Can wheat replace plastic? - Amee Ritchie & Jake Elliott-Hook of S'wheat

Impact Hustlers - Entrepreneurs with Social Impact

Amee Richie and Jake Elliot-Hook, the co-founders of S'wheat Bottle. S'wheat Bottle has developed a reusable plant-based water bottle made from sustainably sourced bamboo and wheat straw For every bottle sold. The company plants a tree and removes plastic from the ocean.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [0:34] Amee & Jake's personal background & journey
• [2:52] S'wheat Bottle’s crowdfunding campaign
• [3:54] How Amee & Jake promoted their crowdfunding campaign
• [4:57] S'wheat Bottle’s PR opportunity
• [5:54] How Amee & Jake spent the funding step by step
• [7:27] S'wheat Bottle’s production process and materials
• [8:23] S'wheat Bottle’s material transformation
• [9:03] How does S'wheat Bottle work?
• [9:48] Lessons learned in the entrepreneurship journey
• [14:20] Amee & Jake bottle product development experience
• [15:21] Product development phase and working with manufacturers
• [16:09] Lessons learned working with manufacturing partners
• [18:20] Benefits and differences of working as co-founders
• [20:27] Dating and co-founding relationship experience
• [22:35] How to differentiate your product to competitors
• [25:34] Challenges faced against larger companies
• [27:07 ] Amee & Jake's 10-year vision

KEY LESSONS & QUOTES

• “When we first started we were very, very stingy with our money, so my bit of advice would be not to cut too many corners” [10:44]
• “I think it's really important to have the same vision and the same goal for the company as a couple co-founding together and communication skills ” [21:16]
• “We really want to fight against deforestation, so we always plant trees where they're needed most in the world” [27:18]

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