Founder Feature: Max Luthy of Plink!
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Grace Kennedy speaks with Max Luthy, co-founder of Plink! Hydration, a fast-growing brand bringing a fresh take to the electrolyte category with its fizzy, flavorful, and sustainable hydration tablets.
Max shares the brand’s unique origin story, the challenges of positioning a disruptive product in a traditional market, and how Plink! has scaled from concept to landing on shelves in over 1,100 CVS locations. He offers valuable insights into product development, retail strategy, category navigation, and the importance of refining your value proposition as you grow.
Whether you're a founder, brand builder, or CPG enthusiast, this conversation offers actionable takeaways and an inspiring look at what it takes to succeed in the modern beverage space. Listen now!
Listen in as they share about:
- The Origin of Plink! Hydration
- Co-Founder Dynamic
- Product Positioning
- Category Strategy
- Retail & Growth
- Environmental Mission
- E-commerce Learnings
- Flavor & Formulation Decisions
- Retail & DTC Growth
- Advice for Other Founders
Episode Links:
Website: https://drinkplink.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-luthy-a8587137/
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Show Links:
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- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, as you touched on, like, selling a drink tablet to someone who's gone to get a carbonated beverage is a non-starter. |
| 0:16.9 | Like, that doesn't work. |
| 0:18.4 | But if you're actually in the hydration set, there's people who think this category is already |
| 0:23.1 | really competitive and it's like, dude, this is early. |
| 0:26.1 | We are really early in hydration powders and tablets. |
| 0:29.6 | This is like looking at Red Bull and being like, well, that's the energy category, you know. |
| 0:33.6 | Oh, now there's Monster, okay, Red Bull Monster, that category is saturated. |
| 0:36.6 | Ideally we come and do demos and get Sips to Lips, and we love to do that. But actually, a lot of people will just see a new product on shelf and go, oh my God, I'm so sick of my existing daily hydration solution. Let me give this a try. We have a single serve pack as well so you can try a tablet for under $2 and then |
| 0:55.1 | come back and drop, you know, $14.99 if you like it. |
| 0:59.6 | Hello, start of CPG listeners. This is Grace and I'm here with another founder feature. |
| 1:06.4 | Today I'm talking to Max Lutfi, the co-founder of Plink. Plink makes fizzy electrolyte tablets in delicious fruit flavors that turn your daily hydration shore into a treat. |
| 1:19.7 | You'll hear me in this episode say that I'm personally a fan and my favorite flavor is their pineapple grapefruit, but they have a slew of delicious natural flavors that make |
| 1:30.4 | the drink a delight to consume. We talk all about Plink's origin story, how they had to adjust |
| 1:37.9 | their initial value proposition, and their exciting growth happening now as they launch into a |
| 1:43.6 | slate of CVS stores. |
| 1:45.5 | I hope you enjoy this episode. |
| 1:47.2 | And as always, let me know what you think. |
| 1:52.8 | Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the start of CPG podcast. |
| 1:57.4 | This is Grace, and I'm here with Max Luthy, the co-founder of Plink. Welcome to the show, Max. |
| 2:05.0 | Hello. Nice to see you, Grace. Thanks for having me. Yes, I'm so excited. I feel like Clink is all over |
| 2:10.8 | our startup CPG community in our section at different expos and we love Plink. And I'm actually |
| 2:17.3 | drinking my Plink right now. For those who are watching, they can see me with my pineapple flavored Plank drink. Pineapple grapefruit. Yes, that one's my favorite. I think you have, you set me two flavors. I don't know if you have more. But anyway, I'd love for you to introduce Plank to our listeners. Cool. Thanks, Grace. Yeah, so I'm Max. I'm one of the co-founders of Plink. I'll just do a little live demonstration here. The world's greatest electrolyte drink, tablet, I should clarify. It's fruity, it's fizzy, it's approachable. It's a big tent. We bring the joy to hydration, which can be very functional and very serious. And there's been this |
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