The Boring Ecom Podcast How a 25-Year-Old Built a Viral Protein Bar (While Working Full-Time)
Special offer for Boring Ecom listeners: Try Bold Bar for 25% off using code BORING25 at eatboldbar.com
This season is sponsored by Lifetimely by AMP - my preferred analytics platform for DTC brands to use for understanding their true customer lifetime value and make better marketing decisions.
Welcome back to the Boring Ecom Podcast. This week I'm sitting down with Sean Jagermann, the 25-year-old founder behind Bold Bar - the protein bar that's been absolutely everywhere on my Twitter feed lately.
Sean's story is incredible. Dude works full-time in VC, analyzing deals and investments all day, then comes home and grinds on his protein bar company until midnight. We're talking about a guy who spent 2 years doing R&D in his kitchen, went through 9 different recipe iterations, and just sold through 80% of his first 10,000 unit inventory run in 2 months.
But here's what makes Bold Bar different - it's the only bar on the market with 20g of protein, 100mg of caffeine, AND it's honey-sweetened. No artificial sweeteners, no weird chemicals. Sean basically looked at the entire protein bar industry and said "this is all broken" and built something completely different.
We dive deep into his journey - from dealing with eating disorders in college to working with co-manufacturers who told him his idea was impossible. The dude literally fired his co-man and brought R&D back in-house because he refused to compromise on his vision.
What really caught my attention is how Sean's approaching this differently than the David protein bars of the world. While everyone's chasing the macro-obsessed crowd with aggressive marketing, Sean's building something anti-diet culture that actually makes you feel good.
Plus, Sean's been documenting his entire journey on Twitter in real-time. No fluff, no filtered success stories - just the raw, authentic grind of building a CPG brand from scratch while working a demanding full-time job.
If you're thinking about launching a physical product or just want to see what it actually takes to break into a "saturated" market, this episode is for you.
Special offer for Boring Ecom listeners: Try Bold Bar for 25% off using code BORING25 at eatboldbar.com
This episode is sponsored by Lifetimely by Amp - the analytics platform that helps DTC brands understand their true customer lifetime value and make better marketing decisions.
What we cover:
- How Sean validated his protein bar idea while working in VC
- The 2-year R&D process and why he went through 9 recipe iterations
- Why he fired his co-manufacturer and brought production in-house
- His strategy for competing against $75M funded David protein bars
- How he's sold 8,000+ units with zero ad spend
- Balancing a demanding VC job while building a CPG brand
- The real challenges of launching a physical product business
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