An introduction to the Planet Money MBA podcast, offering business school secrets without the need to go back to school.

Introduction to Planet Money MBA

Guy Raz shares Diplo's journey from working odd jobs to becoming a successful music producer and DJ.

Diplo's Journey to Success

Andrew Abraham shares his experience as a one-man customer service team and the challenges of running a business from his garage.

Customer Service and Entrepreneurship

Andrew Abraham's life-threatening illness inspired him to launch Orgain, a top-selling brand of nutritional drinks and powders.

The Inspiration Behind Orgain

A comparison of Ensure and Orgain, and how Orgain became a lifestyle drink for people on the go.

Introduction to Ensure and Orgain

Andrew Abraham's family background and the inspiration he drew from his father's work ethic and dedication to helping others.

Andrew's Family Background

Andrew's childhood aspirations, admiration for his father, and his initial career goal of becoming a doctor.

Andrew's Childhood and Career Aspirations

Andrew's life-changing health diagnosis and the impact it had on his senior year of high school.

Andrew's Health Diagnosis

Andrew's diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of 17 and the challenges he faced during his treatment.

Andrew's Cancer Diagnosis

Andrew's year-long intensive chemotherapy treatment and the impact it had on his family.

Andrew's Treatment Journey

Andrew's recovery, struggle with maintaining weight, and the discovery of the importance of nutrition in his healing process.

Andrew's Recovery and Nutritional Journey

Andrew's exploration of nutrition and the realization that conventional shakes were not as nutritious as perceived.

Andrew's Nutritional Exploration

The lack of emphasis on nutrition in medical education and the irony of Andrew's family's background in healthcare.

Nutritional Education and Medical Emphasis

Andrew's disappointment with the lack of focus on nutrition in medical school and the minimal attention given to the topic.

Andrew's Medical School Experience

Andrew's residency experience and the emergence of the idea to create a better nutritional drink as a side business.

Andrew's Residency and Business Idea

The development of the Orgain formula and the challenges of creating an organic ready-to-drink shake.

Development of Orgain Formula

Andrew's experience at the Expo West trade show, where he showcased Orgain and attracted the attention of a global buyer from Whole Foods.

Expo West Trade Show

Andrew prepares for a presentation to pitch his product, Orgain, to potential buyers. He faces unexpected obstacles and challenges during the preparation process.

Preparing for a Presentation

Andrew receives a phone call and email offering a national launch for Orgain. He faces logistical challenges and financial obstacles in fulfilling the order from Whole Foods.

The National Launch

Andrew shares the story of his unconventional side hustle of building and designing custom cars for trade shows. This side hustle funded a portion of Orgain's initial production run.

The Unconventional Side Hustle

Andrew discusses the challenges and sacrifices he faced while balancing his medical residency with launching Orgain. He shares the difficulties of managing both responsibilities simultaneously.

Challenges and Sacrifices

Orgain faces a crisis when the nutritional shakes solidify on the shelf. Andrew shares the financial and logistical challenges of addressing the issue and the risk involved in making necessary adjustments.

The Clumpy Shake Crisis

Andrew makes the difficult decision to leave his medical practice to focus on Orgain full-time. He shares the emotional conversation with his father and the impact Orgain has on people's lives.

Leaving Medicine for Orgain

The founder's decision to focus on chocolate and vanilla flavors, hiring the first employee, and the decision to go to Costco.

The Early Years of Orgain

Setting up an office, revenue growth, and the launch of a disruptive plant-based protein powder.

Expansion and Growth

The founder's decision to go against advice and approach Costco, leading to significant success.

Challenges and Success with Costco

The founder's decision to partner with Butterfly Equity and the reasons behind it.

Partnership with Butterfly Equity

The acquisition of a majority stake by Nestle and the founder's vision for the company's future.

Acquisition by Nestle

The founder's dedication to leading Orgain and helping cancer patients, driven by personal experience.

Passion and Purpose

The founder's reflection on the journey, attributing success to hard work and a few lucky breaks.

Hard Work and Luck

- Andrew Abraham started Orgain, a nutritional drink company, after a bad experience with Ensure as a teenager.
- His father's hard work and selflessness inspired him to pursue a career in medicine, but he ended up starting a successful business instead.
- Andrew was diagnosed with cancer at 17 and underwent intensive treatment, while his father was also diagnosed with kidney cancer during the same time.
- Despite the difficult year, Andrew's father remained supportive and hopeful throughout his treatment.

- The speaker describes a difficult year of chemo treatment and their father's cancer diagnosis
- They lost weight and experienced illness from the treatment
- They discovered the importance of nutrition and started blending organic fruits and veggies to improve their health
- Despite a lack of emphasis on nutrition in medical school, they pursued a career in medicine and eventually started a company to provide a better alternative to conventional nutritional shakes like Ensure

- The speaker wanted to create a ready-to-drink shake for patients with organic protein, complex carbs, vitamins, and minerals
- They faced challenges in manufacturing and selling the product
- They found a food scientist to help develop the formula
- They eventually landed on a chocolate and vanilla flavor
- The product was initially targeted towards hospital patients and those with health issues
- They attended a trade show with minimal resources and caught the attention of a global buyer for Whole Foods
- Their product was unique in the market at the time, being the only organic option available
- The buyer invited them to present the product in Austin, Texas, leading to a successful partnership with Whole Foods

- The speaker developed a nutritional formula that caught the attention of Whole Foods
- Despite not having a fancy presentation, he convinced Whole Foods to give him a chance
- Whole Foods ordered tens of thousands of cases, leading to logistical and financial challenges
- He financed the initial run using money earned from a previous business building custom cars
- The car business funded a good portion of the nutritional product's launch

- The speaker's personal hobby turned into a business that funded a portion of Oregon
- He received a loan from his father to finance a production run
- Despite working long hours as a doctor, he managed to launch his product at Whole Foods
- He had no budget for marketing but the product started selling well
- He continued to work as a doctor while running the business
- The product became profitable early on with minimal overhead costs

- Orgain became profitable in the first 12 months by increasing orders and working with a co-packer
- They faced a crisis when the product solidified on shelf, resulting in a $50,000 withdrawal
- The founder made adjustments to the product and took a risk by putting it back on shelves
- The company continued to grow, and the founder eventually left his medical career to focus on Orgain full-time
- Despite initial skepticism, the founder's father became supportive of the business after seeing the impact it had on people's lives

- The founder of Orgain sustained himself on meal replacement shakes for 18 months before passing away
- Initially, the company only had two flavors and faced pressure to expand their product line
- The first hire was a guy named Todd who helped with demos and getting the product out there
- The company reached 50 million in revenue within the first 6-7 years
- Orgain launched a plant-based protein powder that was successful at Costco
- The founder's experience with cancer gave him a "completely unfair advantage" in life and influenced his decision-making
- The company was bootstrapped for the first 10 years before selling a majority stake to a private equity firm

- Andrew Abraham started Orgain, a nutritional drink company, after a bad experience with Ensure as a teenager
- He was inspired by his father's selflessness and hard work but ended up starting a successful business instead of pursuing a career in medicine
- Andrew and his father were both diagnosed with cancer, but his father remained supportive and hopeful throughout their treatment
- They discovered the importance of nutrition and started blending organic fruits and veggies to improve their health
- Despite facing challenges in manufacturing and selling the product, Orgain eventually found success and became profitable within the first 12 months
- The company continued to grow and expand its product line, eventually reaching 50 million in revenue within the first 6-7 years
- Orgain was bootstrapped for the first 10 years before selling a majority stake to a private equity firm

- The founder of Orgain, Andrew Abraham, talks about how he grew his business and found a partner in Butterfly Equity
- Nestle purchased a majority stake in Orgain, allowing the company to expand globally
- Andrew is still the CEO and plans to continue leading the company
- His battle with cancer inspired him to create Orgain, and he is passionate about helping others going through similar experiences
- Andrew attributes his success to a combination of hard work and luck, and is grateful for the opportunities he has had

- Orgain founder Andrew Abraham discusses business growth and partnership with Butterfly Equity
- Nestle's majority stake acquisition allows for global expansion
- Andrew remains CEO and plans to continue leading the company
- His battle with cancer inspired the creation of Orgain, driven by passion to help others
- Andrew attributes success to hard work and luck, expressing gratitude for opportunities

A life-threatening diagnosis changed the course of Andrew Abraham’s career and led him to found some of the most popular nutritional drinks and powders on the market. After recovering from his illness and attending med school, Andrew noticed that some of his patients—just as he had—struggled with keeping food down. So during his first year of residency, he developed the same kind of organic nutritional shakes that he’d made for himself when he was sick. Andrew launched Orgain in 2009 as a side business, but after he got a big order from Whole Foods, the business quickly grew, despite the fact that he was running it pretty much on his own—while practicing medicine. Only after joining his father’s clinic did Andrew realize his side business needed his full-time attention. He has continued to grow Orgain into a substantial wellness company, in which Nestle acquired a majority stake in 2022.




This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.

Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Sam Paulson.

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Hey, before we start the show, you know, we talk a lot about hustle here on How I Built This, and recently I spoke to the music producer Diplo, who told me about starting out as a DJ in Philadelphia.

He was obsessed with turntable culture and to afford the equipment he worked at a lot of different jobs like at Subway and even at the zoo.

Now he's DJing massive music festivals around the world and producing with artists like Justin Bieber.

Check out my conversation with Diplo on my other podcast, The Great Creators.

Just search for The Great Creators with Guy Raz wherever you listen to podcasts or go to thegreatcreators.com.

Because I was a one-man show, I was the customer service guy.

So anyone that would call me, they would ask me a question, I would answer very thoroughly, give them a wonderful answer.

And they would say, okay, well, thank you so much, Andrew.

But are you, you're not the Andrew on the back of the package, are you?

And you know, many people thought that was great, but others didn't think it was that great because you're not a big company anymore, right?

Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.

I'm Guy Raz, and on the show today, how a life-threatening illness inspired Andrew Abraham to launch Orgain, a top-selling brand of nutritional drinks and powders.

Okay, this is going to start a little grim, but if you've ever been around someone dying or trying to recover from a physical trauma, you've probably been around Ensure.

It's a brand that makes high-calorie shakes designed to help people get fast nutrition into their bodies.

And almost every hospital, hospice, center, and assisted living facility stocks pallets of these drinks.

Ensure has been around since 1973 and it dominates the category.

But in 2009, Andrew Abraham decided to enter that same category.

And he did it because of a bad experience he had as a teenager when he was fighting for his life and had a hard time keeping down solid food.

So Andrew started Orgain thinking it could be an alternative for people recovering from surgery or cancer.

But it took off in an entirely different direction and became a lifestyle drink for people on the go.

He actually completed his medical residency.

But as Orgain grew, it became clear that he needed to ditch medicine and focus on business.

Today, Orgain is on track to hit around $700 million in sales this year, and it makes 1 of the best-selling protein powders in the United States.

Andrew was born and raised in Long Beach, California to Egyptian Coptic Christian parents.

In the 70s, his parents emigrated to the United States from Egypt.

And when Indra's family moved to California, his dad opened a medical practice as a pediatrician.

He came here with nothing and opened a very small practice with what little funds he had.

So even though he was a pediatrician, there was adults that would go to him and he was just the community doctor.

And he was the hardest working, most humble guy and would treat people for free all of the time.

And he treated people for free when he didn't have really a penny to his name.

It's quite remarkable to hear you talk about looking up to your dad as a kid, because a lot of kids, you know, of course they look up to their dads, and I hope my kids do, you know, who knows.

I mean, the way you, and I wonder, when you were a kid, Did you think about him that way?

If you could sort of go back to your mindset back then, would you have thought, oh, I worship my dad, he's amazing?

And I think it goes back to that just kind of unconditional love that he gave me.

He was very busy, he worked extremely hard.

In particular, my parents wanted me to be a doctor.

My uncles were doctors, cousins were doctors, my dad was a doctor, he was building a practice.

So at a very young age, basically, I was told, look, you could be anything you want, choose any career you want, as long as you become a doctor and follow in your father's footsteps.

But I don't even know if it was really being the doctor part that really attracted me.

I loved everything about what this guy did on a daily basis.

So for sure, like I saw him as a superhero, if I'm being honest.

All right, so the plan for you was eventually to graduate high school and to go to medical school and you would actually pursue that.

And we'll talk about that in a minute, but in high school, just a massively sort of both scary and life-changing and pivotal moment in your life took place.

And it was a health, it was more than a health scare, it was a diagnosis.

Yeah, it was January 1999, right in the middle of my senior year of high school.

So I'm the captain of the tennis team, I'm playing varsity tennis, applying to colleges, my grades are good.

I'm feeling the best I've ever felt in my life, really.

Come January, 1999, I was taking a shower and I feel this little lump in my abdomen and I didn't think anything of it, but I thought maybe I should just mention it to my father.

Told my dad about it, he took a look and said, if it doesn't go away by tomorrow, let's get it checked out.

It doesn't seem like anything, but let's just be sure.

Sure enough, it didn't go away And next day we went to a doctor to get an opinion and he said, well, we should take a biopsy just to be sure.

And that biopsy, you know, they took the biopsy.

I got called back into the doctor's office and the doctor tells me, you know, that we took this biopsy a few days ago.

Unfortunately, you have a rapidly aggressive cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.

And at the age of 17, I felt like kind of the world stopped when he said that because I didn't believe him.

But again, I didn't know what that meant.

And I thought, okay, let's just remove this and can I move on?

And the answer ended up being much more complicated, unfortunately.

I mean, is that a, I mean, you were 17, so it's different because you're younger and healthier, but still, I mean, what did they tell you about survival rates?

I will tell you that this is an interesting thing.

My father, I'd always ask him, I'm like, dad, what are my chances?

And then when I turned 18, I turned 18 midway through my treatment, they had to by law come in and tell me, answer any questions that I had.

And I asked the nurse, you know, can you give me an idea of my prognosis?

So I liked my dad's answer a lot better than what he would tell me.

So I stuck with that in my mind, but the prognosis was very poor.

I had to undergo chemotherapy, radiation, additional surgery, and it was a year long of just the most intensive chemotherapy 1 can imagine.

So you, I mean, you were, this is the second half of your senior year of high school.

I was in the hospital getting IV infusions for 72 hours.

You know, as you can imagine, it was a very trying time on my family and I, and My father was with me and my mom was with me every step of the way.

My dad would tell me, I'm praying not that God takes away this cancer, I'm just praying that he gives it to me.

On the first day of my chemotherapy treatment, I woke up and I heard my dad like in pain.

And it turns out that my dad on the first day of chemotherapy that I had, he was rushed to the hospital with severe flank pain, back pain, and was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Which is a very, very difficult cancer to...

So while I was getting hooked up to an IV infusion on 1 floor, My dad was being wheeled in to the OR above me to have his kidney removed.

And my poor mom, of course, was between upstairs and downstairs between the 2 of us.

So, you know, I would say, To say that year was extremely difficult would be an understatement.

Your dad is being diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Tell me how you got through, I mean, you know, it was a cycle of like treatment, feeling violently ill for a week, feeling really lethargic for another week, starting to recover, and then starting the cycle again for a year, presumably you lost weight, you lost your hair.

I mean, it really takes a toll in every way.

You know, my weight kept dropping cycle after cycle.

My weight would drop, you know, 5 pounds, 3 pounds, you know, so I was 140 pounds or so, and then I got down to 130, then 110, then about 100 pounds.

And it was that point where my doctor said, we need to get calories in you.

They were hooking me up to IVs that had nutrition in them, but he said, I need you to consume your calories through liquid.

And he handed me a bottle of the conventional shake Ensure with a stack of coupons and said, I need you to drink as many of these as you can per day.

And of course my mom heard this and she went out and bought every flavor imaginable, flavors I didn't even know existed, and came home.

And I can't tell you how happy she'd be when I would consume 1 of these because it would give her a little bit of joy knowing that her son was at least getting some nutrition.

So that's good and it probably was working, right?

It probably, we're starting to put some weight on.

You know, I put very little weight on with them, But I was maintaining my weight with them, but I felt horrible.

So, 1 day I picked up a book and this book was about nutrition.

This book was called, it was something along the lines of Prescription for Nutritional Healing or Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing.

I didn't know what it was about, but I picked up this book and I started reading the first 10 pages and I was hooked.

Integrative medicine, nutrition, but not just fats, carbs, and protein, more like metabolic health.

And it probably felt empowering because you, when you are dealing with a health crisis, you are feeling very disempowered and because you don't always have control over what's happening.

But I guess reading these books kind of gave you a sense of, okay, maybe I can take control over some part of this.

It gave me some control and it gave me a lot of hope.

And between those 2 things, that's why I ended up reading 150 books that year, because I needed as much hope and I wanted as much control as possible.

And I'm assuming like, you know, I read a bunch of books on nutrition too.

And I don't know if all of them are accurate or true, but I mean, basically like the message is eat whole foods, try to avoid too much meat and sugar.

And was that sort of the main message you were getting from it?

Like a lot of, you know, whole foods, fresh vegetables, leafy greens?

As I was reading these books and reading these ingredients that I should put in my body, these foods that I should be consuming.

I was also reading about ingredients that I shouldn't be consuming.

And the more I read, the more it opened up my eyes.

And the more I realized that these conventional shakes that I were drinking were actually full of all of the ingredients they're telling me not to put in your body when you're healthy, let alone when you're sick.

It was referring to high fructose corn syrup, sugar, genetically modified maltodextrin from corn, genetically modified soy protein, artificial flavors, preservatives.

And I saw these shakes, everyone had them.

You know, all the kids around me on the pediatric floor had them.

So I was under the impression that it was good for you.

But the more I read, the more I realized that even though it said nutrition shake on the front, it was anything but nutritious.

What's so interesting about this is that you came from a family of health care providers, people who know how the body functions.

And even you, even your family wasn't fully kind of clued into this stuff.

And you guys were on the front lines of medical care as a family.

And that's the irony of all of this actually, is not only my family, but I would say medicine in general puts very little emphasis on nutrition versus medication.

And I think for me, we have this full medicine cabinet in our kitchen.

And even during my residency, before I took out a prescription and wrote a script, we would talk about diet and exercise, but in a different way where it was really tangible.

So going back to you and kind of this discovery as a 17, 18 year old kid, you realize that maybe if you start to put different things into your body, you could have an impact on how you felt at the very least.

Obviously, you were still going to have to go through the chemotherapy.

But what did you, I mean, you were having a hard time eating food, right?

So I have to assume you were still focused on a liquid diet.

Even the foods that I loved before, I couldn't even tolerate the smell of them.

So, my mom and I went out, we purchased a blender and every day, you know, we'd go to the market, buy organic fruits, organic veggies, you know, organic protein sources, mix them all together and blend them together 5 to 6 a day and I would drink these.

I can't tell you that they tasted delicious, but the 1 thing that I noticed is that I started to feel a little bit better.

And then I started to gain a little bit of weight and I gained some more energy.

All right, so you get through it and you go on to pursue your bachelor's degree with the intention of becoming an MD.

So you go to UC Irvine and I'm assuming you did pre-med, you were a pre-med student there.

See all How I Built This with Guy Raz transcripts on Applepodcasts

Orgain: Andrew Abraham