Episode 121
August 30, 2022

Mushroom Moments

with Shane Heath, Co-Founder and CEO of MUD\WTR

About this episode

Shane Heath, the Co-Founder and CEO of MUD\WTR joins the show to chat about his journey to founding the coffee alternative company on a mission to heal the mind through their daytime and evening beverages. In this episode, Shane shares with us his journey from experiencing a psychedelic trip as a 14-year-old, to starting his first company ishBowl, to moving to Silicon Valley, to taking a leave of absence to Bombay, where he was able to reconnect with his creativity and began questioning his caffeine addiction to coffee. He talks about the difference between lantern versus spotlight consciousness, how the business grew in revenue since 2018, and why he allows microdosing at work.

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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

  • (1:07) More about MUD\WTR, a coffee alternative company on a mission to heal the mind through their daytime and evening beverages designed to provide natural energy and relaxation
  • (2:30) The experience of his first founder conference, how it made a good example of how taking swings is sometimes a good learning experience
  • (6:38) What it was like growing up in Santa Cruz, California, with an entrepreneurial spirit and eventually ending up at San Deigo State
  • (12:30) His experience starting his first company right out of college and what it taught him about the startup world, and how the feelings of it all help him in his role today
  • (22:52) His experience with a psychedelic trip as a 14-year-old and how the deep philosophical questions scared him 
  • (26:30) How listening to a Joe Rogan podcast in a time of a lot of stress made him realize he should take a leave of absence
  • (30:00) How he came up with the idea for MUD\WTR because he was really interested in rituals, and how he begins and ends the day
  • (45:00) How the idea for MUD\WTR came to be, from making his own drinks to fall asleep and having the idea for others to experience the same thing
  • (49:00) How he brought on his Co-Founder, and how they continued to grow from 2018 to now
  • (54:00) His experience in fundraising and the advice he has for others looking to bring in more revenue
  • (1:01) Why he allows microdosing at work, in a safe and effective way
  • (1:04) What we can expect to see next from MUD\WTR including expansions to Amazon and a flagship store in Santa Monica, as well as new product launches

To Find Out More:

https://mudwtr.com/ 

Quotes:

“Seeing drawings turn into physical environments that I was living in was very transformative for me at a very young age.”

“To get a company off the ground, you have to go all in for it to even have a chance.”

“Entrepreneurship is a huge investment of time and energy.”

“I was just removed from all the cultural prescriptions, and it empowered me to think differently about how I was going to pursue life when I came home.”

“I started looking at my mug as maybe I can make something that is more than just a vessel for caffeine.”

“It was interesting because I thought this was my problem that I couldn't handle caffeine. So I solved this problem for myself and I felt great. And the real aha moment didn't come until other people started to ask me what I was drinking.”

“Our company is built on the hypothesis that for a lot of people too much caffeine, just like too much of any drug can make something that is potentially helpful, all of a sudden harmful.”

“When I started MUD\WTR I started to notice that people were very interested in evolving the relationship to how they found energy.”

“I'm not mad at coffee. I'm just disappointed. So I made something better.”

“I do a lot of work to provide our investors a lot of information. I've been sending out monthly updates since I've been putting them together before I even had investors. I don't view them as information for investors, I view them as a journal entry for our company.” 

Read the transcript

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