Otherworld Founders’ Early Learnings

by Jenna Movsowitz

Jen Ballen and Joe Magliano, college friends turned co-founders, always knew that they wanted to create a brand that would change the world. With Joe’s years of experience working in management consulting and in restaurants, and Jen’s background on Wall Street and in sustainability, they knew they had the perfect combination of skillsets to start a planet-forward food brand. Inspired by nostalgia, a love for breakfast, and Joe’s picky-eater niece, they landed on the idea of Otherworld: a just-add-water, plant-based pancake and waffle mix that sneaks in superfoods, fruits, vegetables and upcycled ingredients.

As many founders know, the initial stages of any startup are critical to the brand’s success. The story thus far of Otherworld, culminating this week with the brand’s launch, is one that has come with several key learnings:

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION

When the Otherworld team landed on a vegan bakery item, they had assumed that they were dealing with “an 80% science problem and a 20% food problem.” Attempting to make light and fluffy pancakes without butter, sugar, milk or eggs seemed like a problem for a food scientist -- so they hired one. Yet after several sub-par batches, they began to question if this product was even feasible. What they eventually realized, however, was that they were pinpointing the wrong problem; the product they envisioned was actually an 80% food problem and 20% science problem. Months of “getting it wrong” ultimately helped guide their path forward. When they found their award-winning R&D chef, they shared the data they had collected from their months with their past partner. The new chef was able to use these learnings to get to an MVP (minimum viable product) quickly and efficiently.

While choosing the wrong partner felt like a failure at the time, this soon became the theme rather than the exception. “We talked to 80 co-packers and 30 packaging suppliers before landing on our final choices. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to better understand the problem at-hand, and document everything along the way. Every conversation we’ve had has led us somewhere better,” says Jen. This mindset is central to their core belief that founders should never be tied to initial ideas around how something should be done. “We always ask: ‘why is this wrong,’ not ‘why is this right.’ We want to root out confirmation bias and to constantly be proved wrong. This means that we're collaborating and coming up with new ideas.” Ultimately, saying “no” to several initial partners not only led to the team’s dream product, but also their dream team. The Otherworld team now includes a former Chopped champion, a renowned registered dietician, and the former chef of the best restaurant in the world.

For Jen and Joe, decisions around product development and execution should always remain flexible. But core facets to your brand’s identity — like your ethical framework — must guide your non-negotiables.

YOUR ETHICAL FRAMEWORK MAKES DECISIONS FOR YOU

“We constantly are asking ourselves: what would the world miss if Otherworld were to cease to exist?” says Jen. The team’s passions for human and planetary health are the building blocks of their ethical framework, and guide how Jen and Joe make every decision. For something like packaging, shipping, or ingredients, “we go back to our values and just say, ‘what do we do through the context of an impact-oriented company,’ and the decisions become really, really clear,” says Joe.

Sometimes, these decisions can be costly. When deciding to offer carbon neutral shipping, include upcycled ingredients, and use only 100% recyclable cans made from recycled material, the Otherworld team put their core value of sustainability above cost. “Sometimes, you take a hit on margin because it's the right thing to do,” says Joe, “but in the end your LTV (long-term value) will be greater.”

While ethically-driven decisions may be costly or seem unnecessary early on, Jen and Joe believe that they are critical to a brand’s early success; before you have a product, your story is your greatest asset.

PERSONALIZED OUTREACH AND STORYTELLING CAN CHANGE THE FUNDRAISING GAME

“A great tasting product is important, but that testimonial has to come from future customers, not from us,” says Joe. So, they saved their marketing dollars and made a casual, fun and humorous video for the Kickstarter campaign that told their personal story and shared the brand’s values. They relied on that same personal touch to drive traffic to the Kickstarter campaign: “Personalized outreach served us really well,” Jen reflects. “We spent time crafting individual, customized emails to friends and family.” Rather than trying to sell individuals on the product, they thought about what each recipient would care about. If emailing an old coworker, for instance, they may say “I took x learnings from my past role at our company, and am now applying it to my own company.”

Further, the ask wasn’t to buy product or to contribute to the Kickstarter, just to share the link. This palatable request was simple for an individual, but contributed to virality. “One person would email ten people, those ten people would email ten more.” Jen and Joe set out to raise $10,000 in their Kickstarter campaign — and they ended up raising 300% of that goal.

BEING READY TO LAUNCH ISN’T JUST ABOUT CAPITAL; IT’S ABOUT MARKET RESEARCH

While a successful Kickstarter campaign helped to accelerate Otherworld’s progression, the co-founders only truly felt “ready” to launch once they had conducted extensive market research. With an MVP in hand, they went to friends and family of all ages with a plea for candid feedback. “More than understanding whether or not someone ‘liked’ the product, we wanted to know if there were any pain points that we were missing. Our product has to be made by a customer in their home, so we needed to understand how they’re making it, how they’re serving it, how they see it integrating into their daily lives,” says Jen. The response to “when are you ready to launch,” they learned, is hidden in this qualitative data; it’s when the product is clearly solving a problem in the consumer’s life.

With an upcoming launch, the co-founders will continue to seek out and be receptive to feedback: “Getting feedback from your early adopters is so important, and helps you scale more quickly in the long run,” says Jen.

Today, Otherworld launches on eatotherworld.com. What once was just an idea is now a product. Despite still being early on in their journey, Jen and Joe feel that their journey thus far has already achieved their loftiest of goals: not to simply create a plantbased, nutrient-packed pancake and waffle mix, but to create a company that will make a net positive impact on the world. As Jen says, “We already know that the world will be better off because Otherworld is here.”