The POZCAST: Career & Life Journeys with Adam Posner

Dave Colina: The Entrepreneurship Journey of Creating O2 Recovery Drink

Episode Summary

Dave Colina joins us as a CEO and first-time entrepreneur going on six years as an operator, and breaks down his inspiration and experience in founding O2, a recovery drink helping athletes get back on their feet faster after workouts. Dave was working a corporate gig when he left to realize his passion for improving on the staple drinks like Gatorade and Red Bull, by creating a healthier, more sustainable alternative. In this episode, Dave talks about the knitty-gritty details of starting your own business. From conceptualizing the idea, to actually realizing the pitfalls of creating something that seems so simple, Dave has been through it all first-hand. He also speaks about a one-letter copywriting error that made its way into mass production, and how it took a village to come to the rescue and help his business keep moving forward.  Along comes COVID, and Dave’s health drink business is feeling the effect of gyms being subjected to the overarching preventative shutdowns. With over 50% of O2 revenue coming from subscription purchases by gyms, Dave had to act quickly in order to pivot and save his business. This is a great episode for those who are thinking about taking on entrepreneurship, as it shows the real and sometimes ugly side of owning your own business that operators really do face. Dave is a remarkable entrepreneur who has been able to adapt and reinvent himself to continue to sustain and grow his business-- a characteristic that any business owner with longevity will need to have at some point in their career. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review/rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast  The POZCast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller - the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you’re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on the POZCast.  Check out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ1 

Episode Notes

1:30 - Introduction
2:23 - Brand Origin Story
6:33 - The Time is Now
7:23 - Carbonization Process
8:56 - Substitute to Sugar
9:17 - How to Ensure Safety
9:58 - Launch to Pre-Covid in 45 seconds
14:09 - Big Mistake
16:13 - Honesty, Humility and Hustle
17:35 - Moment of Realization
18:52 - March, the 13th (D-Day)
23:05 - How to keep Brand Loyalty
26:42 - Giving Back
27:47 - Coalition strategy
31:20 - Results and outcome as per Sep 2020
33:09 - Being Optimistic
34:29 - One Piece of Advice