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How did your career as entrepreneurs begin?
JT: We both had entrepreneurial pursuits before this company, but what kicked us off was a sit-down over a Coors Light in a yurt in Buzz’s East Village backyard. We talked about the rise in popularity of sparkling water but how the ways it was delivered forced consumers to compromise. Single-use cans and bottles are expensive and terrible for the environment. Countertop devices take up…counter space, and aren’t built for on-demand consumption. At the same time, we noticed the overnight popularity of reusable water bottles, and also how passionate our peers were about the one they owned. We felt that given this consumer demand, there was a need for a better way, one that didn’t force people to compromise. Over the course of an afternoon, we mapped out the basics of the Aerflo business - most of them hold true today. We couldn’t believe that no one had done this before, something that still inspires us.
BW: John was actually an investor in my first company. We talked a lot about starting something together eventually. I think we both were really feeling like we wanted to start a company that was adding value to humanity.
Tell us about your environmentally-friendly on-the-go carbonation company, Aerflo! What inspired you to create a portable solution to sparkling water?
JT: For those that do not know, Aerflo is a first-of-its-kind, portable carbonation device to make sparkling water on the go!
Objective #1 for us was to build a company that inherently made the world a better place. Where we knew that every dollar in revenue was also contributing to the planet. When we saw this mismatch between sparkling water demand and the available options for consumers (plus the waste/ impact on the environment), we jumped at it.
BW: I should add that we are also both sparkling water addicts. This solution is for us, just as much as it is for anyone else.
What’s your favorite part about the New York sustainable innovation community?
JT: Having so many entrepreneurs with similar missions in the immediate area makes you feel like you are a part of something, and that we’re not totally crazy to try to build completely new models.
BW: I’m happy that people care, haha. Our goal has always been to inspire people to think about the world around them.
We love your commitment to zero-waste within the brand! What are the key elements to making this a reality?
JT: This goes back to the early days, and agreeing to a core tenet of the business that we wouldn’t take the easy path - but the one we felt was “right”. So on a daily basis, it means everything from going the extra mile in materials selection to thinking through every single UX step to make a circular exchange model easy for the end consumer. We even became the first company to be able to ship CO2 via USPS (not an easy feat!). Zooming out, though, it means taking on the responsibility to be brave, to take big swings that might take longer and be much, much harder, but can deliver zero waste/larger impact when deployed.
BW: A huge part of building this company was taking the blame/decision away from end users and making it our problem. Companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have some of the worst pollution track records in the world, then point the finger at the end consumer and say it’s their fault. We have ALWAYS felt like doing better is the responsibility of the company.
What's next for Aerflo?!
JT: We’ve always said we do not want to be another water bottle company; instead, we want to help make the bottle you love do more. We launched the first chapter of that this past summer with Aerflo for Hydro Flask, a carbonation attachment for the Hydro Flask bottle you already own. Look out for more of these launches over the next year….Aerflo + “your favorite” bottle.
BW: We’re also going to be very focused on making products and processes better for our end customer this year.
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