00:00I think when you look at a brand you want to inspire you, a good art you should feel
00:08our namesake is after Michelangelo's masterpiece, David.
00:13When you look at all the meaning that is in the sculpture of David and when it takes really
00:18the idea of like sculpting something perfect, there's sort of like two values that come
00:21from that, which is around intelligence and discipline.
00:24We find those values are the same values we have with when it came to designing the product.
00:29If you've ever been there in person, it's like this magnificent, it has this aura and
00:32it's awe-inspiring.
00:33And so when you see a brand, you want it to stand for something.
00:37And I think there's no better symbol of that than David and what it takes to sculpt something.
00:43Peter Rahal, the 38-year-old co-founder of nutrition bar brand RX Bar, thinks about protein
00:48constantly and not just for his own health.
00:51Rahal has been dreaming of creating a new bar since the day he and his co-founder Jared
00:55Smith sold RX Bar to Kellogg's for $600 million in 2017.
00:59Rahal made that dream a reality in September when he launched David, or as he calls it,
01:04the final protein bar.
01:06David claims to be the most protein-dense bar in existence and is backed by high-profile
01:10physicians Peter Atiyah, who is also a minority investor, and Andrew Huberman.
01:16So David is made of 28 grams of protein, 150 calories and zero grams of sugar, 75% of its
01:22calories coming from protein, which is the market leader.
01:26The benefit is getting the most protein with as little other things as possible.
01:32So it benefits a wide range of people, people looking for a meal replacement, people looking
01:36for a snack on the go.
01:39If you want a really efficient snack that is really value-dense, the most protein possible,
01:44you can't get a better product.
01:51Rahal took the opportunity to create a new product in October 2022, once his five-year
01:56non-compete agreement with Kellogg's expired.
01:59He spent a year developing David with his co-founder, Zach Reynon.
02:03Prior to David, I was running a low-carb cookie business called Ray's.
02:08I met Peter through an investor who connected us.
02:13Peter thinks a lot about high-level company direction and strategy, and I think a lot
02:20about how to achieve that strategy in the most effective and efficient way.
02:25It's really fun to work with someone who is not afraid to challenge what you typically
02:32see out in the market or the way that people typically do things.
02:36If you aren't going to do things that others are uncomfortable with, you're probably not
02:43going to build anything great.
02:45With $300 million from his share of the Rx Bar Sale, Rahal led David's $10 million seed
02:50round with an investment of $6 million.
02:52Rahal's second act now resembles the early years of Rx Bar.
02:56With David in motion, he moved to New York in 2023 to build the business.
03:00We're building this company with the same values, so we're really laser-focused on the
03:03customer, the product.
03:05And it turns out if you do those things right, everything works out.
03:08When you're a first-time entrepreneur, you cannot fail, right?
03:11And so you just overdo everything.
03:14If you get the product right and get product-to-market fit right, your margin for error is just much
03:19larger.
03:22The protein bar industry is growing, but it's becoming murkier to define as more companies
03:27start injecting protein into pre-existing products.
03:30The world's biggest candy conglomerate, Mars, started putting protein into Snickers bars
03:34in 2023.
03:36And in 2021, General Mills created protein bars from their popular cereal brands, Cinnamon
03:41Toast Crunch and Golden Grims.
03:43Although Kind Bars never touted itself as a protein-based snack, the company caught
03:47onto the wave, releasing its first protein-forward line of bars in 2018.
03:53From the very beginning, Peter and I got together and said, hey, what is missing from the protein
03:59bar space?
04:00And what we saw was a highly saturated market, but not really a competitive one.
04:07And by that, we meant there are a lot of products out there, but not a lot of products that
04:12really deliver on the goal of what a protein bar should be.
04:16That was one of the biggest challenges, how do you jam as much protein in something, making
04:21it machinable, and then making it delicious?
04:24It's super hard to do, actually.
04:26The current iteration of David includes milk protein isolate, collagen, and whey protein,
04:31and is held together with substances like allulose and polydextrose.
04:35It's a far cry from RxBar, which used easy-to-pronounce ingredients, like eggs, and whose slogan
04:39was no BS.
04:41When we look at the core tenets of a healthy diet, we see really three that ring true.
04:48No matter what sort of diet tribe you may belong to, the science behind eating sufficient
04:56amounts of protein, not consuming too many calories, and minimizing blood sugar spikes
05:02kind of reign true.
05:04David was designed from the very beginning to be the best bar possible on these three
05:09metrics.
05:10In this business, you can't do it alone, and so you have to have really good suppliers,
05:15good partners, all down the value chain.
05:18So for us to scale, you have to lay a really good foundation of people you work with.
05:23And so for the next three, six months, that's our priority, is laying down the supply chain
05:27and foundation to scale a great business and great product.
05:31As we prove out the product and get bigger, we hope to expand those conversations.
05:36Based on revenues earned since launching David in September, Rahal expects to make
05:40$33 million for the company's first year, nearly $31 million more than RxBarMaid in
05:46its first year.
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