How these guys grew their nutrition company fast and kept costs low
What do you do if you lead a busy life and can’t satisfy your nutrition needs?
16 hour days on the campaign trail, an atmosphere more intense than a startup, investment bank work ethic on steroids, Gus Rietsema directed the finances for a congressman’s campaign, but had trouble directing his own nutrition habits.
Living off convenient store protein bars, fast food, and take out didn’t help his situation either. This couldn’t last long if he wanted to join the competitive weightlifting ranks he aspired for in the future.
“When I was working on this campaign, I looked at my boss and said, wouldn’t it be great if someone could take all this nutrition and put it in drinkable form?” Gus remembered.
So he met Alex, Max, and Charles — the squad immediately clicked and developed a joint vision: ending the miserable supplement situation for their own good and coincidentally, also others’ good.
This is about a bunch of guys solving a problem the industry had not solved for them.
Charles, Macrofuel’s food scientist behind the formula, went straight to the lab and began developing recipes. After several iterations, the team created a product they’re proud to use and share.
“It’s an easier way to get your macronutrients. Not carbohydrates from sugar or maltodextrin. It’s carbohydrates from real food ingredients,” Gus described. “A complete meal designed to fuel your body and help you perform while being healthy.”
What do you do when you invented the right nutrition product, turned it into a successful business, but don’t have the time to take care of order fulfillment?
With Max leading the marketing efforts and Alex taking charge of technology, Macrofuel launched in January 2016.
Immediately, the team was in business, and having to deliver over 300 initial orders of Macrofuel — and fast! As orders kept rolling in, it quickly became clear they needed someone to take order fulfillment off their hands and allow for Macrofuel’s natural growth and expansion.
“That’s when we found you [Shotput] in TechCrunch and realized we can have someone else fulfill these orders! It’s affordable price spares us the headache on our end. After we talked with you guys [Shotput] we realized it was extremely do-able,” said Gus.
Excited to work with Macrofuel, we make it our high priority to have systems in place for Gus and his team to comprehensively optimize their fulfillment operation and prevent stress around that part of running their business.
“It wasn’t complicated and it just made our lives easier because we didn’t have to worry about the backend. We’re able to focus on the most important part, which is our customer relationships.”
The team’s recently been featured in the popular lifestyle publication, BroBile, as one of the hottest meal replacement supplements on the market. They now have their sights set on raising their first round of funding and increasing their product reach.
