The First Sample Box
10 Years & No Quit
Two kids in their twenties, decided that starting a company with the vision to change the supplement industry was a good idea.
Little did they know.
We didn’t have investors.
We didn’t have a roadmap.
We didn’t have connections.
What we had was conviction.
And.. $500
We believed the supplement industry needed better.
Better dosing.
Better transparency.
Better standards.
And we were naive enough to think we could build it.
First Powder Launch: Hypertrophy
We launched with 4 off the shelf, white label products. Nothing special.
Our first real launch: HYPERTROPHY aka Kre-Alkalyn.
100 SERVINGS OF IT.
Times were different back then.
Hypertrophy aka Kre-Alkalyn
Reno → Tacoma
We moved operations to Tacoma, Washington.
That’s when we stopped “having a brand” and started building one.
Every weekend we were on the road. Packing the car to drive 300+ miles to an event.
Portland.
Salem.
Eugene.
Spokane.
Coeur d’Alene.
Montana.
CrossFit competitions across the entire Pacific Northwest.
Loading product. Setting up booths. Breaking down at midnight. Driving home. Doing it again the next weekend.
4 years straight, no breaks, no weekends. Two jobs and not paying ourselves a dime.
We became a fan favorite in the Northwest corner because we showed up. Every time. At full capacity.
Not half effort. Not when it was convenient.
We REBRAND! Move Again, Hire Our First Employee, And Onboard With Two Retail Giants
Tacoma → Spokane
Then we moved again. Spokane.
A friend offered us space in an office building.
It wasn’t built out.
No heat.
No power.
Nothing finished.
But it was ours.
That unbuilt space became home.
To us and to our first employee Emma, 22 years old, with a newborn, an incredible attitude, energy, and so much motivation to be part of the brand.
Inside that “nothing,” something happened.
In the same week, we received offers from GNC and Bodybuilding.com.
That moment changed everything.
It proved we weren’t delusional.
It proved the brand worked.
It proved we could compete.
From that point forward, we never thought small again.
Picking, Packing, the POST OFFICE Every Single Day
COVID → Reno
We had just hired our second employee, onboarded with our first Ad agency.
Then the world shut down.
Retail collapsed.
Supply chains froze.
Gyms closed.
We survived.
We kept blogging.
We kept writing nutrition plans.
We kept educating.
We kept doing events and pop-ups whenever possible.
We moved operations back to Reno.
Back into a garage.
Again.
Four years after we started, we secured our first true retail space.
It took six weeks to rebuild it.
Every wall. Every fixture. Every detail.
We didn’t hire a team to do it. We did it.
Two years later, we doubled capacity.
We scaled.
Back To Reno For The Great Covid Depression
We Start SCALING
After 6 years of working 14 hour days non-stop and two jobs. We hit it.
The J Curve.
The Cost
For ten years, this brand wasn’t casual.
We gave up social lives.
We gave up relationships.
We gave up comfort.
We were weekend warriors building something that didn’t yet exist.
Through rebrands.
Through relocations.
Through COVID.
Through uncertainty.
We spent every last dollar
Cashed out 401Ks
Didnt have health insurance for 8 years
We never lowered our standard.
Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
Our mission and goal was to change peoples lives. And we did, and we do.
The Boys Come To Reno
Now We Have You
We have all of you Pillar Four.
We have a team.
We always believed in us.
But when Todd, Jeff, Tyler, and the group at P4 believed in us too. We didn't need much more than that.
And the mission hasn’t changed.
We set the standard.
And the reason we’re still here is simple:
We never quit when quitting would have been reasonable.