Building and Scaling a Successful Business by Filling a Crucial Need with Will Nitze

Do you have an idea for a great product that will help to fill a need in your life and the lives of others? Will Nitze, founder of IQBAR, created his product to address a crucial gap in his nutritional protocol.

After suffering from daily headaches and other health ailments, Brian experimented with his nutrition, including eliminating processed carbohydrates and refined sugars. His brain function recovered immensely and he began working on a protein bar that is optimized for brain health and quality nutrition. Thus, IQBAR was born. 

What we discussed on this episode:

• Will’s professional background and his reason for founding IQBAR (1:40)
• The ingredients in IQBAR and how they support brain health and function (3:28)
• Why the timing of the launch helped to make the brand so successful (4:54)
• The purely functional origins of IQBAR (5:57)
• Navigating the co-packing waters (7:39)
• Positives and negatives of using co-packers as opposed to keeping production in-house (9:27)
• The importance of working through contingency plans when running a business (13:35)
• IQBAR’s beginning marketing stages and how it has evolved (14:31)
• Crowdfunding and investors (16:06)
• Spreading the word about IQBAR to the general public through social media avenues and ads (20:27)
• Wil’s staff hierarchy, their roles, and the difficulty in finding employees who are a good fit and willing to stay long term (24:41)
• The move to include sales in brick and mortar stores in addition to e-commerce (28:41)
• The forecast of growth for the company (32:21)
• Market saturation in nutrition bars and how Will has leveraged that to his advantage (33:54)
• When to know you’ve grown your business enough and being content with that growth (36:51)
• The aspects of running a business that Will loves and dreads (39:00)
• Advice for someone who is on the cusp of starting a food product business (39:59)
• The facade of work-life balance (42:44)
• The memories made and lessons learned when bootstrapping a business 45:43)

Where to shop all things IQBAR:

• IQBAR

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