ShakeSphere

This Athlete Launched A $3.6M/Year Shaker Bottle Company

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RICK BEARDSELL

Founder, ShakeSphere

$300K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

ShakeSphere

shakesphere.com

from Manchester, UK

started October 2017

$300,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

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platform

BigCommerce

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Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

My name is Rick Beardsell, I am the founder of ShakeSphere. Eszter (my wife) and I design, develop and launch supplement shaker bottles globally.

ShakeSphere is an award-winning shaker bottle manufacturer founded upon the needs of athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and bodybuilders for a cleaner, cheaper protein-shaking solution. Reflecting the drive of our CEO and founder – I am an elite sprinter with numerous World and European Masters titles – by striving to improve my health, wellbeing, and happiness it is reflected in everyone who uses our products. My wife and I have done so by combining the intimacy of a family business with a globally connected clientele across 22 countries.

Our remarkable expansion in a short space of time has not been without its challenges. In November 2019, Rick was diagnosed with testicular cancer and was told it had spread to his lungs and pancreas. Worried whether ShakeSphere would survive should he not be around to pass it on, Rick nonetheless focused his energy on the positives. The news that a baby boy was on the way, combined with the support of his wife and young son, no doubt went some way towards defeating cancer by May 2020. But, more than that, it was Rick’s mental toughness in all that he does that allowed him to overcome such a formidable threat to his life.

We are currently turning over around 4M USD per year.

this-athlete-launched-a-3-6m-year-shaker-bottle-company

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

While on an internship in Italy I broke my leg skiing (yes I was fairly reckless) after this I was told I would not run again. I was always a capable runner and was determined to get back to a good standard. I had to learn to walk again and focus on extensive rehabilitation. After a year and a half, I was able to begin gentle jogging. From there I knew I could get back. I didn't want to be a ‘fun runner’ again having completed a 10-mile road race, half marathon, and a few other races, I wanted to see how far I could go. I saw this as a second chance. I trained hard for the next few years until I finally managed to break 50 seconds for the 400m. I continued to progress and spent summers racing 200m and 400m in prestigious European races.

Being an athlete you rely on your shaker bottle to get your nutrition fast. All the shakers I had used on the market were just so messy and badly thought out. Supplements were getting stuck in the corners. All the shaker bottle market was doing was trying to come up with different agitators to mix powders with liquid. I took it a step further and reinvented the bottle. Doing extensive research and testing I realized the best shape for mixing and cleaning was a capsule shape. By utilizing this we could eradicate a mesh grid or a mixing ball.

This was the first product we launched V2 (we had a flip cap before this). The ShakeSphere original. It also stored pills and had powder storage. This product should have been launched 5 years later after we were established. It was complex to explain and visually you could not see the base (being round it was our best selling USP). All in all, it was overly complex. People want simple easy to understand convenient things. This was a big learning curve.

This was the ShakeSphere Max the second model we produced. This disposed of the pill storage

Here's how it works. Instead of using mixing accessories like a wire ball or mesh grid, our innovative Tumbler range of protein shakers use the centrifugal force generated by a round, no-corners design to break down powder supplements in a mere five seconds of shaking. Shake for another five seconds and you can even enjoy soft fruit in your shake for the ultimate post-workout boost.

You may think having no mixing accessories means a lot of wasted shakes. You'd be wrong. Because there are no corners, nothing gets left in the bottle when you've finished with it. This not only means you spend less time cleaning it, but also saves you money as you need less powder in the long run. No waste also prevents the build-up of the foul smells which develop when undissolved powder lingers in the corners of your typical shaker bottle.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the shaker.

Designing for ShakeSphere is an exciting job. I love innovation and problem-solving. Nothing that goes out for ShakeSphere is done on a whim. Often the design and development process can take 1 year to launch. I did a lot of 3D can work to test the form filled by 3D printed prototyping, to perform live testing. It took around 18 months and a trip to our Asian factory to get the concept right to a working prototype with all the tooling ready for production.

Aim for perfection, it is better to get your very best product out there from the start.

For example, during our production line, we have a bottle set up on a jig that pumps 100PSI of air in. We slide in the slide cap and screw on the lid. Then by submerging the entire bottle in the water we can test to ensure it is leakproof. If any bubbles appear the lid and slide cap is rejected and recycled.

We analyze what we are trying to achieve to solve an existing problem. We then produce 3D cad files followed by 3D printed prototypes further testing until we are ready to open molds.

Our Double Wall Stainless Steel Shakers are our global bestseller.

Describe the process of launching the business.

I was now in a position where I had a great product that I knew worked well, but what was next? I knew I needed some form of protection. I set about spending what little money I had on patents, trademarks, and design registrations.

Once this was all in place with cash dwindling or none existent I knew I needed sales. The business was currently being supported by my other business (making sportswear apparel) which I knew wasn’t sustainable.

I was focused on thinking big a few sales here or there wouldn't cut it. Instead of diving straight into a direct-to-customer business strategy, I knew I needed some big orders. So, by using ShakeSphere as a tool for global supplement companies to mix their powders I knew I could get significantly larger. All I needed to do was to show strong enough visuals of what ShakeSphere could do for their brand compellingly to secure further interest. I managed to get global brand Herbalife interested enough to request branded prototypes. I did this but also told them that ShakeSphere always comes with the ShakeSphere logo. This way my brand had the exposure and also created a large volume order to a happy customer. It worked! Got a great order and ShakeSphere moved forward. ShakeSphere has always insisted its logo is carried on all products to ensure people knew the brand behind when purchasing from a supplement brand.

As we grew we increased our customer-focused sales.

What has now materialized into an international success story began as one bold vision. CEO Rick Beardsell was determined to shake up the norm of inefficient and unhygienic shaker bottles. Back in 2017, he pitched his vision on Dragon’s Den. Impressed by Rick’s entrepreneurial spirit, Tej Lalvani and Deborah Meaden believed in ShakeSphere’s potential and collectively invested £75,000 into their young business. Their support, together with Rick’s sheer dedication and round-the-clock commitment to realizing his vision, resulted in sales of over 1 million shakers worldwide across the following two years. We feel that we now have the best shaker on the market and have received awards from Men’s Health and Amazon to justify such claims.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

ShakeSphere is a well-thought-out product. No shortcuts were taken. The first patent dates back to 2012. Being such a good shaker and easy to clean has propelled us forward with organic social media postings. People liked the shaker so much they were posting about it and still are.

As well as primarily focusing on the functionality we packed it into a salable aesthetically pleasing tactile product/product range.

It is tough out there. You need to decide from the outset if you are going to be a budget, mid-level, or premium product and price everything according to expected volumes and ensure your business is viable.

As mentioned above B2B (Business to Business) was a really big focus of ours we have worked with major brands such as Herbalife, MyProtein, and Amway. All of whom we have produced for and insisted our brand be equally represented on the shakers.

We have won many awards as highlighted in the image above one of the main ones being Men’s Health Best Protein Shaker. Along with an Amazon Award and being Amazon's choice of a shaker and with over 6000+ 4.5 reviews we are a trusted brand.

As a family business, we have made sure our retail path has been with great global distribution partners who have helped us grow ShakeSphere in their respective countries. We are now in over 25 countries.

Besides PPC we have pushed SEO and certain keywords. It is important to market and focuses on sales from all possible angles to capture your relevant audience.

Another launchpad that has helped us grow globally was using a co-branded shaker. We have worked with many top supplement companies but always insisted our logo be present otherwise we walked away from the deal. ShakeSphere as a brand is important to us and we have maintained this strategy throughout.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

We are still growing at a rapid rate signing further global contracts. We are looking to launch onto Amazon Europe and hope to match the 300 units per day of sales to the USA.

We partner with strong distribution companies and give them exclusivity to avoid price wars in that territory.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

Aim for perfection, it is better to get your very best product out there from the start. There will always be shortfalls and things you want to change after but at least if you are driven by perfection from the start what you launch can be something you would want to use and something you are proud of.

Pricing is key, don't underestimate the overheads required to grow a business. It is tough out there. You need to decide from the outset if you are going to be a budget, mid-level, or premium product and price everything according to expected volumes and ensure your business is viable.

Focus on what you are good at and outsource what you are not. The time you can waste by doing something that doesn't suit your skill sets is pointless. Drive the business forward and your experts from relevant fields to assist you along the way. It will save you time and money in the long run.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use Shopify shakesphere.com for all our websites and create contracts with Amazon resellers - Amazon SHAKESPHERE.

Reward them for their work and let them take the risk. This reduces the time required to operate the business and it is a clean simple transaction. They buy from us and sell at the RRP and we give them exclusivity. This way the volumes are there and again it avoids a race to the bottom with your pricing. They can even sell for a premium being the only seller, which is a great philosophy as people pay for the convenience of Amazon.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

The 4 hour work week I found beneficial. But ultimately I have tried many businesses around 15-20 over the last 20 years. All the failures helped me learn along the way. I didn't know about business but I did know hard work. So when something failed, I analyzed why it failed, sometimes it was the foundations of the business that were weak, other times it was the marketing budget, or the gap in the market wasn't quite there. You have to be honest with yourself and question if this business has legs?

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

There is so much free help out there in terms of learning and resources through podcasts and other mediums. But I think ultimately it is up to you to decide how you want your business to run and to understand what you want from it. Do you just want money or to be able to work less? Initially, to be successful, you will have to go above and beyond but it does get easier to maintain focus and discipline.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

We prefer to be small and focus on automated processes, reliable partners, and outsourcing. I prefer to work with the best people and companies I find and reward them.

I have had staff in the past and it created more work. So I streamline the business now.