[NE Log] Nutropic Lab's Lee Jung-woo... Introducing the Magical Drink That Conquered Seoul National University Vending Machines

Editor's Note[NE Log] is a video content series produced for companies selected in ‘NEXT ELEVATION,’ a startup accelerator program established by Asia Economy.

Hello, I am Lee Jung-woo, CEO of Nutropic Lab, a startup that develops and sells food, beverages, and health functional foods using nootropics.

Actually, although I am not hypochondriac, I take great care of my health and pay close attention to it. In fact, I take about 10 different pills daily. It was during this process that I first encountered nootropics. At that time, I had no intention of commercializing it; rather, I thought, ‘Lately, I feel like I’m getting a bit dull, so maybe I should try this?’ and tried to purchase nootropics from overseas. When I searched for nootropics on Amazon intending to buy some, I found that many nootropic substances and products either could not be shipped to Korea, were not approved by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, had side effects, or were outright illegal to import. Nevertheless, I really wanted to try nootropics, and that led me to start studying the nootropic market with the thought, ‘Why don’t I develop nootropics myself?’

If you search on Amazon including the North American and European markets, you will find over 2,000 products under the keyword ‘nootropic.’ The market in North America and Europe is growing rapidly and significantly. However, in Korea, many people are still unfamiliar with the term ‘nootropic,’ and the market is still in its infancy.

Although the Korean market is still in its infancy, the overseas nootropic market has already been proven and is growing rapidly. I concluded that this wave will soon reach Asia, including Korea. Seizing this business opportunity, I started the business believing that developing safe and healthy nootropic products that can be used in Korea would have a good chance of success.

From an Ordinary Office Worker to a Startup CEO

Actually, I majored in business administration. My first job was in Yeouido, and then I worked at an investment bank in Hong Kong. After that, I participated in a fintech startup. I had some startup experience, and later I worked at a hotel. Since the hotel was in its early stages, I had to experience zero to one in the setup process, similar to my previous startup experience. During that time, I was in charge of marketing and branding for about two years, which was unrelated to finance. So, along with my financial knowledge, my successful experience in marketing and branding gave me confidence for my next startup.

I realized that playing a role in a well-established organization and actually starting from scratch (from zero to one) are really different things. Now, I have no specific role and handle all tasks from A to Z. This is a completely new experience compared to what I had before, and actually founding and running a company myself has made me feel much greater responsibility and weight.

Team Composition and Key Points in Team Building

My co-founder, partner Nam Kwan-gyu, has an unusual background. He was once a theater actor and later became a well-known math academy instructor in Apgujeong. Now, he is majoring in Korean medicine and is my co-founder. The person in charge of brand management originally started in marketing and even handled online MD, and I persuaded him to join the team. He is now working day and night. Also, I thought that branding is essential for the product to last long, not just simple marketing. From a branding perspective, I naturally thought that design should be in-house, so we have one designer on our team.

In-house

Work performed by internal members or teams rather than outsourced personnel. When a project is conducted in-house rather than outsourced, continuous and fast communication is possible, making it easier to enhance, maintain, and repair the service.

As our recognition grows, the workload is increasing rapidly, but since we are not a large organization, we cannot hire more talent proportional to the workload, so we are expanding work within the same limited personnel. Our biggest concern is how to overcome this workload saturation with the current team while encouraging each other.

Nootropics and PureFocus

Regarding PureFocus, if I said, ‘Lee Jung-woo, who used to work in finance or marketing at a hotel, made something good for the brain,’ no one would probably believe it. So, I went to Seoul National University three times to persuade them, and together we co-developed our first product. If you look at our can product label, we call it a ‘smart drink.’ Most energy drinks, about 99%, contain caffeine, but PureFocus contains no caffeine at all, unlike other energy drinks.

It contains no caffeine, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or colorants?all substances harmful to the body are excluded. That is why we named our product ‘Pure.’ When you think of energy drinks, you probably think of Red Bull or Monster. Red Bull is often associated with F1, and Monster with UFC. However, our product focuses less on physical stimulation and more on students studying, office workers concentrating on work, or anyone needing immersion in any situation. We developed the product by excluding caffeine and including substances that can actually help brain activity.

In Korea, excessive caffeine intake among adolescents is a serious issue. Nowadays, students drink high-caffeine beverages like Monster or Hot6 while studying. It is heartbreaking that even middle school students?not just high schoolers?are drinking high-caffeine drinks and staying up all night studying. The side effects of caffeine and caffeine addiction are problematic even for adults, but regular caffeine intake from a young age can cause even bigger problems for adolescents. For example, students who drink caffeine from middle school reportedly do not grow tall. Another recent major issue was a case in the U.S. where a college student died after drinking a high-caffeine energy drink. Actually, studying is not about staying up all night but about doing it efficiently, and health should come first; it doesn’t make sense to prioritize study volume over health.

So, it was very unfortunate, and even so, I wanted to develop a drink that helps study efficiently while taking care of health. Actually, when people are stressed or fatigued from work, some take caffeine or drink alcohol after work thinking it relieves stress, but medically, these behaviors increase stress. Although we are not a health functional food and cannot claim such effects, one of the main functions of the theanine component is tension relief and stress reduction. To label it as a health functional food, it must contain at least 250mg, but our product contains about 116mg. The theanine content in an appropriate amount helps the brain express alpha waves, which appear in a meditative or focused state. So, I drink PureFocus in the morning, and at night, since I am married and don’t drink alcohol, I relieve stress by walking or doing aerobic exercise, which helps a lot.

Nutropic Lab’s Goal and CEO Lee Jung-woo’s Dream for the Future

Since nootropics are still unfamiliar in Korea, we believe that our mission is to first widely introduce nootropics to Korean consumers. So, even if it costs more, our first goal is to raise consumer awareness of nootropics. The global energy drink market is estimated at about 100 trillion KRW, with Red Bull and Monster dividing 80% of the market. Our goal is not to launch a new energy drink in this market but to change the paradigm of the energy drink market itself and take market share by 2030 using nootropic energy drinks or nootropic smart drinks, aiming to become the global number one in nootropic drinks.

Secondly, we will continue to launch products using nootropics. We have plans to launch a new product in December and more lineups next year. Our ultimate long-term goal is to become the number one nootropic brand company that first comes to mind when thinking of nootropics in Asia.

When thinking about Korea, traditional remedies like Chongmyeongtang from Donguibogam or ginkgo leaf tea from ancient China were believed to be good for the brain. In fact, one of the main nootropic ingredients today is ginkgo leaf extract. So, this is not a completely new concept. Recently, new substances have been developed, and the efficacy of existing substances has been proven, which is expanding the industry. Although there may be concerns or misunderstandings about side effects, there are many nootropic ingredients with purely beneficial effects and no side effects. We will use these to make good products, so we hope consumers approach nootropics with an open mind and try our products without hesitation or resistance.