Within the crowded water bottle market, HydroJug stands out by giving customers precisely what they’re in search of. As a substitute of fancy colours or an abundance of options, HydroJug created a easy, 73 ounce water jug made for individuals who simply want a number of water. I sat down with co-founders and brothers, Jake and Hayden Wadsworth to speak about constructing HydroJug, how they discovered passionate followers nicely past their authentic health viewers and the way their dad and mom’ entrepreneurial backgrounds influenced their path.
Dave Knox: How did HydroJug get its begin?
Hayden Wadsworth: The largest factor that influenced beginning HydroJug was a YouTube video we noticed of a health influencer speaking about how all the jugs available on the market didn’t meet their wants. They leaked or they didn’t have deal with or they simply didn’t perform nicely. And we thought, hey, you already know what? There’s room available in the market to have the ability to carry a top quality product that overcomes all these wants and we form of simply went from there. It has been a snowball impact since we began with the whole lot hitting without delay and now, we’re experiencing a giant increase of progress.
And listening to customers has remained an enormous focus for us since day one. We’d go to commerce reveals and expos and other people would say, “Is that this insulated? Does this have a straw?” And we’d instantly begin serious about how can we insulate this and the way can we incorporate a straw into the lid. And it’s all the time been client centered and that’s simply been a part of our tradition and our thought course of and the way we do issues. The whole lot from product to social technique to how we do influencer advertising. It’s all in regards to the voice of the patron and the way can we make an influence in our customers’ lives? We’ve got a number of actually gifted individuals on our crew right this moment they usually all have that very same mindset of including worth.
Knox: Once you launched, what was the preliminary area of interest that you simply centered on for the model?
Hayden Wadsworth: To start with we had been pondering we had been going to get the people who had been competing in health competitions. These are people who take it tremendous severe and must drink two gallons of water a day. However that focus on modified actually quick. Early on we noticed that it was very feminine pushed and it was as a result of we began to resonate with people who had been weight-reduction plan and making an attempt to satisfy these health objectives round consuming water. In order that modified how we thought of issues. You must be actually environment friendly in your advertising spend and in your influencer advertising expense. Early on, it made sense to make use of these {dollars} very effectively and focused however as we grew, we actually broadened our viewers. We discovered that the product resonated with academics and nurses, in addition to moms which might be breastfeeding and anybody that was making an attempt to kick a soda behavior. That actually impacted how we approached the whole lot from product to precise advertising. As a substitute of simply being centered on health, we need to make HydroJug a family model. We would like it to be regular so that you can see individuals carrying a half gallon water bottle.
Knox: Once you look again over the previous few years of operating the enterprise, when did you understand that you simply had been onto one thing particular?
Hayden Wadsworth: For me, I feel it was actually the change in how individuals had been reacting to the model. There was a time once I could be on the cellphone so much with totally different firms and I puzzled when somebody would acknowledge us. At the moment, they’d ask what enterprise we had been with and after I mentioned HydroJug, it might all the time be “Are you able to spell that please?” Then I had that second when somebody requested for our enterprise title and for the primary time they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I like HydroJug. I’ve it sitting right here on my desk.” That was one of many moments for me the place I spotted that we will make this a family model. We will actually develop this. Persons are enthusiastic about this and we’re reaching lots of people. We began out very niched and I feel that’s good from a advertising standpoint but it surely actually bought broader and we began to have a much bigger imaginative and prescient for what the corporate might develop into.
Knox: With the expansion that you’ve got had lately, how have you ever navigated the challenges of the availability chain?
Jake Wadsworth: It begins with our crew. One of many first individuals we employed was a provide chain skilled who is definitely our cousin. Hayden and I had been doing the forecasting and reserving the orders early on. We had been combating it as a result of we don’t have a background in it. I’m an accounting main so very restricted experience in provide chain. However our cousin had a level in it and was working in that discipline. I used to be telling him a number of the issues that we had been having and he appeared to have a number of solutions to it. He constructed us a mannequin and I checked out it and I don’t suppose I acknowledged it for the way necessary it was. So someday I used to be sitting subsequent to Hayden and he mentioned, “Hey, I’m going to ask Ryan if he desires to work right here.” That was an enormous rent for us. From there, that crew has simply grown like wildfire and that rent couldn’t have come at a greater time. With all the worldwide occasions which have transpired, the crew has completed an awesome job at forecasting and protecting that offer chain flowing all through the previous two years. They’ve made the availability chain so much nimbler. We’ve got much more companions, however our suppliers stepped in and has helped us. And on our facet, we’re investing in automation in order that we will fulfill orders in a well timed method and get them to our clients.
Knox: How has the household affect of your founding crew influenced the best way you will have constructed the enterprise?
Jake Wadsworth: Household has been a huge effect on it. Our dad and mom are each enterprise house owners. Hayden and I’ve labored collectively at my dad and mom’ companies since I used to be eight years outdated and Hayden was 11. The identical with our youthful brother. Our dad and mom owned a number of Subways and all of us labored there rising up. Our dad had a landscaping enterprise, and we might work there collectively as nicely. And so, we actually have labored collectively for a very long time. That has actually helped us study one another’s strengths and discover ways to work with one another.
The largest factor that we discovered from our dad and mom about entrepreneurship is that it’s an on a regular basis factor. When our mother had the Subways, she would get calls at 9: 00 o’clock at evening. They wanted her up there and he or she would put us to mattress and he or she would head to work. And my dad, he labored as a firefighter full-time after which ran his sprinkler enterprise. And so he would get completed working 24 hour shifts and we would see him for a couple of minutes within the morning earlier than he was off doing sprinklers and landscaping. We noticed that sacrifice facet of it too and noticed form of what it took to make these issues work. And it was nearly regular. As I bought older, I noticed what it appeared like for those who had been simply working regular 9 to five jobs and the way they had been balancing that. With our dad and mom, I noticed the sacrifice that it took to be an entrepreneur and that it actually was an on a regular basis factor as a life-style.
Knox: How has HydroJug been capable of preserve your tradition throughout this era of progress?
Hayden Wadsworth: That’s one thing that truthfully retains me up at evening. I feel to start with I used to be tremendous obsessive about the shopper and the shopper journey. I might take a look at all the contact factors and map them out. And I nonetheless do take into consideration that, however as my function has advanced contained in the enterprise, I take into consideration the individuals I work with that very same means. How do they take a look at their job? Are they having fun with their job? How can I ensure that they’re fulfilled and that they’ve significant work?
Whereas a number of my day has develop into conferences and trainings, I made a dedication once we began hiring as quick as we did. I made a decision that if I bought into work early and stayed late to get my work completed, that might permit me to spend the day with the people who we’ve employed to ensure that they’re understanding how we run issues. Spending time with them could be the possibility to our philosophies and ideologies. Once you mix that with hiring actually good leaders, you will have the 2 large items of what we’ve been making an attempt to do to maintain our tradition intact.
Knox: As you speak with different entrepreneurs that aspire to observe the identical path that you’ve got, what recommendation do you give them?
Jake Wadsworth: My recommendation is to deal with the options. One thing that I did early on was settle for that we’re going to have issues. We’re going to have issues come up like a transport container displaying up with a bunch of damaged lids. It’s simple to dwell on these issues and to essentially waste a number of your vitality on the issue as an alternative of the answer. As a substitute channel that vitality and focus it on the answer to your downside.
