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Key Takeaways Sieg searched the US for the perfect spring water, only to discover every source came with tradeoffs.
She built Loonen around filtration, glass bottles and transparency.
The brand has attracted high-profile fans including Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa.
When shoppers pick up a bottle of spring water decorated with snow-capped mountains and cascading waterfalls, they assume what’s inside is as pure as nature can make it. Clara Sieg did, too. So when the former venture capitalist set out to build a bottled water company, she spent six months traveling the country in search of the perfect spring.
What she found surprised her. “Every source has some footnote,” she says. Some contained naturally occurring arsenic, nitrates or radium. Others changed with the seasons, weather patterns and surrounding land use. Instead of finding the perfect source, Sieg realized she’d have to build a better system.
Loonen is her answer. The company combines spring-sourced water, physical membrane filtration and transparency in an effort to rethink bottled water. Sieg, the company’s co-founder and CEO, recently joined the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to discuss what she learned entering one of the world’s toughest consumer categories, why questioning conventional wisdom became her biggest advantage and how Loonen attracted celebrities including Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa without paying a dime.
Related: How the Founder of Flow’s Vision for a Mindful Bottled Water Company Attracted Supporters Like Gwyneth Paltrow
The perfect spring wasn’t enough
Sieg’s idea to build a better water company came from a deeply personal place. While undergoing IVF and later during pregnancy, she became hyper-aware of everything she was putting in and on her body. She switched to cleaner beauty products, organic food and natural household cleaners. Water, however, proved far more complicated.
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