The entrepreneurs who created Ganu, the nutritious instant soup, tell us how to create a product of impact

December
14, 2020

8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

• This consommé provides proteins, dietary fibers, amino acids and contains 70% less sodium than traditional ones, it does not contain trans fats, nor monosodium glutamate.

• Ganu, “a mix of garabanzo and nutrition”, is sold through its website and ecommerce platforms with a public price of 25 pesos.

In a roof garden , there Daniel Sánchez and Rafael Álvarez , founders of Ganu Alimentos , began to develop a nutritious instant soup with the idea of “eating better” and after having gone through two small demotivating events.

Young people have known each other since their high school days. And although Daniel has always been an entrepreneurial boy, for Rafael this has been something completely new. Now both are studying Business Creation and Development, and the hustle and bustle of their activities gave Daniel the idea of creating a fast food option, but at the same time nutritious.

In one of his major subjects, the task of starting a business was left to the students, and Daniel came up with the idea of the nutritious instant soup. However, a colleague, part of his group, gave him a resounding “NO”.

^{Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank México.}

“Before telling Rafa, I had proposed it to my work team at school, and the first blackout they gave me was from a classmate who heard the idea of a nutritious soup and told me: no, it won’t be possible. and I said: why not? And he told me: if the big brands haven’t done it and if it doesn’t exist, it means that it can’t be done, ”says Daniel Sánchez in an interview for Entrepreneur en Español.

This refusal would not remove the idea to the entrepreneur from his mind and he decided to share it with his friend and partner. “It occurred to Dani when we were eating one of those traditional instant soups, we had been like this for a while and I said: hey we’re eating very, very badly, and he was the one who said: hey imagine there was a healthy soup”, explains Rafael Álvarez.

However, at first they did not try because they were unmotivated as they were inexperienced in nutrition and food engineering issues. Later, they set out to find friends who were nutritionists, biotechnologists, and other specialties to complement theirs.

“If we already had the business part and we knew how to do it, they would do the nutritional part, of product development. We spent more or less a year and a half developing the product between taste tests, the ingredients, the type of seasoning, looking for suppliers and more ”, says Daniel.

This is how in 2019 they launched their first product, a nutritious instant chickpea soup. This consommé provides proteins, dietary fibers, amino acids and contains 70% less sodium than traditional ones, it does not contain trans fats, nor monosodium glutamate.

Chickpea and Nutrition

In Mexico, 73% of the population suffers from obesity, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) . Also, this organism highlights that 34% of obese people suffer from morbid obesity, the highest degree of this disease. In this context, healthy food ideas will become a change for our society.

At the beginning of 2019, they began to produce their soups on Rafael’s rooftop, however, soon the space was too small for them and they could only develop between 20 and 50 soups a day, so in the following months they took on the task of looking for capital. to expand your space.

“In April, May, until December 2019 we were looking for investors, lost funds, that kind of thing to be able to put an industrial production plant, we just started with the facilities and the pandemic crossed and others,” they say.

^{Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank México.}

That same year they were only able to sell three months, in which they raised 55 thousand pesos. They started in grocery stores, but realized that the logistics were “very complicated and they weren’t ready for that.”

Currently, Ganu, “a mix of garabanzo and nutrition”, is sold through its website and ecommerce platforms with a public price of 25 pesos, the entrepreneurs mention that they will soon be in commercial chains, which at the moment could not to reveal. They also want to bring out new flavors, since until now they only have that of beef of 64 grams.

Feeding sharks

These entrepreneurs were contacted by the production of Shark Tank México to participate in the fifth season that was broadcast on Canal Sony in this year 2020. And without hesitation, Daniel and Rafael took the opportunity to pitch in front of the sharks in a program of such magnitude .

Daniel and Rafael had already had the opportunity to pitch for Patricia Armendáriz in the elevator pitch of Growth Entrepreneur 2019 . They also had an approach with Marcus Dantus as the winning company of “Atrévete a Emprender”, a program organized by the government in partnership with Startup México.

^{Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank México.}

“We arrived with Paty and precisely she noticed that she had already seen us, when we arrived and gave the pitch, the first thing she told us was ‘there is already someone like you, I’ve seen them and also chickpea’, and we replied: it’s us ”, Rafael comments.

All the sharks were interested in his proposal, but were left out after the offer of Patricia Armendariz and Carlos Bremer who offered the requested amount, 950 pesos, for 50% less one share with the possibility of repurchase up to 30 percent.

How to create an impact product?

In this context, entrepreneurs share some tips to create a product that generates impact or an improved version that helps with people’s health.

1. You don’t have to have everything figured out

“You don’t need to have everything figured out except for the validation issue. You have to offer people your first creation, your second, and then your third until they ask for more and more. There are many entrepreneurs who are waiting to be able to have their product of 10 to give it to the first client but I think that Paty told us a lot in Growth ‘pivot, pivot, test your market’ and that is what it is about coming out with a version alpha, then you improve it and so on to arrive at the product that people want “

2. Delegate

“When you are already advancing a little more I think it is super important, we at the beginning had the perception of: I love this project, nobody is going to do it like me. So on the one hand it makes sense, you say: ‘let the one who does it best do it’, but as an entrepreneur at the beginning you have to do many activities and as soon as you have to delegate do it, because otherwise you are going to burn, you are going to be agitated or you are simply going to abort the mission ”.

“Sometimes passion wins you over, but you can delegate activities to other people to focus your energy on your area. We fell into a time of great stress and work and I think it was a mistake because now I see many entrepreneurs have so much emotion and energy for wanting to take over the world, but it is also worth having a team, it is worth delegating and I think that no founder will do of everything, because there are only 24 hours and we have only two hands “

3. Become an expert in your industry and specialize

“Surround yourself with people who can contribute to the idea, or you meet with the experts or you become the expert.”