To get started, they raised money from friends and family and took on a variety of day jobs. At one point, Bakour worked in restaurants and drove for Uber. The George Washington University graduate had spent his early career in the Chief Investment Office at Abraaj Capital and as a cost and risk analysis consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Their sacrifices paid off, but it took hard work to get there. Working with a United States based manufacturer, the partners, then based in the San Francisco Bay Area, introduced the first bottle prototype in 2015 and launched their brand at 7-Elevens in August of that year