Aisha Chottani is the founder and CEO of Moment, a beverage that replicates the feeling and benefits of meditation. She graduated with her MBA from Harvard Business School and, before starting Moment, worked at McKinsey & Co. for five years, where she worked with other CPG companies to scale and optimize their operations.

In this podcast episode, Patty sits down with Aisha to discuss how Moment was started and how she persevered through the challenges of building a business in the competitive beverage industry from the ground up.

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Transcript

0:00:02.7 S1: Welcome to The Persevere Podcast, powered by Checkable Medical, and hosted by Patty Post, a female founder, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three, doing all of the things. The strength to persevere in business is powered by passion, grit, and hard work. The Persevere Podcast is for entrepreneurs and business leaders who set out to innovate and change the world with their ideas, whether it's fund­raising your start-up, product development, marketing, branding, or scaling your existing business, this podcast is for you. We'll discuss everything it takes to persevere and build the business you've always dreamed of. Let's make it happen. 

0:00:55.9 S1: Hello everyone. My name is Patty Post, and I'm founder and CEO on a mission with this podcast, The Persevere Podcast, to help you, the founder of your business, persevere through the challenging times of starting a business. Through interviews, and despite the agonizing bumps in the road that we have, we are bringing founder stories to you to talk about the problem that they solved and talk about some of those bumps in the road. So with that, my interview today is with Aisha Chottani, whose founder of Moment. Aisha it is so nice to meet you. Thank you for being a guest. 

0:01:38 S2: Thank you for having me. It is such a pleasure to be here and chatting with you.

0:01:43 S1: I fan-girl you, because I found your product, which is delicious. I found it really,  couple of weeks after I decided to give up alcohol, and I used it as a replacement for my evening glass of wine. And I must say that I love the product. I think of it as meditation in a can, it actually has a calming effect for me, so I look at it as health and wellness in your physical health, but your mental health as well.

0:02:18.5 S1: So I would love for you to share the inspiration behind Moment, and I have to say you must be a little bit crazy like the rest of us founders, because the beverage industry is a 142 billion dollar market, and you are going up against Coke and Pepsi and all of the established brands. So I love the little crazy in you Aisha, you're like, “You know what, I still can do it. I got a problem and I'm gonna solve it.” So we'd love to hear that. 

0:02:52 S2: Thank you so much, Patty. I would like to just kick off by saying I'm equally inspired by you and everything that you're doing, especially supporting female founders and taking their stories and sharing with the rest of the world, so thank you on behalf of everyone else on what you're doing for them. Well, yeah, I would love to share a bit of my story, and you're right, the beverage world is really crazy, it's wild out there with the Pepsis and the Cokes and the Dr. Peppers, and it's not easy. A little bit on my background, before I started Moment, I actually used to be a strategy consultant working with a lot of large Fortune 500 companies, and the culture was pretty, pretty intense out there, and life would get really stressful. Meetings, certifications, deadlines, along with 15, 18 hour days, and so I had reached a point where my mental health started suffering, I wasn't taking care of myself, and before things would take a real downturn for the bad, I decided to take control of the situation and change some of my habits, and I often say that Moment is like all my different worlds coming together because really, how I started getting deeper into adaptogens is on a conversation with my mom where I was just...

0:04:17.7 S2: One Sunday afternoon, I was on the phone, I was sharing how I'm feeling and she suggested, she's like, “Hey, why don't you start taking ashwagandha again”. My family has grown up with adaptogens, it's like a core part of daily life. You start your morning with a blend of adaptogens and different folks will take different types of adaptogens depending on where they are in their life stage, and as a child, I’d always sort of, as kids do, made some fun of my parents for being so rigorous about just having some herbs. But at this point, I started going back and having more and more, but also getting deeper into the science of it, and as I had more and as I tested with things and connected with scientists and formulators, I realized that taking in certain dosages and combinations, it can replicate the same effect as meditation, and I saw it impacting my own life, not just mental, but physical and my emotional health as well, which of course has such a powerful effect on your relationships, your work output, and just every aspect of life in general, that it brought such a big turn that come COVID, I decided I was going to...

0:05:39.4 S2: I was going to leave my job and help others in their journey and take this message to the rest of the world. When I just started thinking about it, I wasn't sure what form I was gonna make this in and the reason for choosing beverages is because like a lot of other people, I love taking some time off in the afternoon, and when I would take time off in the afternoon from work, I would, I would end up having coffee, it wouldn't help, it would make me slightly more jittery, anxious, often give me crashes, and so I had like started moving towards tea. I also enjoyed this aspect of taking a few minutes off to make the tea and enjoyed that ritual of it, and so when I say Moment was my different worlds coming together, it was a lot of different aspects of hey, adaptogens are really good for your mental health and mood enhancement, and I enjoyed the aspect of taking some time off or taking a few moments off in the day to ground myself that I can feel refreshed, and just the idea of being healthy, having healthier foods like no added sugar or natural foods helps you feel better physically, it helps you build immunity. So all of these ideas kind of cast into this aspect of, hey, what if I was to create a drink with the right combinations of adaptogens, which people can have both in the afternoon when they don't wanna have another cup of coffee in the evening when they're relaxing, because it can be an alternative to something like alcohol, coffee, it can help enhance your mood, it can reduce stress, and overall, it's just like a healthy product.

0:07:34.0 S2: Come COVID, like a lot of other people, I decided I was going to follow my heart and do things that I'd always wanted to do, so I left my job in consulting and we launched Moment two years back, and it has been an incredible, incredible journey. Never a dull moment. No puns there. It’s been intense and exciting. 

0:07:57 S1: When you launched then, you launched a digital first strategy, is that correct? 

0:08:02 S2: That's right, because I ended up launching in July 2020, amidst the first lockdown. People weren't really visiting stores as much and stores weren’t willing to even have a conversation, and so there's also an opportunity to reach larger audiences through digital, so we went digital. We launched on our own website and a couple of other online platforms, and it proved to be very impactful because we were able to reach people all over the country. I do think that there is a huge, huge benefit to e-commerce, the fact that you can reach large audiences, and one of the things that you and I were talking about, because we were able to do that, we were actually able to understand that there's huge audiences in the Midwest or the South that loves Moment, they understand the value of healthy products and they take apple cider vinegar, or they take cinnamon, thyme, like a lot of the ingredients that we use in different forms on a daily basis, and so Moment for them was really exciting and coming in a slightly shape and form, but understanding the value of some of our ingredients, so it's been amazing, 'cause we've had a lot of support from the Midwest and the South, and those communities are...

0:09:25.7 S2: Really special for us, and as I was mentioning, we're launching soon in Chicago, that's going to be one of our big markets, and we would have never found that had we not done digital, so digital has been a core part of our growth strategy, and we're excited about continuing strong. 

0:09:43 S1: And so you said you have a lot of people that you discovered in the Midwest, in the South, that our Moment fans, I think that I was targeted personally on Instagram, and I love your Instagram, it was an Instagram carousel, and then I got right into your e-commerce store, and then I signed up for a subscription. So I've been a customer since October. It's awesome because it just shows up and I think it's so nice and convenient. Are you seeing that same customer interaction from Instagram in this ground swell in the Midwest and South from targeting on Instagram or Google? Just curious how you did that. 

0:10:29 S2: When we do our marketing online, we are not specifically targeting people from certain regions, moreso we are targeting people with certain interests, so what we're looking for is people who understand the importance of health, who have already started on the journey of being healthy, and we are basically looking at this group because we would love to target and we would love to have the entire country be having Moment every day because it's good for them, but we do understand that there are certain steps that need to be taken in somebody's journey before they would appreciate and understand what we are trying to do and enjoy the product.

0:11:16.4 S2: So to give you an example, if you're having a Coke every day, just moving to Moment might be a big shift, but if you've moved off Coke and you're starting to have other healthier products, cut down sugar in your life, then over time, then you're like, “Okay, yeah, I can have Moment because it has no added sugar,” but if you're having 20 grams of sugar in a drink and then you go to zero, it's like too much of a shift, so we're sort of targeting people who've already started the health journey and understand the importance of healthy ingredients, who understand the importance of botanicals, natural herbs, and we are targeting them because they understand our product. Eventually, we do want to help others start their journey, but you have to start somewhere, and so we're starting with this audience, and a lot of it, it just ends up being in the Midwest and the South, where people actually do understand the ingredients and herbs and botanicals pretty well. 

0:12:22 S1: So is that a natural customer versus a conventional customer, a natural customer knows what the ingredients are, what their purposes are, and in the health and wellness space, I just learned this a couple of weeks ago, that a natural customer is further down the customer journey of awakening, and a conventional customer is more like a national retailer, throw it on the shelf at Walmart and you're ready for mainstream.

0:12:52.9 S1: Is that how you're segmenting it? 

0:12:55 S2: That's pretty much right. Yes, and we are right now targeting the former customer that you describe… the latter, which is throwing it into Walmart, because you were mentioning you had the hibiscus dragonfruit and you enjoyed the taste of cinnamon in it. And all of our flavors are very carefully crafted with different botanicals and herbs, but for you to even realize that there is cinnamon in it, and this is what I'm tasting, that's pretty powerful, that's because you understand, you’ve had cinnamon, you've had herbs and you have sort of gone deeper into the taste and you understand it, whereas some of the more conventional customers, they might be used to slightly different taste profiles, and so for them to jump into a product that has cinnamon and understand that and appreciate it might just take some time. 

0:13:56 S1: Yeah and some awareness of the benefits, they have to hear about it a whole bunch. We have ashwagandha and black pepper supplement, and it really has taken a lot of awareness and education and, on the benefits of it, and I think it is a little bit of a confused market right now, the benefits of ashwagandha, but I'm very impressed that you went back to what your foundation is and what your parents had done, 'cause you grew up in Asia and in Asia, that's your medicine, or herbs, correct?

0:14:33.2 S2: That's right. And in a lot of Eastern cultures, we, the belief is to take good care of your health or your life and to have ingredients like natural herbs and ingredients that will help boost your immunity, which is often, which is how people have survived because back in the days when you didn't have, healthcare wasn't as developed, that's how people survived and thrived even in old age, and when I look at my parents and grandparents, they can do so much in the old age that I don't expect myself to be able to be doing, but it's because they have paid so much attention to these things all their lives. 

0:15:12 S1: That's so cool. 

0:15:14 S2: That is really, really amazing, and it's special to bring you to the rest of the world. I will say some of these are inspired by Asia where I come from, but some of the other adaptogens are also from other parts of the world. So when I just started on my journey, I also looked at, Hey, what are other cultures having that is really good for you. So for example… that actually comes from Japan, and then we also tested some other adaptogens from other… more are coming, because it's really amazing to bring all of those things to here, like help our community be more health forward. 

0:15.58 S1: Yeah, and conscious. There's actually a movement right now of mocktails, I think it's in Jacksonville and then in Charleston, South Carolina, and actually in Fargo, North Dakota, they're gonna do it too, where they have bars that are just mocktail bars, and it's moving to, okay, you can have one or two refreshing, delicious cocktails that have a benefit, it won't have the side effects of alcohol, and I can see moments being a part of all of those different mocktails, it would be a delicious space. Right? Let's use that in place of Redbull. 

0:16:44 S2: Yeah, that's right. I think that would be a really good idea. In fact, what we are seeing is that our online audience, about 50 to 60% of people actually have Moment as a replacement for alcohol in the evenings, and what they really like is two things, one is, because it will reduce the stress, it also enhances your mood a little. So if you're having it regularly, you not only feel but you'll start noticing the lift that you're getting from Moment, it just takes like a few days of regular use to be like, “Oh yeah, I have this everyday...

0:17:19.6 S2: And this is how I feel, and it’s actually because of this drink.” Also the effect of adaptogens, it builds up in your body over time. So that's the one thing. And then the second thing, people will often report back, and this is completely unprompted, they'll be like, “Hey, I’ve started sleeping a lot better,” and “Is that an effect?” and we’re like, “Yeah, it’s actually scientifically proven that some of our formulation has an impact on your sleep quality, so what that means is that your REM sleep is deeper, so you get up feeling more refreshed. I mean imagine getting up feeling slightly more refreshed over the next few weeks. Yeah, that can make a huge difference to your entire life and your relationships and how you behave. 

0:18:07 S1: It’s a game changer. 

0:18:08 S2: So you know, some of these small changes alive, I had never paid much attention to in the past until I kind of got into this routine and I started noticing the impact and I'm like, “Wow, this is really, really powerful.” One other thing I'm gonna say is that adaptogens have changed my life so much that in the last four years, I have slept without an alarm clock. I rarely, like once a month…

0:18:35.9 S2: Will actually put on an alarm clock, my body has regulated itself so well, it will get me up at the right time to the point that today I had to get up at 4:30 AM to go to the airport to catch an early morning flight and I got up at 4:25 AM by myself. 

0:18:56 S1: That is amazing. 

0:18:57 S2: It's beautiful. 

0:18:58 S1: That is beautiful. I mean, that's like hitting snooze over and over again, it starts your day off where you're already pushing the day away. 

0:19:10 S2: Your mind is chaotic right? 

0:19:12 S1: Yes, the mind is chaotic. That is super interesting. You're right, the subtle differences make all the difference in what we're doing in these subtle changes, as I like to identify as the founder and as a founder, we're working all of the time, we're juggling so many different things that it's the subtle changes that really add up and increase our way of life. 

0:19:38 S2: Yeah, that's 100% right. And so going back to our conversation, that's ended up, replacement of alcohol has been one of the biggest reasons why people have us and try, but then to see other benefits, and that's why they end up becoming subscribers over time.

0:19:57.2 S2: And so now we have a community of almost 1,500 to 2,000 subscribers who are having Moment on a regular basis, and that is really, really special. That's really special. 

0:20:10 S1: That is amazing. 

0:20:11 S2: It's real, and it's about also building a ritual, one of the reasons for calling it Moment was to remind people to build this ritual where they need to, especially as woman, we need to take out some time during the day for ourself and have those moments which are really important to ground yourself, that was the inspiration behind the name Moment, kind of like as a nudge towards that. It's really special to have such a growing community of people who have this as a part of their lives. 

0:20:49 S1: So let's go back to that time when you launched in July of 2020, can you describe to me the team that you had and what that journey looked like from starting out of funding and then putting a team together to launching the product? 

0:21:07 S2: Yeah, wow, what a journey. 

0:21:10 S1: You're almost at two years. 

0:21:12 S2: Yeah, almost hitting two years, very excited about that. So we bootstrapped this company from just our own savings, it was actually...

0:21:24.2 S2: My husband, who has been incredible and super supportive, he helped me in the early days, starting the company, and he was an important part of it. 

0:21:33 S1: That’s awesome.

0:21:34 S2: And starting a business, business is different from a regular job in the sense it's a part of your life forever, it’s who you are for a very long time or until you can build a team. And so having the support of somebody, your partners, is really critical, and he wasn't just supporting me, he actually accepted to help me on a day-to-day basis until we could hit the point where I could bring other people in and get the business going, so that was really incredible. It really started in the kitchen. Early days formulating, Saturday nights would be spent trying out 100 different versions of different flavors to see what tasted better. Long intense nights. 

0:22:24 S1: Isn't it crazy how your version of fun changes once you get an idea, and it's like those are probably your funnest Saturday nights when you're doing that R and D with your husband and at the table together.

0:22:38 S2: There are so many incredible memories, one of the craziest is, I'm gonna tell you, our first production run, we did it with the co-packer in New Hampshire, that point lived in a small three-floor walk up in downtown Manhattan and the size of apartments in Manhattan, so we did the first test production run, we had 5,000 cans that we put into a rent-a-car, but we had nowhere to go with those 5,000 cans because we hadn't yet launched and we were just testing, and now all of a sudden we had all these cams and so we came back and then we basically spent four hours, going up and down the three floors, of our apartment to tag those cans in our apartment...

0:23:28.2 S2: 'cause what else do you do? It’s 5,000 cans. And then for a few weeks, we didn't have any space to walk, but we were just distributing the cans to anyone and everyone because it was supposed to be a test production run, but yeah, there was so many crazy stories and points of learning during the journey, some of the exciting things that did happen was after we launched, we won the Best Beverage Award that year in the US by Bevnet New Beverage Showdown. And that was, yeah, it was really, really, really helpful. And also like a great validation on a personal level that we have created a beverage that is not just for us, but equally valued by the industry and all the experts, and so we got some retail interest based on that, like Walmarts and Targets also reached out. At that point we decided that we're gonna continue on the digital front, 'cause we were still in COVID times, we were still self-funded, but we did start raising funding. We also got reached out by Shark Tank wanting to, offering us to come on to the show. That was really exciting. So we went on to the show and we pitched on Shark Tank a month into our launch. The sharks love the product, we couldn't meet on evaluation, we couldn't meet on a deal, which was a different story, but they love the product.

0:24:53.9 S2: That was great, that helped us inform other audiences, and then after that, last year, actually, we did a collab, a Victoria Secret thing, where we did a special flavor with them, a sparkling flavor, and that was our way of driving Mental Health Awareness, 'cause we did in the month of May. One of the things I haven't shared with you is that a potion of all our proceeds goes towards mental health nonprofits across different parts of society, because we understand that there's different ways to address what we're trying to do, and so if you also wanna support some of the other organizations that are addressing mental health in other ways, and so some of these organization help women, children, teens with their mental health, and so we did this collab with Victoria’s Secret last year, which was really awesome. And now we are launching in Chicago, so we're just really excited, a lot of great milestones for us. We recently expanded the team, now we have, we have a team of five or six people, and then a lot of other people who work in part-time roles in different capacities outside of the core team, and they're all like family and...

0:26:15.1 S2: It's been a really wonderful experience. 

0:26:17 S1: That's incredible. So you're launching, you're doing your first retail after two years, what a journey, you've had some amazing opportunities that have come your way that you've taken advantage of, that's, congratulations. 

0:26:31 S2: That's right. We actually are in about 1,000 stores right now, but we have been mostly in bodegas in New York and small coffee shops, and… that have all been really wonderful, really supportive. Now we're kind of stepping up to say, “Hey, let's do it in New York City”, New York is home. So New York started with me. When the first lockdown ended, I was going from store to store in New York, telling them about Moment, asking them, just talking on their shelves, that's how New York started, but now we're gonna do it in a slightly more scalable way in Chicago. 

0:27:08 S1: That's amazing. And what type of retailer are you going with?

0:27:13 S2: Right now, we're in the process of building the plan and pitching it to a lot of different retailers. We'll be doing our first trade show in June at the KeHE Summer Show. That's where a lot of the retailers are gonna be. We're gonna meet them, we're gonna pitch to them, and that will be able to scale in a massive range in Chicago.

0:27:37.0 S1: Oh, that makes complete sense that I was gonna ask if you are working with KeHE for distribution, because their target consumer is the natural consumer, and that makes complete sense. Gosh, congratulations, so your first trade show, that's a huge milestone. 

0:27:55 S2: Yeah, that’s right, the team is so excited. 

0:27:59 S1: So I encourage everyone to look at your website, you have a beautiful website, your shopping cart is an excellent experience, it really is a wonderful experience being a customer of yours, and I'm curious what your research was and still is as we never finish researching as founders and business owners, but from that customer experience of the first time that they become aware to check out to they receive the product. You actually inspired me to get into SMS messaging, because I loved it. When I got the text message from you saying “Hi, I'm Aisha, nice to meet you. Thanks for being a customer.” It was just really cute. I loved, “I'm the founder of Moment.” I'm like, “That is so cool.” I felt like I was your friend, and I'm curious what your research was behind that and how you keep evolving it to make it a better experience.

0:28:59.4 S2: I'll be honest, it all happened very organically because like I said, I bootstrapped the company, the first couple of hundred customers or orders we had, it was me going to the post office, me packing cans into boxes, going to the post office, posting it, like writing notes, and then sometimes emailing customers or there was a lot of back and forth texts on when the orders would arrive, and so it happened organically where, and then the customers would ask, I would share more detail, and over time, it just became, I started learning in terms of customers actually enjoy hearing about where the product is coming from, who I am, why I'm creating this, the benefits of certain ingredients, and so it kind of evolved over time, it is still continuing to evolve, we’re still, in the grand scheme of things, we’re still very small and we're learning, and where our approach is like, “Hey, provide us feedback and we'll take it.” We're not perfect, we’ll continue improving. And so the SMS and the emails that evolved organically, and we're continuing to build on it, one of the things that our customers do love is they love to learn more about what is in Moment and the benefits of it, so now we actually wanna do a series of the different flavors that we have and some of the ingredients have we used for those, so that they can continue learning with us.

0:30:31.9 S1: That's so cool. Yeah. You're a very customer-centric business. You can, it's super apparent. And I love, do you have a background in design because your design is incredible, or do you just have a good eye for it? 

0:30:46 S2: So I'll be honest, that's actually my husband. Who was very, like I mentioned, he's been very very supportive, but he also has a very good creative sense and eye for design, and so he's been very crucial in putting this together, and the design aspect is something that he still leads, and so it’s my vision plus his actual execution coming together, but it goes to show that like teamwork can go far. 

0:31:18 S1: I love it that you're sharing that your husband has been a part of this, because my husband and my kids have definitely been a part of my journey with Checkable, and I think that there's the founder that stands in front, but there's always that support system behind us, and I really like it that you give him credit and call him out because I think that we don't mention it enough, but they're so critical in our lives, our partners are, and it makes work more fun.

0:31:50.2 S2: It does. 

0:31:51 S1: Sometimes we work a little more and you'd probably get your business further faster because of it.

0:31:56 S2: That’s right, that’s right. I mean I will say my husband has been amazing and incredible, but I would also like to say that there's also been a lot of friends and other parts of family that have been very helpful along the journey. Some of my friends have also had to taste and do all kinds of things for Moment. Whether they want to or not, they’ve had to put in their hours which has just been incredible, and to this day they do. And it really, starting a business and pushing it really takes a lot of support, and to your point, it is this community that helps you get to it. 

0:32:38 S1: So do you have any regrets about starting Moment or, you're almost two years in, are you still feeling really glad with the decision that you made? 

0:32:48 S2: Oh yeah, I'm feeling really strong. I'm really excited about growing, I'm excited about really pushing our impact. What makes my day is when we hear back from one of our customers saying how much they enjoyed Moment similar to when you emailed me, it actually was...

0:33:06.4 S2: It’s those moments that make us really happy, we actually have it internally within our team, we have a Slack group where we just share when some customers shares their feedback on how they like it, and the team will comment, and there are some customers who actually share feedback more often, and everyone on the team knows them because every time we have a new flavor launch, they'll share their feedback and they might not know, but we know them really well. 

0:33:34 S1: That is hilarious. I love that. That’s so good. 

0:33:39 S2: We’ve also got some unique customers who’ll love one flavor and they'll be like, they'll have very strong perspectives and it's really cute, but it also makes our day. 

0:33:53 S1: Do you have people that are camp sparkling, camp still?

0:33:58 S2: We do have, yeah, we have camp sparkling, camp still. People are pretty strong about sparkling. Most people are pretty strong. Either they love sparkling or they love still. I’m one of those people who enjoys both. I just like it at different times of the day. If I've gone back from, in the summer, I wanted like, I want still flavor after a run or after something more intense, I want still flavor. Sometimes I’m relaxing in the evening, maybe I'll go for sparkling, so different occasions…

0:34:31.1 S2: They’ve just been, people generally either are still or sparkling.

0:34:36 S1: Is it big bubbles or small bubbles? I haven't gotten my sparkling yet. 

0:34:40 S2: I'm excited for you to try it. It's lightly carbonated, so it's not, it's not like a Coke, it's not still, it’s somewhere in the middle, so I would say small bubbles. 

0:34:51 S1: I like that. So you didn't have a background in beverages, you didn't know the manufacturing, you didn't come from a family that was a big beverage group. How has that been learning the whole manufacturing piece? Right now you're visiting a manufacturer. 

0:35:07 S2: That’s right, I spent the morning with an investor.

0:35:10 S1: So what has that been like, just learning a new, entire new market and process?

0:35:07 S2: It is exciting, it's exciting. For sure, it's a lot of learning. To this day, I'm learning, we're just two years into the journey, and as you continue, you learn new things and you come up with new challenges and you're like, “Okay, didn't think of this before, and this is something that we need to uncover now”, so you come up with new challenges, you learn new things, and as you grow, the things that were working for you previously don't work anymore, so there's pressure on different parts of your supply chain, but I have really enjoyed all the learning, and you just have to go in with an open mind, be resilient, you have to enjoy conquering challenges, essentially, if you take the mindset of, this is exciting because it's a new problem I'm gonna solve, then you can do it because there will be a lot of problems along the way, even if you come with experience, you will...

0:36:13.2 S2: Encounter problems, because the reality is that the world is changing, the supply chains are changing, and so your experiences, you like relevant, are good enough for certain things, and then you have to be open to kind of moving and flexing as a small business. 

0:36:31 S1: That is excellent advice, I think we get sometimes wrapped around the axle, if you're a founder, you might feel stressed at times, bouncing from thing to thing, and know that it's gonna be okay, you're learning something new, be gentle on yourself, drink a Moment to relax.

0:36:52 S2: And know that you're not alone in the journey. Everyone has to go through these challenges. Building a business is about persevering and being resilient, and constantly learning and improving. 

0:37:04 S1: Constantly improving. Iterating on your product is so important, is crucial. Is the only way you're gonna win. 

0:37:11 S2: Exactly. 

0:37:13 S1: So what's next for Moment? 

0:37:15 S2: A couple of big things are happening, we're launching a new sparkling flavor in the summer, so stay tuned, it's gonna be awesome. Yeah, hint: it's gonna have a little bit of a kick. 

0:37:32 S1: A little cheyenne? I love it. 

0:37:35 S2: Yeah, we are launching in Chicago, we're getting ready for that. Those are the two big things that are happening 

0:37:44 S1: That is so exciting. By any chance...

0:37:48.4 S1: Will you be at the Founder Made Conference? It's in your home city of New York on the 24th of June. 

0:37:55 S2: I might be, I might be, yeah. 

0:37:58 S1: I'm gonna be out there, so I hope that you, I will send you the details after this and it would be really fun to meet up and any other founders that are listening to this, you should sign up, and we should all go. 

0:38:12 S2: That sounds amazing. I would love to meet up and I'm gonna spread the news in my circles. 

0:38:18: Yes, it's for CPG companies, there is one, there's a track for CEOS, and I think that's for established brands and have been in market, I wanna say five plus years, but for those of us that are newer, then we'll be with our peers, but I think it's more of a tack track of how are you going to scale, and then your relationships with retailers, so. Well, I love what you're doing and I am cheering for you, and we will continue being a customer, and those that are listening, what's the best way for them to support you or to find you if they wanna learn more? 

0:39:00 S2: Best way to find us is to visit our website, drinkmoment.com, and the best way to support us is really...

0:39:08.9 S2: Well, first of all, try our product, two is is share with your friends or just help us spread awareness, lastly, share any feedback or thoughts, we're in the phase of constant improvement, pivoting, refining every aspect of the drink, but also our customer experience, so be open to it, share your thoughts with us, and we'll try to do everything we can to make it a delightful experience for you and others. 

0:39:38 S1: Wonderful, well, thank you so much, thank you for what you're doing in the world, and to make our lives better, we will keep looking for product iterations and be faithful fans here in North Dakota, and with that Aisha, thank you for persevering in business, and thank you for being a guest.

0:39:58 S2: Thank you so much Patty, it was so wonderful chatting with you and thank you for sharing my story and many others and being awesome. 

0:40:05 S1: Oh, you bet.

0:40:08.1 S1: Thank you for listening to The Persevere Podcast, powered by Checkable Medical. Head over to perseverepodcast.com for notes, links and additional resources from today's show. To continue hearing insights and gaining knowledge from those persevering, succeeding and making their dream a reality, be sure to subscribe through your favorite podcast app. Now go make it happen.