Neuro

Functional energy gum and mints for focus and performance

neurogum.com By Ryan Chen, Kent

MRR $10M

Users —

Stage Established

Category E-commerce

Starter Story The Underdog: From Life Changing Accident to $100M/Year

Pre launch / R&D

In person sampling

Ryan sampled early product formulas with co-workers at Hulu — including managers and finance team members — to validate efficacy before committing to a production run.

Confirmed product worked; identified dosing issues (one manager was wired until 3am), leading to formula refinement.
Launch

Crowdfunding indiegogo

Launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund the first production batch. Kent leveraged his Reddit presence to post in the nootropics subreddit community to drive backers.

Hit $30,000 goal in 3–4 days.
Launch

Earned media press

Time Magazine wrote an article about caffeinated gum following the Indiegogo success, giving Neuro mainstream visibility with zero paid spend.

Significant inbound awareness; led directly to Dr. Oz invitation.
Early Growth (Year 1)

Tv appearance dr oz

Appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, exposing Neuro to a mass consumer audience (primarily moms) that was entirely different from their initial nootropics-focused early adopters.

Drove a large wave of consumer purchases from the Dr. Oz audience.
Year 1–2

Direct fulfillment bootstrapped

Operated out of Kent's downtown LA apartment as a de-facto warehouse. Shipped 4,000 lbs of gum to USPS daily. Reinvested all revenue, took no salary for years 3–4, and Ryan played semi-professional poker to cover personal rent.

Year 1: ~$100K revenue. Year 2: ~$750K revenue.
Year 4 (2019)

Tv appearance shark tank

Appeared on Shark Tank in 2019. Walked away without a deal (both offers were below their minimum), but gained national TV exposure and a key relationship with guest shark Daniel Lubetzky.

Major step-change in brand awareness and business growth; Lubetzky later saved the company from a trademark lawsuit.
Post Shark Tank

Relationship investor advisory

Ryan cold-DM'd Daniel Lubetzky on Instagram referencing their Shark Tank connection. Lubetzky consulted for 18 months on a trademark lawsuit, leveraged his own legal team, and threatened to personally fund Neuro's legal fees to force the plaintiff to settle.

Lawsuit resolved without bankrupting the company; existential threat eliminated.
Scale (Year 5–7+)

Organic celebrity podcast mentions

Organically earned endorsements from Joe Rogan (mentioned on podcast), Andrew Schulz, Ashley Graham, Steve Aoki, and multiple MLB players — none paid. TikTok Shop videos repurposing these mentions went viral and compounded over time.

Became a top-10 TikTok Shop brand; ~$10M/month revenue (~$100M/year).

MRR $10M

First 100 users

Ryan and Kent launched on Indiegogo to crowdfund their first production batch. Kent, an active Reddit user, posted in the Reddit nootropics community to drive awareness, which helped them hit their $30,000 funding goal in 3–4 days. The Reddit push generated enough momentum that Time Magazine picked up the story and wrote an article about caffeinated gum becoming mainstream. That earned media snowballed quickly — the Time coverage led to an invitation to appear on Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz's audience (largely moms) then discovered and bought the product, giving Neuro its first wave of real customers well beyond the initial Reddit/nootropics niche.

Unfair advantage

Kent was an active Reddit user with existing credibility in the nootropics/r/Nootropics community, which gave them a warm, pre-qualified audience for the crowdfunding launch. Both founders were elite athletes (Paralympic and Olympic-level training) with genuine personal use cases, lending authenticity to the product story. Their Shark Tank appearance — even without a deal — gave them a nationally broadcast brand moment and a personal relationship with Daniel Lubetzky (Kind Bar founder) who later helped them navigate an existential legal threat at no cost.

Scaling channel

organic_celebrity_and_podcast_mentions

What didn't work

Shark Tank did not result in a deal — both offers came in below their floor and they walked away with no investment. Cold outreach to investors and friends during the trademark lawsuit also yielded no help.

Watch the original

The Underdog: From Life Changing Accident to $100M/Year

Starter Story

Stop guessing which moves apply to your product.

Neuro

8 moves, in order

The Underdog: From Life Changing Accident to $100M/Year

The Underdog: From Life Changing Accident to $100M/Year

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