A Wildberry that turns sour flavours to sweet – Hank Watt of Nature’s Wildberry

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there entrepreneurs, my name is Sushant and welcome to Treptalks. This is the show where I interview successful e commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders and ask them questions about their business story and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today I’m really excited to welcome Hank Watt to the show. Hank is the co founder of Nature’s Wildberry. Nature’s Wildberry is a wild berry that contains unique glycoproteins. That bind to your taste receptors on your tongue and change sour flavors to sweet. And today I’m going to ask Hank a few questions about his entrepreneur journey and some of the strategies and tactics that she has used to start and grow his business.

Now, before we dive into this interview, if you enjoy this kind of content, please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button. And for more content like this, please visit our website, Treptalks. com. And with that, Hank, [00:01:00] welcome. And thank you so much for joining me today at Treptalks. Really appreciate your time.

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Ah, thank you very much. It’s great to be here.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, you know, I, I come across so many interesting businesses. I talked to so many interesting entrepreneurs who have interesting products, and this is yet another one that kind of blew my mind when I read about this, because I’d never heard of anything like this, it’s a very interesting product, so I know that you started in 2016, so maybe we can go back You can tell me a little bit about yourself.

What were you doing at that time and what really kind of motivated you to, uh, start this business?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Okay, perfect. 2016, eight years ago, I was three years into my journey using this berry. Um, I was using it for weight management and it didn’t look like this as it does today. It was actually, um, kept frozen and it’s a very perishable [00:02:00] form in my freezer.

These berries, they were so, um, cost prohibitive. You couldn’t find them in the store. And, um, the main reason is because after like two days, of it being in the refrigerator, that flavor changing effect goes bad. And then less than two weeks, you have to eat all the berries before two weeks in your freezer.

And so, um, with the supply chain and how expensive they are, they were about five or 10 a berry when you factored in that you had to pay for the dry ice, the overnight shipment and the extra weight, all that added. Um, So most people like me had never heard of them before. I was probably like the most doubtful person on the planet.

I thought that if they did work, they would work on everybody but me. And, uh, that was in 2013 when my best friend introduced these berries to me. Well, today he’s my co founder and I got him to launch this business because Um, I felt like we had found our calling in the three [00:03:00] years that I was using this.

I went from about 255 and being pre diabetic to managing my weight very successfully, not yo yoing back and having, um, kept the weight off. It was about 80 in total. And living in Los Angeles, everyone wants to know your secret when you can maintain your weight like that. So everyone was asking me, you know, Hank, what, what is, what’s your secret?

And I would give them a berry and completely blow their minds, just like it would blow my mind every time. And I would tell them, you know, what you do is you take this, this frozen berry at the time, and you let it coat your tongue 30 seconds. This is what it looks like today. And, uh, when it’s coating your tongue over that 30 seconds, the Pulp is binding itself to the taste receptors on your tongue and what that will do is block anything that’s sour And instead it’ll make it sweet and it’ll make it sweeter than sugar So [00:04:00] in about 30 seconds like that You can go from totally disbelieving it and being a doubter to like having a smile stretch across your ear ear to ear Um because you just can’t believe That it’s mother nature first of all and things can be so sweet Especially things that you would think that wouldn’t taste good at all So, um, I was in the habit of craving green juice not because it was healthy But because it was tasted like a jolly rancher candy And I would make salads like my sweet green salad, you know, whatever salad if I was making a huge bowl I could just Have my cravings totally desired because I could just eat a huge bowl and it would taste like candy And at night like if I were to watch a movie, I would pull um out some fruit from the freezer And you would swear it tastes just like sorbet like you can’t tell the difference And so I’m telling it’s it was mind blowing And so all my friends were like you have to make this a thing And [00:05:00] I would google every single day or every other day.

I would google, you know Who was doing something with this? Barry, is it going to be Coca Cola? Is it going to be Pepsi Cola? Is it going to be Mars, Nestle, you know, Mondaliza, who’s it going to be? And, um, nobody was doing anything with it, not the actual berry. And I want it to be associated with the actual fruit.

The fruit is just a delicious berry. You have to eat around the seed and that’s kind of a little inconvenient for a lot of people. But if we were going to go into business, my co founder said, Hank, um, we just can’t compete in the refrigeration or frozen space. We just can’t do it. And, uh, if we have a shot at this, we’re going to need to figure out how to preserve it.

So to end this, uh, how, how did it happen story with the origin story? Um, you know, I asked, I asked the farmer who I was buying these from directly from his, uh, from his farm. I said, could we take a stab at it ourselves? We, you wouldn’t feel like we’re stepping on your toes if we try to preserve [00:06:00] it, would you?

And he said, you know, just remember that, uh, it’s been tried. Three decades. Uh, and I told you it’ll be a waste of time and money, but you are more than welcome to try. And so I think that the first lesson that I would, um, leave an entrepreneur, you know, listening to this, um, is if you hear that and you’ve really feel like you have a calling, um, Let that be your challenge, you know, like let that inspire you to give it a try because that naivety that I had, um, did take several months of us to do a lot of trial and error, but we eventually got it to where we were having those berries flown out to our commercial kitchen in Los Angeles.

We figured out how to freeze dry them. So that meant that we could preserve it without any chemicals. So if we wanted to just have the pure, raw, natural living berry, we could do that. And then we got to thinking, you know, how could we improve the [00:07:00] product? And if we could move the, instead of having the berries come to the freeze dryer, why don’t we have the freeze dryer come to the berries?

And so we moved our freeze dryer into the kitchen where the berries were being prepared already and Now we could preserve it at peak potency. Well, okay. I’m saying peak potency. Give me two seconds I just want to back up and explain. How does this berry work? Okay, so So there’s a glycoprotein in the pole.

It’s called miraculin and It really loves pH changes In your mouth. So we only make one claim and that’s that it turns sour sweet. But if you really love savory foods like me, uh, you also notice that it works on savory foods as well. So it blocks the unwanted flavors. Uh, to me that’s bitterness and sourness and then it turns These things sweeter than sugar with no alcohol sugars, no [00:08:00] sugars, no carbs, no calories.

It’s just a berry Happens to be rich in antioxidants, but instead of having it by the handful like you do blueberries You just have it one or two servings at a time one serving will last 15 to 20 minutes And two servings a whole berry will last 30 to 40. So that’s uh, that’s how we came up with a product to go to market with and um You know, we didn’t have to compete in the refrigeration, frozen, um, very competitive space.

We gave it a shelf life for the very first time. And, uh, that meant that we could go into Amazon and actually not have to drive so much traffic to our fledgling WooCommerce website. Uh, we could make it more available and more affordable. And that’s ultimately what our mission.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, so many questions were coming to mind as you were explaining this, and I’m going to ask you more questions about this.

But before that, I’m thinking about myself, you know, [00:09:00] I love drinking lemonade, right? And the reason I don’t drink it is because, you know, of course, you add sugar to it. So are you saying that if I take this berry and I put it in my mouth I just need to have water and I put my lemon in there and then when I’ll drink it will taste like a lemonade.

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Have you seen, um, Chick fil a or, uh, there’s also some viral videos out there of hot dog on a stick making their lemonade. They’re just known for like really delicious lemonade. And, uh, you know, I think that they have a barrel, a bucket that they mix it in and it’s the lemon water and then just a whole ton of sugar.

Just like you said, it’s So much sugar you can’t you can’t believe how much it is. Well, that’s what you can’t wrap your mind around because Your lemon water is sweeter than that lemonade and you can’t tell the difference and when you have your friends over And it’s like, you know, [00:10:00] like you’re watching the game or you’re you know, having a entertaining evening The one thing that is the easiest way to start off the night is saying here I’ve got some lemonade for you and They have it and it’s like, you know tart, sour lemon water, they say this.

Where’s the sugar? And you say, okay, have a berry. Take two. If it’s your first time, let it rehydrate in your mouth 10, 15 seconds until it gets soft. Then you can chew it up. Let that pulp coat your tongue. Another 15, 20 seconds. When it gets sweet, that’s when, that’s what tells you it’s ready. And then you have the same class that you gave them before and they cannot believe it.

I’m telling you, they just, their mouth just drops. Sometimes I hear people like, what is happening to me right now is up, down, left, right. It was white, black, like what’s happening in the universe. And, uh, yeah, then you can. Then all the [00:11:00] floodgates open for about 30 to 40 minutes. You can try everything else.

And it’s, it kind of satisfies that craving for just curiosity in a really fun way that just happens to add health benefits if you want it to.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So how come, I mean, it almost sounds magical. How come, how come it’s not more popular? Like what’s, what is, uh, what is unique about this berry? I mean, how come?

It’s not more popular in, in the culture, uh, not many people know about it. Where, like, where is this, is like, is this, uh, Is this grown in the U. S.? Is this, uh, somewhere else? Great

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: questions. Great questions. So, all these questions are exactly the same questions that I had. Um, the story is, in the 1700s, a French explorer goes down to Ghana, West Africa.

It’s a tropical paradise. He just wants to, you know Start accounting for her. What are the locals doing down here? Um, and [00:12:00] they had pretty much all these delicious fruits and vegetables, but they also had a knowledge of the minerals and the dirt beneath them. And, uh, what they would do is they would add these minerals to the foods and then to keep it from tasting like dirt, which we all learned as kids.

Like, if you add dirt to anything, it’s going to taste like. Dirt, you know, and they would pop a berry off the bush, eat that first, and then have a delicious meal. And so that’s what he recorded in his journal. In the 1900s, it came over to Florida, in Miami specifically, because if you remember World History, Pangea, the last time all the continents were one, West Africa, Ghana specifically shared a border with Miami, Florida.

I mean, it’s the exact same climate. It’s the exact same soil. It’s the exact same temper. Everything is the exact same and so, um, so it was able to grow and flourish in South Florida. And our farmer today was had the family that started growing [00:13:00] that in the early 1900s. And when I came to know about it, I was actually looking for regulation changes.

And that’s when I was just a nerd on YouTube, because at the time, I believed that first mover advantage was an important thing I have come to learn. And this, I think is the second lesson. Um, Don’t strive to be first, unless it’s first to mind. Like, really strive to be best. Like, first, no one cares about first, if anything, first can actually hamper your success in the beginning because it means that what you’re doing hasn’t been proven and that translates to risk.

For a lot of people, they want you to be the one to prove that it works, to educate first and then they’ll come in once you’ve done the hard work. And you’ve proven that there’s a market for it, a need, and you’re the right founder fit, and all those things, so, um, Especially if you’re the first to come up with [00:14:00] something, don’t think that someone’s going to steal your idea and necessarily do it better than you.

You just have to do it. You have to do it. And then, actually, if you’re lucky, other people will copy you. And then, uh, you can innovate and be the first, let them copy what you’ve done, but be first of mind, right? And be, be the best that there is to offer. And then that’s what’s actually going to give your, uh, position more strength.

Anyway, I digress from that point, but, um, I was looking for a regulation change in 2012. It got grass certified in our world and in the food CPG world. Grass is generally regarded as safe. And at the time I was in a family reunion in Florida. My best friend, Giuliano, the guy who introduced me to the berry in the first place.

Um, I used to, I was messaging him this on text message and he said, check your voicemail. I just called you. I ordered the exact same [00:15:00] berry for my restaurant. And I want you to be my guinea pig. I said, Are you kidding me? It was on the same day. I’m 3000 miles apart. And he said, Yeah, well, when you fly back, it’ll be here waiting for you.

And so I got I touched down back in LAX. He picked me up from the airport. The first thing I wanted to do is try this. Try this berry, see if it worked. I doubted that it would work. And he made the juice that had four ingredients. And this, this type of juice is really gonna sound awful. To anyone who hasn’t had the berry, has no idea what I’m talking about.

Okay, we’re talking about dandelions. If you ever had dandelions, You probably only had them because you heard that they were super duper healthy for you Because if you’ve got a juice with dandelions in it chances are there’s not more than two percent dandelions in that juice Because it’s so bitter.

It’s so earthy You really have to love bitterness and statistically that’s about four percent of the population And then it was still 30 percent lemon, 30 percent lemon. [00:16:00] That’s a lot of lemon. And so that means you have to really love sour. And I didn’t like bitterness or sour had 25 percent cucumber and 25 percent celery.

So if you mix all of that up, then you’d have a pretty good idea of the first thing that I had with the berry. And, um, I didn’t even want to do, I didn’t even want to waste my time with the magic trick. I was so certain it wasn’t going to work. I just said, okay, I’m not going to taste it before. I’m going to have this berry and then I’m going to have the juice.

And I saw the heavens open up. I heard the harps play. I had the choir was singing over my shoulder. Okay, uh, for the first time I felt like I could really crave something and it just happened to be healthy for me. And so then I, you know, started using it with this juice. I would make it on my work, lunch breaks, and then I started incorporating with salads and then apple cider vinegar started becoming a thing in my unsweetened tea.

And, uh, little by little I was having all [00:17:00] these like little health hacks. That I found that worked with the berry. And, uh, that’s what I was giving to my friends, my coworkers, my bosses, my customers, everybody. And, uh, they just encouraged me to make it happen. And like I was alluding to before they were just so expensive that I think that they priced themselves out of the market.

It, you know, five or 10 a berry is not. Um, affordable just for 99 percent of people. And, uh, the only reason why I was doing it was because. I was sick and tired. I did not want to live with diabetes. Okay, like when, like I had, I had come to my conclusion that I knew myself, I wasn’t able to control my cravings.

I was like 70, 80 percent of the time, but that 20 to 30 percent would defeat the whole purpose of me trying. So I lost hope. I just gave up. I kept gaining weight. And this was the first thing that gave me my hope back. You know, that’s like a very powerful. Like, [00:18:00] also, I guess if I were counting at home, the third thing that I would encourage, um, listeners, entrepreneurs, would be entrepreneurs is that if you have something that gives you hope, um, don’t, Poo poo that or shy away from that like that’s a very I think the world needs a lot more positivity In it and um, there’s so many things out there that claim to do one thing Like all the time people are asking me does this suppress my appetite or does it stop my cravings?

Because that’s what you always hear You know, and this is not that at all. Um, you know, I learned that if I was going to make a change in my lifestyle, I needed to focus on things that would give me staying power and not rely on willpower and, and, and, um, and that’s just because I just, I’m, I consider myself someone who.

Eats and drinks on an emotional level. Like I’m a very emotional person [00:19:00] and people call that emotional eaters And so, um, a lot of people can relate to that too. So to me it to me it represented um a change in my viewpoint on and so yeah, if you’ve got something that can lend itself to uh Customer base and they can have hope with this product, then pursue that with everything that you’ve got and make that product the best it can be.

And I think that, uh, as long as you’re selling hope, you can never go out of business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s, that’s a great message. Those are, you know, great lessons that you shared for entrepreneurs as well. Um, I guess from a science perspective, you know, if you think about the active ingredient, I’m, I’m thinking that it’s really that glycoprotein, that’s the active ingredient.

And when I’m thinking about applications for this, I mean, which, you know, many people can, I guess there could be interesting applications, you know, uh, you know, Um, especially in the food industry and as you said, [00:20:00] you know, for, uh, weight management and so forth. Have, have you seen, or have you even thought about, you know, to me it seems like you’re selling the berry itself, you know, freeze dried berries.

Have you thought about kind of like isolating that glycoprotein, maybe changing it into a liquid form that somebody can like squirt it in the mouth before, you know, so that the product becomes. You don’t have to freeze dry this berry. I mean, maybe it even reduces the cost of it, right? Um, have you thought about, or is there any challenge in kind of like isolating that glycoprotein because it’s not going to be, um, stable for very long or something?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Well, you could tell by the goofy grin I have on my face that you’re, you’re spot on. I mean, that’s the future. Um, I, I think that any founder that claims that he or she can Build the brand is mistaken. So 4th lesson, um, your customers are the only ones that can build your brand. [00:21:00] And, um, I think that the reason why we have a shot at doing the science that you just explained is because we have an, uh, a customer base that, um, was attracted to us because.

They saw a red berry. They saw something that we have a millennia Of wondering about in the back of our brain. Do you remember back in like kindergarten or first grade? They had to teach us Not to eat every red berry on the tree because one or two might be point. Do you remember that conversation?

They’re like you can’t eat every red berry Because one or two might be poisonous

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: for sure

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: and and that’s just because we all want to know, you know You How delicious can this red berry be? And so, so before we go into man made solutions, like the liquids and all the other fun stuff that we’re coming out with, to me, I [00:22:00] was dead set on Building trust with our customers first, um, once they understand that we’re a brand that has their best interest at heart, then we can be likable and trustworthy and then we can sell them things that make it even more convenient than chewing a berry, you know?

Um, but I think that if we were to rush right into that, we probably would not have gotten 300 million views on social media through the thousands and thousands of influencers who made video and still to this day, make videos for us. Um, So I also think that we wouldn’t have gotten on shark tank. You know, I think that people, um, give this a marketing, uh, aspect that is word of mouth.

That’s the kind of marketing that you just can’t buy. It’s the best type of marketing. And the reason why people. [00:23:00] Want to go out of their way to share this with friends and family and loved ones is because it is precisely a berry It’s the Latin. It’s kind of like Matt, you know, Jack and the Beanstalk Magic beans or something?

Imagine if a bean like literally you could climb up this bean like imagine that story was true Well, this is like the real life Willy Wonka You know, so, um, I think that, uh, yes, you’re a thousand percent right. Um, that is the, that is the future and that’s, what’s going to help us get to, you know, up into the right, but, um, you know, attention spans are so fragmented that you really have to, um, get people to like and trust you first and then they’ll listen to what else you have to say.

And so we’re doing that, we’re doing that with, uh, with the actual berry.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So this berry does not have like, um, no one [00:24:00] person owns the intellectual property or patent to this berry, right? Like this is available out there. Somebody is growing it and anybody can go and buy it. Right. And so. You have, of course, added the value through the free, uh, free, uh, freeze drying process to be able to, I guess, maintain the shelf life for this, but somebody else can go also and create a like a different form of this.

Is that correct? Or is this like, uh, owned by somebody? If

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: you’re lucky, if, if, if we’re lucky, um, a lot of people and people have copied us for the first couple of years, we were the only berry. Okay. On the market on Amazon, um, and then you do it long enough, you get tracked enough attention, people start talking about it and they, uh, jump in and, uh, it validates your original position, you know, so, um, I would actually, I was a shark tank fan back in 2009, like the moment I saw the first episode that I saw, I was like, [00:25:00] every single episode I want to learn everything that I can from this show and, um.

That’s why when people told me I should go on Shark Tank, when I was giving them demos between like 2013, 2016 and beyond, I was like, you know, this is, this is kind of a dream come true. This is like a life, like a long time coming because, you know, I, I just, I just loved. viewing that show up until I got the product made and then I started like holding my chair and Anticipating like one and worry.

I was uh, I was worried that another brand would get there first and take my two favorite sharks You know, so at that, you know, I applied in 20 17 and 2018. Most people who don’t know that I applied two times before I actually got a call back in 2022. So, um, yeah, the persistence thing that P is so cliche, uh, Like don’t give up like when you feel [00:26:00] like you have a destiny because you have a history with something and You know that people tell you know people assure you all the time you hear it 500 times then You know, let that sink in, you know, don’t don’t just because it’s a, you know, just because 0.

42 percent of applicants get on the show, uh, don’t let that hinder you, you know, if, if you got a great story and you love to tell it a million times, and you’ve got a product that stands on its own two feet. And, uh, people keep continuing to buy it, you know, you know, for themselves, they give it as gifts to other people, they share it on social media, well, you have something special.

So pay attention to that. And, uh, you know, it doesn’t have to be Shark Tank. It could be, you know, whatever is in, um, you know, your top pick. Choices of you know, it could be a product placement on your favorite show or it could you know, whatever [00:27:00] it could It could be something that you could achieve so

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: for sure.

Um, so very very interesting item Maybe i’m I want to switch the conversation a little bit on the business side So when you started of course you came together with your I believe your friend co founder And can you tell me a little bit, I mean, to me, it seems like you’re more on the business side. Um, what is your co founder doing?

Um, yeah, how did this come together as like a business project? And, you know, how did you, you know, what was the investment required and so forth? And like, and kind of how you launched this as a business.

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Okay. Yeah. So yeah, it took us about seven months to figure out not only the R and D, but once we had that, um, we tried all different types of selling the product.

So the first thing that we did, because my best friend co founder was a restaurant tour. Meaning [00:28:00] that his family owned the restaurant and he was the slave in his family’s restaurant. And that meant before the sun came up and way long after the sun went down, the entire time he’s managing front of house, back of house, whatever he needs to do.

So if you’ve seen the bear on Hulu, that was basically what he was doing for Planet Raw. Myself, I’ve got, you know, 24 years of sales experience, but also 11 years of being a food server and high volume restaurants think like cheesecake factory claim jumper, um, you know, very fine dining experiences like the top that DoubleTree and Hilton have to offer.

So, um, I’ve. I’m no stranger to restaurants either, and I’m no stranger to sales. So I was going door to door and all these, uh, Santa Monica restaurants, um, meeting owners and executive chefs and, you know, all types of, you know, foodies basically, and giving them the demo, uh, One at a time. Um, and it was [00:29:00] so fun.

I would actually, I was inspired by Gary V at in 2016 when I started the business. And so I brought a videographer with me and they recorded the whole interaction. It was so much fun to create content like that. It was kind of like man on the street meets, you know, so and so restaurant tour. Um, but then early on, I remember thinking, man, you know, if I’m such a big fan of Gary V, why don’t I go up and get their reaction?

And so I set an appointment. We went up to Gary V’s office in the valley and, um, it’s actually still on amazon. com slash nature’s wild bear. You can still see that video. I’ve kept it up for years. I just, it’s one of my favorite it’s, it’s kind of what inspired us to go, uh, to change our course because, um, when we sat down with them and gave them the demo, they asked the same question you did, like, what’s the business strategy here?

And so I told them, you know, Restaurant tours, you know, we have a work ethic that doesn’t stop. We’re, you know, bringing this to the, where [00:30:00] people buy food at the restaurant. And he was like, okay, that’s a fun story. Don’t get me wrong. Like you guys are having fun, but if you want to actually make money, this is an influencer play all day.

And so I let that sink in and I thought long and hard that, you know, he’s absolutely right. What we could do. The same amount of time that I was, you know, hours that I was dedicating to going restaurant to restaurant, I could be reaching out myself behind the phone and doing, you know, introducing the product to influencers and what we call in the industry, seeding is kind of like planting seeds and growing.

Miracle berries, you know, it’s like you plant seeds of interest and curiosity for the influencer. And then they say, yeah, I want to try that. Sent me some and you say, you know, if I don’t expect anything except for you to really get blown away and enjoy it, but if you do decide to make content, of course, I’m going to repost and tag you, and we’re going to push [00:31:00] that out as much as we can.

And, um, I’ll be in the comments, uh, replying to people, you know, like that builds engagement. And so, um, We ended up doing that and, and while we were getting turned down from Shark Tank, we were actually, um, being profitable online through Amazon, primarily just driving everybody to our Amazon listings. And, uh, I I’m, I’m pretty positive.

I forgot the last part of your question, but that’s how we actually went from like making no money to actually having a business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think that makes a lot of sense because of course, you know, there’s a bit of an education process in this to introduce to the market, right? So unless the person knows what the benefit is, or you know, what is this berry really doing, they wouldn’t, there’s no interest.

And so it makes complete sense that you went to the influencer because, you know, that they can kind of multiply, uh, or amplify your message to, to their audience and so forth. Um, you [00:32:00] know, And I mean, that’s where I was also thinking, you know, in terms of application, you know, at first you said you were going to restaurants, maybe there’s an application there, which I don’t know, you know, maybe they can mix this with the food some way and make it, um, more healthy for people.

I

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: love what you keep, you keep bringing up things that like very, really good ideas. Cause Mark Cuban on the show, I don’t know if you saw the show, but, uh, the episode, um, Mark Cuban was like, you know, these, these berry jars, they have to be on every table. You know, he was like, we’re going to get them on every table.

So, uh, they will be just like, you know, your sugar caddies, your salt and pepper. I think of it like that type of an item. Like, you know, a lot of people don’t salt and pepper their food, but a lot of people do. A lot of people don’t add butter, but a lot of people do. Sometimes people don’t use the ketchup, but a lot of people do.

So this is a type of thing that can like be a flavor enhancer, but completely natural. And lets you skip the unpleasant taste that you might not [00:33:00] want. And also the added sugars or the artificial sweeteners and just a completely natural product. It’s almost a magical.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. I mean, I’m thinking, you know, it’s kind of like stevia, right?

You know, people put stevia in their drinks to make it sweet, but this is like, you put this natural thing in your, uh, in your mouth and then you don’t need to put anything else in your, uh, thing. Um, in terms of. You know, coming together to start the business, of course, it seems like you were the sales marketing kind of person driving, uh, the, um, the sales.

Uh, what was, what was the, um, the investment? Did you have to make any investment or, I mean, it seems like it’s a pretty straightforward product. You basically freeze dry the berry, put it in the box, and then it’s kind of ready to sell. Um, What else, like in terms of just having the creation, did, did you require a lot of investment or was it [00:34:00] really as simple as that, you know, freeze dry and then just package it?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Well, um, I, I wish that I could leave people with the idea that it was cheap, but in reality, freeze dryers aren’t cheap. And in reality, manufacturers have minimum quantity orders. And our very first product. Was the single pack because we really had to prove that this works and in the beginning We didn’t have something that Like in the beginning there were no individually sold berries So we came out with the very first individually sold berry We sliced it in half removed the seed like the part that makes it Really unpleasant if you happen to chew that or taste it in any way Oh, ruins the whole experience.

Um, I found out early on though, that that kind of added [00:35:00] to the mystery of what we were doing, because people on, you know, the conspiracy theories online never stop. And so the conspiracy theory that I read about our product was, Oh, you’re taking the seed out so that we can’t plant our own berries. And, uh, that really cracked me up because you can’t, you’re not going to be able to plant, uh, uh, seeds.

Uh, a seed that’s sliced in half anyway. But, um, so yeah, we removed the seed and came out with, uh, with the first single pack ever on the market. We had to prove that it worked. Once you prove to yourself that it worked, you could use it in your lifestyle. Then we let people buy the jars. Um, so I think we’re on number six.

Um, when you’re doing your demos, it’s really important that you get a pricing strategy. The problem is what you think is a good price isn’t always what the market thinks is a good price. And so you need to have a constant question near [00:36:00] the end of your demo. As you’re wrapping up, you need to bring it to the price point.

And so I would always end every demo asking, you know, when you go to a juice spot. And it has an immunity boost or an energy boost. How much extra does it cost? Well, or when you go to the Froyo place and you have all the toppings, how much extra does that add to the price? Is it two, three, 4? What is it for you?

And I would just shut up and let them tell me. And then I said, awesome. If you could pay the exact same amount. You just said, but for a flavor boost, something that was exactly this, like mind blowing experience, it lasted 20 to 40 minutes. Would you do that for an all natural berry? And they all said yes, but that’s not enough.

I wanted a slam dunk answer. So I said, okay, well at retail, if we could make the price per serving less than a dollar, is that a slam dunk? Yes. And I [00:37:00] always got an absolutely slam dunk answer, right? So. That’s when I knew we could price the jars, you know, for less than a dollar serving. We could come out with the introduction pack, the single pack.

Um, we started that at 5 and then we dropped it down to four. Then we made it free, just pay for shipping. Um, and so we really had to prove that it works. We couldn’t lose money. On sampling, a lot of customer, a lot of, uh, e commerce founders make this mistake where they think, okay, on the first sale, I’m going to lose it, but I’m going to gain it back in lifetime value.

Um, I, I, I would urge you to reconsider that, um, because a lot of people, you know, just, uh, you’re gonna, you’re gonna, especially if you’re doing seeding and influencer marketing, you’re going to attract a lot of people who just want the one experience and that’s it actually with Shark Tank, you, um, If you weren’t paying close attention, you would not notice.

But we turned off [00:38:00] all of our social media. And in fact, in the last 14 months, since we’ve aired, we have barely posted anything. Um, I think of marketing as kind of like a, like a faucet. When you need it, you turn it on. When you don’t, you turn it off. And so, um, the sharks that we had, Mark and Lori encouraged us.

Get rid of your subscriptions, get rid of any of your ads, stop that altogether. What you want to focus now is proving that you can turn these online orders into on time deliveries. And that’s it. Just focus on making sure that you’re delivering the best product as fast as possible and in the most convenient way to your customers.

Right. And so that, um, that meant to me that. We could focus. We didn’t have to have our, we didn’t have to have our goals spread thin. You know what I mean? And so, um, I think I talked too much and I forgot the actual question, but let

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: me, let me ask you this. Uh, I mean, [00:39:00] you know, um, Based on what you were talking about already.

I’m, I’m very curious about your target. Mark, are you completely B2C? I mean, after getting your deal with not a thousand

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: percent, uh, we, we do have like the fair, we have the pod foods, like, you know, if you want to have your whole food, I’m sorry, your wholesale, um, opening price, risk free, we can match it one to one up to 150 on fair, up to 2, 000 can be matched on pod foods.

However, we’re not, um, At the moment, focusing at all on wholesale right now, right now we are just getting started, just getting started with e commerce and, and B2C. So when I do go into grocery, like it’s hard to get more natural than a berry, you know, so it’s like perfect fit for the natural market, um, natural grocery market, I mean to say.

But, um, when we do that. You get one shot at it. [00:40:00] You, if you get D listed, so many entrepreneurs will tell you getting back on the shelf after getting taken off the shelf is such an uphill battle. So, um, you have no leverage also, if nobody knows your brand. And this is not the days of yesteryear even 10 years ago when you walked into a retail store in Los Angeles, there’s a high chance that a retail salesman will walk up to you and try and sell you something.

Today, that’s gone. Today you walk into a store and you’re lucky if you get acknowledged. People will just, you walk into a, I don’t want to like put any other big box stores on blast, but I’ve noticed that. Sales people couldn’t care less if I bought something in their store. They actually preferred if I didn’t because I wouldn’t be bothering them.

You see what I’m saying? You cannot expect your product [00:41:00] to sell if you put it into a store without you doing a massive amount of promotions because No one is in that store helping you build your brand. It does not work that way anymore. It used to, it does. You can’t rely on it anymore. So if you want to have.

the best chance of survival in a very competitive retail space that has the lowest possible margins already, then you need to have a lot of brand awareness. And that comes from, you know, thousands and, you know, tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands and then millions of people loving your brand, being advocates for your brand, sharing your brand, searching it out, finding it, buying it, demanding that it’s in their store.

So that’s Our path into retail. And, um, the only way that I can do that now is through, you know, building online. And so we’re like, we’re just getting [00:42:00] started. A lot of this has to do with your brand reputation. So this is kind of letting me segue into something that I am super excited about. Okay. I, it’s, I just, it feels like, I think one of my lights, it feels like, um, I’m giddy about something that if you asked me 10 years ago, what does this matter to you?

I would have been like, that doesn’t matter at all. And now kind of like really cool product packaging. I’m like a total nerd. Um, tomorrow on Prime Day. What we’re doing. I’m dating this. I’m sorry, but this is going to come. We’re filming this right before Prime Day of 2024 on the 15th. Um, so tomorrow on the 16th on our website, we are going to introduce a 30 day money back guarantee.

No questions asked. So, okay, I know exactly right. So what that what does that mean for people? If you buy our if you buy our [00:43:00] twenty seven dollar small, uh travel jar, I want to say or our twenty four dollar um 50 servings, our shark tank special, by the way, when I told you about getting our Mott, our mission, making it more affordable and more available shark tank allowed us to cut these prices in half in this sachet, every serving is 42 cents.

And you remember when I started, it was five to 10 bucks a serving. Now it’s 42 cents. So it’s gotten to be. Way more affordable, you know, for a 15, 20 minute experience, but a lot of people for, you know, they still want to make sure that it’s going to work for them. It’s going to fit in their lifestyle. And that’s still, you know, even at those price points, even though they’re affordable for most people, uh, It’s not really something that drives a lot of trial.

You know, it’s not like anything that’s under 10 bucks flies off, you know, that’s why Timu and these other marketplaces, you know, they sell so much [00:44:00] because it’s kind of like disposable income. But when you get above 20 bucks, people are starting to think, and that’s why 1999 is such a good price point for thing.

But when you get above 20 for us and our average order about volume or value, sorry, our average ticket price is about 37. So, um, at that level, people just need to know that you stand behind your product. And even on Amazon, as amazing as they are with customer service, as a general rule in grocery, if you open a product, you cannot return it.

So we’re going a step further on our website, and we’re saying, hey, For whatever reason, it’s not working for you. Here’s your refund, but now that you have your money back, can our customer service let you prove that these work? Can we, now that you have the money back and you’re not going to return the product, you keep the product.

Can we help you? This is still blowing my mind that we can do this. Uh, can we help you get it working? Can we give you the experience that you signed up for in the first place and then [00:45:00] turn you into a lifelong customer? Because. That’s how we approach this instead of, you know, what I had been doing, which is make sure that it’s within 30 days, make sure that it’s unopened.

If it is open and I grant you the exception, I need you to mail this back and it’s not going to be on my dime. It’s going to be on none of that anymore.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Have you tried? I mean, to me, it seems like, um, Have you tried, so your single serving is 48 cents, whatever you said, um, having that single serving, uh, in like a, uh, in like a candy pouch kind of a thing that you can mail to people as a trial pack.

Right. And charge like a dollar or something and, you know, somehow cover your postage charges. And once somebody has tried one and they’re like fascinated by it, then of course you have their email address probably, and then you can probably market to them again. But You know, maybe maybe that you know, have [00:46:00] you have you tried any any promotions like that?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: We did. Yeah, we did. Um Shipping here around the country is between four and five bucks You know, it’s like three inch high end, but it’s on average about 4 25 450 something like that And so, uh, we made that Single serving, totally free, just pay shipping, whatever that was. And so we did do, we did do that.

And, um, we did that during the pandemic also when interest was at its peak. And what we found out is that, um, people would need to pay shipping twice. And it wasn’t, it wasn’t the, uh, it. It wasn’t really the experience that I wanted because I wanted them to be able to have this option where does the company believe in the product so much that they’re willing to give me a money back guarantee, do they have the customer [00:47:00] service in place where if I called them, email them, text them, DM them, you name it, can they help me get it working even after they give me a refund?

And so, um, that what you’re saying is like exactly my thought process as I went. On like, you know, in the last eight years, how have I tried to make it more convenient for the customer? Um, provide more value, like let there be more reason for the urgency. Like what, if it can be delayed, it’s going to be delayed.

So why right now, you know? And so, uh, so those are the types of things that I, you know. I think about 65, but you’re spot on. You definitely want to let people try before they buy. A lot of people will think of that as a, like a, like a loss center. And I, I don’t, I don’t subscribe to that. I think that, uh, you need to go for the value.[00:48:00]

You need to believe in your product. You need to believe in the worth of your product. Um, and that’s only because I did it. And, um, I saw the results and I think that you, you know, in this industry, you want a higher average checkout. You want people who are subscribing to be able to subscribe and, and have like their averages be double what your non subscribers are.

So, um, yeah, you have to build trust and if you, if you really, really want that, you got to put your money where your mouth is.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think, I think that makes complete sense. You know, if you, I mean, it’s a natural product, you know what it does. And so I guess nothing wrong with getting behind it for sure. Uh, I know we’re kind of, uh, running, uh, a little bit over time now, but, uh, very quickly, I want to ask you about your team.

I know you, it’s you, your co founder. Are there other people working to, to get your business running? I know you partnered with Shark Tank. Are they helping you out in any way? [00:49:00]

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: That’s the number one question I get and it’s, it’s a massive help. So our team, we have about six people. We’re a very lean team.

But when you factor in all the help that we get in our operations from the farm, when you factor in all the help that we get in from the sharks with the growth team, marketing, I mean, it’s, uh, You know, it’s hundreds of people really. So it’s a lot, it’s a lot of people that are helping us. Um, we have a lot of contractors also.

And, um, you know, I’ve got mentors, a lot of, I invested a lot of my time into LinkedIn and because people could see that I’m putting the work in and I’m not just a talker, but doer and making things happen, listening to their input and, you know, making a decision either way, yes, no, and why. Um, you know, people start respecting your time and believing in you [00:50:00] and wanting to invest in you.

And so that’s kind of why I don’t charge entrepreneurs for my advice. You know, if you need help and you’re already doing something, not, not thinking about it, but if you’re already doing something, then you can reach out to me on LinkedIn, um, or through our Linktree, Linktree, um, slash Nature’s Wildberry.

Um, is a great way to reach us. It has everything on there. Like, not just like what I might go to with the Barry, but also the discounts, the shark tank episode, all of our socials, even my Calendly. So, um, I wanna, you know, money is something that. Is easy to price, but I don’t think you can really price your time with money.

I, I really don’t. I think that there’s so many things that are equal to or more important than money and seeing other people succeed is definitely one of those things for me. So if I could help you on Amazon or help you on seeding with influencers or give you advice on what I would do [00:51:00] differently or what really worked with Shark Tank, um, then please reach out to me.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: For sure. Uh, do you have a few more minutes or, uh, you’re, you’re, uh, confident.

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: I have, uh, I have something already four minutes behind with, but we can, we do a part two.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Uh, sure. I mean, if you’re behind, that’s totally fine. Are you okay with two minutes? We can do rapid fire quickly. Sure. Let’s do rapid fire.

Okay. Uh, one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: I feel the fear and do it anyway. Susan Jeffries. Yeah. You need to get over your, it’s all in your head. Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: An innovative product or idea in the current e commerce, retail, or tech landscape that you feel excited about?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: One text. It’s our SMS platform.

Yes to buy. Definitely a game changer.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Um, Yeah. Um, Maverick AI allows us to personalize our, um, [00:52:00] flows with our email. So we have video that allows us to address our customer by name. Highly recommend it for all the welcome flows, the, uh, post purchase, the abandoned cart.

It’s truly amazing. Like one in three, one in four customers reply saying this, this video is amazing.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Another startup or business that you think is currently doing great things?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Um, gosh, there’s so many, but, uh, I’ve got a friend right now, uh, Brandon, who’s, uh, the genius with his mom behind, uh, easy bombs, think bath bombs, but for food, you throw it in your pot and it’s got all the spices in just one ball.

And they are absolutely killing it. They’re number one in food on Tik TOK right now. They’re number four overall, and we’re teaming up. So we’re, we’ve got some fun things coming.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Uh, a peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up to or someone who inspires you?

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: I mean, Laurie and Mark.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Final question. Uh, [00:53:00] what is the best business advice that you have ever received or you would give to other entrepreneurs? I know you give many different business advice, but, uh, yeah, it’s

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: all about, yeah, yeah, you can’t go wrong. Focusing on product. It’s like so many, so much marketing is, um, an effort to make up for the problems that you have in your product.

So think about it. If your product was. perfect already, you wouldn’t have to spend a dollar in marketing. No products are perfect, very, very few. So, um, if you want a great investment, really, really think hard every day about how can you improve your product and your offering in the market.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Completely agree.

I mean, marketing can help in the short term, but you know, if you, if people, if you want people to come back for more, your product definitely has to be a grid. Uh, well, those were all the questions that I had, uh, um, uh, Hank. So really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for joining me and, uh, yeah, wish you all the very best.

And it was such a pleasure [00:54:00] speaking with you.

Hank Watt of Nature’s Wild Berry: Thank you very much for having me. Really fun.