Chris Hauth: Flavored Water Through Scent Alone Using Science | Ep 1226

Summary

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The Digital Executive – Ep 1226: Chris Hauth – Flavored Water Through Scent Alone Using Science

Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Brian, Coruzant Technologies
Guest: Chris Hauth, CEO of AirUp

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Episode Overview

This episode features Chris Hauth, CEO of AirUp, a German consumer brand pioneering a refillable drinking system that flavors water using scent alone—no sugar or additives. The conversation focuses on the founding story of AirUp, scaling a hardware startup during rapid growth (and the pandemic), the challenges of international expansion, the science behind “scent taste,” and the evolution of health-focused consumer products.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scaling a Startup: Key Moments and Leadership Lessons

• Founders’ Vision and Leadership Transition
  Chris discusses joining AirUp as a non-founding CEO—a rare move in startups, highlighting the founders’ “company over ego” philosophy.

  • “It's a very rare moment in startups that founders have the humility and also the foresight to take a step back from their own baby and bring somebody else on to lead it.” (Chris Hauth, 03:30)
  • This mindset helped foster a low-ego, high-collaboration corporate culture.

• Surpassing Growth Projections
  The initial 5-year projection was €30–40M in revenue; they reached nearly €150M.

  • “Fact is, five years later we are at nearly 150 million, so quite surpassed that very early set on goal.” (Chris Hauth, 04:00)

• Navigating Hypergrowth in a Pandemic
  Launching just before COVID-19 forced AirUp into a remote, digital-first mode.

  • “You actually don't need to be in an office… that it actually works, building a company without doing that. Most decisive learning probably ever in my personal history.” (Chris Hauth, 05:10)

• Market Realities Post-Pandemic
  The predicted “forever shift” toward direct-to-consumer (D2C) didn’t materialize—offline sales rebounded sharply.

  • “All the predictions … made during Corona that it would change the world forever, just did not come true. … We had to evolve in light years speed. … Don't believe predictions.” (Chris Hauth, 05:59)

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2. The Science & Inspiration Behind the Scentaste System

• Academic Roots and Innovation
  AirUp’s idea began as a bachelor’s thesis titled “Neuroscience meets product design,” exploring retronasal scent perception.

  • “By accident, Lena stumbled over … an article over retronasal scent perception. … Perceiving scent through the back of your mouth, reaching the retronasal cavities.” (Chris Hauth, 08:01)

• Solving a Global Health Issue
  Co-founders identified excess sugar in beverages (more than food) as a root cause of cardiovascular diseases.

  • “Sugar contained in any liquid form when drinking is one of the main problems that causes cardiovascular diseases, which is the main cause why humans actually die.” (Chris Hauth, 08:54)

• The Technology: Decoupling Taste from Sugar

  • AirUp encapsulates natural aromas in air bubbles, which release at the back of the mouth and are perceived by the brain as flavor, even though only water is consumed.
  • “Your brain thinks you are tasting orange chocolate, which I'm drinking right now. And in reality, your body just ingests water.” (Chris Hauth, 10:04)

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3. International Expansion: Challenges & Lessons

• Unexpected Pan-European Demand
  Unlike most European startups, AirUp’s product performed well across multiple markets, not just its home country of Germany.

• Complexity of the European Market
  European expansion is fundamentally different than scaling in the U.S. due to language, culture, and purchasing behaviors.

  • “You have a consolidated 360 million English speaking … market [in the U.S.]. If we are talking about Europe, we are talking about 12 markets, … 12 cultures, 12 languages. And that is the biggest challenge for any European company scaling in Europe...” (Chris Hauth, 12:08)
  • “That inherent complexity of basically crossing a border into a completely different civilization. … It's like entering a new universe every single time.” (Chris Hauth, 13:07)

• Necessity of Pragmatic Communication

  • Companies must accept being “average” in communications across many small, diverse markets due to resource constraints.

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4. The Future of Health & Experiential Consumer Products

• Consumer Skepticism & Demand for Transparency
  Chris sees a permanent shift to function, science, and authenticity in food innovation.

  • “People are no longer believing any BS that they hear and that they see. They are much more critical, they are much more reflective on what they actually ingest and want to ingest.” (Chris Hauth, 14:53)

• Accessibility through Innovation

  • AirUp aims to transition from premium bottles and pods (~$40–50 per bottle; $6–12 per pod) to a much more affordable, mass-market product.
  • Teaser: By 2027, AirUp will launch a ready-to-drink can for $1.80–$2, making the scentaste technology widely accessible.
  • “We have managed to super shrink our product into ready to drink can … for the price of $1.80 or $2 easily and thus finally makes scent taste and the scent taste technology available to the masses.” (Chris Hauth, 15:53)
  • “The future will be very much different. We will make health accessible to the mass market. And I think that is the trend in the market per se. The mass market is getting healthier.” (Chris Hauth, 16:28)

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Memorable Quotes

• “Company over ego. We have super low ego company.” (Chris Hauth, 03:35)
• “Don't believe predictions.” (Chris Hauth, 06:05)
• “Sugar contained in any liquid form when drinking is one of the main problems that causes cardiovascular diseases.” (Chris Hauth, 08:54)
• “It's like entering a new universe every single time.” (Chris Hauth, 13:29)
• “We will make health accessible to the mass market.” (Chris Hauth, 16:28)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:27] Key moments shaping Chris as CEO, emphasis on founder humility and hypergrowth during remote work
• [07:49] Origin and science behind AirUp’s scent taste technology, public health motives
• [11:22] Scaling internationally: differences between US and Europe, cultural and communication barriers
• [14:48] The future: Functional food trends, consumer skepticism, and AirUp’s mass-market vision

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Tone

Chris is candid, analytical, and purpose-driven. He focuses on real-world impact, operational transparency, and deeply values humility and innovation.

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For Listeners

This episode is highly recommended for entrepreneurs, innovators, and anyone interested in the intersection of health, sensory science, and global product innovation. You’ll gain actionable insight into building and scaling a hardware startup with authenticity—plus a preview of how tech can genuinely improve global health outcomes.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host Brian]

Welcome to Corusant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive Podcast. Do you work in emerging tech? Working on something innovative? Maybe an entrepreneur? Apply to be a guest at www.corazon.com brand welcome to the Digital Executive. Today's guest is Chris Haught. Chris Haught is the CEO of Arup, the German consumer brand behind the world's first refillable scent taste drinking system which flavors water through scent alone without sugar or additives. Under his leadership, ARUP has grown from an early university born idea into one of Europe's fastest growing consumer businesses, scaling profitable nine figure revenue and expanding across major international markets. AirUp sits at the intersection of health, sensory innovation and behavior change, giving Chris a distinctive perspective on how breakthrough physical products are built, explained and scaled. Before joining AirUp, Chris held senior leadership roles at Freeletics where he worked across marketing, customer experience and E commerce during a period of international expansion and brand development. Earlier in his career he co founded and led syrup, a Swiss B2C marketplace, giving him experience across entrepreneurship, digital growth and consumer platform building. Today he shares how to ensure innovation in physical consumer products and the challenge of building credibility in a new market category. Well, good afternoon Chris. Welcome to the show.

[Chris Haught]

Hello Brian. Nice to be there.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Absolutely my friend. I appreciate it and making the time. We are traversing about six time zones or six hours approximately. It's yeah, you're in Liechtenstein, I'm in Kansas City. So it's always a challenge doing these international podcasts, but I really really appreciate it. And Chris, if you don't mind, I'm going to jump into your first question. You helped scale air up from a university student idea into one of Europe's fastest growing food startups with nine figure revenue. What were the key moments in your journey that shaped you as a CEO?

[Chris Haught]

Very good question. I would say the biggest moment was at the very get go when we sat together and the founders decided to bring me on. It's a very rare moment in startups that founders have the humility and also the foresight to take a step back from their own baby and bring somebody else on to lead it. And that is one of the key pillars of arups, let's say motivation, leadership, philosophy. Since then we always say company over ego. We have super low ego company. And that was one of the first big things for me and important things. It was the main pillar that I needed to start adding up. I wouldn't have done it otherwise. After that we had a bit of an analysis section of where we want to be in five years. To be very frank, we said around 30 to 40 million would be a really good goal. Fact is, five years later we are at nearly 150 million, so quite surpassed that very early set on goal. And the most challenging part on that journey to that 150 million for me was keeping the reins steady during hypergrowth. In a period where you could not steer as I was used to steer. Pre Corona, you were basically in an office, you're walking to halls, you interacted with people, with live people, with real people on a daily basis. And literally when we switched on our website at December 2019, four months later, corona hit. So the birth of air up was happening under the cloud of Corona. And for me, that was one of the most decisive learnings in my whole career, that you actually don't need to be in an office, that you don't need to cramp everybody and force everybody to travel an hour or two hours a day to the office that it actually works. Building a company without doing that. Most decisive learning probably ever in my personal history. And after that, of course we had another one that was super decisive for us as a company that grew up in Corona D2C first and then suddenly Corona ends. And all the predictions that all the smart guys from Google, Shopify and whatnot made during Corona, that it would change the world forever, just did not come true. It just within a matter of 612 months completely went back to the old reality. People bought offline, people went away from D2C. We were pure D2C. So we had to evolve in light years speed. And that was the second biggest learning in the history of being the CEO of era. Don't believe predictions.

[Podcast Host Brian]

That's amazing. Thank you so much. There's just so. I love these. Usually the first question here is talking about how did you get to where you are today? And you talked about the inception era, the challenges, the goals. You set 20, 30 million in revenue and you surpassed that by at least four times. That's just awesome. And then of course you learned, you shared about keeping those rains steady during hypergrowth. But the pandemic was a challenge for many people, probably everybody, including your company as well. But you leveraged that and it taught you that companies can be successful being remote and there is a lot of time savings if you take out a lot of the old brick and mortar business model. So I really appreciate everything you shared and that's just really exciting for us here.

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[Podcast Host Brian]

And Chris Arup introduced the scentaste system, flavoring water through scent alone. What inspired this breakthrough concept and how did you validate that consumers would embrace it?

[Chris Haught]

To be very honest, that was not my doing. I was the doing of two of my my co founders in the team, Lena and Tim. They started it in a bachelor thesis very, very early on. They were studying product design and the title of the thesis was given by the university and it was supposed to be neuroscience meets product design. Very generic, very broad. By accident, Lena stumbled over, I think it was Canadian University's a tick article over retronasal scent perception. So instead of smelling through the front of your nose, basically perceiving scent through the back of your mouth, reaching the retronasal cavities. And that got her thinking if there might not be something behind it. But at the same time they were looking at consumer problems to solve or actually humankind problems to solve. And the easiest way to start they figured out is probably looking at what are the main root causes, why we die as humans, and the majority of humans dies because of cardiovascular diseases. And cardiovascular diseases are a civilization problem. And why are they occurring? Well, the root cause, or the majority of the root causes, lies in fat and sugar consumption being far too high compared to what it is supposed to be for an animal that grew up in the steppes. So here we go. They looked into that. What is the main source for that poisoning through fat and sugars? Turns out it's not our food, it's our drinks, because in drinks we rarely expect it. So the sugar contained in any liquid form when drinking is one of the main problems that causes cardiovascular diseases, which is the main cause why humans actually die. And that triggered the thinking for scent taste. They thought, if you can actually include scent and dust taste to a degree in something that's not liquid and in something that's not fixed stuff like food, what would happen then if you can decouple scent and taste from the stuff that it's usually contained in? That's the whole idea behind scent taste. Basically what it does is it's encapsulating natural aromas in little air bubbles. They explode in the back of your mouth, go through your retro nasal cavities. Your brain thinks you are tasting orange chocolate, which I'm drinking right now. And in reality, your body just ingests water and your nose breathes out the natural aromas. That's all it is.

[Podcast Host Brian]

That's awesome. And I appreciate that you talked about the genesis of your co founders. There was this bachelor thesis they were working on and they figured out that this perceiving the scent through the back of your mouth obviously worked and put that prototype to test, of course. But you did highlight the issue that we as humans have is this cardiovascular disease. That's a big issue here in the US as fat and sugars. Right. And what you talked about here is a lot of the sugars that we really just don't understand is coming through our drinks, not through our food necessarily. And you've basically taken that science, decoupled the scent from the taste, and made something that not only is healthy, pure water, but also going to help the world be a better place and disease free is the goal. So thank you. And Chris, Arup has expanded across 16 European markets and in the US what have been the biggest challenges and lessons in scaling internationally?

[Chris Haught]

It's probably different for Arup than for other companies because we experienced very early on that our product caught on in literally every market in Europe that we entered. And usually if you look at other startups In Europe, they are strong, super strong in one market and then meek or weak in all others. And there's one core market, one whole market that's overpoweringly strong. That's not the case for App. So in Germany, our birthplace, we are at around 25% of our revenue. Around 20% comes from France, another 15 to 20 comes from UK and so on and so forth. We basically are, if you look at purchasing power, very much equal to that in the distribution of our revenue. And that's very much unique. However, it does not excuse us from the typical challenges on internationalization. And there you Americans have a huge advantage. You have a consolidated 360 million English speaking, or at least mostly English speaking market. If we are talking about Europe, we are talking about 12 markets, then we are talking about 12 cultures, 12 languages. And that is the biggest challenge for any European companies scaling in Europe or any international company coming to Europe, underestimating that cultural and that language.

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[Chris Haught]

That inherent complexity of basically crossing a border into a completely different civilization. While we are called Europeans, we are extremely different. And when it comes to go to markets, that needs to be taken into account. It's not just language, it's purchasing behaviors, it's the buildup of how people search for products, how people learn about products. Very different despite Meta, despite Google, despite TikTok. Very different per country. And it's also about generational differences in the individual countries that are, I would say it's like entering a new universe every single time. And that puts a lot of strain on a small company with limited resources who can't just reinvent communication for every single market. So you need to accept that you're probably going to be average in your communication. If you want to internationalize in Europe across the markets, you cannot be perfect in Germany, perfect in France, perfect in uk. It's just literally impossible unless you have unlimited money, which we don't.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Wow, that's. I didn't look at it that way, but it totally makes sense. Your product did catch on early in the European market, but you talked about the complexities obviously being in that market in Europe you mentioned, there's 12 different markets, 12 different languages, cultures, and you need to take that into account when you're going to market. And I really do appreciate those insights and so does the audience here. And Chris, the last question of the day as we look ahead to the future. How do you see the future of consumer products evolving, particularly in health and experiential innovation and where does ARUP fit into that future?

[Chris Haught]

I do firmly believe that the future is more on the functional side and is much more on the science side when it comes to food and food innovation or generally innovation than it used to be in the past. People are no longer believing any BS that they hear and that they see. They are much more critical, they are much more reflective on what they actually ingest and want to ingest. And it starts low key, but it started low key, but it became mass market already a couple of years ago and that trend is going to continue. So the food industry has to change, has to become more transparent, not just because it's going to be forced by regulation and government, but especially because the consumers are no longer buying everything that they are being told and they watch out what they eat. So for up that means our biggest challenge will be to move from a product that costs 40 to 50 US dollar per pop for the bottle and around 6 to 12 US dollar for the pots, the flavor pots, into a product that is much more accessible to more people at a significantly lower price point. And there stay tuned. There's going to be a big innovation starting in UK from US in 2027. We have managed to super shrink our product into ready to drink can if you like, which we can sell for the price of $1.80 or $2 easily and thus finally makes send taste and the scent taste technology available to the masses. Right now it is definitely a product that is not an occasional buy right now. It's a product that needs a lot of reflection before you buy it because it is quite an investor. The future will be very much different. We will make health accessible to the mass market. And I think that is the trend in the market per se. The mass market is getting healthier.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Thank you. I think that's important. We talked about we're looking to the future here, but functional and science side of things is much more looked at than it has ever been in the past. People are more aware of what products they buy, they consume, they want to be healthier. No matter what's on the commercials that say hey, drink these different unhealthy soft drinks. Your goal with Interup is to bring your product down to a better price point, everybody, thereby bringing health to the masses. And I think that's just amazing. Really do appreciate that. And Chris, it was such a pleasure having you on today and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.

[Chris Haught]

Same here. Brian was a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Bye for now. Foreign

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