Well with Arielle Lorre - 117: Beating Bloating and Anxiety with Arrae Co-Founders Siffat Haider and Nish Samantray

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

In this episode I’m talking to Siff Haider and Nish Samantray, founders of Arrae, about their trajectory from blogging and working in tech, respectively, to developing a wildly successful w...ellness brand. In this episode we discuss how Siff’s own health issues and quest for effective natural treatments led her and Nish to found Arrae; how they developed a natural product that actually works; their unique strategy to bring their product to market; how and why their product stands our from others in its category; mistakes they’ve learned from; the pros and cons of working with a significant other and so much more!   www.Sakara.com/BLONDEFILES for 20% off your first order www.GoMacro.com with code BLONDEFILES for 30% off plus free shipping on all orders over $50 www.Dipseastories.com/BLONDE for your free 30 day trial   Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The following podcast is a dear media production. Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all and live your best life. Thanks for listening.
Starting point is 00:00:25 Let's get into it. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. Today I'm talking to Sip Hyder and Nish Salmon Trey. They're the founders of Array. And if you're not familiar with Array, it's kind of the brand that took Instagram by Storm. They make supplements to treat bloating and anxiety so far with natural ingredients and effective dosing. And I've been using it and talking about it all year. It truly works like a charm for me. It's really amazing. So I really wanted to talk to them about how they went from their previous careers. SIF was an
Starting point is 00:01:03 influencer working in blogging and Nish was working in tech, how they went from that to develop a wildly successful wellness brand. So in this episode, we discussed that and we talk about how SIF's own health issues and her quest for effective natural treatments led her and Nish to found array. And we talked about how they developed a natural product that actually works, their research and the science behind that. And then I also really wanted to hear about their unique strategy to bring their product to market. I'm sure you guys have seen it all over Instagram, and they have a really effective marketing technique, which I can speak to because I've been on the other end of it, working with them, and I can compare that to working with other brands. And so it was really interesting
Starting point is 00:01:48 to hear their input into why they decided to market it the way that they did. We also talk about how and why their product stands out from others in its categories, business mistakes that they've learned from, the pros and cons of working with a significant other. And, so much more and they are just such a delightful couple. It's so fun to listen to their dynamic and how they play off one another and they really are kind of raising the bar when it comes to supplements and how we take these natural products and really the future of natural medicine. So enjoy the episode. Okay, so welcome both of you. I'm so excited to chat. We're so excited to be here. So this is take two.
Starting point is 00:02:33 We just had some technical difficulties. I always think it's better to just throw it out there. But I was saying the first time around that I'm really excited to talk to you guys because you have this product that is kind of like shaking up the wellness industry, I think, because it actually works. And the way that you've been marketing it and the way that you kind of rolled it out is very unique. And it's been very effective from what I've seen. And the product is just amazing.
Starting point is 00:03:00 It's like my favorite. I talk about it all the time. And it's really helpful. It's really beneficial. So I would love to hear all about your origin story and all of that. So to start, why don't you tell the listeners about what you're doing now and what you were doing before you transitioned to Array? Sure.
Starting point is 00:03:20 I mean, first of all, I mean, that's a great little intro because, I mean, we're obviously like really excited by what we're doing. And, you know, it's... It's always so nice to hear really, really kind words around the people. also thank you so so much. But I think, yes, why don't you tell us about your story a little bit? That's the most interesting part. I think I've been going to talk about. So we started working on Array because I had really, really bad health issues. And just I was always sick. I'd be going to doctors. You know, my tests would come back clear all the time.
Starting point is 00:03:54 But I just wasn't well. And all the way up until my early 20s, I just kept feeling this way. and I hit my breaking point when I ended up fracturing a rib from a chronic cough. And again, when I went to my doctor, it was the same old like, well, there's nothing really wrong with you. And this time it was here's some codeine. And I was like, I don't want this and I just want to get better. And I couldn't understand what was wrong with me. So I started to look into natural remedies instead of just, you know, going back to my MD
Starting point is 00:04:25 over and over again. And I started kind of experimenting with. herbs and minerals and vitamins and getting my hands on whatever research I could find. And, you know, also this is mind you, before wellness became this hot topic. This is like six years ago, right? So anything I could get my hands on, I was researching, I was experimenting, and I started to realize that my immune system was getting stronger. And beyond that, I was also being able to troubleshoot other issues I had from digestion to fatigue. And I I had collected so many individual bottles of product that niche.
Starting point is 00:05:05 I was getting really upset because literally everywhere in the home, like the kitchen, the bedroom, like it was so filled with so many different supplements. And whenever you're going out, like even if you go to Whole Foods, like our cart is just filled with supplements anyway. And the worst part was in your travel, our suitcases were filled with supplements. And I'm the one kind of suitcases. I was always getting pretty upset about it. Are you taking any of them?
Starting point is 00:05:28 Well, I mean, that's the thing. One time I got sick, I said, okay, well, give me some of the stuff you have in here. Let's see how it works. And I was like, oh, wow, this stuff really works. And so it was really interesting because whenever I used to go into our bathroom, we had every single kind of beauty product you could ever think of. And me as a guy, I have become so acquainted and so good at using beauty products. I have this six-step skincare routine.
Starting point is 00:05:53 I know exactly what serums I'm using, what brightening things I'm using, you can also underwrite. It's so funny, but when it came to the supplement space, I had no idea just because it was so convoluted. And this is where the idea really clicked in, because it was like, wait a second, in the beauty world, like, everything is so organized. It's kind of idiot-proof, you know, Ariel,
Starting point is 00:06:16 and you can go into Sephora, you can find things for whatever targeted problem you have under the sun. Things are usually created by either dermatologist or a chemist, And you can really see, like, results when you're using it. It wasn't the case with wellness. So we set out to create array. And our goal was to create 100% natural and targeted products that really worked. Like, you'd see those results, not just sit there and be like, well, I hope it's doing something for me.
Starting point is 00:06:46 We were tired of hearing that. So we were results oriented and we wanted to make it really beautiful and palatable to consumers like us, really. because otherwise you buy all these products and it gets shut to the back of your pantry and then you just forget about it, you know? Kind of back to your experience of dealing with all these issues, trying all these supplements. How did you start to like hone in on the ingredients or the supplements that were actually working? And when did you get the idea to kind of combine that into a supplement? So when it came to my own, I guess, experience with,
Starting point is 00:07:24 natural health products, I started reading everything that I could find, right? And I started also learning not just about specific ingredients, but the importance of actual dosing of ingredients too. So, you know, you can take certain products which have like maybe 10, 20 different ingredients and you're instructed to take just one capsule, right? That is actually not going to work for you at all. It won't do anything to your body because there's just not enough of each ingredient to give you therapeutic relief. And that's what I found really interesting about the supplement world, that everyone was just telling you, like, we have one magic pill. Like, it's just one. And here are all these, like, really trendy ingredients. It's all really cool. Take it and it's your solution. It's actually
Starting point is 00:08:07 not. And as we started going and speaking to naturopathic doctors, this was the other kind of thing that we kept hearing that they would only trust professional grade brands because those were the only ones that were therapeutically dosed, had high quality ingredients, like all of these little things that obviously wellness professionals are very nitpicky about. And we wanted to merge those two worlds. So when it came to the formulation of the products themselves, we knew we wanted to work with like a naturopathic doctor to formulate it because I can research all I want about ingredients, but I actually wanted a doctor to back it and really bring the efficacy piece to life. Yeah, one of the most important things is when we were kind of going out and trying to find
Starting point is 00:08:52 the doctor to work with, the doctor that you found, she was like, okay, look, are you guys looking to create a product that really works? Or are you just looking to create another trainee product? I were like, no, we are really looking to create a product that actually works. And so it actually took us a year to formulate these products properly because we were trying them and testing them and looking at the clinical research behind them, looking at the clinical trials behind the ingredients, and then, you know, doing our own kind of trials. look at the combination of grades that we're using and how those work as well.
Starting point is 00:09:21 And so there was so much research that kind of went into, okay, how do these work? But also more than that, what are the, what is the problem we should solve? Because when you're kind of thinking about, okay, bloat and anxiety, obviously we talk to all of her friends, everybody's bloated and everybody's super anxious, especially during the pandemic. I feel like people were, you know, even more bloated, even more anxious than they usually were. And so these problems, okay, we just kept hearing them again and again. then when you start talking your professionals about it, what was really interesting is that these problems actually go so hand in hand.
Starting point is 00:09:52 When you're anxious, your body is going into flight-on-flight mode, and when that happens, your digestion slows down, and when that happens, it actually makes you feel more anxious. So it's this viral kind of downward loop, and we said, okay, we must launch these products in tandem because that is how we're going to be able to kind of holistically solve these problems. But that was the process of how we came up with the whole ideas and formulation. I love how synergistically they go together, because you're right. I mean, one of the first things that I learned when I was having really bad gut issues was like, if you're anxious, if you're stressed, your digestion is the first thing to go offline. Like,
Starting point is 00:10:24 if you're running away from the tiger, your body isn't trying to digest whatever you just ate. So I love that they really work in concert like that. But back to something that you said earlier, I mean, I think it's crazy that the doctor was like, do you want to make something that's trendy or do you want to make something that works? I mean, that's just so telling of, I think the supplement industry, it's very unregulated, I would imagine. You can be a good marketer and not have the product to back it up. I think there's so much of that on social media right now. So how have you guys gone about bringing the product to launch when you did
Starting point is 00:10:59 and the marketing that you've done because it's been so impactful? You know, it's not just like your typical influencer marketing. So I would love to hear about how you strategize that, if it just kind of happened accidentally or if that was your plan from the beginning. I don't think anything we did was accidental. Like, of course, we had great luck along the way. And, like, we have to recognize that. You know, like, I think there is an element of luck.
Starting point is 00:11:24 But we were very intentional with how we did things, what we did, and our goal behind what we wanted the company to be. And so when it came to, like, the marketing and the launch strategy, I think we did, like, a couple of things very intentionally. So number one was we knew that this was a product that would have been really loved by wellness professionals. So we gifted to so many naturopathic doctors and nutritionists because we know that they're always looking for great products to recommend to their clients.
Starting point is 00:11:57 And people being how they are, they act like women actually want really beautiful products, but that also really work. Like I think that awareness is kind of just coming about. So we gifted to natchopathic doctors and nutritionists in hopes that like they would like the product and it would be something that they could recommend to their clients. And that actually started happening. So, you know, before we knew it, we started getting so many customers who were coming to us from these recommendations, using our products for symptom management for things like chronic conditions like IBS and SIBO. And that kind of talks to the integrity of our product.
Starting point is 00:12:30 So that was the number one thing we did. And number two was when it came to influencers, I think that brands make such a mistake by not really valuing influencers. like they'll either just kind of throw money at someone and be like, here it is, like the one-off post we want you to do. For us, it wasn't that. We really wanted to gift to people, make sure that they loved it organically. And look, Ariel, you know, we're a bootstrapped company. When we launched, we had no money. So it was just about gifting to key people, hoping that they liked it, hoping they posted and letting them know that, look, you know, as we grow, we want to pay you and, you know, actually holding up our side of the bargain as well.
Starting point is 00:13:15 So we've only done like a handful of very long-term partnerships with true brand fans. Like these are people who have talked about our product organically over and over and over again. That's kind of been our like our approach. Yeah. It's honestly like when we started the company, one of the things that we really wanted to do was just like solve really hard problems. And that is the truest place of where we came from. We did not start the company to be.
Starting point is 00:13:42 come cool. We did not start the company to make a lot of money. We start the company to generally solve some problems and most importantly solve our own problems first. And so through this kind of process, we're like, look, we just want to create a really good product. We want to give this to people who would kind of like their product and we'll see how it goes from there. And I think that in that sense, it's being as honest and genuine to what it is that we want to do has really helped us, you know, work with the right people, have the right people find us, and then kind of explore some partnerships in that sense. And even beyond that, like, sometimes I'd be on social media and see someone complaining
Starting point is 00:14:18 about the fact that they were bloated. And I was like, well, I can help you. Like, I have this. I've been able to help myself and people around me. Like, hopefully I can help you too. And like literally, that's been the entire ethos that we have. Like, we really just want to help people feel their best. And we've treated our customers, like influencers too.
Starting point is 00:14:38 Like, we have gone above and beyond. and we continue to go above and beyond. Like, it's really funny, you know. You know, SIF gets a lot of influencer packages. And so I'm the one who opens all the packages. Like, I love opening these packages. I'm like my husband too. He's like, if he gets a package ever, he's like, oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:14:58 It's so cool. I mean, you guys get such cool packages. And I'm like, okay, I want to open these packages. And sometimes I'm like, what is this? Like, I don't know, this one time you got a skincare influencer package. that was in a mini fridge, it was unbelievable. I was like, you know, you probably know what I'm talking about. You know, for us, I was like, okay, I want everybody to feel like how I feel when they
Starting point is 00:15:22 open up our package. And so, and I also want everybody to know that this is coming from like SIF and Nish. It's not coming from this random company. And so, you know, hand packaging our packages with our tissue to taking the porth and I so they know, like, who they're interacting with. And all those little things is just so that they know who they're dealing with. And I really hope they feel as special as, you know, you guys do when you open insolenter packages. If you're looking for a good plant-based protein bar, which, by the way, can be so hard to find, look no further than go macro.
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Starting point is 00:19:17 It is so important that we know how and when to ask the right questions, whether you're in front of your doctor or just hanging out with your good girlfriend. Now, I wanted to create Dr. Jackie's point of bead because sometimes you need to just hear the unfiltered good old Dr. Jackie. I will inspire, uplift and educate women and men on the who, what, when, and where of things we balance daily. Make sure you subscribe to Dr. Jackie's point of view and tune in every Thursday. Back to what you were saying about, like, the marketing strategy, I feel like, I don't know if people who are listening are very familiar with the influencer marketing world, but a lot of brands really micromanaged. they give you a campaign brief of what you can and cannot say, what you have to do, what you absolutely can't do, the colors that they want, the verbiage that they want,
Starting point is 00:20:12 to this, that to the point where it is very transactional because the influencer is completely taken out of the equation, like the individuality of the influencer. And something that I love about you guys is that you're so hands-off. There's no pre-approvals. there's no campaign brief. And I think that because of that, you get the genuine testimonial of the person
Starting point is 00:20:37 and people are following that person for a reason because they trust them. And you can tell when something is contrived and very like advertisement. And because you guys don't do that, I think that like people's honest love of the product really shines through. And so just thought I would let you know.
Starting point is 00:20:55 I appreciate that. And I think that if people do see like an ad for a partnership for your product, it's because that person really does love it. Yeah, and you know what? That was something that was so important to us, right? Like we very intentionally chose, like, a small group of people that we could work with.
Starting point is 00:21:13 And I was like, listen, if someone loves our product, and that's the only reason we will ever partner with someone, it's because they love our product already. Why would I have to sit there and write a brief about what they should say about our product? like should they not tell the world why they like our product? Like, why is that my job? Like, that's your job. And, you know, I've worked in this industry for so long as like an influencer
Starting point is 00:21:39 myself and I've gotten these briefs and just wanted to pull my hair out. Like, I have no creative freedom. This is basically a billboard. And I've said no to so many partnerships for this reason. And just having gone through that process myself, I've just been like, we are doing things differently. Like, this is not okay. Because, like, I'm the one, I am usually the one who's taking the photographs of videos of whenever she's seen his partnerships.
Starting point is 00:22:03 And sometimes I'm just like, what are you doing? This is so I like you. It's really awkward, but yeah. And that comes across, though, in the content. And I think people just swipe right through and they just don't, you know, I can't imagine that there's a good, like, return on that investment when it's so, like, so overtly an ad. So I want to ask you, I've heard you say in another interview, maybe it was with Mariana, that like you're at the point where you eat, sleep, and breathe this company. It's your passion.
Starting point is 00:22:35 How did you go from your jobs before and go into what you're doing now? And I would imagine leave some kind of like certainty for this unknown, especially during a time when things have been so uncertain. How did you like, how did you get over that fear if there was any? I think we have two very different answers. And if you want to go first? All right. Well, I mean, my story is really different in the sense that Sip and I were working on for quite some time before we actually started working on it full time.
Starting point is 00:23:05 And so one of the things he said, we said, okay, we really want to work together. We really want to figure out a way to make this happen. But we need to be able to fund the company in some way or sort. And so, you know, it wasn't like this picturesque story where we quit our jobs and we just start working in a array. it was very much so like a full year where I was just working my my job and you know I was making quite a decent amount of money and I was able to funnel all of that into paying for inventory paying for packaging paying for product development whatever that might be and so we just kept doing this and
Starting point is 00:23:38 say okay like there's actually a way to do this where we have to be really sure someone sure that what we're building works and so we we spent about a year where we're just like literally funneling our money that we're getting from our other jobs into a ray, and just to get some sort of proof of concept, things are working. In fact, we actually did not quit our jobs until we're doing like six figures in revenue. So that's kind of how much we were waiting for some conviction in our business. And then once that happened, you know, it's, it's never an easy thing. It is such a hard thing to be like, I'm going to quit and work on something. It's very much, like, for me, it was just like, okay, now it's coming to a point where if you don't quit, you're not
Starting point is 00:24:21 putting in what the company deserves for you to put in. And so you really need to make a decision of what you really want to do. And so it was, it's always such a hard decision, but it's a fine balance between, okay, being a realist and figuring out of whether something's going to work. But on the other hand, being like, no, but I am an entrepreneur. I am also a dreamer. I must now quit and just let everything go and do it. It's like you got to literally be in both of the worlds and somewhere in the middle is the right answer. But that's what happens to me. Yeah. For me, it was a little different because I was working for myself, right? And I think like, when was it? Like, I think it was like late summer last year. I felt like I was having an existential crisis because I, I felt like I,
Starting point is 00:25:00 you know, I, like my old, my blog is called icing and glitter and that was my Instagram handle. And that was essentially my life for the last like four or five years prior to, right? And I felt like I was having an existential crisis because I was like, I identify more as an entrepreneur than, you know, just a content creator and like how do I kind of merge these two worlds. But it was like in, I think it was like November, December, that's when I was like, no, I'm just going to transition full time to working on array and like really just dial back whatever I'm doing for my own blog and whatnot. And it just, at that point, it felt right. And when I, I remember when I made that shift, it just felt like this like big relief that was kind of taken away from my, like my shoulders and my chest, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:43 I think it's really important to recognize when you get to that point and you just can't do both at the same time as well, whether you're working a full-time job or not. And I think that's the thing that Nish and I have in common, where like we came to this point where we were like, if right now we continue on our, like our other full-time jobs, then we're doing array a big disservice because at one point you have to give it absolutely everything and the business needs that to thrive. So I'm glad we made that decision. And I think we did it very intentfully and we've been so happy. I have that same experience because I was working in behavioral health for a couple of years.
Starting point is 00:26:23 While I had my Instagram on the side and then in 2018 I was like at my other job, I'm like, I can't be 50% in this job when you're dealing with people and their addictions, but whatever job it is. I mean, at some point, like there's this quote and I'm going to totally butcher it and I reference it in the podcast all the time. and I can never get it right. So I should probably just look it up. But it's about like throwing pebbles versus throwing a boulder. Like if you throw pebbles, you'll make like little ripples.
Starting point is 00:26:50 But if you throw the boulder and you make the big splash. So it's like where are you putting your energy? Are you like dispersing it across all these different things? Or should you just put it in this one thing and make a really big splash? I would love to hear about working together just from this interaction. You guys really feed off each other like beautifully. And you kind of like just effortlessly like flow and pass it off. and finish each other's thoughts, and it's, I'm thinking of working with my husband,
Starting point is 00:27:14 and we would be polar opposite. So what has that experience been like for you guys? You know, all my life, I thought, okay, like, or rather all my life since I've known Nish, I was always like, if I ever start a business, like not like a blog, but like an actual business, I would want Nish to be my co-founder because he has like the exact, the exact, skill sets that I don't have. And I knew that I have so many missing pieces when it comes to what I can and can't do. And like, Nish kind of is the exact person I would want to work with. And so we, and I think like Nish kind of has that same process too. Because the thing is that I've always
Starting point is 00:28:01 wanted to work on startups. I was even working on a strata before working on Nore. And the reason didn't work out was because I didn't have the right co-founders. But then I would look at SIF and I was like, wow, like, look at like, like, sit to somebody who wakes up really early. She's really disciplined. And I was like, that's really cool. Like, but I never thought of working with her. Like, it never came into the picture. But then what essentially was happening is that we were all, like, both of us individually were really driven people and we were very driven in our own world. And that kind of led to us being so busy with what we're doing that we weren't even being able to spend as much time as you wanted together. And so, you know, if you, there's a came a point where we said, okay, we want to spend more
Starting point is 00:28:40 time together, just first of all, in life in general. And second of all, we admire each other's kind of skill sets. So we must figure out a way to work together. The second thing is in the good relationships, usually you're going through really tough things anyway, just outside of work. Like, you're probably dealing with some really, really intense things. So Seth and I have dealt with some really tough situations just in a relationship. And it allows you to speak so freely about anything and everything. And so they came to a point where it's just like, you know, the hardest conversations we're already had between Siff and I outside of work. Anything that's really hard at work is not really even that hard in the big picture of things. It's just like, okay, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:29:24 like if at some point something really bad happens at work, it's really not that big of deal compared to our personal lives. And so it was such a breeze to work together. And not only that, but also we get to spend more time together. And now we're, you know, for example, If SIF wants to go travel somewhere, I'm out working at a job to not be able to travel. The freedom, the ability to work together, I feel like it really enhances certain things. Obviously, you know, Siff and I are constantly working, which is sometimes really hard to get out of that and become like a more of a couple as opposed to co-founders, which you have to be very mindful of. But if you figure it out, it's the best thing in the world. If you don't figure it out, it's really the worst thing in the world.
Starting point is 00:30:02 But yeah. Yeah, I think communication is really important and like also switching off when you need to switch off, like recognizing that. Like, this sounds like so small, but no matter what we will do, like one date night a week. Like, it is an absolute non-negotiable, like no matter what. And that's really our time to step away from like the nitty gritty of the business and just talk about things that make us really excited. Like it could be like big plans for the business, but we're not going to be sitting there like solving an operational problem, you know? I love that. I love that. Yeah. Well, you make it sound very appealing. Like when I think when I think of
Starting point is 00:30:38 working with a partner. I'm like, oh, I could never, but I could see how like how it could kind of enhance the relationship. But yeah, boundaries. So important, right? Yeah, the boundaries, even within the work relationship, right? Like, I think that we have such distinct roles carved out that I, I don't encroach on his territory and he doesn't encroach on mine. Otherwise, it can be like a fight every single day. And we always discuss this concept of like one plus one equals three. So it's just about that differentiating the roles and responsibility so we can cover as much ground as possible. So it's worked well for us and I think communication is really important. Since we're talking about gut health and bloating, it's worth mentioning that studies show
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Starting point is 00:32:42 off their first order if you go to sacara.com slash blonde files and enter code blonde files 20 at checkout. Again, that's sacara.com slash blonde files. S-A-K-A-R-A dot com slash B-L-O-N-D-E-F-I-L-E-S. The code is BlondeF-E-E-F-I-L-E-S. The code is Blonde-F-E-E-S-E-E-E-S-E-E-E-F-E-E-E-S-E. I'm curious, having having been on both ends of the influencer world, so being an influencer yourself, and now working with influencers for marketing, have you seen anything on that end of it that surprised you? Not really. I think that a few of my theories were confirmed,
Starting point is 00:33:34 number one being that brands being too controlling gets you nowhere. Like I think that that has always been my number one thing. And it's always been something I push back on. And I always say to brands that like, why do you want to hire me as a billboard, right? Like it's like, what is that going to do? It's just so counterproductive. And I really wanted to go out and prove this theory I had because I was like, no,
Starting point is 00:33:59 like I can do it better. And I think that it's been really nice to see that. And I hope that in the industry as a whole, we see this shift as well. Because I think that creators need to feel in control and appreciated for their abilities as a creator. Are there any mistakes that you feel like you made that you learned from or anything that you would have done differently if you could do it again? Yeah, I mean, so many. This is a really, this is a really tough one.
Starting point is 00:34:30 Honestly, I think one of the hardest things was just like being a little bit to shy and timid in certain parts of the business. Like if I think of everything you've done so far, if I started from scratch again, I think, you could have done everything you've done so far and maybe half of the time. And the reason behind it is just like, okay, maybe we didn't have enough conviction in ourselves to think this idea of work. Or maybe you don't think that what you think is right, it could be completely wrong and it's too bigger for risk to take. I think that there's certain things that I'm just like, okay, now going forward, I'm not going to be such a pansy. I'm just going to go and do what I really had thought out to do. And I think it just comes down to having some conviction in your,
Starting point is 00:35:16 and just being able to do what it is that you really think you should be doing. Because I feel like especially when you're coming from working at other jobs or coming from working at a different company, it's really easy to be in the mindset of like, well, I must only do what I'm supposed to do around my circle of work or whatever, but then the entire purpose of, you know, building something new is because you don't allow to do that anywhere else. And so you really want to be so, so creative and ambitious with everything you're thinking. and then just like really go for it. I think that would have been something we've done a little bit faster, right?
Starting point is 00:35:49 Yeah, I think if I'm if I'm thinking about it, that would probably be the only thing that like pursue things with like utmost speed and really trust your gut. I think that you just when when you're a new business and it's like you've put everything into it, you can second guess yourself. But I think that that's just normal at every stage of the business. Now we've just gotten a lot more comfortable with taking those risks.
Starting point is 00:36:13 But when you're little, you don't know, right? And everything is new. So I think that would, yeah, we'd be very aligned with that response for sure. I know that you're not stopping where you are now. So what do you guys have in store? What's next for Array? Oh my God. There's so many cool things happening. Yeah. Amazing new products coming out. And honestly, I'm so excited about this products because we are doing so much deep scientific research on the team. And we just hire some really, really cool roles who come from like the pharmacy background who really want to make an impact
Starting point is 00:36:48 in people's life when it comes to natural and holistic wellness. So all of our new products, we're so excited to release them because I think it's going to be some of the best products in our category. What else we are? So we just launched,
Starting point is 00:37:00 this is really exciting to us because it's been such a long process, but we just launched compostable packaging as well. Yeah, which is just awesome. Like we really want to do good for the world, for the earth and you know i think that this is really the the next wave of things and so that was a very long process which we're so excited about we are just launching a capsule case so this is what it looks like oh my god pretty right it's it took us so long to work on this uh took forever and so
Starting point is 00:37:38 this is launching it's essentially a to go case for our pills and like just really they really beautiful and because usually capsule cases are like pillboxes are just the other thing I've ever seen in my life and this is really sleek it just goes right into your purse or your carry on or wherever so we're really excited about this launch I love that I had a procedure done last week and so I've been taking like meds and supplements and I have my bloat pill and my calm everything for flying and traveling and I didn't want to pack it in my suitcase and I wanted to put it in my purse in case I needed it on my flight the other day And I had to put it in like a prescription pill bottle.
Starting point is 00:38:15 And I'm like I look like some kind of addict or something. I don't want to like pull this out in the middle of the plane or pull out like the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. There's a Friday thing. Like that's not cute. My best friend texted me and she like sends me a picture of a Ziploc bag with our capsules in it. She's like, dude, I look like a drug mill. Like I'm meeting the capsule because I'm like, it's coming. So wait, when does that launch?
Starting point is 00:38:42 In about two weeks. It's going to also in about two weeks. Two weeks. Okay, good. Cool. Something that we didn't touch on earlier, but that I know is super important to my listeners, that you mentioned is the research behind your product. Can you just describe, like, the process of testing and formulating
Starting point is 00:38:58 and the research that goes into it? Yeah, this is like a really intense process. I think that when it comes to research, the products, first of all, apart from just the ingredients you're used, it's really important to figure out, okay, where are these ingredients coming from? and what part of the plants are we using? Are these ingredients organic or not?
Starting point is 00:39:14 And so these are the things that we're really looking at. So, for example, it is actually quite hard to find organic ingredients for some of the ingredients that we want to use. So we're going to suppliers all over the world. Some of them are in Europe. Some of them are in Canada. Some of them are in the States. And we're going and sourcing these ingredients
Starting point is 00:39:29 from many, many different parts of the world. And on top of that, also, when it comes to these organic ingredients, you want to make sure that you're actually sourcing the right ingredient from the right part of the plant so that it has the highest percentage of active ingredients. Essentially, what this does is like, so if you look at ginger, the root of ginger is where the bulk of your kind of active ingredients come from, which is why you're using ginger root.
Starting point is 00:39:51 This varies for every single ingredient. Some of them comes from the stem. Some of them comes from the flower. And so there's only a specific part of the plant you want to use if you want these to be really, really effective. On top of that, what you also want to do is you want to look at the density of the ingredients as well. So the more denser it is, the higher kind of,
Starting point is 00:40:09 impact it has just because there's a way of manufacturing it, which gives it 10xD impact on the same kind of weight of the product. So these are all things that we are very actively looking into, especially when it comes to the research of the ingredients themselves. And on top of that, what we're doing is we're also kind of looking at, okay, how can we make this as bioavailable for you as possible? And so something we're really doing here is being like, okay, let's go take a look at the capsules. Let's go make sure that the capsules break through your pH barrier in your stomach, so they actually get to your digestive system to be able to do so. These are certain things that we're looking at from the research perspective, which makes their capsule is really,
Starting point is 00:40:47 really effective. Yeah. And the last bit, which I will add, is the concept of therapeutic dosing. So again, like you can take a little bit of 20 different ingredients and nothing will do anything for you. So for us, we were very intentional about the number of ingredients in each of our capsules. So you'll see it's just not a lot. It's like a handful of ingredients. And we ensure that the dose, dosing instructions we give tells people that they are in control of how much they should take and that their body is very unique because it's true. You know, my body is different from your body and my body reacts to different situations differently. So I could feel a certain way after having, you know, a bowl of vegetables in a completely different way after having Christmas dinner at my
Starting point is 00:41:34 friend's house, right? So just understanding how my body works and dosing myself accordingly. So we again, like, you know, we really want to make sure that whenever you take our products, you feel impact really quickly. So that is a combination of really potent ingredients, proper dosing, and high quality ingredients as well. So like the organic bit as well. So that's like we really, we really, really care. Yeah. And I really appreciate that you guys give that instruction with the product. I remember the first time I got it, I was like, oh, wait. So take this money for this or two, like you'd never get that with supplements. You just get like, take one to two capsules a day. Period. That's it. And it's like, huh? Yeah, it's very confusing. Very confusing.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Yeah. And people, people will DM me if I post about it and be like, how many do you take? What do you? And I'm like, just try to figure out what works for you because, you know, like you said, we're all so different. But I've, I've used it for maintenance. So I've taken it for periods at night. And it's, It's like amazing. And then I've also taken it in more like acute situations. And for anybody listening who wants to try it or just got someone wants to try it, just experiment and find what works for your body, right? I mean, like everyone's going to have a different dosage and time and all of that to take
Starting point is 00:42:56 it. Yeah, exactly. Amazing. Well, it was so fun finally getting to talk to you guys. And I just love everything that you're doing. Where can everybody find you guys, find information and. Find Array, all of that. So you can shop Array on Array.com or you can follow Array on Instagram at Array.com. I am at Sif Hyder on Instagram. And I am plenty of niche.
Starting point is 00:43:22 Amazing. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Laurie.

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