Laura Jorgensen and Courteney Lowe, professional cyclists turned entrepreneurs, started The RunnerBox and The RiderBox as an athlete-focused subscription service. But while building the direct-to-consumer (D2C) company, they recognized a gap in the market. Specifically, it is hard for athletes to find their favorite new refueling options.
While subscription boxes give people exposure to new products for their workout routines, users still needed to go searching across multiple websites to order more. If they are able to track down the specific item, they are often forced to buy in bulk. The sites that do exist are curated for professionals and not the “generalist activity seeker” looking for better nutrition options for their workouts.
That’s where Fuel Goods was born.
Inside Fuel Goods
Fuel Goods is a one-stop shop for sports nutrition. The website is geared towards the “everyday athlete” who is biking, running, playing racket sports, swimming, or hiking, Jorgensen explained. Athletes of all levels can quickly find breakfast options, nutrition bars, snacks, and gels they need in one place. That keeps users from scouring different parts of the internet or going to several different speciality stores to find the items they need.
“What Chewy did for dog food…we see Fuel Goods doing for sports nutrition. It’s just an easy way for people to constantly have [their products] on hand.”
Fuel Goods had the “speed to market advantage” because they built up relationships with nutritions brands with The RunnerBox and the RiderBox.
All products shown on Fuel Good’s website are used by a team of testers to ensure efficacy before they are listed.
“There are so many brands out there, we just don’t think that we have to settle for anything less than the best for people. We’ll do all the testing and vetting so you don’t have to. There are a million companies claiming to be the next best thing, and it’s really hard to know which one is the real deal,” Jorgensen added.
Fueling Locally
After bootstrapping for years, Jorgensen and the team raised a seed round to help them get Fuel Goods off the ground. Now, they are looking to get in front of more potential customers.
Local activations — like joining local running groups, putting on warehouse sales, and doing nutrition Q&As — are current ways that Fuel Goods has been able to get in front of their target audience, Jorgensen said.
