Ben Witte is the Founder & Co-CEO of Recess, the brand that pioneered the relaxation beverage category and has since expanded into Mood, Mocktails, and Supplements.

In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, Ben joins Peter Griscom and David Vanderveen to explain why he believed consumers needed an alternative to both energy drinks and alcohol—and how that conviction became an entirely new category.

He discusses why Recess focused on marketing a feeling instead of an ingredient, how launching direct-to-consumer validated the category before retail, the lessons learned from the CBD regulatory collapse and COVID, why Recess evolved into a platform brand, and what founders should know about creating a category instead of simply competing for market share.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:21 From Silicon Valley to founding Recess

3:17 The insight that created the relaxation category

5:17 Why being an industry outsider became an advantage

7:04 Marketing a feeling, not an ingredient

10:16 What Ben got right—and wrong—about the original thesis

12:10 Creating a category versus capturing market share

16:36 Why Recess became a platform brand

20:37 Building for the long term with investors

24:10 Turning the CBD crisis into an opportunity

28:25 Growing through organic content and community

33:15 Lessons from fundraising and navigating difficult markets

41:23 Bringing in an operating partner to scale

45:32 Why Mocktails became the next category

50:19 Advice for founders building brands today

53:08 Where to find Recess

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