Double-Edged Takeaways from Starting a Beverage Business - Founder of Tru, Jack McNamara

Life After College Athletics Podcast

“The analogy here in business is… as a startup, if you raise $10k, a $100k, even $1M, you're a fourth liner… you're competing against Red Bull… C4… Bang Energy… Ghost… and all these guys have their dancing partners.”
On this episode we sat down with Jack McNamara to discuss what it means to pivot in business and to find key factors that engage decision making processes. Jack played forward and started out his collegiate career at Colgate University. After 2 years of playing university hockey, Jack decided to purse his dream of playing professionally. He then transferred to Boston College for education and started his professional hockey career overseas. Jack played in 4 different countries all while building Kickstick, a company aimed at innovating the liquor industry with a double ended bottle design. Since retiring from hockey and finishing up his degree at Boston College, Jack has been focused on building Tru, the better-for-you energy drink.
After trying his hand at pro hockey overseas, Jack continued to search for the ultimate beverage concept and how his company would fill a gap in the market. Jack learned that you need to test product market fit and gauge end-user interest before diving head first into developing a product. After a few iterations, concepts, and taking feedback from the market and investors, Jack finally landed on a product he felt was attractive and unique to fill a gap in an already large market. There are seltzers and there are energy drinks in the market, but there aren’t better-for-you seltzer energy drinks. Thus, Tru was born.
If you want to hear more about Jack’s journey from college hockey to playing overseas all while starting a company, you’ll want to check this episode out. Jack brings real determination to his work and recognizes there is no shortcuts to success.
Out now on all platforms!
Follow and connect with Jack McNamara!
Tru’s Instagram: @drinktru - https://www.instagram.com/drinktru/
Tru’s Website: https://drinktru.com/
Jack’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackmac/
Jack’s Instagram: @_jackmcnamara - https://www.instagram.com/_jackmcnamara/
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