← Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Building a Better Brand from the Ground Up ft. Rorra Founders | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby
00:38:50
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- [00:00]
A
Thing about microplastics as well is they find 20 times more concentration in the brain than any other organ. Took autopsies of people, and they looked at the amount of microplastic and nanoplastic content in the brain, and it was about the same amount of plastic that's in a credit card.
- [00:17]
B
This is crazy. Your kids eczema is what sparked kind of a little bit of this mission.
- [00:24]
A
Yeah, she was going through, and I had really bad eczema. Every time we'd put her in the bath, it would flare up really bad. And so we were trying different things. Doctors were giving us steroid cream. Didn't really want to put that on her every single day. And we got a filtered shower head. And within a couple of days of bathing her in that water, she had perfectly clear skin. But I could always tell when the filters were getting burnt out because their skin would flare up again. And so we started looking at the industry and looking at all the different products. Really wanted to understand why this was happening in the first place. And, you know, the tap water infrastructure, you know, was laid back in the Victorian era almost 100 years ago. And as they moved across the country, I mean, like Chicago, for example, was pretty much mandatory to use lead pipes. And so there's still 9.2 million lead service lines underneath the ground. And it's a huge issue when it comes to contamination. And it's going to take over a trillion dollars just to solve the crumbling infrastructure if they can get the money. And so, you know, we're looking at different products in the market. It was one plastic product after the next. They're making a lot of bold claims that didn't have a lot of data and science to back it up. And so we really wanted to build a solution and something that could be used whether you lived in an apartment or, you know, your own home, that was out of the highest quality materials, had more advanced filtration technology, and was super simple and easy to use.
- [01:49]
B
So this is more of a personal pursuit now. You're disrupting the water industry, you think or is the goal to disrupt the water industry?
- [01:56]
A
Yeah, I think it's. It's a disruptive, but it's also to raise the standard. I think there hasn't been a lot of innovation in the space in the last 20 or 30 years. And our water and tap water infrastructure is deteriorating much faster than the innovation. And so, you know, we really want to push for better solutions made out of higher quality materials. So that's why we use stainless steel and products that are going to be able to be used for decades.
- [02:25]
C
That's what we noticed as consumers too. Right. We both came to this industry trying products and stuff, trying to find the right solution for our homes, our families and how we built Aurora. All of the values that we have as a brand are all the things we couldn't find. Like we couldn't find really easy and transparently clear like efficacy testing data. As a brand, we feel extremely strong about being very upfront with that and sharing that for everyone to see. We didn't find a lot of products made out of stainless steel and other like sustainable materials that are non plastic. We want to use those non plastic materials for most of our drinking water products, if not all of our products. And separately just really disrupting the industry with continuous innovation. A lot of companies that exist right now have kind of had the same product suite for years or decades. And we're focused on constantly having not only existing platforms, but continuing to innovate on the filters that go into them like their software. So we can drop a new filter every year to 18 months and improve the efficacy of products over time.
- [03:25]
B
That's something that intrigues me. Like how do you innovate in water in those water space, you know, like obviously past what you've done now and what more innovation lies ahead?
- [03:37]
A
Well, there's a lot of different things we're going to be focusing on either kind of in different aspects. So we'll be focusing on things for people who specifically rent an apartment that are maybe smaller in format and work better for them. And also the other way as well. When we look at the commercial industry and whole homes and things like that.
- [03:55]
B
Commercial buildings, exactly.
- [03:57]
C
Multifamily.
- [03:58]
A
So it can go all the way up. But, but there's a lot of different types of materials and different technologies that can be used, different materials. However, when you also are dealing in water, you've got to test all of that and that takes time and that takes money. So for every single one of these different contaminant reduction tests, it can be three to four months and tens of thousands of dollars just to run a single test. So it was something that we felt strongly about and we made sure that we went out and raised money initially so that we had that money set aside to make sure that we could have all that transparent testing data right out of the gate.
- [04:31]
B
So yeah, I'm envisioning like RORA for filtered water heads, you know, for mitigating microplastics as you shower. Right.
- [04:40]
A
So we, we did just come out with A filtered shower head.
- [04:43]
B
You did?
- [04:43]
A
Yeah, we did perfect because my son's got eczema.
- [04:46]
C
Let's give it a shot.
- [04:47]
A
Yeah, there you go. So we've, we had our shower head in our house probably like the last two years, testing out multiple different iterations and formulations and everything down from the hole size, you know, figuring out exactly how much water was going to come through, how many millimeters those holes should be, how the flow should be so that the coverage was the best. So we really did a lot of testing and ourselves, but, you know, we just had a new baby daughter. She doesn't have any eczema. And so that's exciting to see after using our products.
- [05:20]
B
That's amazing. Count me in on one of those.
- [05:22]
A
Absolutely.
- [05:23]
C
Add it to the order.
- [05:23]
B
Yeah, add it to my order, please. Yeah, that's great stuff. So, and you know, I asked you guys about, you know, version fours coming. You're on version one for the, you know, like, as a homeowner, you want one in your property. You know, you want, even like the building we just purchased, you know, we'd want that in our water for our coffee machines and all the stuff.
- [05:47]
C
Totally.
- [05:47]
B
You know, I mean, I know it's a fad now to talk about microplastics, you know, like, it's like. But it worked out perfectly for your timing, right? It's just like the, the demand to mitigate microplastics in your water. And you guys basically, from what I read, like, 98% omission.
- [06:07]
A
Yeah, but 97.3%. But think about microplastics as well, is they find 20 times more concentration in the brain than any other organ. And so, you know, can have a big detriment to our health. And they did, you know, they took autopsies of people and they looked at the amount of microplastic and nanoplastic content in the brain, and it was about the same amount of plastic that's in a credit card. And they also saw a strong correlation between people that had Alzheimer's and dementia that they had even higher, significantly higher concentrations of micronanoplastics in the brain.
- [06:44]
B
This is crazy. The fact that our, our water could be causing dementia.
- [06:48]
A
Yeah, it's the first thing that they've ever been able to have some sort of correlation to Alzheimer's and dementia because, you know, currently there's no known, no known cause.
- [06:59]
B
So let's talk about gravity filter technology. You know, they say it feels old school in a, in a high tech world. Why go analog when you can go digital?
- [07:10]
C
I think there's a number of reasons why. I mean, when we were first doing our design exercise for this product, we asked ourselves the question, do we want another stupid notification on our phone or do we want another screen to look at? And the conclusion that we came to as consumers was no. We wanted to create something that had integrated technology but was built in a timeless way that wasn't just another distraction to be adding to this modern, like another app. And maybe, maybe one day we'll integrate Iot, Maybe one day we'll do something that's like, you know, more sensor based and interesting. But for product one, for something that we were really trying to make work for everybody, whether you're a homeowner, a renter or whatever, we were like, okay, this thing should work standalone. It should be able to work on a kitchen island without being plugged in or under a countertop without being plugged in. We don't require any like 12 volt plug in power to use the countertop system. But we've taken this kind of timeless format of gravity fed filtration and added some smart features, made it be designed in a really beautiful, effective way, and put in a filter that we've tested incredibly rigorously with the best labs in the world that performs ostensibly better than a lot of other options on the market. So that's like, to answer the question in a hopefully not too long winded of a way, that was our thought process.
- [08:23]
B
I mean, you had me at no more apps.
- [08:26]
A
Like, just because it's screen doesn't mean it's better.
- [08:29]
B
Yeah, because like you got to download an app for everything now and all the apps on your phone, you don't even know what app you have. And you're never going to go back to that app. Right, because you got so many apps and you only use five anyway.
- [08:40]
C
Exactly.
- [08:41]
B
So adding another app, like, is the most annoying thing. I had a scale I had to add an app for, like, yeah, dude, I don't even know what the app's called now. I'm never able to just do its job. Yeah.
- [08:52]
C
Just tell you how much you weigh.
- [08:53]
B
Yeah. And, and bmi, whatever it is, you know, like, I'm like, I'm not going to ever find that app.
- [08:58]
C
Totally.
- [08:59]
B
So it's, it's, it is a frustrating dilemma that we face with all these apps for everything. I love that answer, by the way. So it's medical grade materials and nanofiber fiber filtration and that costs more. What pushed you to refuse, like, cutting corners, even at the expense of margin you know, like everybody's looking to cut corners. You guys are like, nope, we're going, we're gonna go the most expensive.
- [09:25]
A
Yeah. I mean, we just wanted, we wanted to build a product that we would want to buy. And you know, as consumers, I think that it's important to deliver somebody a very high quality good. And you know, we could have used 304 stainless steel or we could use 316L stainless steel, which is a medical grade stainless steel. And you know, for us, if we were going to create a filter that could really filter the water, you know, much more effectively than other solutions, we wanted also that to be housed in the best quality materials. So anything that touches water is 316 L stainless steel. And we also wanted to build a product that, you know, as we continue to innovate the filter, we could update it kind of like software where, you know, the outer shell and everything else is going to be good and last for 20, you know, 20, 30 years. And we can keep innovating on that so people don't have to, you know, pay more out of their, you know, out of their pocket to get a better product. And that was something that, you know, that's what we would want to have.
- [10:23]
C
Exactly.
- [10:23]
A
And so kind of why we intentionally made that decision. And our theory was that there was other people out there like us that would want, you know, not only the best filtration, but also really great design and something that was going to look nice in their kitchen and also fit right in and be super simple and easy to use.
- [10:41]
B
Awesome. Now you guys describe tap water contamination as a crisis. What's the hardest truth about our water systems that nobody really wants to face? You think, you guys think?
- [10:54]
A
I think the toughest part is educating the consumer. Because it's tough, I think, for a lot of people to understand that our tap water might be contaminated. And thinking, how is that legal?
- [11:07]
B
It looks like it's contaminated based on the pictures I saw on your website.
- [11:10]
A
Yeah. And you know, biggest problems are A, there's 95% of US water systems tested have at least one carcinogen that's over the health and safety limits. Only 10% of of our treatment plants actually use any form of modern filtration. And 50% of the groundwater treatment plants only add disinfectants into the water. And so if that's truly the water that you're starting with and then it's going to run through all those pipes to get, you know, into your home where you're going to consume it, it's pretty scary. And the amount of now disinfectants that they have to put into it creates more disinfectant byproducts. And those disinfectant byproducts can have all sorts of harmful effects on the body.
- [11:54]
C
I will say too, to add the infrastructure point is you think about US infrastructure in general, like power grid, bridges, water, sewage lines, natural gas lines. Water and sewage lines are uniquely difficult to replace, particularly in big cities because to get at them and access them, you have to tear up a crazy amount of property in land and streets and sidewalks and everything. Whereas with, you know, power lines it's a little bit easier to get access to relatively speaking in terms of like impact. What most people don't realize is that this problem with water infrastructure in the United States and how badly it is breaking down, particularly in cities, is that it's going to take two to three to four to five decades to fix, depending on where you live, just to get the funding to do it. Like a lot of cities with lead service lines, like you mentioned Chicago earlier, I live in Denver. We have a lead service line problem in Denver. Like we, it's going to take so much time and so much money. This is a trillion dollar issue to fix. And so that's, that's one thing that I don't think enough people, that we don't think enough people really understand as consumers just how long term of a problem water quality is going to be.
- [12:59]
B
I don't even think, I mean there's no way we could fix the water issues. Like we're going to just tear up cities for, and the downtime to repair them.
- [13:08]
C
Exactly.
- [13:08]
B
It's just not, I don't even think we just got to deal with it. We just got to deal with contaminated water. People just have to filter their water.
- [13:15]
C
And that's, that's our like thesis on this whole space is that more and more consumers in America and globally are going to look at the water coming out of their tap as more like crude oil than gasoline. They're going to need to take that and refine it to create really high quality drinking water as opposed to just trusting what's coming out of the tap. While you already see it in countries like Mexico and traveling around Europe and other countries like you already already have, it's very common to have water filtration because there is obvious problems with contamination in the water. But we think more and more Americans are going to be really focused on filtering their own water at the point of consumption to make sure that it's Clean and make sure that it's safe and really trusted.
- [13:53]
B
Do you think for animals, like, the water that comes out of a tap is a big, big issue? Or like, do you got to filter the water for animals?
- [14:00]
A
I mean, you should if you have access to it.
- [14:03]
B
Do you filter your dog's water?
- [14:04]
C
Oh, yeah. At least for like most of the time. If we're out and about on a hike and he's going to get into a river, I can't control that. But for when we're at home eating meals and stuff, yeah, he's getting filtered water. And mostly like for animals, big risk. Like they have bioaccumulation of heavy metals and microplastics just like we do. Right. It's the same kind of like tissue. Tissue bonding that you see for some of those substances. But also like Brian is mentioning earlier, disinfectant byproducts, chlorine, the thing that's in everyone's water. Right. Adding those things to water keeps it biologically safe. Kills microbes and E. Coli and those things that you would make you sick right away. But over time, when you're digesting a lot of chlorine and other byproducts from the chlorination process, it wear down on your kidneys and liver and other kind of your own body's filtration systems. And so for dogs, you know, one thing that is super unfortunate that I think people are experiencing more and more is, and I've experienced this kind of with animals close to me is there's increased rates of bladder and kidney cancer, in some cases liver cancer. And, you know, it's not, you can never say it's a perfect one to one correlation causality. But the cleaner the water is, the less of those byproducts and chemicals are in the water, the easier those systems will. Will work. Right. Like they're not constantly trying to filter out chlorine and other things that are coming in at high volume. So I know that's kind of a long winded answer, but the short answer.
- [15:26]
B
No, I asked for myself because I haven't been filtering my dog's water. I just go and fill it, you know.
- [15:31]
C
Yeah.
- [15:32]
B
But now that I'm gonna get rora.
- [15:34]
C
Yeah.
- [15:34]
B
You know.
- [15:34]
C
And you have plenty of water available. Yeah, we have a lot of our, A lot of our partners that work with the brand that they love their dog so much. And there's enough water, two and a half gallons at any time to be able to fill their dog's bowl and not worry about their, you know, if you Had a different product. Oh, I'm gonna run out of water. I'm not gonna be able fill my own water bottle.
- [15:50]
A
There's.
- [15:50]
C
There's plenty there for you.
- [15:51]
B
Yeah. Two and a half gallons is a good sustainable amount, right?
- [15:54]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [15:55]
A
And also for what you're cooking with. Right, because you don't want to take pasta, rice, things like that, and cook it in, you know, just the regular water coming out of the tap. Because.
- [16:03]
B
Which we also do. We all do that.
- [16:05]
A
We think about the water we drink. We don't think about the water that we cook with. But you're going to take. You know, you can't. Boiling water is not going to get out. Microplastics forever chemicals and lead. So you're effectively taking that. You're concentrating. Your great organic pasta with it that you get from Whole Foods is now not so, you know, healthy anymore. Healthy anymore.
- [16:24]
B
Man, this is eye opening and sad. I'm sad a little bit. Like, oh, I've been doing this the whole time. I don't. I probably got, you know, two Visa cards in my brain.
- [16:35]
A
Well, let's hope not.
- [16:36]
B
Yeah.
- [16:37]
C
You know, we start working, getting it out today.
- [16:38]
B
Yeah. Now you guys are building trust in, like, already very skeptical market. Like, what's the most brutal objection you guys had to overcome about home water filtration?
- [16:51]
A
Yeah, I think it's. It comes down to just educating the consumer because people don't really understand or they, you know, they think, okay, well, you know, like myself originally, I was like, you know, I grew up drinking out of the hose. I'm totally fine. Like, what's the big issue? But our infrastructure has broken down so much over the last 30 years that it's continuing to get worse and worse. And we're not seeing the. The direct correlative health effects happening to us right away. And these things take time to wear and tear down on the body. And so I think communicating to people that they should filter their water is sometimes tough for them to understand. And then I think on the other side of it, the other objection originally when we were building the product was like, oh, is anybody going to spend $450 for that? Um, but in our, you know, our thesis, it was like, people are going to be willing to pay for it once they, A, start to get educated and B, really start to look at the different options on the market more closely and realize that, you know, if they want something for themselves, definitely want to get out the forever chemicals, the microplastics and the things that are really going to be harmful to the body. And so, you know, we offer on our website, you can go type in your zip code, you can find out what's in your water, It'll break down all the different contaminants and how they might be affecting your health. And then obviously we have the solution as well that you can, can purchase right there to take care of it for yourself.
- [18:15]
C
I will say too, like, the classic example for this question is New York City. New York City spent decades and millions of dollars trying to convince New York City residents that New York tap water is the best tap water in the world.
- [18:29]
A
It's like the Got Milk campaign.
- [18:31]
C
Yeah, it's very much like a gut milk campaign. And it is, one could say, true for water before it starts to hit New York City service lines, but as soon as that water goes from the treatment plant, from the Catskills, into pipes and into New York City, you're dealing with broken service lines, groundwater getting contaminated and mixed with influent tap water. And then also a lot of buildings have these really big water towers on top of the buildings in New York to maintain pressure throughout the day. So they fill them up at night and during the day as people are showering and other things, that water is servicing the building and staying up high. But the problem is that all of that water and all in all of those rooftop tanks, a lot of the time will dechlorinate because it's sitting for a long time. So if you let, if you let water sit, chlorine will come out of the water and like, basically vaporize out. But then also those tanks don't get replaced very often. So they're leaching in a lot of rust content, metal oxide content, and other kind of gross stuff that lurks in those tanks when they don't get changed or cleaned for a really long time. So you end up with. Anyways, back to the original questions. Like, like these people are drinking water in New York City that they are being told is like, so safe and the best in the world. But the reality of that water's journey from the beginning of service lines in the city to your cup is something that is definitely not clean. And honestly, like, we've seen some, some filters coming out of Manhattan and Brooklyn from customers, and they go to change it. Sometimes we'll get a photo and be like, oh my God, I can't believe my filter looks like this. This is disgusting. I'm so happy that, like, I'm no longer drinking this stuff. But, but it's really, it's changing consumers perception Because I think our, you know, the, the baby boomer generation and perhaps generations after them, like really trusted the government and really trusted that everything they were telling them is the truth and honest. Whereas now I think we're starting to wake up as a, as a United States culture and as a global society that we need to take responsibility for our own, our own health and what we were being told might not be the total truth.
- [20:37]
B
Makes a lot of sense. I mean, we're all starting to be a little bit more contrarian now, especially with what the government says, especially what we're seeing every day.
- [20:45]
C
Totally.
- [20:46]
B
Now you guys got the filtered shower head, you got the countertop system. You now what's your next moonshoe? Like what's next in the ecosystem?
- [20:55]
A
Yeah, you know, we're keeping it a little bit close to the chest, but like I said earlier, you know, we're gonna go kind of both routes, different formats and different types of products that are gonna be better for like an apartment and also, you know, going up the pipe all the way to commercial and whole home. But you know, we wanna really be intentional with every type of product that we come out with and, but we're really excited about it. There's a couple of really, really interesting ones that we're working on right now that we think will be game changers.
- [21:29]
B
Love to hear that. Love to hear that. I'm excited to see.
- [21:31]
C
Yeah, and just honestly too, combining different technologies, like right now we have certain technology that works really, really well for Gravity Fed. But as we go into different applications, we can go and you know, bring in some other interesting filtration technologies to create better, better and better water. And that's something that like when we were building the first product, the countertop system, I, I interviewed the top 40 filter OEMs around the world. So from Europe through like Korea, Japan, China, United States, Canada, anywhere that they were making any sort of water filters. I was doing a partner search trying to find the right people. And so as we release new and new and different products in the market, we're going to be able to increase our innovative partner network on putting really, really unique and dynamic filter methodologies together.
- [22:19]
B
Amazing. Now transparent brands are trendy. What behind the scenes reality at Roar do people assume is nicer than it really is?
- [22:29]
C
I would say we mentioned this earlier, right. Like we feel extremely strongly as a brand about continuous innovation. We want to constantly be not only working on like product related issues that we want to optimize designs for, but also treating our individual filter elements like software. So within that you have to be constantly behind the scenes thinking about Gen 2, Gen 3, Gen 4 of individual filters for existing platforms and platforms still to come. I think that Brian mentioned this earlier briefly, but for testing water products, it's extremely expensive and time consuming to validate performance gains. Like if we wanted to say that we can get, you know, 400 gallons of performance or 800 gallons of performance or 1000 plus for any given contaminant, takes a lot of time and money. So I would say, I would say something behind the scenes that's, you know, extremely challenging but also extremely fun is this constant iterative process to try and create new and optimized products.
- [23:29]
A
Yeah. And I think too, you know, we're going up against companies that have been in the market for 30, 40 years. And so for us to come out and compete with them, you know, we not only have to have good marketing and look good and all these other different kind of table stakes, but we also have to have, you know, it costs a lot of money to do all these different tests. And so, you know, even though we know our filter can get out a significant more amount of contaminants than we currently claim to be, we don't want to say any of those things until we've gone and done all the testing. So we're always continuing to do more testing, but it just takes time.
- [24:06]
B
So who are some of the biggest competitors? Is like Brita, Is that even a competitor? I mean, I don't really know the space at all.
- [24:12]
A
I mean, I would say like, you can't say it's not a competitor because if people are going to go and buy a water filter. Right. That's definitely one that they see.
- [24:21]
B
That's all they know.
- [24:22]
C
Yeah. Massive distribution.
- [24:23]
A
Yeah. And so, but I think you've got a lot of different. The competition is everything from Culligan Delivery.
- [24:31]
B
Oh yeah. I mean I, yeah, because I use them for their soft water company though.
- [24:36]
A
I mean they do, they do pretty much everything. They've got a wide spectrum of different products in water but you know, if somebody's going to make the decision for filtered water, they could get water delivered to their house, they get a reverse osmosis system, they can get a whole home system, they could get, you know, a multitude of different types of products in between.
- [24:53]
B
They're all built ins though. But like from the, you know, the standalone products, like the only ones I've ever heard of is Brita. Brita. That's the ones that go on. I mean, if you go on Amazon right now, yeah. Are you guys on Amazon? Like, can you buy it?
- [25:06]
A
Not yet.
- [25:07]
B
Yeah. So, like, that's all I. All I know when I bought one.
- [25:12]
A
Right.
- [25:12]
B
You know, I mean, there's.
- [25:13]
A
There's a product called the Berkey that a lot of people probably know, which is a really tall stainless steel system, and there's a couple different other, like, offshoots.
- [25:24]
B
On your countertop.
- [25:25]
A
Yeah. It would sit on your countertop. It's significantly taller. So if you're gonna put it, you know, effectively, you can't really use the cabinet behind it. You can't go underneath. Also, like, the spout is right on the bottom, so if you're gonna use it, you also have to hang it off the countertop. And it takes. It takes a lot of. It takes a long time. Takes about an hour to filter a gallon of water. So, you know, we looked at all the different products on the market, saw the different things that we felt we really wanted to solve and do better, and then everything down to, like, the nice big tap handle that we have on it so that it's easy for kids to use, it's easy for, you know, even older people that have lost some of their dexterity. And also it feels really nice. It's a great user experience for people to have that. The big handle to pull looks like a keg.
- [26:14]
C
Yes.
- [26:15]
A
Who's not happy when they're pulling a peg handle?
- [26:18]
B
Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. User experience for sure.
- [26:21]
A
Yeah.
- [26:23]
B
Now, if a competitor match your tech tomorrow, what would you pivot to and how quickly would you pivot?
- [26:30]
A
We don't really see it as an issue. I think you'll definitely start to see some copycats for sure. But, you know, we're just going to start shipping out the shower heads to customers either later this week or early next week. And we're already working on the second version. So I think, you know, we've already got a lot of different innovation happening for new products, but we're always continuing to develop better versions of the ones that we have. And usually we've already got different ideas that have been sparked through the finishing steps of finally getting a product to market that, you know, we're already starting to work on the next one. So if somebody wants to come try to rip us off, that's fine. We're gonna be.
- [27:10]
B
You're gonna get that for sure as soon as you hit Amazon.
- [27:15]
C
Totally.
- [27:15]
B
You're trying to rip offs, you know, immediately.
- [27:18]
A
Yeah.
- [27:18]
B
Trying to undercut margin, et cetera. So how many patents are on the.
- [27:21]
C
Product now for Countertop system. We have a utility patent in process that we applied for before we started selling it last fall that really is relegated to its sensor system. So one of the unique things we did in this product compared to a lot of other products and competitors on the market is that we have integrated standalone battery powered electronics that use like weight based sensor system to derive A, how much water is currently in the system and then B, how much water has flown through the system. So you can tell basically how much filter life you have remaining for any given filter. So that, how we did that calculation, how we made those electronics and how we built that is distinctly unique in our space. So that's, that's the one patent but the, the thing that kind of protects us in general compared to a lot of products that currently exist, they're already gravity fed and use stainless steel, is that making the complex shaping and how we actually assemble this thing and put it together is pretty hard to do. Guy spent about a third of my year last year on site at our factory trying to get everything dialed and working on our, you know, production run because it's, it's a complicated thing to build. We're building really complex shapes out of really high grade stainless steel. And from a design perspective, agnostic of having formal IP in the form of patents. Like there's a lot of, there's a lot of unique things that we do just in terms of putting it together.
- [28:48]
B
Now, now your guys business is built all on the fear of contamination. Now how do you hold hope at the center of a brand that profits from fear?
- [28:58]
A
I think you have to walk a really thin line between we don't fear monger, but we will state the facts. And so we don't use hyperbole, we make sure in all of our marketing that we say it significantly reduces instead of saying it removes it. Or we don't say we can get up to 99.9% of this out. We'll tell you the exact amount of reduction we can get over the average duration of the entire filter. And so we want to be, you know, as transparent with customers as we can. From the very beginning, all the way through the user experience, you know, same reason why we didn't put a timer on this thing for 90 days when it was time to change the filter is you're going to know exactly when to change the filter based on your exact usage so that you know, if you go out of town for a month and you come back, it shouldn't tell you that your filter needs to be changed right? And so I think that was a big. Yeah, it's a big aspect of.
- [29:52]
B
So how long does the filter last then?
- [29:53]
C
It's 200 gallons. So it's rated for 200 gallons of use and it's tracking that against like the net weight differential of water flowing through the system over time. Yeah, but also I want to build on that response a little bit for kind of are responding to like the fear mongering marketing claim piece of our business. Like I, I think ultimately Brian and I's vision with this company is to, is to propose solutions like utopian style solutions of easy to implement seamless things that people can integrate into their lives and ultimately hopefully live healthier, longer lives. And so as much as there is this reality that we have to accept and we have to talk about and in some ways market that what we're building at RORA and we're just starting right now, what you see is just the beginning, this is just the surface. But over time, as you see us continue to evolve over the next five years, you're going to see not only additional products and other things that we're bringing to market to serve a wide range of people, but also products that really matter. And products really help people and take these concerns and these boogeymen that would otherwise keep you up at night and tackle them head on and provide products that do that.
- [30:59]
A
Yeah, I think as well we really focus on education on our website as well and giving someone a really great user experience for that. Because even if someone comes to our site, they don't buy a product. They at least now are educated and now they might go buy, you know, something that's maybe it's more affordable for them or whatever it is. But as long as somebody is starting to filter their water, we're ultimately going to all be healthier people. And so, you know, people just need to be talking about it more and raise more awareness for it.
- [31:26]
B
I mean ultimately you guys, right now in the longevity space, kind of the hottest market there is currently, everybody drinks water.
- [31:33]
A
It's the one thing we all consume the most of. So you know, people will spend hundreds of dollars on their different supplement stack and this and that. But really when it comes down to it, it's your sleep, your air and your water that are going to have the largest impact on your overall health, longevity and health. And so it's like we got to think about the simplest things and the things that we do every single day because that's what makes a difference, which.
- [31:57]
B
Is the thing that we don't think about the most. But now there's a big push to make sure that you get the right amount of sleep. Now I wonder if your ring is going to track your water. It probably will one day.
- [32:09]
A
Yeah. I mean, you have those bottles that will track, like, your water consumption. Right. But it's not just about drinking water. It's about drinking the right water.
- [32:15]
B
Yeah, Right.
- [32:15]
A
Because if you're drinking reverse osmosis water and you're not remineralizing that water, you're effectively drinking chemically inert water. And so, you know, you need those healthy minerals in your water to be able to hydrate. And, you know, your calcium, your salt. And so if you don't, you know. Yeah. Don't have that, you can end up with a lot of headaches and things like that. You don't even realize it because you feel like you're getting hydrated from the water. So we did a big, you know, have a big effort on that as well to make sure we're retaining those healthy minerals with the products that we have.
- [32:48]
B
Love that. Now, I got a couple last questions for you guys. What's a personal goal that you have for yourselves? Family goal that you have for the family and a goal that you have for Rora?
- [32:59]
A
Can I go first?
- [33:00]
C
Oh, sure. Let me think about that. Personal goal for myself this summer, I want to spend more time camping in Colorado. I live in Denver and a lot of other summers. Previously, I had lots of weddings and other social engagements going on. Just in time, kind of this season of life and this summer, my goal is definitely to be outdoors a lot and as many. As much as I can on the weekends. I just got a Starlink mini, so I can be. I can be a little bit further from my home base more frequently and not be fully disconnected. But I would say spending more time under the stars and outside is my, like, personal goal. Family goal. Obviously, I don't have children yet, but between, you know, my girlfriend, my dog, and then my parents and my sister and her husband and baby, I think this year is spending. Spending a lot of present time. I think this past, you know, basically launching roar as a business. As everyone knows who's been there, it's really hard. Launching a new business is hard and can kind of take you away from being able to do certain family events and stuff like that. So I would say similarly with the goal being outside is to spend more time with my family over the next year and beyond, especially my parents who are getting older. And I feel like a duty to be there and then with Rora, we didn't really talk about this yet but I really do think that a goal of mine for the business is to be synonymized or recognized with being a Dyson level company in water filtration. Being a company that's so focused on well engineered product that delight customers that people are excited to, to use and pay for and feel like that, that really do bring solutions and progress and positivity to their life. But I would say like my overall goal with the business is to be held in that regard. If we can come anywhere close to a Dyson level company, I think we've done and we would have done an amazing job for as stewards of rora. So those are my three.
- [35:00]
B
I love it.
- [35:01]
A
Yeah, I'd say personal goal, I mean continue to optimize my own health between health and. Or between, you know, water. I feel like now we've gotten taken care of but in fitness and sleep, finding the right balance so I can stay as sharp mentally as possible to be the best for the business and for my family. Family goal? Yeah, I mean it's kind of on Charlie's but being really present with the kids, not making them feel like dad's always working all the time and also teach them more about the business. And so yeah, I mean that's kind of like the family goal but for everyone to be able to be very happy and the kids to be. Yeah. Continuing to grow up knowing that both of their parents are right there for them and not working all the time. And for the, I mean for the business, I would say, I would say finding, finding the right couple people to come in as, as employees. So make like our first two, three really solid hires. You know, we from previously running a business, the difference between an A player and a B player for how much further the company can get and be able to take some of those different responsibilities off of ourselves because we're wearing a lot of hats right now. But to really focus on the further vision to be able to do what we do best in the business I think would be a big goal of mine. So take some of ourselves out of some of the different aspects so we can continue to push the business forward.
- [37:00]
B
Final question, when you're in front of Pearly Gates, what do you think God's gonna tell you?
- [37:07]
A
I'd hope he'd be proud. I think that, you know, it's like at the end of the day we're just trying to make people's lives a little bit better and for them to live longer and healthier lives. And in everything that we've done in business, it's really been a big focus on that.
- [37:22]
B
So it has. I hope that story is amazing.
- [37:26]
A
Appreciate it.
- [37:30]
C
That's a really good question. Hopefully a high five. And that was one hell of a ride.
- [37:37]
A
Hopefully I get in.
- [37:39]
C
That'd be my greatest guess. But no, similar to Brian. I mean, like, ultimately, I'm spending my life building products alongside Brian for to improve people's lives and ultimately make them live better, healthier lives. And I think that hopefully that carries some weight with the big man.
- [37:54]
A
Right.
- [37:54]
B
We're just here, sir. We're just stewards.
- [37:56]
C
Exactly.
- [37:58]
B
Guys, I'm like, really? I admire your story. I love what you did with your last company, what you exited. I think it's in. You know, it's a story that needs to be told as part of the catalyst for building this company because it ties in as being stewards and servants. And it's incredible. I love what your product. I love what you guys are doing. I love the vision. If people want to connect with you, how do they find you?
- [38:20]
A
They can check us out on any of our social media at Rora Water. R O R R a water or on our website@rora.com.
- [38:29]
B
Perfect. Thanks, guys.
- [38:31]
A
See you, guys. It.