How would you raise $25K for your Kickstarter campaign? Odds are, you would organize your entire life around this goal for the time that your campaign is active. With a time limit to raise your goal, the Kickstarter experience is one of pressure and intensity.

Enter Anja Westhues, Founder of Endure Sport Nutrition, a company seeking to provide athletes with whole food based nutrition to fuel before, during, and after training sessions. So with a demanding physical product business that includes ingredient, taste, and nutritional testing, you would think Anja spent her 60 day timeframe with her Kickstarter campaign in sole focus, right?

Wrong. Anja accomplished her raise of $25k while being in college and employed with multiple jobs and internships. And Anja didn’t cut any corners in her commitment to her business and formulation of her product.

In this episode, Anja shares her feelings about choosing to be an entrepreneur in college, highlighting the complex choices she had to make regarding her social and professional lifestyles to support her business. She details how she has aimed to build Endure’s community through interacting with run clubs, and gives her take on the future of Gen Z’s unprecedented commitment to leading a healthier and active lifestyle. She also discusses Endure’s unique product formulation, which includes cricket protein!

Anja is a tour de force of knowledge in time management, initial product creation, and community building, and you won’t want to miss this episode if you’re considering starting a business in college or curious on what it takes to start a business in college today. https://enduresportnutrition.com/

Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:43 Anja's Background 04:52 The Hustler Mindset 07:21 What is Endure? 12:01 Using the Scientific Method 14:20 The Kickstarter Campaign 17:49 Distribution & Her Dream Outcome 23:15 Why Does Gen Z Run? 25:23 Building Community: Endure Run Club? 32:06 Is Anja a Social Entrepreneur? 35:43 Lessons & Advice 38:43 Kickstarter: What She'd Do Differently 40:36 Plugs & Where to Find Her

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Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY