In 2015, Christian and Hannah Valencia, a Southern California couple, transformed the fitness bottle industry with a revolutionary product called, the “HIIT Bottle.” The “HIIT Bottle” is a stylish, stainless steel, multipurpose bottle. Coined the “Apple” of fitness bottles, this sleek vial is bisphenol A- free, with double-wall insulation, a firm lid lock, and slim base. The meticulous design and specifications embrace the practical and aesthetic aspirations of the fitness community; even its name, a derivative of “High-Intensity Internal Training,” is a nod to the widely practiced workout by Cross Trainer adherents.
Although the HIIT Bottle is an unassailable success; its simmering allure lies in Christian and Hannah’s successful pursuit of the American Dream.
The Journey from Corporate America to Entrepreneurs
Christian Valencia
“At an early age I knew I wanted to make something great. At thirteen years old, I got my first taste of running a business by re-selling Mexican candy at school. Over the past nine years, I worked as a Business Commercial Consultant with JPMorgan Chase & Co. While helping business owners with commercial and equipment finance, I got to see some of the most innovative startups in Orange County go from nothing to $25 million in annual sales. So, it was self-awareness that really opened our eyes…”
Hannah Valencia
“The fitness bottle industry lacks a sense of a good, fashionable trendy product, everything in the market is plastic or single- walled right now, nothing that really gets my attention. We wanted to create something nice, discrete and trendy; whether you’re working out or walking into a meeting, your HIIT Bottle goes with everything…even with a dress…”
Christian Valencia
“My wife [Hannah] actually came up with the name HIIT Bottle. We knew we wanted to create an aesthetic design and what better name than The HIIT Bottle….it really represents every aspect of our daily activities.”
Success with Family Values
Christian Valencia
“Our business has been created around family values, work ethic and actually caring about the environment- that’s one of the main reasons we are using top quality materials in all of our products. Everything from our packaging to the features of our bottle has a meaning to us that we are very proud of…
It really comes down to our integrating our family values as part of the foundation of our business. Creating a business is the easiest thing you can do; however, staying relevant to others and having a good cause behind everything you do is more important. From time management to learning when to make a family business decision, everything becomes so much easier when both partners are fully on board with the vision of the business.”
Hannah Valencia
“From finding time to exercise to being full- time parents, to growing our business; at the end of the day, it all comes down to time management and learning how to have fun while doing what you love with your family.”
Startup Competitors & Obstacles
Christian Valencia
“I think obstacles are more like personal revenue for every startup. When we started this business, we knew nothing about logistics, product design or even customer service. We are implementing new ideas every day as our business changes. Our goal is to be 100% online within the next five years.
We wanted to create a product with a purpose; nowadays, other companies are more transactional than actually having a purpose as a whole. In 2013, I remember emailing my (now) biggest competitor in regards to the safety features of the bottle cap. After spending a couple of months understanding the type of plastic materials they use in their bottles, I knew we could raise awareness of plastic usage by combining and creating the ideal bottle for my daily workouts, as well as my day- to- day activities. Since 2015, our goal as a company has been to understand the way our competitors do things, such as which materials and sales channels they use, as well as to improve the whole logistics of our business.
Hannah Valencia
“Creating a product from scratch is not easy, nowadays everything contains some sort of BPA (bisphenol A) -from bills to receipt paper to plastic bottles! Our product is currently being manufactured by one of the most knowledgeable stainless steel manufacturing companies in the world that handle some of the top domestic and international brands of stainless steel bottles.
We are growing organically, and sometimes we wish we could grow faster, but at the end of the day, you have to adapt and work with what you have, I mean Rome was not built in one day!! By growing organically, we have an opportunity to understand customer behavior and e-commerce on a whole different scale.”
Strategic Partnerships
Christian Valencia
“Creating a product with a purpose was very important for us; we are more than just a bottle and we want to do everything we can to help others raise awareness for a good cause. Every time we look at one of our bottles, we can tell a story about why we choose every feature and why we work with Crossroads Adaptive Alliance. We are using innovative ways to raise awareness for a good cause for the adaptive athlete community.
Crossroads Adaptive Alliance is an organization that actually speaks to our heart! The organization goes above and beyond by helping everyone from coaches to adaptive athletes. It provides them with educational information on how to re-integrate adoptive athletes on a daily fitness routine.”
Advice
Christian Valencia
“Self-awareness, your business plan will change as you continue to implement new ideas. Staying and waking up hungry every day is a core foundation every entrepreneur needs to learn as they go through ups and downs. Learn something new about your industry. I can’t really emphasize the importance of understanding your audience…learn who they are and where they have come from. e-commerce is changing and you have to adapt to every movement and implementation of the market.”
Hannah Valencia
“Don’t ever underestimate the value of a startup, starting a business is the easiest thing you can staying relevant and having a purpose behind your business is far more important than becoming transactional. Feel proud to make mistakes as they will become personal revenue for your business, every mistake is a new opportunity to improve day to day activities. Starting from scratch and doing all of the day to day activities of your business will make you more valuable as a business owner, everything from understanding e-commerce to your audience to customer service and logistics will make you more valuable than any of the other top CEO’s as far as I know those guys are paying big bucks for someone to manage their business channels…so stay focus, stay hungry and have fun with the process, you’ll be far ahead of your competitors by doing what you do best!”
Goals
Hannah Valencia
“We are growing organically with a strong social push with each of our followers and customers. We want to keep improving year –after- year, version after version. Our competitors are starting to notice us, so we have to stay relevant by continuing to improvise our e-commerce strategies. We want to continue creating the WOW factor on all of our packages. We are very proud of our V3.0 so stay tuned for something new and exciting this November!”
We can’t wait to see what Christian and Hannah do next!
Check their WEBSITE for further information…
