Mike Tecku final appeared on this podcast in 2019. He spoke as an skilled Amazon vendor in our “Constructing an Ecommerce Enterprise” collection. He’s again, having bought these Amazon shops, retired, and skilled boredom.
His newest enterprise is Momentum, a maker of premium dietary shakes, which he describes as “the Rolex of dietary supplements.”
He and I not too long ago mentioned his journey — promoting his firms, setting priorities, launching Momentum, and extra.
The complete audio of our dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for readability and size.
Eric Bandholz: Why begin a dietary shake firm?
Mike Tecku: I bought my Amazon firms in 2019 and did nicely sufficient to begin a enterprise fund and spend money on some stuff. I retired, purchased land within the nation, and shortly bought bored. I spent the subsequent two years figuring myself out and researching longevity.
I got here up with this product based mostly on the premium variations of the dietary supplements I used to be taking. I related instantly with the producers. I put every part into one shake to make it straightforward. I wished to make the Rolex of dietary supplements and make it tremendous easy and superior. I named the corporate Momentum.
Bandholz: It’s a crowded market, dietary supplements.
Tecku: There’s a distinction between being efficient, true, and trustworthy versus stylish. There’s an enormous debate between plant-based and whey protein — which is best and whether or not so as to add superfoods. A superfood is something a marketer desires to name tremendous. I name it pixie mud when firms add hint quantities of one thing to make it sound wholesome. I wished no advertising fluff, solely the perfect components.
We went with this unimaginable grass-fed whey protein from Eire. It’s 5 instances costlier than every other protein. Eire is the one place that may develop that grass year-round. And it’s the one place you may certify that one thing is actually grass-fed. It makes for a premium product.
Some people like protein from peas, the vegetable, however it comprises heavy metals and pesticides and 30% fewer important amino acids. I wasn’t prepared to compromise simply because it was fashionable.
Not utilizing synthetic flavors is insanely costly. Each bag we have now has about $2 value of chocolate in it. We spend extra on chocolate than most opponents spend on their total product. So a 30-day provide of a Tremendous Greens drink may cost $2 to $3 to make. A month-to-month provide of ours prices us $60. My philosophy is it’s a lot simpler to compete on the high of a market as a result of few are prepared to do it.
The problem is promoting a bag for $75 if it prices $60 to make. How can we pay for adverts? I imagine the product can be so good we gained’t should spend as a lot on advertising due to phrase of mouth. We gained’t have as a lot churn. In idea, people will keep subscribers longer.
I’m not curious about something that may’t scale. Momentum may very simply do $100 million a 12 months. To get to that stage, I want about 60,000 subscribers. That’s 60,000 gross sales over 5 years — 12,000 a 12 months. That’s doable with an amazing product and the proper worth and message. I don’t need to do something with a ceiling on it.
Bandholz: Are you promoting on Amazon?
Tecku: No, however we are going to finally. Shoppers are very worth delicate on Amazon, which requires schooling. As soon as people acknowledge the model Momentum and look to purchase it on Amazon, we’ll have it on the market there. However for now, I’ll concentrate on issues like this podcast to assist shoppers perceive what it’s about.
Bandholz: I’d hesitate to pay $75 per bag.
Tecku: It’s my job to speak that in case you have been to purchase all these components individually, it’d be about $400 a month. And that by eradicating the intermediary on 20 components, I can cost $75 a bag. And the margins aren’t really that nice for me. So it’ll take some schooling.
Diet is tough. I constructed Momentum Shake across the idea that the majority people are poor of their diets. Our our bodies decline as we age. Momentum replaces the issues we lose over time.
We now have no secret drugs or medication. It’s simply the issues that our our bodies want on daily basis. People don’t need to take a gazillion drugs.
Bandholz: The place can listeners discover you?
Tecku: They will purchase our product at MomentumShake.com. I’m on LinkedIn and e-mail at mike@momentumshake.com. I like mentoring, by the best way.
