Don’t Rush the Recipe: Projo*’s Journey to National Distribution

In this episode of Recipe to Revenue, Charbel Mawad, co-founder of Projo*, talks about his painstaking, multi-year journey to engineer the perfect high-protein coffee. While competitors rushed to market with “coffee-flavored shakes,” Charbel spent years in his garage solving a physics problem that manufacturers said was impossible.

The standard startup advice is “move fast and break things.” Charbel Mawad did the opposite—and it landed him in Target.

Watch or listen to learn more about:

• Why experts said his 25g protein coffee was “physically impossible”
• How he engineered the formula in his garage like “Breaking Bad”
• Why slowing down R&D allowed him to bypass competitors
• Why Farmers Markets are better than retail for product validation
• The “Trojan Horse” strategy for disrupting the coffee aisle

• Why patience and repeat purchases beat fast revenue growth

Whether you’re a founder feeling pressured to launch or a product developer stuck in the weeds, Charbel offers a powerful lesson: sometimes the fastest way to national distribution is to take your time.