Forij’s Olson is Improving Quality of Life with Functional Granola

Parker Olson, the founder of Forij, a company focused on disrupting the breakfast category. They create foods with added benefits that enable positive change for their consumers.

Parker is a bit off-the wall out there. He’s shamelessly committed to building Forij into a national brand, spending the last 18 months sleeping in his tent to use his bedroom as their office.

Thank you so much for joining us!

What motivated you to launch your startup?

Honestly, it was a weird obsession with type-2 fun. The type of fun where it isn’t enjoyable until after. I spent 18 months trying different diets — one each month. It kind of sucked. I saw huge swings in energy / sleep / mood — you name it. But it lead to an incredible finding — I felt “optimal” when eating whole foods + supplementing with functional mushrooms (these mushrooms don’t get you high, but have added benefits)

I felt compelled to tell everyone I knew and needed to help others experience this drastic improvement in life

What is it that excites you about what you’re building?

It’s so cool to talk to customers that see real change in their day to day life. One customer stopped using their ADHD medicine in lieu of eating our product daily. Seeing our products make a tangible impact on people’s lives is incredible & keeps me motivated.

What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?

For us, it’s simply been navigating all of the facets of growing a consumer-facing brand in the midst of COVID. How do you get touchpoints with customers? How do you get honest feedback?

These are questions with proven in-person strategies, but when all of that went away and everyone flooded online to get eyeballs, you have to start getting creative.

What are your future plans for your startup?

I want to keep growing and really build a community of people who are committed to getting 1% better. I want to continue impacting lives and expand beyond granola to really provide an easy solution to eat healthy and genuinely feel better on a day to day basis.

If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?

Embrace change & don’t stop — no matter how bleak it looks. There are more bad days than good days, but it’s all worth it in the end.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

We share tons of content on Instagram & Tiktok.

Our IG handle is forij.co & our TikTok handle is forij_co

We like to do tons of behind the scenes stuff so if you’re looking for an in to what a founder’s life looks like, look no further!

This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!