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Key Takeaways Neuro turned caffeine, L-theanine, and B vitamins into gum and mints, betting people wanted energy they could chew instead of drink.
Chen and Yoshimura bootstrapped for years, while flashier DTC brands raised tens of millions and mostly disappeared.
The founders’ mix of naive conviction and hard-won discipline, plus a lucky boost from Joe Rogan and Shark Tank, turned a scrappy idea into a nationally recognized brand.
Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen admit they were naive when they set out to build Neuro. Nothing in their backgrounds suggested they could pull it off. Neither had ever formulated a product, built a brand or worked in marketing. They were just two fitness-obsessed friends who started mixing their own energy supplements, then wondered why no one had put that boost into a piece of gum.
“Red Bull created the energy drink category in 1987. 5-Hour Energy comes and creates energy shots, and we’re like, why can’t we create the energy gum category?” Chen says.
Today Neuro is one of the fastest-growing nootropic brands in the country. Its gum and mints, a simple stack of caffeine, L-theanine, and B vitamins, plus a melatonin sleep line, are sold in 66,000 stores including CVS, Walmart and Whole Foods. Yoshimura and Chen came on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to talk about how they built the brand, why raising far less money than their rivals turned out to be an advantage, and how they built something with staying power.
Related: Liquid Death Announces a ‘Sane’ Energy Drink: ‘The Category Has Gone a Little Caffeine-Crazy’
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