Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / When You Should Quit as an Entrepreneur, what it’s like having Orlando Bloom as an Investor & One Simple Tip to Master Meditation with Form Nutrition’s Co-Founder Natalia Bojanic (Part 1)

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When You Should Quit as an Entrepreneur, what it’s like having Orlando Bloom as an Investor & One Simple Tip to Master Meditation with Form Nutrition’s Co-Founder Natalia Bojanic (Part 1) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Natalia Bojanik for Female Startup Club. Hello and welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. If you've just found us.
• 0:20
  Hi, I'm so happy. Every week, we're learning from some of the world's most brilliant minds in business who happen to be women. Like the co-founder of Form Nutrition, a B Corp certified plant-based nutrition company created from the simple belief that we become the greatest version of ourselves while making a positive impact in the lives of others.
• 0:43
  Launched in 2017 in the UK, Form Nutrition was born when co-founders Natalia and Damien started rethinking their habits and the effects diet has on our health and the climate. Form's 100% plant-based protein powders and responsibly sourced nootropics are backed by science and were designed with optimal performance in mind.
• 1:05
  From performance and muscle growth to improving sleep and cognitive support, Form's unique suite of plant-based products are impact-driven to support overall health and wellness and empower individuals to meet their unique goals.
• 1:20
  In this episode, we're talking through so many different things today, one of them being the practice of building a meditation habit with a very practical tip to getting started, especially if you're someone like me who is so on again, off again, on again, off again with meditation. I really resonated with this and I'm excited to try it. Something else I really loved about
• 1:50
  and why that shouldn't be seen as a failure. It's something that I do constantly in my life, and it's such a powerful way to move towards your strengths and your superpowers and away from the things that drain you and strip you of your energy. And finally, we talk through some simple marketing strategies and mindsets that everyone, literally everyone, can implement into
• 2:19
  Before we jump into this episode, a quick reminder on the Girl Code. You know we love it. We love it. We love it. And we're also still doing a call out for our loyal listeners to be involved in our new content series. All you need to do is DM me a voice note or a question about anything across business, life, relationships, whatever you want.
• 2:41
  to feature on the show. We're going to batch record a bunch of the best ones at the end of this week, and we've had some real crackers so far. So just send us a voice note in the DMs on Female Startup Club's Instagram, and you'll be featured on the show in the coming weeks. Alrighty, let's get into today's episode. This is Natalia for Female Startup Club. Natalia, hi. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast.
• 3:10
  Hello, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be talking with you today. I feel absolutely awful that it is so late for you. I've just realized that you are in the UK, which means it is circa 1am, which is crazy.
• 3:26
  Well, it's not a problem, right? When we manage a business, when we are running a business, we have to do what we have to do. And it's a pleasure. That's actually one of my favorite parts of my job, is actually to get to connect with people, share our story, and hopefully something that we are going to conversate, and have a chat here, hopefully it's going to help someone who is about to start their business, or is hustling with their business,
• 3:53
  So please do not feel bad. It is my pleasure. Oh, my gosh. Well, thank you. You look so fresh as well for 1 a.m. I feel like me at 1 a.m. is not the same. Not the same story. Well, I did take a nap. I did take a nap. So I went to bed at 10, put an alarm on.
• 4:11
  Oh my God, that is some serious commitment. Serious commitment. Wow. Thank you so much. Gosh, how was your day today before you went to bed? Do you have any wins or any oh shit moments that happened? Well, yeah. So today I think we're working on a new flavor. So we make plant-based vegan proteins.
• 4:34
  And we're working on a new flavor that we are launching soon. And actually I can say here, because by the time this goes live, we have already launched it. It's a key line. It's a limited edition flavor. So I was just like working on the photo shoot, developing recipes,
• 4:50
  And I love the creative part of my work, like to get to experience developing recipes, speaking to the food stylist, getting everything ready to shoot on Friday. So this was one of the focus of the day. I'm also applying for a master's. Oh, my God. Look at you. So I was doing...
• 5:13
  Some work on the application of the master's and it looks like everything is working. So fingers crossed. So let's see what happens there. What's the master's for? So it's the psychology and neuroscience of mental health. So in addition to being the co-founder of Form Nutrition, I also work as a meditation teacher and I teach mindful leadership in companies.
• 5:40
  And I've been doing that since 2018. So I just feel that it's time to uplevel my skills and get a master's. Wow, that is unbelievable. That's amazing. I actually had this kind of jotted down in my notes that I wanted to bring up a bit later. But since you bring it up now, let's talk a little bit about meditation because...
• 6:05
  I feel like for me, for some context, I'm someone who I've done like meditation course over the years. I've tried 700 million times to like build this habit. And I hear all these people and all these founders and entrepreneurs specifically who are able to have the kind of benefits of meditation. And I believe in the power of it, but I haven't managed to...
• 6:29
  you know, master it for myself. It's something I still very much struggle with. And I wanted to ask you kind of what your advice is for meditation and how you actually build that habit or how you recommend building that habit for people like me who are kind of struggling with it, but want to have it. Well, first of all, I think like the same way that you have heard of like founders who have built the habit of like training and cultivating their mind.
• 6:58
  you probably have heard even more stories of people who are not able to do it. So I just want to acknowledge that you are not alone. A lot of people want to have a habit of meditation, but for some reason, it just doesn't stick to them. So the thing with meditation is people need to understand that meditation is one word practice.
• 7:26
  that encompasses different types of mind training, like the same way that we have the sports for different modalities of activities of movement, like running, swimming, and lifting weights. With meditation is the same thing. There are different types of meditations.
• 7:48
  And what you have to do is to be open-minded and choose a style that fits and suits your mind right now. So if potentially you tried a style of meditation and it didn't work for you, try a different style, try a different teacher, try a different technique.
• 8:09
  and see what it most resonates with you, what is easy for you to stick to. Another thing that it's important to understand is that we must start small.
• 8:23
  A lot of people start having big expectations around meditation because of all the research that is there. They think that they need to sit 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. And with all the things that we already have to do in our lives, it sounds like another thing that we have to take.
• 8:43
  So research has showed that if you start with three minutes a day for 21 days in a row, only three minutes, you start seeing changes in your brain. Wow. And I think it's about sometimes prioritizing instead of like not being able to stick to it.
• 9:05
  When we practice meditation, it feels that not much is happening. So we are more tempted to do other things and not to prioritize. And in order for you to keep coming back to it, you need to see some positive results. So if I invite you to try to do for three minutes.
• 9:26
  21 days in a row where you find a spot that you're going to sit every day, sit comfortably. You don't need to be like a statue. You don't need to fold your legs like a pretzel if that's not comfortable for you. But find spots.
• 9:44
  a position and find a little corner of your house where you go to cultivate your mind and find a strong motivation to do it.
• 9:56
  It's a moment where you are cultivating a mind. It's a moment that you are basically having a date with yourself. It's a moment where you're going to be watching your thoughts, you're watching your emotions, and you're gaining insights about what is going on in your life. And the way we experience life is directly connected on how we train our mind.
• 10:23
  As soon as we start realizing all of that, then we go, oh, actually, I need to prioritize. There is nothing more important. There is nothing more relevant to cultivate a mind that is going to help me to be focused. It's going to help me to be present. It's going to help me to have more self-compassion towards myself and more resilience. And that bleeds into every single aspect of your life. And.
• 10:51
  I hope my little blood has convinced you to prioritize your mental health. And also the practical advice of finding the little corner, finding the time, commit to three minutes and then gradually increase the time and explore different techniques. Yeah, I love that. That's such a practical piece of advice. And I love that you've said
• 11:16
  you know, three minutes, just everyone can make three minutes. Three minutes is possible. Even if you're at your desk at work, you can just carve out three minutes to sit in the bathroom. You can do three minutes everywhere. And I love that. That's just such a good little insight that the three minutes matters. And that is definitely possible. Yeah.
• 11:35
  What I wonder for people like yourself who are, you know, experienced professionals who obviously have strong habits in meditation and mindfulness, do you still experience things like burnout and, you know, mood related anxiety, depression, these kinds of things? Or because you have this practice, you don't tend to get that far on the scale of, you know,
• 12:05
  Well, I don't want to, because sometimes when we talk about our own experience, people might not relate because I have to make clear, like I started meditation with yoga over like nearly 15 years ago. And I've been constantly meditating since 2015, January 2015, when I
• 12:29
  downloaded their app Headspace. And, you know, that helped me go through divorce. That helped me going to change of career. That helped me going to Everest-based camp during wintertime when it was like the first tracking I ever did in my life. Oh, my God. But I also have to say that before that, when I used to work as a PR director in the luxury industry, yes, I did experience burnout. Yes, yes.
• 12:58
  I had a pretty miserable life, tried to jiggle a lot and not having an outlet to nourish myself, not having an outlet that would teach me how to not overly identify with things that are happening in my life, to be able to separate, to detach myself to it so I can have perspective, so I don't become
• 13:27
  a part of what is happening to me. Like one of the big shifts that can happen with your mind when you start like meditating is that you move from that mind where you are deeply related with something that is happening to you. So you say, you know, I am angry. And then you move to I'm experiencing anger.
• 13:56
  And that's a quite profound shift where, again, you move from heavily identifying to what is happening to actually being able to observe.
• 14:10
  And when you have that separation, when you take the moment to pause, to move from autopilot to be aware, then it makes a whole difference on you experience everything that is happening in your life, avoiding burnout, avoiding anxiety.
• 14:26
  anxiety, avoiding depression. And also I wanted to make clear that it is not that we don't feel, it's not that we all of a sudden become this like robot, that machine that nothing matters. No, of course we feel. Sometimes we feel like even more intensely because sometimes,
• 14:45
  In the process of training your mind, you're also expanding your heart. But you also develop a higher level of skill to deal with whatever is happening. That being good, that being bad. You have more equanimity. Yeah, so it sets you up.
• 15:02
  very nicely to be an entrepreneur where there is so many feelings and emotions and so many ups and downs. I want to kind of go back to, you know, the start of your story. I was looking at your LinkedIn and it was showing that you had some companies before you started Form Nutrition. And I wanted to ask about the Sexy Mind app and kind of,
• 15:24
  your experience with that business, what happened to that business, and how that then led you to form Nutrition. Well, the Sexy Mind app was like one of the many businesses where I failed before I'm here talking to you. And I'm really glad that you touched on that point because sometimes when people only see Nutrition,
• 15:50
  a little bit of your life and it's the bit of your life that is quote unquote successful, the bit of your life where you made it. And some people don't talk about what led you there and the lessons that you've learned by trying and experiencing different things. And one of the things that I've tried, it was creating an app
• 16:16
  where I was sharing life meditations. And that was before COVID. That was before life on Instagrams were actually a thing. And one of the reasons that I started teaching life on Instagram, it was because I was doing the trainings and I need to refine my ability to teach. And it's not always easy to get an audience in front of you. Yeah.
• 16:45
  And I thought, okay, I teach on Instagram, it's life. It's not, there is a camera that I can keep like recording, whatever happens, happens. And I was starting gaining some traction. Again, you know, bear in mind, lives were not a big thing. I was just doing for my own.
• 17:04
  development. And then I realized that it was important to create a safe space outside social media, because within the social media environment, people can get really triggered, especially related to mental health. So then in the same building where Form Office was, there was a tech company developing apps
• 17:31
  And I saw this announcement and that was like very early stages of form as well. So I was doing parallel with form. And then I pitched the idea to the tech company that was building apps and they loved the idea. And then I did the whole thing with students. So students that used to come to one of my classes, she helped me developing it. But then I realized,
• 17:59
  if you want to have a meditation app, how much money you need to compete with like the big guys. You also realize that you need a team. You also realize that it's very labor intensive. It's not something that you can do on the side with like zero investment. And then as much as, you know, I love teaching, I love being live.
• 18:26
  it was not gaining the traction that I wanted to. So then it was time to focus in something that it was. And that, of course, was form. So that's when I decided to stop doing. And it was very sad that I had to stop. But at the same time, I've learned what I had to learn in the process of doing. And it was fun to create.
• 18:54
  Even like doing like the whole creation of an app, like now I know how to do like the mapping of the experience and I've learned how to do that. I've learned a lot of the backend, which I'm not a very technical person. So even like having go through the process, realize, okay, I can do that, gave me confidence and maybe, who knows? I mean, five, 10 years time, I get more investment, I got my time.
• 19:22
  And then I decided to do it again. Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:26
  And I think it's a really important thing that you raise is having the courage and the kind of mindset to be like, you know what, I am going to stop. Like, this isn't a sustainable business for me. I love it, but this isn't it. And I've got more to give and I'm going to, you know, park this over here and move forward and do something else. Because that takes a lot, takes a lot of guts to be like, no, I'm going to stop this, you know.
• 19:56
  Yeah, because a lot of what people they hear is, do not quit. If you quit, you are a failure. You have to keep going. You have to fight all the odds. And if you quit, you are a loser. And I don't believe that. In the process of changing careers, as I mentioned, I used to work as a PR director, I
• 20:21
  I quit a lot of things, like from the things that I was studying, because at the time I was not sure what I was going to do. I just knew that what I've learned in PR, it was enough. I just knew that that environment that I was living was not really fostering my personal and my professional growth. I knew that I didn't want to keep.
• 20:48
  on that path, on that line of job, but I didn't have a plan. So what I did was I saved enough money to help me pay my rent. And I went on a shopping diet for over a year. And then I was exploring, I was exploring, you know, what it is that is going to make me happy, is going to make me helpful. And also we pay for my deals. And within this process, I did so many things. And that was
• 21:18
  helping me to clarify what I did not want to do by trying.
• 21:25
  And also there was the process of refining my skills, of meeting people, of also getting to know who is this person that I am becoming. And another business that also I was part of, two other businesses that I was part of before the launching and the taking of Forme,
• 21:48
  One of them was importing fitness wear, active wear from Brazil, the country where I'm from, to the UK. And eight years ago, nine years ago, fitness wear was so boring here in the UK. Lululemon was not here. The other brands that they have here, they were just like doing the plain black leggings and people would go like, almost like they were in their pajamas in the gym. And being from Brazil,
• 22:18
  Active wear is massive, the women are quite vain and they love showing off when they go to the gym and people used to ask me when I was going to the yoga studio or even doing fitness training, I love what you're wearing, where is it from and blah, blah, blah.
• 22:34
  And then I said, well, you know what? And at that time, I was going through a divorce. So I also need a little bit more money to look after myself in addition to have the regular paycheck from the company I was working at the moment. And I was going to Brazil and bringing a suitcase full of activewear.
• 22:55
  and start selling it. And it did really well. But then again, like the company that I was working with in Brazil, they were not willing to make the investment. I was doing everything on my own. And it was really hard. So in the space that I was doing that, I got to know a lot of the early people
• 23:18
  fitness, wellness, yoga, nutrition, influences, which then helped a lot with the launch of Form. So as soon as Form launched, like I had like my bags of, you know, goodie bags of protein, people who I was gifting leggings, who like loved what I was doing. And they were happy and willing to support Form Nutrition because not only we have the relationship, of course, having the relationships
• 23:46
  always helps. But if people don't like what you're doing, they are never going to talk about it. So it's not just about having authentic connections, but it's also about people liking what you're gifting to them. Yeah, that really resonates with me. I'm a big believer in self audit. And I'm someone who also often tries things all the time to figure out, you know, what I don't like,
• 24:13
  to move me towards what I do like. And it's something that I tell people all the time. It's so important to just try and iterate and pivot. So I really love that part of your story. I'd love to understand how Form Nutrition actually came about. How did you meet your co-founder? How did you decide, okay, this is what I'm going to focus on now. I'm going to start developing protein supplements and kind of move into this space.
• 24:40
  Okay, so just to start, if maybe you've never heard of a nutrition, you don't know what we make. We are plant-based with a purpose. We are a big corporation, meaning that we meet the high standards in environmental and social impact. And we make delicious plant-based protein and actual nootropics to help with everything from sleep to prevent cognitive decline. Okay.
• 25:07
  And we launched in the UK in 2017. 50% of our business is D2C, 25% is Amazon. And then here in the UK, we are in retailers ranging from Holland and Barrett to suffragists. We also sell to Europe and then also the US. And it's three co-founders.
• 25:30
  And foam is actually the brainchild of our CEO, Damien Soong. He was the one who was really frustrated with not being able to find a vegan protein that tasted good just with water.
• 25:48
  In addition to that, he also thought that the brands in this space, again, like eight, nine years ago, were very hippie. There was nothing quite inspiring. And the aesthetics of it were just like really boring. Like on one side, you have like these horrible plastic tubs with terrible graphic design.
• 26:14
  with like whey protein and then in like the real like you know bodybuilders like bros type of protein and the other side you have this hippie-ish or no imaginative brand so he wanted to create something sophisticated he wanted to really elevate the category of nutrition and at that time
• 26:37
  I was transitioning. I mentioned before that I used to be a PR director in the luxury industry. So I work with LVMH. I work with brands such as Dior, Dior.
• 26:51
  Coolblows, NF, Tag Heuer, Audemars Piguet, Land Rover, Aston Martin. So that was the industry that I was familiar with. So like it's the industry of creating the dream. It's the industry that knows really well what it is to do something with excellence that attracts people to what they are doing. But when I found as a communicator, I was not really sharing a message that resonated with me.
• 27:20
  So I was working for these car companies and I don't have a driving license. And I went on that search, okay, what it is that I'm going to do. I went to do a plant-based holistic course.
• 27:33
  And when I went plant-based, it really changed my energy levels. It really changed the way, you know, I see living in the world. And I really wanted to work with something related with plant-based nutrition in a way that is not preachy, in a way that you're just facilitating the transition.
• 27:57
  Not everyone is going to replace their steak with tofu, but making that simple switch of whey protein to plant-based protein, it's possible if you have a product that it doesn't compromise on taste and it doesn't compromise on science.
• 28:15
  And then luckily, Damien, when he was putting the business plan together, he went to the biggest PR agency in the UK to help him to get, again, like a coach to understand what would be the costs of having a PR agency helping with the launch.
• 28:36
  And one of the ladies who was part of that peach knew me. And again, she didn't know me really well. She was actually friends with a friend of mine, Lily, who we had a conversation before with.
• 28:52
  And then she knew that I was passionate about plant-based. She knew I was working as a consultant. And she knew that he probably needs someone who is not giving him such... It's expensive if you're going to have the best PR agency. And sometimes startups are not able to make that investment. So she connected us. And I was very lucky at that stage because...
• 29:22
  Form was just an idea. He didn't have the product. He didn't have the branding. He didn't have anything. He just had the idea. And when we first met, I thought, oh, my God, like if someone can make plant-based cool, that person is Damien. He, in addition to that, he has a lot of these skills that I don't have. He is an engineer. He has an MBA. And he's a numbers person. I'm more of a creative and a communicator.
• 29:52
  And then being involved from the beginning with brand awareness, with vision, with creating what form is, was amazing to me. Because in the past, you know, there was a car or there was a watch. And I had absolutely no input on what is going to make that watch special, what is going to make that car something that people want to have. And with form, I could.
• 30:21
  And from the early stages of development to helping opening like the first retail and the most important door of Perform, which we still selling these days and still like our most important retailer. He realized that I was a very key person and he offered me shares of the business and he made me a co-founder of the business.
• 30:50
  So that's the story there. And that's what is interesting, like just circling back to the previous business that I was involved, trying to do on my own, not having support of other people and trying to figure out all the aspects where, you know, I'm a two or a three person.
• 31:12
  And then with Form, I then had the support of another co-founder who then actually could focus in the areas that I must have on an eight and keep focus on that. And then in that way, we complement the work of each other. And I think that's probably why we have been going for the time that we have been going. And I'm still enjoying doing what I'm doing.
• 31:38
  Wow. That's such a cool story. I love that. Very cool. Oh, I just wanted to say as well, for anyone listening that I have been drinking your protein and I can vouch for the flavor. It is so amazing. Me and my husband just love it.
• 31:57
  Thank you. I wanted to understand in the beginning of this business, you know, was the vision that it would be a bootstrapped business? Was it going to be, you know, big from the start, fundraising? What was the kind of playbook that you were following and what kind of capital did you need to go through R&D? And I'm asking this because...
• 32:19
  You know, like you said, there was no one that had done flavor really well. So that immediately says to me, R&D is going to be a very expensive part of the process because it hasn't been done before. There must be a reason why. So there's going to take a lot of investment. So I'm just trying to understand kind of the money piece of this kind of business blueprint.
• 32:40
  Sure. So Damien, as our CEO and as the responsible for our finances, he has a quite old school way of seeing, but I don't think it's old school. I actually think it's the way of like the right way of doing business.
• 32:57
  He doesn't want to do a business that is heavily dependent on external capital. So Foam started being self-funded with 80 grand that he put it into the business, into R&D, into developing of the brand and everything.
• 33:15
  But in addition to be a process of coming up, product development, it's not only just necessarily expensive, but I think sometimes it's also about having patience.
• 33:35
  more than having lots of money and understanding what it is that you want. And sometimes like doing the right research of, okay, who is a manufacturer? Who actually embraces the challenge that I am willing to take? And if this, and in our case, the manufacturer did, the manufacturer had the know-how
• 34:02
  and embraced the challenge. And by embracing the challenge, they also were excited about bringing to the market a plant-based protein that tasted good just with water. And then the reiterations of the flavors took a long time. Initially, we thought, OK, maybe we can launch in three months.
• 34:23
  But it took about 18 months to get the flavors right. I remember when Damien was sending samples to me and one of the active ingredients that we have in the performance blend is turmeric to fight inflammation. And some of the samples that he sent tasted like curry. And I go, oh my God, that is just so gross. It's gonna have like...
• 34:50
  a curry flavor shake after the workouts. That's not going to be appetizing. But then we keep trying, we keep refining, and we did everything, and we still do things in a very bootstrapped way. You know, people would not believe how many people we have working in the business. People would not believe the things that we are able to do with a team that's quite successful.
• 35:18
  generalists and also with a brand that from the beginning, from the conception of the brand, we managed to create something that people like. And that is the gift that keeps giving with everything that we do from partnerships to marketing activities, to opening new doors.
• 35:43
  The look and feel, the things that we stand for and the taste of products, it's something that it was a really worthwhile investment. Yeah, absolutely. Wow. I want to kind of talk about those early days still and, you know, taking your learnings from working in PR and working with these kind of luxury brands, how you launched this to market and how you kind of got to your first 1,000 customers.
• 36:13
  So in terms of the strategy, even before we launched in 2017, we had an Instagram account. And then within the Instagram account, a lot of science was being shared.
• 36:30
  before we launched, there was like a landing page where people could sign up to like, be like the first one to receive information about form. And because there is a social aspect to what we do. So since the beginning, we have this commitment of like supporting Bansan Hospital in the Gambia. So we exchange it
• 36:55
  the emails for a meal back to Bangsan Hospital. Oh my God, wow.
• 37:03
  Yeah, and then we were like building our audience with the Instagram, we were building audience with our newsletters and with our database. And also at the beginning, as I mentioned before, it was about me have harnessing the connections that I've made with the previous active web.
• 37:26
  And also another wellness studio that I was part of, where we were doing a lot of events and really tapping into the community, tapping into the people that we had connected with. So when we launched, we did launch into a vacancy.
• 37:43
  we had already a bit of an audience, we had already like people to go. And that really helped form to take off quite quickly. So within three months that we are operating, we managed to have a really big retailer. So in the UK, it's called Planet Organic. And it's the yeah, you're nodding, so you know, but it's,
• 38:08
  It's like the best place to get supplements. It's the best place to get your groceries. And they, you know, you go and meet the buyer. The buyer is a nutritionist who goes through like everything in a product. And she asks like really difficult questions that we have like to go back to our head of nutrition, Dr. Adam Collins, to make sure we're giving the right information. But within three months, that was like the first account we opened. Wow. That's impressive. Right? Right.
• 38:38
  And then that, you know, once you are on that shelf, that helps a lot of business. So I think just to brief everything, to give like a conclusion, I think sometimes being quite strategic with...
• 38:56
  who you are pursuing, where you want to be seen, it compensates with the lack of budgets. And sometimes not having massive budgets, and I used to have massive budgets when working luxury, right? It can be even more fun because you become more creative, you become more resourceful, and you also realise how much can be done. But again,
• 39:22
  you have to have a good product and you have to have a good brand. Otherwise, forget it. Otherwise, this advice doesn't work.
• 39:31
  Yeah, so true. It all relies inherently on having a good product that will also kind of kick in that flywheel of word of mouth. It's so important that your product is good enough that someone is going to buy it a second time. They're going to tell their girlfriends in a WhatsApp chat and they're going to kind of continue to be a customer for sure. Absolutely.
• 39:55
  You said something a moment ago that touched on your content marketing strategy. And I just want to dig a little deeper there because as someone who was kind of looking through your content, I could see how, you know, your kind of organic content strategy is a big part of what you do. And I was interested when I was reading about something that you do, a strategy that you do, you give away mini courses.
• 40:21
  on email as a lead magnet, which I thought was so clever. And I just wanted to break that down a little bit to understand what kind of courses are these that you're giving away. Obviously, you know, that immediately says to me, yep, you're building trust. It's an interesting touch point. It's, you know, something that's of value to the audience instead of a constant, here's a sell message, like buy, buy, buy. So I just wanted to understand the mini courses. Yeah.
• 40:49
  Sure. So within the view of elevating nutrition to be more than just protein that you have after the gym, it's all about understanding that nutrition is also what type of information that you are consuming. And nutrition can be like a really complicated space. It's a relatively new science. And
• 41:16
  In addition to that, there is like the aspect of well-being. So for us, content was fundamental to bring clarity to the space that has a lot of confusion. And as you already touched, like to add value, to be a voice.
• 41:34
  of a wise friend who is there to offer advice, but not to tell people what to do. But so, hey, you know, if you're confused and you want to learn a little bit more about intermittent fasting, here is a five-day course by Dr. Adam Collins, who is our head of nutrition. His PhD is all around intermittent fasting that you can learn a little bit more about intermittent fasting.
• 42:01
  But then we also have other courses. We have courses that teach people on how to breathe better or how to manage your stress or what else I'm trying to remember or the other courses out there.
• 42:17
  You know, there is a whole course, and that was like a very interesting one, and one that is close to heart, that it's for women, tailored to women, on how to make your training and your nutrition around your cycle, because a lot of the things for women are not quite bespoke as they needed to be. And for us, it's not only about having people
• 42:44
  consuming our products, but how actually can we impact their lifestyles in a positive way? It's part of our mission. It's part of why we do what we want to do. We do what we're doing to, at the end of the day, to help.
• 43:01
  people live happier and healthier lives, right? And that goes beyond having a good sleep, coming back to the idea of adding value. Yes, we have a very effective
• 43:15
  nootropic to help people with sleep, but it's not a magic pill, right? So it's important to also inform people of other things around sleeping that they can be doing to make sure they have a good night of sleep. And I think that's a responsible approach within this space.
• 43:35
  a space that is complicated, a space that sometimes doesn't have the customer's best interest. And I would never be in a business where it doesn't have like the best interest of like the people who are spending money with us. And that's where the content strategy, you know, comes into what we do as part of our DNA. And yes, it helps with the conversion. And yes, it helps with trust.
• 44:04
  It's beautiful to see how our community responds to any of the emails that we send, that being content-led, that being Brass Peace, teaching them how to use our products, or that being every now and again when we have a discount code. It's an email that people look forward to open because we are also not constantly bombarding things. And when we are on the inbox is to add value.
• 44:32
  Gosh, I love that. That is so interesting and so smart from a marketing perspective, even though I know that you're also approaching this from an impact perspective. It's very cool to see. I want to touch on and talk about Orlando Bloom. How did it come about? Why him? Let's dig into this specific partnership and collab.
• 44:57
  Sure. So I was teaching a retreat in Mykonos and then Damien calls me, Natalia, Natalia, this is back in 2018. Natalia, Natalia, Orlando Blue is in the gym here. What should I do? I said, go and talk to him right now. What gym? Go to dumbbells and go and talk to him.
• 45:23
  And then at that time, he was in a play. He was in a stage here in London. And he was also experiencing with being 100% plant-based. So he did need supplementation.
• 45:38
  And then Damien started sending protein to him. And he loved our products. He really loved to the point that every move that he was shooting, doesn't matter what part of the world that he was, we were constantly sending products to him because he thought that was like the best plant-based protein that he could get. And then this authentic,
• 46:08
  connection and friendship like developed between Damien and Orlando. And he was the one saying, you know, when you guys are ready for the U.S. and would like support, I would love to come and invest in the business and help raising awareness here in the U.S. Wow. Yeah. Oh, so he's an investor in the business. Yeah. Well, we could never afford his raise. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
• 46:39
  That was one of my questions. So just being like super candid and transparent. And I think coming back again to creating a product that is unique, creating a brand that is sophisticated, that has values, that stands for something that people want to be aligned with. It's a gift that keeps giving.
• 47:04
  And as I said, we could never afford Orlando Bloom, but Orlando Bloom wants to be part of what we do. He invests in different business and Form is one of them. So it's great because when we were shooting with him,
• 47:21
  in Malibu back in February. He's that, not just as someone who just turned up for a shoot. He's actively involved in what we're doing. So, you know, we had a bit of a script and an idea of what we wanted to do. And he goes, yes, I can do that. But why don't we do that? And that for us, it's gold because, you know,
• 47:46
  You know, it really shows that he believes in what we are doing. And it's great to have his input in what we are doing as well. So that's the story behind Orlando Bloom. Very authentic, very genuine. And he was actually the one who wanted to tell this story.
• 48:06
  If you go on our website, if you go on our social media channels, you're going to hear from his mouth, which is way more interesting than hearing from mine. Oh, my gosh. That is so cool. So cool. Like when you're working with him,
• 48:22
  You know, it's obvious that there's impact, but what has the impact been when you have to quantify it? Our biggest month in the US ever. Ah. As soon as we did the launch. Nice. Yeah. Very cool. Where is the business today and what are the kind of things that you're working on now that really shift the needle in driving kind of revenue and kind of getting you or making those leaps forward?
• 48:53
  Yeah, so as I mentioned, we are a UK-based brand, and here we are well-established. We are like the leaders in the markets. We have been going for six years already. And the challenge now is to get a pie of the massive business that it is in the US. But there we are fighting the big guys, right? We are fighting...
• 49:21
  some of the brands that have established a business within the US for 15 years, some big brands that are supported by the budgets of Unilever or Danone. And also there is the challenge of our brand being so toned down, being so quiet, that,
• 49:46
  that in a way it does stand out because immediately you put a partial form next to any other competitor brand. It's very different, but it's not obvious for the consumer. And getting people to, coming back to what you say, to change their habits, to go and try a different plant-based protein, it's not easy, especially when the products are made here regularly.
• 50:13
  and the regulations and the legislations are different. So we are growing the US, we are growing D2C, we are growing Amazon, but brand awareness and brand presence in the big retailers and having like lending stockists, it's not easy. And that's something that we are learning. But again, I think that's the advantage of having
• 50:42
  direct to consumer brands because then you can control the environment, you can educate the customers. I was lucky enough to be in an event where Katharina Schneider, she's the founder of Rituals and she's an amazing, amazing woman.
• 51:02
  Very inspirational. She's amazing. We had her on the show last week. Oh, yeah, on the show last week. That's cool that I'm mentioning her. And she started, like, going to Whole Foods and to Target, like, years, years, years later after having gained the trust of the consumer. And I think for us, because the UK, it's a smaller country
• 51:31
  island compared to the territory of the US I think we underestimate the amount of power the amount of resources and the amount of work that is necessary that but it's going it's growing and it's happening but it's one of like the things that we always would like like to be faster and to to be more so I would say that that's
• 51:56
  Also the excitement part of the business, right? Having like a new market to establish the brand. And also it's a humbling exercise, right? Because here, you know, we are top leaders and blah, blah, blah. And there, you know, we're just starting. Back to basics.
• 52:15
  Yeah. So it's a good humbling exercise. How do you kind of manage your sampling program and demos and things like that to get your product into the hands of people en masse? Because I imagine for someone like you, it is very important for people to try the product because once they try the product, it's very easy to sell after they've kind of had that experience.
• 52:39
  Liquid to lips, right? Yeah, I love that. Liquid to lips. I didn't come up with that. It's something like within, I cannot take credit for that. It's something like within the industry that people say. So like two ways. Number one is actually a lot of people that come to us through Instagram.
• 53:00
  A lot of yoga teachers that are hosting retreats and they want support to the event. Studios that are doing a special event and they want samples to go on their goodie bags. Like every time. Well, actually, I'm going to say that on the podcast. I'm going to get even more requests.
• 53:21
  But we get like loads of requests and this is a great opportunity. And we look like all of them. And, you know, I'm surprised that sometimes people, they ask for product samples like for their wedding. And I thought that was like really hilarious when I got there.
• 53:43
  They wanted to give us part of the wedding. They wanted to give product samples. Well, I mean, it does get into the hands of people who, if it's the right kind of wedding, might be the right kind of audience. Exactly. Could be a good strategy. I did say it because I thought that was hilarious. And I thought, you know what? Yes, you're getting married. It takes some protein for you and your guests.
• 54:08
  And then through gifting influencers and creators as well. And that we have done in different ways. So we have done from like really big people who DM us, then sometimes they look, oh my God, like these people want our protein, how cool. And so there is that. And then if they're asking, of course, they're more willing, like if they like to talk about without being paid to it, which is very organic.
• 54:38
  Then we also worked with an agency that is called Kinship. And like the whole business model is to go through 500 profiles that you have like, in my case, I literally approved one by one. Get like the 500 profiles approved. And then they contact these 500 people
• 55:03
  And then if they want to receive products, no strings attached, normally out of like this 500 people that they connect, in our case,
• 55:13
  over about like 130, 150 wanted to receive products, which is a lot considering the level of people that we had in the list. Is that like on a monthly basis or that's like... We did on a monthly basis that we did for a period of time. We haven't done that as already. And like just exploring different things that we have done. And then out of like these 100 to 150 people who received our products, we might get...
• 55:43
  30 to 40 people sharing and not only sharing, but happy to allow us to use their stories, ads and everything. So that's another way of getting liquid to lips of influencers who will then raise awareness and get more people wanting to try. And sampling, sampling is something that
• 56:11
  Sometimes I do myself and now we have launched in duty free. So form is now available in the duty free. And the first airport to do like this whole new well-being concept is Stansted.
• 56:26
  So we are going to be doing like sampling, getting liquid to lips to people to try our products. And it's an interesting exercise. And I think it's a really important one to get customers insights to see how people are perceiving your brand.
• 56:44
  to see like the level of awareness that you have. Yes, you can have a lot of data from spreadsheets, but being in front of a consumer, being competing in a space, I love doing because I get like so many ideas straight, you know, from the horse mouth. So yes, that's another way that we get people to try our products.
• 57:06
  Amazing. Amazing. Last question before we get into the six quick questions. What is a piece of advice that you can share with other small business owners or founders that you wish you had known when you were starting out? You don't have to do all alone.
• 57:25
  And you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to know everything. You can have support, seek that support, and lean into the things that you're passionate about doing, that you're good at doing. And start and try. Go out and adventure yourself. It's worthwhile. It's especially worthwhile when what you're trying to do is not only for your benefit.
• 57:56
  a sincere desire of helping others. I, you know, from my own experience, from my own life, there is that invisible hand that will be there guiding your path, that will be there supporting you and opportunities will come and not always comes in the shape and form that we would like it to come and sometimes come in a magical, more awesome and expected way. I love that. Thank you so much for saying that.
• 58:29
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 58:54
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 59:16
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 59:32
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 59:57
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 1:00:19
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.