M&A industry analyst to starting a company in the industry
Good afternoon fellow monkeys,
I have not been on this site for a very long time but I remember using it quite frequently when I was all about trying to find a job on the street. This is a bit of a rambling article about my recent endeavor but thought it would be a good share for you young monkeys.
I worked in M&A covering food and agriculture for over 2 years as an analyst. Recently I quit my job and launched my own food company, ProTings, and really just want to tell my story to those out there that might be interested. (I can't link web page because they think I'm spam)
I was a summer intern at the bank (large European, smaller U.S. presence) in their M&A division and I loved it. I received and accepted their full time offer and looked forward to returning. When I returned the guys that I really enjoyed working with were mostly gone and I wasn't really in the mindset to kill it in banking.
As I said, I covered food and agriculture and did exclusively M&A. We dealt with middle market companies, which often times were family held. After working with these companies for awhile I started thinking to myself, these guys are selling their companies for a hundred million dollars and their not even top of their class (bankers...)
After realizing that I hated my job/my life, I started thinking long and hard about what it was that I wanted in life (other than money and chicks). I know banking, but I hate it, and I know the food industry. So I decided to start a food company.
I am a big time fitness guy and love to work out. I always ate protein bars and had shakes at my desks constantly. The fact that protein snacks didn't really exist always bothered me. I began experimenting late at nights trying to come up with a protein chip. Often times I'd come home from work at 2 or 3 in morning and experimentally cook for an hour or two. It was extremely painful, but I knew I had to get out of banking.
After countless batches, and even more headaches I finally got the product I desired. I brought my best friend in with me, a CPA from Ernst & Young and we launched ProTings. Our chips have 15 grams of protein in each bag, are gluten free, vegan and all natural.
I'm extremely proud of this company and the fact that I didn't get tunnel visioned into the whole corporate lifestyle (not that there's anything wrong with it, just got tired of it).
Check us out on our website (can't post, just google ProTings), like us on facebook and all that other social media good stuff.
We're currently sold mostly in Brooklyn, but have begun expansion in Manhattan. The company is growing faster than I could have ever anticipated, but feel free to message me.
Visit my website at http://www.protings.com/
I'm pickin' up...some good vibrations.
Nice job dude.
Nice work - should you ever expand to where I live, I'd definitely give them a try. 4g fat/15g protein/12g carb per serving is pretty good.
I will definitely incorporate these into my Total Gym home fitness routine
Good story and great idea, but how do I get my hands on a bag if I don't live in NY? You planning to get into any national stores?
Congrats :)
Great idea. Let us know when you expand across the pond :)
Good luck!
sell it on Amazon! then they can ship to my house
Boss.
I'll be on the lookout. I laughed when you mentioned you sold predominantly in Brooklyn (got the hipster image, but I don't mind).
Great idea I will make sure to try. Do you sell it online as well?
These look AMAZING. Can't wait to try some.
this is sweet- keep it up. good for you to do something interesting
great product! It is about time someone came out with a product like this! I find myself looking for protein snacks as well.
that's an awesome idea, def gonna try them out
Very good concept. Thought about this sort of product the other day, but concluded somewhat that costs could be prohibitive. How many chips in a bag? --> I assume this would be just "snack size?"
nice dude, congrats on actually pulling the trigger. The website looks clean and well organized, product is interesting. I would definitely be willing to try it.
1) How much start up capital did it take to get the ball rolling?
2) Are you guys profitable yet? Any guess on when your income will be anything close to banker level?
2) Why can't we order from your website?
bump
yours looks more appetizing than this:
http://shop.kaysnaturals.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1825
awesome story dude
great looking product...will have to try soon
agreed with most posters, looks like a cool product and definitely fills a gap in the protein space. Best of luck growing the brand!
How do they taste...?
I'd definitely try them. Congrats man!
Not a fitness guy, but I'd still buy a pack for just the design and your choice of flavors to market first. Love the website, that's what selling should look like.
This is actually perfect execution into replacing protein bars. I hate getting a protein bar that's 200 cal and 16 grams of sugar for 15g protein so the fact that this is a clean protein source is awesome. I would keep a stash of these at work for afternoon, late night snacks.
Shark Tank for the media exposure. Don't accept any of the offers unless very favorable.
Hey guys appreciate all the support, sorry took so long to respond just been crazy busy. We're sold online at our website, on Amazon, and we're all over Brooklyn and starting to get a good exposure in Manhattan (Boom Fitness, Crunch in Midtown West, all the Fuels Grill's). We didn't need to raise any funding, I was very good at saving money from my bonuses and have always done exceptionally well in the stock market. We currently don't produce enough to get into national chains, but that should change soon with some potential investors we're in talks with now. Obviously we're not profitable yet, the company launched in June but we are getting fantastic traction and the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. We're in talks now with some MLB players to promote the product as well (can't give names) so we're crossing our fingers on that end. If any of you guys are in VC and are interested in having a conversation I'd be open to that.
Do you ship to Canada? the check out does not display S&H costs
Really sleek website and seems to be a promising business idea! Best of luck growing the brand, hope to see ProTings on the shelves soon!
Saw them in Boom Fitness today - congrats on getting the placement!
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