Powdered drink company TRUWILD has grown in a highly competitive market over the last eight years, but its newest challenge is not where to find customers but how to keep up with demand.
Since San Diego, Calif.-based TRUWILD launched in 2017, distribution of its sports nutrition powders has grown to Amazon, eBay and Walmart’s online portal, as well as 110 independent specialty retail stores, including Bristol Farms and Healthy Edge Group retailers.
Co-founder and CEO Zac Curhan said he left his day job working in the bottled water industry and made TRUWILD a full-time endeavor about four years after launching the business with his partner, Nate Cox, who oversees ingredient sourcing and formulation.
The global powder dietary supplements market is experiencing strong growth, reaching $27.93 billion in 2024, according to Grand View Research, which projects a 9.4% CAGR through the end of the decade, when the market will hit an estimated $51.7 billion.
Much of that growth has been powered by direct-to-consumer sales. “Online channels provide easy access to a wider range of products and allow consumers to research and compare options before making a purchase,” the data analytics firm reported.
All-natural out front
Marketed as “the only natural supplement brand created specifically for outdoor athletes,” TRUWILD offers a selection of powders, capsules and pills made of natural ingredients to offer hydration, energy, electrolytes, amino acids and more.
“Each product is individually formulated with specific goals in mind like energy enhancement, optimal hydration, reduced stress, anti-inflammatory health, quick recovery and repair, detoxification and daily nutrition,” the company notes on its website.
Motion, the company’s flagship drink mix, is a pre-workout electrolyte powder sold as “outdoor active fuel.” It includes 165 milligrams of natural caffeine, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), coconut water, yerba mate, bioperine, USDA organic-certified Ayurvedic mushrooms and Beneo’s Palatinose, a low-glycemic carbohydrate derived from sugar beets.
Branched-chain amino acids, known for aiding in muscle growth, recovery and reducing muscle soreness, also are growing in popularity, due in part to advancements in formulation technologies, according to data analytics firm Future Market Insights. Those new formulation methods have improved solubility, taste and absorption rates, making BCAA more widely appealing.
The $1.7 billion BCAA global market is projected to nearly double to $3 billion over the next decade, Future Market Insights reported.
The product lineup also includes Hydrate, another workout powder with electrolytes and amino acids; Wild Greens, featuring organic mixed greens, algae, organic raw fiber and adaptogens; and Kombucha, a probiotic/prebiotic powder with enzymes for gut health.
TRUWILD emphasizes detailed ingredient disclosure on its website and packaging – one of the company’s core marketing strategies.
“Transparency is a big thing – showing, behind the label, what’s inside of our products,” he said. “We show all of our third-party testing. We show where we get all the ingredients. We manufacture everything locally in the US, so we don’t outsource production.
“We would not make a product that we wouldn’t enjoy ourselves. That’s why we went the natural route.”
Unlike some of its bigger competitors in the market, the company wants its customers to know that TRUWILD uses no artificial ingredients.
“A lot of these companies are going the chemical route, because they’re mass producing. Artificial is cheaper, unfortunately,” he said.
Growing pains
The company’s success has come with some growing pains, though, and following a period of rapid growth from 2019 to 2021, sales have begun to plateau, Curhan said.
TRUWILD’s success in online sales, particularly, has been a pain point in scaling the business.
“We’ve been going out of stock, which has kind of messed up our algorithm on Amazon, and we just had a little bit of growing pains,” he said. “We are bootstrapped, too, so we don’t have a lot of capital to spend as much as I want to on marketing, so we keep things very tight in regards to profitability and opportunities.”
He said building the business without outside investors, though, has given him more flexibility to steer the company in his own direction.
“I would love to raise capital,” he said. “It’s just a whole other strategy. If I raise capital, it’s more of a growth strategy versus a long-term lifestyle opportunity.”
TRUWILD’s future
As Curhan and company work out the supply chain kinks and continue to scale, they’re looking to the future with plans for new products in 2026 and a rebrand.
The rebrand aims to create a more seamless design aesthetic between its logo, packaging and website, Curhan explained.
TRUWILD also aims to expand its product line with a liposomal, a gummy and a gel.
“We are looking at other ways to provide a healthy and clean product to everyday consumers,” he said.
