Mike Teku last appeared on this podcast in 2019. He spoke as an expert Amazon seller in our “Building an Ecommerce Business” series. He went back to selling those Amazon stores, retired, and got bored.
His latest venture is Momentum, a maker of premium nutritional shakes he describes as “the Rolex of supplements.”
He and I recently discussed his journey selling his companies, setting priorities, launching Momentum, and more.
The full transcript of our conversation is posted below. Transcript edited for clarity and length.
Eric Bandholz. Why start a nutrition shake company?
Mike Teku. I sold my Amazon companies in 2019 and did well enough to start a venture fund and invest in some things. I retired, bought land in the country and quickly got bored. I spent the next two years figuring myself out and researching longevity.
I came up with this product based on the premium versions of the supplements I took. I contacted the manufacturers directly. I put everything in one shake to make it easy. I wanted to make an add-on Rolex and make it super simple and cool. I named the company Momentum.
Bandholz. It’s a crowded market, extras.
Come on. There’s a difference between being effective, true and honest, and trendy. There is a big debate between plant-based and whey proteins, which is better and whether to add superfoods. A superfood is anything a marketer wants to call a super. I call it powder dust when companies add traces of something to make it sound healthy. I wanted no marketing fluff, just the best ingredients.
We went with this incredible grass-fed whey protein from Ireland. It is five times more expensive than any other protein. Ireland is the only place that can grow this grass all year round. And it’s the only place you can confirm that something is truly grass-fed. It makes it a premium product.
Some people love pea protein, a vegetable, but it contains heavy metals and pesticides and 30% less essential amino acids. I wasn’t willing to compromise just because it was popular.
Not using artificial fragrance is too expensive. Each of our bags contains about $2 worth of chocolate. We spend more on chocolate than most of our competitors spend on their entire product. So a 30-day supply of Super Greens can cost between $2 and $3. Our monthly supply costs us $60. My philosophy is that it’s easier to compete at the top of the market because few people are willing to do it.
The problem is selling a bag for $75 if it costs $60 to make. How can we pay for advertising? I believe the product will be so good that we won’t have to spend as much on marketing because of word of mouth. We won’t have as much frost. In theory, people will stay subscribers longer.
I don’t care about something that can’t scale. Momentum could very easily do $100 million a year. I need about 60,000 subscribers to reach that level. That’s 60,000 sales over five years, 12,000 per year. This is possible with a great product and the right price and message. I don’t want to do anything to the ceiling.
Bandholz. Do you sell on Amazon?
Come on. No, but we will eventually. Consumers are very price sensitive on Amazon, which requires education. Once people recognize the Momentum brand and look to buy it on Amazon, we’ll sell it there. But for now, I’ll focus on things like this podcast to help consumers understand what we’re talking about.
Bandholz. I might hesitate to pay $75 a bag.
Come on. My point is that if you bought all these components separately, it would be about $400 a month. And that by cutting out the middleman on 20 ingredients, I can charge $75 a bag. And the edges aren’t really that big of a deal to me. So it will require some education.
Nutrition is difficult. I built the Momentum Shake around the idea that most people are deficient in their diet. As we age, our bodies shrink. Movement replaces the things we lose over time.
We have no secret pills or drugs. It’s just the stuff our bodies need every day. People don’t want to pop a gazillion pills.
Bandholz. Where can listeners find you?
Come on. They can purchase our product at MomentumShake.com. I’m on LinkedIn and email mike@momentumshake.com. I love mentoring by the way.