The Startup CPG Podcast

Kun Yang
We were just so blown away by just how much of a negative health impact these artificial sweeteners had, which were rampant, right? Because zero sugar was everywhere. That and all the stuff that was coming out about dyes. And were just like, oh, my goodness, like, this data is pretty compelling. Like, we need to take our backgrounds and come in and do something about it. Right? Especially because were starting to think about our own families. And so I guess this was pretty on brand for us. We just took that scientific method into our strategy and we just wanted to test and learn our way into ultimately achieving product market fit before we really raised institutional capital and hit that acceleration button.

00:43
Kun Yang
So we just were really fixated on this, like, idea of making sure that were offering a product and delivering a core product that really met the consumer zeitgeist, that solved a real problem for families and that customers were just loving and organically coming back to again and again and taking that scientific approach to it. So that once we nailed it, we knew that we could then start to really hit the gas.

01:08
Caitlin Bricker
Hey, everybody, this is Kaitlyn Bricker, managing editor at startup cpg. We are back with another founder feature. Today I'm chatting with Kwan Yang, co founder of Prickly, a natural hydration drink powered by prickly pear with no artificial dyes, no artificial sugars, and no plastic. Kwan and I are cracking open the brand new Prickly 2.0 cans live on the podcast and we're talking about the journey from launching in Boston in 2021. Hey, MA. To achieving product market fit, why natural hydration is having its moment right now, and why being a family focused brand is working in their favor in more ways than one. Oh, and there might be a few new flavor announcements happening in here too. As always, enjoy. And in the meantime, I'll be sipping on the rest of my Prickly. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast.

02:03
Caitlin Bricker
This is Kaitlyn and today I'm here with Kwan Yang, founder of Prickly. Kwan, welcome to the show.

02:08
Kun Yang
Glad to be here, Caitlin.

02:09
Caitlin Bricker
Really glad to have you because we have some exciting news coming from Prickly. So a, we want to introduce your news to our audience and B, we to want. We want to get anybody who's not familiar with Prickly familiar asap. So can you tell us very succinctly what is Prickly?

02:27
Kun Yang
Yeah, no, super excited. Yeah. So Prickly. It's a natural hydration drink. It's packed with antioxidants, electrolytes and vitamin C, slows in sugar, and powered by some very delicious fruits. Called prickly pears. And it's meant to challenge the status quo and replace legacy artificial hydration drinks that are, you know, loaded with artificial sugars, artificial dyes, and packaged in plastic.

02:48
Caitlin Bricker
Music to my ears. All right, should we do a big reveal? Because I'm thirsty. Absolutely.

02:54
Kun Yang
That's what we're here for.

02:56
Caitlin Bricker
I have in front of me new prickly cans. We've got the OG Prickly pear, We have the tropical mango and ginger, and we also have wild strawberry and hibiscus. I'm going to crack an OG person.

03:13
Kun Yang
You gotta start with the OG you.

03:14
Caitlin Bricker
Know, whenever I'm in California, I always see prickly pear, like, on the side of the road growing in people's yards. It's. That looks just like this growing on the cactus. I've never eaten one fresh. Is that even possible?

03:26
Kun Yang
It is possible. You know, they actually grow like a billion pounds of that fruit a year, which is insane. It's like a super under commercialized fruit. The supply chain is amazing. But it's a delicious fruit and it's kind of challenging sometimes to eat. And that's why you have it a drink. Right? We do all the hard stuff for you. Just get to enjoy.

03:43
Caitlin Bricker
So tell us. It's delicious, by the way.

03:46
Kun Yang
Thank you.

03:47
Caitlin Bricker
Besides your gorgeous new packaging, what else is going on in the Prickly world that you want to share with us?

03:53
Kun Yang
This is an incredible inflection point, and we're actually really excited to be able to reveal this with Startup cpg because, you know, you and I were chatting about this right before the call too. Startup CPG has been such an incredible partner in our journey from the very beginning of when we started Prickly to this really moment where we've kind of achieved product market fit. So, yeah, 2.0 is really a culmination of all of our learnings for the last four and a half years to reach this moment where we're able to really kind of maximize the potential of what Prickly is and what it can be and ultimately achieve our mission. Right. And maximize our mission, which is it's simple. It's just we want to help families build healthier hydration habits naturally.

04:31
Kun Yang
And we feel like with all the work, learning and product formulation, positioning, improvement that we've done, we're able to just scale it in a way that can reach as much of as many households as possible and really realize as much of our mission as possible as well.

04:44
Caitlin Bricker
And correct me if I'm wrong, Prickly's been in business for four years now.

04:47
Kun Yang
We launched 2021 and we launched up in Boston, you know, and it's been quite a journey. A lot of incredible learnings. I think the first week we launched, we got an email from Shark Tank to apply and stuff. So we thought were on the right track right off the bat. But yeah, I mean, there was. It was just one of many things and a ton of growth, a ton of learnings and a ton of just trial and error in that process. And to get to this point, which really feels like the beginning of this foundation that we've kind of built, that we're really excited about and has already started to perform really well for us. So we're excited about what future holds.

05:20
Caitlin Bricker
And I think it says a lot knowing that you launched in 2021. I mean, it feels like the pandemic was so long ago, yet in some ways it kind of feels like it's still here. I mean, was it ever announced that it was over? But your brand is still here, so cheers to that.

05:37
Kun Yang
Absolutely. Better than ever too.

05:39
Caitlin Bricker
I know, pardon my gulp. I know that you were part of our section at Expo west in 2025 and we're running it back, doing it again in 2026. What did you achieve in 2025 at intersection at Expo west and what are you looking forward to in 2026?

05:57
Kun Yang
Yeah, so last year at the start of DPG Expo west section, I mean, it was incredible. I a great culmination of brands and again this year as well, startup CBG has done a great job of pulling just the right audience of folks that knows what it takes to build emerging brands and knows how to support and champion them. From buyers to investors to partners, retailers, everybody. Right. And so we have the same spot. We're in the corner booth in this year section as well. And we just had such a great experience last year, kind of building the initial sort of intro to prickly to the trade world, if you will, at Expo west for the first time.

06:30
Kun Yang
We learned a lot from that experience and built some incredible relationships, not just from an investment standpoint and from a retail standpoint, but we've brought on team members from that first Expo west that are now influential to how we've kind of grown the last 10 months and how we've built to this sort of prickly 2.0 moment, if you will. And so it feels like a full circle moment because it's like this is now the culmination of all the seeds that were planted in that first Expo west event. And now we get to debut 2.0 officially right to the world and show what we've been kind of silently working on for the last 10, 12 months. We're just really excited to be able to do that and also debut a couple special things that people haven't even really heard about yet.

07:10
Kun Yang
So it's going to be an exciting one.

07:11
Caitlin Bricker
Oh, cliffhanger. I feel special being able to have these cans in front of me right now. Your brand was one of the first brands that I tasted when I was at Expo west last year.

07:22
Kun Yang
Amazing.

07:23
Caitlin Bricker
It was my first Expo west with startup cpg. I remember the light blue, which it seems like is in the past now.

07:31
Kun Yang
Maybe. Maybe. We'll see.

07:34
Caitlin Bricker
Oh, okay. Okay. Well, I'm really excited to see where 2026 is going to take you. With the new branding, with the new formulations, I'm seeing you got some really great call outs on your can. Antioxidants and electrolytes. Electrolytes, I feel like, are always so hot. People are always evolving with them, discovering new ways to ingest them.

07:55
Kun Yang
Totally.

07:56
Caitlin Bricker
No caffeine. That's a big one. I feel like we see caffeine everywhere or energy boosters. Some of us, like myself, I don't drink caffeine. I don't want the caffeine. And it is hard to find RTDs that don't have caffeine and no bubbles.

08:13
Kun Yang
Yeah. So you know so much of that. Again, you think about the learnings that we've kind of taken in over the last few years. I mean, we started our careers in healthcare, we're pharmacists. And so actually the most important lesson we learned in that process was just like the best medicines in life are actually the health habits that you develop from a pretty early age. And so you're talking about 2021 when we launched. But at that time were starting to build our own families. And as we started to build our families, we kind of looked around and we're like, wow. All the drinks that are still dominating our grocery aisles are still the same, you know, legacy options that we grew up with. They're loaded with artificial sugars, artificial dyes, packaged in plastic.

08:49
Kun Yang
And we're trying to think, how do we build for the next generation? Not just next generation, even ourselves. I mean, we had seen the impact of sort of growing up with, like, the options that we kind of were raised with and how that impacted even what we craved and what we're looking for sometimes when we're stressed or when we're thirsty. And so we wanted to just create a better option. Right. We just believe that there totally could be a better option out there. And so that's kind of what led to a lot of it.

09:13
Kun Yang
And so you're calling out some of the things that I think in the last four years as we start to really hone in on, you know, what families are looking for, young families like ours, and also not just for the families, but for your loved ones, for your friends, for your parents. Like, what would you give your own family and friends? Right. And we wanted to create a product that really service that. And so the call outs, as you can see, are really intentional about speaking to that target market, if you will.

09:36
Caitlin Bricker
And your ingredient list is so minimal too, which I think consumers are really looking for these days. A, because sometimes there's stuff that we can't pronounce that might even be good for us. But B, it's just. You're not losing my attention here. I just have to take a glance and I'm like, okay, get it? Got it. Good.

09:55
Kun Yang
Yeah. I think, I think there's so many amazing products in the CPG world and it's hard to find a lane. Right. And when you do find a lane, I think just being true and authentic to that lane and for us solving our own problems was a good start, you know, and just kind of focusing on this is what we do. This is what we're focused on. We're focused on natural hydration. We're focused on replacing all the plastic bottled, artificial hydration drinks. I mean that's all we do and that's all we service and we're really focused on that mission. Kind of gives us a lot of, I guess, confidence in what we're building. It gives us a clear direction of where we're headed and also who we're speaking to.

10:27
Kun Yang
And you know, let's also celebrate all the other amazing products out there that are maybe champion other functional benefits and lanes that are separate from ours too.

10:35
Caitlin Bricker
I do really love the fact that you're building this with your family in mind. You know, this listeners are probably going to know this too. I'm also a mom. My daughter's current rotation is just straight up water and milk jubilees to be exact. But it is nice to have an option there for when she needs to throw something else in her rotation. It's not a juice, but it is, it has that nice like refreshing flavor without all the added sugar in it. I would feel comfortable giving this to my daughter if she wanted toss something else in her rotation.

11:08
Kun Yang
Yeah, actually it's funny. Team Prickly world ads. And so just so happens, right? But yeah, I have a four and two year old and it's really powerful to create product and a brand that you see your own kids consuming. You know, toddlers can't lie, Right? We know that as parents, Right. And so just to see them kind of consuming it the way that they do and just kind of reflecting on, man, when I was that age, what was I drinking? Right? And, and you know, again, prickly is not a kid's drink or exclusively a kid's drink. But we wanted to make it inclusive of just the way that families built because these were. We were these consumers, right. And we want to solve these problems for ourselves.

11:42
Kun Yang
And it just so happens that it's a product and a brand that just truly resonates with a very wide breadth of audiences, but ultimately solves a real problem. Right. And helps us replace something that, you know, otherwise we would have given them elsewise. Right. And so for us, just seeing that firsthand and seeing it be a solution for our own families was probably the first and most validating metric for ourselves to know that, hey, look, like, if this works for us, like, I'm sure there's others that this would be a really good addition or replacement of in their rotation. So, yeah, it's been a really cool journey to see that firsthand.

12:16
Caitlin Bricker
The kids are definitely a huge validator for sure. For sure. Like you said, they cannot lie. They are not going to be able to give us a poker face if they taste it and hate it. You are going to know.

12:29
Kun Yang
Yeah, no, absolutely. My kids especially.

12:32
Caitlin Bricker
And you've touched on this too. You do have a science background. So tell me more about your background and how that plays into the formulation at prick, because I think that makes you an outlier because a lot of people don't have that background.

12:44
Kun Yang
So Mo and I, we're actually both pharmacists. We both got our doctors of pharmacy and we met up in Boston to do our fellowships. And so we kind of were raised in this like, scientific method train of thought which is like, test iterate and improve. Test it or improve and just keep learning from the data that was coming in. Without ego, Right? You can't just have ego when it comes to building brand. And as we've seen. But what really kind of connected us on this issue was back in 2019, were actually living with this other roommate of ours that was studying heart health. And we just saw like the impact of this huge study that came out, the Framingham Heart Study.

13:16
Kun Yang
Which was like this massive data set that came out and looked at the impact of artificial sweeteners, health and wellness, and just how. And compared it to like even regular sugar. And were just so blown away by just how much of a negative health impact these artificial sweeteners had. Which were rampant, right? Because zero sugar was everywhere. That and all the stuff that was coming out about dyes. And we're just like, oh my goodness. Like this data is pretty compelling. Like we need to take our backgrounds and come in and kind of do something about it. Right. Especially because were starting to think about our own families. And so this was pretty on brand for us.

13:47
Kun Yang
We just took that scientific method into our strategy and we just wanted to test and learn our way into ultimately achieving product market fit before we really raised institutional capital and hit that acceleration button as a pertains to, you know, distribution, scaling, brand awareness. Because we just knew that once you started to really spend against that funnel, if it was a leaky funnel, like it would just become more and more expensive and more challenging and really hard to kind of patch it up as you went. Right. So we just were really fixated on this like idea of making sure that were offering a product and delivering a core product that really met the consumer zeitgeist. You know, that solved a real problem for families.

14:27
Kun Yang
You know, customers were just loving and organically coming back to again and again and taking that scientific approach to it. So that once we nailed it, you know, we knew that we could then start to really hit the gas and go. Because the foundation would be solid. Right. And that's exactly where we are right now. We're just really thankful to the amazing team and partners and, you know, investors and friends and family that support us to even get to this point. Because getting to this point was by no means easy. Very, very challenging, as I'm sure every brand founder out there is experiencing. So to be able to get there is really validating for us and we're just excited about being able to take that same mentality and continue moving forward as the landscape continues to change as well.

15:06
Caitlin Bricker
Any specific challenges come to mind when you think back on your four year journey so far?

15:12
Kun Yang
Yeah, maybe every single challenge, right. We've lived it all. We used to talk, joke about how it felt like were building. You know, it's like kind of Sisyphus, this, the Greek legend of pushing this boulder uphill over and over again is likely when it comes to just education. Right. You know, starting out actually with A a cactus water. Positioning for prickly was great because it actually gave us this differentiation that we needed that retailers looking for. It got us into key accounts like Sprouts, Whole Foods, and H E B. That's kind of where we just kept testing and testing, improving formulation, adjusting, positioning, and ultimately just, you know, trying to realize the greatest potential for our brain as possible. Yeah, that journey kind of led us to the most important challenge, which was like the education, right.

15:51
Kun Yang
And that in of itself kind of led us to prickly natural hydration, this evolution of our brand, because not only is it our best formula yet, but just based on so much customer feedback and data. Repositioning to lead with natural hydration, as opposed to the prickly pear ingredient itself, is something that has just enabled us to really realize our mission. This at a greater scale than I think we could have ever imagined. But that in of itself, that core challenge of being able to just communicate the benefit of natural hydration without having to go through this dialogue of prickly pear was probably the single greatest challenge. When we kind of look back and realize like that was the most important thing to solve before we started to really press go on everything else as well.

16:32
Caitlin Bricker
That makes a lot of sense. And I am curious. I know we have other founders who are listening to the podcast, but we also have consumers, we have retailers, we have those buyers, we have distributors listening. Why would somebody want to grab a prickly versus a competitor product? For me, the first thing that pops to mind, for example, is coconut water. Everyone talks about coconut water when it comes to electrolytes and hydration. Why would I want to choose a prickly over a coconut water?

17:01
Kun Yang
You know, I actually think coconut water did a fantastic job to establish, like, the demand for natural hydration, you know, And I think even for us, that was. We were so enamored with that case study. Right. You know, coconut water as an industry, it continues to grow year over year. But there's a couple limitations, right, that we saw. One was just the amount of investment that went into the category of marketing coconut water, as opposed to the brands that really led this moment. And you still kind of hear today people talk about the category, not the brand itself, but for us, coconut water as a movement really validated the consumer demand that, hey, we want a natural format of hydration. Right?

17:36
Kun Yang
And there was a huge growing population of consumers, the same people that are drinking the better for you versions of soda and energy that we've seen boom in the last five to 10 years. Right. And so hydration just seems to be the next obvious space in which it's better for you formula starts to take shape. And, you know, we just happen to be able to put our hands up and say, like, hey, this isn't necessarily to say, hey, don't drink coconut water. It's like, drink all these natural hydration products, including Prickly. You know, coconut water is a great product. We love coconut water. Prickly is also a great product. And ultimately, what we're doing together as this, like, natural hydration category is we're replacing all these legacy artificial hydration products that are typically packaged in plastic bottles.

18:12
Kun Yang
I mean, just think about every hydration drink you could think of, right? They're all in plastic bottles. They all have these artificial, you know, dyes. They have artificial sugars. And you're thinking, if we can just move the general population just a few degrees to this, like, sure. Like, it's just something that tastes just as good, right. Without any of these artificial ingredients and that, you know, young audiences, older audience, everyone can consume on an everyday basis. I mean, we've really succeeded in just changing the way that these health habits are shaped. And so for us, when we think about it, I don't think it has to be an either or. I think coconut oil is a great product. It offers a lot of similar benefits as Prickly. Natural electrolytes, natural antioxidants. It's lower in sugar.

18:50
Kun Yang
You know, Prickly is lower in sugar than even that. But, you know, if we see somebody drinking these products instead of these artificial formats that we all know and these that we all grew up with, we're happy campers, and we think that we're all playing a part in that broader mission of just helping families build a better set of hydration habits overall in a natural way.

19:08
Caitlin Bricker
That's really good insight. And as I'm drinking this too, I realize that coconut water is a very polarizing product. I have heard some people say that it tastes like dishwater to them or just it's like, not. It's not something that they would ever want to drink again. This is so versatile. Like, I mean, it's probably like anti hydration, but you could put this in a cocktail if you wanted to. Mocktails, for sure. Like, it's not. This does not have a polarizing flavor. To me. It's very subtle, but in a very good way. This is something like, is crushable. I'm on camera, so I'm not gonna, like, have a prickly mukbang right now, but no judgment.

19:47
Kun Yang
No judgment.

19:49
Caitlin Bricker
But I really like how versatile it is. And I like how you're saying it's not an either or scenario. And I do like that you're really honing in on this hydration conversation because it is so important. For example, I read this book called Quenched. I don't remember the author's names at this point. Have you ever heard of this book?

20:07
Kun Yang
I haven't. I have to look into it.

20:09
Caitlin Bricker
They were talking about how important hydration is for the brain, specifically because it can help with degenerative diseases, Alzheimer's, dementia, et cetera, if you keep your brain moist and hydrated. And also with bouncing back from traumatic brain injuries. They used to football players as a great example, there were football players that they did studies on who were able to bounce back from their brain injuries easier and faster after having a hydrated brain versus people who did end up getting these TBS TBIs and could not bounce back as quickly because they weren't as hydrated.

20:47
Kun Yang
Yeah, I mean, you bring up brain health, but, like, it's kind of crazy how much research has gone into that. Even the Framingham heart study that I'm referencing, I mean, they looked at 10 years of following 2,000 patients and compared one group consuming artificial sweeteners every day, just one drink a day, versus a full sugar drink, not water, like a full sugar drink. And they found after 10 years, this is a, a cross functional study, but they found that the group that was consuming artificial sweeteners had a 3x increased risk of stroke and dementia. And I was like, wait a second, I'm drinking a diet insert X, Y, Z every single day at work. And it was just one of those, like. And drinking a sport drink. Zero, right?

21:24
Kun Yang
And it was just like one of those things where it was like, oh my gosh, like, how are we still here? You know? And I think American maximalism is always built on this idea of, like, sugar was the enemy. So let's go all the way to zero. But like, let's take a step back and see what the impact of this really was. And moderation is still key. And so in our product, we have natural sugars, we have real fruit, we have agave, and it's half the sugar of, you know, said coconut water or a quarter of a Gatorade or a soda.

21:50
Kun Yang
But when you really kind of think about it from the perspective of, like, us as parents or just as a consumer, and you're like, okay, after your kid goes to soccer or dance class, or like, you know, you see your friends come over for the party, right? Or your parents come over and you're like, here's an option A and it's like, you got a prickly in hand. And here's like, what you would have had right in that moment. You're kind of like, there's a little bit of a common sense element of it. It's like, we don't have to, you know, cure cancer to make a really big difference from a health and wellness standpoint.

22:19
Kun Yang
I think just making that a couple degrees of separation where we can really move the needle forward and just help people get off of these, like, legacy things that we've just been addicted to since were kids is a huge shift. Because now I think about scaling that 20 years down the line when my. My daughters are older, like, they're not gonna be craving the things that. That I kind of still crave. Right. And I have to work at to kind of omit in my diet. So a lot of those things, to your point, become front and center in how we think about just, like, the changing landscape as well. And to your point, all, like, the different data that are coming out about the impact of these ingredients, like dyes and artificial sweeteners on our health.

22:54
Caitlin Bricker
Right. And it is good to see you going back to the basics in a lot of senses, because it's a can, it's not plastic, and the ingredients, again, are so simple. Like you had mentioned to me previously, the beverages that we would have drank in our childhood. I'm thinking of the 90s. You mentioned this. Neon colors is what comes to mind. I just get, like, shocked when I see things on the shelf, like Jones soda before I was drinking that, like the sour apple or I don't even know, like, blue raspberry. It is literally electric looking. The fact that I was drinking that and didn't short circuit is amazing to me.

23:35
Kun Yang
I think at some point, though, in America, we kind of lost the plot there, right? Because it wasn't like drinks started out that way. And actually, even when you go to, like, other countries like these drinks don't look like that, Right. And they don't taste like that. So you're kind of like, at some point we lost the plot. And I don't know when it happened, but it came so obvious that I'll give you a crazy story. I mean, were just starting to launch Prickly, and were looking for a co packer and went to Arizona because, you know, land of the prickly pear. Why not? Like, it just seemed like a great place to. To look. And we called up a co packer and they're like, wow. Yeah, we love prickly pears. Like, I mean they're everywhere. We'd love to make your product.

24:11
Kun Yang
Like, what's in it? And we're like, well, you know, we use real fruit. And. And before we even said another word, they're like, wait, did you say real fruit? And they're like, yeah, we only make artificial drinks here. And I was like, I just can't believe a human being said that right in the conversation. But then I thought more about it and I was like, this has so been so normalized that you know, for the last 10, 20, whatever years, that's all they made. There wasn't really a counterpoint to like, hey, there's actually a better option here. And it's, you know, maybe not a bunch of artificial chemicals. Right.

24:43
Caitlin Bricker
And it's prickly surprise. Sure.

24:45
Kun Yang
And amongst other things. Right. And so it was like, to me, it was just like a pretty cool wake up call in that moment. I'm like, okay, wow, there's like a really interesting moment. And I think actually the last four or five years shaped this moment that we're having because, you know, soda was first. Soda was, is always the biggest category. There's a reason why Coke and Pepsi own the Gatorades and Powderates and body owners of the world, right. And not the other way around. And soda was always first. And so you saw that movement with poppy and Olipop and everyone's a bit enamored with the poppy story. But like when they first started they were apple cider vinegar. They were also leading with ingredient.

25:18
Kun Yang
And you can kind of see how their repositioning to soda really enable them to maximize their mission, which was to help people just, you know, again, same thing, right? Choose a better option than maybe the legacy sodas. We're doing the same thing with just with prickly pear and hydration. But I think when soda was the pre product soda movement was really blowing up in the CPG space. There wasn't really a tense space for anything else. Right. To live and breathe and manifest. And then it was energy, right? The next category. And we saw these amazing brands come out. Some of my favorite brands, I love Poppy, I love Bloom. And I actually think like that consumer is also the prickly consumer.

25:54
Kun Yang
Cause I'm like, it doesn't really make sense that then they would then pick up a plastic bottle of neon colored hydration drink X, Y, Z, right? It was like, I love this consumer because were these consumers, right? And ourselves and just kind of Seeing the sequence of soda to energy and seeing these winners emerge, it just seemed obvious that the next category, you know, America's always about what's next, right? It's always about what's next. It seemed like hydration was next, and it's really having its moment now. And I think so much of why we're having our moment is not because of us. It's also just because of the industry having the hydration moment that we're starting to see now. So that's really kind of where timing becomes one of those things where it all kind of comes together.

26:34
Caitlin Bricker
You just set me up for the best segue ever. But I do have to make a comment on the fact that you're also living in this era right now where fiber is such a hot topic, but your fiber really isn't going to matter much. I'm not a scientist, I'm not a doctor, not a pharmacist. I have to say that. But your fiber is not going to matter much if you don't have that hydration to go with it, because we want the movement through the body, so you need to get liquefied. So I think it's a great time for Prickly to be living in. And I have to ask you, since you're talking about what's next? What's next for Prickly? You have this big announcement with your rebranding reformulation, prickly 2.0. What are you most looking forward to next?

27:15
Kun Yang
Yeah. You know, right now we're so focused on getting Prickly Natural Hydration into our key accounts. Right. Those that have really kind of supported us from the beginning, they've enabled us to find product market fit. Right. And showing them just, like, the incredible velocity impact that we're seeing. I mean, it's been remarkable. Like, I mean, we've seen velocity growth anywhere from, like, 200 to 400%, depending on the channel, and even outside of natural. Right.

27:39
Caitlin Bricker
Congratulations.

27:39
Kun Yang
Really impressive. Yeah, thank you so much. And again, it's like, it feels like for us, like, we've really kind of created a brand that our team deserves to represent because they just hustle so hard, they work so hard every day, and we want to be able to service them with something that they can really feel confident in. But it's still early days. Right. But it's kind of like what were kind of expecting and hoping product market fit would feel like and to be able to put our heads down now and build the brand with just, like, full confidence in the foundation we've laid. But you know, step one is just getting that story into these key accounts and then building around them, right? Going after the right retailers that service this core target demographic that we talked about, families.

28:14
Kun Yang
I mean, it's never to exclude anyone else, but it's just to say, like, this is the core decision maker that's going to really understand, you know, what problem we're solving and not just look at this as a cool beverage, which again, we're going to get tons of those consumers anyways. But we're really solving a problem here that we feel like is replacing a better option for people like us. And so on top of the, you know, Unify and Kahe distribution that we've established, were just really fortunate to be able to get coding into Vistar. And so much of that was also predicated on the fact that hydration is having a moment. And here we are offering this aluminum hydration product in a space where the incumbents have always been in plastic. Right?

28:48
Kun Yang
And so as you're starting to see a lot of these accounts move away from plastic, you know, all of a sudden you do see this demand for aluminum packaging that I think is really actually just awesome. Fundamentally. I mean, it wasn't the reason we packaged in aluminum in the beginning, but it's become one of the biggest reasons why we've been able to scale. And we're so happy that we did. We're just excited about the growth within the food service channel, especially since we've already started to see some of that strong performance. But kind of alluding to what we said earlier at Expo west, at the Startup CPG section, we will be launching two new flavors for the very first time. Mixed wild berry and juicy watermelon. So your blue is making a comeback both for the first time at Expo west.

29:29
Kun Yang
And yeah, you know, just with all the great work the team has done and momentum we've established, we've actually also just now fully subscribed our seed round and we're actually over subscribing and actively now with some just really incredible investment partners as well. So a lot of great momentum leading into 2026, but it feels like just the start.

29:47
Caitlin Bricker
Wow, so much to be proud of. You really need to like give yourself a round of applause right now. There were so many times during our conversation that I was like going to click the react button and I'm like, oh, I'm not on zoom, but congratulations. So much to be proud of. Super excited to see you at Expo West. I know exactly where I'm going when I'm not drinking regular water throughout the day.

30:08
Kun Yang
We'll keep you guys hyd all day.

30:11
Caitlin Bricker
Thank God you are going to be in my proximity. But for anybody who's listening right now and they want to follow along on the Prickly journey, where can they find you online? What's your Instagram handle? What's your website? Tell us all the deets.

30:23
Kun Yang
Yeah, so you can follow us at Drink Prickly on all your favorite social media platforms. And as of the time that this will go live, we will have a new website@prickly.com and so we are super pumped about that. We've been working really hard behind the scenes, you know, kind of getting this, all this moment coordinated and ready to go and again, just so thankful for this moment, to be able to launch this and have this announcement with you guys. It's been, as I said from the very beginning, a full circle moment from the very beginning when were just starting to build Prickly and you know, we couldn't Even go on LinkedIn and tell the world about it because we had our full time jobs and we didn't want our bosses to know and all that good stuff.

31:00
Kun Yang
I'm sure every founder, a lot of founders relate to that and sarpcpg was the only network for us to understand, really kind of learn, you know, from other people. It was a lifeline for us. And all the support that we've gotten from the team since then has led to this moment. So to kind of be able to get to product market fit with the support that you guys have provided and that you guys continue to give to in the CPG community is just a really cool moment, full circle moment for us, but also just really excited to see how much you guys have grown and just the impact you guys have made on this community. I think everyone listening and everyone part of it is just really thankful that you guys are here.

31:35
Caitlin Bricker
I'm sure you got some head nods from people listening to you talk just then. And hopefully everyone's going to be taking some notes from you joining the slack, getting in there, learning whatever they can to get on Prickly's level. So Kwan, thank you very much. This has been a great conversation. So excited to see you at expo and congratulations on Prickly 2.0.

31:57
Kun Yang
Thank you, Caitlin. We'll be happy to hijack you guys there.

32:00
Caitlin Bricker
Stop by.

32:01
Kun Yang
It's going to be booth 8920, so come by the start CPG section, everybody.

32:05
Caitlin Bricker
We'll see you soon. All right, thanks, quan.

32:08
Kun Yang
Thank you.

32:10
Caitlin Bricker
CPG, BFFs we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG Podcast. As you may know, we're not just the top globally ranked CPG podcast. We're a community of tens of thousands of CPG founders and experts, and you should join us. If you haven't already. Head to startupcpg.com to sign up. You'll get an invite to our Slack community, hear about events near you, and get access to opportunities that connect you with buyers, investors and other brands. It's free, so what are you waiting for? I'll see you in Slack and in real life. Thanks for listening.