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This episode is a fun one for me. I’m an entrepreneur, so I love watching Shark Tank. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s where some regular person
who has the beginnings of a business comes on and pitches the idea to 5 investors, called Sharks. The investors ask questions and decide if they want to become partners with that person and invest in the business.
Some of the people who have gone on there have gotten deals and gone on to great success. Others have gotten no deal, but perhaps some constructive criticism and encouragement. And then there are others that have just gotten criticism. And of course that’s part of what makes it entertaining.
Here’s some interesting facts about Shark Tank:
- Each season, they film batches of episodes together. All of the sharks come out to California for 2 weeks in June and they see as many as ten product pitches in each 10-hour day of filming. Then they come out again for 2 weeks in September and do the same thing. Out of all that, they get the 22 episodes for a season.
- In a recent season, there were 158 pitches filmed, but only 88 of them actually got on the air. The pitches average about 45 minutes, and then they get edited down to about 11 minutes each.
- Many of the deals made on the show never actually happen. And really that makes sense. The person might get their sales or cost numbers wrong, or some other details that don’t add up, and that can obviously cause a change of mind for the investor.
But my conversation today is with a young business man named Max, and in his case, the investment in his business DID happen. Max is a 19 year old college student, and he has developed a cold-brew coffee filter that he hopes will soon become a household product and introduce lots of people to the idea of cold-brew coffee.
And it turns out Mark Cuban, who’s one of the sharks and is also a billionaire investor who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, also thought the product has potential, so he and Max are now partners in this venture. And I agree, it’s a pretty clever idea.
As you’ll tell from our conversation, Max is a really bright kid and he’s got a tremendous future. I loved talking with him, and really I liked kind of getting the perspective of someone that has actually gone on that show – how he prepared for it, how he got the deal, and what’s happened since then. Going on a show like this to pitch your idea to investors is one of those things that’s part exhilarating and part terrifying.
If you want to watch the episode with Max, it’s this current season of Shark Tank, which is Season 10, and he’s on episode 9. It aired on January 6, 2019.
Here’s Max, showing how his cold-brew coffee filter works:
To connect with Max:
- Website: https://www.bruw.net/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bruwcoffee
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bruwcoffee
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bruwcoffee
And as always, I’d love to hear what you think of this episode! Email me at Scott@WhatWasThatLike.com.
Episode transcript (download transcript PDF)
This episode is a fun one for me. I’m an entrepreneur, so I love watching Shark Tank. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s where some regular person who has the beginnings of a business comes on and pitches the idea to 5 investors, called Sharks. The investors ask questions and decide if they want to become partners with that person and invest in the business. Some of the people who have gone on there have gotten deals and gone on to great success. Others have gotten no deal, but perhaps some constructive criticism and encouragement. And then there are others that have just gotten criticism. And of course that’s part of what makes it entertaining.
Here’s some interesting facts about Shark Tank:
Each season, they film batches of episodes together. All of the sharks come out to California for 2 weeks in June and they see as many as ten product pitches in each 10-hour day of filming. Then they come out again for 2 weeks in September and do the same thing. Out of all that, they get the 22 episodes for a season.
In a recent season, there were 158 pitches filmed, but only 88 of them actually got on the air. The pitches average about 45 minutes, and then they get edited down to about 11 minutes each.
And I was surprised to discover this – many of the deals made on the show never actually happen. And really that makes sense. The person might get their sales or cost numbers wrong, or some other details that don’t add up, and that can obviously cause a change of mind for the investor.
But my conversation today is with a young business man named Max, and in his case, the investment in his business DID happen. Max is a 19 year old college student, and he has developed a cold-brew coffee filter that he hopes will soon become a household product and introduce lots of people to the idea of cold-brew coffee.
And it turns out Mark Cuban, who’s one of the sharks and is also a billionaire investor who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, also thought the product has potential, so he and Max are now partners in this venture. And I agree, it’s a pretty clever idea.
As you’ll tell from our conversation, Max is a really bright kid and he’s got a tremendous future. I loved talking with him, and really I liked kind of getting the perspective of someone that has actually gone on that show – how he prepared for it, how he got the deal, and what’s happened since then. It’s one of those things that’s part exhilarating and part terrifying.
If you want to watch the episode with Max, it’s this current season which is Season 10, and he’s on episode 9.
On the show notes for this podcast episode, I’ll have links to Max’s website and all the other places you can connect with him – that’s at whatwasthatlike.com/18.
And you know, when I first started doing this podcast, I didn’t even have an Instagram account. But now I have over 3000 followers on Instagram and that number keeps going up. People just love what I post every day there! You can follow me – @whatwasthatlike
And now, here’s the fun conversation I had with Max.
Scott
How long have you been watching Shark Tank?
Max
I’ve been watching Shark Tank since I was probably 8 years old, so for the past 10-11 years. Well, they’re in the 10th season now. I’ve been watching since the first handful of seasons, so I’ve been watching for a very long time.
Scott
Yeah, your episode was in season 10, right?
Max
Yes. We are in the 10th season, which is a great season. They’re doing a lot this season featuring stories of young entrepreneurs because, I think, they’re starting to realize that entrepreneurs are now growing up watching Shark Tank. So, it seems like they’re starting to do a lot more on that end, which is very nice.
Scott
That’s good! That’s great! I like that! When did you first have the idea for this product?
Max
When I was 15 years old, I just fell in love with coffee. I got so inspired by it and I just started loving it. I’m not sure why, but I started making it myself and know using all different types of brewing methods – pour-overs, Aeropress, everything you could think about to make coffee. Eventually, I stumbled across cold-brewed coffee. This was something that I haven’t tried before. It wasn’t sold at Starbucks and it wasn’t sold in any large retailers. I said, “This is something that I really want to try because everything on the internet said it was smoother, sweeter, and tasted better. It was a totally different kind of coffee than I ever had before. So, I went online and typed in, “How to make cold brew coffee” on YouTube. I learned that people use mason jars to make it themselves at home all the time. So, that’s exactly what I tried to do – I took a mason jar, I had ground coffee, added cold water to it, and let that sit in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Then, what happens is you have the sludgy coffee mixture in a jar that you can’t drink because you have to filter it. Everyone online said, “Just take a cheesecloth or a paper towel and filter it.” So, I tried filtering it and made a mess, of course, because it’s not really a good way to filter something. My parents were so mad because I was just a kid making a mess in the kitchen – they were not happy. They said, like, “You’re never allowed to do this again! You need to stop making cold-brew!” I said, “Well, okay. There has to be a better way to do this because if this is going to be the next kind of coffee that everyone’s gonna love, why is everyone using this horrible way to filter it? Like, there must be a better solution.” So, I had this idea for a double-sided mason jar lid with a filter in the center. I thought that this must exist. So, my first instinct was, “Oh, let me go buy this! I’ll find this on Amazon!” So, I typed in double-sided mason jar lid on Google and Amazon, but it does not exist – I couldn’t find it anywhere. So, I said, “I’m going to make it because it’s not in the market.” So, I went into my garage, grabbed a screen door, some mason jar lids, blew together this first prototype, and it worked! After some trial and error, it started working. So, that’s really how BRUW was born. I said, “This is an amazing idea! It’s helping me make better coffee! Why can’t this help everyone make better coffee?” So, it’s something that I’ve been continuing to work on for the past 4.5 – 5 years.
Scott
When you first made that first prototype and got excited about it – obviously, I can tell just by listening to you – were you excited because, “Wow, I can now make cold brew coffee” or were you excited because, “Wow, I’ve got a product here that could potentially make a lot of money because nobody else is doing it”?
Max
I think it was a piece of both. I don’t think that I was only excited, like, “Oh my god, I just struck gold! I’m gonna make a billion dollars!” because we definitely made that much. It’s a good product – people are buying it – but we definitely haven’t made millions and millions and millions of dollars yet. Hopefully, that’s down the road. But my first instinct was, like, “I want to help more people make better coffee.” Going to a very macro level, I think that’s what makes really strong entrepreneurs. When you’re driven by passion and want to help other people make better coffee, and other people understand your passion, I think it can just lead to a lot more success than saying, “Oh, I’m gonna make a million dollars! I’m gonna start a company!” because if that was the case, there’s a lot of different ways we could have grown it. I don’t think that we would have built a community of people that enjoy using the BRUW and enjoy making cold-brew at home.
Scott
Right. And you wouldn’t probably be quite as passionate about it if it was just for money. Now, you said the name of it is “BRUW”. What does that mean?
Max
Truthfully, it’s because brew.com and brew.net were taken and I couldn’t think of another domain name. We’re working on a cool backstory for the name. As of right now, I was just sitting around the kitchen table with my mom – I think my grandma was there – and my siblings. We were, like, “We need a name for this. What should we call it?” Originally, it was “COFFME” – that was the first name. Everyone was like, “No way, that’s horrible!” Then, it was “BRUWD”, which you can’t really say without like–
Scott
You got to spell it for everybody.
Max
Right. Then, there were all these other names. Finally, someone at the table – I don’t remember who it was – said, “What about ‘BRUW’?” I was like, “Oh, that’s a good name – it must be taken.” So I went online and was, like, “Oh, it’s available! So, we bought that domain name.
Scott
It’s pretty incredible that a 4-letter domain name was still even available.
Max
It’s a ‘.net’ – we don’t have bruw.com. We had bruw.net and we also had bruwcoffee.com. So, yeah, I was really lucky.
Scott
Have you talked to the ’.com’ owner at all about getting that?
Max
They are not willing to sell it. Trust me. I’ve talked to them.
Scott
Wow, okay. Well, not yet. I mean, anything’s for sale for the right amount of money.
Max
Exactly.
Scott
Okay. Personally, I have only been familiar with hot coffee. My wife drinks iced coffee. I wasn’t really familiar with cold-brew as compared to iced coffee. I’ve done a little research, so I know now, but can you describe for the listeners what the differences are?
Max
Totally. Let me go back to iced coffee. Iced coffee is you make coffee, cool it down, and pour in ice, right? It’s pretty self-explanatory. Everyone can pretty much figure out how to make it – not too challenging – you just get a cold-tasting cup of coffee, so it’s not that special. Cold-brew, on the other hand, you actually brew it with cold water. So, the coffee grounds never touch the heat, never get hot, and you do it over a longer period of time. Because you’re using cold water and because you’re stretching out the process, the chemical reaction between the coffee in the wall and the water is actually different. So, you’re not extracting the same amount of acidity out of the coffee bean and you’re not extracting all the same elements that you would when you have a hot cup of coffee, so it ends up being more caffeinated and tastes smoother and sweeter – it doesn’t taste as bitter and harsh. If you brewed it hot, that same coffee would actually taste completely different, and that’s a big plus to a lot of people that like coffees. They said, “Well, I hate the bitterness of that milk or that cream.” When they drink cold-brew, it’s smoother. And they don’t need to use the most expensive coffee in the world to get something out of it that’s drinkable. It’s something that tastes good, still, if it’s made cold – I think that’s what people like a lot. Then, because of the lower acidity, certain doctors recommended it for patients who have digestion issues because it’s easier on their diet. There’s a whole array of benefits to it, but it is different. The main one is that it tastes different and it tastes better.
Scott
Yeah, I look forward to trying it. I haven’t had cold-brewed coffee yet. I ordered your filter – it just hasn’t arrived yet. I know that you have a little backorder, right?
Max
A little bit. It’s on the way. So, everything shipping out. By the time this is airing, it should probably be shipped out already.
Scott
Yeah, I’m sure.
Max
Yeah, it was crazy. We got all these orders on the night we aired on Shark Tank. I mean, we were expecting an influx of orders but we didn’t really know how much, but then we just got slammed and we said, “This is great!” Then, we also had, like, “Okay, we need to meet this demand. We need to figure it out.” It was definitely challenging to do it, but we’re slowly getting there.
Scott
Let’s go into the show. You decided to be on Shark Tank. To get on the show, you can apply either online or on an open call. How did you do it?
Max
Yeah, you can apply either online or in an open casting call – both of them are pretty similar. In one, you just go and speak in-person in front of the judges, and in the other one, you send a video of yourself. Either way, I believe you get in front of the same casting team, they review you, and they pick. I mean, they pick the best entrepreneurs that they see. I think, this season, they got 44,000 applicants. So, it’s competitive to get on the show. Because of how successful the show is, everyone’s trying to get on it, but there’s definitely a process to apply and get approved. I think the statistics are astounding for this season 10 – what they published is 44,000 people applied to be on the show. 158 of those people made it to LA to actually film the segment, but 88 of those people made it to TV. So, like, 158 films and 88 people made it to TV. So, you can go to LA, go to the stage, pitch to sharks, film your episode, and then just get cut off and not actually ever have it come to fruition, which would be pretty disappointing. Personally, that’s what I was worried about. We filmed in the summer and I said, like, “Oh my god, am I gonna be on TV?” We had no idea what was gonna happen. So, that’s what I was concerned about. When we got the news that we were going to be out in January, it was very relieving.
Scott
That’s one thing I wanted to ask you about – from the time you got accepted to come out to the time when you actually filmed the show, how much time went by?
Max
Right. So, it was a long process. I mean, they’re taking applications now for next season, right? So like, it’s January and they’re already doing casting calls and taking applications for season 11, but they haven’t even finished airing season 10 yet. So, you can imagine that it’s a long road to get there.
Scott
Yeah. So, your show is actually on Episode 9 of Season 10 – that went on the air on January 6, 2019, which was just a few weeks ago. When did you actually record that episode?
Max
That was over the summer. The entire season of Shark Tank was filmed in two segments – a week in June and a week in September. I believe that’s what was been published. So, I mean, it’s crazy.
Scott
So you filmed in June and it went on the air in January, so it’s like six months, roughly. How many times did you practice that pitch?
Max
Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell you. I thought of it a lot – right a lot. I had the pitch written. I decided that this is what I’m going to say to the sharks. I would literally be in front of the mirror, going, “Hi, sharks. My name is Max Feber. I’m 18 years old.” So I just went through it and did it hundreds of times. I mean, there’s a folder on my computer of me doing it. Instead of doing it in front of the mirror, I did it in front of my webcam on my Mac so that I could play it back and say, “I’m going to tweak this. I’m going to say it slower. I could actually evolve that.” So, by the time I got to TV, it was pretty polished.
Scott
Right. Because you want it to be second nature. You don’t have to try to remember your lines, right? How nervous were you when you were walking down that hallway? I mean, what were you thinking?
Max
Oh, my gosh, it was the craziest experience. When the doors opened – the music was playing in my head although they don’t actually play it when you’re recording – I walked down, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is finally happening.” Then all of a sudden, I saw 5 sharks sitting in front of me. I was, like, “Wow.” It hit me a little bit that I had finally made it into the room that I had always been watching. I filmed for a lot of TV shows, but not Shark Tank specifically. When you’re there, you’re like, “Oh, I can’t believe this is how it looks on TV.” It feels like you’re on a set and it doesn’t look real, but when you’re on the Shark Tank set, especially when I was there, I just completely felt natural in that room. I was standing on the carpet in front of the shark and I was like, “Oh, I haven’t imagined what this feels like forever. It didn’t feel like I was in a foreign environment. It felt like I was walking into the TV that I’ve been watching forever.”
Scott
Because the set doesn’t really change except the product being shown – it’s pretty much the same.
Max
Also, it didn’t feel like it was fake – it felt like I was truly walking into what I had been watching forever. It was, like, very nostalgic. It was a great experience.
Scott
Did you want a particular shark to give you a deal as you were going in?
Max
I really liked all of them and I really respect all the sharks. I didn’t have anyone, specifically. I mean, I love Mark Cuban, I did want Mark Cuban going in, but if he didn’t give me a deal and Robert had given me a deal, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world because I do respect them all so highly. I like all of them, but I wanted Mark – I had my eyes on Mark. I also had my eye on Lori but she didn’t end up giving me the offer.
Scott
The sharks you presented to were pretty much the standard list. It was Mar, Daymond, Kevin, Lori, and Robert. As you were going in, your proposal was you wanted $50,000 for 25% of your company?
Max
Yes.
Scott
You did the product demo and it looked super smooth. I mean, I could tell that – when I watched it – you had obviously practiced that a lot and, obviously, that paid off. Now, Kevin joked more than once, “Wow, Max is really, kind of, amped up on the product. He’s taken a lot of coffee. Was that actually the case?”
Max
No. That was actually one of the few mornings that I didn’t drink any coffee. I mean, I was just very nervous and excited, and the combination led me to be very just energetic. I mean, I’m normally a very energetic person. So, it made me very articulate and very energetic, and I think they liked it.
Scott
Yeah. I think that came across as very, very positive. I mean, I can tell that just by talking to you – obviously, you talk fast, you think fast, and that’s just the way you are. Was there any question that you were afraid that they were gonna ask?
Max
No. I mean, I was pretty much prepared for anything that they could have thrown at me. I had been reviewing– I mean, I didn’t necessarily review my numbers just because I know the numbers. Like, I had been working in the business so regularly every day that you, kind of, learn and know everything about it, so I didn’t have to prepare too much. So, I just had to recalculate the cost of it and make sure that we had actual numbers of what our product cost and stuff like that, but I wasn’t really nervous about anything. I think, in general, when running a company, I try to maintain a very healthy company that’s morally strong and very financially healthy, so we didn’t have any debt. We didn’t really have anything too crazy that they saw. It’s not like they could have gotten my secrets out of me because we didn’t really have anything to hide. I pretty much left it all on the table with them.
Scott
And you’ve already got your patent just before that?
Max
Yeah, that is true. We really had gotten the patent, like, 3-4 days before filming with them.
Scott
It was great because that’s one of the things that they always ask. Of course, they would always ask, “What does it cost you to make one of these?” And you had all those answers ready to go.
Max
I mean, like, I’m not gonna say, “I don’t know the answer to how much it was gonna cost.” And I think those people who go into the tank and say, “Oh, I don’t know how much it costs to make it.” should not be on Shark Tank – like, they shouldn’t even ask for an investment.
Scott
How did they get past the first screener, right?
Max
I don’t know the process of how they get past them or how they apply, but why should they take an investment when they don’t even know? They might not be able to manage that money properly if they don’t know what their product cost – I wouldn’t trust them with my money – and I can’t imagine how those billionaires in the room would feel about it.
Scott
Right, because it’s not like they would just give their money out to anybody.
Max
They’re billionaires but, at the same time, they’re not, like, throwing their money away. When they give you $50,000 in Shark Tank, they’re investing it in you because they think they’ll make money back. People forget that a lot. They think, “Oh, they’re just giving this kid.” Like, they don’t realize that Mark giving me $50,000 is Mark assuming that I’ll be able to take that $50,000 and turn it into $5 million which, hopefully, we’re gonna be able to do.
Scott
Right off the bat, Kevin offered you $50,000 for a 50% stake. You didn’t seem too excited about that.
Max
I couldn’t believe it. That was just a stupid deal – I didn’t like it. I mean, I respect Kevin O’Leary a lot – I think he’s a nice guy, a good investor, and a good person for the most part, but I felt that was a stupid offer.
Scott
But that seems like it’s, kind of, his shtick where he just comes out sarcastically and doesn’t pull any punches. I don’t remember what he said about your product but, obviously, if he was offering a deal, he must have thought it had potential, right?
Max
I didn’t like the deal because that was too much equity for me. In all honesty, like, he is probably one of the most shrewd investors there and he’s probably one of the fastest to say, “Your idea sucks. Get out of here. You’re the worst company ever.” But he didn’t say that to me. He respected me enough to understand that we were running a healthy company. He believed in the product and I do really appreciate that because, I think, that’s very rare coming out of Mr. Wonderful.
Scott
In another one of the presentations on that same episode, I think the line he used was, “You need to take this product out back behind the barn and shoot it.” I think a lot of that is for ratings because people want to see what Kevin’s gonna say next, right?
Max
I don’t know why he does it. I don’t know if they do it for ratings or not. I just know that getting an offer from Kevin O’Leary – he’s probably one of the hardest sharks to get an offer from – is really rare. So, when he gave me the offer, it made me feel like this product is legitimate and they’re gonna like it. If he likes it, then nobody else would. If he doesn’t have an issue with the financials, then nobody else is gonna have an issue with the financials. If he notices a little bit of a deviation from what’s normal in the industry, he’ll slams you over it.
Scott
So you got that. Then, Lori dropped out. Daymond offered $50,000 for 30%, which is a little bit more equity than what you initially wanted. Robert dropped out. Then, Mark Cuban said, “Okay, I’ll give you $50,000 for 30% and I want an immediate answer.” Did you feel pressured? I mean, obviously, they want to put pressure on you of “We’re gonna give you this, but you need to answer us now.”
Max
I don’t know. Daymond gave me the offer and the offer he gave me was, like, “Look, I’d want to license it.” He didn’t seem to believe in me that much. Meanwhile, Mark was like, “You remind me of me when I was a kid. You’re a mini-me. Like, I love you, I love this.” He gave me the same offer. So, again, I really respect Daymond John and I think he’s a great entrepreneur. He was the Entrepreneur In Residence at my college, Babson, for a little while but Mark just seemed to have a little bit more belief in me than Daymond did. I think he was investing in the business thinking can make some money back, but Mark was investing in me along with the business. So, I really appreciated that. I said that I respected him and I wanted to do a deal with him. In retrospect, I probably could have asked the 2 of them to go in together, but I don’t know if that would have ever materialized.
Scott
Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, since they were both offering the same deal, for you to go with Mark, I guess it makes sense why you did that. Looking back on it now, since the show has now gone live, would you have done anything differently?
Max
That’s a good question. I don’t think so. I think we hit it spot on. I think the way the show made me look was good – I think they made me look really good – and I really appreciated that. I think they really portrayed the company very well. There’s not much I would have done differently. Maybe, I could have asked Mark and Daymond to go in together.
Scott
But that wouldn’t have necessarily been a positive, though.
Max
Right, exactly. I think I would have asked the question – I don’t even know if I would have. I went back and forth thinking about it, Mark wanted me to commit immediately and I did. I think that shows how committed I was to him, to his company, and to his investments. On the other hand, I don’t know what Daymond could add to the company because I haven’t really interacted with him. So I went back and forth there, but I don’t think I would change anything. I think it went really well.
Scott
They definitely reward decisiveness.
Max
Yes, I agree.
Scott
After the show, did the deal actually happen – you got the $50,000?
Max
We did – we’re working with Mark, which is really great.
Scott
How often do you talk with Mark?
Max
Mark is great. He’s a really good and strong advisor – I really appreciate it. I’ll probably email him, like, once a week to ask him questions or give them updates, and he is always responsive, works with me, and gives great advice, which is awesome. He’s really good to work with. He is a really good adviser and a really good mentor.
Scott
Not many many people have direct access to Mark Cuban.
Max
Yeah, seriously. That made me a celebrity in school and everywhere. They’re like, “Oh, can you ask Mark a question for me? Let me talk to Mark! Let me get Mark’s phone number!” I’m like, “I can’t.”
Scott
Oh, yeah. You’re not gonna abuse that privilege.
Max
It’s great. It gets me to all the parties. Anytime I want to go to a party on campus, I’ll be like, “If you don’t let me in, I’m gonna call Mark” and they’d be, like, “Okay, come on.” That’s just a joke – it’s not that I actually will. But it’s been really cool to see people supporting me in, like, the company – it’s been really great.
Scott
You mentioned that your appearance on the show had a pretty positive effect on sales. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Max
Yeah. We did really well. We were on the show. Then, all of a sudden, we had thousands of new customers flooding in. I realized that we were going to sell out – we did better than I expected – and I was, like, “We’re gonna sell out. We’re not gonna be able to fulfill all of our orders immediately.” I said, “Well, if we can’t be operationally excellent going into the industry – like, we can’t get all the orders out immediately and have perfect supply chain – then we have to be on the very top of our customers, we have to be talking to them, interacting with them, and building a community with them.” We said, like, “We have to do something. We can’t just leave these people to fend for themselves.” So, I sent out an email to all of my customers with my personal cell phone number and said, “Look, you’re my customers, you’re supporting me, you’re paying me, why shouldn’t you have access to me? That just didn’t make sense.” Then I said, “Call me or text me. That’s my real number. It’s the same one that my mom has. Ask me your questions. Don’t slam us online. Don’t leave horrible reviews. Just call me and I’m happy to talk to you about it.” That’s what we were doing and it had been working very well for us.
Scott
People love transparency.
Max
It’s really good – they like it a lot, they respect it a lot, it helps build a stronger brand for us, it helps build a community of all the people that are on board and respect us. So, I really like and appreciate that.
Scott
When you get the $50,000, what did you use it for?
Max
We invested a lot in marketing like what Mark had asked for and what he wanted us to do, which we did. We’ve done a lot of everything. We’re just spending a lot of money to grow ourselves as a company.
Scott
So what you’re doing is, kind of, like, bootstrapping, where the money that you get from pre-ordering or from ordering is really paying to have the product created, right?
Max
Right, exactly.
Scott
When Lori dropped out, she said or thought that this is just gonna be one of the many products that you’ll develop. Do you have plans for other products now or are you focusing on just this one?
Max
I don’t have anything definitive in the pipeline, but I do agree with her a lot. I’ve always viewed that this is not something that I’ll necessarily retire on – it’s just the first of many ventures for me. Now that I have a relationship with this community of a few thousand people around me – I gave them my phone number, built a strong belief not only in the product but also in myself – I can say, like, “Hi, thank you so much for believing in BRUW. I’m starting this new thing. Would you support this? Look what I’m doing. You believed in me from when I was a kid.” I think that people would be open to it, I think people would believe in it, and I do really appreciate that.
Scott
Yeah. I mean, the network that you’re building now, if you think about calculating the value of that over your lifetime, that would be a lot more than $50,000, honestly.
Max
Right, exactly. When Mark Cuban gave me the deal, having access to mark and having a relationship with Mark was so much more valuable to me than anything else. I just said, like, I really appreciate him and I really value him. I know Mark Cuban’s worth a lot more than $50,000. So, I was very flexible in the amount of equity I was willing to give up – don’t tell him that.
Scott
Alright. Well, if he’s listening to this then, of course, he knows.
Max
Now he knows.
Scott
So you’ve got your website. You’re on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’m gonna have links to all of these on the show notes for this episode so that people can contact you. What’s the easiest way for someone to actually get the BRUW cold-brew coffee filter?
Max
The best way to buy it is through our website – bruw.net. The best way you know that’s the best way to do it. The coupon code is SAVE10 for 10% off – don’t tell your friends, it’s a secret. That’s the best way that they can get a hold of one. Also, they can follow or contact me on Instagram at @maxbfeber – you can DM and reach out to me personally there – that’s the best way to get in touch with me. I love speaking and I love doing everything. So, please reach out to me, I’m happy to talk.
Scott
Yep. Like I said, I’ll have links to all that on the website for this episode. And Max, I appreciate you coming on. It’s an exciting story and I look forward to seeing where it’s gonna go.
Max
Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time and I really enjoyed the conversation.
Scott
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