Mason Domecq - Going After the Energy Drink Aisle with Honey Kombucha

welcome to shelf help actually pause
co founder of devini
the honey kombucha brand based out of Scottsdale area
started brewing Devin is apartment in August 2023
I think after a fermented green tea and honey recipe
was passed along to him by some family friends
I think um
which I think I'll probably touch on here in a second
but started brewing at at night after his day job
sold close to
I think 1,000 bottles or so in the first few months
I'm quitting my investment banking job
fast forward a bit here we are today
the very long story short
I'm sure he's gonna touch on here in a bit more detail
but um yeah
super excited to to dive into it Mason
but yeah just first off
for the the listeners that maybe
are not as familiar with the Divini
we love to just start off by
just getting a quick lay of the land
just in terms of an origin story
why behind the brand core products in the lineup
and then maybe
a few places that people can get their hands on them
and then we'll go from there
yeah that's great
thanks Adam
yeah I was uh
this recipe came from as you said
literally uh
I was trying to get into the health space
I didn't really know how um
you know I
I got out of college
and immediately got into the business world
my family background is in clothing
so we had a western clothing business for 25 years
so I grew up in a warehouse
you know packing clothing and like modeling as a kid
and cowboy hats and like
like when you had a catalog and stuff
and um
just helping out the family
and we moved from Wyoming here in 2007
so been in Arizona for going on almost 19 years
which is crazy and um
yeah I was
I mean I was
I was learning so much
I was playing college golf and um
I wanted to get into to business
and I knew that was like the route I wanted to go
I just didn't really know what fast it
so you know
naturally when you're going to college
you're like alright
I'll just get into the best like
you know
base career path I possibly can and go from there
and it's really interesting job
of pretty much everything that I'm doing today
like that knowledge has stemmed from
which helps me a lot
so a lot of it was like working with business owners
and it was all on the MNA side
so transacting businesses
doing financial projections
working with lawyers on packaging up your business
and transacting it to another buyer
and so I got a ton of hands on experience with that
and then all while that was happening
I was like man
like it is so cool to work with business owners
and I you know that I always wanted to create a product
and and especially when you're in service
for me it was hey
I really want to strap my identity to a product
and have that show through
and as you're also trying to like
figure out yourself naturally
you're like you okay
I'm just gonna figure out through this brand
and kind of you know
combo in two in one
I mean I mean
prior to Vinnie like yeah
I would just work all day
and then anytime I had outside
was trying to work on business concepts
I'd like
design a full service restaurant
farm to table restaurant
that I was gonna work with local farmers on
and did renderings for it and everything and
you know so kind of just trying to like
pick some ideas and I was always good at like
inquiring to people
that were way smarter than me in that field
so I would talk to restaurant owners and farmers and
you know all the people in my network that I knew and
um and still I was kind of drawn back to like oh
it'd be really nice to just have a product
and start that as a base
a little lower barrier to entry
you can always scale it up from there
and was lucky enough to
my two good friends at the time um
Dylan and Mckenna they
we had like
a family it was like a family friends
you know friendsgiving type vibe
where we had like
20 people it was um
she's super holistic so we had like
a home cooked meal and
and she had fermented all of her tea in the back
for pantry so
and we bottled up and use that as
you know what
the liquid we use the company
the meal and I tried it
and I was just blown away instantly
I was like oh wow
this really tastes good and I knew it
it was very healthy you know
just from the ingredients
and it was just a honey
fermented tea of fruit and some herbs
so I was like hey
can I borrow like
some of that SCOBY and start producing in my house
um so I started with like
a little half gallon and in the span of eight months
I had about 40 gallons brewing between like
three different vats bunch of like
fruit infusion jars that I was moving it to
I had two commercial fridges and like
24 bottles next to my bed
so it was getting a little um
little much little sad
dove head first into it I just really love the process
started giving out to friends
and at that point it was like February 24th
saved up a good chunk of money
so I was like alright
I think this is really something I wanna do
I I don't really know how to do it yet
but I I know I don't wanna be here
so
I'm just gonna focus on trying to bridge the gap here
so I took two months off and um
and I was talking to like some investors at the time
talking to breweries commissary kitchens
trying to figure it out and luckily
I found a brewery
that would kind of take me under their wing
and produce my first product um
in August of 24 had that to market by September
started with 24 cans
then did a re up of 56 hundred cans in March of 25
spent the whole year
literally doing like a hundred plus events
meeting everyone in the community
like really making like a community beverage
and I kind of just figured out
you know the stripes of the beverage industry
and everything that needed to happen
to make the product succeed
reformulated everything
repackaged everything that your team had the
you know pleasure to partner with
and um next thing you know we had
you know almost 30,000 cans sitting at brew right now
about to get bottled
got a sprouts contract in Phoenix set up for um
July of of this year
um got some
some more meetings with retailers here locally
so we're gonna just take over Phoenix
and look to expand from there
um I love it
that's awesome three cans that we're taking to market
diving into the weeds of formulation
R&D stuff a little bit you can just like
I assume I got that right
what was the kind of key to actually making it work
yeah so honey is interesting because it's
there's so many variants of honey
you know
it really just depends on what the bees pollinate on
and so it you know
honey in Arizona is gonna be completely different
than honey in Minnesota Michigan
or northwest gonna be different than South America
gonna be different than literally any part of the world
it's still honey but the
you know it can have a very
like floral notes
it could have more dryer notes
it could it just varies a lot
so I think that's like
the trickiest thing for sure
especially when you're dealing with fermentations
and you're introducing bacteria
so you know
traditionally I think that's been like
the biggest advancement in kombucha
is probably been how to make that process consistent
and so kombucha brewers pop up
now what we do with our product is
we take a regular kombucha base
we ferment it down to zero sugar
and so it's just like a super strong kombucha base
and then we dilute it with
you know regular tea and water
and then we actually add back honey
and then all of our fruit juice nitropics
and we use a probiotic strain as well
so we kinda found a way to systematize that a bit
so we can use that to scale
instead of actually traditionally
you know fermenting it with the honey
just using honey as an ingredient is a yeah
so much easier and honestly
I think it'll be better for everyone
cause you're creating a more consistent product
by just having it as an additive ingredient
totally awesome that's great
you may have jumped from your just kind of
to some level of commercial production
tell me just a bit about that
going to that search for the first brewery Copacker
what you were actually looking for
how did you go about that search
it was tough I mean um yeah
cause I really struggled with like
you know creating that like
brewery and you know
starting Commissary Kitchen and
and kind of the woes of doing that and
and really just came down to what I had access to
you know there's so many ways you could do it
and she's like alright
well what's the quickest you can go to market
what do you have accessibility to
what's your experience and I mean
my experience definitely you know
I was I was making good tea
but it wasn't anything that I
I knew from a background of like
brewing or anything like that
so I was like hey
I'm way more comfortable partnering with someone that
that did that for a living
that like
that was their thing
and just finding like an a plus player in that
and then building up my skills
and building a team that could kind of
you know form in that
everything that that need to happen
yep so I use
I don't know
there's a lot of companies out there where you can like
search
they have good databases of a lot of local breweries
and people that specialize in this
specialize in that
um so a lot of it was word of mouth
a lot of it was just research
and honestly
like the first brewery I got literally just um cold
called the owner like
I just called him up
and luckily the owner picked up and I was like uh
hi how's it going
my name is Mason I uh
I brew tea like you guys do
and like here's like what I wanna do
and um and uh
they like
they're like yeah OK
that sounds interesting like we can set up a meeting
like you know
kind of like pushed it back a little bit
and I was like right
no like I'll
I'll drive over there this weekend
I got samples ready to go
like I wanna show you guys what I'm doing
and kind of just really like pushed that
I had this figured out
and all I needed was just capability
and end up getting a meeting in person
and I I brought like a ton of my home brews
I brought printed out material of like
what my cans would look like at the time
and just try to do it as professional as possible
and just put a good foot forward
and they're like okay
well I mean
you got a lot figured out
and kind of just told the story and was like alright
yeah we can
so the first recipe
I actually just white labeled off their base
their kombucha base
and then just added my own flavor and branding
so that was how I got my entry in
without kind of knowing what product to create
so I kind of just created off their base
they already had dialed and then um
the hardest part was you know
kind of understanding
because you're kind of blind at that point then
because it's like okay
we have this base
but if you want to actually build a brand
and have that sourcing control and everything
you kind of have to you know
in the back and I was trying to figure out
how do I make this my own and yeah
my own recipe that I knew and that no one else had
so that was kind of the woes
and kind of what we did
the year that we were marketing that
building the Divinity brand
and then it's like okay
cool now I
I know some experience I know a lot more people
I have some advisors now
let me get the right intro
so I ended up going to a just
they don't have a kombucha brand
they solely comp uh
co pack they co pack for a lot of different variations
like some alcohol infusions of fruit um
but they're predominantly at Kombucha Brewery
so it made sense to go with them first
and we could really go with any co packer at this point
but systematically I think it made the most sense
and they got me in
at a price point that I could model out
and make sense at yeah
at our volume so
so yeah
I kind of just relied on people that knew what to do
better than me yeah
don't make sense you're using that
or bottles
yeah bottles were
I mean honestly
it was a it's a couple thing
one was accessibility so I was kind of thinking of like
okay if I really want to make a product
you know Divini's not gonna be that product
that's gonna be I
I don't necessarily want it as like the golden
you know the golden
holistic product that you find in Whole Foods
that you pay 6 7 dollars for
you buy off the month you know
I don't really see it fitting into that
I really wanna kind of
recategorize what a functional health product is
and so that's where I was like man
I would love to see this product like
take over energy drinks and gas stations
I would love to see this product um
you know fit in the health market
but be something that it doesn't really identify with
Mister like the high end health consumer
like what about all these other people
that have all these problems
with energy drink consumption
and sodas and like
how do we how do we make
how do we change that market
so it's like okay
well you know
that's where the cans made the most sense
easy accessibility younger demographic
you know you can take it out
you can take it on the beach
you can take it
it doesn't weigh a lot
so it's kind of like a little more on the go
as opposed to that like super high end health product
so I find a middle ground where to make it convenient
make it accessible but also
really what matters most is what's going inside the
totally yeah
packaging tone
voice positioning packaging design
rebrand you executed pretty recently in terms of um
that kind of initial brand look and feel positioning
what were kind of some of the key variables
that were top of mind for you
when you were building that out
yeah but so with our first product
we built it very much off of like
beauty first you know
like very visual first which
which worked a lot of capabilities
and when we're marketing towards like
when we're going in person
you know it's very easy to speak on a product
when you're the one introducing it to everyone
right when you start to hit store shelves
and you kind of
eliminate that person that's selling you
and so the product now has to sell itself
yep the transition where it's like OK yeah
if if this is gonna sit on a store shelf
there's a thousand other products in the store
like how is someone
that doesn't know anything about our brand
that might not come from social media
or come to search for us pick it off the shelf and
and want to consume that yeah
so it was more of like a
a strategy on having the product sell itself
versus having you sell the product you've made
yeah that was the main thing of like
me looking at the our last product and being like yeah
this this needs a change
and so that's why like
with our current product we've made like
the front very visually easy to understand
the name the PNG
the flavor and like
we do focus and gut health
so that's like our two things that we're
we're kind of marketing towards
and then we can kind of have
you know the artsy elements on the sides
we have a lot of like
floral artwork but on the Plain View
it's very like oh
this is the Divini product
and you can read it understand it and um
and hopefully want to try it
cause I didn't know what I wanted
yeah I was gonna make something that
you know it
our previous artwork was sick
it was really cool yeah
it was cool really cool
it didn't it didn't storytell how I thought
and it what
it didn't really speak to the brand we've
you know spent the last year marketing sure
so you know
especially when we approached you guys
and we worked through the rebrand
it was like okay yeah
how can we kind of put our true brand
voice and ourselves into it
and then you know
have you guys with your knowledge
kind of put the artwork element and
and speak that story into existence
so that was probably the main help and assistance
and for sure that totally makes sense
I just approach you tomorrow and say hey
I'm a founder early stage founder
had a brand in the market for a year or two
told you
I'm kind of considering going through a rebrand or
and or a packaging refresh
to just even help me understand
is this the right time to even go through this rebrand
yeah I mean I
I think you very much have to understand what you want
to some extent
you know and you don't have to always get it right
like even when we were going through it like
you know we had renderings
we made changes um
and it it gets clearer and easier to make those changes
once you're like no
I want my brand to say this
sure I want to be that way
which helps you know
the agency to be like okay
I just need to now cater it to yeah
as long as you know what you want
then it's easy to make what you want
when you don't know what you want
then you're just shooting in the dark
so it was very clear you know
after a year into that first product
we were like okay
we know what we want
our current product is not what we want
so something needs to change
that was like the trigger where it's like okay
now it's time to you know it
it was a very clear like
green signal on that so I mean
you can just you know
you have to take the time to test a product
I mean it took us
you know about a year and a half
from that first design to this design
sure and we just had to get feedback
we had to understand what people thought
and what they wanted and
you know you just gotta go in
in front of people and get their perspective
which I think made the process probably easier
thinking about how to balance the kind of
you're doing it for a reason
but also keeping some of those familiar components
resonate with them still feels like it's the thing that
they'll still like
and know how and where to find it
does that make if that makes sense
yeah absolutely
I mean I mean
like with this product
that we still have like
like that floral artwork elements on the sides
so that's very still much apparent
so it still looks at its core like yeah
for sure it's
to a Divini product like
what people recognize I think
you know if
if yeah
if I mean
and we've been in you know
we were in about 40 stores locally in Phoenix
more not like traditional retailers
but more just regular stores
I think uh
you know when you go back to those places
it's like hey
here's why we did this
here's what we've realized people want
so we've made those improvements
not only have we made those visual improvements
but here's what we've done to our base product
and here's why we've made it now
easier for you to get cheaper
better ingredients more functional ingredients
like this is what you kind of just story tell
you know
as long as you made a change for a very logical reason
and and it'll help them
and it's like oh
this product will be easier to sell now
sure or
or you can get them to agree
I mean I think that's the main thing that
that we've experienced and
you know we've had great feedback off of um
everyone that's
that we've shared to that previously purchased from us
or have been around our brand
so he's got to be honest with people
you know and just like totally
you know just
you don't need to sugarcoat anything
there's a reason why you did it
and if you did it for the right reasons
then you know
there's that story will tell itself totally
from a pricing standpoint what
and our kind of process look like
for nailing down your your go to market price
when you initially went to market
and then kind of second part of that question now today
has your kind of mindset thought process changed at all
the brand in the market
yeah I think um
I mean at a core we
we just looked at what you know
these products sell for between X range and X range
and then we kind of said okay
well um
since we're using you know
these ingredients
we're using honey as opposed to sugar or sucrose
we're using kombucha
based of carbonated water and citric acid
so we're gonna price ourselves
on the higher end of the market
just by nature um
as a you know
1 because those ingredients
cost more than artificial ingredients obviously
and 2 um
you know it's gonna um
in the health space you know
you kind of have to pay to play
but you're
you're buying it because you know that it's good
and it's gonna have a good benefit
and so you know
naturally your people are gonna buy better products
and they're gonna understand that
to get those products it's probably not gonna be
you know fast food versus true
there's a farm and table meal
as far as like
what we marketed towards I mean
with this with this new product
I said okay um
landed cost we're gonna be at X price
and I kind of just worked up the margin
supply chain there from distribution retail
um so we can offer this at MSRP
I think we're gonna launch at 4:49 at sprouts and do
like a 2 for 8
but then on our website we can offer
you know bulk price down to like 3:25
and then we will sell to local businesses for like $3
and um
so you kind of build out like
you know hey
here's what like a retailer like sprouts would buy for
we can offer that similar price to
if we just direct the wholesale
to local businesses in our area
here's what I'm gonna have to pay
you know our distributor
and as long as we're hitting our margins on that
that I know I can cash flow it
so I think as you know
as long as as you're providing an outlet to
it's a cash flow cause
you know the worst case
scenario is
you can provide a super cheap product that's good
and then it's like oh great
I can get this product really cheap
and it's like hey
we actually have to you know
raise another million dollars
or hey
we actually can't like
supply this product at that price
um so
you know you just gotta do what you know you can do
totally and then stand by
you know why you price it at that
and then if it's comparative to other beverages
or products in the market
then it should um
you know speak for yourself
you never want to offer someone you
we would never sell this for like six
7 dollars but you play in the game and understand
try to match consumer expectations
yeah totally yeah
that makes a lot of sense too
mm hmm
from like the really early days
pretty sure you put like
integrating and
and really deeply partnering with kind of like
that has a lot of music and art events
and really
kind of trying to weave Deviney and the Honey Kombucha
um it seems like it's a pretty intentional strategy
that early on like yeah
it appears kind of
thought process around that
decision to focus there so much initially
how are you kind of like
or there any kind of KPIs you're looking at
yeah it's interesting to look back on
like how you spend money early on
I mean if
you know let's say um yeah
we were dealing with $100,000
it's like and now
you know
I would probably spend a lot more of that on product
and and a lot more surplus
and then just get it in locations where people can buy
set up those deals with grocery stores
that way you at least have like
the hardest part that we
the best part that we nailed about that strategy was
we had such um
such like
like people would go around and be like
I understand like
I know who who Davini is
like we got such great brand awareness from that
that's awesome doing those events
doing the like
we would have jam nights where we like
would invite we would have like
20 musicians over everyone was like
you know doing music
and we had like
music showings at that studio and for like
music videos and it was really like
quite spectacular and then
but yeah
you know with that
like on top of that
people have to then it's like
okay well
how do I easily purchase this product
if it's only available at the studio
then you're only
probably purchasing when you're at the studio
right if it's at some local boutique shops
and it's gonna be like
harder to find and then if all your stuff's e commerce
and you really haven't had like
that really good um
you know social traction or
or Google Tracks or Amazon
then it's it's definitely hard to convert
um so that's probably the hardest
like the best part of that
and also the hardest part
so I think like
nailing down you know
a good supply chain or at least a good retail partner
like like
now that we're in sprouts
if we did that again like
we could easily um
integrate that into sprouts
so it's like totally
if you come to the studio like
cool if you want our product
like we're in sprouts everywhere
it's like oh yeah
I'll pick it up at sprouts tomorrow
so now it's at the top of your mind
but you've created that consistent traction
of people just coming through and talking with you
so it feels very real
so I I
I think it's great in a lot of ways
but the part that we didn't nail early on
was having easy accessibility for purchase and um
like a local footprint
of being available in stores
um so that we solve that
will start to reintegrate um
and probably more
like running that space was awesome
um
it was also kind of a part time job as well
yeah I know yeah so
and uh so kind of
and but you can make good money from that as well
cause if you're using it as a studio and stuff then
I mean we charge for events
we would do like
let's say we had like 150 people show up
we do like a ten dollar ticket
and you get a free Divini with it
so boom you just got 150 sales from
you know one night event
um so it kind of goes hand in hand
but I think looking forward yeah
we're gonna focus a lot more on
just getting density on stores
and building out the product side
and then we'll kind of reintegrate that
that community feel totally
sprouts is a great example um
getting that meeting with the sprouts team initially
how did you kind of position the brand
and now that you've gotten that commitment from them
between now and when you're actually
you know getting on shelf there
what's that kind of process looking like
getting ready to actually launch there effectively
yeah I think
I think it made a lot of sense specifically with them
cause I mean like our office right here
I mean me and Cam
basically grew up in Phoenix our entire lives
um so
you know
approaching sprouts felt very comfortable and easy
and it was like hey
we're in your backyard
um you know
we're probably one of the only beverages
you know that's going in the um
Arizona that where people live in Phoenix
like they live right next to headquarters
um so that was like
a helpful element there um
I mean
I literally got contact just from Dming on LinkedIn
a bunch of of uh
of category managers and eventually met the person
and then it was powerful because like
we could set up a meeting
and then I was like oh yeah
we just drove here like
we're 15 minutes away um
so like
occasionally that helps a lot
you know if you're
if the sprouts are on the East Coast
like it's just gonna naturally be harder
so that was very helpful
I think um
you know we
we got in a meeting and um
and we were very upfront about like
where we are we want to be
kind of where we want to position ourselves
how are and I think it's also a new space for them
you know
they don't really have a lot of shelf stable kombucha
they kind of have their kombucha set
and then they have their functional
yeah um
like alcohol alternative set
and then this new kind of functional element
non alcohol elements um
not really like
a category in their store yet
as far as like
shelf space yeah
so we kind of sit in a unique position
to introduce a lot of elements
that are already doing well for them
and then figure out
and kind of bring that locality in to yeah
just create a powerful kind of local impact
um you know
our volumes are crazy right now
so it was easy to do hey
we're just gonna do a sprouts
totally Phoenix lunch
and then we can kind of expand from there
and I mean
they've been amazing to work with
really easy partner to work with so far
and that's great um
so yeah
just kind of nail that down
but yeah
I think you know
with any retailer meeting is going
to be honest
I always try to focus a lot more on like
building relationships and just being
you know
fun to hang out with and an easy person to work with
and you know
let the product kind of just do its thing
thinking about over the next
I don't know let's just say a year or two
in terms of kind of sequencing out phasing
and then the next goal after that
for sure yeah
so I think yeah
really nail that I mean
that'll be our first big chance to get like
great data that we can obviously
um used to tell a story
as opposed to us just saying our products good and that
that it'll do well so having kind of that yet
it's great opportunity to just get really good data um
to have a bunch of friends in the area that support us
and going back to you know
throwing those events like
we have so many people
that we'll go in and purchase product and
and support us that way so that's
that's great yeah
I think you know
just looking around your area and
and saying okay cool
well you know
we got that like
the bash families local
I have a AJ's we can strap on so we can get another
you know 30
40 doors that way we can um
get an intro to alpers and Safeway
we could um
you know kind of just look at like
what are the best opportunities locally
that you could add on with um
yeah just having your product local there and
and just figure out kind of a
a distribution playbook
but I think really focusing first on like
you know I
I definitely love diving deep into one area
and then kind of looking up
and seeing what opportunities are there
um but
I mean there's no reason why we couldn't be in 160
200 doors by the end of the year
love it that's great
so just just playing that strategically
and then you know
at that point then it's like
okay cool
well now I have a legit proof of concept of
of why we would bring out more people or
or ask for more money so just trying to build that
that playbook to to just make sense
we're gonna take over Phoenix and
you know southwest regions make a lot of sense
whether be Colorado or California or Utah
but you know
those don't go anywhere
unless you kind of have your backyard covered
sure totally
what's that looking like for you
yeah I mean
when I first started I mean
I sacrificed everything so basically
liquidated all my assets and you know
when we first started I mean
I raised my first check August 24
so we're about almost two years in from that
so I pretty much filled an entire pre seed rounds
and that is kind of you know
got us to the point of of having a scalable product and
and beyond to to grow up from there
so I mean
we would definitely be in a great position to kind of
yeah move more into a seed
and especially when we're talking about
hey OK cool
how do we you know
let's say we bankroll 30,000 cans
and then we get a cover all of our Po's
now we got legit purchase orders
so we can prove that and you know
maybe we produce another 30 or 50,000 cans
but then it's like alright cool
now that we have set up these authorizations
it's a lot more easy to storytell
hey we can easily produce 200,000 cans
and activate these regions
and then you know
we'll have places where the cans instantly go
and as long as you have the good data to back it
you know there's always
OK cool
you you know
you sell in Arizona can you sell in Cali
or sell in Utah or whatever
and that's where we've just done a lot on
you know
we're pretty active on social
pretty much willing to do whatever
you know as long as we're not shy at all
which I think you know
I've seen a lot of brands in general
like they have an amazing product
and they just can't uh
you know not
not willing to get a little crazy um
and you know
that's what you gotta do you gotta
if you're gonna make a product to
to kind of defy what products are out there
then you got to be willing to
yeah totally
to get outside the box on your marketing as well
so we'll just keep
keep doing that in conjunction with growing the product
and hopefully they both grow simultaneously
and then we're able to um
you know take more money and
and put it to a very efficient uses
it seems like you've basically kind of
built the brand in public
on LinkedIn and Instagram
even before there was really a polished product to sell
like what have you found for the other founders
thinking about going through a similar route of kind of
you know building in public route
like
what kind of specific kinds of content as you found
like has actually moved the needle for you the most
and that gotten the most you know
attraction whether it's like
you know I don't know
Founder POV post
like Product Focus
content behind the scenes
brewing a lot like commercial
production type imagery and content like yeah
what have you found has been like resonating the most
yeah I I feel like um
it's different for a lot of people
I feel like um one
anything you can do that that story tells um
you know brand awareness is cool
but there's gotta be like that
okay cool
but like now I I
I need to go on shopify and purchase this or I need to
um you know uh
go to a grocery store and find this product
um
there's a difference between just like being known and
and solving a problem
I think what's been great for us
is really focusing on storytelling through problems
and being transparent on whether be
like filming at the brewery
and showing everything that we're doing
and so someone really understands the product
they're comfortable with you know
me and Cameron on the front ends
I think that was great to start
just making content without having a product yet
because I think it was more beneficial
from the founder perspective
cause it just makes you more comfortable
to just go on camera anytime and
and talk and um I think it's just great for yeah
meetings like just talking in person
cause if you're always talking about your product
all the time
then it's just gonna become second nature of yeah
why totally
you're doing what you're doing
me and Cam doing a real talking about our product
like if you're not already on the personal side
like if you're not already blown up
and you have that pull already
that it's it's obviously a little harder than like
you know Logan Paul
marketing prime like
you're gonna stop on the video
cause Logan you're like oh
what's Logan doing
so it's not even like the attention grabs
not the person yeah
for us you know
cause no one knows who we are
so I think it's
we really have to pursue more on the product
and then and then it's just getting a little experiment
experimental I mean
we've done and we'll
we'll continue doing skits for comedy
we'll do like funny ads
we'll do informational ads
we'll like you just can't just stick with one option
and sure
and once something that works
then you you might get views
but then it needs to convert
so I think it's just always experimenting
and kind of turning yourself into a
not only a product
but also kind of your own personal agency as well
and just trying all kinds of stuff
so we haven't
we definitely have not nailed that at all yet
but that's why we're that's why we're in the business
and meeting at the office every day
and coming up ideas and just doing it till it works
yep constant iteration is basically what business is
essentially anything you care
you are able or willing to share
in terms of anything else that's coming down the pipe
from a product roadmap standpoint
I I
I have I definitely have some good ideas on a yeah
like how we would expand like our Devin Lion into yeah
whether be more flavors or actually other like
segment products uh huh
I think uh
you we have a great opportunity in the next like
six months to really just nail this product and
you know cash flow that into
you can kind of start some other projects
and I think you know I
I love it when average companies
or companies in general come out with like
a long array you know
a longer array of products based off of grab and go or
you know satchels
like powder satchels or so you kind of have like
stuff for everyone some are focused on newcomers
cause they're light and they're easy to get
and there's
you can still sell them at a good price point
some are better cause they're more grab and go
stuff that you're on the go
and so just kind of having something where
at every walk of life
you can kind of walk in and be like oh
that's Devin products let me get some
or solve that you know
need through various different
you know
Bloom's been a great example of their supplements
and their beverage and
and they got all kind of facets
so that really intrigues me
I've seen a lot of supplements
products go into beverage
after they've already created their
supplement foundation uh huh
so that's been interesting to see
so yeah
a lot of learning but as far as Divini side
I think we'll just go 10 toes down on
on the cans and then um
towards the end of the year
we can start looking a little more towards like
specific Divini iterations
for sure that totally makes sense
yeah
Mason this has been awesome
great to learn more about Devin
and kind of where you guys are going
what's the best place we were just talking about
you know founder content and everything
what's the best place for people to follow along with
with um
with you and Cam personally
and then
what's the best place for people to follow along with
everything that's going on with the brand these days
too
yeah we're at
we're at live Divini everywhere
we chose live instead of like
drink cause we really want people to live the brand
yep love it
our website at Live Divini
we just made us a fully custom website
um our like
cart's super cool so you can actually like
mix and match each flavor based off of like
what you want specifically
and it'll actually like build you your item list
um so that's been super fun to work with
you know work more with like
technology in the consumer space and
you know uh
build these AI implementations
and it just makes it way more fun
and you know
I'm definitely like a experimenter tinkerer
um so I love always yeah
just coming up with new ways to make your product
look fun look cool
for sure totally
and yeah I'm on all our socials everything
I live with it
love it cool
Awesome Mason
appreciate the time I think that's the pod
alright cool
it seems like honey is a notoriously
dialed in the formulation
obviously at some point
homebrew situation
how'd you decide between going with cans or
talking about kind of visual identity
I gave a lot of creative freedom to our last agency
is this the right strategy
you would all kind of you know
that need for obviously
a fresh look you're
that as existing fans of the brand still feel like
and also I guess
recognize the brand right away and
reentering the market and or just over the time
or evolved at all around how you kind of
from a a go to market standpoint
a pretty big focus on really like
a creative studio in the Phoenix Scottsdale area
tracking the impact to that
starting to get get on shelf in some key locations
what was the key to
on the topic of fundraising
when they're walking down the aisle

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