![]() ![]() Paul spoke with Foodboro about his entrepreneurial journey, the challenges of starting a CPG company, how he manages work/life balance while building a startup, and what’s next for the innovative beverage brand. The duo initially launched their sparkling water concoctions to a test market in October 2019 and since have quickly grown the brand, appearing on Shark Tank in 2020 and securing $2 million in funding in 2021. So, how do you stand out? Weird water.Īura Bora is the brainchild of founders Paul and Maddie Voge, who, being unsatisfied with the flavors on the market, started experimenting in the kitchen… muddling together fresh fruits with flowers and herbs. But the world doesn’t need another sparkling water with flat flavors like grapefruit, lemon and berry. Brands both big and small are jumping aboard the fizzy h2o train (errr… boat?). In case you haven’t noticed, sparkling water is having a moment. Order online HERE Read more Meet a Maker interviews here! What does the future of Aura Bora look like? Siete chips, Tate’s cookies, cold cans of Aura Bora (of course). What foods do you always have in your cupboards/fridge?! The CPG community loves to help each other, so don’t miss out on an opportunity to benefit from this shared knowledge. At the same time, it’s critical to ask what you don’t know you’ll never get faulted for being curious, but you will get faulted for being arrogant or all-knowing.It sounds cliche, but if you believe in your product, others will too.Our mental and physical self care practices often look similar: go outside and do something! What advice do you have for early-stage entrepreneurs? What’s weirder than random drops of never-before-combined flavors? As a founder, what do you do to take care of your health (physical and mental)? Our most loyal consumers are excited by Aura Bora because they love weird water. Our LTOs have been a blast to make – and people seem to like them! Our goal with LTOs always goes back to our brand ethos: to continue to engage the consumer with newness and weirdness. Limited Edition flavor drops: how have you had success with this? How to build culture in a remote-first environment (growing team at a decent pace and most people on team haven’t met in person), leaned into camp counselor to make feel less transactional. While this issue has become nearly cliched, it truly was a challenge (how do you make sure that you’re doing everything you can to protect in-stock status without overbuilding inventory) disruption at certain retailers (what do you do when a buyer gets covid, waiting game has huge impact on business growth becomes less predictable) If you ask this question to anyone in the CPG industry in the past two years, they will likely say something along the lines of “supply chain issues”. What have been the challenges of navigating the CPG industry? Especially in the competitive sparkling water category? The customers who came in through Shark Tank are still loyal to the brand today. Comedically, we weren’t - because I almost said yes to a deal that literally the other sharks stopped me from taking. We had to make sure we were ready to respond to any deal that could be presented on the fly. Overall, Shark Tank was an amazing experience. Let’s talk Shark Tank: what was this experience like for you, and what was the outcome? What impact did this have on Aura Bora? We’re inspired by the way they’ve invigorated their category. Who in the industry do you turn to for inspiration?Īny other brands in the industry that you think are killing it?Īcid League is a phenomenal example of the magic that happens when you marry great packaging with great product. Retail relationships: do you sell mostly DTC? What retailers do you work with?Īura Bora does sell DTC, but can also be found in 2000+ retailers including Sprouts, Whole Foods, Thrive Market and many natural grocery stores. We loved sharing our weird water combinations with friends at parties, and with their stamps of approval, we started our journey towards creating Aura Bora as you know it today. This sparked our interest in experimenting with weird flavor combinations using our at-home carbonator. What led you to entrepreneurship, and why now?Īfter tasting a lot of products from our office fridges, we noticed that sparkling water was the most consumed drink, but least enjoyed of the beverage set. ![]() We were both working for companies outside of CPG. Before starting Aura Bora, what were you up to?
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