Sam Madani, Kai Drewry, Amin Anjedani, Founder of BOMANI
"You can sit in a boardroom all day and theorize and debate, but it won’t change anything unless you try something."
When Kath Merlo and Kristy Morris met, there was an instant connection that went way further than just finding a new friend and getting together over coffee and chats. It was paired with a common interest in their neurodivergent children and a passion for the well-being of their families. It was almost like they went from zero to 100 in about 30 minutes. Friendships were formed, and a business partnership got its start, which ultimately not only led to a successful Medispa business in Australia but also to growing a brand that has just taken on the luxury wellness market in the United States, including all the ups and downs that come with the territory.
Sam, what’s your background, and how did you meet your co-founders?
I’m a first-generation American. My parents fled Iran and came to the United States with very little money. They believed they had an opportunity to build something unique despite having very few resources, so both became entrepreneurs. My dad did very well, but my mom took it to a different level. She was also in the consumer space and built her business to a point where she could franchise those systems and sell her company in 2019 with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. She set a fantastic example for me to see that everything was possible. It inspired me more than I can even put into words. I started my first small business when I was only in seventh grade. Back then, you could pay $5 to buy a ringtone. I wanted to do that too and started watching many YouTube videos to figure out how to put songs on a USB stick, cut them into 31-second snippets, and make them into a ringtone. And then I’ll sell those ringtones at school. That’s how I earned a couple $100 when I was only 12. Later on, I started a math tutoring business in high school. I always knew I would start a business eventually, so I studied finance in college and took an entrepreneurship program at USC.
"Little did we know that the formulation would not even be as complex as building a supply chain."
I met Kai in the summer after college because my best friend from high school became his best friend in college, and we met for the first time at a pregame for a David Guetta concert. We immediately hit it off, and just after one week of knowing each other, we signed a lease to live together in New York. He didn’t know what he wanted to do after college, so he asked me what I was doing. I said I wanted to do investment banking, and he said, Oh, I’ll do that too. Kai was that super-intelligent kid and college basketball player with a 3.9 GPA; he could have gotten any job he wanted. So, he set up a job interview, flew to New York, got the job he wanted, and saw our apartment for the first time. New York was also where we met our third co-founder, Amin.
Kai, where did that blind trust in this new chapter come from? Were you always an adventurous person?
No, not really. I’ve always been rather calculated. But I had just graduated from college and tried to figure out the next step in my journey. Sometimes, it just clicks with people when you meet them, and so it did with Sam and Amin. I grew up in Northern California and went to Berkeley. Moving across the country to do something different meant I had the opportunity to push myself and my boundaries, allowing me to leave my comfort zone. When Sam mentioned that he was in investment banking, I thought that would be something I could also push myself to do as well. I studied economics in college, so it wasn’t directly applicable, but it sounded like a fun opportunity for me to take. Life has changed drastically since then, and I have never looked back.
None of the industry standards mattered to us, so we allowed ourselves to think abstractly.
So, both of you lived together in New York and started this new chapter. Amin, when did you come into the picture?
Amin: The way we met was somewhat serendipitous. I grew up less than 30 minutes away from Kai; that’s how close our paths are. What we discovered down the road was that Sam and I were actually at the same parties in college without even realizing who the other person was. So it was just a matter of time and fate for us to all meet. But the first time we officially met was at what we refer to very fondly as the worst party ever, and we have stayed in touch ever since. At first, we only hung out on weekends, and throughout the week, we would share common frustrations about how creatively limiting and, at times, frustrating the restraints of our jobs were. But we found a lot of joy and excitement when we spent time together while discussing our aspirations and dreams for the future.
Who was the first person to come up with the idea of BOMANI?
Sam: I’m proud to say that BOMANI started before the wave of Espresso Martinis came around. I’m grateful that we were able to see that trend happening before anyone else. So, this was us coming home on a Friday after work wanting a little pick me up before we went out. We were already discussing different business ideas back then and trying to find the perfect one, but then we realized that there was one right in front of us. The idea was to create a canned espresso martini that would serve as that ideal first drink before going out. We started making the first couple of drinks and used our friends as our guinea pigs by letting them try different flavors. I remember when we returned from the Belmont Stakes, sitting in the back of an Uber, and Kai asked me what I wanted to do after investment banking. I told him that I was seriously considering this alcohol coffee thing. He just looked at me and said, let’s do it. To me, that was the first moment that BOMANI became real. I immediately started working on a presentation so we could discuss the idea in more detail and allow us to decide whether to start this thing or not. We spent the whole upcoming Sunday, we actually call it our “presentation day”, and we dedicated the entire day to discussing the details of our vision based on a presentation I made to Kai and Amin. And we vowed to quit our jobs six months later and committed to building this brand. We gave us six months to make sure this thing was working.
What were the non-negotiable factors for developing the product and building your brand?
Sam: We always had a big focus on the nutrition label. We wanted to make a skinny espresso martini, so it had to have zero sugar, zero carbs, and no artificial sweeteners. Amin is an absolute coffee nut, so we had someone on the team who knew how to pick the right coffee flavor so that people liked it without it being overwhelming. We also wanted people to enjoy it as a cocktail or as the first drink before they go out. All these parameters were a tall order to give ourselves because little did we know that the formulation would not even be as complex as building a supply chain.
How realistic was it to build that in six months, and how did you finance the concept?
Sam: My mom was our first investor. I had already pitched her 1000 business ideas before this one, and her belief in this one meant a lot to me and us. I remember the day we told her about our plans with BOMANI, and she said, oh my god, this is the one, do this! And believe me, a Persian mom is telling you how it is; they don’t hold back. It was the most validating thing ever. From there, we raised more money through other contacts in New York and Los Angeles. We also wanted our headquarters to be in LA, so we reached out to some people we knew in Los Angeles who would be high-net-worth individuals that could bring more than just dollars to the business.
We used the first six months to develop our vision and formulate the product. We thought it would take another four to six months to launch, but it actually took us a whole year to get it into the market. We have a million stories we could tell about going to these production facilities looking for partners. And I’m not even saying this in an exaggerated way. We were literally laughed out of some of the buildings. Some of these guys would say, “You want to make what? - Yeah, that’s not possible!” We were asked, “Do you know anything about this business? Did you even do some research?” We would always tell them we don’t care what’s possible today; we want to make this in the future. So let’s make this! It was an insanely challenging, lengthy, and expensive endeavor to get this product made and into the market.
How far did you map out the road when you had your first meeting? Are you already thinking about distribution or just about development and recipe?
Amin: The initial conversation was about the fundamentals of the business and the product, such as what alcohol we will use, what the package will look like, what will the brand name be, what will resonate with people, or what we want in general. Because what we want is effectively what our consumers want. We also talked about the problem we want to solve for our customers: going out and enjoying themselves without putting a ton of synthetic ingredients and lab-made products in their bodies. Over time, we would also discuss topics like distribution and scaling.
I love thinking about the initial stages of BOMANI as us being so untethered to the standards and expectations of the industry. We were thinking wildly outside of the box. People who have worked in the industry for a while would tell us that two plus two equals four, but at the time, for us, it was more like two plus two equals fish. None of the industry standards mattered to us, so we allowed ourselves to think abstractly. That’s also how we got the product made within a year and a half of coming up with the idea. If you were to ask anyone to do that now, they would tell you flat out, it’s impossible. You can’t do that.
What made you confident that this would be successful when you already had so many naysayers around you? You obviously had some pressure to deliver because people had already invested money in the business.
Sam: It has never been a question. When I looked at these two guys here with me, we were like starved, hungry dogs that had been backed into a corner with no option besides eating their way out. We never questioned the product or the brand’s success because we knew what we had. It’s an amazing liquid and an incredible brand that serves a purpose and offers value to people. I would do this for free and work harder than anybody else, and I guarantee the other two would do the same thing. And that’s the defining factor and key to BOMANI’s success.
How long did the first investment round last, and what did you use the money for?
Sam: It was designed to invest in the infrastructure needed to get the company up and running. So, within a couple of months, we needed to raise the actual seed round. Thankfully, we reached our funding goal in about six months. I could talk all day about what I recommend when approaching investors, but it always goes back to the same concept of trust. Investors are an extension of your team. If you find genuinely good people who understand the brand’s vision, they’re also going to be the ones who will most likely introduce you to the next wave of people. High net-worth individuals and institutional venture capital companies all know each other, so working with a couple of key people really helps to create momentum for the build-up. People investing in BOMANI are investing in a category, a brand, and a product. But more than that, they’re investing in a team.
One of the things many founders fall for is that you can’t control everything, and you have to accept that early on. It sounds funny, but there is that little voice inside you that tells you everything will be perfect. We thought we didn’t need to raise any more money because we had this illusion that we would go viral once we launched, and everybody would just know about us. We also never anticipated that trucks would miss a delivery. But we learned, trusted, and followed the advice from some of our early advisors, who said to raise more than we think we need. And that was excellent advice because the infrastructure of the supply chain was an expensive project in itself.
Investors usually want a stake in the business in return for the money they invest in the company. How do you handle the pressure of giving away equity in your company? Was that an easy decision for you to make?
Sam: We love our investors. And that’s very much by design. We were very intentional when we brought them on board. Some of our investors have helped us with business development by making introductions, giving us advice, or establishing relationships with retailers, district distributors, music festivals, or whatever else. Having the right people with skin in the game can really benefit the brand. But we also had more than a handful of investors who came to us and wanted to be a part of BOMANI. And then, at the last minute, when we had the contract in front of us, we backed out because something didn’t make sense. This is where our background in banking and finance comes in handy. It allowed us to approach those conversations with a lot more context. Many of our founder friends signed the wrong contracts with the wrong investors because they didn’t understand what they were signing. There are still many bad actors out there, people who want either way too much or weird controls and all these bells and whistles that only benefit them rather than what they should be driven towards. To find the right investor, it’s good to know what an investor does to see if they will be a good fit. It’s kind of the art of picking a partner or picking a spouse. You have to really get to know the person and understand that this could be a person that you want to work with. A perfect match is made of both parties wanting to gear towards a fundamentally successful company. That’s how everybody wins.
Let’s switch to marketing. I first heard about BOMANI because your drink was included in a gift bag I got at an event. What is your go-to marketing strategy? What are you focusing on?
Amin: I would say we have a pretty healthy marketing mix. We learned that the key is getting comfortable doing things that don’t necessarily scale. Many founders, particularly in food and beverage, don’t want to get their hands dirty. They don’t want to go into stores because they don’t want to build displays, pour samples, or offer tastings. Many brands want a quick fix, which often means just putting money into Facebook ads, thinking that things will blow up for them. But in our experience, you will only build a strong brand by going super deep into a very tight market. That’s why we use a lot of organic social media and a good amount of PR. But our bread and butter are events and in-store executions.
Kai: Sampling in-store is also a big focus for us. When we first launched in retail during COVID, they only allowed a dry educational demo without sampling. So, we had to come up with a pitch that was very compelling and educational while still delivering BOMANI’s value proposition. We needed to introduce our product to consumers without allowing them to try them. So, we focused on the compelling story of the brand. Once the regulation started to pull back and consumers were allowed to taste it, we saw incredible success in selling in the stores. It’s always the three of us conducting at least one type of sampling, whether at an off-premise retailer, your grocery store, or an on-premise partner. The goal is to get that liquid and that education out there to the consumer. Then, we make sure that we layer that on with the installation execution and ensure that we have shelf displays. It’s a sea of different products at different interruption points throughout the store to get the consumer’s attention.
Everything sounds very well thought through. Who taught you about all these possibilities? Is this something you come up with yourself, or do you have a strategic partner who supports you in merchandise placement?
Kai: It’s been a lot of trial and tribulation. We’re in a much different place now than when we started. But there’s been a lot of missteps along the way and a lot of learned lessons. In the beginning, everyone has recommendations, and many so-called experts will tell you how to grow the brand. There are also a lot of shiny objects for early founders. We’ve had mentors and some amazing advisors on our team who helped a lot regarding the big picture of BOMANI, but the testing, recasting, creating new strategies, and building and tearing down playbooks are decisions that we, the founders, need to make.
Amin: You can sit in a boardroom like a bureaucrat all day and theorize and debate, but it won’t change anything unless you get in front of the customer and try something. That’s the only way to get a genuine response. In fact, the new packaging we’re putting out there resulted from meeting a customer at a bar, again, doing something that doesn’t necessarily scale. But we were able to learn something so crucial for our brand. Our old packaging said cold brew coffee cocktail, and we overheard this woman calling it a skinny Espresso Martini. So rather than just sitting in a boardroom and contemplating forever if it’s worth the risk of renaming it, we printed both, put both on shelves and ran a test over six weeks to say which one would do better. We had clear-cut data; the skinny Espresso Martini outperformed our wildest expectations, so we changed it.
Have you tried marketing strategies that have failed?
Sam: We’ve done plenty of things that have that have failed. Failure is a good teacher. That’s how you learn what works. There is, for example, the overpaying of big marketing agencies. If you need content, it’s better to go directly to a highly talented content creator and pay that person directly so that person can make more money, and you spend less money than paying an agency. Unfortunately, it’s so common for businesses to hire agencies for everything. If you’re hiring an agency with 1000 employees (and they brag about having 1000 employees), you need to realize that that is what you’re paying for. You’re paying for the account manager, their assistant, and some other middle manager. And you’re paying for pizza parties in the break room. All of that stuff is coming out of your pocket! You’re paying more money and still only getting a cookie-cutter approach. That, to me, is the number one thing that sticks out. Don’t get me wrong: I love the people we work with on the marketing side, but that’s because we are willing to invest in high-quality people rather than do what everyone else does.
Amin: It’s really easy to be misled or misguided by people who have had their own experience. Finding someone with really great advice is a rare thing. Every time we’ve done something that went wrong and looked back on it wondering why we did that, we realize that we should have listened to our instinct instead of someone else’s advice. For instance, our instinct told us from the start, let’s go small but deep. We don’t need to be everywhere all at once. Then we would get advice from someone who said, “No, I’ve done this before! You need to go to all 50 states, be in all these channels, and do all these things right away. It makes you question your instincts because they bring in the experience. But we were willing to be wrong and revisit those kinds of mistakes if they would turn out to be mistakes. Now we know there’s almost a pattern in terms of what to look out for when one of those sharks or bad actors comes in and says, Hey, you need to do all these things. Almost everyone is saying the same thing, just in different ways. You learn to pick up on those little clues, and it’s much easier to detect those clues now because it’s the three of us. I couldn’t imagine starting something like BOMANI on my own.
What is the big picture for BOMANI? What are the plans for the future?
Kai: We are very grateful for our growth and have seen a lot of success so far with our different retail partners. We’re already in Whole Foods, and we even hold a global core mandate item with them, which means when we want to expand outside of Southern California, we have that opportunity to do so. They considered us the lead in that category because we are one of the only options in the espresso martini category. That also amplifies what they want from the better-for-you ingredients category, the nutritional panel, and a great-tasting product. So, as of right now, we are focused on growing our brand with them. We’re also in Ralphs in Southern California and hold some of the most substantial velocities, meaning insane same-store sales and growth in the category. In terms of expanding the big picture, we are launching our vanilla espresso martini later this year. So stay tuned for that.
@drinkbomani