The Power of Motivational Music: "I get knocked down, but I get up again"
🥊 I woke up this morning feeling knocked down.
🎢 The entrepreneurial journey is not always up and to the right, but best often described as a roller coaster. There’s a certain stomach one has to have for it.
💪 When I’m feeling knocked down, I watch inspirational videos or listen to a song that gets me back in the zone.
💿 Music has a power to lift spirits and raise one’s vibrational frequency. Today, I went way back in the archives and put on the single from my first CD, “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba.
🕹️Ahh, to be the last of the analogue generations. Fun fact: My first tape was “Peaches” by The Presidents of the United States. What was your first record, tape, and/or CD?
🕺If you’re looking for some new tunes, here’s one of the latest sets that I’m playing on repeat.
🍂 Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday. Though I’m not currently in the USA, I’m giving thanks to her first environmentalists — Indigenous Americans.
1,000 Days Milestone: Celebrating today's milestone with the launch of Drinkware OS
1,000 days ago I made a commitment to never drink from a single-use plastic water bottle again.
To celebrate today's milestone, Tap is launching Drinkware OS — software to track hydration, calculate personal plastic bottles savings, and find nearby water refill stations. Tap’s Drinkware OS QR sticker transforms any reusable water bottle you own into a Smarter Water Bottle.
Tap is gifting 1,000 activation stickers for those who wish to join the mission to eliminate the single-use plastic water bottle.
Click to claim your Drinkware OS sticker (Code “DrinkTap” auto applies at checkout). The detailed announcement is available on Tap's blog.
Bottled water is not the answer
The current drinking water system has its problems and it needs to be fixed.
rPET, Aluminum, and paper (tetrapacks) are inferior solutions to package-free water aka tap.
Bottled water is not the answer. Fixing tap is.
The future of the package-free beverage market
It has been an exciting 2018, both personally and for Tap, and I am excited to share with you this update.
As by now you all well know that my observation, the first step of any scientific experiment, that launched Tap was that I noticed water fountains were not on Google Maps. This puzzled me and led me to dive deeper into understanding the beverage market.
My commentary on the state of the beverage market.
The beverage industry is ripe for disruption. There are two glaring problems plaguing the industry:
The first is that the amount of waste created is terrible for our environment. With ~9% of plastic waste actually getting recycled, we're seeing massive amounts of plastic go straight to landfills and our oceans. Now that China has recently rejected our plastic and cardboard, that problem is going to get worse...fast. As local, city, state, and even international governments ban single use plastic (ex. European Union), the opportunity has finally emerged. In these progressive cities, I think the beverage industry will respond to the local ban by moving to paper, aluminum, or glass. But any of these moves would actually INCREASE the cost of goods sold from materials and transportation as plastic has always been the cheapest option. Coca-Cola has even referenced this in its 2017 10-K. (direct quote below)
“Changes in, or failure to comply with, the laws and regulations applicable to our products or our business operations could increase our costs or reduce our net operating revenues. Changes in applicable laws or regulations or evolving interpretations thereof... to discourage the use of plastic, including regulations relating to recovery and/or disposal of plastic packaging materials due to environmental concerns... may result in increased compliance costs, capital expenditures and other financial obligations for us and our bottling partners, which could affect our profitability, or may impede the production, distribution, marketing and sale of our products, which could affect our net operating revenues.”
The second is the decline of consumer preference to sugary drinks. The bottling industry, at one time, was significantly more decentralized because people cared about the taste of local water. Inventions like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) created most of the beverages we grew up drinking and this taste became more manufactured. However, the health problems associated with HFCS have been enough to slow revenue from these products. In 2017, for the first time bottled water sales exceed those of sugary drinks.
Now we see Coke/Pepsi/Nestle pushing hard into bottled water sales. We’re also seeing JUSTWater (Jaden Smith) and Boxed Water come about, in addition to Watermelon water which addresses the eco and consumer preference change.
These, in my opinion, are just a half step forward. So what's the answer? Well, think outside the bottle.
Tap is going to disrupt the beverage industry by decentralizing the bottling industry. We've created a consumer alternative to packaged beverages -- a marketplace for unpackaged beverages with a group of users, with 17,000 users in <60 days since launch, who carry their own bottles. As 65% of the cost of a beverage today goes into transportation and packaging, by the mere change that the user carries their own bottle, we can massively win on beverage options and lower prices. Water is our first product.
Furthermore, sales of reusable bottles (Contigo -- 45 million units per year, SOMA ,Swell, Klean, Yeti, Hydroflask) are skyrocketing with over 51% of new reusable bottle sales being attributed to the consumers wanting to reduce their plastic usage.
An article was published this past week in the WSJ taking aim at water bottles. Specifically, the WSJ spoke to bottled water’s massive growth over the years, and how its future is suddenly uncertain because of the movement to halt the plastic crisis.
Highlights on the market:
“Bottled-water sales have boomed in recent decades amid safety fears about tap water and a shift away from sugary drinks. Between 1994 and 2017, U.S. consumption soared 284% to nearly 42 gallons a year per person, according to Beverage Marketing Corp., a consulting firm.”
That is unparalleled growth… And of this boom in the U.S., 67% of all packaged water sold has come in single-serve, disposable bottles.
While the news has decreased public trust in tap water, and consumers continue to shift away from sugary drinks, something interesting is happening...Due to a massive uptick in public awareness about the plastic issue, single-use bottled-water sales are actually BEGINNING TO SLOW.
“Bottled-water volume growth is forecast to slow this year in both the U.S. and globally, according to research firm Euromonitor. Nestlé SA, the world’s biggest bottled-water maker, in October said its bottled-water volumes for the first nine months of the year declined 0.2%, compared with 2.1% growth a year earlier.”
Something interesting is happening here. Consumers are still BUYING water at record pace because they can’t trust the tap, however, they aren’t purchasing single-use plastic. Drinking water sales aren’t DECLINING, they are SHIFTING… They are shifting towards bulk packaging. Consumers are shifting to bulk because bulk is the only easily available alternative.
Another staggering statistic was released showing that one in five consumers in the last twelve months have purchased a reusable water bottle. Of these consumers, 52% of them said the leading driver was to reduce their personal plastic usage. 20% of consumers in the last 12 months alone purchasing a new reusable bottle proves there is a large market of people who incorporate reusable bottles into their daily routine.
Beverage companies are working to catch up with the trend. According to the WSJ, “Pepsi also now sells reusable water bottles that come with capsules to add flavors, and is testing stations in the U.S. that dispense Aquafina-branded water in different flavors.”
There are in fact other solutions, but major beverage brands find they are not favorable. “A former Nestlé executive said the company’s internal research showed consumers were unlikely to take to boxed water. Glass bottles, meanwhile, break easily and are expensive to transport because they are heavy.”
“Poland Spring-owner Nestlé is rolling out glass and aluminum packaging for some brands and researching ways to make all its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.”
These alternatives will all INCREASE THE COST OF GOODS SOLD, and these “solutions” are still wasteful.
So here is where we think we fit in… and it’s what we're working to prove.
“It’s tempting to romanticize a world without packaging,” Coca-Cola Co. CEO James Quincey wrote in a blog post this year.
It’s tempting because it is happening and within our reach.
Brands like Pepsi (SodaStream) and FloWater are growing rapidly due to their unique position in being able to provide UNPACKAGED and TRUSTED water. This is the only solution that caters to the needs of those who don’t want the plastic bottle, but still desired premium, filtered options. Before these brands, the choices were limited for the reusable-bottle-carrying consumer: filter your own water (ex. Brita), rely on water coolers (like in offices) or simply trust the tap. And as tap water continues to be vilified, and the other solutions aren’t convenient, there is a market of UNPACKAGED, TRUSTED water that is prime for explosive growth.
SIR
INTRODUCING TAP: A SOFT(WARE) DRINK COMPANY
Aiming to end the single-use plastic epidemic, Tap implores users to “Drink different” with its network of reusable bottle Refill Stations available to users in 30 countries and growing
Los Angeles, CA – October 23rd, 2018 – Tap Projects Inc., a "soft(ware) drink company," today launched its namesake app, Tap – t he world’s first global search engine for clean drinking water. Consumers report that the prevailing reason why they buy bottled water is "convenience." Instead, Tap believes that bottles are purchased because thirst is highly inconvenient. Anyone can search online for the nearest gas station, coffee shop or nail salon, but when it comes to thirst, what options does one have? Go ahead, open Google Maps and search “water fountain” – how many fountains do you see? Now, ask Siri or Alexa, “Where can I fill up my water bottle?”... They’ll have to get back to you on that. In the history of mankind, no one has ever indexed the locations and prices of clean water around the world...until now.
Tap has built a search engine for clean water – as long as people carry a reusable bottle, they will never have to buy bottled water again. From Amsterdam to New Delhi to Los Angeles, Tap helps everyone find water by connecting it to the Internet. Tap’s free app geolocates users to the closest water refill stations, empowering everyone to #Drinkdifferent by knowing where to fill up their own bottle. The app’s network includes free public drinking fountains, bottle refill stations such as those in an airport, and water “ATMs” where people purchase “unpackaged” water to refill an existing container. This revolutionary app also helps drives awareness, foot traffic and sales for businesses in the rapidly growing Tap Authorized Refill Network, which is composed of over 34,000 cafes, restaurants, and other businesses in 30 countries around the globe – that’s more locations than Starbucks globally. One day there will be millions of Tap refill locations.
“Our team has one mission: to save Earth and the people on it,” shared Samuel Ian Rosen, Founder and CEO of Tap. “Approximately one percent of Earth’s water is fresh and accessible. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. Water is a basic human right, but it will be priced as a commodity as we face global scarcity. People around the world will use Tap to find the cheapest, cleanest water, thereby decoupling our need to quench thirst from the plastic bottle causing horrific pollution. Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century. Cleaning up our planet and preventing further climate change is one of the largest economic opportunities of the next decade.”
With Tap, thirsty consumers can simply open the app and filter the closest Refill Stations by whatever they crave, from unfiltered tap water to sparkling or flavored water. Together, Tap and its network of refill partners are freeing consumers of the marketing veil the water industry holds over our most essential resource. Globally, humans buy approximately 1,000,000 water bottles every minute, yet less than 10% of the world’s plastic is properly recycled. At this rate, the amount of single-use plastic ending up in our oceans will outweigh fish by 2050, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Today, powered by its network of influencers, celebrities, entrepreneurs and brand partners, Tap invites the world to #Drinkdifferent and pledge not to purchase single-use plastic water bottles for 30 days. The average American purchases 167 water bottles a year – roughly one bottle every two days. In only 30
days, the #Drinkdifferent social movement could save 4.8 million plastic bottles from landfills and our oceans, even if just one-percent of Tap’s social media reach completes the pledge.
Additional Tap features include:
Directions - Navigate to Refill Stations with quick walking directions.
Refill Station profiles - Find additional information about refill stations, like contact information
and other products or services they offer.
Refill Station preferences - Filter through Refill Stations by selecting the water type like flat, sparkling, purified, or chilled. Users can also filter through types of Refill Stations such as public fountains, water ATMs, or pet-friendly.
Tap’s Current Refill Network includes:
34,000 Refill Stations
30+ Countries
7,112 Cities
Popular cafes and restaurants, including Shake Shack, Umami burger, sweetgreen, Van Leeuwen, Dr. Smood, Bareburger, Barry’s Bootcamp and more.
“Barry’s is working on reducing single-use plastics across its studios,” stated Vicky Land, V.P. of Communications and Brand Strategy for Barry’s Bootcamp. “Being part of the TAP app is an opportunity to support our efforts for progress on a broader scale.”
"Umami Burger is proud to support sustainable initiatives,” added Sebastien Silvestri, Chief Operating Officer of Disruptive Group at sbe. “We are thrilled to work with Tap and further support their mission to reduce the amount of single-use plastics ending up in landfills.”
For more information, please visit https://findtap.com/
ABOUT Tap
Tap is the mobile app that allows you to find and access water on the go. The Refill Station network is made up of public places where you can refill your water bottle as well as partnerships with coffee shops, fast-casual restaurants, fitness studios and others who will do the same for no cost. Whether a drinking fountain or a filtered water ATM, you’ll be sure to find it on Tap. We’re expanding every day to make Tap a convenient and reliable alternative to bottled water and to help eliminate plastic pollution around the globe. Take the pledge to #DrinkDifferent.
Life Update: Two of the most important Issues for the next decade of my life
Dear Friends, Family, and Colleagues,
Since my last note in February, I hope you have been well and able to live your life to the fullest of your expectations. It’s been a year of personal and professional growth for me, and I wanted to check in with you.
I am dedicating my life to making a difference in the lives of others. More than that, by writing to you, I’m holding myself accountable. I’ve put a lot of my energy into the letter below which should take about 10 minutes to read. It’d mean a lot to me if you completed it.
But if you only have thirty seconds and are on the run, the too long, didn’t read version is:
On October 23rd, I’m launching a new company and inviting the world to #DrinkDifferent in order to eliminate pollution from single use plastic water bottles. Follow along at www.findtap.com or @findtap on Instagram.
I’m fundraising for Gift of Life’s annual campaign and it would mean the world to me to have your support. Gift of Life saves lives by connecting people suffering from blood cancers with their life saving stem cell donor:
Click here to learn more and make a financial contribution today that helps save lives
My First Mission - Clean Water for All
I grew up on a lake in northern New Jersey, where I learned to swim, fish, and play ice hockey. True story — my dad had to persuade my mom to move into our childhood home over her fears that her kids were going to drown in the lake.
Instead of sinking, we all became great swimmers, like our Dad and unlike mom (who technically didn’t meet the requirements to graduate high school because her friend Sally coaxed her into skipping out on the required swimming class). I fell in love with the outdoors because it was right at my doorstep. Nature gave me the freedom to be creative, independent, the peace and quiet to think, learn, and explore on my own. Catching frogs, skipping stones, ice skating— these were some of my favorite things as a child. We would wade into the lake, play by its edges, or wait each winter for the local Homeowners Association to raise a flag that the lake ice was thick enough to skate.
One day, that all changed. The lake—man made around the turn of the century—was part of a larger watershed system that was looked at increasingly for more industrial uses in the 1980s and early 1990s. What started as the occasional green film on the edges of the lake suddenly developed into full blown algae blooms. Standing on our dock, you could see a green field.
Between the runoff of lawn fertilizer, the occasional leeching of septic systems, and activities in the larger ecosystem including use by a local rock quarry and even attempts at utilizing old mine shafts to generate hydroelectric power, the lake that had been consistent for the better part of a century changed almost overnight. For several seasons it was just a dead body of water – no fish, no swimming. My dad wouldn’t let us go anywhere near it, let alone swim in it. There were some reactionary attempts to make things better – a full dredging, injection of alum — but the way we use water and treat the environment had changed drastically since the late 1800s/early 1900s when the lake was originally formed. We took the lake for granted.
Although I moved away, I heard word from friends still there that the lake didn’t freeze over as often as it used to — and for anyone who has ever skated on an open pond or lake, there’s nothing like it.
I remembered the occasional winter from my childhood where they didn’t raise the flag, or only had a limited “safe skating” area by the shallowest part of the lake. I witnessed climate change unfold in front of my eyes as a kid and a teenager — I just didn’t have the right vocabulary yet. But now that everyone knows the words, there is no excuse.
I’ve been on a spiritual path and want to be open with you about my feelings — I have two little nephews and I’m scared of the world they may grow up to see. The statistics are alarming: current models say runaway climate change is as little as 2 years away — disturbingly in synch with a 1970s era MIT computer model predicting the collapse of most civilizations by 2040 as a result of critical changes in 2020.
Our overuse of plastic is part of the problem. With current plastic usage rates there will be as much plastic in the ocean by weight as fish by 2050… While plastics have great uses, they gained ubiquity when the fossil fuels they are made from seemed limitless, and before we knew the full drawbacks of overusing them. We are addicted to wasting plastic, and we need to stop.
The ominous foreboding is real. Unless we choose to do something different…
The Time is Now
Gandhi said, “The change we wish to see in this world will only come if we choose to take the first step.” Michael Jackson sang, “If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and then make a CHANGE” (with a few emphatic “woos!”).
So if you’ve looked in the mirror and want to help make the change, I have some good news. The war against plastic has begun. We’re enlisting an army, and it’s easy to join us — all you have to do is carry your own drinkware and download our software (see what I did there).
Together we can change the course of mankind if we choose to believe in something bigger than ourselves.
Tune in to @findtap on Instagram on October 23rd to learn more. Here’s a hint — It’s as simple as carrying a cup and your smartphone. There’s finally an app for thirst, and for the first time in human history, we’re going to show the world how to #DrinkDifferent.
My Second Mission — Help Us Get Everyone Cured.
Since I was in college, I’ve been involved with Gift of Life. (If you’re interested in my personal journey, you can read it here.
Gift of Life Started over 25 years ago when Jay Feinberg was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. Miraculously, on the very last drive, the very last donor was Jay’s match.
At the time, due to his Ashkenazi heritage, Jay’s chances for finding a match were less than 5%. Due to the mission based work of one organization — Gift of Life — the chances today for a person of Jewish descent finding a match is over 75%
But Jay didn’t stop there. Knowing that other minority communities would face the same issues due to their own genetic profiles, he and his team started out reach to other minority communities, like the Latinx American community, and created divisions within Gift of Life to help those communities, called Regalo de Vida.
The future of our fight against cancer isn’t with toxic chemicals and poisons but with technology and new forms of immunotherapy. Gift of Life is leading the field in technological breakthroughs for stem cell matching —which accounts for over 80% of our donor / patient matches and is a surgery free process for donors. The days of scary tales of bone marrow transplants are numbered.
As more people find out about Gift of Life and share our message, the more lives we are saving.
Cancer affects all of us and one of those people was Kim Kardashian West. One of Kim’s children was in the class of Adam Krief, may his memory serve as a blessing, who was a very active young man in the Los Angeles community with a wife and four beautiful children. Kim shared Adam’s story on twitter, that then got picked up by news organizations, and that one tweet about Gift of Life and the search for Adam’s donor led to the largest recruiting drive in our history, leading to 8,500 donor registrations and 2 life-saving transplants. With one tweet, Kim saved lives.
I was deeply honored almost 2 years ago when I was asked to join the board of directors of Gift of Life. I believe it was my calling to help share Gift of Life’s message and also garner financial support to help continue their life saving work.
Gift of Life has a H.U.G.E. mission: Help Us Get Everyone Registered and Cured. Joining the Gift of Life registry (and globally via World Marrow Donor Association) is easy and can be done with a quick swab of the cheek. Over 80% of transplants are done with a painless stem cell donation which looks and feels painless like donating blood. Please watch this 5 minute video to learn more -- I promise you'll be inspired.
This is the only charity for whom I have personally solicited donations for the past ~10 years years — I'm deeply connected to this mission. Last year, I was humbled by your support of me with over $16,000 in donations, beating by more-than-half my goal of $10,000. A few outliers aside, the average donation amount was around $120. That amount sponsors two swab kits, putting another two donors on the rolls of the registry that saves lives.
I’d like to ask your help again this year in donating for the cause. Each $60 of your donation processes one cheek swab and places another name on the registry that is a last hope for so many. And you get some transparency back into why that hope is justified -- you'll be able to track the results of our work via a Donor Circle that sends you updates when matches are made from the kits that we sponsored.
Your 100% tax deductible financial contribution would mean the world to me and can be made here: https://www.giftoflife.org/cn/SIRGOL2018
Thank you for reading and I’m excited to share again on October 23, 2018.
SIR
Life Update: I’m starting my second company.
Our mission: Eliminate the single serve plastic water bottle by using technology and media to create a movement that changes consumer behavior.
I thought you were CEO at MakeSpace?
Some of you may not have even realized I’ve left MakeSpace since I’ve been pretty quiet about it and have been off the radar for the past 3-4 months.
Building MakeSpace was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. In just 5 years, we created the leading storage brand in the category, grew the company to tens of millions annualized run rate, almost 300 employees, opened 4 markets, launched a consumer app that feels like dropbox and self-storage had a baby with complete photo inventory of items, and have helped tens of thousands of customers through normally very stressful periods in their life. Most importantly, we grew a family. The MakeSpace mafia are the best people I’ve ever worked with and that talent has now started to spread out into other organizations. I couldn’t be more grateful to anyone who spent even a day working for our company.
So why then would you leave?
I always knew MakeSpace was not the end for me. As a kid who grew up in NJ, I once took an elementary school class field trip to Thomas Edison’s laboratory. Since then, I always knew I would want to create more than one invention. I worked through a transition with the MakeSpace board of directors that ensured the company I founded would be in great hands. I’m grateful to my partner, Rahul Gandhi, who was employee #2 and a co-founder, who has stepped up and taken the wheel as CEO. Rahul is a tireless fighter and has the fire in his belly to take MakeSpace to another level.
I’m thankful to all of our major investors — 8VC, Harmony, Primary, Summit Action, Lowercase, Collaborative Fund, OATV — and a host of other funds angels that are frankly too many to list. I feel obliged to specifically thank the entire team at Upfront Ventures, from partners to admins, who made me an EIR when I had no more than an idea on a napkin and the name “MakeSpace,” but more importantly who welcomed me in as family when I moved to Los Angeles.
So what’s next?
I’m starting my next company in Los Angeles in the health and wellness space.
I’ve always cared about my personal health and wellness. It’s what I live every day because we only get one body. Over the past several months, I’ve been thinking hard about how I merge what I love: technology, the environment, sustainability, wellness, and making people’s lives better. I’ve fallen in love with a major problem that I aim to fix.
I like solving big problems - the self-storage business was $34bn in the United States. But Americans spend $100bn on single serve plastic bottles. By 2020, the market will be $280bn globally. That’s so much waste going into our oceans and landfills. We’re going to stop that together by creating a movement.
Our mission: Eliminate the single serve plastic water bottle by using technology and media to create a movement that changes consumer behavior.
If this problem resonates with you or you want to be involved please let me know how you can help.
Watch this if you’d like to learn more about the story of bottled water.
To keep updated on our progress, please follow my instagram @samuelianrosen, where I’ll be announcing the name of the company, early team members, and behind the scenes look at building a movement from the ground up and behind the scenes looks at our technology. And why Instagram? Well, what Twitter did for Charity Water is what Instagram will do for [redacted 💧].
Be well.
SIR