Next time you shop at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Thrive Market, or most any other grocery store, take a turn down the beverage aisle. While doing so, look for Aura Bora, a sparkling water. The first thing you may notice is the eye-catching tall can. The art on the can is whimsical and fun. One flavor pictures a chameleon riding on a coconut. If you pick up the can and read the label, you will discover that Aura Bora is an herbal sparkling water that is made from pure water flavored by natural herbs, fruits, and flowers. You have several flavors from which to choose, including Cactus Rose, Lavender Cucumber, and Peppermint Watermelon. If you consume one of the flavors, you may conclude that you are treating yourself to a refreshing natural drink, one that tastes just as the label implies.

At the beginning of 2019, Aura Bora was just an idea. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing sparkling water brands in the United States. Maddie Voge and Paul Voge, a married couple, launched the firm. At the time of launching, neither of them had any beverage experience, either in their home or in a business setting.

Read on to learn about the entrepreneurial actions the Voges initiated to launch their venture.

Prior to launching their entrepreneurial venture, Maddie and Paul both worked office jobs in Denver. The offices they worked in had refrigerators packed with drinks for employees. They both preferred flavored water and often talked about how uninspiring the drinks available to them were. They also noticed trends in the beverage industry, such as craft beers that differentiated themselves through fun, quirky new flavors. They wondered if they could do the same with water. They started experimenting in their kitchen, using their SodaStream to add ingredients such as crushed mint and various herbs to water, just to see how it tasted. After a while, they found combinations of flavors they liked. They invited friends to their house to taste their flavors. The first few gatherings did not go well—their friends were not impressed. But as time went on, Maddie and Paul improved their drinks. Their friends eventually told them that their sparkling water was better than anything on the market and urged them to start selling it.
At this point, Maddie and Paul were not prepared to start a company. They wanted to experiment more.
Fortunately, the Denver area, particularly Boulder to the north, is a hub for natural foods. They connected with a food scientist who for a low cost created the first flavors using natural food extracts. They picked the name Aura Bora and started with five flavors. The entrepreneurs then used their own money to produce a small production run of about 1,000 cans. To see if there was interest, Paul attended a conference in Boulder with many food buyers and retailers in attendance. He distributed samples and people loved it. They then caught a break. About three blocks from where they lived in Denver, a new Leevers Locavore store opened.
Leevers Locavore is a premier natural grocery store.
This store placed what was the first order for Aura Bora sparkling water; Leevers Locavore remains one of the company’s best retailers to this day.....

Discussion Questions:

1. Which of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, discussed in this chapter, do you see in Maddie Voge and Paul Voge? To what degree do you think those characteristics contributed to Aura Bora’s success?
2. How does Aura Bora’s product, herbal sparkling water, “add value” to the lives of its customers?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest), how would you rate Aura Bora in terms of customer/market focus?
4. If you were an investor, would you invest in Aura Bora? Why or why not?