Glen Raudanskis is the founder of Mode:, a protein water designed to simplify supplementation without compromise. Each bottle is enhanced with 300mg of electrolytes, three essential vitamins, and 20 grams of protein, without any artificial sweeteners or flavours. Mode: offers two formulations: a whey protein option to support muscle growth and recovery, and a collagen protein option geared toward joint, skin, and hair health. Mode: is focused on delivering the benefits of traditional supplements in a cleaner, more convenient format.
What drew you to entrepreneurship?
I’d say I started to become interested in entrepreneurship in high school, as I saw it as a way to break free and achieve financial freedom, however the financial freedom wasn’t for me, but mostly for my family. My parents immigrated to Canada in the late 90s and worked extremely hard to give me and my siblings the life they wish they had. They instilled that hard work and tenacity in me from a young age and I knew I wanted to return everything they did for me which is why I’ve always been drawn to entrepreneurship, even though I didn’t grow up around entrepreneurs or have role models in that space
My first serious brush with entrepreneurship was during my time at Western in a class called Business 2257, widely known as the Feasibility project. In this project, teams are tasked with essentially building an entire business on paper over 3 months and present that business to potential investors. Students are required to do thorough research, find willing customers, and actually build the theoretical operation of the venture. Using my idea, my incredible team made it to the finals of the competition out of roughly 100 teams through 4 rounds of judging. It was extremely difficult. I remember pulling an all-nighter before the report was due, eating nothing for 36 hours, and then having to “sprint” (as fast as one can sprint off no food or sleep) a kilometre to submit the report. Although it was difficult, I loved working with my team, building all aspects of a business, and pitching it.
Afterwards, I joined a friend’s youth basketball company as a social media manager. Quickly, I became more involved in the business and became the director of operations, helping scale it from a 1-to-2-times-a-week house league program to a 5-times-a-week house league program and seven teams. Together with the founder, we decided to expand our reach nationally and created an overnight basketball camp, allowing kids from across Canada to come and learn basketball from the best trainers. In our second year of operating, I managed to land a partnership with a two-time NBA champion serving as a head coach for the camp.
I learned a lot from those business experiences, including how to scale a business, manage operations, handle mistakes, be proactive, and carry success forward. In the background, I was working on Mode: and decided to leave the youth sports industry to focus on it full-time.
What problem are you solving, and what is your unique approach?
The problem with today’s sports and supplement market is that it’s hard to get the right supplements for your body and goals without sacrificing convenience or healthy ingredients. Most ready-to-drink functional beverages rely on artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols to achieve a good taste or other artificial ingredients like flavours and preservatives. Additionally, they typically only offer one or two nutritional supplements per serving.
Alternatively, powdered supplements may use healthier ingredients, but sacrifice convenience. They require extra equipment like bottles and scoops, as well as time to prepare and clean.
Consumers want something that hydrates like water, fuels like protein, nourishes like a supplement.
Mode: combines multiple supplements into one 500mL bottle without relying on unhealthy ingredients like artificial sweeteners, flavours, sugar alcohols, and preservatives. This allows the end consumer to conveniently get 20 grams of protein, either whey or collagen, depending on their goals, approximately 300mg of electrolytes, and 3 vitamins without sacrificing healthy eating. Mode: enables consumers to reach their health and nutrition goals faster and without compromise.
Additionally, Mode: strategically has two SKUs, one with collagen and one with whey, which each have their own specific benefit and target specific consumers. This is different from our competitors, who either use only entirely whey in their product line, or a mix of whey and collagen, which doesn't allow the drinker to know how many grams of each protein they're getting and whether or not they're hitting their desired nutrition goals.
How did you come across this problem, and why did it appeal to you?
Growing up as a competitive gymnast since the age of 11, and working my way up to being one of the top provincial athletes in the sport, I was interested in strength building and nutrition from a young age. I have always been involved in living an active and healthy lifestyle, even after retiring from the sport, staying on the hunt for healthy foods packed with proteins to support my goals.
After my friend introduced me to a company making and selling protein water in the UK, I thought “Why doesn’t Canada have the same thing? Only make it healthier, drop the artificial ingredients and add some extra benefits to the consumer as well.” I loved the idea of a light, refreshing drink that delivers a whole lot of functional benefits and from that, the idea for Mode: was born.
What are you hoping to accomplish for your start-up at the Western Accelerator?
When I joined the Accelerator, I was most excited for the connections I’d make with our mentors – the Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs), and other experienced professionals who could offer me direct support and insight. I was excited for this because I was hoping they could (and so far have) given me the guidance to get my business to a successful launch as fast and efficiently as possible. Additionally, I was really hoping to be inspired and surrounded by like-minded individuals who would give me the courage and mindset to always continue moving forward. Everyone in the program has been extremely hardworking, helpful, and friendly, and I feel like it’s only made my journey with Mode: more enjoyable and more successful.
I’m hoping that with the Western Accelerator, I can get my business to a successful launch by the end of the program in the most efficient and effective way possible. From getting product validation, a website and marketing strategy ready, to a soft launch plan, retail-ready pitches, and possibly even some purchase orders. I felt the best way to do that was through the connections I make with my peers, mentors, and speakers so I could rely on their guidance, ideas, and experience.
What is the biggest lesson you've learned so far during your time at the Western Accelerator?
The first thing I’ve learned is just how important it is to “get your hands dirty” when starting your business. You want to be lean, make the product yourself to really understand it, bring samples to market to get feedback from actual potential customers, and quickly improve your product. I learned this from Kiran, the head of the program, and Jaymie Crook (our EIR), who have kept pushing and encouraging me as well as others in my program the importance of having deep roots in your business and validating your product in whatever way you can!
In addition to the lesson of learning early on about your product and validating it, I learned how important it is to get consumer insights to support that through the use of surveys and interviews from one of our speakers, Mike Napier. Mike helped us learn how to properly create customer surveys and interviews and how to analyze those results and apply those lessons to your business/product(s).
The second thing that I learned is the importance of digital marketing and how to run digital ads effectively. I’ve gotten to learn about the Meta Business Suite and how to set up ads, what metrics we should be measuring, and what techniques are effective. I’ve learned about the process of using digital advertising to create customers and that part of it is trial and error but how to run that trial period efficiently to learn what works and with a reasonable budget.