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Prior to co-founding LIFEAID Beverage Co. with Dr. Aaron Hinde in 2011, Orion Melehan…
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Orion Melehan shared thisI'll be at our booth at Expo West next week. Excited to showcase our Hydrate and Creatine innovation along with our 2026 brand refresh on our RTD skus. Who's going?
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Orion Melehan shared thisThis week marks two major milestones: 15 years in business and the year I turned 50 - two moments that feel deeply intertwined. When Aaron Hinde and I started the company in 2011, we were in the heart of a recession. We were both in financial peril, searching for a way to dig ourselves out. But we had a few things working in our favor. We had built a strong friendship and open dialogue. Our kids got along amazingly well. And we had the unwavering support of our spouses. Perhaps even more importantly, we had stress...and resolve. We saw a beverage market that felt stagnant and ripe for innovation. So, with the perfect blend of naïveté and ambition, we threw caution to the wind and declared our new venture to the world. LifeAid would revolutionize the sport and energy markets by AIDing your body with nutrients - not just quenching your thirst or jacking you up on caffeine. One long night, we bought the domain GolferAid.com for $12. In fact, we probably bought over 100 AID domains that night. We knew we were onto something simple, elegant, and, most importantly, overlooked. But it wasn’t overlooked for long. The day before launching GolferAid into the world, we trademarked FitAid. That moment cemented my belief in collective consciousness: if you’re thinking it, someone else probably is too. The day after we filed for the FitAid trademark, a group across the country in Florida filed for “FitAde” in the same category. Had we waited just one more day, our legacy SKU -and perhaps our entire story - might have ended before it truly began. Fifteen years later, the story is still being written, and Aaron and I remain at the helm of what started as a little experiment. We’ve watched companies leapfrog ahead of us. We’ve seen others raise multiples more capital, only to crash and burn. This is one of the toughest industries to survive in - and I’m grateful I didn’t fully understand the long odds back in those early days. Today, I’m simply grateful. Grateful that we’re still here. Grateful that we get to do what we love. Grateful to be building an enduring brand that helped push this industry toward better-for-you, innovative products. I’m grateful to our team for their relentless dedication to making LifeAid a household name. Grateful to our investors for their patience as we’ve stumbled forward. And most of all, grateful to our early adopters and brand evangelists - the ones who believed before it was obvious. Because of all these things I’m grateful for, I’ve never been more confident that we’ll be here for another 15 years.
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Orion Melehan shared thisGot this LinkedIn message from another beverage founder startup today. It caught my attention as it’s perhaps the strangest (and vile) DM I’ve ever received. A younger (more self-conscious and less successful) version of myself might get riled up over it. But I decided to let it lie until it dawned on me that I should to leverage it into some marketing jujitsu 😊 Pro tip for entrepreneurs: if you want to build bridges, don’t open by tearing people down – especially if they’ve been successfully in the game for 15 years. That’s not how you win friends, influence people, or build a network that lasts. Now, let’s talk about the word he used — “healthy” or supposed lack thereof: I’m 50 years old: · Walk 20+ miles a week · Mountain bike, Peloton, weight train and do functional fitness, play pickleball, ski, and walk while I golf · Been in and out of CrossFit since 2009 (where I met my business partner and changed my life) · Not on any prescription drugs · Resting heart rate: 47 bpm · 6’1”, 228 lbs — sure, I could drop 10, (and have at various times) but aesthetics ≠ health I also enjoy my wine. I’m GenX: work hard, play hard, live hard. So what does “healthy” mean? To me, it’s: · Longevity over vanity · Mobility and resilience over six-packs · Quality of life > Instagram highlight reel Sure, I care about how I look and want to arose my gorgeous wife who I’ve been with for 27 years, but I stay realistic about my goals. I’ll never have a 6 pack as I’m not that genetically gifted but that’s not to say I don’t care about how I look or feel. I’m constantly striving to be a better version of myself, and those goalposts are constantly moving. And that’s at the heart of what we stand for at FitAid: being there alongside our consumers on their real health journeys — not chasing some unrealistic aesthetic. If I founded a brand that claimed to “burn body fat,” he might have a more salient attack 😊 So I’ll throw it back to you: what’s your definition of healthy?
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Orion Melehan shared thisSome new ways to Supplement Your Lifestyle!Orion Melehan shared thisMost brands start with dry supplements and later move into ready-to-drink (RTD) products. At FITAID, we did the opposite. After 14 years of leading the functional beverage space with clean, effective RTDs, we decided it was time to bring that same standard of quality and transparency to the supplement shelf—where many of our community members already shop, but often from fragmented brands. Today, I’m incredibly proud to announce the launch of FITAID Essentials—our new line of premium dry supplements designed to support performance, recovery, and everyday wellness. The Essentials lineup includes: Creatine Monohydrate (Creapure®) – available unflavored, or naturally sweetened zero-sugar Watermelon Rush and Fuji Apple Magnesium Glycinate – for recovery, relaxation, and muscle support Methylated B-Complex – for clean, bioavailable energy Vitamin D3 (5,000 IU) + K2 – for immune and bone health 💥 Check out our launch video below and let me know what you think. Excited to hear your feedback—and more excited to see how this next evolution of FITAID supports your goals. Orion MelehanEmily S. Erik Lucas Michael Murphy LIFEAID Beverage Company, LLC #fitaid #supplementyourlifestyle
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Orion Melehan shared thisFor those of you that didn't get to see me and Aaron Hinde present at BevNet Live last week, here's the link. Some great tips for brand builders. Our featured presentation starts around 1hr 7min. LIFEAID Beverage Company, LLC
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Orion Melehan shared thisThrilled and honored to be a speaker alongside Aaron Hinde at the upcoming BevNET.com Winter Conference on December 8-10. This will mark my fourth presentation at BevNet. This year's presentation will focus on the steps we took to build LIFEAID Beverage Company, LLC into a durable and profitable business in the highly competitive and expensive beverage space. We are very proud of this accomplishment and excited to share our key learnings and journey through this transformation. If you're a beverage entrepreneur or an operator, you wont want to miss this! See you soon!
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Orion Melehan shared thisThe most exciting part of my job is bringing innovation to the market. We just launched two new flavors of our top selling RX Zero SKU with Encapsulated Creatine from CreaBev. Sweetened with monk fruit and stevia, we worked on these flavors in-house for over a year and they came out delicious. That's no small feat for a naturally sweetened, zero sugar beverage. We are letting our customers decide which one will stay and which will be retired based on sales. Which one do you think will win? Drop a comment.
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Orion Melehan shared thisWhen I started LifeAid with Aaron Hinde, I racked up $100K in credit card debt to fund personal expenditures as we didn't take a salary. We are now featured on an Amex business commercial. The irony isn't lost. What a journey it's been. https://lnkd.in/gkADikWT
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Orion Melehan shared thisA rocky and windy 2023 paved the way for a smooth roadmap for success in 2024 and beyond.Entrepreneur vs Operator: Notes on my 12 year journey at LifeAid entering 2024Entrepreneur vs Operator: Notes on my 12 year journey at LifeAid entering 2024
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