In this episode of Ventures, my guest Jairus Morris (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jairus-morris-41a85355/) and I discuss his entrepreneurial journey starting and growing SUPLMNT (https://suplmnt.com/, ← if you are looking for a beautifully designed water bottle, check these out). We discuss his background, early validation experiments, team recruitment strategy, fundraising tactics, vision for his company, and advice for fellow entrepreneurs.

You can watch this episode below or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts (search for “Ventures”).

1:27 - Jairus intro, background, motivation for starting SUPLMNT

6:53 - Showing the basic bottle (check it out on video)

8:24 - How did Jairus initially start the journey into his product/growth strategy.

10:08 - How many different types of bottles are available to buy?

11:52 - What is the broader vision of the SUPLMNT brand?

13:49 - What is Jairus’ personal strategy for staying healthy?

14:58 - Custom SUPLMNT bottles for Warby Parker

17:22 - Given the vision (wellness), where is SUPLMNT heading? What can Jairus tell us about the next things on the horizon for the business.

18:37 - What has the process been like for Jairus to navigate the "impossible job" of an early stage entrepreneur, juggling all the balls / wearing all the hats?

22:32 - D2C Brands like SUPLMNT are a marketing game...what is SUPLMNT's marketing strategy?

26:40 - How has Jairus experienced bias in his entrepreneurial journey?

29:58 - What's Jairus’ advice for the VC/Angel community to be more empathetic to under-represented people groups?

32:10 - Not all VCs have gone through the entrepreneurial journey.

33:01 - What are the next steps - in Jairus’ opinion - for scaling SUPLMNT?

35:00 - Final words to the founders/investors listening in. (Keep going!)

36:01 - Where can people follow Jairus/SUPLMNT online? https://www.instagram.com/suplmnt // https://www.linkedin.com/in/jairus-morris-41a85355/ // https://www.instagram.com/jairusmorris/ // https://suplmnt.com/