Ep 30: How Orka Built an Energy Drink for People Who Hate Energy Drinks
What happens when two friends in their twenties get fed up with syrupy energy drinks and decide to invent a caffeinated water that actually tastes like water? Orka founders Michael Moriarty and Nash Hale join Drinks Insider to talk about their journey from college roommates to beverage entrepreneurs. They reveal how they raised $355K in friends-and-family money, endured a year of catastrophic production failures, and finally cracked the code for manufacturing a clear pressurised can — just in time to ride a viral wave on Amazon.
We cover:
The unglamorous truth about energy drink flavour fatigue
Why beverage manufacturing is a form of hazing
What a "seaming consultant" actually does
How TikTok and a well-timed tweet changed everything
The upsides and downsides of selling on Amazon
Why they chose the name Orka and how they almost didn’tIf you’re dreaming of launching a drink brand, this is a must-listen.
00:05 — Intro to the Orka story and what happened when the WSJ found out
03:18 — “Why not just put caffeine in water?”: the founding insight
06:18 — They backed into health by chasing simplicity, not wellness
09:01 — Time to start a beverage company!
10:48 — The 150mg caffeine challenge and why flavour houses balked
12:35 — Panic attacks from over-caffeinated taste testing
18:04 — The transparent plastic can that nearly killed the business
21:08 — Every production run failed for a year. Here’s why.
23:24 — How close they came to shutting it all down
26:10 — Selling on Amazon: upsides, pitfalls, and inventory anxiety
30:26 — What happened a...
Drinks Insider
The podcast that's interested in everything drinks. If you can drink it, sell it, and make money from it, we'll talk about it, though we're (mostly) fascinated by beverage alcohol. It's all about the intersection of drinks and commerce.
- No. of episodes: 37
- Latest episode: 2025-06-18
- Business Entrepreneurship
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