30
Tyshawn Bryant
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you.

38:32
Daniel Scharff
All right, thanks.

38:35
Daniel Scharff
All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. If you loved it, I would so appreciate it if you could leave us a review. You could do it right now. If you're an Apple podcast, you can scroll to the bottom of our startup CPG podcast page and click on write a review. Leave your company name in there. I will try to read it out. If you're in Spotify, you can click on about and then the star rating icon. If you are a service provider, that.

38:58
Daniel Scharff
Would like to appear on the Startup.

38:59
Daniel Scharff
CPG podcast you can and email us@partnershipstartupcpg.com lastly, if you found yourself grooving along to the music it is my Band. You can visit our website and listen to more. It is superfantastics.com thank you everybody. See you next time.