Brad Woodgate - Six Companies, Twenty Five Years, Billions in Sales

all right welcome to shelf help
today we're speaking with Brad Woodgate
a prolific serial entrepreneur
to say the least she started uh
built it to close to 150 million a year
2008 hit whole host
a lot of challenges cropped up
like many during that time
then kind of rebuilt
started the no sugar company in 2018
I believe scaled that one to pass 100 million
watch joy burst in 2022 with a big Super Bowl ad
self funded reality show as well
that birthed his fifth his fifth brand
Mighty Minis
which we'll probably talk about a bit as well
which I think is now expanding into Walmart
so yeah
six companies billions of dollars in sales
super excited to dive in to
to say the least but yeah
Brad maybe just kind of first off
for listeners that aren't all that familiar
I know you got a lot going on
but maybe just kind of once
I'm not that familiar with no sugar company
joy burst Mighty Minis
maybe just kind of give quick lay of the land
just kind of quick origin story
why behind each brand and then we can go from there
sure yeah
thanks for having me on
like you said I started well
Next Life Sciences in 2000
my last year of university
that company really blew up
in the nutraceutical supplement space
so that got me the footprint across
you know over 100,000 doors in the US alone
retail doors in the US alone
so when I decided to pivot in 2,018 into the No Sugar
uh company
um I had a distribution uh
relationships that I could lean on
so it made that transition of bringing these up
products to the market
easier than just starting from scratch
cause I had built up relationships
in different categories but still had a relationship
had the you know um
company setups and things of that nature
but it still had to prove yourself
from day one I just felt in 2,018
there was a movement that was going to be
that reducing sugar was going to be extremely important
and it wasn't going to be just a fad
it's just going to get something that got bigger
and bigger and bigger over decades
and if I could take the kind of
the positioning of like
the foot in the ground so to speak
of no sugar like there
you can't be any better than that
you can't be no no
no more sugar like
it's just that's final
it's it
and then have the position that
in addition to being no sugar
all items had to be naturally sweetened
and taste the same or better than our competitors
I felt that that would be an ownable position uh
no matter what we did
and as long as we could deliver on that promise
we'd have some success and we did
our path to market is quite unusual
because we have been able to start with club
most people graduate with club
they go through like
natural health channel
and then maybe get a grocery channel
then they get maybe get a drug channel
then maybe after that they get
a mass channel and then way down the line
they have like
a national brand that's you know
really kicking and then they get a club opportunity
we have the ability to start off at club
and we've been able to prove that model successful
so club really leans in on us
to bring the newest innovation in both
you know no sugar beverages
like Joy Burst and so and
and soon to be Mighty Minis
so that's kind of you know
how I got started having the retail footprint
no sugar as a food and snack company
was always a passion mine
to reduce or remove sugar
and I felt that something was long lasting
and then in 2022 I thought hey
with all that into play right now
the biggest bite in the CBG world
is to figure out how to do a beverage company
the shipping is crazy the competition is fierce
the marketing dollars are insane
the legalities of it are just next
a headache every day
and I felt like I finally had kind of after essentially
at that time 22 years of experience
and the capital needed to figure this
out to make a run at it and so far
you know in our
going into our finishing our fourth year for joy burst
we're on pay 60 to 100 million in sales
so it's been quite the ride
I think I just saw you like
I mean you kind of just went through the journey like
hit the hundred forty million sales
20 million profit bunch of employees
and then 2008 hit you got hit
I think
with like a hundred million plus in competitor lawsuits
class actions by state attorneys
mass layoffs like nine figure legal bills
sales take a hit
kind of like an existential crisis to a certain extent
it sounds like
I think that's probably less
less uh
uncommon than than people probably think
how that experience is
and building companies since that time in your life
cause you had so much success since then
yeah I I
I mean
I would hate to say it was a blessing in disguise
cause it certainly wasn't a blessing in disguise
it was very very painful
but you Learned a lot more through painful situations
than than
than easier or or great situations
at least I feel that way when I was that age
and you see you know
the four years of grinding to even get off the ground
you are living in that moment
and you're saying to yourself like
you know there's no statistic that says
if you just keep doing this
you're eventually gonna make it succeed
like that's not actual
like whenever people have these success stories
and they talk about oh
the first three or four years were really challenging
they can say it from that perspective
cause they've already done it
but when you're in that moment
and there's no guarantee
you're gonna be ever successful
it's it's
it's a very um
uneasy time in your life you have like
no money I I
I commonly say you weren't working for free
you were paying to work
cause if you're using up your savings
you're paying to work
and so when we finally had success uh
in year four and then
we were able to rapidly grow to 140 million in sales
and obviously I don't have
I'm in my 20s I don't have experience like I do now
you think that 140 is gonna turn into 2:50
and 2:50 is gonna turn into half a billion
and then like what
how is this thing not going to stop
and so for the very next year for
you know to have a realization that okay
your competitors don't really like
market share being taken from you
legality lawyers
who make a living off of class action suits and
and settlements are lurking
when you get to a certain size on your IRA data
all these things
unknown to me or my brother at the time
you have a rude awakening that comes very
very quickly and so we had built the company to go from
you know 140 to 2:50
both employees and cost structures and stuff like that
and we had just an absolute
you know kick in the teeth
um we
you know we had at one point
I think
lay off in a day like 60 or 70 people by department
and you're like uh
in in my late 20s or whatever I was
and you're laying off people in their like
you know 40s
50s with families and it was extremely um
you know painful
and you just thought the world was collapsing
you didn't know how you're gonna get through this
and you learn a lot of different things
you learn you know
who in the legal world that you can trust
and how do you structure companies
to be able to shield yourself from that
you learn who are people that can help
just
take that side of the business into their own hands
and not have it drained
your mental psyche in addition to your dollars
and you learn that competitors
use these types of things
as competitive tactics to drain your marketing budgets
and so you learn those types of things
that you don't necessarily have
so all those key learnings
I obviously apply today which is why many times
when I get served litigation papers
like I did yesterday I post about it
cause I'm like I might as well get some marketing
or a good story out of it
than just the natural thing of getting legal papers
cause they just happen so often when you're
when you have success so I think that
you know that year
I didn't expect it to happen so suddenly
like you have one of your best years ever
and then for the next year
just to be totally catastrophic
but as I said I I
I Learned so much and things that
you know that's
you know almost 20 years ago
that I still apply on my daily entrepreneurial journey
so from that perspective it was very helpful
on the flip side I mean
across multiple brands you've clearly figured some
some things out any
like
patterns that have just emerged for you over the years
when it comes to just succeeding in retail
no matter the category
I think that a couple things that I obviously
that I live by is that in the business world
I say this all the time
is that there is no such thing as no
I take no as not now right
so like
if a retailer says no I say
they didn't say no they said like
not now
and I'll consistently be persistent to make that no
turn into a not now to
into a potential into
into a yes
that could be the same said with the manufacturer
that could be the same said with the banker
that could be said with pretty much anything
so that's something that I certainly live by
that no no
no is final in the business world
and I also I believe that innovation is like
the best marketing word for new
so if you can have new anything
new marketing new products
new employees new something
you're gonna have a conversation to talk about
with retailers
and you're gonna have a seat at the table eventually
to discuss that newness people
the world changes so quickly
people want to be on the cutting edge of newness
and there are retailers who will always be in that
Costco is one of them you know
Casey's in convenience is one
you know target is one
like there's many retailers that are just love new
and if you can align yourself with those retailers
you'll have some opportunities
I think that another thing
that you have to consistently challenge yourself with
is persistence is something that
is a skill that you actually
actually have to work on
so I hear so many people who say like oh
I'm persistent but you could be persistent and annoying
and you can be persistent and skillful
and that's a great point
if you're persistent and just like
filling up someone's email box
or calling them non stop
but you're adding absolutely zero value
or if you're persistent
and figuring out ways to keep them enlightened
on industry news
you're persistent with solving a problem that they're
you're anticipating them having
you're persistent of how to grow their category your
there's ways to be skillfully persistent
so I have a lot of respect for people who cold called
cause I've done a lot of cold calling in my life
but people who just blitz you and think that eventually
that's going to work without a skillful persistence
I think they they get weeded out pretty quickly
so I think those are
those are a few things that I've Learned along the way
to you know
have the success that we've had
yeah I think that seems like it's particularly relevant
right now in terms of persistence
with actually adding value
with just all these AI capabilities come online
I feel like the mass cold outreach
is just gonna get more and more easier to do
and it it's
if you can separate yourself by actually being
actually adding value I think that's gonna
that's gonna separate people even more
so I think that's a great point
just on AI alone like
everybody now or you should be able to know
like if you just put the least amount of work in AI
the spit out of an AI email
is gonna have dashes in there
there are clear giveaways
that they just been an AI response
put in the extra 10 seconds to personalize it some way
to make it not seem like you are just an AI
responded person cause like
no one's gonna tolerate that
like
so those are the types of things that I'm saying is
like
that is someone just spitting out AI
and thinking they're persistent
is just being persistently annoying
in terms of um
thing
do you find our keys from a storytelling standpoint
when it comes to getting buyers excited
about putting your brands on the shelf
cause you've cleared some excited
three brands
that have gotten in your thousands of doors
that clearly you've you've
you figured something out
in terms of getting buyers excited
I think the number one thing that people lose sight on
is they get so focused on selling their product
selling their services for them
for their own benefit
and they need to completely rethink that
is I'm doing this and I need to go into the mindset as
I'm going to show them how
I'm going to grow their category
I'm gonna grow their business
I'm gonna grow their sales
so
you need to think of it from a totally different lens
of they get pitched all day
every day and it's always about me
me me me
me and me and my company and me and my products
the best and that they hear that all day long
so it's just like background noise
what they don't hear as often is
I really understand your category
I understand it's challenging
it's either declining growing stay uh
steady Eddie
this is how I'm going to figure out how to grow it
and I'm not going to just figure out how to grow it
this year I'm going to figure out how to grow it
in multiple years
so that to me
is the biggest difference
that you I always try to teach my
my team and that I've lived by myself
you cannot go in without the opportunity
without knowing
how you're going to grow someone else's business
and then you are along for the journey and the ride
but your focus is how to grow their business first
you touch on the club channel at the beginning too
it seems like you've
you've definitely kind of figured out a
figured out how to have a
like outside success
specifically in that channel
some of the just the biggest differences
in terms of what it takes to succeed
in the club channel
compared to all the other retail channels
well first and foremost I
you know
for the longest part of my entrepreneurial journey
I did not do business in club
and I really didn't understand
how big of an opportunity club was and
and club's reporting of data
is much different than the rest of the market
and you never truly sense
get a sense of how impactful
and how large club is versus the rest of the market
so since I've been in there since 2,018
I've really figured out like
really
it's almost like the best retail environment possible
you ship in pallets so from an efficiency perspective
yeah of shipping and full truck loads
it's the best in terms of stated margins at Sams BJ's
Costco you
which is public information
it's the lowest
and the biggest unlock that they all provide
that most retailers haven't figured out
is the ability to demo your product
and so demoing your product is essentially
the number one marketing tool you could possibly have
like at the end of the day
when you do a Super Bowl commercial
to a key influencer to a celebrity
all you're trying to do is create awareness for them
to try your product either try it for free and buy it
or try it and purchase it and then buy it again
that's it that
that's all you're trying to do in any space
after that
if the product doesn't work or doesn't taste great
or whatever the reasons are
it doesn't matter who you have
it's just not gonna have repeat purchase
so doing demos in stores we don't look at it
as many brands do as an obligation to the
to the retailer we look at it as like
how can we do more of it
how can we put gas on this fire
how can we get as many people trying our products
and giving us real feedback
and trying our products and then hopefully
you know liking it
buying it and buying it again
so that is that exists in a very efficient way in club
that just doesn't exist anywhere else
and they have the foot traffic to make it efficient
they have the process in the stores
to make it efficient
they have the food safety that makes it efficient
like it's just really
really efficient there so that
to me is what is the biggest benefit
delineating between some of the key players
let's just I don't compare Costco versus Sam's
let's say
any big differences in terms of how each one buys
what each each rewards in terms of
is their actual consumer
so the Sam's Club consumer is a much older consumer
the Costco Club consumer is a younger consumer
and I think that you know
just by that very nature you know
I don't have any exact proof of that
I just have proof of what I've seen
in terms of selling with them
is an older demographic consumer
takes just a little bit longer
to be convinced to buy a product
and is more skeptical because
I don't know that's just how they operate
and so
you'll have to get in front of their faces much more
more samples more time
it's a longer build and that's who it is
but they're also on the on the flip side
if you get them they're actually extremely loyal
cause they don't change brands that often in Costco
it's a it's a younger demographic
it fits our target market
you know for joyverse
our target market is millennial moms
it's female focus on the joyverse side
and that is like a prime shopper of Costco
buying food for their kids
buying food for team sports
buying food for our drinks
for all these different things
so they come in droves they
they're ready to purchase
they wanna try new things
it's a modern consumer in clubs
per se and you can have a lot of impact
the flip side to that
is that they're willing to try your brand
and they're willing to try many other brands as well
and therefore
you really have to fight to keep them within
you know buying and repeating your product
yeah
so I think that that is probably the biggest difference
is their consumer base rather than that
you know they're both kind of
very efficient club channels to do business with
my understanding is that the margins that
you know notably lower than other retail channels
channel early where I assume
you know volume initially gonna be lower
or you don't have as much economies of scale as versus
if you've you know
scaled up
you're in 5,000 doors before you start going after club
how do you kind of plan around that
from a margin perspective
if you're going after club in early days
if that makes sense
so yeah
a couple you know
key information is that um
clubs you know
stated margin that they are wanting to is around 14%
so they're wanting to only make
whereas like
other retailers are 30 40
50% so it's it's
it's it's the lowest margin now
on the same token
they want to have the best price in the market
so you have to factor in yes
you're getting a lower margin
but it's off of a lower price
yeah but they have the buying power to buy at scale
so you literally if you're in the cereal space
if you're in the chip space
if you're in the beverage space
if you're at the bar protein bar space
they all have such large minimum quantity
runs from manufacturer
that's just the name of the game of food and beverage
but Costco is one of the few retailers
or Sam's is one of the few retailers
or even BJ's to a certain extent
is one of the few retailers
that if they bring the item on
you can hit the minimum quantities
and the minimum quantities
are going to give you the efficiency
so if like
for example in cans cans
minimum volume for a flavor is 205,000 cans
you can easily
with their minute with the opening orders from a Costco
just in a region let alone nationally
hit the minimum quantity
so you're getting the scale pricing from them off the
from off the bat
it's actually much harder to go to the other retailers
like Walmart and target and stuff
and say hey
if we brought you nationally
can we think that
that the minimum quantities will be hit
they will be hit in a period of time
and you'll have to bankroll and have inventory
but they won't be hit in the say
first six to eight weeks the way like
a club environment would work
so it's actually very very advantageous
and has been a competitive advantage of ours
to be able to go into club and you're gonna like
through the demos because literally
we're spending tens of millions of dollars in demos
per year
we're literally able to get real time feedback of like
we really like this flavor
we really don't like this one
we really like you're able to get that
and make adjustments
before you even go to rest of the market
so there's a ton to there's a ton to be had totally
especially in this channel
I think you're running I assume
probably like thousands of demos a month
across all the different club channels that you're in
how big of a presence you have there
how do you actually go about
training during a you know
a demo machine that that's that big
effectively
you have to invest in it
so we have a department that actually invest in
so each retailer has their
their demo partners that they have selected
that you have to work with
so like
as an example Costco
you have to work with CDs
don't have to but it's their preferred
you can do it on your own
but it's a huge lift so Cds is for Costco
I think advantage or someone else is for Sam's
and BJ's has their own
and everybody has their own team that they have set up
that know the schedule
how to work within that environment
food safety all that stuff is taken care of
so our job is to get these demo reps
excited about the product
through videos sales sheets
let them know what the talking points are
have them armed with how the sample should be served
chilled if it's a beverage
the quantity amount
all that stuff so
our job internally
is to use these sales and demo teams
almost as a sales arm
that can provide that knowledge
that you're trying to get into a marketing campaign
out to those consumers and so that's what our job is
is to manage them
and then we obviously analyze the data on a daily basis
of what people cause there's been so
so many demos going off of what people are saying
how did it respond how did sales initially hit
what was the lift
what's the demo on a Monday due compared to a Tuesday
and a Tuesday compared to a Saturday
and a Saturday compared to something like
it's very analytical once you get down to that detail
and as it should be when you're spending that type of
an investment on something
you better have a team that's managing
giving you the data you need to make decisions
totally shifting gears a little bit
creatine in a soda is not gonna work
science doesn't support it
consumers aren't gonna trust it
clearly you've proven them wrong so far
like walk
but yeah walk me through kind of the
a bit about the formulation
R&D journey and kind of
the key variables you were playing around with
between that first iteration to the final version
where you said okay
I feel good about this this is
I'm ready for to take this to market
so obviously
haven't been in the industry for as long as I have
creatine
is one of the most studied ingredients of all time
and that the health benefits
similar to protein are one of the greatest
you know ingredients you can possibly have
what was once thought of as more of like a
a bro uh
a bro ingredient made for fitness for males
has recently in the last kind of 18 months
taken on a new life that cognitive functions
beneficial from the ingredient
and therefore females have started to
you really explore it
and now the market has exploded
that both males and females are doing so
at that particular time is when I said OK
in a new delivery format of a beverage
which is what you know
males and females consume equally
this is the time to figure out
how we can have this be soluble in
in liquid which had never been done before
so we invested a lot to know that
if we were to figure this out
with a coating process with a delivery format
with an overage and all these things
and a pH level that we could specifically work on
on this specific creatine
we'd have a shot of doing something that was kind of
regarded as one of one and as it stands today
we are the one of one and that's why we've had
you know even 15 million cans that have been pre bought
pre bought that we can't even fulfill
because we don't even have the ability to make the
the specialized creatine
that we're using as quickly as you would need to
so it really has been a game changer for us
in terms of excitement around the product
pre orders for the product
it's launching in you know
two short months in July 2026
but I feel like my 25 years of history kind of
has brought me to this point
because I've known about consumed used
known the challenges of creatine
for almost a quarter of a century
so to finally get it out to you
I think people forget you know
obviously
I've been on LinkedIn for a short period of time
relative to my entrepreneurial journey
so people may say oh
who is this new person coming up
this is just a fly by night
I've been doing this for a quarter of a century
I've I've really know the category
and the ingredients really well
and what can and cannot be done
and obviously I
I at the forefront of all my businesses
think that innovation is very much
the most important department
that you can possibly have uh
for retailer growth
so this is something that has been well thought out of
well tested something we're very excited about
and yes
like I do joke about it and
and take pleasure in people doubting the process
and doubting it but
you know come July
when we're one of one um
and the excitement is there
I think we're gonna
we're going to shake up the industry a bit
for sure without
you know it
this is probably too much of trade secret
you probably don't wanna disclose
but if there's anything that's
I don't know
able to do so like
I'm curious like
what you solved that seems like
nobody else is really able to figure out
to actually create a creatine soda
in this product format
it's all about the dosages and the encapsulation
and the pH levels
so those three variables are the key ingredients
so to speak that we had to really nail for it to work
and none none of those being done separately
was going to get it done so I
I can leave it at that in terms of
that's kind of the sandbox
yeah we make sense we had to play in
but yeah
that was that was what it was
you know we branded it Kreo Joy so that we could
you know own it ourselves
and as I said we're
we're super excited about it
protein soda also seems to be crushing it
I think I saw you post something a bit ago
where you said like
you know um
protein soda is broken most of it doesn't taste good
first purchase can get you on the shelf because
you know
retailers feel like there's so much demand for this
but the category is really gonna be won by the
ones that actually stay on the shelf
after that second purchase
yeah say more about what your kind of take on
where this protein soda market is right now
so joy burst our number one item that we have is this
is this joy burst hydration
like that's our franchise product
it's been around the longest
it's as represents currently 60% of our sales
we're only in year four
but you can do the math on what that is
our second biggest item is actually our
our protein coffee which went OK
Ross Costco and it's going into target in August
and it's in Aldi and blah blah blah
so it's actually our second biggest brand
it's also been around the second longest
and then our third is is our protein soda that's gotten
you know you've seen it national at Sam's Club
Costco as well the Aldi like
list goes on Meyer's
H E B whatever
so that's one that I've made post about it
so protein coffee sorry
Protein sodas has a lot of competitors
there's many different people
playing in different spaces from
you know
all the way as low as four grams of what we did
all the way up to 30 grams
I think that uh
the industry is going to do
the category of protein soda is going to do really well
it's only gonna do really well though
on the people who spend the time
figuring out how to make the taste deliver
on the promise people will try it cause it's novel
bubbles and protein have really never been done before
besides the last kind of year
but at the end of the day
for people to continue to consume it
it's gotta taste something that tastes like soda
um we saw that in the RTD protein space
when Fairlife came out
and they made a product taste like a milkshake
it's actually like the number one item like of all time
like it's
it's sales are absolutely dwarves everybody
because everybody they can't keep it in stock
they and it's been years
they did they
and it's with I think Coca Cola owns them
and they still can't keep it in stock
so they figured out how to make something
with that type of macros taste like a milkshake
deliver on the promise
and people just keep buying and buying it
in the protein soda space
I believe that no one including us
has gotten to the point where someone say
I feel like I'm just drinking a soda
it just happens to have 30 grams of amazing protein
I think there's a lot of work to be done
the industry in the category is very early
but what I was trying to say was
who's going to win that the people who continue to
not just take what their current product
that they have in the market now
is the final product continue to invest in
and figuring out how to
make ways to make the product taste more and more like
just a traditional soda people
as I said they won't compromise for that long
and the people who do compromise
are as much smaller segment
than the overall soda category
that everybody wants to get
they're pretty wild I think it was like year one
3 million year two 11 million
year three 45
year four on track for hundred million
tracking for like 200000000+ next year
path to you know
was zero capital raise even profitable every year
from what I know you know
to grow a brand in like
for that level of growth
of no investor capital in the bank
so you so the statistics that you just uh
described are just for the joyverse company
and as you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast
I have six different businesses so right
this is yeah
we're talking about for joyverse
so um
one of the things that we've been able to do
or what I've been able to
and I try to teach this to
is any aspiring entrepreneur is
you may have a goal of saying
I just wanna be in the beverage space
or I just wanna be in the
in the space of you know airplanes whatever
the thing is you don't have to start off
with exactly what you wanted to do
you can create a path of how to get there
and so when we were launching in 2000
we launched in supplements
which had the largest margins
like in some cases you would have 80 to 90% margins
which would be unheard of in food and beverage
and therefore it was a very cash uh
positive business and if you were profitable
like we had the year of like uh
hundred and forty million in sales
and 20 million in profit and it was not finance at all
there's a lot of money on the way through
that could be made both for myself personally
as well as to reinvest into the businesses
and so having done this for 25 years
I've been able to have well
next be able to be the backdrop of funding
for when I eventually launched No Sugar in 2,018
and then that became cash positive
and then I've been able to have wellnex and no sugar
to help fund joyverse and that's
you know been positive
and so that's kind of how it's worked
but it's something that's worked over 25 years
I think that people lose sight in this world
that they want it tomorrow or they want it next year
and yeah they
they're can't figure it out
like they can't fathom how to figure this out
so we've been told you know
very often that we're a kind of a unicorn in the space
and I take that as a compliment
but it's a unicorn that was created over 25 years
right sure
that is a huge caveat to the situation
of how we've been able to do it
self financed right
and I'm not saying getting financing
or getting venture capital's funds
or strategic funds is a is a bad move
obviously every business you create
eventually you're gonna figure out a time to
to sell it
I'm just saying is it takes a lot more disciplined
it's been a longer road for sure
of 25 years and it's been a lot of sleepless nights
and with that I have the benefit is the board team
and looks like this which is me on this call
and that's who I have to answer to
along with my you know
my president partner who's also a shareholder
so I can make these decisions with
like
launching multiple products in a year of innovation
I can do things with Vanilla Ice
like we've done that people would scratch their head at
I can do a Super Bowl commercial
I don't need a consensus from a board team
I can do it and
and you can see the results in terms of the growth
the downside of this crazy Groen success story
is that new founders are gonna think that's the norm
and they're gonna hit that in three years
which is certainly not the norm
it's it's certainly not the norm
and there's I mean
you can unpeel that onion a lot
and I've had some time to spend on it
it's a great story it's
it's yup
an awesome headline it's great clickbait
but there was a lot that went into that
to make it go down the way it happened
sure and yeah
the six brands you're you're running
walk me through how you split your time on an
on a day to day basis or week to week basis
between all the different brands you're running
that's the hardest part and so
when you see something
like joyverse having 100% growth
and like all this excitement and this stuff
it's very difficult to say like
hey Mighty Minis
hey no sugar
hey wellnex and stuff
so it is difficult I think that
you know they're not six different brands
they're actually six different companies
but they have shared service right
so they have shared services of finance
they have shared services a lot of times in marketing
shared services in sales
so the idea is that to the retailer
they think of them as like
six different brands
cause the parent company still sells to those retailers
no matter what the company is
but to us they're very much different companies
that require brand managers
and people focusing on the growth of those
from an innovation perspective
from a marketing perspective
and from everything else so if you ask me about it
from me I think that
you know the answer to that is
is having great help in a team
that can help you execute the vision that you're doing
for each of those brands
that we set at the beginning of each year
but I also think it's like
you have to have a very passionate team that's willing
even in year 26 like it is for me
to still put in the hours that
that it requires to make this thing successful
like there's no substitute for just grinding away
totally that was gonna
I was gonna ask about that
like what gets used across multiple of the brands
whether it's you know
shared services co packers
brokers distributors
finance ops but it sounds like it's
there's a fair amount of crossovers
but there's a fair amount of
we use our economies of scale to our advantage right
so if we're buying corget
we buy corget across the different companies
and we combined that so
we would be foolish
to not take advantage of what we've created
but again there's all six different legal structures
so that they can eat they can
they can operate in their own ecosystem
whether that be from a positioning perspective
whether that be from a marketing perspective
whether that be from an animation perspective
you know joyverse stays obviously in beverage
you know no sugar stays in food and in snacks
wellness stays in supplements and so forth
and you yourself on this reality show
now fast forward Mighty
Mighty Minis is a retail ready brand
expanding and heading into Walmart
what's tell me about the story here
yeah so I've
you know I always had a kind of a bucket list dream
to have a reality show
so in 2,009 10 I actually moved to California
I had a concept and an idea
I created a sizzle reel to be a show perspective um
reality show producers and I just walked the streets
as someone who had had like
a hundred and forty million dollar company
by that point large advertiser spend
and I went to all the major networks
because we advertised on them
and I pitched this idea and funny enough
they all pretty much liked the idea
but at the time uh
your guy's President Trump was doing The Apprentice
and ratings started to fall
and so they did not think
that a secondary business show
was going to be possible so they just was like hey
I like the concept I think it's new
fresh and innovative
and it doesn't make a lot more sense
as opposed to the way the apprentice was set up
at the time we just don't think
the markets are ready for a show like that
so given like I told you
in business no means not now
I had the opportunity to bring this opportunity
the reality show back uh
and and start production of it in like 2022
2023 and so
I got with a team that did reality shows
based out of Florida we filmed the show
it took us about a year and a half to kind of
modernize it and figure out how to make it happen and
and and the schedule of it all
and I was able to do it um
and so that's one of my you know
personal bucket list that I self finance
along with the production house
and then they were actually able to get it on
to affiliate ABC networks across the country
so that was very amazing to me
like we were on
you know New York Chicago LA
Las Vegas and so forth through ABC
so got you know
it accomplished what I a bucket list that I had
but from that journey a product was created
which was Mighty Minis
designed for multivitamins for kids without
you know without sugar
and Ariana who won the competition
is the president of the company
and she basically now's job along with us
is to get the product in as many houses and retailers
that would see a benefit
because especially with kids nutrition
I think if moms and parents knew that
when most multivitamins
that they're feeding their kids
has actually more sugar than the actual actives
that you're buying the product for
they would make that quick change pretty quickly
but it's just an education thing
so I'm excited about that company
it's gotten distribution now in Walmart
it's just launched so it's
you know if you look at Shark Tank
if you look at some of the big shows
not all of those companies even make it to a big retail
totally so yeah
it's been a wild ride but
that's kind of
the background of how I came up with the idea
in the show and it was a passion project
that turned into a great business opportunity
last question for you Brad
launching AI across Ops and forecasting
I think is on your July 2026 to do list
what are you kind of envisioning here
what tools
who on the teams kind of be leading implementation
the vision here for I guess kind of the the
the V1 of the AI implementation
let's say so
AI is really of interest to everybody
including myself I don't think I
in any way
up to speed the way many founders necessarily are
who are just in AI specifically
but you can work with different teams that specialize
and saying hey
like this is how I wanna transform my business
whether it be on the finance side
on the operation sides on the tool side
on the forecasting side and different things
where I think AI uh
can be very helpful
and you can have a product development person
who's actually leading that
as opposed to you just kind of figuring it out
and so that's what we've invested in
and each of our departments
who we set goals that we wanna have for AI benefits
like I just mentioned
are working with product development
to make that happen the concerning part obviously
is where's all this information going
which really no one has a great answer right now
they all say it's all it's confidential
it's this it's that
but at the end of the day
it's so new no one really knows but when you
but we're using that now
because I think that the risk of not doing it
and the efficiencies that it provides
outweigh the potential risk
of getting your information into the wrong hands
but that's how we're trying to implement it
as a stage one and then as it evolves from here
we'll kind of you know
continue to upgrade and go from there
this has been awesome um
now you said you're fairly new to
to LinkedIn but what
what's the best place for
people to follow along with you
you've got clearly such a great story
and so many great insights
yeah obviously I'm
I'm much more Instagram and
LinkedIn is kind of the two platforms that myself
and some of my team members gravitate most towards
for sure but I think obviously
if you just remember the names of no sugar company
joy burst in mighty Minis somehow
some way I'll be attached to it somewhere
and you can kind of fall along that journey that way
perfect yeah
awesome Brad
I appreciate the time this has been super helpful
um I think that's the pod alright
Wellnex Life Sciences at 22
hundred fifty million in sales
20 million in profit by in 2007
post recently on LinkedIn
2007 29 years old
what have you found or like
I think the biggest difference in Costco versus Sam's
the club channel requires brands to take is is
you touch on how the power of demos
half a billion in 2028 I think
beverage is one of the most expensive categories to
what is the I don't working capital cycle look like
tell me about a billion dollar showdown in Mighty Minis

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