Curious Business: Insights for B2B Growth A natural challenger brand: Huib van Bockel of Tenzing
Dec 10, 2025
Huib van Bockel, former marketing head at Red Bull Europe and founder of Tenzing, shares his journey in creating a natural, low-sugar energy drink. He reveals the challenges of launching against big brands, including why he defied traditional sugar norms. Huib discusses the importance of community in building Tenzing, how grassroots engagement helped shape the brand, and his lessons learned about rapid testing and flavor iterations. He also touches on the significance of intuition in decision-making and the pride he takes in balancing work-life priorities.
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Founding Tenzing In Nepal
- Huib left Red Bull to build a natural energy drink inspired by Himalayan brews and named Tenzing with the family's blessing.
- He travelled to Nepal, met the family, and made them partners while designing a product from natural ingredients and environmental commitments.
Legacy Products Limit Radical Change
- Big legacy brands cannot easily remove sugar or artificial ingredients because they are stuck with old recipes and entrenched consumer expectations.
- Starting from scratch lets Huib use modern science and natural ingredients that avoid crashes while reducing sugar by ~60%.
Four Natural Functional Ingredients
- Tenzing uses four core natural functional ingredients: green coffee caffeine, L-theanine from green tea, Himalayan rock salt electrolytes, and acerola cherry vitamin C.
- This mix delivers sustained energy without the sugar crash common in artificial energy drinks.
