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00:00Live from Radio Row, Sports Grid's coverage of Super Bowl 59. Joe Lisi
00:05joined by Circle co-founders Garrett Wagner and Andy Gay. Guys, an electric
00:10atmosphere in New Orleans. I mean, what are your thoughts about Super Bowl 59?
00:14This is of course our first time here in this aspect, but I think it's
00:19as big as you could have imagined even more. I think the lights, the town, the
00:23energy, it's palpable. So it's a lot of fun.
00:27Yep, it'll be a fun matchup for sure. So yeah, good for advertising. Yeah, first time in
00:32New Orleans or no? First time for me, yeah. Second time, I came when I was a
00:36teenager, but yeah, first real time. Awesome, so great game on Sunday, right?
00:40Kansas City looking for the three-peat, Philadelphia, they've won 15 of the last
00:4516 games. I know that both of you were teammates at Dartmouth. Any thoughts on
00:49the game? Went in the trenches. That's where it started. I think I've
00:54played enough football to understand that, you know, that those are the guys
00:57that don't get as much glitz and glamour, but at the end of the day, that's
00:59where the game starts. So whoever's D-line shows up, I think
01:02is really gonna make an impact. Yeah, it'll be interesting. It's almost a
01:04rematch from a few years ago, so it will be interesting to see who can
01:08control the ball, too. And Philly has a better run game this time, so we'll see
01:12how that adds up with Saquon. Yeah, Saquon Barkley absolutely dominating
01:16in not just the regular season, but in the playoffs. Talk to me about Circle,
01:21because this is a very unique product. You both went to Dartmouth, you both
01:25played, and I know you got at least the thoughts to develop a unique product in
01:29regards to the water bottle. Yeah, so the original idea was way back in 2011. Andy
01:36and I were both on the team, and we were in the locker room, and basically it's
01:39the disposable bottle of water and like the scoop of sports drink powder, and you
01:43kind of try to scoop it and pour it in, and it's a pain in the butt. You make a
01:45mess, and Andy and I were talking at the time, and I looked at him, I was like,
01:49what if you just had something you pop in a bottle and you could just drink it?
01:51Right. There's no powders, there's no liquids. He's like, yeah, what if you
01:54could adjust how much electrolytes or flavor or energy or whatever you're
01:58consuming? And to us for a long time, it was just an idea. And we just kept
02:02talking to people, like, yeah, that'd be cool if somebody made that. And over
02:05time, we had the good fortune, I guess, of becoming that somebody. Because
02:09really, what Circle's all about, it's about drinking more water as your
02:11favorite beverage. And I think for where we're at, we always thought people would
02:16like it. We're like, yeah, you talk to enough people, not everybody's going to
02:18lie to you and say, that's a great idea. It's like, oh, yeah, that kind of makes
02:21sense. But I think just the magnitude and the rate at which people have adopted
02:25the product has been staggering.
02:27Yep. Let me ask you, playing sports, right? How did that help you? Because
02:31every startup isn't easy, right? Adversity hits. How did sports and
02:36playing football, in particular, develop you to get over the hump, per se, to be
02:42successful?
02:42I think football teaches you a few different lessons. I think grit's one of
02:46them. And it's, you know, if something goes wrong, you got to focus on the next
02:49play. It's kind of like, right, something went wrong. What do we do to fix it? And
02:52how do we move forward? And I think the third thing that's really important,
02:55that's a lesson from team sports, is really, it's all about the team. And
02:58Circle would not be where it is today without all the amazing people that have
03:03joined the team and been able to take us to new heights and become a better
03:07company day in and day out.
03:09Was there one piece of advice, I guess you can say, because there's a lot of
03:13athletes here, right, that want to develop their own product. A piece of
03:17advice maybe you can give them to develop or get over the hump or
03:21something that you learned during the journey from start to finish?
03:26Yeah, I think the big thing for me personally is I wake up every day and I
03:30cherish it and just work your butt off. Just put it in. Don't leave anything on
03:35the field. It's kind of, you know, you want to make sure you empty the tank.
03:38And, you know, that's why you play the game. If you come out winning, awesome.
03:41If you lose, hopefully you learn something. But at the end of the day,
03:44don't go into it halfway, right? You'll regret it forever if it's something
03:48that you really believe in.
03:49What, in terms of just being able, because I asked you to personalize it
03:54from team to team, what exactly can you do to make, because we know NIL is big
04:00in collegiate sports. So how can you personalize it to where, you know, it
04:05meets maybe a team need or is it color based or is it?
04:08Yeah, so we've got different materials. That's a Triton plastic bottle. This is
04:12a glass bottle. We've got metal tumblers. We've got squeeze bottles. Basically,
04:16when you think about circle, there's kind of like two aspects to it. It's the
04:19beverage where, which is the water bottle or tumbler or, you know, whatever
04:23the vessel is. And then you've got the cartridges, right? So you've got a
04:27vitamin enhanced strawberry Kiwi. I've got blackberry with caffeine and he's
04:31got blackberry with caffeine too. That's our favorite flavor. But being able to
04:35basically take, you know, a six pack of a bottle beverage and make it like this
04:40and allow, especially in a football environment, when we'd come off the field,
04:44you'd have water, half and half, like, you know, sports drink and water, and
04:47then all sports drink, right? Which one do you want? And with circle, all you do
04:51is like, Oh, I'm just going to turn the dial. Interesting. It enhances as you
04:54drink from the bottle itself. And it gives the customer the flexibility to go
04:57to full electrolytes of flavor to just water or where anywhere in between.
05:01And hydration is very important, not just in sports, but just everyday life,
05:05right? In hot weather environments, humid environments, you have the
05:09ability to lose electrolytes at a rapid pace. And from a health perspective,
05:14this is this is great for all levels, right?
05:16And that's really what we try and do is help people drink more water. And that's
05:20what we do by making it convenient, delicious and fun. And those are really
05:23table stakes for circle and 96% of people actually we found drink more
05:28water when they start consuming circle, which is really neat stat because not
05:31everyone, you know, drinks their eight glasses or whatever it is a day and it's
05:35something that makes it easy and fun for them.
05:3696%. That's a huge number. So like, in terms of the studies, like, how did you
05:43get involved with all that?
05:44Yeah, so that's a I think it's a sampling of about 4000 circle customers.
05:48The question was basically, before you circle, do you drink a little bit more a
05:53lot a little less, more or less kind of this spectrum? Yeah, 96% of folks. And I
05:59think the the thing that customers tell us is having this front of mind and
06:03having it be you know, a totem. It's like, Oh, I got to fill up my water
06:05bottle. Because if you get busy during the day, and you've got a disposal bottle
06:09that you toss, and you're like, I don't have a bottle, like when I go to the
06:11water fountain or drink out of the faucet, like having something that you
06:14can come back to. And I think the water bottle is just become such a part of
06:18like everyday life. And then you think about the sustainability aspect where
06:22it's each of these cartridges is the equivalent of six plastic bottles. It's
06:27about as much plastic as a single bottle. So we're reducing the amount of
06:30plastic waste in the environment when customers are enjoying it.
06:33Right. It's incredible. And you're increasing the electrolytes, especially
06:37when you just think about social media. And you think about the evolution,
06:41tick tock, and an accent and how, you know, kids, younger kids take water
06:46bottles to school every day. I mean, just this is incredible. So I mean, any
06:51plans the rest of the week for Super Bowl media row?
06:56Just talking to a lot of neat folks like yourself. And yeah, and yeah, having
07:01some fun making connections and helping spread the word a circle. And it'll be
07:05fun having Adam Devine, who will be starring in our commercial on
07:09Super Bowl on Sunday, out there and meeting people and doing the whole
07:14thing.
07:15But we can't talk about it, right? Because it's good. Do you know the time
07:18that it's going to hit? Do you know exactly when it's going to hit? First
07:22quarter, second quarter? First quarter. That's awesome. That's great. It's gonna
07:25be a lot of fun. I think it's kind of in the same vein of the product itself.
07:30It's kind of something you've never seen before, right? The spot and the
07:32concept. And I think ultimately, the execution is something no one's ever
07:35seen before. So that's incredible. Super Bowl. I mean, Super Bowl commercials
07:39are awesome, right? So I mean, in terms of traction, it's going to be huge for
07:44the company. So can't wait to see. I'll be covering it. But obviously, I'll
07:48keep an eye out.
07:49I appreciate it. Really excited.
07:52We're coming back with more from Radio Row.