One week after a wrenching presidential election, Jack Owoc’s demeanor somewhat reflects the winning candidate himself: the flamboyant founder of Bang Energy is optimistic and effusive about the future – highlighted by his return to the category this fall with a new drink called Ai Energy – but still seething over perceived injustice and unwilling to back down from certain claims, despite enduring defeats in court. It’s an emotional, instinctive approach that may not align with the prevailing image of a modern beverage entreprenuer, but, as Owoc is quick to remind anyone who inquires, it was the basis for a brand that did over $7 billion in lifetime sales before he lost control.
That track record, with the force of Owoc’s personality behind it, is a big reason why the industry is buzzing about Ai Energy, which starts rolling out early next year in 12 oz cans online and through fitness channel distributors Europa Sports and Muscle Foods. Rather than backing away from some of the supplement claims that caused issues for Bang, Owoc sees an opportunity to further showcase his credentials as the brand’s Chief Science Officer: each can of Ai Energy contains a 700mg “NeuroSync” supplements blend, including 200mg of caffeine, L-theanine, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, CDP Citicoline (for focus and memory), Mucuna Pruriens Powder and Huperzine-A.
Much like with the election, the comeback itself isn’t the end of the story. Owoc is still facing a raft of legal battles – including a $30 million foreclosure suit, a fight over unpaid lawyer fees from his bankruptcy proceeding, and a bid to have the Florida judge overseeing his case disqualified for ethical violations. Yet, having “matured and improved significantly” since his Bang experience, the embattled CEO is unshakable in his belief that he’s about to change the beverage industry, again.
We reached out to Owoc to talk about his new project, and he agreed to answer questions via email. With respect to the subject’s wishes, the following interview is presented with minimal edits.
How does Ai represent an improvement/evolution from Bang? What did you want to do the same the second time around? What do you want to do differently?
We ensured Ai Energy embodies unique health-conscious attributes, building on our pioneering movement with Bang Energy — NO calories, sugar, carbs, gluten, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12 containing cyanide). Additionally, Ai Energy contains no Alpha GPC, which PubMed Research indicates can negatively impact cardiovascular health and cause arteriosclerosis.
Many products contain “natural” caffeine, which has severe environmental effects due to vast plant requirements, contributing to deforestation. Natural caffeine is anything but “natural.” One solvent used in processing it is methylene chloride, a carcinogen. The plants are also sprayed with heavy amounts of pesticides, leaving residues that, along with methylene chloride, cannot be fully removed. I would personally never consume a product containing so-called “natural” caffeine.
Ai Energy is radically different, creating a new energy drink category focused on four critical neurotransmitters to deliver potent nootropic energy via dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine.
All of Ai Energy’s innovations align with a vision for radical differentiation and improvement — bigger, bolder, and more brilliant than past achievements. This fuels breakthroughs in marketing, R&D, product efficacy, and functionality. Everything about Ai Energy is vastly different from Bang.
This launch allowed me to leverage over a decade of NON-AI research, which I used to write my book, containing 1,144 scientific references. [Owoc referred to the text as ‘The Bang Anti-Diet Book, calling it “ a ~400-page blueprint on maximizing human health and performance.” He said the manuscript was lost when his home computer was confiscated on orders of the Judge in his bankruptcy case.]
At 17, my rock band practiced in my parents’ music room when my father, an accomplished musician on six instruments, opened the door and asked, “What are you guys doing?” I replied, “Practicing.” He responded, “When are you going to get out and play?” I could’ve kept refining Ai Energy, but with superior packaging, efficacy, taste, and functionality already in place, it was time to heed my father’s advice and get out and play.
Rather than follow the directionless energy drink market, Ai Energy has created a new, uncontested space and set the path for energy’s future. Just as I led market innovation with Bang Energy, I’ve done the same with Ai Energy — but to a much greater extent.
How is the company being financed?
Ai Energy is entirely self-financed through the profits generated from its own sales. I deliberately chose to build this brand from the ground up with zero outside capital, just as I did with VPX and its products like Redline and Bang Energy, which ultimately achieved over $7.25 billion in sales. I started that journey with nothing but determination, even sleeping on an air mattress in the back of my store while teaching high school three decades ago.
Taking on external financing often means relinquishing control, and when you give up control, you open the door to potential mismanagement—sometimes on a massive scale.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen firsthand how that can happen, as it did with Bang Energy, where billions were lost due to decisions by people who did not share my vision. I’ve learned the hard way that retaining control allows me to make rapid, decisive moves and adapt to market trends, continuously innovating and staying ahead in an industry that, too often, is slow to change, cumbersome in distribution, and lacking the agility to meet today’s consumer demands.
By staying independent, Ai Energy can avoid the pitfalls that often come with external investors and remain focused on bringing fresh, impactful innovations directly to our customers.
How are you able to finance despite bankruptcy proceedings and a foreclosure lawsuit?
The Ai Energy brand is under an entirely new multi-member LLC called Neural Nexus.
Is this brand looking to move beyond fitness? Why callouts to “euphoria” and “mental focus”?
Ai Energy is already way beyond just fitness. “Ai Energy is the potent nootropic, feel good phenom!” Whether you are an athlete, businessman, student, gamer, musician, etc. it’s highly likely that you will absolutely love this beverage to improve your craft. For example, I [have] played drums since third grade and in many bands over the years. I can now play complex rhythms, beats and fills using Ai Energy that I’ve never been able to play in my life prior to this. It allows you to focus on a task like a complex Paradiddle-diddle rudiment using both hands and both feet in a polyrhythmic fashion that I just couldn’t achieve without it. This requires tapping into a significant amount of neural processing capacity that just isn’t going to happen with a cup of coffee.
Some surveys have shown that “AI” can be a turn off for some consumers. Is that a concern at all?
AI [when] mismanaged and in the wrong hands according to Open AI cofounder-expert Elon Musk and others warn us that it can possibly be used to destroy mankind. It’s a double-edged sword. On the other hand if you don’t embrace AI technology, it’s likely that you’ll become irrelevant and obsolete as an entrepreneur or business. People also rejected the Internet. Technology always has a positive upside and a dark downside.
Great leaders have to be early adopters, who harness the power of technology and use it for the good of humanity. AI was only used to create the packaging [for Ai Energy]. The liquid innovation came from 30 years of perfecting my craft and studying science and novel ingredients for over three decades.
What is your strategy to grow distribution? Why start in the fitness channel and how do you envision scaling out from that channel?
I launched Redline and Bang in the sports nutrition fitness channel as well as many other multimillion-dollar powder and capsule formulations with my good friend Eric Hillman of Europa Sports exactly 30 years ago. I launched VPX sleeping on an air mattress in the back of a 350 square-foot vitamin store. This sports nutrition empire evolved at our peak where we operated in ~4 million square feet of real estate. This sports nutrition launch strategy accounted for over $7.25 billion in VPX/Bang sales over the past three decades. Celsius, C4 and Ghost also followed the same sports nutrition launch strategy and represent the lion’s share of growth and acquisition activity in the energy drink segment.
Needless to say, launched by the creator of the most successful brand ever in sports nutrition, THIS STRATEGY WORKS! Sports Nutrition is in my DNA and I will always appreciate and support this industry. I love the fitness channel. Every person that hits the gym has a huge influence over their peers. Every person that works out also has many other hobbies and interests that transcend and influence others beyond fitness. This is why Ai Energy will dominate as the new lifestyle and fitness phenom. In addition to sports nutrition distributors, we’re also launching some very powerful DSD powerhouses. [Owoc declined to disclose the names of those DSD distributors.]
Ai Energy has remarkable marketing, packaging, efficacy, flavor, and functionality. When a product is worth remarking about it spreads like wildfire in social media channels and is destined to become a multi billion dollar brand. Ai Energy is a once in a lifetime beverage whose viral message has already spread like wildfire.
Do you feel you need to earn the trust of distributors again? What is your pitch to them?
Let’s clear up some confusion here. There is nobody on planet Earth that distributors trust more than me.
Like Mr. Wonderful of Shark Tank, distributors want to make money. Distributors trust me to make them money and this is why we can’t even keep up with the dozens and dozens of amazing distributors who have reached and continue to reach out to us. Distributors know that Ai Energy is the next multi billion dollar unicorn and they are as excited as we are to become partners once again for the third time.
A great deal of these distributors are down and out with everything that has happened to them recently. That has all but destroyed their business. I’m taking personal responsibility for their success and extremely grateful that this is the third time many of them have come back to distribute brands that I have created. These are some of the most wonderful individuals on planet Earth. We launched Redline energy drink exactly 20 years ago and distributors and retailers shared in $1.25 billion in lifetime sales. Then we launched Bang Energy and distributors and retailers again shared in a $6 billion gold mine. In fact, Bang is the only brand on planet earth where Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi did billions of dollars in retail sales and now the Coca-Cola distribution system is set to also do billions of dollars and Bang sales over the next few years!
The only thing I’ve heard from distributors is compliments, encouragement, and a strong desire to do business and have Ai Energy the driving force in their beverage portfolio.
Why was it important to become chief science officer again when claims around “Super Creatine” were what caused so many issues previously?
A better question might be, who would Neural Nexus/Ai Energy appoint as chief scientific officer, other than Jack Owoc with who has commissioned 31 double blind placebo controlled gold standard studies utilizing real human test subjects at prestigious, learning institutions, including, but not limited to, UCLA, Florida State University, Baylor University, Memphis University, Nova University, and many others? Who would be appointed to CSO when Jack Owoc was 100% responsible for creating and signing off on every single product innovation and flavor that ever came out of VPX for three decades — innovations whose sales have eclipsed $7.25 billion? What scientist out there has personally created two energy drinks: Redline Energy that eclipsed $1.25 billion and retail sales, and Bang Energy that eclipsed $6 billion in sales? And finally, who has the ability to create Ai Energy, exactly two decades after Redline was launched, to once again radically disrupt and breathe new creative life into the stagnant energy drink market?
If you can think of anybody, please let me know so I can take some time off and go big game fishing down in Costa Rica. In the meantime, we have serious things to accomplish.
In regard to SC, let’s be careful not to confuse legal warfare and weaponization of the law with science. Ask yourself the question, why would the court forbid me from ever even mentioning the “C” word and violate my first amendment free speech rights if their legal conclusions were correct? Keep in mind this case is under appeal and all of this will soon be reversed. TWO judgments came out of California totaling about $460 million in the same exact day. Nothing to see here folks — it’s all just conspiracy theories.
What kind of functional and ingredient claims can you make with this product and how will those make their way into marketing?
We have to engage in a deeper understanding of how certain ingredients can have an additive effect or synergistic effect. In other words, an ingredient profile that works together where the profile as a whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I’m not going to make any claims at this time. I don’t need to make any claims because the novel Ai Energy innovation speaks for itself.
What I will do is tell you how I designed Ai Energy to work: It was designed to deliver a powerful positive, uplifting, vibrant, and energizing effect using ingredients that work in concert to improve motivation and mood. Scientific research indicates these ingredients may also boost critical neurotransmitters, including dopamine, epinephrine, epinephrine, and acetylcholine which play key rules and muscle activation, learning, and memory they may also improve brain and body energy beyond caffeine alone. I designed Ai Energy to use a multi-factorial approach to boost dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline and acetylcholine.
Ai Energy was designed to deliver a powerful positive, uplifting, vibrant, and energizing effect using ingredients that work in concert that may improve motivation, memory mood, and motor skills. Ai Energy needs no claims because people trust the products I make because of the street cred I’ve earned over three decades producing revolutionary products backed by 31 double-blank university studies.
What else can you tell us about your team and the people running the company with you? What are the company’s ambitions?
Right now I give credit to my amazing wife, Megan Owoc and Paul Borrelli. It was these two remarkable individuals who have worked with me to launch Ai Energy. It was the three of us that were responsible for the success of Bang Energy and, it’s the three of us that achieved the impossible once again with Ai Energy. My personal vision is to raise up a decentralized Anheuser-Busch distribution system powerful enough to go head-to-head with Coca-Cola.
How will your approach as CEO/founder be different this time around? How will your leadership style reflect your personal experience from Bang?
I certainly learned many lessons over the past three decades at Vital Pharmaceuticals/Bang Energy and during this time have matured and improved significantly as a result. I’ve made literally hundreds of mistakes that I will not make again in the future.
Any entrepreneur entering into this industry has to understand that if you create a billion-dollar brand, you’re likely to have billion-dollar problems created by other envious large corporations in the beverage industry. These giants no longer create anything healthy, exciting, disruptive or revolutionary and seek to destroy those who do.