The Reality of a Startup

So we have passed our 1 year sales anniversary, grown to over 400 stores and are talking to major retail chains in the hopes to expand from Erie to Syracuse/Watertown by March of 2011. I am amazed at what we have accomplished, but even more shocked by what we still have to do in the coming year(s).

Since the last post we have been pulling a lot of stunts around college campuses and the city of Rochester and Buffalo. In case you missed it, we have been building snowmen as a way to get people talking about Vital Energy. What does that have to do with Vital? Absolutely nothing and that is the whole point. I wanted something that would get people talking to their co-workers and friends while taking the initiative to come approach us.
Without fail we always got the same questions:
-Where did you get the snow?
-Is it real?
-What is Vital Energy?
-Why a snowman?
-Can I touch it?

In the business districts people would see the snowman on their way to work and come down asking all these questions or mention seeing him outside of their office window. It was a really good feeling having all these people be so curious and to take the time to come down and check it all out. We even had local news and radio stations talk about it and ask us what was going on.

The best part of it all was after we left for the day. The snowman was still there chilling out and doing his job... getting people to talk.

In order to set everything up meant getting up at 2am or earlier.
This was hard manual labor.
We had to borrow a pickup truck, shovel thousands of pounds of snow into it, drive to the location with the back end sitting low, empty it out, fill and empty it 4,5,6 more times, return the truck, setup banners, and of course build the snowman by 8am for the morning rush.

The hardest part of the past month has been the fact that my body never knows if it should be awake or asleep on a given day. We have given up trying to hold a normal sleep schedule in order to take advantage of the last few 70 degree days. During the whole process it really got me thinking about what we have invested into this company.

The reality of the whole startup is that I am constantly surprised by how much work and sacrifice it takes and even more than that is the fact that it never stops, even for personal problems. Mike's computer was recently destroyed (run over) but replaced (yay warranties!). My wallet was stolen along with my ID resulting in a shopping spree of $2200 at a sneaker store and Walmart. We have been sick and injured along the way at various times. After a year we are still all living with our parents and eating all of their food and taking no salary.

This isn't meant to be negative in the least, but just a realization of how much there is to this thing. It is a borderline obsession and I know that we are all loving it. Seeing the progress that we have made is extremely satisfying. Running into people who have seen our efforts, heard about it from a friend, tried it out for the first time on a whim, seen the videos is always a great feeling. Even looking back on our failures is often hilarious when we compare the idea to the result. It usually makes sense why it 'could' have worked and why it did not in reality.

No matter how this turns out, I think it will be hard to work at a desk after I spent hours before dawn trying to sculpt a melting pile of snow into a snowman in front of city hall.

-Jake

Happy Anniversary, baby.

So we survived one full year of being for sale. Holla!

August 26th is Mike's birthday as well as the day we received our first 18 wheeler of delicious drinks for all the little boys and girls to enjoy. Since then we have grown to about 350 stores across 14 counties and had our highest selling 2 weeks in a row recently.

Our first day of sales Mike and I managed to approach 20 stores and only got into 1 because we knew the owner. We also managed to get into a accident in the parking lot to add a little sweetness to our day. Compared to then I would say we are doing alright.

As for day to day operations we had to switch gears for the fall since cool weather came crashing in and schools are all now back in session. We have started up our ambassador program in the colleges we are for sale in and will use them as our eyes and ears on the campuses. It also is the next step for us in growth to learn some basic management skills. We need to start learning to handle other people other than ourselves if we want to eventually take Vital out of the state.

Of note, we have been hitting the colleges really hard and managed to pull of a winter wonderland @ St. John Fisher. For us we are always trying to do sampling a little bit different so we don't just give people bottles. So I figured that since school is just starting and people are not loving it at all why not give them some presents early!?

We contacted a local ice skating rink and sent Patrick and Scott to shovel it into the back of a pickup truck a few times and then drop it off on campus. They finished around 2am.

At 3am Mike and I showed up to finish everything and set up. Of course the weather was supposed to be light misting til 3am and not obnoxious rain caused by a hurricane in Canada til 530.

Mike and I set up a tree with decorations, some presents underneath (tshirts and bottles too), a table with decorations, a Vital Energy banner and of course Frosty with a big pile of ice cold Vital next to him.


I think people were a little surprised/confused so early in the morning but slowly people began coming in waves and even leaving their classes to see what it was all about. After all the drinks were gone, Mike and I cleaned up and left Frosty to chill for the afternoon. I got a few text messages saying that some snowball fights had broken out as well!

By about 3pm when Mike showed up, all that was left of the guy was a blob. :(
Rest in peace Frosty, we will see you again soon.


We also just spoke at University of Buffalo and Geneseo's business fraternity. It is kind of weird still that we are becoming more legitimate and people don't view us as just a bunch of ragtag hooligans. A year ago at this time we were delivering out of our cars, had no tshirts, and stored our drinks in the basement. By no means is it easier but its kind of cool to slowly have people start to recognize the drink or hear about our exploits.

Now that there is a break between big holidays we are focusing on getting more stores, approaching chain accounts (Walgreens, Tops, Wegmans etc), making a big presence on colleges, and getting ready to approach the mountains for winter.

Peace out yo,
-J

Oh... we have a meeting with Tops in mid-october!!!

High Beamin for the Fall

August so far has been amazing, huge press and huge samplings.

Mike was on the air with brother Wease 95.1 right at the beginning of August.
This was followed by Scott getting his pretty mug into the insider for 20 questions. We have had at least 4 or 5 people asking where he works out because he is so diesel. Hahaha.

Scott high beamin in his office.

The following week we graced the Democrat and Chronicle thanks to Emily Shearing!
Online version HERE.

The timing of this was impeccable to put it lightly. The article dropped on Thursday and on Saturday/Sunday was Park Ave Fest 2010! Over the few days we sampled thousands of people and had countless people mention the article, the insider or brother Wease!

The calm before.

Behind the scenes during.

I also wanted to mention that the prank we pulled in February was aired on TruTV's Top 20 Most Shocking: Practical Jokers Gone Wild 2.
We came out in the #1 position! As soon as they post the episode online we will link to it... now we are just waiting to hear back from MTV. :D

Now we are heading into the Fall semester for colleges and starting to look into various chains in the area. We should be in about 7 or 8 colleges as well as 2 or 3 mountains for the winter. Of note is Geneseo. We will be in all the cafes, bookstores and 40+ vending machines! If there is anywhere we have missed, ask them to carry Vital Energy.

Along with the colleges we have started out ambassador program. Initially we will be trying it out in only a few schools to work out the kinks and continue to expand it as we learn from this first semester.

Bottoms up,
-Jake

Hot, Wet, Rochester Summer Part III

Finale!

So to start this one off someone who is a power user on break.com decided to take our video and post it up HERE, and for that we have to say thank you so much. Not only did you help spread the word of Vital, MTV saw the video because of the 600k+ views it received in just about a week! They might use the video and even if they don't... WHO CARES. Another national network saw the video and for those counting, that is almost a milli in views between all the websites.

We also got in a new review from Caffeine critic describing how Vital might help save the world and all of humanity. Check out all the hot energy action! REVIEW

Since warped tour was in town and we had some backstage passes, Scottie and I figured it was worth going and scoping things out. Although we couldn't get any Vitals inside we did rock the Vital T-Shirts around the venue and actually had a few people ask if we had a tent set up anywhere... so we must be doing something right if people are starting to recognize us. We also scoped out the Monster truck to see how they did things and surprisingly they were not happy with us wearing Vital shirts in, on or around their setup. :P

On a lighter note though, we got to party hard with Andrew W.K.


And yes I made it on stage to party.

Recently we have been gearing up to approach Weggies and friends. Hopefully we have made a big enough stink and built up the brand enough for them to consider us. If anyone has a few moments and nothing better to do besides creeping on fbook we would love if you decided to send in a product suggestion... they do love to hear of any new and amazing products in the area!
WEGMANS

The most recent breakthrough that we have had though has been with samplings. For us it has been one of the most important ways to get people to try and be aware of the brand. As we have been growing though it is getting harder and harder to commit to small venues. With over 300+ stores and growing between 14 counties we have had to start looking at places with high foot traffic and population density. A few of these are Thursdays in the Square in Buffalo... yes TITS and yes tits are fun, Party in the park and of course 10 Ugly Men.

Tits was/is amazing because of the farmers market there, the free music @ Chase across the street, downtown during the day, 2 stores with product nearby, and no one bothering us about sampling on the street! Oh and of course the free concerts @ 6pm.

In the span of 8 hours we literally hit thousands of people and even gained some fans who helped lure more people to our little sample shop.


Scott and I also decided to set up during the 5k for 10 Ugly Men as well as using the main avenue through Genese Valley Park to set up a table and refresh people on the home stretch to the festival. Public property is loverly and the law enforcement definitely was thirsty and tired after dealing with so many drunk people! Luckily there was a pedestrian crosswalk sign to use as a banner anchor for not only our promotion but to keep the pedestrians safe as they venture into the street.

Sample count... 800+.

So I am finally caught up with the summer recap. We recently have started up a press campaign to get some lime light leading up to the fall months. Tune in next time.

Stay thirsty my friends,
-J

Hot, Wet, Rochester Summer Part II

Soooooo...

For the rest of June we got into as many venues as possible and really focused on sampling everywhere we could.


Ludachrist show @ Pearle. Great DJ duo that does mash-ups out of California. Tons of exposure and great placement during Rochester Jazz-fest.
Thanks to Patrick Gafney and RIPROC for the opportunity!



The last weekend in June was the Rock the Cans event @ Genese Brewing off St. Paul downtown. Soul Asylum, Gin Blossoms, Genny, and Vital. Thousands of people and a lot of fun. Thanks to Genese for letting set up shop.

And of course there was the LPGA @ Locust Hill.

A little haggling and we got to set up right on Jefferson Ave. With the boat, flags, van and samples.


and of course... autographed bottles for an obsessed fan. Someone felt that it would be vital for Pat and Scott to get into VIP with our drinks.

Thank fully the 4th of July was great weather. 90+ degree days and not an ounce of shade. We sampled all over Canandaigua and on the lakes.

Me after standing in the scorching sun for about 4 hours with no shade. Yay heat stroke!

We had a few more shows @ Waterstreet including Minus the Bear and Feul... unfortunately my camera decided to eat all of my photos with Fuel. :(

July 9th we got to hit up the beach @ Angola with the Shore Club and Mickey Rats... amazing weather!

Gotta stay protected while peddling our wares on the beach. There was a lot less wind inside CVS.

For the next update I will finish out July to get up to date.
We had a break through, a great review, warped tour, weggies fun, tits in Buffalo and more.

What you sippin on?
-Jake

Hot, Wet, Rochester Summer Part I

And....
We're back.

Totally my bad for not blogging in almost 2 months (Jake). We have been running around abusing this hot weather. Due to back log, this post will come in a few parts to make your brain not overload from all the hot, sweaty Vital action you are about to read!

This part covers from mid May - mid June.

After the last post we hosted our first NFL special teams clinic. Adam Podlesh of the Jacksonville Jaguars came into town with Tony Yelk and did an outstanding job offering insight and training in how to become a better kicker/punter. After the success of this year we are definitely going to host it again, hopefully we can make it into an actual camp for the players in the area! If you got to be a part of the first year, spread the word!



On memorial day weekend we launched the Vital Vessel. A 22ft pontoon boat and paraded around Canandaigua Lake the whole time. We stopped other boats and visited people on their docks in order to let them try an ice cold Vital. More than one person said that we were "very patriotic" due to the dual American flags prominently on display at the bow of our boat.

The rest of May/June consisted of losing our colleges and starting to hammer our samplings around the Rochester/Buffalo area. Unfortunately April showers were really May showers and made sure to be a real pain in the ass for our outdoor sampling, but we made it work.

On a few side notes, we have the first official Vital pooch, Bob.

We got to see a Saleen S7 (super duper sweet car).

Got the RPD on our side.

Got to watch some sweet free shows at Waterstreet (a perk of being a vendor there).

More sweaty action in a few days that will make you want to touch your toes.
mmmmmmmmm,
Jake

Soon to be on a boat.

This week has been attacking colleges and prepping for summer.

We officially have a 22 ft pontoon party boat and are going to be pimping on the water. All we need now is a helicoptor for air promotions! That should be arriving in 2011.

Last week we rocked Brock the Port at SUNY Brockport. It was a little suspect at first because of the weather but turned out to be a great event. Also, with college finals being in session we have been invading the libraries and letting people know about the product and having them check out the website and video. We are a perfect excuse to not study and talk to some devilishly good looking guys for 5 minutes!

Otherwise we have continued building our relationship with Wright Wisner and riding along with the sales reps to grab some new stores. We are hoping once they adjust to their new software to update our store locator with over 100 new stores!

We are always on the lookout for some new stores and outdoor events and festivals this summer. If anyone has an idea please let us know! If we have a free day we are always trying to get the word out about Vital!

-Jake

PS: Thanks to Scott we have 2 new HUGE coolers on wheels. This means even more mobile sampling on the fly! Next we obviously need this: Cruzin Cooler