Will Nitze is the founder and CEO of IQBAR, a brain and body nutrition company. I reached out to Will because I actually like and use his product. We had a really insightful conversation where he shared in-depth about his journey to starting IQBAR and all of the big steps in between brainstorming his product to where he is now.

Will’s story is not only full of great tips for anyone else starting or running their own company, but it’s also really inspiring to see how hard he worked to even get this company off the ground. When he was in his mid 20s, he spent an entire year working evenings and weekends to research, plan, and design his product. As all of this was going on, he realized there wasn’t really a road map for this kind of thing. He had no idea how to manufacture a product or do any of the other important things that come with starting a company. Will shared really openly about this process and how he figured out his own roadmap and processes to creating and manufacturing his product. Will also shared how, after launching the IQBAR crowdfunding campaign, he used consumer feedback to really help his product evolve into what it is today.

One of the main takeaways Will put forward in our interview was the idea of unit economics and that it’s easy to come up with a great product, but it’s difficult to come up with a great product at a great price that also resonates with consumers. If you are in the midst of starting your own business or currently running a business, you’ll appreciate Will’s insights on considerations to make in order to start and grow your company.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

• Will’s background story pre IQBAR
• Why Will decided to start a brain food company
• The roadmap to starting a company (does it exist?)
• Why a great product isn’t enough for a successful business
• The three things you need to focus on for a successful business
• How listening to your consumers can help your product evolve
• Marketing your product to your consumers
• How Will used reverse engineering to design IQBAR
• Using unit economics and consumer desires to create the best possible product
• How Will moved forward with creating prototypes and eventually finding a co-packer to take him on
• Using crowdfunding sites to fund your product
• The benefits of selling on Amazon
• Challenges and logistics of getting product into stores
• Where Will sees IQBAR going in the future
• The question you should be asking about your business every year
• The importance of optionality in your business

Links and resources mentioned during this episode:

• Visit Will’s website, IQBAR
• Purchase IQBAR on Amazon
• Connect with Will on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
• Books Mentioned: Mission in a Bottle, Grain Brain, and Ramping Your Brain
• Crowdfunding Sites: Kickstarter and Indiegogo

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