Uncover your entrepreneurial spirit with Troop Co-Founders and Cousins Stephanie Moyal and Jake Mellman. We dive into filled with spiritual exploration, working together while being cousins and friends, and unwavering determination into their mushroom gummy empire's success story. From initial kitchen experiments to securing spots in upscale stores such as Erewhon. With resilience and humor, they navigate the business landscape, emphasizing the importance of self-care and personal growth
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@jakemellman
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Want to
Be it Girl.
Today's episode is very muchfor the entrepreneurial spirit,
but I will also say that thisepisode has a lot of key
takeaways about how to work withsomebody you are close with.
We are joined by Jake and Steph, the co-founders and cousins of
(00:20):
Troop.
Troop is an amazing mushroomsupplement that comes in a very
cute yummy gummy, and in thisepisode we're talking all about
how spirituality has guided themin their business, how they got
in touch with theirspirituality, how they work
together as friends, cousins andco-founders, and we learn a lot
(00:44):
about what it really looks liketo be in a business.
They give amazing advice andtell amazing stories.
I'm really excited for you guysto hear from the amazing
co-founders of Troop.
Welcome to Confessions of a Wantto Be it Girl.
I'm your host, marley Fraging,and I'm here to help you filter
(01:05):
out all the bullshit and becomethe next thick girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
(01:26):
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it.
Okay, hi guys.
Welcome Steph and Jake.
Thank you guys so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having us.
I'm very excited to talk to youguys because you're not only
co-founders but cousins of thegummy mushroom supplement, troop
(01:47):
, and Troop can be found in yourfavorite LA grocery store
Aeroon, available on Push byCourtney Kardashian, amazon,
just to name a few.
So I'm very excited to have youguys on the podcast today.
So I want to talk a little bitabout your guys' spirituality
and how does spirituality play arole in your business.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Wow, that's a great question to just jump into.
We're diving in.
Yeah, I love it.
I think that as the businesshas started and grown, it has
been parallel with both of ourspiritual journeys, for sure.
And recently, about a year ago,I started learning about
Kabbalah and it's been reallycool to see how that kind of
(02:33):
weaves in with my alreadyexisting spiritual practices.
What's Kabbalah?
So Kabbalah is technicallydefined as the ancient spiritual
wisdom.
It's not supposed to be tiedwith any religion, although
there are a lot of similaritieswith Judaism.
But they say it's notreligiously affiliated.
And I take everything with agrain of salt.
(02:54):
I like to just kind of pick andchoose from different
modalities and wisdoms andeverything.
But one of my favorite thingsabout Kabbalah is having 100%
certainty beyond logic, and thathas really played into our
business.
So 100% certainty, so knowingthat this is going to work out,
knowing that I'm on my path,even when the doubt set in, I
(03:15):
can tell myself no, 100%certainty.
There is the philosophy thatthe universe wants you to have
everything you desire.
If you desire something, thenthe universe wants you to have
it, and so having 100% certaintywith that and things are really
challenging when you have abusiness.
It really tests pretty muchevery single part of you and
it's really taxing.
(03:36):
One minute it's so exciting andamazing and the next minute
everything feels like it'sfalling apart.
So you really having certaintyand just knowing in those
moments that it's all going tobe okay, it's all going to work
out, has really helped me withmy journey.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Jake, what about for you?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, I feel very similarly.
I call it manifestation, whereI truly believe that this is
what I'm meant to do and Iapproach the business and life
like that and it just gives youthis base level of confidence to
keep going and know that if youjust keep giving out positivity
(04:14):
and you just keep giving outthis true belief that you're
doing the right thing and youactually believe in what you're
doing and selling, that theuniverse will eventually bring
back that energy to you and willbring it back tenfold.
So that's kind of been what'sbeen really helping to keep it
going and it has truly led me tobecome a lot more deeply
(04:41):
spiritual going through thisbusiness, especially because
it's mushrooms, like I feelguided by the mushrooms and I
feel like the universe guided meto mushrooms and I was not a
spiritual person before thiswhole thing.
So, yeah, I have drasticallychanged over the course of this,
which has been really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I want to get into that a little bit about how Tube
got founded.
So something happened to you.
Jake and Steph came to comehelp out.
Tell us the story of thefounding of Tube.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sure yeah, so it was actually on day one of the COVID
lockdown, march 14th 2020.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I always remember the day he knows, the day he locked
in the brain there.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It was a really special day for me, a little
even extra special than everyoneelse, because I was skiing.
I decided to break some of therules and continue skiing after
the mountain had closed and thengot into a really horrible ski
accident and broke my leg verybadly.
So that was a reallychallenging situation.
I was running another businessand that business simultaneously
(05:46):
was collapsing because of theCOVID lockdown.
So I was running out of money.
I couldn't take care of myselfbecause my broken leg.
So I decided to move back homewith my parents and it was at
that time that Stephanie decidedto move in with my parents as
well to help take care of melike the generous cousin she is.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Shit really hit the fan there.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, major yeah.
And it was challenging.
It was extremely challenging.
I was on so much painmedication, I was in just mental
, physical, spiritual pain.
And then one day Stephanie justasked hey, do you want to grow
some mushrooms with me?
And I was like sure.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Just like a COVID.
Activity.
Yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It was, after all, the Netflix binging and, yeah,
just a COVID activity.
And then we started growingmushrooms and from there we
started like studying andresearching and learning and
reading and just falling in lovewith mushrooms and this whole
new like.
It's almost like a culture,like within mushrooms, and these
(06:55):
are plant medicines I don't sayplant, but there's our
medicines that have been usedfor thousands of years in
cultures all around the world.
So we kind of felt like we hadtapped into this like ancient
secret that people were nottalking about in our modern
society, which was shocking oncewe learned how beneficial they
are for people and how importantthey are for preventing
(07:16):
illnesses versus, like, curingthem.
So if you want to add anythingto that, that pretty much covers
it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But yeah, I think it was just honestly a happy
accident that we discoveredmushrooms.
We never started troop, I mean,we never really set out to go
create a company or anythinglike that.
It was just, you know, findingsomething that you love, sharing
it with your community, andthen deciding like maybe more
people are going to want thisand creating a product.
(07:46):
But it was never.
Let's, let's start growingmushrooms and let's create a
company and let's go try to makemillions of dollars or anything
like that.
It was just, you know, apassion, and then it became a
side project and then it becameour lives.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Very well and it's very much your lives, because
your cousins you kind of havelike a sibling relationship from
what like I kind of know of youtwo.
How do you two not get at eachother's throats while always
working together?
You guys also kind of run inthe same friend groups.
How do you who?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
said that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Fair enough.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, it's.
That also has been a parallelto the business too.
Like, I think, any co-founderrelationship is going to ebb and
flow for sure, and wedefinitely have had continue to
have challenges.
You know, like any businesspartner, business partnership.
I remember there was one timewe got in this huge fight.
(08:42):
We were on slack.
We were on slack, jake was athis brother's bachelor party, I
was visiting my friend in DC andI just remember violently
typing like my fingers havenever moved so fast.
We're in this heated argument.
Is this a public channel or isit just YouTube?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's just us two.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And yeah, I remember just being like we need to go to
therapy.
And then he said, okay, and itwas like it was never even you
know, a fight or no one had toconvince anyone.
We just started going totherapy, yeah, and it was a real
like.
There was that one year that itwas really challenging and we
went to therapy every week, evenlike we would get off, like we
(09:25):
would get off a fight on slackor something and then be so
angry together and then show upto therapy and just like an hour
later.
It just be silent in ourtherapist.
David would just be like okay,and we would just be sitting
like you could feel the tensioneven on zoom, just the yeah and
yeah.
So we did therapy for about ayear and then we also did
(09:48):
therapy individually as well,because it really is, you know,
business partnerships are alsoyour own relationship to
yourself too, yeah.
So yeah, we did therapytogether, therapy individually
Was this a work?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
there Like did this therapist have work?
Therapy is like a part of it,kind of yeah, that's cool, he
wasn't.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I wouldn't necessarily say he's a business
coach or anything like that, buthe has had experience doing you
know business partnerships.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Business partnerships .
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah.
So, um, yeah, I mean we stillcontinue to have our differences
and stuff, but I think, yeah,we just kind of try.
We just try to be bettercommunicators, I guess.
And yeah, it definitely hasbeen challenging, but it's also
rewarding too and you learn alot about yourself along the way
.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So, that being said, you know what are your each
weaknesses and strengths, andhow do you two balance each
other out?
Because I think a lot ofbusinesses start, you know, from
place of.
We both like this thing and youknow people want to work with
people they trust, like cousins,husband, wife, duos, siblings.
So how do you guys handle that?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean I have a yeah.
So I think when we firststarted we were both kind of
like let's both do everythingkind of thing, yeah, or we both
had our hands and everything.
And I think we've now realizedwhat each other's strengths are.
More so, jake is more financetech oriented, like if we need
any sort of software.
He built our website, so it'sthose those kinds of things,
(11:15):
more like tech savvy and all ofthat and very literate with all
of that stuff.
And then I'm more likeOperations and I love dealing
with, like the brand image and Ilove bringing the product to
life.
I did a lot of that initialresearch.
So I think that those are kindof our zones of genius.
And then there are some thingsthat neither of us love,
(11:35):
honestly, and that it's neitherof our zone of genius.
Like we're really working oncommunicating our story better
and being better advertisers andwe haven't made that our zone
of genius yet.
So we're both contributing tothat pretty equally, I would say
.
And I think that's kind ofwhere our weakness lies, because
Jake and I did Not come from anecon background.
(11:57):
We didn't even know what,honestly looking back.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
We didn't know what you come was we didn't know we
were starting E-commerce likejust selling.
Yeah we didn't know.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That's where you're going to be, yeah so we just
thought we're like we're gonnago create a product, sell it to
the customer.
It's good, it's gonna be great.
Cheerio, it's so much harderthan that.
There's so many more nuances,and so like we were so royally
humbled.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Deeply humbled.
Yeah, and continue to be.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, you guys do kind of run in the same social
circle as well.
Yeah, how do you guys managethe Balance if that's a word
you're into of like turning offwork time, friend time, cousin
time?
How do you guys handle that?
I?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Think it was.
It was harder during,definitely during, the years of
like fighting.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah and.
After that cobit ish time yeah,it was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
and then after that it actually, I think, helps a
lot, because the friends will belike, will be like so mad at
each other friends.
They're like relax, like chill,and we're like all right, fine,
you know, it's not that big adeal.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And also, yeah, like I don't remember that, our
friends ever saying that, butmaybe they did.
They never did that to me.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Oh, they did remember so steps Dating one of my
friends and so and my girlfriendboth of them, they're like our
support team.
Yeah, they're like.
They really cheer us on likethe hardest, both of them and
they like communicate with eachother on how to best manage our
relationship.
Fighting, yeah so funny.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
It's so real because it takes a village to run a
company like it does, yeah, notjust the Physical thing, the act
of the business, but the mental, emotional Relationships
involved in a business take likea lot more.
How do you guys think youhandle work life balance?
I know you guys, you guys arevery all in on troop and you
(14:01):
know, really work every day Tobetter yourself as well.
So how do you, how do you findbalance?
What's your recommendations topeople who want to be in a
situation like this on findingbalance?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That's a good question.
I think that answer changes allthe time.
Honestly, I I would PreviouslyI would work until maybe 10 pm
Every night and then go to bedand be able to wake up and do
the same thing all over again.
And it's not that I got burnedout, because I honestly didn't
(14:32):
but I just realized that I'malso super important.
Yes, fuck yeah, and I deserveto have some time for myself,
and there will always be morework.
So I mean, aside from this week,because we do have a lot going
on, we're actually looking toraise some money.
So we've been getting our decksready.
I've been we've just had a tonof really important deliverables
but, aside from this week, Ireally try to stop working at
(14:54):
around 7 or something, havedinner and then take the time to
myself and do things that Ilove to do, and we have a lot.
We have a very robust friendgroup too.
So, like, maybe once a weekI'll hang out with my friends
and then on the weekends, like,and I love to travel, so I hope
I try to, you know, schedulesome stuff.
(15:14):
Like, I just went to a weddinglast weekend in Mexico and
Didn't work Saturday and Sunday,so you know.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Step when you're off.
Are you off like computers,like slack channels, quiet like
phones, off away.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
No, like if something comes through on slack that I
need to answer, I'll just answerit Mm-hmm, but I do.
I go on, do not disturb.
At like 10 pm and I won'tanswer anything past 10.
How about for you, jay?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, work, life balance.
I I think that that term hasshifted for me, largely Because,
like work is life and life iswork.
Like we are the business, youknow, like there's not a
separation between us and thebusiness.
We, directly, are the business.
So and that's was a bigrealization for me, similar to
(16:02):
what stuff was saying, like whenI found out that Turning off
work and going to the gymbecause I would be like I gotta
finish this, I gotta do thisyeah, by doing that, I'm
sharpening the.
The number one tool that ourbusiness has is us, you know.
So you're, when you'resharpening that tool and you're
making that more refined andbetter, and I I'll turn off Like
(16:24):
work to go read.
Now, and when I read, I Stepaway from work.
And I learned something that Ithen bring to work that's so
much more meaningful if I wasjust like crunching away the
hours.
So I've really learned thatlike, yeah, you are your
business, you know, and so youneed to.
You need to sharpen both andyou need to sharpen yourself in
(16:45):
order to grow the businessEffectively and be your most
effective version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, you guys literally started this company I
heard it like making gummyconcoctions in your kitchen to
being in Erewhon.
Like the range.
The journey is so large andvast.
What do you attribute thissuccess and growth to?
Like what do you think you guyswere able to bring and merge
(17:12):
together to?
You know, get this running.
Start with your company, likeit's still pretty young.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, it is pretty young, I think we just we had a
brilliant concept and idea.
We, I think, were lucky on thetiming.
We were the first mushroomgummy out there and especially
the first with a really refined,excellent brand that people
(17:41):
could trust.
Our vision from the start isstill our vision now, because
along the years we'll lose ourvision, but we always come back
to the original vision that westarted with.
We're like wow, we were rightall along, which was to make
mushrooms approachable to morepeople.
We wanted more people to feelcomfortable taking mushrooms,
(18:03):
trying mushrooms.
We wanted, because there's alot of stigmas and fears around
mushrooms and a lot of ignorancearound it.
We wanted to educate people andbe the educators of what these
powerful mushrooms can do foryou.
We wanted to do that in a waythat was fun and friendly and
not intimidating.
We felt like a lot of theproducts out there were
(18:25):
intimidating.
They're very hippy.
You got to eat a pound of dirtevery day and then you'll be one
with the universe.
We're like whoa, whoa.
I just want something that'sgoing to lessen my anxiety.
I don't need to jump straightto the end result of being
enlightened guru.
(18:45):
That's not where we came from.
Like I said, I was notspiritual at all before this.
I just was like I wantsomething that's going to help
me focus, lessen my anxiety, anda way that is easy and fun.
That's why we developed thegummy.
We wanted it to just be sosimple.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Do you use Troupe while working on Troupe?
Of course?
What do you use when and why?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I have all the products on my desk.
Yeah, I take them every day.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
If you're going into a bunch of work meanings and
you're really stressed out,which product are you grabbing,
rashi?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Great why it helps calm and de-stress.
I like taking Rashi in themorning because it just helps
mitigate and regulate the stresslevels in the body.
Jake likes taking it at nightbecause it helps him sleep.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Tell me the other products and when you would
probably take those.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Lines.
Main.
I take first thing in themorning because it helps clear
the brain fog.
I have traditionally had badbrain fog in the mornings.
I'm just like I don't know whatthe fuck's going on.
Honestly, I take that and after30, 45 minutes I feel like a
noticeable improvement in thebrain fog and then I can
(19:59):
continue.
Now, when I'm pairing that, wenever say this is a one solution
, fix-all, yeah.
But when I'm pairing that witha morning meditation and doing
some intentional morning thingsto help clear that brain fog,
it's really powerful.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
What else is there in the catalog?
Did we touch on both of them?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Then we have the Super Troop, which is our six
mushroom blend, Do you tell?
Yeah, it has Lines, main RashiChaga, Mitaki Quartersups and
Turkey Tail.
This is more All in one, All inone, all in one.
You don't have to go get amillion supplements to get all
this yeah exactly this one.
it has Quartersups and Linesmain, so it gives you that brain
boost energy.
I like taking that after lunchas the mid-date pick me up or
(20:45):
something like that.
I'll sometimes take it in themorning too.
Yeah, lines main and SuperTroop I don't really take past a
certain hour because it willkeep me up at night.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Good to know.
Yeah, there's been somestressful nights, some stressful
things in the business that youguys have mentioned.
Tell me about a time in yourguys' journey in this business
that things are really hard.
Paint the stage, paint thepicture for us.
How did you guys work throughit as a team?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The first thing that comes to my mind is about this
time last year.
So we had a hellish journeyfinding our manufacturing
partner.
It was so horrible.
We went through maybe sixdifferent companies until we
found the company who were withnow.
And this time last year wedidn't have a manufacturer.
We were out of product for amonth, Over a month.
(21:37):
We lost an entire month ofrevenue and we had no idea how
we were going to be getting thisproduct.
This manufacturing company hadactually courted us to go work
with them, and then they kept onpushing back the date of when
they would have our product, andthere were a month passed with
where they said and not justpushing back.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
They were like flat out lying to us.
It'll be ready tomorrow andthen tomorrow.
Hey, sorry, there was a problemat the factory.
They did that maybe like seventimes.
They're working on it right nowand I'm like, well, where is it
Right?
It was horrible.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And so we didn't know what we were going to do, and
so it felt like the company wasgoing to crumble.
And I think, deep down throughall of the huge challenges, I
still know, like in my gut, thatit's all going to work out.
But this really tested it andit really covered up that part
of me.
And I just actually remember Iwas writing down a journal every
(22:37):
morning and I was writing downin my journal every cliche you
can imagine.
I used to take a picture ofthis one and I was like this too
shall pass.
What doesn't kill you makes youstronger.
This wouldn't happen if youcouldn't handle it, like I was
telling myself, every singlecliche.
It was so dumb, but yeah, itwas so immensely challenging and
(22:59):
I mean, luckily we ended upfinding our partner and they
turned it out for us reallyquickly.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But not before we found out that manufacturer was
that whole time, that they weredelaying us, installing us.
They were manufacturing anothermushroom gummy for our biggest
competitor.
So they were like we stillthink they were intentionally
stalling us, just to like letthe other people get on the
(23:27):
market and get on the shelves.
And so it was like some, it waslike out of a movie, it kind of
believe it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It was like, sounds like a plot.
It literally was.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, it was like corporate espionage.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yes, we actually.
So these guys were in San Diegoso we just kind of sprung the
visits on them, smart yeah.
And I remember one time I wentand the and the sky texted Jake
and was like can you tellStephanie to stop yelling at my
employees?
And there was no one in theroom Like yeah, I had.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
he was freaking out.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
He was like she's, she's attacking us and I was
written down there and I scaredand yeah, and then I talked to
his boss and his boss had noidea what was going on.
He had no idea that he hadpromised us all of these things
and that we were so behind andXYZ.
And so the boss ended upletting us use his one of his
(24:18):
gummy makers and the guy came inon the weekend and made us a
really small batch just to tieus over until we got to our new
manufacturer.
Wow yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
So what were you mentally, physically doing just
to like keep the businesstogether?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Because I think everyone thinks like oh you just
crying so much anxiety, I mean,let the emotions out.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
We love yes.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So much.
Actually, one of our friends,jake, was going with one of our
friends to this YouTube thing, Idon't know, and they ended up
making a wrap about thissituation.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
It was dark comedy.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So use comedy as relief.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, crying, so much crying.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And is it just like kind of part of the business
journey?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
You feel like, yeah, I mean, from what I've heard,
this is not anything new forsmall companies.
It's a small, I mean it's notsmall.
It's an unfortunate fact thatwhen you're small, no one really
cares about you when you're inthe manufacturing business,
especially because thesecompanies are dealing with other
companies that have so muchlarger order volumes and all of
(25:21):
that kind of stuff, and so we'restill small and you really have
to find someone who believes inyou and believes in your vision
, and I think that's the samestruggle that any single company
.
You know.
The founder of Spank I'mblanking on her name right now
Blake, Sarah Blakely, SarahBlakely.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Sarah Blakely.
She had the same thing.
She went from manufacturer tomanufacturer and no one wanted
to make her product and in thehindsight, obviously everyone's
kicking themselves.
Yeah, and in that moment youreally have to find someone who
believes in you and believes inwhat you're doing.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
And is just a good business partner.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
There's a lot of not serious people in business
across all business who are justin it for a quick buck, and you
need to find the people whothey make it a passion, their
business and that's the peopleyou want to work with.
And yeah, I think this is justa thing for, also for new
entrepreneurs.
We were just starting thisbusiness.
(26:11):
We came in with zero industryknowledge at all and now that
we're in the industry, we knowlike 50 different manufacturers
we can go to out of momentsnotice.
We know all the differentvendors and the people, but when
you're totally new, you knownothing, so it's all just trial
and error.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Speaking of a little bit of finding the right people
to work with and whatnot, Ican't ignore the fact that
you're a male female co-foundersand so, steph, I wanted to ask
you how has there been anyconversations where you know
people will kind of default toJake and you feel like it's just
because it's male.
How do you, jake, like,redirect it?
(26:51):
You know, how do you both showup as equal partners?
How do you, how do you handlethat?
I?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
for sure, have felt that people default to Jake and
I've, and I've also felt thatthere can be this kind of like
bro-y fraternity thing that goeson in business and when I, when
we hop on calls with investorsand stuff, it's predominantly
men and I've and I've noticedthat and it doesn't bother me,
but I have noticed it.
And actually you know, I willsay at the beginning I was a
(27:17):
little bit intimidated by justbeing on a call with like six
men that were all businesspeople and I was.
I had imposter syndrome, I waslike maybe I don't belong here,
you know, or something like that.
But I really had to workthrough that and I'm like no, I
do belong here and like this is,you know, equally my company
and I don't really think thatanyone kind of puts me below
(27:40):
Jake or anything like that.
But yeah, it just has beenreally interesting being a
female in a male dominated world.
Yeah, no, it's definitely.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Just you can't.
We can only hope that thingsget better and better, but like
we can't ignore that sometimesdefault settings, known or
unknown, are still there.
And, Jake, have you noticed itor how do you feel like you
redirect it?
Has there been conversationsabout it behind closed doors or
anything?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, I think in the beginning I didn't notice it
because it just wasn't somethingthat I paid attention to, you
know, like it was not in myuniverse, I just kind of like
moved along, you know, and itwasn't something I ever focused
on.
But Stephanie did bring it upto me in those early days and
(28:27):
then after that, when I wouldnotice it, I definitely would
always try to be more, alwaysmore inclusive.
Like us, we're co founders,we're co found.
You know, it's not like just me, it's us.
You know, when we make thedecision, whatever we decide,
it'll be so yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So I want to go back to those.
You know initial days and youguys are getting into mushrooms
like why?
Why did you have to choosemushrooms and which mushroom did
you guys start with?
Like there's so much hypearound mushrooms.
I just want people tounderstand why this was
important to you guys to do.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Yeah, but really initially struck my interest
about mushrooms, so I wasintroduced through functional
mushrooms, or two functionalmushrooms, through psilocybin
mushrooms, which are magicmushrooms, yes well.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
The.
I'm learning day by day.
I'm the basic bitch who doesn'tunderstand the difference.
I'm like we're all on drugs,right, and they're like no, and
I'm like okay, cool, yeah,exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So we're here to like clear the slate, clear the
slate, clear the slate.
So, yeah, I was introduced tothe world of mushrooms through
magic mushrooms and I had donethem previously and you know no
intentionality behind it.
And then fast forward to COVID.
I was reading this book how toChange your Mind and I didn't
know that mushrooms wereactually neuroplastic or have
(29:45):
neuroplasticity effects on yourbrain and they can help you
rewire thought patterns andstories in your brain.
And my initial thought was, wow, I have so many thought
patterns about myself that Idon't want to have anymore and I
can rewrite that story formyself.
So that's what really drew myinterest in mushrooms.
And then I started researchingand realizing, wow, there's this
(30:07):
whole group of mushrooms thathave been used for thousands of
years and cultures all aroundthe world that have amazing
benefits for your mind and alsofor your body, and so that's
what really sparked the interest, and I was like Jake we got to
start growing these and withouthesitation, he said yes, and so
we started with lion's mane, andthat was just grown in the
backyard or like in the closet.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Very good yes.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
So we started with lion's mane and when we started
it's like the world opened upfor us.
We started meeting all kinds ofpeople that were in this space
we met.
I was at a friend's barbecueand I met this guy who was a
mycologist, which is a mushroomfarmer, basically.
Very cool, yeah, and so he wasworking with us and growing
things and he had all the latestresearch and he was just such a
(30:50):
cool person to liaise with.
And then just we startedmeeting people.
It's like I don't know.
It's like the mycelial effect,it's this underground structure
of mushrooms that connects theecosystems.
It's kind of like that's howlife is for us, like we're all
interconnected in some way orthe other.
And, yeah, the world justreally opened up for us and it
was really exciting and almostvalidating that we were on the
(31:12):
right path.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Jake, when did you start to realize like mushrooms
really were for you and for thecompany?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, so we started growing them for a while and
that was really exciting.
And then during the researchphase we watched the movie
Fantastic Fungi, which is on netflicks.
It has a hundred percent ratingon Ron tomatoes.
Yeah, it's amazing, one of thefew, it's incredible incredible
movie and that just like blew myworld open.
(31:40):
Like I am a very like sciencebacked science oriented type of
guy, I was very anti-fruity,anti like the whole spirituality
, woo-woo, like, very againstall of that.
The movie went so into thescience and all these things and
it felt like it felt to me likewe were on.
(32:02):
Like I always imagine, if wefind an alien planet that has
life on it, like all this plantsand species, we would go over
there and we'd be testing likecrazy all of the new species and
discovering and discovering.
And then we I found out thatthere are millions of species of
mushroom on this earth that arestill undiscovered.
(32:23):
So it was like this new frontierof science that we had not yet
broken into like as a culture,as a civilization, and so I was
like there could be, there couldbe a mushroom out there that
has insane impact, that helpscure cancer.
There could be a mushroom thatit helps, you know, with skin
(32:44):
and nails.
There could be a mushroom thathelps with eyesight.
There could be all thesedifferent types of mushrooms
that we don't know of yet andthe already the ones we did know
of, were so powerful andimpactful that had been used for
thousands of years.
It was like why is this notfront page news?
I like was so confused how thiswasn't everywhere and since
(33:05):
then it has started to becomeeverywhere you know, and now
it's like everyone's talkingmushrooms and also with
psilocybin.
Psilocybin, I truly believe, islike the cure to mental health
on earth, on our planet.
I think it's going todrastically change the mental
health landscape of our wholeplanet and like eradicating
(33:31):
things like depression, anxietynot eradicating, but In healing
systems.
Yeah, exactly Giving anextremely powerful tool to help
with those things and not justto wipe them out like an SSRI
does, which I consider like aband-aid on an open wound.
This is like going to the coreand actually healing down to
(33:54):
your core what's really causingthat anxiety and depression and
all these different thingsthat's blocking you from living
your happiest life.
So, together with thefunctional mushrooms healing the
body and the psychedelichealing the mind, I'm like this
is the ultimate.
It's the ultimate kingdom thefungi kingdom.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, it's the recipe to get you where you want to be
mentally, physically,emotionally and, hopefully,
spiritually as well.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
So you know, when you pick up troop they don't
necessarily look like a mushroomthere at beautiful gummy.
Tell us a little bit, just toget like nerdy with it.
Like how was this made?
How did you like put a mushroominto a gummy?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
It is so much harder than it looks, yeah it seems
like so easy, it seems so easy,doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, so cute.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
If we hadn't known, I honestly don't know if we would
have done it Really.
I mean, maybe, but it's socomplicated.
It's basically a chemistryproject making a gummy.
So we initially there's alsonot that much information online
so we initially went in thekitchen my friends call me chef
and they got me one of myfriends got me chef hats for my
(35:06):
birthday and we put on thesechef hats the first time we made
the gummy.
So we have a photo of our first, our first, test batch, yeah,
anyways.
So yeah, we made gummies and wejust followed this at home
vitamin gummy recipe and it wasa huge failure.
It was so disgusting.
It was like too much gelatin.
(35:28):
At the time we just our firstiteration had gelatin.
You could literally like flickthis gummy and it would just
like go back.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
It was like rubber it was rubbery.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It was not it and we tried it and it was just not at
all what we wanted.
We kept on iterating anditerating and we never really
nailed it, honestly, and then weended up going on LinkedIn and
finding a gummy scientist whatit's a real profession it's a
real profession and we ended upgetting it in the secret gate
with like the 31 flavors testerguy, like they hang out Exactly.
(36:00):
And this guy, he had been doingit for decades and it's crazy,
actually Our manufacturingcompany ended up hiring him
randomly.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
It was so kismet.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Without them knowing that we had worked with him.
It was so kismet Anyway.
So we we got on the phone withhim and we said all of our
criteria.
We said no high fructose cornsyrup or dyes, no artificial
ingredients, all natural, realfruit flavors.
We don't want to use aloe lois,which is linked to stomach
issues.
What is it?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Like sugar alcohols, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
It allows you to be sugar free on your label.
However, a lot of people reportdigestive issues.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Oh yeah, and it's not .
It's not allowed in the EU, sowe're like this doesn't seem
super safe.
Just so we could say no sugaryeah.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
And we wanted it to be vegan, okay.
So all of these criteria andthat's a tough list going in.
It's a tough list.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
So and delicious.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Oh, and it has to be delicious.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
We, from the start, we said, why be a gummy?
If you're not delicious, no,it's so true.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Exactly, and you can't be a health food gummy if
you put all that crap in it.
No.
So we said no junk anddelicious.
So he started making usproducts and it was actually
really fun.
I still have the bags at home,all the plastic bags with the
labels and stuff and the datesof all the samples he would send
us and we would come back tohim.
You know, 10% too much flavor.
We started really noticing allof the different components of
(37:23):
the gummy and how to tweak them.
So, we would say you know toomuch of this.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
A little less of that .
Try 10% less citric acid.
I was like really specific, andnow I could taste in a gummy.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
So now your palates for gummies.
Very work on the stores forsure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So, yeah, that was actually really, really fun and
I've realized I that's.
Something I love is productdevelopment, like I cannot wait
till we launch new products,doing all the research and
finding the best ingredients andfinding the best sourcing.
It's I live off that.
I love that so much and it wasthe most fun process bringing it
to life.
And, yeah, we have so manysamples.
(38:02):
I got to show you a video ofall of these samples that we
have.
It's like a full bin, a storagebin, just filled with samples
from different companies.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
So, it wasn't just like one and done, and you were
probably oh no, it was a year,it was like a year of testing
and iterating, because themushrooms are.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
They're powerful.
We put a lot of mushrooms Likewe wanted to have the highest
concentration of mushrooms ofany other product, so that our
goal was a one for onereplacement from the pills or
the tinctures, so like, if youare, if you're currently taking
like mushroom capsules, wewanted it to be a direct
replacement with no loss.
(38:36):
Like you're not getting oh, I'mgetting less mushrooms, but
it's in the gummy.
We wanted it to be exactlyequal so that you can just say
why would I take a capsule whenI take a gummy and it's the same
amount of mushrooms?
Smart, yeah.
So it was not easy to mask that, that flavor, and it took a
long time, with a lot ofiterations, and we finally came
(38:56):
up with three products that arejust like, so honestly, so good
that sometimes I feel like wealmost made them too good,
because people are like I can'tbuy this cause I'm going to eat
it all at once.
And I'm like can?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
you eat it all at once.
I mean, it's not recommendedbut, don't safe and non-toxic.
You know, nothing bad is goingto happen.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
but it's not recommended, so let's not down a
bottle of troop just for fun.
But like you won't die if youdo Right.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
But I definitely have more than the serving size.
Every day I'm looking at life.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
They are delicious.
You know, I'll say like there'sdefinitely been ups and downs
in this journey of getting troopto where it is.
If you guys were to do it allover again, what would you say
to yourselves going into thisjourney?
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Good luck.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I would have spent the money so differently and I
would have done so much moreresearch on e-commerce.
Yeah, the first year webasically did no online
advertising, which is now, to us, absolutely insane.
We invested a lot in real lifeevents and grocery store demos
(40:04):
and things like that, which, ofcourse, have benefits.
But if you look at all thesereally big companies, they're
doing that later down the linewhen they already have an
established base, and weinitially thought I don't know
where we got this in our headsbut we initially thought that
people needed to try the product.
But the fact of the matter isthat the way people are
purchasing has changed so much.
I mean, I bet you didn't go tothe furniture store and buy at
(40:27):
your bed Not that I did but notthe rug.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
The rug.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You know people are buying things without trying
them perfumes and furniture andcouches, all these things so
people actually don't need totry the product and we have a
money back guarantee.
So if for some reason theydon't like it, it's risk-free
We'll give them back their money.
So we learned about the hardway.
We did so many differentsampling campaigns, shows.
(40:51):
We partnered with this onecompany to do an exhibition in
their store.
I mean, just like all this dumbshit.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
But you got to learn by doing some yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, what about?
Speaker 1 (41:02):
for you, Jay.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, definitely research would be great.
Reading books there are bookson doing exactly what you want
to do.
Whatever it is you want to do,there are books written on
exactly how to do it and findthose books and read those books
Because, like now that we'rereading them, like, oh my God,
it's so obvious.
So obvious, you know, and itjust, but it's not obvious when
(41:27):
you're not in that world.
And all the information is outthere.
Literally all the informationof how to be successful in
whatever you want to do is outthere.
You just got to go find it.
So I would also say talk tomore industry experts, like,
find people in the industry, askthem these exact questions that
you're asking us right now.
What would you do differentwhen you started?
(41:48):
And really listen to that andtake it.
And even if it soundscompletely wrong to you, you
can't listen to yourself becauseyou don't know, you have no
idea, you got no experience inthe game.
So really listen to thosepeople with more experience.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, I was actually just listening to a podcast on
the way over here with Alli Webb, who founded Drybar, and
someone asked her what thedifference is between intuition
and delusion and I feel like youknow it was almost delusional
to be doing it differently thanall the other successful
companies.
So, yeah, I think, reallytaking note, you know, if it's
(42:26):
not broken, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, Jake and staff.
You guys are so wonderful.
Thank you guys so much fortaking the time to be on the
podcast.
Can you tell everybody wherethey can find you personally
find True, all the good things?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, we are.
We have a website,wwwtritroopcom, that's T R Y T R
O O P dot com.
They can follow us on Instagramand TikTok at trytroop for some
fun and mushroom relatedcontent, and we're also on
Amazon and for all of yourlisteners.
If they want to try the product, we created a code so they get
(43:00):
20% off.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
I love it.
I think it, girl 20.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
We could be it, girl 20.
Beautiful, yeah, yay.
Thank you guys, thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Thanks for having us, this was fun.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Thank you so much for listening to confessions of a
want to be a girl.
Don't forget to rate andsubscribe to the show.
As always, we'll see you nextTuesday.
Hey guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Want to
Be it Girl.
Today's episode is very muchfor the entrepreneurial spirit,
but I will also say that thisepisode has a lot of key
takeaways about how to work withsomebody you are close with.
We are joined by Jake and Steph, the co-founders and cousins of
(00:20):
Troop.
Troop is an amazing mushroomsupplement that comes in a very
cute yummy gummy, and in thisepisode we're talking all about
how spirituality has guided themin their business, how they got
in touch with theirspirituality, how they work
together as friends, cousins andco-founders, and we learn a lot
(00:44):
about what it really looks liketo be in a business.
They give amazing advice andtell amazing stories.
I'm really excited for you guysto hear from the amazing
co-founders of Troop.
Welcome to Confessions of a Wantto Be it Girl.
I'm your host, marley Fraging,and I'm here to help you filter
(01:05):
out all the bullshit and becomethe next thick girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
(01:26):
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it.
Okay, hi guys.
Welcome Steph and Jake.
Thank you guys so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having us.
I'm very excited to talk to youguys because you're not only
co-founders but cousins of thegummy mushroom supplement, troop
(01:47):
, and Troop can be found in yourfavorite LA grocery store
Aeroon, available on Push byCourtney Kardashian, amazon,
just to name a few.
So I'm very excited to have youguys on the podcast today.
So I want to talk a little bitabout your guys' spirituality
and how does spirituality play arole in your business.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Wow, that's a great question to just jump into.
We're diving in.
Yeah, I love it.
I think that as the businesshas started and grown, it has
been parallel with both of ourspiritual journeys, for sure.
And recently, about a year ago,I started learning about
Kabbalah and it's been reallycool to see how that kind of
(02:33):
weaves in with my alreadyexisting spiritual practices.
What's Kabbalah?
So Kabbalah is technicallydefined as the ancient spiritual
wisdom.
It's not supposed to be tiedwith any religion, although
there are a lot of similaritieswith Judaism.
But they say it's notreligiously affiliated.
And I take everything with agrain of salt.
(02:54):
I like to just kind of pick andchoose from different
modalities and wisdoms andeverything.
But one of my favorite thingsabout Kabbalah is having 100%
certainty beyond logic, and thathas really played into our
business.
So 100% certainty, so knowingthat this is going to work out,
knowing that I'm on my path,even when the doubt set in, I
(03:15):
can tell myself no, 100%certainty.
There is the philosophy thatthe universe wants you to have
everything you desire.
If you desire something, thenthe universe wants you to have
it, and so having 100% certaintywith that and things are really
challenging when you have abusiness.
It really tests pretty muchevery single part of you and
it's really taxing.
(03:36):
One minute it's so exciting andamazing and the next minute
everything feels like it'sfalling apart.
So you really having certaintyand just knowing in those
moments that it's all going tobe okay, it's all going to work
out, has really helped me withmy journey.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Jake, what about for you?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, I feel very similarly.
I call it manifestation, whereI truly believe that this is
what I'm meant to do and Iapproach the business and life
like that and it just gives youthis base level of confidence to
keep going and know that if youjust keep giving out positivity
(04:14):
and you just keep giving outthis true belief that you're
doing the right thing and youactually believe in what you're
doing and selling, that theuniverse will eventually bring
back that energy to you and willbring it back tenfold.
So that's kind of been what'sbeen really helping to keep it
going and it has truly led me tobecome a lot more deeply
(04:41):
spiritual going through thisbusiness, especially because
it's mushrooms, like I feelguided by the mushrooms and I
feel like the universe guided meto mushrooms and I was not a
spiritual person before thiswhole thing.
So, yeah, I have drasticallychanged over the course of this,
which has been really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I want to get into that a little bit about how Tube
got founded.
So something happened to you.
Jake and Steph came to comehelp out.
Tell us the story of thefounding of Tube.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sure yeah, so it was actually on day one of the COVID
lockdown, march 14th 2020.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I always remember the day he knows, the day he locked
in the brain there.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It was a really special day for me, a little
even extra special than everyoneelse, because I was skiing.
I decided to break some of therules and continue skiing after
the mountain had closed and thengot into a really horrible ski
accident and broke my leg verybadly.
So that was a reallychallenging situation.
I was running another businessand that business simultaneously
(05:46):
was collapsing because of theCOVID lockdown.
So I was running out of money.
I couldn't take care of myselfbecause my broken leg.
So I decided to move back homewith my parents and it was at
that time that Stephanie decidedto move in with my parents as
well to help take care of melike the generous cousin she is.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Shit really hit the fan there.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, major yeah.
And it was challenging.
It was extremely challenging.
I was on so much painmedication, I was in just mental
, physical, spiritual pain.
And then one day Stephanie justasked hey, do you want to grow
some mushrooms with me?
And I was like sure.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Just like a COVID.
Activity.
Yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It was, after all, the Netflix binging and, yeah,
just a COVID activity.
And then we started growingmushrooms and from there we
started like studying andresearching and learning and
reading and just falling in lovewith mushrooms and this whole
new like.
It's almost like a culture,like within mushrooms, and these
(06:55):
are plant medicines I don't sayplant, but there's our
medicines that have been usedfor thousands of years in
cultures all around the world.
So we kind of felt like we hadtapped into this like ancient
secret that people were nottalking about in our modern
society, which was shocking oncewe learned how beneficial they
are for people and how importantthey are for preventing
(07:16):
illnesses versus, like, curingthem.
So if you want to add anythingto that, that pretty much covers
it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But yeah, I think it was just honestly a happy
accident that we discoveredmushrooms.
We never started troop, I mean,we never really set out to go
create a company or anythinglike that.
It was just, you know, findingsomething that you love, sharing
it with your community, andthen deciding like maybe more
people are going to want thisand creating a product.
(07:46):
But it was never.
Let's, let's start growingmushrooms and let's create a
company and let's go try to makemillions of dollars or anything
like that.
It was just, you know, apassion, and then it became a
side project and then it becameour lives.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Very well and it's very much your lives, because
your cousins you kind of havelike a sibling relationship from
what like I kind of know of youtwo.
How do you two not get at eachother's throats while always
working together?
You guys also kind of run inthe same friend groups.
How do you who?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
said that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Fair enough.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, it's.
That also has been a parallelto the business too.
Like, I think, any co-founderrelationship is going to ebb and
flow for sure, and wedefinitely have had continue to
have challenges.
You know, like any businesspartner, business partnership.
I remember there was one timewe got in this huge fight.
(08:42):
We were on slack.
We were on slack, jake was athis brother's bachelor party, I
was visiting my friend in DC andI just remember violently
typing like my fingers havenever moved so fast.
We're in this heated argument.
Is this a public channel or isit just YouTube?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's just us two.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And yeah, I remember just being like we need to go to
therapy.
And then he said, okay, and itwas like it was never even you
know, a fight or no one had toconvince anyone.
We just started going totherapy, yeah, and it was a real
like.
There was that one year that itwas really challenging and we
went to therapy every week, evenlike we would get off, like we
(09:25):
would get off a fight on slackor something and then be so
angry together and then show upto therapy and just like an hour
later.
It just be silent in ourtherapist.
David would just be like okay,and we would just be sitting
like you could feel the tensioneven on zoom, just the yeah and
yeah.
So we did therapy for about ayear and then we also did
(09:48):
therapy individually as well,because it really is, you know,
business partnerships are alsoyour own relationship to
yourself too, yeah.
So yeah, we did therapytogether, therapy individually
Was this a work?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
there Like did this therapist have work?
Therapy is like a part of it,kind of yeah, that's cool, he
wasn't.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I wouldn't necessarily say he's a business
coach or anything like that, buthe has had experience doing you
know business partnerships.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Business partnerships .
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah.
So, um, yeah, I mean we stillcontinue to have our differences
and stuff, but I think, yeah,we just kind of try.
We just try to be bettercommunicators, I guess.
And yeah, it definitely hasbeen challenging, but it's also
rewarding too and you learn alot about yourself along the way
.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So, that being said, you know what are your each
weaknesses and strengths, andhow do you two balance each
other out?
Because I think a lot ofbusinesses start, you know, from
place of.
We both like this thing and youknow people want to work with
people they trust, like cousins,husband, wife, duos, siblings.
So how do you guys handle that?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean I have a yeah.
So I think when we firststarted we were both kind of
like let's both do everythingkind of thing, yeah, or we both
had our hands and everything.
And I think we've now realizedwhat each other's strengths are.
More so, jake is more financetech oriented, like if we need
any sort of software.
He built our website, so it'sthose those kinds of things,
(11:15):
more like tech savvy and all ofthat and very literate with all
of that stuff.
And then I'm more likeOperations and I love dealing
with, like the brand image and Ilove bringing the product to
life.
I did a lot of that initialresearch.
So I think that those are kindof our zones of genius.
And then there are some thingsthat neither of us love,
(11:35):
honestly, and that it's neitherof our zone of genius.
Like we're really working oncommunicating our story better
and being better advertisers andwe haven't made that our zone
of genius yet.
So we're both contributing tothat pretty equally, I would say
.
And I think that's kind ofwhere our weakness lies, because
Jake and I did Not come from anecon background.
(11:57):
We didn't even know what,honestly looking back.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
We didn't know what you come was we didn't know we
were starting E-commerce likejust selling.
Yeah we didn't know.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That's where you're going to be, yeah so we just
thought we're like we're gonnago create a product, sell it to
the customer.
It's good, it's gonna be great.
Cheerio, it's so much harderthan that.
There's so many more nuances,and so like we were so royally
humbled.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Deeply humbled.
Yeah, and continue to be.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, you guys do kind of run in the same social
circle as well.
Yeah, how do you guys managethe Balance if that's a word
you're into of like turning offwork time, friend time, cousin
time?
How do you guys handle that?
I?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Think it was.
It was harder during,definitely during, the years of
like fighting.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah and.
After that cobit ish time yeah,it was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
and then after that it actually, I think, helps a
lot, because the friends will belike, will be like so mad at
each other friends.
They're like relax, like chill,and we're like all right, fine,
you know, it's not that big adeal.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And also, yeah, like I don't remember that, our
friends ever saying that, butmaybe they did.
They never did that to me.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Oh, they did remember so steps Dating one of my
friends and so and my girlfriendboth of them, they're like our
support team.
Yeah, they're like.
They really cheer us on likethe hardest, both of them and
they like communicate with eachother on how to best manage our
relationship.
Fighting, yeah so funny.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
It's so real because it takes a village to run a
company like it does, yeah, notjust the Physical thing, the act
of the business, but the mental, emotional Relationships
involved in a business take likea lot more.
How do you guys think youhandle work life balance?
I know you guys, you guys arevery all in on troop and you
(14:01):
know, really work every day Tobetter yourself as well.
So how do you, how do you findbalance?
What's your recommendations topeople who want to be in a
situation like this on findingbalance?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That's a good question.
I think that answer changes allthe time.
Honestly, I I would PreviouslyI would work until maybe 10 pm
Every night and then go to bedand be able to wake up and do
the same thing all over again.
And it's not that I got burnedout, because I honestly didn't
(14:32):
but I just realized that I'malso super important.
Yes, fuck yeah, and I deserveto have some time for myself,
and there will always be morework.
So I mean, aside from this week,because we do have a lot going
on, we're actually looking toraise some money.
So we've been getting our decksready.
I've been we've just had a tonof really important deliverables
but, aside from this week, Ireally try to stop working at
(14:54):
around 7 or something, havedinner and then take the time to
myself and do things that Ilove to do, and we have a lot.
We have a very robust friendgroup too.
So, like, maybe once a weekI'll hang out with my friends
and then on the weekends, like,and I love to travel, so I hope
I try to, you know, schedulesome stuff.
(15:14):
Like, I just went to a weddinglast weekend in Mexico and
Didn't work Saturday and Sunday,so you know.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Step when you're off.
Are you off like computers,like slack channels, quiet like
phones, off away.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
No, like if something comes through on slack that I
need to answer, I'll just answerit Mm-hmm, but I do.
I go on, do not disturb.
At like 10 pm and I won'tanswer anything past 10.
How about for you, jay?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, work, life balance.
I I think that that term hasshifted for me, largely Because,
like work is life and life iswork.
Like we are the business, youknow, like there's not a
separation between us and thebusiness.
We, directly, are the business.
So and that's was a bigrealization for me, similar to
(16:02):
what stuff was saying, like whenI found out that Turning off
work and going to the gymbecause I would be like I gotta
finish this, I gotta do thisyeah, by doing that, I'm
sharpening the.
The number one tool that ourbusiness has is us, you know.
So you're, when you'resharpening that tool and you're
making that more refined andbetter, and I I'll turn off Like
(16:24):
work to go read.
Now, and when I read, I Stepaway from work.
And I learned something that Ithen bring to work that's so
much more meaningful if I wasjust like crunching away the
hours.
So I've really learned thatlike, yeah, you are your
business, you know, and so youneed to.
You need to sharpen both andyou need to sharpen yourself in
(16:45):
order to grow the businessEffectively and be your most
effective version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, you guys literally started this company I
heard it like making gummyconcoctions in your kitchen to
being in Erewhon.
Like the range.
The journey is so large andvast.
What do you attribute thissuccess and growth to?
Like what do you think you guyswere able to bring and merge
(17:12):
together to?
You know, get this running.
Start with your company, likeit's still pretty young.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, it is pretty young, I think we just we had a
brilliant concept and idea.
We, I think, were lucky on thetiming.
We were the first mushroomgummy out there and especially
the first with a really refined,excellent brand that people
(17:41):
could trust.
Our vision from the start isstill our vision now, because
along the years we'll lose ourvision, but we always come back
to the original vision that westarted with.
We're like wow, we were rightall along, which was to make
mushrooms approachable to morepeople.
We wanted more people to feelcomfortable taking mushrooms,
(18:03):
trying mushrooms.
We wanted, because there's alot of stigmas and fears around
mushrooms and a lot of ignorancearound it.
We wanted to educate people andbe the educators of what these
powerful mushrooms can do foryou.
We wanted to do that in a waythat was fun and friendly and
not intimidating.
We felt like a lot of theproducts out there were
(18:25):
intimidating.
They're very hippy.
You got to eat a pound of dirtevery day and then you'll be one
with the universe.
We're like whoa, whoa.
I just want something that'sgoing to lessen my anxiety.
I don't need to jump straightto the end result of being
enlightened guru.
(18:45):
That's not where we came from.
Like I said, I was notspiritual at all before this.
I just was like I wantsomething that's going to help
me focus, lessen my anxiety, anda way that is easy and fun.
That's why we developed thegummy.
We wanted it to just be sosimple.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Do you use Troupe while working on Troupe?
Of course?
What do you use when and why?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I have all the products on my desk.
Yeah, I take them every day.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
If you're going into a bunch of work meanings and
you're really stressed out,which product are you grabbing,
rashi?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Great why it helps calm and de-stress.
I like taking Rashi in themorning because it just helps
mitigate and regulate the stresslevels in the body.
Jake likes taking it at nightbecause it helps him sleep.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Tell me the other products and when you would
probably take those.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Lines.
Main.
I take first thing in themorning because it helps clear
the brain fog.
I have traditionally had badbrain fog in the mornings.
I'm just like I don't know whatthe fuck's going on.
Honestly, I take that and after30, 45 minutes I feel like a
noticeable improvement in thebrain fog and then I can
(19:59):
continue.
Now, when I'm pairing that, wenever say this is a one solution
, fix-all, yeah.
But when I'm pairing that witha morning meditation and doing
some intentional morning thingsto help clear that brain fog,
it's really powerful.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
What else is there in the catalog?
Did we touch on both of them?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Then we have the Super Troop, which is our six
mushroom blend, Do you tell?
Yeah, it has Lines, main RashiChaga, Mitaki Quartersups and
Turkey Tail.
This is more All in one, All inone, all in one.
You don't have to go get amillion supplements to get all
this yeah exactly this one.
it has Quartersups and Linesmain, so it gives you that brain
boost energy.
I like taking that after lunchas the mid-date pick me up or
(20:45):
something like that.
I'll sometimes take it in themorning too.
Yeah, lines main and SuperTroop I don't really take past a
certain hour because it willkeep me up at night.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Good to know.
Yeah, there's been somestressful nights, some stressful
things in the business that youguys have mentioned.
Tell me about a time in yourguys' journey in this business
that things are really hard.
Paint the stage, paint thepicture for us.
How did you guys work throughit as a team?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The first thing that comes to my mind is about this
time last year.
So we had a hellish journeyfinding our manufacturing
partner.
It was so horrible.
We went through maybe sixdifferent companies until we
found the company who were withnow.
And this time last year wedidn't have a manufacturer.
We were out of product for amonth, Over a month.
(21:37):
We lost an entire month ofrevenue and we had no idea how
we were going to be getting thisproduct.
This manufacturing company hadactually courted us to go work
with them, and then they kept onpushing back the date of when
they would have our product, andthere were a month passed with
where they said and not justpushing back.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
They were like flat out lying to us.
It'll be ready tomorrow andthen tomorrow.
Hey, sorry, there was a problemat the factory.
They did that maybe like seventimes.
They're working on it right nowand I'm like, well, where is it
Right?
It was horrible.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And so we didn't know what we were going to do, and
so it felt like the company wasgoing to crumble.
And I think, deep down throughall of the huge challenges, I
still know, like in my gut, thatit's all going to work out.
But this really tested it andit really covered up that part
of me.
And I just actually remember Iwas writing down a journal every
(22:37):
morning and I was writing downin my journal every cliche you
can imagine.
I used to take a picture ofthis one and I was like this too
shall pass.
What doesn't kill you makes youstronger.
This wouldn't happen if youcouldn't handle it, like I was
telling myself, every singlecliche.
It was so dumb, but yeah, itwas so immensely challenging and
(22:59):
I mean, luckily we ended upfinding our partner and they
turned it out for us reallyquickly.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But not before we found out that manufacturer was
that whole time, that they weredelaying us, installing us.
They were manufacturing anothermushroom gummy for our biggest
competitor.
So they were like we stillthink they were intentionally
stalling us, just to like letthe other people get on the
(23:27):
market and get on the shelves.
And so it was like some, it waslike out of a movie, it kind of
believe it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It was like, sounds like a plot.
It literally was.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, it was like corporate espionage.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yes, we actually.
So these guys were in San Diegoso we just kind of sprung the
visits on them, smart yeah.
And I remember one time I wentand the and the sky texted Jake
and was like can you tellStephanie to stop yelling at my
employees?
And there was no one in theroom Like yeah, I had.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
he was freaking out.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
He was like she's, she's attacking us and I was
written down there and I scaredand yeah, and then I talked to
his boss and his boss had noidea what was going on.
He had no idea that he hadpromised us all of these things
and that we were so behind andXYZ.
And so the boss ended upletting us use his one of his
(24:18):
gummy makers and the guy came inon the weekend and made us a
really small batch just to tieus over until we got to our new
manufacturer.
Wow yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
So what were you mentally, physically doing just
to like keep the businesstogether?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Because I think everyone thinks like oh you just
crying so much anxiety, I mean,let the emotions out.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
We love yes.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So much.
Actually, one of our friends,jake, was going with one of our
friends to this YouTube thing, Idon't know, and they ended up
making a wrap about thissituation.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
It was dark comedy.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So use comedy as relief.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, crying, so much crying.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And is it just like kind of part of the business
journey?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
You feel like, yeah, I mean, from what I've heard,
this is not anything new forsmall companies.
It's a small, I mean it's notsmall.
It's an unfortunate fact thatwhen you're small, no one really
cares about you when you're inthe manufacturing business,
especially because thesecompanies are dealing with other
companies that have so muchlarger order volumes and all of
(25:21):
that kind of stuff, and so we'restill small and you really have
to find someone who believes inyou and believes in your vision
, and I think that's the samestruggle that any single company
.
You know.
The founder of Spank I'mblanking on her name right now
Blake, Sarah Blakely, SarahBlakely.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Sarah Blakely.
She had the same thing.
She went from manufacturer tomanufacturer and no one wanted
to make her product and in thehindsight, obviously everyone's
kicking themselves.
Yeah, and in that moment youreally have to find someone who
believes in you and believes inwhat you're doing.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
And is just a good business partner.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
There's a lot of not serious people in business
across all business who are justin it for a quick buck, and you
need to find the people whothey make it a passion, their
business and that's the peopleyou want to work with.
And yeah, I think this is justa thing for, also for new
entrepreneurs.
We were just starting thisbusiness.
(26:11):
We came in with zero industryknowledge at all and now that
we're in the industry, we knowlike 50 different manufacturers
we can go to out of momentsnotice.
We know all the differentvendors and the people, but when
you're totally new, you knownothing, so it's all just trial
and error.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Speaking of a little bit of finding the right people
to work with and whatnot, Ican't ignore the fact that
you're a male female co-foundersand so, steph, I wanted to ask
you how has there been anyconversations where you know
people will kind of default toJake and you feel like it's just
because it's male.
How do you, jake, like,redirect it?
(26:51):
You know, how do you both showup as equal partners?
How do you, how do you handlethat?
I?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
for sure, have felt that people default to Jake and
I've, and I've also felt thatthere can be this kind of like
bro-y fraternity thing that goeson in business and when I, when
we hop on calls with investorsand stuff, it's predominantly
men and I've and I've noticedthat and it doesn't bother me,
but I have noticed it.
And actually you know, I willsay at the beginning I was a
(27:17):
little bit intimidated by justbeing on a call with like six
men that were all businesspeople and I was.
I had imposter syndrome, I waslike maybe I don't belong here,
you know, or something like that.
But I really had to workthrough that and I'm like no, I
do belong here and like this is,you know, equally my company
and I don't really think thatanyone kind of puts me below
(27:40):
Jake or anything like that.
But yeah, it just has beenreally interesting being a
female in a male dominated world.
Yeah, no, it's definitely.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Just you can't.
We can only hope that thingsget better and better, but like
we can't ignore that sometimesdefault settings, known or
unknown, are still there.
And, Jake, have you noticed itor how do you feel like you
redirect it?
Has there been conversationsabout it behind closed doors or
anything?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, I think in the beginning I didn't notice it
because it just wasn't somethingthat I paid attention to, you
know, like it was not in myuniverse, I just kind of like
moved along, you know, and itwasn't something I ever focused
on.
But Stephanie did bring it upto me in those early days and
(28:27):
then after that, when I wouldnotice it, I definitely would
always try to be more, alwaysmore inclusive.
Like us, we're co founders,we're co found.
You know, it's not like just me, it's us.
You know, when we make thedecision, whatever we decide,
it'll be so yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So I want to go back to those.
You know initial days and youguys are getting into mushrooms
like why?
Why did you have to choosemushrooms and which mushroom did
you guys start with?
Like there's so much hypearound mushrooms.
I just want people tounderstand why this was
important to you guys to do.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Yeah, but really initially struck my interest
about mushrooms, so I wasintroduced through functional
mushrooms, or two functionalmushrooms, through psilocybin
mushrooms, which are magicmushrooms, yes well.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
The.
I'm learning day by day.
I'm the basic bitch who doesn'tunderstand the difference.
I'm like we're all on drugs,right, and they're like no, and
I'm like okay, cool, yeah,exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So we're here to like clear the slate, clear the
slate, clear the slate.
So, yeah, I was introduced tothe world of mushrooms through
magic mushrooms and I had donethem previously and you know no
intentionality behind it.
And then fast forward to COVID.
I was reading this book how toChange your Mind and I didn't
know that mushrooms wereactually neuroplastic or have
(29:45):
neuroplasticity effects on yourbrain and they can help you
rewire thought patterns andstories in your brain.
And my initial thought was, wow, I have so many thought
patterns about myself that Idon't want to have anymore and I
can rewrite that story formyself.
So that's what really drew myinterest in mushrooms.
And then I started researchingand realizing, wow, there's this
(30:07):
whole group of mushrooms thathave been used for thousands of
years and cultures all aroundthe world that have amazing
benefits for your mind and alsofor your body, and so that's
what really sparked the interest, and I was like Jake we got to
start growing these and withouthesitation, he said yes, and so
we started with lion's mane, andthat was just grown in the
backyard or like in the closet.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Very good yes.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
So we started with lion's mane and when we started
it's like the world opened upfor us.
We started meeting all kinds ofpeople that were in this space
we met.
I was at a friend's barbecueand I met this guy who was a
mycologist, which is a mushroomfarmer, basically.
Very cool, yeah, and so he wasworking with us and growing
things and he had all the latestresearch and he was just such a
(30:50):
cool person to liaise with.
And then just we startedmeeting people.
It's like I don't know.
It's like the mycelial effect,it's this underground structure
of mushrooms that connects theecosystems.
It's kind of like that's howlife is for us, like we're all
interconnected in some way orthe other.
And, yeah, the world justreally opened up for us and it
was really exciting and almostvalidating that we were on the
(31:12):
right path.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Jake, when did you start to realize like mushrooms
really were for you and for thecompany?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, so we started growing them for a while and
that was really exciting.
And then during the researchphase we watched the movie
Fantastic Fungi, which is on netflicks.
It has a hundred percent ratingon Ron tomatoes.
Yeah, it's amazing, one of thefew, it's incredible incredible
movie and that just like blew myworld open.
(31:40):
Like I am a very like sciencebacked science oriented type of
guy, I was very anti-fruity,anti like the whole spirituality
, woo-woo, like, very againstall of that.
The movie went so into thescience and all these things and
it felt like it felt to me likewe were on.
(32:02):
Like I always imagine, if wefind an alien planet that has
life on it, like all this plantsand species, we would go over
there and we'd be testing likecrazy all of the new species and
discovering and discovering.
And then we I found out thatthere are millions of species of
mushroom on this earth that arestill undiscovered.
(32:23):
So it was like this new frontierof science that we had not yet
broken into like as a culture,as a civilization, and so I was
like there could be, there couldbe a mushroom out there that
has insane impact, that helpscure cancer.
There could be a mushroom thatit helps, you know, with skin
(32:44):
and nails.
There could be a mushroom thathelps with eyesight.
There could be all thesedifferent types of mushrooms
that we don't know of yet andthe already the ones we did know
of, were so powerful andimpactful that had been used for
thousands of years.
It was like why is this notfront page news?
I like was so confused how thiswasn't everywhere and since
(33:05):
then it has started to becomeeverywhere you know, and now
it's like everyone's talkingmushrooms and also with
psilocybin.
Psilocybin, I truly believe, islike the cure to mental health
on earth, on our planet.
I think it's going todrastically change the mental
health landscape of our wholeplanet and like eradicating
(33:31):
things like depression, anxietynot eradicating, but In healing
systems.
Yeah, exactly Giving anextremely powerful tool to help
with those things and not justto wipe them out like an SSRI
does, which I consider like aband-aid on an open wound.
This is like going to the coreand actually healing down to
(33:54):
your core what's really causingthat anxiety and depression and
all these different thingsthat's blocking you from living
your happiest life.
So, together with thefunctional mushrooms healing the
body and the psychedelichealing the mind, I'm like this
is the ultimate.
It's the ultimate kingdom thefungi kingdom.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, it's the recipe to get you where you want to be
mentally, physically,emotionally and, hopefully,
spiritually as well.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
So you know, when you pick up troop they don't
necessarily look like a mushroomthere at beautiful gummy.
Tell us a little bit, just toget like nerdy with it.
Like how was this made?
How did you like put a mushroominto a gummy?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
It is so much harder than it looks, yeah it seems
like so easy, it seems so easy,doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, so cute.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
If we hadn't known, I honestly don't know if we would
have done it Really.
I mean, maybe, but it's socomplicated.
It's basically a chemistryproject making a gummy.
So we initially there's alsonot that much information online
so we initially went in thekitchen my friends call me chef
and they got me one of myfriends got me chef hats for my
(35:06):
birthday and we put on thesechef hats the first time we made
the gummy.
So we have a photo of our first, our first, test batch, yeah,
anyways.
So yeah, we made gummies and wejust followed this at home
vitamin gummy recipe and it wasa huge failure.
It was so disgusting.
It was like too much gelatin.
(35:28):
At the time we just our firstiteration had gelatin.
You could literally like flickthis gummy and it would just
like go back.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
It was like rubber it was rubbery.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It was not it and we tried it and it was just not at
all what we wanted.
We kept on iterating anditerating and we never really
nailed it, honestly, and then weended up going on LinkedIn and
finding a gummy scientist whatit's a real profession it's a
real profession and we ended upgetting it in the secret gate
with like the 31 flavors testerguy, like they hang out Exactly.
(36:00):
And this guy, he had been doingit for decades and it's crazy,
actually Our manufacturingcompany ended up hiring him
randomly.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
It was so kismet.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Without them knowing that we had worked with him.
It was so kismet Anyway.
So we we got on the phone withhim and we said all of our
criteria.
We said no high fructose cornsyrup or dyes, no artificial
ingredients, all natural, realfruit flavors.
We don't want to use aloe lois,which is linked to stomach
issues.
What is it?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Like sugar alcohols, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
It allows you to be sugar free on your label.
However, a lot of people reportdigestive issues.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Oh yeah, and it's not .
It's not allowed in the EU, sowe're like this doesn't seem
super safe.
Just so we could say no sugaryeah.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
And we wanted it to be vegan, okay.
So all of these criteria andthat's a tough list going in.
It's a tough list.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
So and delicious.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Oh, and it has to be delicious.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
We, from the start, we said, why be a gummy?
If you're not delicious, no,it's so true.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Exactly, and you can't be a health food gummy if
you put all that crap in it.
No.
So we said no junk anddelicious.
So he started making usproducts and it was actually
really fun.
I still have the bags at home,all the plastic bags with the
labels and stuff and the datesof all the samples he would send
us and we would come back tohim.
You know, 10% too much flavor.
We started really noticing allof the different components of
(37:23):
the gummy and how to tweak them.
So, we would say you know toomuch of this.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
A little less of that .
Try 10% less citric acid.
I was like really specific, andnow I could taste in a gummy.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
So now your palates for gummies.
Very work on the stores forsure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So, yeah, that was actually really, really fun and
I've realized I that's.
Something I love is productdevelopment, like I cannot wait
till we launch new products,doing all the research and
finding the best ingredients andfinding the best sourcing.
It's I live off that.
I love that so much and it wasthe most fun process bringing it
to life.
And, yeah, we have so manysamples.
(38:02):
I got to show you a video ofall of these samples that we
have.
It's like a full bin, a storagebin, just filled with samples
from different companies.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
So, it wasn't just like one and done, and you were
probably oh no, it was a year,it was like a year of testing
and iterating, because themushrooms are.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
They're powerful.
We put a lot of mushrooms Likewe wanted to have the highest
concentration of mushrooms ofany other product, so that our
goal was a one for onereplacement from the pills or
the tinctures, so like, if youare, if you're currently taking
like mushroom capsules, wewanted it to be a direct
replacement with no loss.
(38:36):
Like you're not getting oh, I'mgetting less mushrooms, but
it's in the gummy.
We wanted it to be exactlyequal so that you can just say
why would I take a capsule whenI take a gummy and it's the same
amount of mushrooms?
Smart, yeah.
So it was not easy to mask that, that flavor, and it took a
long time, with a lot ofiterations, and we finally came
(38:56):
up with three products that arejust like, so honestly, so good
that sometimes I feel like wealmost made them too good,
because people are like I can'tbuy this cause I'm going to eat
it all at once.
And I'm like can?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
you eat it all at once.
I mean, it's not recommendedbut, don't safe and non-toxic.
You know, nothing bad is goingto happen.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
but it's not recommended, so let's not down a
bottle of troop just for fun.
But like you won't die if youdo Right.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
But I definitely have more than the serving size.
Every day I'm looking at life.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
They are delicious.
You know, I'll say like there'sdefinitely been ups and downs
in this journey of getting troopto where it is.
If you guys were to do it allover again, what would you say
to yourselves going into thisjourney?
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Good luck.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I would have spent the money so differently and I
would have done so much moreresearch on e-commerce.
Yeah, the first year webasically did no online
advertising, which is now, to us, absolutely insane.
We invested a lot in real lifeevents and grocery store demos
(40:04):
and things like that, which, ofcourse, have benefits.
But if you look at all thesereally big companies, they're
doing that later down the linewhen they already have an
established base, and weinitially thought I don't know
where we got this in our headsbut we initially thought that
people needed to try the product.
But the fact of the matter isthat the way people are
purchasing has changed so much.
I mean, I bet you didn't go tothe furniture store and buy at
(40:27):
your bed Not that I did but notthe rug.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
The rug.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You know people are buying things without trying
them perfumes and furniture andcouches, all these things so
people actually don't need totry the product and we have a
money back guarantee.
So if for some reason theydon't like it, it's risk-free
We'll give them back their money.
So we learned about the hardway.
We did so many differentsampling campaigns, shows.
(40:51):
We partnered with this onecompany to do an exhibition in
their store.
I mean, just like all this dumbshit.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
But you got to learn by doing some yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, what about?
Speaker 1 (41:02):
for you, Jay.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, definitely research would be great.
Reading books there are bookson doing exactly what you want
to do.
Whatever it is you want to do,there are books written on
exactly how to do it and findthose books and read those books
Because, like now that we'rereading them, like, oh my God,
it's so obvious.
So obvious, you know, and itjust, but it's not obvious when
(41:27):
you're not in that world.
And all the information is outthere.
Literally all the informationof how to be successful in
whatever you want to do is outthere.
You just got to go find it.
So I would also say talk tomore industry experts, like,
find people in the industry, askthem these exact questions that
you're asking us right now.
What would you do differentwhen you started?
(41:48):
And really listen to that andtake it.
And even if it soundscompletely wrong to you, you
can't listen to yourself becauseyou don't know, you have no
idea, you got no experience inthe game.
So really listen to thosepeople with more experience.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, I was actually just listening to a podcast on
the way over here with Alli Webb, who founded Drybar, and
someone asked her what thedifference is between intuition
and delusion and I feel like youknow it was almost delusional
to be doing it differently thanall the other successful
companies.
So, yeah, I think, reallytaking note, you know, if it's
(42:26):
not broken, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, Jake and staff.
You guys are so wonderful.
Thank you guys so much fortaking the time to be on the
podcast.
Can you tell everybody wherethey can find you personally
find True, all the good things?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, we are.
We have a website,wwwtritroopcom, that's T R Y T R
O O P dot com.
They can follow us on Instagramand TikTok at trytroop for some
fun and mushroom relatedcontent, and we're also on
Amazon and for all of yourlisteners.
If they want to try the product, we created a code so they get
(43:00):
20% off.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
I love it.
I think it, girl 20.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
We could be it, girl 20.
Beautiful, yeah, yay.
Thank you guys, thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Thanks for having us, this was fun.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Thank you so much for listening to confessions of a
want to be a girl.
Don't forget to rate andsubscribe to the show.
As always, we'll see you nextTuesday.
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