Episode #443: From Military Tech to Mass Market | Udaiyan Jatar Educating the Industry on Exogenous Ketones with Tecton

Udaiyan Jatar, born and raised in India, had a unique upbringing due to his father's career as a fighter pilot. He attended 13 different schools across 6 states and became proficient in 4 or 5 languages. Coming from a family with a strong military background, this played a significant role in shaping his life. After completing his education, Jatar started his career in door-to-door sales. He later pursued an MBA and joined Procter and Gamble, a major company in India during the time of the country's economic opening.

In this role, he gained valuable experience working to take products to market from scratch. Later on, Jatar transitioned to Coca-Cola and played a pivotal role in helping the company expand into new categories within the Indian market. His significant contributions to Coke's growth in India showcased his strategic thinking, business acumen, and ability to identify unique market opportunities. Currently, Udaiyan Jatar is CEO and Co-Founder of Tecton, where he's working hard to move the needle on bringing an exogenous keytone beverage to the mass market while educating people at the same time. 

On the future of the beverage business he states, "When I looked at our portfolio strategy at Coca-Cola company globally, I realized sugar had an uphill battle ahead. You also had the problem with aging populations not wanting to drink caffeine. And I also believed in my heart of hearts that I want to drink products we made that I was happy to drink, and that I was happy for my children to drink."

Tecton opened its Series A round of $10m at the beginning of 2023 and has already raised ~$5m from investors that include the former Chief of Neurosurgery at Walter Reed, an owner of an NFL team, and Empire Family Investments. (The owners of Empire Marketing Strategies, the nation's largest food broker.)

Tecton is looking for potential ambassadors, partners, licensees and strategic investors that can help build this revolutionary health & wellbeing brand. 

Some key moments: 

• Job with Coke in India, ran a joint venture with Coke and Nestle
• Company shifted focus to health industry, created Tecton
• DARPA funded, military-focused product.
• Educate mass market on military technology products.
• Dream big, start small. Test, learn, refine. Focus on "high-end dining," not McDonald's. Defend transcendent brands against competitors.
• Looking forward to helping with distributors, samples, podcast, and ambassador program. Tecton will be a future household name!

A few key takeaways: 

1. The genesis of the business was driven by his Co-Founder's severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) after retiring from Special Forces.
2. Tecton is a product that provides constant energy supply to the brain through the use of ketones, which are more efficient for brain cell metabolism than glucose.
3. DARPA, the Defense Research Projects Agency associated with the Pentagon, invested in the technology behind it, as well as looks for hard-to-commercialize technologies beneficial for the military and long-term performance of soldiers.
4. Udaiyan emphasized the importance of starting small, testing and refining before scaling up, and targeting high-end establishments before larger chains when launching their product.
5. There's a huge need to also educate the mass market and healthcare providers about the benefits of the technology