Podcast #28: Andrew talks with Angelique Teo, Co-Founder & CEO of MAD Foods, who are committed to providing plant-based beverages that are full-flavoured, nutritious and well-balanced.
Big Idea Ventures has launched our very own podcast “The Big Idea Podcast: Food”. Each week Big Idea Ventures Founder Andrew D. Ive will speak with some of the most innovative minds in the food space and talk about the exciting projects they are a part of.
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SUMMARY KEYWORDS
singapore, milk, people, product, mad, oat milk, coffee, plant, drink, launch, consumer, maya, brand, partner, manufacturer, feedback, ventures, characters, big, based
SPEAKERS
Andrew D Ive, Angelique
Andrew D Ive
Welcome to the Big Idea podcast where we focus on food. I’m Andrew, I’m the founder of Big Idea Ventures and this is a podcast where we talk to lots of great young food companies, thought leaders in the space and so on. So today we’re talking to a company that’s launching a product in Singapore. It’s a coffee plus oatmeal combination. So we’re getting into beverages today. Let’s get into the conversation. I’m sure it’s going to be really enjoyable and let’s talk with Angelique. Thanks very much.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, Angelique. Hello, how are you?
Angelique
I’m very well thank you, Andrew and yourself.
Andrew D Ive
Very well. Thank you. Welcome to the Big Idea podcast where we focus on food. It’s been a little while since we’ve chatted. What I was gonna say is what’s been going on, but people kind of need some context before we get into the updates. So tell me about Mad.
Angelique
Okay, um, tell you about Mad. Well, Mad is a Singapore born plant based food tech startup.We conceptualized the idea about two years ago and it’s been a long and exciting journey of two years. We are about to launch our three SK use, which are the coffee beverages that are powered by oat milk and these coffee beverages are ready to go. So they’re in 200 ML aluminum tins and best serve chilled.
Angelique
So we’ve got we’ve got those three SKUs, so basically, it’s the single, the double shot, the single shot and the decaf variant. So the double shot is great to get your day started and that’s it’s tagged along to our little mad child called Max. Then we’ve got Miles who is the single shot, good for your post lunch, food coma and then we’ve got Maya who is the decaffeinated variant that gives you all the flavor without any of that cafine so you won’t be bouncing off the walls if you decide to drink Maya at eight o’clock. So those are our first three SK use and we’re going to be launching in about a month and it’s very exciting.
Angelique
Yeah, I’m sure you know the lead up to any launch is the most nerve wracking. You know, will they like it won’t they like it will they fall in love with the characters will they fall in love with the flavor, but so far everyone has given us great feedback on the product as well as the packaging. So we’re quietly confident that it will do well. So that’s that’s Matt in a nutshell. But there’s so much more to tell you about because it doesn’t just stop at the three drinks, we are expanding that coffee range as well.
Angelique
To have adaptogens in it and Andrew, you being in the US, I’m sure you know how big that is. Now, especially with brands like for SIG Matic and Rebel where you put in extra stuff like the mushrooms, the reishi, the the chogha, you know the turmeric and just just add it to your coffee so that it just does so much more for you.
Angelique
And then we’re also, I don’t know if you know this yet, but we’re also working on the Mad milk. It’s currently in the laboratories right now. It’s in r&d, the first iteration of the Mad milk has come out fabulous. It foams like a barista milk. So it goes perfectly on your cappuccinos or anything else you want and we know milk goes into everything that we eat, whether it’s your coffee in the morning, your oats in the morning, your pasta in the afternoon, your cakes in the evening, this milk will be able to be used in everything.
Angelique
And on top of that, it’ll come at five grams of protein as well as soluble fiber. So that will do more for the consumer as well. So the first iteration is already fabulous. We’re working together with ingredients companies to give it a little bit more oomph so that, you know, once you drink it, you’re addicted to it. So yeah, that’s basically mad in a nutshell.
Andrew D Ive
So that’s kind of covered the whole 45 minutes. All right. What else do we have to talk about now? I mean, so just to kind of summarize really quickly, you’ve got Mad Max, you got Mad Miles and you’ve got mad Maya.
Andrew D Ive
You guys have gone with a sort of character driven approach. So you’re sort of getting adults into it from a taste perspective. The brandings call I remember the branding was super cool. Adding the characters does that open it up as its coffee, I was gonna say does it open up to children but it probably doesn’t does it? it’s just sort of fun, kind of an edgy way of getting people into the category, rather than just plastering green leaves and plants everywhere and expecting that to sell the product, you’re making it more fun, making it more accessible.
Angelique
Yes, I think you’re right about the green plants and the coffee beans, with the characters, what we want to do is have people get familiar with them, you know, we want them to start falling in love with these mad children because, as we roll out more SK and more different products, people will start to relate to oh, I had Max, you know, I’ve been drinking max for a long time.
Angelique
You know, I love how he looks. We can start rolling out with merchandise as well. Kind of like what Fido Dido did for Seven Up back in the day. Do you remember that, I mean, the kind of merchandise that came out of that and the advertising, whether it’s for TV or social media now, it’s easy to use, not just a can, but have those characters have personality. So it may not just stop with Mad Max, Miles and Maya for what we want to do for our milk. This is all just currently in the planning stage but we want to reach out to the schools for the milk. So when we were growing up in Singapore, it was very typical to get little packets of milk with your meals.
Angelique
And what that’s what we want to do for the schools but we would then we want to make baby versions of Max, Miles and Maya and make them a little chubbier. Have a little more puppy fat on them and then stick them on the Tetra packs or little cans, stick them on there. Then the kids start to grow up with that and then when they start growing up with that, Mad will hopefully you know still be around when they grow up, and they can have the older versions of Max, Miles and Maya.
Andrew D Ive
Right but your company’s Mad so it’s Mad Max, Mad Miles?
Angelique
Yes, but I don’t think we can trade Mad Max because of the movie as well.
Andrew D Ive
I don’t think you can either. So I’m going to take a little bit of credit for your new tropic direction. I remember when we talked like way back when and I’m like, I see Oh, I see what you’re doing. I love what you’re doing. This is crazy and will get people into the plant based beverage space. It’s so much more interesting than how other people have done it.
Andrew D Ive
I said I could see you adding sort of chahga and all these things like for SIG Matic and you guys were like for SIG Matic Who are those guys? Yeah, and I grabbed a box because I’ve got these things like stashed away in my closet and I was like for SIG MATIC chogha, ashwagandha and all these other things and I think they’re really going to do well in Asia and Singapore in particular. Are you guys looking at Singapore as the start or is it the core market?
Andrew D Ive
Or how are you sorted from a kind of geographic perspective? Where do you think you’re going to travel to because it sounds like you’ve figured out the way of getting lots of different generations into Mad … kids, parents different uses wake up, sleep etc etc How do you get it beyond the 5 million people in Singapore or don’t you?
Angelique
Oh we absolutely do. I mean as much as I love Singapore, I was born and bred here, we are going to be launching here in the next month. Singapore will be a testbed for the rest of the world. We already have LOIs from Hong Kong, we have LOIs from China, we have LOIs from Australia and New Zealand. We secured great distributors that we get along with and who get what we want to do so Singapore right now is just going to be the launch pad, we also have interest from the Middle East
Angelique
We see ourselves being in the US eventually and hopefully that will be this time next year in time for Christmas. You being in the US would be the perfect person to tell us what we should be doing and by then who knows how many SKUs we will have. So definitely Singapore is the stock market but it is not the end of it and it is not going to be the only market that we conquer and get Mad into-
Andrew D Ive
So apart from great taste, getting people into like plant based in a really accessible fun way, why are you guys doing this? What is it all about? What’s driving the Mad creations?
Angelique
Okay, so about hree years ago now both my partner Bobby and myself became plant based and we absolutely love our coffees and we were drinking all sorts of coffees from the shelves, but we couldn’t drink the kind of coffees that we wanted. So there were certain days that we were entirely plant based, we may have been vegetarian, because everything that was available on the shelves, were either cow’s milk, goat’s milk, whatever, but animal based milk.
Angelique
The plant based coffees that we wanted to drink, were at a very high cost at the time, this was about three years ago. So $6 a day just for one coffee, and we would drink maybe three or four so it was not making monetary sense to keep up a habit like that, and we saw the plant based markets in the US and in Australia, had already exploded.
Angelique
In Singapore, there was nothing like it available for the prices that people were paying in the West. So we decided that we could make our own. So initially, we wanted to have it powered by things like hazelnut and soy, what have you but then we spoke to people at SATS, which is Singapore Aviation. Then we spoke to schools here, like the international schools, and they told us that they’re not going to put nut milk in their planes or in their schools, because of the allergies.
Angelique
So then we said soy also is a massive, massive allergen. So we thought, okay, so what can we use if we’re not using nut milk, and we’re not using soy? So we discovered we can use oat milk, although it’s not gluten free, only because of contamination and stuff like that is gluten free on its own. But we said that was the least allergenic plant based milk that we could find.
Angelique
Our inspiration was because we couldn’t find anything but what keeps powering us on is the fact that we’ve created this branding, that’s so much fun. You can imagine where it’s grown from the first drawings, it’s become literally like a little family with the little characters. You know, we don’t refer to them so much as the single shot the double shot or the decaf anymore. It’s like have you had a max today? Have you had a mad today? Have you picked up a Maya and it’s grown, it’s grown into its own little family that has character.
Angelique
From there the inspiration for the milk came about because we thought no, we don’t want to put, although coffee is powered by oat milk, we don’t want to put another oat milk out there. You know, we don’t want it to be on a shelf that already has a sea of plant based milks, and it’s growing in Singapore, right. Back when we started, it was only maybe minor figures. That was it and that too in specialty shops. Now it’s only minor figures, you know, Alpro, and there’s so many other brands, Khalifa farms out here as well.
Angelique
So we don’t want to offer the same thing. So then we came up with plant protein and we’re working with some really great companies that, because we were with Big Idea Ventures as an accelerator in a cohort, cohort three, we got to know these companies, you know, and it was only because of you guys that we managed to connect with them. Now we’re developing our med milk and we’re developing the adaptogen coffees and stuff like that. So this is what drives us, the the fact that we can create these products and keep the prices low for the everyday consumer.
Angelique
I know low is relative, but it is significantly lower than what’s available out there right now. So being able to feed the country and eventually, might sound a bit ambitious, the world with drinks that are plant based, good for the environment not pricey but also good for you and tasty as well and it comes packaged in fun packaging that you can fall in love with.
Andrew D Ive
I’m sold I should invest.
Angelique
You know we are currently actually recruiting or you should say that we’re currently looking for our seed round. So please, we’d love to have a conversation with you.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, let’s do that. So, okay, that’s stumped me. I thought you were gonna say well, you did already but you didn’t. You said Okay, give me more money. Okay. So out of interest who designed the characters? Is this you and Bobby or did you find a graphic designer who you’ve fell in love with their work and they created this character for you?
Angelique
So yes and no. We worked with a graphic designer who came up with the initial drawings of Max, Miles and Maya. And then we worked together with them to make them more attractive. So it was a, it was a real, you know, sketchy skinny versions of what you see now. Not very interactive. So we put more life into it, you know, changed a couple of colors, made sure that these were colors that people would be attracted to.
Angelique
And we’ve also made them gender neutral. So we never refer to them as he’s or she’s, you know, they’re just, they’re just maximizing Maya, which we feel would attract more people, we never refer to them as a he or she. So yeah, we did initially work with a graphic designer, and with our input and the input of a couple of other people, we’ve managed to come up with what we have now.
Andrew D Ive
Perfect. So for those other entrepreneurs out there, what would be some of the, the trials, tribulations and maybe lessons learned, since you started, or even before you started the company? Are there certain things which stick with you in terms of, you know, challenges and how you ultimately resolved them and things you wish you’d have been told a little bit earlier in the process?
Angelique
It’s a lot of hard work, you know, and it’s work that doesn’t stop at five or six o’clock, it’s work that goes on to midnight. It’s a lot of work, but it’s powered by passion and it’s powered by knowing that this is something that people are going to fall in love with. I suppose finances are a big play for any startup business, you know, any business at all. If you don’t have the finances, it’s very hard to get through. So you’ve just got to keep powering on, you know, bootstrapping.
Angelique
Till this day, neither my partner nor myself have drawn a salary. Despite the Big Idea Ventures input earlier this year, we have not drawn a salary. Everything goes into the company. So if you find someone like Big Idea Ventures or someone like an angel investor or something, don’t think about what you’re going to be paying yourself first. You know, it also helps if you have a full time job and do this as a passion, like for myself.
Angelique
I mean, you know that I have my morning show so my day starts at 4:30am and I go on until 10 o’clock, and then I carry on with Mad. So my days are pretty much like 16 hours involving both my radio as well as Mad, and if they had told me before? I guess one of the biggest things I’ve learned is to take constructive criticism. Not to heart, but to take it seriously as well. To use that and to be able to better what you’re offering or better your skill set or, or the way you’re structuring what you’re doing.
Angelique
I think that would be one thing, because it can be very easy for someone to turn around and say, Oh, I hate what you’re doing, or I don’t like your product, or I don’t think it will work but if you know it is going to work, and don’t take that one person’s comments too seriously, and just keep you know, just keep driving yourself to move forward and keep moving.
Andrew D Ive
And how do you? How do you distinguish between a good? This is like an impossible question. But if you’re getting feedback, constructive feedback, how do you determine the accuracy? Or you know, which feedback is actually useful and valuable? Or is it more not where it’s necessarily coming from, but if you hear it a few times, so if you’re getting the same piece of feedback, two or three or 10 or 20 times that’s when you start to listen? So is it about volume? Or is it where it’s coming from and the person giving you the opinion, the feedback?
Angelique
I think it’s a little bit of both,if someone who has a lot of experience and hours in the same industry that you do, and when I’m talking about same industry, I’m not for us I’m not just talking about the drinks industry I’m talking about the plant base ready to drink coffee kind of industry, you know what I mean? Yeah, it has to be that because they’re very different right? It’s not just it’s not an alcohol Papa it’s not a beer is not a Coca Cola is not even a bottle of water.
Angelique
So I think the person it comes from is important and the number of times you hear it, must have some effect, some sort of impact on what you’re doing and if you’re hearing it too much, then you just got to sit back and think, you know, is everybody wrong? And am I the only right person, you know, or find a mentor that you can speak to, that could give you that advice. Go on LinkedIn and find someone that you think that you want to hear from, because LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with people like that and, more often than not, people are willing to help people starting out.
Andrew D Ive
The funny thing is that the best way of qualifying that feedback is fine is fine. In my opinion, again, my opinion versus somebody else’s opinion, but in my opinion, is find a in a really sort of inexpensive, quick way to get feedback from the people that really matter. And those are the consumers. So if it’s someone saying, I don’t like the taste, I don’t like the price. I don’t like the packaging, I don’t know, whatever. You know, there’s normally a creative way of if you just sort of think out of the box for, you know, a few hours of finding a way of getting that product in front of a certain number of consumers. And they’ll tell you pretty damn fast, whether the product tastes good, or whether the packaging stinks or whether you know, whatever it might be.
Angelique
So like a focus group,
Andrew D Ive
A focus group, I mean, I have, you know, I’ve had companies who, who literally take 10 products, cut them up into little bite sized pieces, stick a, you know, $20, Staples desk out on the sidewalk, and just grab people as they’re walking to and from the office saying, Hey, we’re a new, we’re a young company, I’d love you to take a bite at this little sample and tell me what you think. That person in front of you has nothing to lose by being 100% honest with you and your risk is, you know, standing in the street, maybe having someone telling you to take a hike. They wouldn’t tell you to take a hike, I know, they wouldn’t, so you’d be able to get 20 30 40 people, probably within an hour, tasting your product and telling you if they think it’s good or not.
Angelique
Yeah, we would have loved to have done something like that. We have done focus groups, but obviously closed off focus groups, but going out onto the streets during a pandemic, we just couldn’t do. You know, it was it. The timing was just……
Andrew D Ive
I said that’s probably not the best idea.
Angelique
The timing was just, you know, like we launched in not launched, we started the company in July 2019 and by December COVID-19 was here, everything was up in the air and people were talking about it, and then everything just shut down, as you know. Things are looking up because, especially here in Singapore, we’re finally opening up a little bit, travel is finally allowed under a lot of restrictions, obviously. So we’re hoping that once we launch, we’ll be able to also get tastings out there into supermarkets and and do some samplings and stuff like that.
Angelique
Because when it comes to food and drink, it really is in the flavor. You know, it really is in the tastes and we’re excited to be besides the supermarkets and the convenience stores and the service stations that we’re going to be in, we’re also excited to be partnering up with places like the Grand Hyatt Singapore, a massive sustainability advocate in Singapore here, as well as W hotel here on Sentosa, so they’re going to be stocking us in for the W they’re going to be serving us with their breakfast baskets, so Mad is going to be included in that.
Angelique
The Grand Hyatt, Singapore, they’re going to have us in the lobby shop in their mezzanine shop as well as in the minibars in their rooms. So we’re very privileged and honored to have big names like that trust us as a startup, you know, here in Singapore, to trust us enough to launch with us. Besides that local brands like a food truck called Good Burger that serves Tyndall as well as Impossible, and a couple of other local brands that we’re going to be in so we’re very excited. The team is very lean at the moment but we’re looking to fatten it up with our next raise and get a team on the ground, get a team in the back office, get the marketing really slick and chic and everything else and do everything that we want to do with a bigger team
Andrew D Ive
It can’t have been easy getting the manufacturer of the product to get behind you guys, given that you are a young company with, you know, your first set of products without sort of a lot of numbers behind you. How did you convince a contract manufacturer or producer to take the risk?
Angelique
Well, the whole contract manufacturer CO packing thing was handled by my partner, Bobby and he is very good at sales. He managed to get somebody who is a small ish manufacturer. That’s the only reason we were able to do it, because the bigger manufacturers didn’t want to touch us, obviously. Mainly because we didn’t have the MOQ that they wanted. You know, our minimum order quantity was not like 150,000 Sorry. Yeah,
Andrew D Ive
I just wanted to make sure the crowd understood what MOQ was before we went forward. Yeah, minimum order quantity. That’s the amount you actually have to pay for. to get produced for a small run.
Angelique
Yes, that’s right. And they were looking at something like 150 or 200,000 per SKU, you know, per drink. So that was obviously way beyond our capabilities. So we managed to find one that managed to do it. So currently there are partners for our launch batch. and I am pleased to tell you that our launch batch is currently sold out and it hasn’t even come to Singapore ports yet, it’s on the way.
Andrew D Ive
So you’re making it outside of Singapore?
Angelique
We are making it in the UK believe it or not.
Andrew D Ive
No way.
Angelique
Yes, we are. We’re currently searching for a co packer and a manufacturer that’s closer for the milk which will be next year, we are already agreed to work with Tetra pack here in Singapore and anywhere that we will be distributing we will have a local manufacturer of tetrapack manufacture the milk in those countries or a country close to it.
Angelique
As for the coffee, we’re currently speaking to someone in Japan. So Japan will be great for Hong Kong and China and we are still on the hunt for someone in Australia. So because we’re going to be launching in Australia as well, Australia will be able to handle Singapore and New Zealand. It’s always good to have more than one co packer and manufacturer. So we’re close to finding suitable partners that will be able to handle our cans.
Andrew D Ive
I guess one of the challenges with having your production in the UK and the market that you’re selling into being in Singapore, Singapore now but obviously Hong Kong and China and other places as soon as you expand into those markets, is you’ve got tied up money in there in those products before they ship. So in other words, I guess you’re putting in 50%, or some percentage at production, or when you place the order, and then you’ve got a couple of weeks to make the product, then it’s gonna take a couple of weeks to ship it to Singapore. So you’ve got your money tied up for at least a month, maybe more, before it even hits a grocery store to start selling. So it’s, it’s a bit of a financial juggling act, right?
Angelique
It is, it is. And in the meantime, while the money is tied up, all we can do is get the name out and get more traction for the brand with the samples that we have on hand. That’s the only thing we can do. It is looking extremely positive and, as I mentioned, we’ve already sold out the first container that’s incoming. So that on its own is a positive and we’re gonna start working on the second container very, very soon. But in the meantime, just focusing on the launch and focusing on making everybody fall in love with Mad.
Andrew D Ive
So there might be times when the product isn’t available just because it sells out so quickly. It’s the time you know that if you’ve got a 60 day lead time, let’s say from placing the order to getting the product on the shelf, and you sell out every 30 days. That’s good to have. But…..
Angelique
it’s a good problem to have, but one that we hope not to have, you know, that’s why we’re timing already the second batch to be manufactured and because we’ve already worked with a manufacturer before, there’s a little bit more confidence and confidence gets built with every day that passes. This is something that we are not looking to happen because we don’t want the consumers wanting or missing the brand, you know, for too long, although yes, sometimes absence does make the heart grow fonder, but it’s not the kind of absence that we’re looking at.
Andrew D Ive
Absolutely. So, did you decide to go with a an own brand milk for your coffee products? Or because it’s an oat milk? Did you decide to partner with an existing brand?
Angelique
No. So what happens is all the ingredients get sent into the factory and everything gets mixed there. So it’s all the dry ingredients that get sent. So everything gets manufactured in this CO Packer that we found.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, so they’re taking the coffee, they’re making the drink and then adding the oatmeal.
Angelique
Someone else? No, no, we’ve worked with many different suppliers to bring everything to one place and do it there.
Andrew D Ive
Oh, that’s really interesting. Yeah. What made you go in that direction?
Angelique
It was something that was suggested to us. So we thought, okay, you know, let’s try this. And it’s worked out. It may change, I don’t know. But as long as the taste doesn’t veer off too far, as long as it gets better then we’re open to any suggestions that come our way.
Andrew D Ive
I was going to say it probably means that your oat milk is fresher because it’s not that you’ve bought it pre manufactured from somewhere else and then that could have taken some time. I mean, 60 days old milk that you’re getting to put into your product, whereas you’re actually making the oat milk and the coffee and everything all at the same time so it’s completely 100% Fresh.
Angelique
Yes, that’s right. Yes.
Andrew D Ive
Really interesting. I just sort of imagined that you got the coffee and got the oat milk from somewhere and you just sort of just mixed it together.
Angelique
No, no, no, there’s
Andrew D Ive
come together
Angelique
That would be one way of doing it but no, that’s not the way we are doing it.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, that’s not so mad. I’m not sure where the brand comes from. So after the coffee comes the milk, after the milk? Yes, it sounds like you’re not going to be doing an oat milk or an almond milk or anything like that. You’re actually going to be creating something new to the market. Right?
Angelique
Well, yes, new to the market, at least where we are it’s plant protein. Currently working on it having a slight sort of sweetness to it but not sugary sweetness. It’s already got the creaminess that we’re looking for. It’s already got the ability to foam that a lot of people are looking for. We’re going to be working on two SK use for the milk so the whole milk will foam like you see with the barista versions and then the skim milk which will be slightly thinner for those people that don’t like it being too creamy.
Angelique
The current iteration of the milk as I mentioned before, is literally good enough to drink. You can warm it up before you go to bed. You can pour it straight onto your cereal, you can add it to lots of different ingredients in lots of different recipes. So this is something that we also want to do is to work with restaurants and cafes and replace the animal based milk that they have in their kitchens and replace it with our milk.
Andrew D Ive
Will that make your milk vailable in the grocery stores so regular households can pick it up?
Angelique
Absolutely. We’re working with Tetra pack for a one liter pack and then for the schools as well you know the baby versions were say it’s 200 ml and tight and little packets where they can just drink straight out of it you know, when they’re going to school or when they need it with their meal.
Andrew D Ive
And Nutritionals slash ingredients set. Clean label, good nutrition how does that protein powdered milk perform versus let’s say an oat milk or an almond milk or something similar?
Angelique
So if I compare it to a full cream milk, a regular animal based milk has a glass a glass has about three grams of protein, ours will have five okay, ours will have five and obviously there is the possibility of upping it but we don’t want to up it too much because we know that will change the texture of it and in terms of other nutrition we’re putting plant soluble fiber in it so that will also be in there. We are working with the ingredients company to see what else we can add to it to make it just give it that extra oomph in terms of nutrition.
Andrew D Ive
And one of the things that I always get asked when I’m on panels and things about plant based is, well, you know, it’s supposedly better for you, but doesn’t it have a laundry list of ingredients? Some of which, you know, your grandmother wouldn’t necessarily use. So how does your product stack up in terms of the ingredient, slash clean label aspect?
Angelique
So for the coffee, it’s coffee, Arabica coffee, water, obviously, oats. Sea salt, as well as, gosh, I can’t remember the last one, it’s a stabilizer. Because it’s got a shelf life of 12 months. Okay. And the sea salt is there to bring out the sweetness of the oats. So that’s no added sugar.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, and the stabilizer that you guys use? Is it the stabilizer that others use? And it’s sort of the industry norm?
Angelique
Yes. It’s the industry norm. I’m just trying to get the word for you but I don’t have it in my head right now.
Andrew D Ive
Just don’t worry, we can put it in the show notes. Okay in terms of the milk?
Angelique
In terms of the milk, I am not entirely sure. The amount of ingredients and the exact list, but it is everything that you would understand. It is not your xyz and your E. Oh, 109. And stuff like that. It’s got none of that in it. But it is fairly clean nibble. Yes.
Andrew D Ive
Perfect. Sounds like it isn’t coming to market in the next couple of weeks. That’s a product that you’ll be finalizing and bringing to market.
Angelique
That’s correct.
Andrew D Ive
Probably unfair for me to ask you what’s on the ingredient label when you probably haven’t even fully finished the product?
Angelique
It’s not fully finished for the milk yet no.
Andrew D Ive
Awesome. I’d love to try It, I really would. So when can we see it in the US?
Angelique
Oh, well, the sooner the better. But let’s aunch here first, and then let’s get it out into Australia, which will probably happen in an early part of next year. The US I think realistically a year from now. It be great because I think for the US, we want to go in with more than just the three coffees and the milk, you know, we want a full range with the adaptogens, hopefully, or at least the skim milk and the whole milk to be able to give people variation.
Andrew D Ive
Got it. So what if someone’s listening to this if they’re an investor, a consumer, a potential retailer, etc? What’s a good place to connect with Matt?
Angelique
Oh, a great place would either be to send us a message on our website, which is I am mad. www.iammad.co or connect with myself or my partner, Bobby Rondalla on LinkedIn.
Andrew D Ive
So if you wouldn’t mind, what’s your LinkedIn? Full Name profile, etc. So that if they type it into LinkedIn, there’ll be able to grab you?
Angelique
Yep, I think it’s just slash angelique2but let me just confirm that for you. Yes, it’s terrible. Hold on a second. Don’t worry. Because you can always edit this, right? Yes. Oh, you don’t? You’re actually you’re actually watching me watching me slowly.
Andrew D Ive
Watching you. Yeah. Sorry.
Angelique
Okay. So it’s Angelique. angeliquenteo.
Andrew D Ive
Fantastic and the other one is I am mad.co. That’s correct. Awesome, I’m sure but one of those will be a great way of engaging with either your bobby. Okay. And what kind of help would you most like a listener to provide if they can, if they’re kind of excited about you guys the opportunity? You know, plant based coffees, plant based a new kind of plant based milk in any of the markets you’ve described? What kind of help can they potentially provide to you?
Angelique
Well, I mean, currently in besides wanting to expand the team, the kind of help that we’re looking for is basically funding for our seed round. You know, we’re looking at the moment, if I can say this, for 800,000 US dollars and we want someone or some people, because it doesn’t have to be a one ticket item, we want either VCs or angel investors to also get what we’re doing. I think that’s the most important when it comes to looking for partners.
Angelique
Like with Big Idea Ventures, we found so many people that we could connect with, because everyone just got it and the kind of expertise and information that was within the Big Ideas team was something that we could really tap into. So when it comes to an investor, it would be someone who has the experience, the know how, and be a mentor, be someone that will give us opinions about how we can do things better, or what we should be looking out for. So that’s essentially what we’re looking for in a partner. But also, if you are a retailer, or if you are somebody that thinks your country, or your little corner of the world could do well with Mad, get in touch with us.
Andrew D Ive
And I’m sure they will, because every time I talk to you, I just, you know, I, I want to rush to my store and buy your product. I can’t right now, this is so depressing. Hopefully, there’s a direct to consumer way of buying your product at some point soon.
Angelique
There will be because our website is up right now, we’re not taking any orders, obviously, because the shipment has not come in yet but we will eventually be working on a subscription model and overseas shipping. The subscription model will work out to you know, you’re getting it every week, are you getting it every day, even if you want and working with corporates as well as individuals and tertiary institutions to have it stocked in their vending machines and their fridges. So there will be a direct to consumer straight off the website once our products come in. For international and local shoppers, but also the subscription model. So yes, it’s not just going to be in the grocers, you can order it from where you are, Andrew.
Andrew D Ive
Fantastic. So we’ve got we’ve got a lot of good relationships in Europe. As you know, we just set up our European office.
Angelique
Congratulations.
Andrew D Ive
Thank you. Stack Thanh. I actually did very little of that. It was it was the team in Paris that did all the work.
Angelique
Okay.
Andrew D Ive
We also have some great relationships in the US when when it’s time to bring it over here obviously, you’re tapped into what we’re doing in Asia. So anyway, I absolutely adore what you guys have done and I wish I could be buying it every day. The idea of being able to have a mad sort of Reishi product just before I go to bed at night would be incredible. Waking up in the morning to a, I’m not sure, which character is the double? Max. So having a Mad Max morning would be just perfect for me.
Angelique
Yeah. And he’s got the perfect name for the morning shot.
Andrew D Ive
He really does. Yeah. All right. So people know how to get a hold of you. That’s fantastic. They know how they can kind of get involved if they love Mad as much as we do at Big Idea ventures. Any any last sort of things that you want to mention before we let you go for the evening,for the day,
Angelique
_Not really. I thank you so much for the opportunity for being on this podcast. I know we tried, we tried very hard to make the time differences work. I’m very happy to be on here, very happy to be connected to Big Idea Ventures. If anyone wants to reach out as Andrew said on LinkedIn or also at our website at Iammad.co. And just look out for our products. We’re going to be doing some exciting stuff in the in the coming months and in the next six months. So look out for that.
Andrew D Ive
I’m waiting to walk into a grocery store in the US and I’m sure that within the next I’d say 12 to 18 months, it’ll be there.
Angelique
So I’m sure yeah, we’ll make it happen sooner than later.
Andrew D Ive
Angelique, I’m going to press pause. Thank you so much for everything for today.
Angelique
Thank you, Andrew.
Andrew D Ive
Thanks for coming along to today’s podcast. Really appreciate you. If you have questions or comments, please do leave them either on our website or below the video or some place that makes sense. I look forward to getting any feedback you have, we try to respond to all of them. Many thanks.
Andrew D Ive
If you have people you think we should be talking with in the food space, food, innovation, alternative protein, all of those good things, please do reach out and let us know who you’d like to hear from. And that’s about it. Hope you enjoyed the podcast I look forward to hearing from you. Please do like and subscribe so that you get notifications when we drop a new one. Many thanks, have a great time if this is your holiday season, which it is for us right now? Have Happy times with the family.
Andrew D Ive
Thanks everyone. Bye bye