#awinewith Tania & Kim East Forged
MEET Tania & Kim
Tania & kim are the Founders of East Forged.
Find Tania & Kim here:
East Forged website and Instagram @eastforged.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:08):
Tanya Kim, thank you so much for both being here on Spark tv. Now, I met Kim at an amazing little market slash cafe slash restaurant probably three or four years ago, and it wasn't through East Forged your current business, it was through a previous business. So I'm so excited to chat to you both about how you both met, how you both went into business together and your backs stories. Who wants to kick us off? How did you guys actually get here? We're all going to be too polite now.
Tania (00:53):
Yeah, Kim actually normally takes this part. You go for it, Kim.
Kim (00:57):
Oh, I just thought let's do it in reverse, something different.
Tania (01:01):
Oh, okay then. Right, right. We always try and be even and fair with each other.
Danielle Lewis (01:07):
Oh my God, I love this. This is like co-founder love right here.
Tania (01:11):
Oh yeah. We do get along really well. We have our moments, but
Kim (01:17):
Yeah, that is true.
Danielle Lewis (01:19):
But you've got to though. You've got to be able to have your moments.
Tania (01:22):
Yeah, exactly. No, Kim and I were tea specialists and we actually met down at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo mice, and I forget who, I think I was sitting somewhere and Kim was walking past. Anyway, someone introduced us and we started chatting and that conversation, I don't know, we just went into the whole thing. I wish T was more like this. I wish people understood T better. And so we found through that quick conversation, we had some pretty common values. And then over time we did a couple of a little project together, which was the whiskey infused tea. I'm sorry, it was That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. We infused some Ong tea in a whiskey barrel. Pretty interesting. It was fun. And through that both it gave us a glimpse into our work ethics. And then we just started having conversations about how bad is the iced tea industry and why don't more cafes do cold brew tea? It's so easy. And we thought, well, if they're not going to do it, maybe we should do it. And then this conversation, and Kim and I were talking, I still remember one day saying to Kim, Kim, we're having this conversation, but you are sort of thinking about this as both of us doing it together. And she went, oh yeah, of course. Do you remember that?
Kim (03:00):
I do. I was going to say, it was like we were sort of workshopping issues, not issues, but in terms of bringing a cold tea product to market. We were just talking through the issues that I was thinking of, and I always just had in my mind that because Tanya and I had been talking about it together, talking that it was something I'd like to do with her together. So that was never a question. And I think the penny drop for Tanya one day, and it was just like, oh, you're talking about us doing it together.
Tania (03:30):
You can never assume. You never know. She might've been just digging into my brain. So basically that's how it happened. I live here in regional Victoria and Kim, as you know is in Queensland, but I am an ex Queenslander.
Danielle Lewis (03:48):
Excellent. Good. I'm glad.
Tania (03:50):
And I have to say, there's lots of times I love coming up to Queensland and I just love talking to Kim because I know we're all Australians, but really every state speaks their own language.
Danielle Lewis (04:04):
That's very true.
Tania (04:06):
And so I often say to Kim, I really feel like I'm coming home. I'm chatting to her, I come to visit. Yeah. So basically that's how we started off. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (04:15):
Wow. That is amazing. And because it's really interesting. I remember when I first tried the product, I remember I did a little stint in the US and I was always surprised. So in the US, there are a little bit more into iced tea, unsweetened as you would expect it to be, but in Australia it's the terrible inner bottle, sugary, disgusting. And I was always surprised that we didn't have that here. So when I saw your product, I was like, ah, this is a no brainer. This makes sense. This is how you should drink it. So obviously without, so what is your elevator pitch? I won't do it. Tell me the elevator pitch for east Forged
Tania (04:55):
For your turn, Kimmy.
Kim (04:57):
Okay. Well, with East Forge, we produce a refreshingly social use style of iced tea. We donate any sugars or sweetness. It's just the natural cold brew taste of tea. And we add a small amount of fruit juice to round out the flavor profile. But the exciting thing that we do in the theatrical element is we add in a new addition, which is what we've come to coin as the air element. And really it's a trend element because it's incorporating, we utilize two different gases to come up with that contextual concept. And when it pulls out into a glass, it actually looks like another social beverage. The beer.
Danielle Lewis (05:45):
Yeah. It's so cool. I remember the first time I try it and when you shake it up and the nitro infusion does its work and then it pulls out and you're like, wow, this is like I'm drinking something super special. This isn't just iced tea as you know it. It's really exciting.
Kim (06:03):
Yeah,
Tania (06:03):
That's right. And that's what Kim and I wanted because anyone can do cold brew tea at home, and it doesn't have to be the special cold brew tea bags, by the way. Any tea will work as a cold brew. You just pop the leaves into the water and then pop it into the fridge overnight. So we knew we had to create an elevated customer experience also by not adding sugar, sugar, fats and alcohol provide so much texture to a drink. And so they are flavor carriers as well. And because we weren't adding those elements, we needed something. And as Kim said, that's where we added the air, our unique mix of gases. And that adds that beautiful mouth texture when you drink in it that silky smooth nitro foam.
Danielle Lewis (06:55):
Yeah, no, it's awesome. So then tell me, okay, so you both met at a coffee conference, which I find crazy. Did your tea background and tea product, and you met at a coffee conference. So obviously you both had careers or businesses before that. What were your individual backgrounds before you got to East Forged?
Kim (07:21):
Yeah, sure. I'll dive in. I'm actually a chartered accountant by my training. Did you know that? Did
Danielle Lewis (07:30):
I didn't know that. No, I just think of you as my tea lady.
Kim (07:35):
No, my past life. Well, I still am a chartered accountant. I'm a registered chartered accountant. But yeah, I did the whole thing through big four and I've worked in a variety of sectors. And I even went and spent time over in the UK for five years in a FTSE listed media agency and traveled around the world in that role. So that's kind of my previous background. And I guess in terms of where tea sort of fits into my life, tea has been part of my life from when I was a small child, and I am actually an Australian, a Taiwanese Australian adoptee, so my parents of western background. And so tea in our household was very much the British traditions of tea. So that sort of black tea with milk, but not great tea, by the way.
Danielle Lewis (08:33):
Sounds like a tea. My dad drinks.
Kim (08:35):
Yeah, it was like this little quick dunk of a tea bag into water. And then lots of milk, not great, but it's the ritual. And it was always that thing that was on the table, the pot of tea, the kettle would go on as soon as everyone wake up in the morning. If someone had a guest, it would be the first thing that we made for them. So in that respect, I guess I've always just had this nice ritual and comfort and soothing feeling around tea. And then I guess as I left home and I went to university, which I went to uni in Brisbane, I sort of started to do a bit more exploration, more of the trends on tea flavored and those styles of tea. So I sort of became known in my tea circles as being the tea person. But looking back, I actually knew nothing about tea to be honest.
(09:36):
But we just used to have these little tea parties where we'd brew up a few different flavored teas. And so when my husband and I had our first trip together overseas, he wasn't my husband at the time, but he organized this experience for me to sit down with a tea master. Oh wow. Yeah, he was a team in Singapore and it was a brewing master, so he had this dinky little tea set. I've never seen it before. And we sat down, everything was miniature ized, tiny doll size. And what I came to learn, it's actually the custom of small tea pop brewing or the sort of gong fu char style. And we sat there for a full afternoon, got completely tea drunk, which is a thing, eating these little sim sums and been transported really into this new style of tea that I'd never ever encountered before.
(10:32):
This single origin single garden. And it was pretty much ong that we stuck on most of the day, and I've never actually encountered that. And one of the teas that we actually drank was a Taiwanese Ong, which was in a Don thing. And all of a sudden I had this connection to Taiwan, which the only real connection I'd had in the past with Taiwan is that things that are made in Taiwan are probably better than those that are made in China in terms of quality. I get that as a westerner. Exactly. And as that's my background in terms of being raised. So I just dived into this rabbit hole of learning more about Taiwanese teas, and it just gave me this real sense of pride about this crafted product, agricultural product that they're so well known for. And it just made me want to learn more.
(11:34):
And that really sparked that drive to learn more about tea and the world of tea. And then it just maintained, I was really a passion project all through my accounting career. And I think when I moved to the uk, I got really serious about being a really nerdy sort of tea person. And I was traveling around the world three out of every four weeks and couldn't quite keep up with time zones. I was working to UK time trying to work local time, and it was just like 24 hour cycle of work. And I just thought, I'm just going to really engage my passion and wherever I go, I'm just going to learn what TIA is about in that country. And that's basically what I did for five years and master all this knowledge, had no idea what I was going to do with it. Came back to Australia, took a little trip to come back home and actually fell pregnant with my son and then tried to go back into accounting land and just had no passion left for it. So it was like, okay, what else am I going to do? And I thought, I really would love to show people in particularly Brisbane, my local community what tea can be. So I thought, I'm just going to dive in and try and educate people in this community more about tea. And that's sort of where it all started.
Danielle Lewis (12:58):
Wow, that's awesome. And it's so cool because I remember you are the person that opened my eyes about tea. I remember going down to wandering cooks on a Sunday and getting to taste all of the different things and you getting to know my taste and hey, try this and try this. And yeah, it was such a cool experience.
Kim (13:21):
Oh, I love hearing that. Yeah, I miss those days.
Danielle Lewis (13:24):
I know. A simple a DA simpler D. And what about you, Tanya? What's your story Prior to East Forged?
Tania (13:34):
Prior to East Forge, I was selling commercial lighting, so lighting in houses, street lighting, flood lighting.
Danielle Lewis (13:44):
Wow.
Tania (13:46):
Yes, I can calculate a really good lighting design and
Danielle Lewis (13:50):
I love that these are both two things, accounting and lighting, and you went tea's our thing
Tania (13:56):
And t's out there. So as I told people, oh, my partner's an electrical engineer and both my kids went into lighting as well. So we're not the greatest of dinner companions if we go out to a restaurant because the four of us will sit there with our heads up going,
Danielle Lewis (14:17):
Just assessing what's
Tania (14:19):
Going on better over here. And we really do, we walk around with our heads up all the time. So even though we're out of it, I've been out of it for years, it's sort of still very much part of my thought process. And what I love about lighting, and I still love lighting, is light tea. It's this unseen presence within everyone's life and it can affect your mood. And people don't think about it. They don't realize how it affects them. So anyway, that's what I used to do. But also the industry, because it was part of the construction industry on the commercial side of it, it's pretty tough. And when you've got log and lead times and you've got to get big chandeliers in is in for projects and that, it was like, I'm just getting too old for this stress. So I take on other stress and start up another business.
Danielle Lewis (15:19):
Yeah, I was just going to say, I dunno if you thought that.
Tania (15:22):
I didn't think
Danielle Lewis (15:22):
Very stressful.
Tania (15:24):
So for me, like Kim, I grew up drinking tea. My dad taught me how to make tea. He was the Billy boy when he was a apprentice carpenter set the Billy going in the 44 gallon drum, which you see now the apprentice is sent down the road to grab some coffees. And I was in China and I was just in some local markets and everything and I had bought a teapot and the shop owner invited me to sit and drink some tea with him. And it was a really beautiful green tea. And I hadn't tried green tea like that before. And I went, how can we go and have tea like that back here in Australia? And so that was my exit plan out of lighting to go into tea.
(16:13):
And I had planned to go and study in China because as a sales person, I truly believe that you must know what you are selling, you must understand your product. And you thought, I'll get my head around this team really easy. It can't be as hard as calculating lighting plans. And as Kim and I both agree, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. And my first study tour was to Taiwan and strange connection between Kim and I and I ended up down the rabbit hole of Taiwan. And I've traveled back there quite a few times now just learning more and more. So the trips to Japan, China and India just didn't happen because I ended up in Taiwan. So yeah.
Danielle Lewis (16:59):
Wow, that's incredible. And so obviously both of you have gone from careers to then falling in love with tea and then serendipitously meeting and deciding and chatting and building a relationship around tea and then deciding to build a business together. So did I guess, so there's two questions I want to ask. Firstly, what roles do you both play in the business and how you find having co-founders and how you navigate that relationship? And then I want to explore how you actually got to making a product. So product development is hard, so I'm super keen to understand that. But let's talk about your roles first. So how did you decide who was going to do what has that evolved over time and what do you both do now in the business?
Tania (17:51):
Yeah, it's definitely involved. At first it was very much, we made joint decisions and we sat in meetings together and it was very much, we were a couple, we were a strong couple. Hey Kim, everything,
Kim (18:08):
Everything about across the business, we both were a hundred percent across.
Tania (18:16):
And then there was a couple of little things that happened and the to-do list just got bigger and bigger. And it was actually, we were going through the Start Mate program, wasn't it? Oh,
Danielle Lewis (18:29):
Cool. Yep.
Kim (18:30):
Well, through the interview process,
Tania (18:32):
The interview process, and we got to second round in that, which was really great. But it was the thing that really stood out to us and a little bit of advice given to us is that divide and conquer.
Danielle Lewis (18:42):
Yeah.
Tania (18:44):
And so Kim naturally headed towards the financial side because me and spreadsheets, they sort of scare me. Excel scares me just a little bit. And so then I steer towards the sales and marketing. I actually have a degree in marketing though it's been many years since I had done the marketing, but that's sort of where I steered that way. So we sort of divided that way. We Kim,
Kim (19:15):
Yeah, yeah, we did. We still make decisions about MPD together and product development. I think that is actually our superpower is what we know about T and being able to then merge that knowledge together and come up with ideas around product. So we think that will always stay the same, but it's definitely been about trying to move our responsibilities a little bit so that we can cover more ground and get more things done. Even though I'm the worst at it,
Tania (19:50):
I dunno, it's like also besides, I say Kim takes care, the accounting and everything, but she's also the one leading the charge in the investment rounds, going out there talking to investors, and that's really selling us as well. But she's better at speaking that language than me. I'm just, like I said, Kim, you do, you take care of that.
Danielle Lewis (20:17):
But I mean that is so good being able to, I guess, be able to have those conversations and respect each other enough where you can go, you know what? You are really good at that. I'm really good at this and this stuff we both are amazing at and we should come together for that more strategic product piece. That's incredible.
Tania (20:39):
But I think it's also, it came out of necessity, but when that was, which I think
Danielle Lewis (20:45):
It often does.
Tania (20:46):
Yeah, it does. But when that advice was given to us, we'd been together talking to each other and probably working on this for a couple of years. So there is that development of trust that has come through by then. We've started to see the good and bad side of each other by then
Kim (21:06):
And
Danielle Lewis (21:06):
Still love each other. Amazing. It's like that though. Somebody said that to me once with a co-founder. They're like, plan the divorce before the wedding. And you're like, I was like, well, that's a very romantic way to look at it. But it was kind of that you are good at this, they're good at that. Document that down. Think about what might happen in the event of a disagreement or completely parting ways. Have all of those open and honest conversations as soon as you possibly can.
Tania (21:38):
Yeah, I have to say, we haven't really talked about ever partying wise, though. I don't, that's not let Kim go. And I don't think Kim would let me go. Good.
Danielle Lewis (21:51):
She
Tania (21:51):
Tried away from me. I'd be the classic hanging onto her ankles. So she walked away. She'd please let go and be. I think she'd do the same to me. I was
Kim (22:00):
Going to say do the same. I would do the same. And I think we both are very clear on what the exit plan, and I think we're both on the same page with that. And because of that, yeah, we are in it together to a point. And then, yeah, there
Tania (22:19):
Was something, Kim there, something we did in early days and it was about our values, wasn't it?
Kim (22:25):
Yes, it was about, I think, yeah, it was looking at our why, but not necessarily the why for the business, but our personal why, why we both in this. And we sort of went through, we spent quite a bit of time around that. And I think we have different styles and we have two independent people and we think differently. That's for certain. But I think the core value of what we love about tea and what we really hope for the tea industry aligns very, very strongly. And I think once we sort of found that and we had a conversation around why we're both here doing what we are doing, that sort of underpinned it. And that's probably why we don't, we've never talked about leaving each other.
Tania (23:17):
No, we don't. And it's also how we view the world as well, Kim, you remember and our basic values that way.
Kim (23:25):
That's right.
Danielle Lewis (23:26):
What prompted you to do something like that? Was there, was there advice? Was there just a conversation? Was there something that triggered you both sitting down and talking about that? Why
Tania (23:40):
Kim? You were the one that came up with it. You said, I want to do this. Why?
Kim (23:45):
Yeah, I know. Listening to, I walk my dog religiously at five 40 in the morning and I listen to podcasts. I'm a big podcaster, so that's sort of where I intake new information. And I think I had been listening to, I might've been listening to an audio book by Simon Sinek at the time. There was some good stuff in there. And I just thought, I think it'd be great if we could have this discussion about where East for is going and why Tanya and I so invested in it, because I think that's going to be important in the long term. And probably at the time, I didn't think much more of it than that, but was, I think I said to Tanya, we've really got to do this. I think it's important.
Danielle Lewis (24:35):
And look, it turned out to be awesome. It turned out to be one of those fundamental conversations that you think at the time you're just having a chat and sharing ideas and sharing values, but it really does underpin how you work together.
Kim (24:49):
Yep, absolutely.
Danielle Lewis (24:50):
I love that. That's awesome. So let's talk product. So people dialing in, it's a full mixed bag companies software of the service hardware companies, product-based businesses. So you guys have a product, a food and beverage industry category product, and I would say it's a pretty new category, do you think? Maybe, but yeah. So tell me
Kim (25:21):
Again. Look, I would say it's a segment within the ice tea category that is first to market.
Danielle Lewis (25:29):
Yeah. So I'm kind of sitting here thinking, how did you go about approaching people and saying, this is our idea, let's make this happen. I assume there were no issues, it was super smooth, everything was fantastic first prototype. So tell me about that process and what challenges might've come up and how you overcame them and share that process with us.
Kim (25:57):
Sure. You can take this one. Okay. I'll start the actual, I think the flavor development in terms of, let me start by saying we didn't really know what the end product was going to be. We sort of knew we needed to elevate a cold brew tea experience, but we weren't a hundred percent sure on the execution. But in terms of flavor profiles and what we wanted our first line of skews to be, which were the three flavors that came fairly quickly. And we were very fortunate. Tanya had just been over in Shanghai representing Australia as the tea brewing champion of Australia. So she Oh, wow. Yeah, which is very cool. And not everyone knows that part of our story.
(26:52):
So she'd just come back from Shanghai seeing lots of cool stuff happening over in China. And we were just monitoring, we were always, as tea people, we monitor the tea space and there was some other nitro drinks popping up here and there and up in Brisbane because the weather was really warm. And as part of my other tea business, I consult to cafes and restaurants, and I always give them a model for making a cold brew tea product. There's always good returns on investment there. So our headspace was in the right place as we sort of thought about a little bit more about how we go to market, apart from a whole level of naivety, one of our first thoughts, were we going to go to the markets, the weekend morning markets, sell this product? You remember that Tanya?
Tania (27:45):
I know. And
Kim (27:46):
It sort of sat with us for a couple of days. I said, Tanya, I've got two young children. It, it's not what I want to do with my, no. And I don't know how scalable it was in that format. So that was a quick revision, let's just say. Good, I'm glad. But it was a matter of, so we sort of kept working off labor profile. We sent samples up and down the east coast of Australia, and then we sort of thought about, we were starting to think at this point, how are we going to get it to people and what's going to be that overall result? And there was a lot of conversations around what sort of container it should go to the consumer in. And there was a lot of conversation about that, wasn't there, Tanya?
Tania (28:34):
Yeah, there was the battle of the bottle or a can.
Kim (28:39):
Yeah, I remember we spent a long time on that, and I think I may have had a bit of a preference towards a can, but we were given a lot of advice that tea sold in a bottle is considered more premium because you can see what the liquid is and that sort of thing. So because we were kind of starting to get interested in a can, I dunno if this is working backwards in terms of our thought process, but we knew that was what we wanted it in. So that's where the conversation started. We started tracking down people that canned drinks, and we had some very interesting conversations. We, Tanya, the first few people we reached,
Tania (29:26):
Let's say there was a lot of unanswered messages, left non-return phone calls. Oh yes, we can do that. And then, no, no. And I really down here in Melbourne, the breweries down here would've been up for something really different. But no, no, it ended up being a Sydney guy.
Kim (29:51):
It did. It
Tania (29:52):
Was there to take on the canning side of it. Yeah. Wow.
Kim (29:56):
Yeah, that's right. So we finally found a mobile canner that we had a conversation with and he said even though he couldn't help us directly, he knew someone that might be interested in taking the brewing process and the actual creation process and having that conversation. So that's how we landed with our co-packer that we use today. So we're very fortunate for Andy. And we lobbed up there, didn't we, Tanya, to craft beer, a brewery. And we sort of said, this is what we want to do. We want to take these tea leaves and we want to put them in. We don't know exactly, but we want to brew this. And then we want to put some gas. And with tea, particularly, we have seen sparkling teas and you can still find sparkling teas on the market. But with sparkling teas and the use of c2, C2 very quickly overrides the delicate tea flavors. And what you tend to find is that when people really start to use CO2 into their drinks, they are adding back in either sweetness sugars or fruit juices, and it quickly transforms into either a fruit forward drink or something that's a lot sweeter and not representing the tea. So we knew we didn't want to play too much around with C co2, but we definitely had seen nitrogen being a potential option for us and creating textural head. Yeah. I
Tania (31:40):
Still remember sending you a message from China, Kim, after the competition. I saw a nitro over there a little bit, and I just text her from Shanghai going, no, CO2, it's Nitro,
Danielle Lewis (31:55):
This is where it's at,
Kim (31:57):
This is what we need to be doing.
Tania (32:02):
But then it was through Andy that we ended up with the mix of gases. So that's the similar mix to a Guinness beer.
Danielle Lewis (32:11):
Oh, cool.
Tania (32:12):
Yeah. So you've got that last thing, excitement within the drink. Once the nitrogen foam disappears, that can go fairly quickly. Okay. Yeah. So that's the reason behind it.
Danielle Lewis (32:25):
And so you've found the person after many trials and tribulations,
Tania (32:31):
It was about 12 months actually to find
Danielle Lewis (32:33):
That. Oh wow, really?
Tania (32:34):
Oh yeah. It was not quick at all. We were developing our flavor profiles and the whole time just keep ringing people, visiting people. Yeah. No,
Kim (32:45):
And to be honest, if we hadn't have been two of us, this is where the co-founder of power really came to light. I think both of us said we would've given up. It would've probably within two months, three months of the journey trying to do it yourself, it would just would've been too
Danielle Lewis (33:03):
Bit overwhelmed. Yeah. Well it's so defeating. I guess if everyone's kind of not replying or saying yes, then no, and whatever that is, it would be easy to give up.
Tania (33:14):
And I sort of understand why they were saying no now,
Kim (33:18):
Because
Tania (33:19):
What we're doing is really different and we are first to market and we just, to us, it's a natural thing to do with tea. And it's funny, the recent consent makers and shakers that I was at in Sydney just a couple of weeks ago, people were saying, why isn't this being done before? And we don't know. We actually don't know, but we actually think it's just because the time is right now.
Danielle Lewis (33:52):
Well, I mean the thing that I think of is that there are a lot of wines coming out that are zero alcohol. And I think what that's saying is there is a big market of people that want to engage in a social activity that doesn't involve drinking. And I just feel like you guys were way ahead of that trend. And I feel like there's a lot of things going on. I feel like that is one thing. And then just the education around tea and how amazing that experience can be and how amazing. And you're right, changing people's perception of the English breakfast with milk versus all of these amazing flavors and opportunities that there are there. And you're right, there is nobody else doing that.
Tania (34:39):
No, nobody else is doing it. In fact, we were asked once, where have you seen this idea? Yeah, we were asked that, which is fine, I can understand because most people will say there's never an original idea. And we actually said nowhere.
Danielle Lewis (34:59):
Yeah. Wow. That is so cool. That is so cool. So what's next? What are you guys working on at the moment and what's the next challenge that you are tackling?
Kim (35:12):
Well, I think for us, we dropped into a major retailer this week for the first time. Oh my
Danielle Lewis (35:19):
God, congratulations. This is so cool. Yes,
Kim (35:22):
It was. It's very cool. It's very amazing. It's quite amazing to see your product on shelf, I have to say. I mean, it's a pilot trial, but we're hoping that it's going to give the data points that we need to then be able to roll it out a little bit further. Tanya's been head down in a fantastic accelerator program and I'll let Tanya talk to that. And we are looking to start our scaling journey now, I guess. So we were fortunate to be boosting female founders recipients.
Danielle Lewis (35:59):
Oh, nice. Awesome.
Kim (36:01):
From last year. And we've brought on a couple of investors now to support this scaling journey and yeah.
Danielle Lewis (36:11):
And you guys did a Kickstarter to start as well, a crowdfunding type campaign.
Kim (36:17):
Yeah, correct. We did. We did. So that's 2019. We ran that.
Danielle Lewis (36:23):
I can't believe that was that long ago. I know,
Kim (36:25):
I know.
Danielle Lewis (36:25):
Oh my god.
Kim (36:26):
Date, it's mind blowing.
Tania (36:28):
Wow. That was ages ago. And that was just before we launched. And that was very small, and that was more to validate that people were interested in the product. It was the same as we went to all the tea festivals at the time. So we, product validation was really super important to us. Which it should be anyway, when you are creating.
Danielle Lewis (36:53):
Yes, definitely.
Tania (36:55):
Just make sure that people do think it's as good as we think it is. And during our journey, one of the problems that Kim and I had probably was with distribution, just that knowledge of working with supermarkets, because our strategy plan in the beginning was to do hospitality, and we launched the week before we all shut down for Covid. So that was an unexpected joy. But
Danielle Lewis (37:29):
We also, you call it a joy,
Tania (37:33):
But what we found through the journey is that people, our customers, yes, they go to cafes and restaurants, but they don't necessarily necessarily hang out at bars, but they want us at the supermarket. They actually want us there. So that's then why we've had to really look at our distribution. And the couple of investors that we've brought on actually are great guys from future state, and they've been in the industry distribution, supermarket distribution, food service for a long, we won't say how many years, but they're a long time. So having them on board, they're the ones that help to get us into Kohl's. The accelerator I'm working, I've just finished working with, is actually a Woolworths funded accelerator C Australia. So we're hoping, fingers crossed some success comes out of that in the next few months as well.
Danielle Lewis (38:27):
Awesome. That's incredible. And I think one thing I've seen you guys do a lot is awards accelerators, programs, grants. I love the idea of we don't have to do this alone. There's people out there who have experience and expertise, and how can you leverage that to grow your business? I think that is so smart.
Kim (38:51):
Yeah. I will have to say, it's one of the things, it did take us a little while to learn. And so some of our learning could have been accelerated had we were of the opinion of strong hindsight,
Danielle Lewis (39:04):
Strong
Kim (39:04):
Independent women. We are intelligent, we can do everything ourselves. That kind of is how we came out of the gate in the first few months.
Danielle Lewis (39:14):
Good though. You need a little bit of that. You need a
Kim (39:16):
Little bit of that. You need that. I'm not saying that that's not important, but there's just things that you just don't know. And if you ask and you start to do your research, well, geez, it's made a huge difference for us.
Tania (39:32):
Oh, absolutely. And I get asked, what's the one thing that you would give us a piece of advice? And down here in Victoria, I always say, go along to Startup Vic. It is one of the best startup communities. And just hang out with other founders, listen to their problems, their woes, and don't be scared to talk about your idea.
Danielle Lewis (39:59):
Oh my God, yes. This is the best advice.
Kim (40:02):
Yeah,
Tania (40:02):
You've got to talk about it. We all get paranoid. Oh no, someone else will take the idea. But you've got to, you've be, because you'll find more people will want to help you and support you through that idea than people that want to take it away from you.
Danielle Lewis (40:19):
And you're so right. The biggest thing I learned was it is so hard. People won't steal your idea because the idea is not the hard part. The idea is, well, roughly the easy part, the actual doing of it and bringing that to market. That is the hard part. And that's why people don't steal ideas is because they know I can have the idea. And that takes you 10 years to actually get it to be a success. And you're right, I've been blown away. Even that's why we do the Spark TV that we're on right now. It's because founders are so generous and all it takes is just having that conversation, asking those questions, listening to other people's stories where you go, oh, that was that thing that I'm dealing with. Or if this inspires someone to apply for a grant that they were holding back on, or whatever it might be, that is the magic. Just having those conversations with people who are in it, trying to do what you are trying to do.
Tania (41:13):
Yep. Completely agree.
Kim (41:15):
Yeah, I agree too.
Danielle Lewis (41:17):
Oh my God. Well that is phenomenal and I love it because that was the question that I was going to wrap up with, which is what is that one piece of advice that you would give to a founder who was either early stage or just starting out? And I love that you threw it in there because talking to people, getting amongst the community, wherever it is, whatever city you're in, is definitely the key. And I always say this too, there are so many free resources out there and people who are in say, more regional areas who might not get access to go to networking events, there's so much online that you can jump in and start listening to other people's stories. So I'm so grateful that both of you came on Spark TV and shared your experience and wisdom with the Spark community as well. That's absolutely incredible.
Tania (42:08):
Oh, you are more than welcome. We happy to talk. And it's not very often that Kim and I get to sit side by side like this and chat.
Danielle Lewis (42:16):
I love that so much. Yeah, lovely. And it's so good. I love hearing the co-founder story. That's incredible. Awesome. Well, you guys have been fantastic. Thank you so much again for being here. And I know that everyone listening in would've gotten a lot of wisdom from you both.
Tania (42:36):
You are welcome. Yeah, it's pleasure.
