Alix Best (00:00):
Doesn’t, but
Sevan Matossian (00:02):
You’re a good dude, Alex. Bam. We’re live. Good morning.
Alix Best (00:06):
Good morning. It’s 7:00 AM somewhere.
Sevan Matossian (00:09):
Yeah. Where are you?
Alix Best (00:11):
I’m up in Reno, Nevada. Where are you?
Sevan Matossian (00:13):
Oh, I’m sitting in a kitchen in Newport Beach, California. Hold on one second. Sorry. One second.
Alix Best (00:23):
Welcome to the show, everybody. One
Sevan Matossian (00:24):
Coffee, just leave you in front of everyone by yourself. I had one coffee cup. I’m like, wait a sec, where’s my, this is truly my security blanket. I had a little panic attack.
Alix Best (00:34):
That’s fair. See, I tried to be respectful and I poured mine into this cup.
Sevan Matossian (00:39):
Very good. I just walked down to the bar that opens at six here at Newport Beach.
Alix Best (00:43):
Are you sure you weren’t at the bar all night
Sevan Matossian (00:45):
Or? I was not. I was not. I have three little boys. Those days are long, long gone, actually. Did you get out? Say it again? Did you get
Alix Best (00:54):
Rained out? Did you get blown away by Hillary?
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
No, no. We spent the day, I guess maybe we missed it by one day, but the day that it was supposed to be big, we were at the beach. It was 85 degrees. Oh, I your story. Say it again.
Alix Best (01:10):
It was a trip.
Sevan Matossian (01:11):
Yeah. You’re in Reno, you said?
Alix Best (01:14):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:15):
Is that home for you?
Alix Best (01:17):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:17):
Okay. So you had no Hillary up there?
Alix Best (01:20):
We got a couple storms out of it for a few days. It’s been like 65 degrees and windy and rainy, and I washed my car and then it got rained on.
Sevan Matossian (01:30):
Hey, was it hot rain? I heard it was actual hot rain here, which is kind of uncommon for California. I heard it was hot outside and rainy like Hawaii?
Alix Best (01:38):
No.
Sevan Matossian (01:38):
No. Okay.
Alix Best (01:39):
But I think that’s the definition of a tropical storm, right?
Sevan Matossian (01:43):
Right. Are you born and raised in California?
Alix Best (01:47):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (01:48):
Because I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and every year we have winds that are 50 or a hundred miles an hour that blow through the Golden Gate Bridge. They give warnings. Do you remember that?
Alix Best (02:00):
Yeah. I mean, I remember seeing it on the news for sure. I grew up in a little town called Placerville.
Sevan Matossian (02:05):
Oh yeah. Wow.
Alix Best (02:07):
Yeah. So yeah, I mean, get some storms. And then I came up to Reno and went to school here. And it’s weird. Everything comes off. The Sierras really fast into the bowl here in Reno, and then it just blows out and storms somewhere else.
Sevan Matossian (02:23):
So just to get people caught up real quick, Alex Best is the founder and owner of Swine amongst other things, but that’s how I know her. I know her because one of my favorites Colton, her stuff, and now I guzzle her stuff. And so that’s how our paths crossed. I’d never met her before, but I was excited to have her on and Alex was kind enough when we got the approval to do the behind the scenes, she helped out substantially with making sure that the team got there with financial help. And it was cool because like I said, I was already kind of on the, not kind of, was already on the Wolverine bandwagon because I’m easily influenced by my favorite athletes. So that’s that. You live in Placerville and you moved to the big city. So for people who, don’t dunno, California Placerville, it’s, it’s a really cool little town, but for the rest of us in the Bay Area in California, on our way to Lake Tahoe to go skiing, we pass through this little town called Placerville.
Alix Best (03:25):
It’s like Ville. Everyone’s like, oh, I stopped to pee there before.
Sevan Matossian (03:29):
Yeah. Oh, right.
Alix Best (03:31):
But it’s kind of true.
Sevan Matossian (03:33):
Why Reno?
Alix Best (03:35):
Why Reno?
Sevan Matossian (03:39):
That’s Nevada, right? Reno, Nevada. Okay. You’re on the Nevada side. Reno is Nevada.
Alix Best (03:43):
Why Reno now? For the company
Sevan Matossian (03:45):
Or even for you? I’m just curious why you had moved to Reno. I mean, I know it was exploding, but there’s other cool places up there too, right? There’s Auburn or you could have come down south and west and you could have come to the Bay Area, right? Reno’s just an interesting choice. I mean, apple went there too, right? A bunch of people went there.
Alix Best (04:03):
I mean, yeah, so I just came here for school, for university. So it’s not like I, that’s
Sevan Matossian (04:09):
Easy.
Alix Best (04:10):
My parents this city, but yeah, I came here for school. I’m glad I did it. Sometimes you make the best plans in the world and they don’t work out, so you got to have 12 backup plans and sometimes you got to call on that 12th plan and that’s what Nevada was. And I mean, thinking back on it, I’m really glad I did it. I would never be in this position. I would’ve never met my business partner. I would’ve never wouldn’t be here. So it’s like, I don’t know. I know, it’s fine. I’m a skier. I love the mountains. Grew up on the other side, so it’s familiar. But yeah, it’s kind of culture shock for anyone who doesn’t know. Plasterville is tiny. I think 6,000, 7,000 people there when I grew up. And then I came to a town of 500,000 people and was like, oh,
Sevan Matossian (04:58):
How many people went to your high school?
Alix Best (05:00):
How many, oh
Sevan Matossian (05:01):
Yeah.
Alix Best (05:02):
A lot of people ask me that. I should probably find out. I have no idea.
Sevan Matossian (05:06):
But small, you knew everyone in your high school
Alix Best (05:10):
And I was very active in high school. I was class president and I was prom queen and I was giving speeches to graduation and doing that kind of thing.
Sevan Matossian (05:20):
I get it. I was thinking, I was like, God, how ambitious is she to start a company like swine that would give me a panic attack even to think to do that. Why? And for you, you were, I dunno, just too many moving parts. It’s too many moving parts, too many. I don’t want to deal with all the moving parts. I don’t want to decide what knobs go in my kitchen. You know what I mean? If I was buying a house, I would go into a panic attack. If I had to remodel the kitchen, I don’t want to make those decisions.
Alix Best (05:48):
Yeah, that’s fair. I mean people are,
Sevan Matossian (05:49):
But you like making decisions.
Alix Best (05:51):
I have learned to make decisions and sometimes you just like, I like this analogy of being an entrepreneur, being a business owner is jumping off a cliff and building a plane on the way down. And it’s a lot like that. And sometimes you smack the ground and the shit sucks. But then there’s also the days where you kind of figure it out and you’re flying a little bird and then you kind of get down safe. So then you run back up the hill and do it again tomorrow.
Sevan Matossian (06:19):
Alex, what was your very first business endeavor? Did you do something as a little kid? Did you try to sell shoe laces or bracelets or did you have any?
Alix Best (06:30):
It was probably fundraising to play basketball. I don’t remember selling things. I wasn’t really creative at making things, but I do remember significantly fun. I tried to be a girl scout. I sucked at it. I wasn’t very good at selling cookies. And I went to girls camp and was like, you guys suck. No, I probably shouldn’t say that. That might be offensive to some girl scouts,
Sevan Matossian (06:54):
But no, it was funny. It was funny
Alix Best (06:56):
With it.
Sevan Matossian (06:58):
Delivery is everything I’ve learned that you can say anything you want. I haven’t figured out how to do it yet, but you can say anything you want if you deliver it. Right. I just haven’t figured that how to deliver it. But you can.
Alix Best (07:07):
That’s why I just giggle. I’m like, well, I’m laughing. You don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s funny. Awkward.
Sevan Matossian (07:13):
So sports, so you were always doing sports?
Alix Best (07:16):
Yeah, I was like that weird kid with a 12 pack, super tomboy. Fundraised a lot for school. For, yeah, school and just basketball I think probably would be my business things if I were to have any, but
Sevan Matossian (07:33):
I don’t know. Did you have siblings?
Alix Best (07:35):
Yeah, I was the youngest of four. So I was a little shithead running around, getting away with everything, seeing what not to do, learning from everyone else’s things that they did wrong.
Sevan Matossian (07:47):
I saw this post, it was my favorite post on your Instagram as I dug through it and you have a hat on backwards and you’re in a bikini top and I think you’re holding a beer and you say in there, and I showed it to, I remember showing it to my wife and you said something like, I think you said you weighed 187 pounds in the photo you said, and you were probably just a teenager. Well let’s say you’re 21. And you said, when life was just about choosing which beer to open or something like that, I’m completely paraphrasing and I remember that phase of my life and it’s truly one of the best phases of my life, but I was never even comfortable in my skin to really enjoy that. And you looked so comfortable and when I saw you, I’m like, oh, I know that girl. I know that boy. I know that person who is just so freaking comfortable in their skin. And when I would be around those people, I realized that all the superficial shit on the outside doesn’t matter. It’s all attitude. If someone has a fucking great attitude, you’re like, wow.
Alix Best (08:51):
Yeah, it’s a trip. I think I didn’t start paying attention to my body until it was about then I had gained a bunch of weight, I had kidney issues. I was like, what
Sevan Matossian (09:01):
The hell, by the way, you look great. My wife’s like, there’s no way she weighs 180 7. I was like, she says she does there. I mean, you look amazing.
Alix Best (09:07):
Thanks. Yeah, somebody was like, she’s got posts like Danny. I was like, yeah,
Sevan Matossian (09:12):
How tall are you?
Alix Best (09:13):
Feel bigger. A five eight.
Sevan Matossian (09:15):
Yeah. Crazy that you were 180 7 in that. Your body looked crazy.
Alix Best (09:19):
My hips hurt, man. That was the biggest motivator. That’s what caught my attention. So my hips started hurting and I was like, why do I feel like my hips are going to snap? And then I went clothes shopping and I was like, holy shit it. What do you mean I can’t fit into that size by four or five sizes? So yeah, I didn’t start paying attention to it then. And it wasn’t until I lost the weight that I started having, I was like, well, why does this feel this way? Or why does this look that way? And that’s when I started picking myself apart a bit more. But a lot of it, like you’re saying, it is kind of how you show up. And knowing myself is in my values for a really long time and just kind being the same person through and through has carried me. But I’ll post up there, I’ve got cellulite, I’ve got stretch marks, I’ve got things about myself. I don’t terribly love. But if I’m not willing to do something about them, I’d have this attitude that I’m not really able to complain about them. And then if I’m able to do something about them, then why would I complain?
Sevan Matossian (10:22):
Moony, you guzzle her stuff. Savon. Yes, that’s correct. Thank you for the quote that you can quote me on that. That’s a direct quote. Here’s the thing, man. So I think we just solved the whole podcast. I think you nailed it. The reason why I don’t get it, so have values. It’s not that didn’t even, I didn’t have values, I didn’t know, didn’t even know I probably had some values, I just didn’t know what they are. But when I see that picture and I saw what you wrote, I’m like, that’s the kid. That’s the cool kid. That’s who I wanted to hang out with. That was the kid that didn’t give a shit. They just had fun. Everyone liked them. They didn’t have to worry about the superficial shit. They seemed so comfortable in their skin. And what you’re saying is because you had values. And that’s something now that I have kids, I’m starting to think about values more and more. And values are something that someone can’t take away from you, right? If you’re going to be like, Hey, I’m always going to be a nice person, then it’s up to me. I’m never going to, so you were in control of your own life. What do you mean by values too? Could you define that for me?
Alix Best (11:29):
I think values are just who you’ll show up as a person. What are constant things? They’re not really, you can change values for sure, but they’re going to be the things that carry you through life. And I was fortunate enough to have my parents, my mom especially was always like, Hey, you’re being an ass hat. Go back to being like this. Go back to being yourself. Stop doing this. Why are you doing that? She challenged me a lot. I dunno. Values are just, we have this mantra here at Wolverine and it’s how you do anything is how you do everything. And it’s kind of this idea of we can all be different people and do different things, but how you do it is how you’re going to do everything else. And so if you’re going to be a funny guy, then be a really good funny guy. Or if you’re going to be a shitbag, then be a shitbag. But you’re going to come back to these fundamental things that your gut’s going to guide you to. And if you’re doing the right thing, then you’re following that. And if you feel panicked, if you feel anxiety, if you feel like that fear or just that overwhelm, you’re lashing out people, you’re probably not living from a place of, I actually trust myself to show up authentically as this person.
Sevan Matossian (12:37):
If you lash out. Explain that idea to me. If you lash out, you don’t trust yourself to show up authentically.
Alix Best (12:45):
Well, it’s kind of like, I don’t know, you ever get shoved in a corner and you’re like, you start to act ways that maybe you wouldn’t or say things you wouldn’t or whatever. And if you really think about it, it’s like why? Because you’re threatened, because you’re not confident. Going back to the confidence thing, you’re not confident in how you’re showing up or your behavior, your behavior’s not matching the way you feel about yourself. I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (13:08):
No, we’re onto something. And tell me, did your parents use the word values at home?
Alix Best (13:14):
Oh, that’s a good question.
Sevan Matossian (13:17):
Maybe. How did you know when you had values? How was that introduced to you? I’m so curious about that.
Alix Best (13:24):
So my mom was very Christian and would always kind of go back to be a servant’s heart. You lead from the front. You are not a follower. You blaze your own path. It’s okay if people don’t necessarily agree with you as long as you’re not harming them or taking away from them. It’s kind of like piggybacked a lot into the Bible. I don’t come from a very educated family. I was the first person to go to school and get a degree. And I think my extended family even. So a lot of it comes back to those conversations of how do you feel about who you are, what’s your heart leading you by? And then how do you kind of honor what you’ve been given and the gifts that you’ve been given and actually exercise them in life.
Sevan Matossian (14:12):
It’s interesting. What a great combo, right? You’re saying to have a servant’s heart, but also lead, lead and don’t follow. So if you just have lead and don’t follow, you’re an asshole. If you just have serve, you’re just a chump. You put the two together and you have a complete person. You have someone who’s leading from the front to serve others,
Alix Best (14:33):
There you go.
Sevan Matossian (14:34):
But one of ’em by themselves is probably not so good or could be trouble.
Alix Best (14:40):
You could find yourself complimenting other things or other people. I think that’s one of the things that makes this company great. And I don’t just do it all on my own. I have a business partner. He’s amazing and we’re light and dark. A lot of things that I’m good at and emotional at, he can piggy out and not be emotional and be really logical. And then other things, sometimes that ball rolls the other way. And I think that’s another reason why this is the first time I’ve hopped on anything really as a person representing the company. I think it’s something that happens naturally as we grow, but we’ve never been like, Hey, look at me. I’m this because I’m the Wolverine owner. It’s like, no, let’s let the product speak for themselves. Educate yourself. Here’s the information to do the decisions or make the decisions about yourself and what you want to do.
(15:31):
It’s kind of like leading people to that conclusion to take hold of themselves and say, is this right for me? But that position of power and decision in their hands kind of tangenting here. But the point being is I think growing up my parents didn’t tell me what to do. They gave me a lot of freedom to do what I wanted. I fucked up a lot of it just because I thought it was the right thing to do and I didn’t know and I ended up not being what I wanted to do. So going to Nevada for school wasn’t what I wanted to do, but made the most of it. And that was a hundred percent my decision. But when you are able to empower people to make decisions about themselves, like their health, their school, their life, and you probably know this as being a father, I don’t have kids so I’m not going to speak to it, but enabling people to pursue that within themselves is much more transcending and much more value seeking if we use that idea than just saying like, Hey, cool. Take this, do that, follow this path. Because at what point do you enable somebody to stop thinking for themselves?
Sevan Matossian (16:37):
It’s interesting. My mom had a ton of trust in me. I mean, I didn’t know it as a kid, but in hindsight, and I have a ton of trust in my kids. And because I, and it sounds like your parents trusted you when I hear that you used a different word than trust, but they basically let you make, they gave you the tools to make your own decisions,
Alix Best (16:57):
Did something against their values as parents, you were out,
Sevan Matossian (17:01):
You were done.
Alix Best (17:03):
Hearing that my parents were disappointed in me was the most traumatizing thing.
Sevan Matossian (17:10):
Me too. Me too. I hate me too. And I disappointed a lot and it sucked.
Alix Best (17:14):
Did you? Yeah. Why? What’d you do?
Sevan Matossian (17:17):
Well, just around grades. I just wasn’t good at school and my parents put a premium on school, so I disappointed. So I disappointed them. And that was really hard, especially if I felt like I was trying.
Alix Best (17:29):
That’s fair.
Sevan Matossian (17:31):
But when you trust people, and what’s interesting, there’s two or three people in your company who’ve reached out to me just to make point of contact like, Hey, I work at Wolverine, or Hey, I work at Wolverine. And part of me is I was kind of surprised by that, that there wasn’t a more kind of controlling nature. I don’t want the people who work on the podcast reaching out to people necessarily. I want to control the point of contact with the podcast to be just like with Matt Susa, the executive producer. I don’t even want to be that point of contact. I want it all to just kind of funnel, but your company all nice things. Hi, I’m excited. My boss has gone on your podcast. Or Hey, I saw you drinking Wolverine. Congratulations. Welcome to the family. Or just shit like that. You know what I mean? And I’m like, oh, this is interesting. She hasn’t put her thumb on people maybe the way I would’ve because I would feel like I’m losing maybe control. Wait a second, wait a second. What are you saying to him? What are you doing? But I do notice that my kids, because I trust them, they trust themselves
(18:43):
And makes them very mature for their age.
Alix Best (18:46):
Well, and hopefully too, it enables them to ask themselves, what’s the right thing to do in this situation?
Sevan Matossian (18:54):
I don’t think boys ever do that.
Alix Best (18:56):
No, I don’t. No.
Sevan Matossian (19:00):
What’s the right thing to do? I’m going to ask them that question. What do you think the right thing to do is?
Alix Best (19:06):
I’m going to pee outside today.
Sevan Matossian (19:08):
Yes,
Alix Best (19:09):
Wrong.
Sevan Matossian (19:12):
They’ll do that, by the way, that’s a perfect example. I have a pretty good size yard. They get out of the car. They could easily go over all the way across the yard and pee under a cherry tree, but they’ll go try to pee by the front door. I’m like, dude,
Alix Best (19:27):
It stinks.
Sevan Matossian (19:28):
Yeah. How is that a, what are you doing? They’re like, what?
Alix Best (19:33):
It’s true. My sister has kids and they’re the best humans I’ve ever met in my life, and it’s absolutely amazing how good of a parent she is. And it’s so funny. Tell me things and I’ll be like, oh, he peed off the deck again today. Or she’ll send me a picture of this little boy butt and I’ll be like, I don’t know. You’re doing something right. I think
Sevan Matossian (19:53):
She is. I’m sure she is. Her nutrition program is the best. You have a nutrition program too?
Alix Best (20:00):
Yeah. Oh my gosh. What’s up Kayla? It’s so funny. Yeah, so the Swell Kitchen, we added into Wolverine a couple years ago now, two, three years. And so you probably know we take very food first approach with the supplements we’re using very natural ingredients, ingredients that are familiar to the body, but we’d go out to events and stuff where people would message us and be like, what do I do to lose fat? Or What do I do for this, that, or the other? And seeing the gap and the knowledge and not being sure where to start or what to eat or how much to eat or macros or anything like that, found a pretty big gap with where that conversation would stop. We can put as many blog posts about nutrition and what to eat before your workout and after workout and things like that on the website.
(20:51):
But some people just need a little bit more guidance on what to do and how to do it. So we added in Thewell Kitchen, kind of a playoff of Wolverine. Obviously we offer meal plans, macros one-on-one coaching. We added in competitive performance or fitness programming a little bit earlier in the year in March for the first time. We also do online personal training. So very one-on-one approach, teaching people how to eat, teaching them, why do I have this relationship with food? Why do I feel this way? Why does this food make me feel this way? Why do I think bananas are bad for me? Why shouldn’t I eat fruit? It’s just dispelling a lot of that information and then using meal plans and macros as a tool to approach food, but really addressing the human and their relationship with their brain and body.
Sevan Matossian (21:43):
So you don’t send food out to people?
Alix Best (21:46):
No, we get that a lot. Are you a meal prep company? And I barely cook for myself, so that would honestly be my nightmare starting a cooking company.
Sevan Matossian (21:57):
Right. You guys team with anyone to do that?
Alix Best (22:00):
We were partnering with Ice Age meals before they kind of dissolved
Sevan Matossian (22:04):
A little bit. And they were in Reno too, right?
Alix Best (22:07):
Yeah. So we had some mutual athletes like Chelsea, Nicholas, Colton, and a couple other ones here and there throughout the years. And Nick is amazing and
Sevan Matossian (22:17):
He just kind of, Nick is amazing. That sucks. They dissolved.
Alix Best (22:20):
Yeah. Well, they changed it into Iceage culinary. He wanted to go to the cooking route. So I think he’s doing that a little bit more, but the meals are not, I think he can still buy some of ’em, but I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (22:37):
Yeah, he’s an amazing guy. He worked with CrossFit HQ a lot when I was over there, and he was a true gentleman. And what a positive force. He’s kind of a force in nature too.
Alix Best (22:49):
Yeah. Yeah. He is a whole lot of human in person. Okay, I can do this. Hi Nick.
Sevan Matossian (23:03):
I want to go back to the origins of Wolverine.
Alix Best (23:07):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:08):
So can you tell me the earliest memory you have of the origins of the company? Were you already making your own supplements just at home?
Alix Best (23:19):
No. No, that’s a no-no.
Sevan Matossian (23:22):
Okay. Alright.
Alix Best (23:23):
There are people who will do that. We have heard stories of people making supplements in their bathtub, and then
Sevan Matossian (23:28):
That’s how I do it. I used to grow weeded.
Alix Best (23:32):
That’s how you’ve got a mushroom tub. You’ve got a pot.
Sevan Matossian (23:37):
Yes.
Alix Best (23:39):
All the tubs. Yeah, I know. So we’ve always had the quality standard where it needs to be the best from the beginning. So I remember, oh man, just getting the first products. We started with three capsules. I’m trying to dig up a picture here. That’s why I’m looking off to the side. We started with a couple capsule products.
Sevan Matossian (24:01):
What year?
Alix Best (24:02):
2018. 17. 18.
Sevan Matossian (24:06):
By capsules, you mean? When I used to make my own ecstasy, I would get the M D M A and then I would cut it with something and then I’d put ’em in the capsules wood. Yeah, of course.
Alix Best (24:17):
Would you go crystal or
Sevan Matossian (24:18):
Powder? I was an entrepreneur. Powder. Powder. I don’t
Alix Best (24:21):
Anything. I’m not going there.
Sevan Matossian (24:25):
But it was like that. It was those kinds of capsules, those little plastic capsules.
Alix Best (24:28):
Yeah. But again, didn’t make ’em.
Sevan Matossian (24:32):
Okay. Okay.
Alix Best (24:33):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (24:34):
You can tell me the truth later after the podcast that you,
Alix Best (24:37):
We didn’t, I swear. So I’m pretty clumsy and I would probably just overdose it and then people would be like, this is amazing. It’d be like the kind of Jack three D story. There’s meth in it. No, I’m just kidding. Yeah. Some of the earlier memories were we’re just getting those products and then we didn’t ever really go out to our friends and be like, Hey, buy this. We started a website, we started writing content, we started making videos. We started, we never had
Sevan Matossian (25:04):
Who’s we? Who’s we?
Alix Best (25:06):
Walter and I. So Walter is my business partner. So we started the company together. So if I ever speak in Wes, that’s my
Sevan Matossian (25:12):
We Okay, Walter. Okay.
Alix Best (25:15):
Yeah. And yeah, so anyways, we just started simple and we’re just like, once we click live on the website, life is just going to change. It will never be the same. It’s not going to stop. And it never did. And it’s been different ever since. And there’s been the challenges of all sorts of things. I remember the first time we got our powder product and we were like, it’s huge. It’s a giant bottle. What are we do with this? And going out to events and just showing up. I remember being, when we met Chelsea, Nicholas in Washington, we’re at an event pop-up at the gym, we’re like, man, she’s so fit. And now she’s one of our best athletes and friends and just things like that starting the company. We have never to this day, taken in investment. We don’t have any other partners. We started with 800 bucks if that. I mean, and that was scrapping the house for each of our house and for some pennies to throw at it. We never took p p e through covid. We have never
Sevan Matossian (26:25):
Asked. That’s when you get money from the government. P p e. Yeah. Okay.
Alix Best (26:28):
Yeah, that was a lot of the subsidies that helped. Yeah, I mean, it kind of went off the deep end there.
Sevan Matossian (26:37):
Tell me what year you started, Alex.
Alix Best (26:40):
It was 2017 ish, 2018.
Sevan Matossian (26:45):
And so you had another job at the time?
Alix Best (26:48):
Yeah, so I was finishing up school and I was finishing up school. I was managing a dental office and then graduated. And then we started not too long after that. And I have a more science background, like public health, kinesiology, nutrition. They had merged the public health in Kines. So I’m in there thinking maybe I want to do healthcare law for example, or PA school. And you’re roommate in there with the MD students and which is a whole hodgepodge of weird shit. And then my business partner is very business oriented, always very fitness and health conscious. But econ, M B A, that sorts of thing. So together it was like, oh my gosh, we both have this passion. We both have a desire. And really realizing that when it came to supplements and working out, I was taking a shit ton of supplements that, not to go names with it, but I mean that was kind of a big start of kidney issues and liver enzymes and getting sick and gaining all that weight.
(27:52):
And it brought to our attention that a lot of supplements, they don’t tell you what it is. They don’t tell you why. They don’t tell you what it’s for. It’s flashy, it’s shiny. At that time, it wasn’t so much about influencers being like, Hey, take this product. It’s great. I don’t take it. I actually throw it away and give it to my friends, but do it. And it was just kind of like, well, what about the athlete too? Why don’t products actually help you become a better athlete or improve markets a performance? And so we’re just asking all these questions while we sit and look at all these supplements and we’re like, proprietary this, or I can’t pronounce that. Or the other ingredients is like this long, right? That’s when C four, you had the foldout.
(28:36):
I was like, the other ingredients are on this. And it was just kind of like, what the fuck? Why am I putting this in my body? I have a health degree. I am technically considered a health professional now that I’m in this industry and why am I doing this? And that was kind of the big catalyst for, it’s like, well, who is out there doing it better? And then we started looking and it was like, Nope. Nobody is straightforward. Nobody’s telling you what it is. Nobody’s telling you what’s going on. And I think now, so the
Sevan Matossian (29:11):
Honesty piece, when you say no one’s doing it better, the honesty piece, the transparency piece was huge to you?
Alix Best (29:16):
Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, if I’m going to put Apple in my mouth, I’m going to expect that it’s an apple, not an apple with 800 other things on it. Right? If you’re making this says Dylan drugs, if you are going to sell somebody M D M A cut with something, then you should probably sell them M D M A, not cocaine.
Sevan Matossian (29:36):
That drug I really just kept for myself. But let’s use marijuana. That one, I didn’t really sell that one. I kept myself. It was too good to sell. But yeah, the marijuana, yeah, for sure. You don’t want to sell shitty marijuana. And if you do, people will know or you don’t want to sell it underweight or it’s usually weight is the issue in the weeded industry because people, it’s expensive, right? Bag of leaves of 60 bucks and people are like, Hey, it’s half a bag of leaves. I went home and waited, Hey, that’s.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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