EP #222 - Lena Jüngst & Simon Nuesch: Hacking Your Sweet Tooth With Air Up

Timestamps:

1:17 - From creative work to the business world

11:37 - The graveyard of brand names

20:21 - Responsible consumption and emotional attractiveness

30:32 - Storytelling and investors

52:17 - Focused internationalization

About Lena Jüngst & Simon Nuesch:

Lena Jüngst and Simon Nuesch are the co-founders of Air Up, a revolutionary scent-based drinking system. Lena has a background in product design and Simon studied technology, management and business administration. They both come from Germany.

During her bachelor's, Lena and fellow student Tim Jäger stumbled upon the topic of retronasal smell (tasting with your nose) when they were looking for a topic for their bachelor's thesis. Their interest led them to connecting this topic with our modern diet, which is currently both a huge threat to our health and to the environment.

Our early evolutionary history taught us that food which tastes nice is good for us, but today that is certainly no longer the case. So if you want the sensory benefits of drinking a fizzy drink without the health and environmental costs, what do you do? You trick your brain into thinking water tastes like a fizzy drink, of course.

Air Up's first prototype was simply putting one straw inside a cup full of water and another straw inside a scent diffuser and slurping both simultaneously. This was the rudimentary beginning of the "pods'' for sale today, which can be conveniently attached to water bottles.

Memorable Quotes:

"Sustainability is THE product design question right now."

"Entrepreneurship means feeling constantly overwhelmed and constantly fascinated by your work."

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