070: What's the best Energy Drink, Protein Powder, & Vitamins? Find out with Neil Thanedar of Labdoor.

Background on Neil Thanedar of Labdoor:

Neil Thanedar is the CEO of LabDoor. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Graduated from the University of Michigan in 2010. Worked as Executive Director of The Detroit Partnership. Co-founded Avomeen Analytical Services, an FDA-registered product safety laboratory. Named by CNNMoney as one its top ‘Generation Next’ Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2011. Won the Startup America Super Bowl Pitch Contest in 2012. Currently CEO & Founder at LabDoor, a digital health startup that uses science to tell you what’s really in consumer products.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:55] Neil is the Founder and CEO of Labdoor, a company that tests supplements.
[1:10] Neil’s first company was a testing lab where they test products once they fail.
[3:10] He grew up watching his Dad, who’s a PhD Chemist, worked on his lab.
[4:10] “I always wanted to start my own business and I always knew it’s going to be on Science”
[4:34] In 2008, because of the recession, his Dad lost all his testing labs.
[7:46] “I think that experience has really detached money as the main motivator in my life”
[9:52] Neil and his Dad partnered to put up a new lab.
[12:00] In their first month, they earned $30,000.
[14:15] They charged a minimum of $5000 for a week project.
[17:15] Neil left the company to try out something new so he started Labdoor.
[18:55] “You want to work with people who you completely understand. If you want to start a company with someone, the best possible person is someone who you like 100% trust and understand”
[21:24] The first outside funding they received is from Rock Health, an incubator from San Francisco.
[27:54] Initially, they built a free version of their website with a hundred products they’ve tested and people can check if the product was good.
[28:22] Their traffic grew to 20,000 people per month.
[30:29] “Once we built our website and started talking to costumers, we found that customers are very attached to their brand”
[33:41] Neil wanted Labdoor to be as accessible as possible.
[36:41] From 20,000 people, today they get more than 400,000 people on the site.
[39:45] Labdoor launched affiliate links and put on their website and on day 1 they have 7% conversion.
[43:05] “It’s really hard to build a great information business on the internet. It’s really easy for people to like get your stuff for free….But if you go in upfront knowing what you want, I think it makes you a lot smarter and it makes you a lot foresighted”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Personal History by Katherine Graham, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant, Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Kindle Paperwhite
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Evernote (+ Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain class to optimize Evernote usage)
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? We need more users! Sign up for free at Labdoor.com.

Key Point from the Interview:

“You want to work with people who you completely understand. If you want to start a company with someone, the best possible person is someone who you like 100% trust and understand”

Resources Mentioned:

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