#310 - $100M+ Businesses in Controversial Industries: John Coogan, Co-Founder of Soylent and Lucy
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John Coogan is the Founder at Lucy, an innovative company in the nicotine industry, offering safer alternatives to smoking.

In this episode, we discuss strategies for scaling production, taking products to market, generating buzz, navigating regulation, nailing retail distribution, and leveraging digital content to grow brands. And that's not all – we'll also get a glimpse into John's personal journey as a creator - where he's built a YouTube channel with almost 400,000 subscribers - as he covers startups in documentary style breakdowns.

Episode brought to you by More Staffing)*Join 15k founders and marketers & get our pod highlights delivered directly to your inbox with the DTC Pod Newsletter)!*On this episode of DTC pod we cover:1. Starting a Company through Kickstarter2. Product Development and Business Struggles3. Growth and Market Response4. Manufacturing and Distribution5. Regulatory Hurdles and Nicotine Product Innovation6. Marketing and Brand Building7. John's Professional Journey8. Tackling Nicotine Addiction9. Insights from Market Trends and Consumer Demand10. Founding Soylent and Pivoting Business DirectionTimestamps00:00 Started a startup, joined Y combinator, flopped.08:03 Silicon Valley programmer pivots to protein shakes.10:15 Soylent named after dystopian Sci-Fi movie reference.14:29 Brought in advisor, introduced to copacker. Fatal error.18:12 Struggle to meet deadline amid viral attention.20:37 Positive profile led to successful product launch.22:16 Barely any time, huge oh, shit moments.27:35 CPG genre, product, problem-solving, Shopify, retail, omnichannel31:23 Nicotine industry transitioning from unregulated to regulated.35:12 Nicorette product unchanged for decades, now on Amazon.36:31 DTC Pod joins HubSpot podcast network.39:05 FDA assesses product safety for public health.44:32 Swedish Match, Zyn, acquired by Philip Morris.46:38 Customer data, targeting key regions, sales strategy.50:09 Meeting creators, learning needs, gaining credibility.*Shownotes powered by *Castmagic)Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more. 

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• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content

• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views

• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands

• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook

• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands

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Projects the DTC Pod team is working on:DTCetc - all our favorite brands on the internet)Olivea - the extra virgin olive oil & hydroxytyrosol supplement)Castmagic - AI Workspace for Content)

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John Coogan) **- Founder at Lucy)Blaine Bolus) - Co-Founder of Castmagic)Ramon Berrios) - Co-Founder of **Castmagic)