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BLDG ACTIVE
Cuts, abrasions, and scrapes holding you back and have you packing in early?
BLDG Active Skin Repair will get you in ship shape and back in the backcountry
To find out more behind how BLDG Active got its start and what’s in store for the future, Josh interviews co-founder, Justin Gardner.
More about the episode…
To find out more behind how BLDG Active got its start and what’s in store for the future, Josh interviews BLDG Active founder, Justin Gardner. BLDG Active is NOT your average skin repair or first aid product but, it is certainly something that everyone should have. Before officially starting BLDG, Justin had been working on getting what we now recognize as BLDG into hospitals and specifically for hospital use. After frequently taking home some samples for personal use and as a supplemental first aid product during his outdoor excursions he began to completely rethink whose hands his product should truly be in. Now BLDG isn’t just something that can be exclusively found in hospitals but something Justin hopes will be in every home and on every adventure.
Have an opinion? We want to hear it! Join the conversation and leave a comment, check out show notes, and get all the links mentioned in this episode below
Links/resources:
- Check out BLDG Active’s website for more details
- The technology behind BLDG
- Follow BLDG on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
- More about the brand behind the product
Show Notes
- What is BLDG Active all about?
- “The product itself is a skin repair product. It replaces first aid products like Neosporin or peroxide alcohol and also products like aloe or afteritch. The way the product works is it uses a molecule called hypochlorous. Hypochlorous is the same molecule your white blood cells product…”
- How did you get the idea of BLDG Active?
- “My background really has been in regenerative medicine. I’ve been working in the regenerative medicine and biotech field for about 15 years now…I helped launch this technology this molecule about four years ago and in doing so I started to bring home samples myself. Being an avid adventurer, surfer, hiker, and climber, I started to use the product myself when I was getting beat up…”
- What did you go to school for?
- “My background comes from marketing. Just out of school I went to work for Johnson & Johnson on the marketing side and just kind of continued to deal with the biotech regenerative medicine side of things…”
- How does BLDG Active stand apart from similar products?
- “Those products, like Neosporin, was invented in 1950. It’s a fairly old technology. The way that it works is it has a petroleum base and it’s using topical antibiotics…The real benefit of using this product is you’re getting all those benefits but it’s completely all natural and non-toxic…”
- What’s the difference between your two products?
- “The two products, one comes in a liquid one comes in a gel. Both use the same molecule and both have the same parts per million and same medical grade formulation in each product. It’s really the delivery method and it’s really a preference…”
- Has your product changed much since you started producing it?
- “The process to get through the FDA is quite a long and arduous process. It took many many years to go through and there has been a lot of testing and evidence that has gone into the formulation we’re using. We’re taking, actually, the same formulation that’s used on the hospital side and we’re using that…”
- What does BLDG stand for?
- “We’re looking to build a bridge between science and sports…this is our first product line but we plan on taking many more products, hopefully from the hospital system that are the cutting edge and bringing them to athletes. So it’s this idea of building that bridge for access to everyday consumers to athletes…”
- What is the manufacturing process like?
- “We get it from the same source. All the manufacturing is done here, in California, it’s done in a 9000 iso-certified clean room….”
- Have you had any mentors who helped you build BLDG?
- “I did…I think I’ve been lucky in my last business to work in the biotech field and had a lot of very influential people who’ve really helped me understand this therapeutic area and science behind it…those people are still a long for the journey and helping us form this company…”
- Did you guys raise any money or was BLDG bootstrapped?
- “We did raise money. One of the CEOs of another regenerative medicine company that my last agency worked for is an investor in this company and have really provided us a lot of the resources to help look for future products…”
- Was the process of getting FDA approval costly?
- “…Just to get it to market was probably a little over 35 million dollars…”
- What has it been like having just started sales a month and a half ago?
- “It’s been great! We really wanted to take the right approached to this and start small and really build a core brand and core consumer base that we can grow with. We launched at the GoPro games in June and the product reception has been fantastic…”
- What is the culture that exists within BLDG Active?
- “We all come from very unique backgrounds. My background has always been in the medical biotech regenerative medicine field and Jason’s been in the action sports for a while. He’s developed and built skate parks all around the world. Matt’s background is on the digital side. He’s owned a digital agency, he’s also the co-owner of a brewery called Pure Project. We all have really diverse backgrounds but passion for outdoor sports…”
- What has been one of the hardest parts about building the business?
- “The hardest part about building the business is it’s awareness in building a new category. It’s something so new. If I had the time to sit down with someone and really explain the science and explain what we’re doing…It’s not another sunscreen, it’s a whole new product…”
- What are your greatest fears and how do you manage them?
- “I think I want to build this brand and build it in an authentic way. We could have raise a lot of money and we could have gone and launched it in all the rite aids and CVS but, I feel that growth would have been sacrificed in the name of the brand…”
- What do you want the brand of BLDG to look like?
- “We want people who are advocates of the product, who are evangelical about the product, and who express the ideals that we carry so the brand has longevity…”
- What are some of the biggest mistakes that you’ve made?
- “I feel like we have so many more mistakes to make. We’ve changed and are changing the product labeling to just say active skin repair. BLDG was a little bit hard for people to remember sometimes when referring to the products. We’ve made some little tweaks to the label…”
- How did you come up with the bottling?
- “We are bootstrapping it and we want to do it that way. The best way to learn is get out there and talk to your customers. The way we learned was to get the product out there, to launch it, and get the feedback…”
- What advice would you give someone that wanted to start a business?
- “In getting into a new business and starting from the beginning it’s a reminder of how resilient you have to be and how everyday is a new challenge. You just have to be nimble enough to pivot, learn, and most importantly listen to your consumers…
- Are there any regulations and limitations to selling it outside of the US?
- “We really haven’t started a concerted effort in ex-US sales… as we move in and we’re working with distributors we’ll go through and we’ll have to default to those distributors on what their regulatory bodies require. For the most part, the FDA approvals and all the safety testing and efficacy that we’ve done in the US should hold true in most of those countries…”
- Did you know you always wanted to start your own business?
- “I think I always had the entrepreneurial spirit so I think I knew I always wanted to be my own boss. I never would have guess at the age what those businesses would have been but I suppose I did…”
- Where do you see BLDG headed into the future?
- “I think we’re really ambitious with what we can do. We have a lot of interest from people on the healthcare side to see how we’re able to bring these technologies to consumers…”
- What’s your favorite part about running BLDG?
- “That we have the opportunity to do something completely new here. To create a new category…It’s not everyday you get access to a technology that can be really disruptive and as a marketer it’s kind of a dream come true. MY favorite part is thinking about the opportunity that lays ahead of us…”
