257: Using Science & Tech to Create a Sweet Solution (Ali Wing of Oobli)

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Background on Ali Wing of Oobli:

Ali Wing is the CEO of Oobli, a food-tech company that is aiming to introduce sweet proteins to everyone. Their mission is to make an impact on the world by introducing sweet proteins as a much healthier alternative. The sweet protein was derived from an Oubli plant found in West Africa and Southeast Asia, which inspired the name Oobli. There is a local story about this plant that produces fruits and berries that are so sweet that it will make you forget your mother’s milk. As their CEO, Ali has a team of biologists, engineers, food-lovers, health advocates and environmentalists who believe sweetness should not only taste good, but do good, too.

Ali is a consumer centric, digitally savvy growth CEO & Board member with a track record of brand building, entrepreneurship & data-driven growth critical to building enterprise scale. She specializes in the intersection of consumer brands, technology, and healthy living. Drawn to disruption, Ali has split her career between building venture & PE-backed growth companies, and transforming within larger, public companies. She is passionate about working to solve big consumer problems, particularly around health.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • [1:27] Ali proceeds to give a more detailed explanation about sweet proteins.
  • [4:09] After seven years of research and development, Oobli has introduced their product.
  • [5:37] Having been a founder and worked with founders in the past, Ali joined Oobli as the CEO of the company.
  • [6:49] In terms of the size of the company, they have 50 employees, and they still have a small revenue since they just launched their first product several weeks ago.
  • [8:55] In order to promote their first product, Oobli is doing a blind taste test to different people in the country and overseas.
  • [10:13] Four out of five people in their taste test love their sweet protein product.
  • [12:10] This is one of the reasons why Ali is so excited about what they are doing in Oobli.
  • [17:48] According to Ali, products labeled with zero sugar most certainly contain some sort of sugar alternative, which can still affect a person’s blood sugar level.
  • [19:51] A 16-ounce bottle of soda typically contains 68 to 73 grams of sugar, which is about 17 cubes of sugar being ingested into our body. Oobli can replace those sugar with 0.04 grams of sweet protein.
  • [20:57] Medical research has shown that these sugar alternatives today are still increasing or decreasing blood sugar levels, which is not a good sign.
  • [22:42] A couple of interesting and alarming stats about the health issues in the US and other countries.
  • [24:42] Ali encourages everyone to test their sweet protein product. She also provides more info on where people can find their product.
  • [26:15] Once Ali saw the huge potential of Oobli and their product, she immediately joined the company.
  • [29:18] More explanation on the history of sweet proteins and how Oobli was able to produce it using precision fermentation.
  • [32:17] Ali mentions why their company name is called Oobli.
  • [34:26] The science behind producing Oobli’s sweet protein.
  • [38:17] The Oubli plant evolved alongside human evolution to survive and spread their species.
  • [39:54] The fusion of nature and technology coming together to solve a problem is incredibly interesting to Ali.
  • [42:46] Ali discusses how they brew and produce their sweet protein.
  • [47:37] The sweet protein from the Oubli fruit is at a lower intensity level. There are still other sweet proteins that are much sweeter than sucralose, which makes it more exciting for Ali.
  • [51:34] Once their scientists have succeeded in coming up with a scale up model of their sweet protein, they go to places with the right equipment and proceed to the next phase.
  • [53:12] The Oobli end consumer products are produced here in the US, but they are also actively looking for partners and products that are interested in their sweet proteins all over the world.
  • [56:16] Precision fermentation is a different kind of brewing process, which is more related to processes in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • [57:16] The people behind their precision fermentation are mostly composed of PhD's, engineers, and specialists.
  • [58:07] Being a small-town kid in Montana, Ali got her entrepreneurial spirit at an early age from her father. She was also raised to be more interested in the world and make a huge impact.
  • [59:34] Working part time at Nike, this was when she realized that she was interested in business.
  • [1:01:39] When Ali went to Silicon Valley, this launched the next chapter of her career.
  • [1:02:20] There is a reason why she is always a good pair with a technologist.
  • [1:04:41] Before Oobli, Ali was a Founder of a consumer-brand company called Giggle, which focuses on healthy living for parents. During this time, she experienced many wins and losses that gave her important lessons in business.
  • [1:11:54] The importance of timing in business and several other key lessons and advice from Ali.
  • [1:14:09] There are decisions and actions that Ali would have done differently during her time in Giggle.
  • [1:16:40] Ali shares something in this podcast that she has never shared before in her other interviews.
  • [1:19:02] According to Ali, being an entrepreneur, CEO, or Founder entails a job of not always being agreeable or saying yes all the time, but It’s to be upfront, provide complexities, and suggest pathways.
  • [1:20:13] Best words of wisdom and advice from Ali.

Ali Wing Interview is Sponsored By:

  • [15:10] Jon Ostenson, Founder of FranBridge Consulting and Top 1% US Franchise Consultant is here to help you explore the world of non-food franchising opportunities today. Jon and his team are part of the largest brokerage in the US and have vetted the market thoroughly. FranBridge is hands down the premier source of the best opportunities in the non-food franchising world. You can hear more of Jon’s story and how he started FranBridge Consulting on Episode 250 of our podcast. Sign up for a free consultation call with Jon today at millionaire-interviews.com/franbridgeconsulting and receive a FREE copy of his new book Non-Food Franchising.
  • [43:25] Light Years Ahead is a woman-owned national PR firm focusing on emerging brands, exports, and services in the consumer lifestyle space. Based around the US, they specialize in maximizing media exposure for brands and exports, which can then create more sales, brand awareness, and influence buying decisions. The first five listeners of this show that schedule a call with Light Years Ahead to develop a PR campaign will receive $500 off their first month of services. You can email Megan at [email protected], go to their Instagram @LYAPR or check them out at: millionaire-interviews.com/lightyearsahead
  • [1:08:11] Pearl Diver is a cutting edge platform that provides in-depth visitor identification, enabling you to uncover valuable insight about your website visitors. By uncovering names, emails, company details, and more, Pearl Diver empowers you to turn anonymous traffic into high quality leads. To learn more, visit: millionaire-interviews.com/pearldiver

The Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖📚 Favorite Books? Zag by Marty Neumeier, Loonshots by Safi Bahcall
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Oobli Sweet Iced Tea
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Benchling, a shared data platform for science & technology, has been huge for data agility with a fast-pace
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Biotech can be complicated but to win with customers and everyday food choices, we have to keep it simple! To that end, especially with a strong bias to digital platform education, we need to come up with more creative ways to make sampling of our foods available (and that ideally have a strong offline/online connection). This is something I'm looking for better ideas as we roll out products.

Key Point from Our Episode with Ali Wing:

  • “I can improve healthy living. I can deliver awesome craveable great consumer execution with great tasting products. And I can impact the climate all in one proposition. And for me that’s the best kind of thing because I’m not just building growth, but I’m building growth with impact.”

Resources Mentioned:

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