Our Story
For more than 10 years, my family’s business was in the natural and organic skincare space. Formulation and manufacturing to be exact. I spent a decent amount of time around the business working on lead gen and content marketing projects. I learned a ton about the the industry, and for the first time started appreciating all the stuff we put on and in our bodies as consumers.
One day at the plant, I pulled out some BioFreeze and hit my shoulder with it. I was doing CrossFit 5 days a week at the time and was in the best shape of my life until I tweaked my shoulder doing kettle bell swings. It was no big deal but it hurt like hell, and the BioFreeze helped a lot. I was in the conference room with the VP and master formulator when I pulled it out.
She said, and I quote: “do you know what’s in that shit? I could do way better for you”
I was caught off guard on a couple levels.
“Propylene Glycol, Blue #1, Yellow #5, and rubbing alcohol. It’s full of shit. We could make better.”
“We’d use menthol crystals and witch hazel for cooling. Black pepper and cinnamon for heat. Lemongrass, probably some Rosemary for inflammation. It’d be just as good.”
What came next was a bizarre combination of world class product formulation expertise, backyard science, and my basement. On the 4th formula I started I handing out samples to friends, and they kept coming back for more. When I shipped some to Oren, he called me immediately. We needed to bring this stuff to market.
We kept iterating. We added hemp extract and ivy gourd. Then aloe and henna. Then matcha. The matcha gave the product an opaque light green color. One look at it and we knew it was called “Goo”.
We branded, packaged, trademarked, and soft launched. We sold some units, we got distracted. The day jobs took over. We did some M&A, took a company public, and forgot about Goo.
Not entirely. I still had a 5 gallon bucket. Occasionally a request would come in from a friend. I’d fill a jar, and hand it off, and tell em that was the last of it. In November of 2023, 6 years into this story, I got 3 of those texts.
“I need some have any more of that stuff?”
It wouldn’t go away. It felt like a sign.
I texted Oren. It’s goo time. Here we are.
- Colin