Takezo Overview (DRAFT)

Takezō is dedicated to your comprehensive wellness and personal performance.

We offer personalized & ready-made premium supplements, designed to help you function at your best.

To help you achieve your mission, we provide personal performance technology, and the support of a like minded Tribe.

Our mantra is “For you – By Us”

Our Mission: To be the most effective, inspirational, and trusted personal performance brand in the world.

Why did Takezo start?

Through the shared experiences of our founders, we identified significant opportunities in the personal performance & wellness category, including personalized (ready to eat) daily supplements, premium functional drink mixes, genomic and metabolic reporting, and other personal performance technology.

Our founders are athletes and executives, always seeking an effective, safe, and legal personal performance edge. They have had their DNA ‘run’ several times and participated in studies such as Predict 2 by Zoe Global Limited. The key consensus is that we are unique, and in fact identical twins react completely different to the same foods taken at the same time.

As individuals, we also looked for solutions to leverage this information, previously not available nor affordable, to help us achieve our personal objectives, in an integrated fashion. What we found were some amazing tools but limited options allowing us to "connect the dots" from these multiple information sources into a manageable personal plan.

Digging deeper into the industry, we recognized over $600 million that had recently been invested into companies providing at-home DNA and Microbiome testing. MIT Technology (Link to article) predicts that by 2022, 100 million people will have their DNA data. Additionally, advancements in wearables, trackers and at home testing technology has encouraged the release of over 165k technology apps designed to leverage the personal performance data and provide a variety of targeted services. Absent in the development ecosystem was an initiative to integrate the data technology, nutrition science and advanced manufacturing to generate aligned nutrition products in support of an individual's personal objectives. The founders of Takezo determined to address this gap, and by doing so, position the company in a global personalized nutrition & wellness market, currently projected to reach $130 billion over the next five years.

Below table is from the Council of Responsible Nutrition 

The Takezo team has identified a large segment of the US total supplement and functional markets, zeroing in on a target population representing $67.1b market with an average CAGR of 7.86%. Supporting our market identification is information from New Hope Network indicating that 77% of the US adult population take dietary supplements and, poignantly, 68% of the unemployed continue to take supplements.

Competitive analysis revealed an opportunity to achieve a defensible leadership position in the personalized (custom) and functional supplement market. And, in fact, there is little in the way of competitive activity in a broader personalized nutrition market.

One of our founders (Reid) used one of the recently developed technology service offerings to look at his specific nutrigenetics (how genes influence the utilization of nutrients and bioactive compounds), based on his 23&Me™ DNA results , and this is some of what he discovered (image below):

Armed with this information, Reid sought out supplements that would help him fix his specific supplement gaps. His search for solutions to help him personalize his supplement regimen didn't yield many results outside of those requiring too many pills to swallow. In addition to learning what gaps needed to be filled, Reid also learned that supplementing with Vitamin E could likely be harmful to his overall health. Personalized nutrition was going to mean developing solutions for what consumers need and for what they don't need.

All this was happening while Takezo addressed another industry problem; we saw an opportunity for functional beverages as a pre-mixed foundation for future personalization options such as add caffeine/CBD or remove Ashwagandha. We noted that most existing functional drinks/drink mixes were loaded with sugar and contained "Proprietary Blends" (hidden ingredients), neither of which aligned with our Vision of a world void of metabolic syndrome & preventable chronic disease. We developed three daily functions that adults across multiple segments face daily: ENERGY™, FOCUS™, REST™. The Team also developed REVIVE™ to help reduce the negative effects of periodic alcohol consumption and to support a healthy immune system. Takezo iterated each function at least 7 times to get the right key ingredients and dosage combinations to ensure the desired effect & flavor without added sugars and with full ingredient transparency. These four functions can be deployed as both standalone powdered drink products and as added modules within the personalization system.

While the powders were being developed & being primed for market launch, Takezo was exploring how to bring hyper-personalization to the masses. We sought to build a system through which a consumer could easily configure ready to eat or ready to mix products based on their personal objectives, values, while also addressing nutritional gaps they may think or know they have.

During these two large projects The Takezo Leadership team was built to include our Board of Directors, advisors and industry partners. Additionally, as much as technology is central to the Takezo consumer experience, it is also critical in managing a dynamic business. Recognizing this, the team identified comprehensive software solutions and has begun the incremental implementation of scalable management practices on this foundation.

All of this brings us to where we are now...

Takezo is now set to launch products to the general market. We expect to proceed in four phases. Phase 1 will offer our GeneLytics™ reports, limited quantity / configurable EQUIP FIT™, and Takezo FOCUS™. Subsequent phases expected in 2020 include launch of our additional Functions (ENERGY™, REST™, & REVIVE™) and the ability to personalize them, expanded EQUIP FIT™ personalization options and a consumer facing app. Takezo seeks to deliver all this while building an online and physical tribe of like-minded people supported by a tribe of mentors. The tribe platform content will be determined in collaboration with our consumers, so as to be most relevant, and of course we will attempt to personalize it for you.

From a future development point of view, we have identified opportunities to customize the existing functional drink mixes as well as a customizable, nutrient dense meal replacement ready to mix powder. We will also be paying attention to the customizations our consumers make, taking note of any trends that may guide the launch of standardized product based on those formulations. This will allow Takezo to expand market distribution and awareness while profiting from the lower costs of goods sold afforded by standardized production.

Our approach to this vast market opportunity leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced/robotic food manufacturing systems. These solutions while seeming complex, come naturally to many on the Takezo team. With these complexities, also comes a barrier to entry by others interested in competing directly with Takezo on all fronts.

Our technology solutions focus on easing the friction for the consumer, while minimizing the operational complexities for Takezo. An example is our bot that we trained for the convenience of the consumer. This bot guides a consumer through a 3-minute Q&A that helps us identify some potential nutritional gaps, leading to a "first-pass" at a personalized product. The bot presents a choice allowing the consumer to purchase the configured product or to continue on the interview, resulting in a more customized product. For our consumer, more customized = a better match with their needs and a more fulfilling experience. For Takezo this not only results in better consumer satisfaction but also in a much closer and longer-lasting relationship with that consumer by building in higher switching costs. (See video of experience here:)

We have identified a large target population of consumers. Our core consumer likes to plant flags, whether it is training to finish that charity bike ride/run/walk, lower their handicap, excel at their e-sport game(s), achieve that next level in training, or even setting a goal to win the Spartan Race Global Championships, Takezo is on that journey with each consumer.

Our marketing strategy is well traveled and proven by the most successful direct brands. We plan on attracting and retaining our consumers with a modern 360-degree marketing plan, that will be managed in house and executed by partners in performance marketing. In addition to paid media, our approach will include editorial, consumer submitted & original content, event participation / sampling / activation (Spartan Race partnerships), and earned media/PR. Takezō has engaged some of the leading performance marketing resources to help up us win the hearts, minds, and the share of stomach of our consumers.

We are deploying an Omnichannel Revenue Generation model, that will enable direct to consumer and retail options for the convenience of our consumers. We strive to normalize pricing across our channels, as well as provide value & products exclusive to each revenue channel. Takezo has entered into an agreement with the 3rd largest (globally) sports nutrition e-tailor and will onboard with this customer 6 weeks after funding.

An important goal of the Takezo Founders has been to build an investment-ready company. We have made significant traction since our inception resulting in a portfolio of market-ready products including GeneLytics™ Trait Reports, Takezo FOCUS™ (32 serving stand up pouch) and EQUIP. Takezo is positioned to be in-market delivering on investment value within a few weeks of successful funding.

We have built & continue to build this company to eventually be bundled and sold. We expect to have a few more funding rounds after this one is completed.

Come join us and become a part of a team that has a winning combination: