John Coogan, EIR at Founders Fund, Founder of Soylent & Lucy

In this episode, Molly O'Shea talks to John Coogan, EIR at Founders Fund and co-founder of Lucy and Soylent. They cover topics such as his role as an EIR at Founders Fund, his journey from starting Soylent & going through YC, becoming a successful YouTuber (over 430K subscribers & over 8M views), as well as his insights into the history of nicotine & tobacco with his company Lucy. John dives into all of the complexities of startup entrepreneurship, the importance of really good storytelling in marketing, working in a regulated industry, as well as shares some hot takes in the VC/tech world. Learn the misconceptions about nicotine, the realities of “big tobacco,” the future of nicotine replacement therapy, and his business journey building & marketing Lucy. Lucy was founded to help adult tobacco users who are looking to try high-quality alternatives to cigarettes and traditional tobacco products, without the carcinogens. Nicotine is an addictive chemical, use responsibly. Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/johncoogan Check out: John Coogan: https://www.johncoogan.com/ Founders Fund: https://foundersfund.com/ Lucy: https://lucy.co Soylent: https://soylent.com/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four-passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ Companies mentioned: Helium: https://www.helium.com/ Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/ Flexport: https://www.flexport.com/ Varda: https://www.varda.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/ Zyn: https://www.zyn.com/ph/en/home.html Juul: https://www.juul.com/ Altria: https://www.altria.com/en Nicorette: https://www.nicorette.com/ Dollar Shave Club: https://us.dollarshaveclub.com/ Warby Parker: https://www.warbyparker.com/ Red Antler: https://www.redantler.com/ Swedish Match: https://www.swedishmatch.com/ General Snus: https://www.generalsnus.com/ Newport: https://www.newport-pleasure.com/ TiVo: https://www.tivo.com/ Vita Coco: https://vitacoco.com/ Pepsi: https://www.pepsi.com/ Casamigos: https://www.casamigos.com/en-us Teramana: https://teremana.com/ Rabbit R1: https://www.rabbit.tech/ Rizz: https://rizz.app/ Tinder: https://tinder.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) The Origin Story of Lucy (00:41) Introducing John Coogan (01:20) What does an EIR at Founders Fund do? (04:22) The Birth of Soylent (08:31) The Viral Success of Soylent (10:50) Challenges in the Nutritional Supplement Space (12:40) The Regulatory Landscape of Nicotine Products (14:46) Sponsor: Archer (16:42) The Juul Phenomenon (22:59) The Complexities of Tobacco Regulation (36:25) Debunking Nicotine Myths (37:38) Nicotine as a Stimulant (39:33) The Smoking Epidemic (40:31) Regulatory Challenges and Big Tobacco (42:48) Building a CPG Company (47:30) Marketing and Storytelling (55:46) Tech Hot Takes and AI Gadgets (59:38) The Future of AI in Consumer Products (1:07:23) Closing Thoughts and Reflections Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC