Under The Hood: Damien from HUX

Welcome Damien! When did you start Hux and how much progress have you made so far?

We launched in July, so we're only 3 months in. We were in a testing phase from November 2021 to June 2022 and we officially launched in July 2022.

In our testing phase we iterated on the product, made sure the backend was robust, changed some of the packaging bits and made the whole experience live with family & friends.

We had been developing the product for 2 years in total, so we were pumped to show the world what we had to offer in July.

That’s recent! Congrats. So where do you fit into the whole supplement ecosystem?

We’re a supplement company that people can partner with from when they wake up in the morning to when they go to sleep. Our aim is to be the one stop shop for all your supplements, rather than having to consume multiple supplements across multiple brands across the day.

Did you guys raise to get to where you're at?

We bootstrapped the initial R&D to come up with the formulations of the product. And then we raised a family & friends round to finance the first order as well as business setup components (trademarks etc) & today we’re closing our official pre-seed round to finance more stock, working capital, help build a team and start to drive awareness.

Let’s chat acquisition: How are you tackling this since July?

We came up with the idea for Hux in a world where D2C only businesses in our category could thrive. Today - it seems like going omnichannel is a better bet to make. So today - our acquisition efforts are split across 3 strategies: Paid media, retail sales and partnerships & events.

Any insights so far? What’s working?

On the paid social we’re noticing the path to conversion is quite unique. Usually it’s our hydration product that draws people in, but they’ll bolt on a few more products from the rest of the range as they navigate the site. So we’ve been focusing on leveraging the broader concept of “hydration” as a way to drive traffic.

That approach is quite different from our approach on the other products we offer such as the Superfoods blend, where we focus more on the functional benefits. We’ve actually noticed quite a few customers transferring from Athletic Greens over to our Superfoods blend - those customers are geeking out over the ingredients.

And for paid search, Google Shopping’s been really effective & I think that’s largely because our bright orange brand stands out within the category.

Let’s chat about partnerships: What does that mean for Hux?

We have a two-pronged approach: Athletic partnerships & lifestyle partnerships.

On the athletic partnership side, we're partnering up with brands like Tracksmith who offer premium, athletic wear and also sponsor marathons.

But our position in the market is to be good enough for an Olympian, but not aimed at an Olympian. Our simple, beautiful, potent products are just as good for an athlete as they are for entrepreneurs & artists. Which is why next year, we’ll be looking at sponsoring music events, social events & more.

I’d love to peek into your internal processes: Are there any key meetings that take place?

Ha! I didn't spend 20 years in corporate to then replicate the whole series of meetings that don't need to happen. So we try to keep things as light-touch & impactful as possible.

We spend time face to face on Mondays & Wednesdays. Mondays are centered around reiterating priorities and figuring out where to allocate our resources (time, money, product). That's quite dynamic.

And then on Wednesdays we dedicate 2 hours to discuss much higher level topics & try to get as much out of the operational weeds as possible.

How do you get out of the weeds & chat about the bigger picture?

Usually we come to the meetings with external thoughts. Every day we speak to people outside of the business who share opinions, ideas and challenge our beliefs. We take stock of all that and share it openly with the team during those meetings.

We try to think only about the 6 month or 10 year business plan in these meetings. Nothing in between really matters.

Let’s chat about the next 6 months then. What’s on the horizon?

We're gonna be stocked at Planet Organic in November - so that will be a very important retail launch for us. It’s exciting to truly become an omnichannel business & learn how consumers interact with our brand in-store. The other piece I’d love to crack is sampling. Currently we’re not really setup to do that, and I’d love to be able to offer that. I experience so many health benefits from Hux, and I want to reduce the friction as much as possible for people to experience those too.

Let’s talk about the stack: What’s powering your business?

Shopify for the backend. We’re also partnered with bodo to enable same-day deliveries. We use Klaviyo for email & Blueprint for SMS.

Last question: What’s been your key to success on Hux so far?

Passion for the products. There are plenty of factors that can blow the candle out on the business, but the key to keep things going for us is the passion for the product. We’re all still extremely passionate about providing simple, beautiful potent supplements that help people lead healthier lives.

Damien! Congratulations on launching your business & excited to see you grow. Thank you.