Are You Absorbing Your Supplements? A Better Way to Take Vitamins with Aastha Shrimal

EP 46. Most of us have a cabinet full of half-used supplements, collagen powders, and gummy vitamins we mean to take consistently, but probably don't. In this episode, I chat with Aastha Shrimal, founder of AIM (All in a Minute), to talk about why the supplement industry may be overdue for innovation. With a background in pharmacy and branding, Aastha breaks down the problem with traditional pills and gummies, and shares how her product, MeltinStrips — dissolvable oral strips — could make wellness routines simpler, more effective, and easier to stick to. We also talk about building a startup as a new mom, simplifying wellness habits, and what founders often get wrong when trying to solve a real consumer problem. 

In this Episode:

• Why supplement bioavailability matters more than what the label says and the difference between what you put in your body and what your body actually absorbs 
• The hidden issue with pills, capsules, and gummy vitamins 
• How MeltinStrips work differently from traditional supplements 
• Why simplifying your supplement routine can improve consistency 
• What founders can learn about customer research, product testing, and asking better questions 
• How motherhood changed Aastha’s approach to business, prioritization, and product innovation 

Resources:

• Check out AIM & MeltinStrips: www.aim-nutrition.com
• Follow AIM on instagram: @nutrition.aim
• Book mentioned: The Mom Test
• Help Aastha with a kids product: Take this Survey

Guest Bio:

As a pharmacist, Aastha Shrimal knew a secret the supplement industry was ignoring: there is a far more efficient and effective way to absorb nutrients than swallowing bulky pills or sticky gummies. She founded A.I.M. Nutrition to bring that clinical insight to life, engineering MeltinStrips to deliver clean, fast-acting vitamins that simply dissolve on the tongue. Today, she’s revolutionizing everyday wellness, all while navigating the beautiful chaos of startup life and embracing the joys of being a new mom.

Transcript

Aastha 0:00

I personally just hated swallowing pills and gummies. They would always get stuck in my throat, or I had to always work out the right time to take something.

Kat 0:10

This is well done. A space where we explore the mind skin connection, living in alignment, and what it actually means to live well and look your best. I'm your host Kat, a beauty industry insider, mom of twins, and someone who suffered from severe eczema before realizing that true beauty is an inside job. We don't talk about surface level quick fixes here. This is about real insight, practical tools, and learning how to listen to your body. Let's go. Hi, wellbeings. Welcome back to another episode of the Well Done Podcast. I am willing to bet that most of you listening have a drawer or a cabinet filled with bottles of supplements, collagen powders, gummy vitamins that you've probably forgotten about and have turned into sticky blobs. While I'm excited for today's guest. Her name is Aastha Shrimal. She's the founder of AIM Nutrition, which stands for all in a Minute Nutrition, and she has done something brilliant. So she has taken common supplements and transformed them into something that truly fits in your pocket for on the go, and it also dissolves on your tongue within 60 seconds. So this conversation is going to challenge how we think about supplements today. Whether or not the current protocols that we're following the regimens we're following are actually delivering anything useful to our bodies Aastha the welcome to the show.

Aastha 1:22

Hi, Kat. Thank you for having me.

Kat 1:24

You are changing the way that we. Take supplements. I want to go back to the time where you realized this was even a problem. Tell us about this specific frustration or experience that you had that made you realize you wanted to change how supplements are taken.

Aastha 1:40

It's actually before I realized this was a problem. I'm a pharmacy student. So this goes back to the first time I was compounding pills in the lab. And it felt so strange because there's active ingredient and then there's the binder or a filler, which is mostly cellulars or something like that, to hold a pill together. You use two different measurements for a two different scales. Like, you are designing a delivery system, which has 1% cargo and 99% container.

Kat 2:09

Mm-hmm.

Aastha 2:10

So it felt very wasteful, For this amount of active ingredient, we are mixing this much of a binder or a filler. And then when I was working with luxury brands, later on, when I was doing my MBA, I realized how beauty brands are deploying so many efficient delivery methods and cutting edge science to put things on her face. Micro encapsulation and a bunch of different things, right? You're always trying to optimize how a cream or a serum could work, so there's a big gap towards something that you're putting in your body, which is not efficient at all. You're literally working off of 19th century science versus you're doing all this research and optimizing what you put on your face. And once I went into my thirties, I realized it's a problem that I should do something about. And this is how AIM was formed. We designed these oral dissolvable strips which bypass your digestion and goes straight to your bloodstream.

Kat 3:14

That's amazing. So how come this industry has not been. Innovative, the way that beauty has, it's, you know, 2026, why are we still taking supplements that are in capsule form in this manner?

Aastha 3:26

There's a couple of reasons. First it's likely more expensive to manufacture and, and. Because it's a very precise dosing. You obviously can't put all supplements in this format. There's micronutrients and macronutrients. So I'm not saying that, oh, this can replace all the fiber you need in your body, or all the proteins that you need. You can't put that in a tiny strip. But for some nutrients that you need in micro quantities, this works wonderfully well. So one is the size problem. Second it's expensive to do. Third, there's not enough education around it.

Kat 4:09

That makes a lot of sense. So when you were first researching this and looking into it, were there specific vitamins or supplements that immediately came to mind that you were like, this, it needs to be changed for this specific vitamin or supplement was there something in your mind that stood out?

Aastha 4:25

I'm gonna have to think back to this.

Kat 4:27

Okay.

Aastha 4:27

Because I was focused on the form factor. Mm-hmm. I personally just hated swallowing pills and gummies. They would always get stuck in my throat or I had to always work out the right time to take something. To not to have terrible gut issues, with a lot of pills. I would get both bags or feel really uncomfortable after taking'em. So I would have to figure out, oh, this one I need to take before breakfast. Oh, this one I need to take before bed. And it's just so much mental math and planning that you're doing as if we don't have enough. I just wondered. Something simple that you can take and it just works. Forget about it. It should be easy. Not making my life harder. The reason I'm taking a supplement is because I want to simplify things. Not over complicated. I started focusing on the forms, talking about which specific nutrient to do. We've actually kept it pretty simple so far. We have a simple energy thing that was born out of de frustration with. Messing up my sleep with coffee. So it's something as simple as that. Like if I'm working out in the evenings, I just want something, you know, to give me that energy without messing up my sleep later in the night.

Kat 5:41

Got it.

Aastha 5:42

Or have to worry about oh, let's put 200 milligrams of caffeine in your body, which you see in all the energy drinks. I would feel very sick after doing that. So it started off as simple as just put what you need in your body, don't overdo it.

Kat 5:58

With normal supplements, is it usually the fillers and those types of ingredients that would upset your stomach I kind of just take mine. You know, In the morning, after I have coffee, but it's probably like the worst time to do it.

Aastha 6:11

Imperfect science. If you remember how the digestive system works, and we all studied this, right? Everything goes to your stomach, it gets broken down by stomach acids, then it goes to your liver to do that first pass mechanism where everything is filtered out.

Kat 6:27

Yeah.

Aastha 6:27

So what you put in your body does not equate to what your body takes from it. Input is not equal to uptake and which is essentially the definition of bioavailability, right? What you have put in your body, that's not how much your body would get, and it's such an imperfect science. Like I mentioned. It depends on what you've had before or after the meal, how your body works, what it's breaking down, how much of it will it take so You might think it's like, oh, I got a thousand percent of daily, which you would see on a label, and it's like, oh, great, I'm sorted. Right. No, that just makes for a very expensive thing that you put in your body and you didn't get any of it. It just passes right through.

Kat 7:15

How does using something that melts on your tongue access or, or be more bioavailable, can you walk us through how that works?

Aastha 7:22

Okay, so I did tell you how the traditional route goes, right?

Kat 7:26

Yeah.

Aastha 7:26

Which is how every food would be breaking down if you took a gummy, which is essentially candy. It would go down, get broken down, and god knows what your body's taking from it. What a strip does is it gets absorbed. Through your mouth, which is a trans mucosal route where it is not going through your digestive route at all. It's getting absorbed by your bloodstream directly. So that breakdown doesn't happen at all. You just bypass it all together.

Kat 7:55

Got

Aastha 7:55

it. Which is why you don't need as much as you would because you are accounting for the breakdown.

Kat 8:02

That makes sense. So going back to your example about your energy strip, right? So you're saying that you could probably take one of those in the evening and then not feel the, if I drink coffee, let's say after 2:00 PM I'm gonna be jittery all afternoon and evening. Like I can't fall asleep. So if you do something like a strip that, that melts quickly, it gets, it's more bioavailable quickly then is that also mean that it just gets metabolized more quickly then I should be okay.

Aastha 8:30

Exactly, and for jitters, we actually added Ashwaganda to it.

Kat 8:34

Okay.

Aastha 8:34

Ashwaganda, you know, is just great for calming everything. So you balance out 40 milligrams of caffeine with Ashwaganda, so you won't feel the jitters. It won't give you that spike. It would be more of a mellow energy, which would not mess with your sleep or cause any jitters.

Kat 8:53

Got it. Okay. So you have an energy one, you also have a collagen, right? And biotin, I believe.

Aastha 9:01

We have a sleep one, which has biotin. There's a lot of brands which sell biotin as a beauty supplement separately. It brings me back to how I wanted to simplify things. So instead of doing different products, I try to combine things to make it more efficient and easy for something that I would use. I don't want to use separate products for everything biotin. Works for your hair and nail and you know, restoration, which happens better when you're sleeping, which is why we put it with our melatonin. Those two can work together while you are in a rest of state. Gives you a chance for your body to, really use that stuff. That makes a good sleep and, and I took maybe the word beauty sleep quite literally while designing that. We have the collagen product as well. Like you mentioned I'm not sure if you got to try it or not. It contains collagen with hyaluronic acid and Resveratrol. So it's not just collagen because I'm trying to give your cells. More of a signaling compound and also protect the collagen that you already have. So the plumpness comes from hyaluronic acid and Resverat rol is a compound that is found in grapes which helps your body fight oxidative stress or UV damage. So making those cells stronger, so protecting what you already have. While infusing it with hydration and collagen, which is essentially what our beauty strips do.

Kat 10:40

And can you take them all at the same time?

Aastha 10:43

Yes, you can, because it's a,

Kat 10:45

just a strip.

Aastha 10:46

Do you need any strip? And it's not, you don't have to worry about, oh, what is the. Counteract, obviously don't take the energy with sleep because you don't want to do that at the same time.

Kat 10:57

Right.

Aastha 10:58

But the beauty one you can take pretty much anytime.

Kat 11:02

Yeah. It's so funny because. When I first met you, I was thinking about all the supplements and the powders that I have in my cabinets, and I have a giant jar of collagen powder and I have all of these other just capsule supplements. And I was just thinking how nice would it be to just have like. All of that in the, like, throw that all out. And then, you know, I have this in my, your strips, in my pocket, in my purse, and it's just easy. I put

Aastha 11:28

mine in my phone case.

Kat 11:29

That's a good one. So are you planning on adding more to the range?

Aastha 11:34

I do, but it's still. I want to start doing this for kids.

Kat 11:39

Oh, okay.

Aastha 11:40

Because it's something that I've been figuring out how to do. And as you know, I'm a new mom, so I'm kind of trying to get ahead of the curve. It was so difficult to give her medication the first time I've had to give her those gas drops or even the Tylenol. It's been hard. Yeah. So as she grows up, she'll need multivitamins. So I'm trying to figure out how to give the dose that she needs in the format of a strip. I haven't really figured this out exactly yet. The difficult part is going to be the payload to make sure that you add all the micronutrients necessary without compromising on disintegration time.

Kat 12:23

Mm-hmm.

Aastha 12:24

I have tried to keep the disintegration time to 30 seconds. For all the strips till now, because after that it would get irritating, right? Because you have just something stuck to the roof of your mouth. So I wanted to vanish before the kid has the chance to spit it out.

Kat 12:42

But if you make it taste good, your child might be okay with it. My kids have been sick and they. Have this cough syrup and it tastes like honey. Right? It's so sweet. And so they actually want it. they're like more medicine, which is probably a bad thing that they know. They're like, we want medicine. But whatever tastes good, they're gonna gravitate to. So maybe it'll also be a fun format for them to put it in their mouth and you can count to 30 with her. Maybe it becomes like a, fun, fun

Aastha 13:11

ritual ritual.

Kat 13:12

Yeah, like a fun ritual, fun game.

Aastha 13:14

But with cough medication, you're not taking that every day. Right. I'm not trying to replace medicine. I'm trying to do multivitamin. Something that you have to do every single day. Right. And I don't want to give sugar to my child every single day.

Kat 13:27

Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. Have you had challenges trying to educate the customer on this new format and method? Because, it is different. It's still hard to, I think, make the switch to try a new habit and to get rid of all of the supplements that you've already purchased and invested in. A lot of us have subscriptions, to these, to these companies. So how, how has that been trying to educate?

Aastha 13:48

It's been challenging because we always have that volume bias, right? It's like, oh, I'm just getting a hundred milligrams. What if I'm getting. 10 grams. So that's a big difference, right? So there's that volume bias, and you can't always challenge every single product out there. Like, okay, I'm not trying to fight your protein. Take as much protein as you want, but maybe something like melatonin, you don't need as many gummies. You don't need to put 20 milligrams. In your stomach, the five milligram dose is not working for you because your format is incorrect. It's not getting broken down. Plus it, it's just so imprecise. You just mix everything in a jar so you don't know what exactly you are getting in that one specific unit. Yeah, that's been challenging, but what has been great is once someone gets to try it physically, I always compare it to mint strips because people have seen those.

Kat 14:46

Yeah. It's easy to understand.

Aastha 14:48

Yeah.

Kat 14:48

Do you have any plans for, I know you said kids vitamins, but what about for pregnant or like prenatal, postpartum type of supplements?

Aastha 15:01

I had a terrible experience trying to find the prenatal vitamins that worked for me because I would feel like throwing up all the time. And these were like the best available things out there. I tried putting them in the freezer and taking them cold. It, it was tricky. I'm gonna be honest, but doing that in strip format is not possible with the current signs. Okay. Because you need things in the quantities that we can't actually put on a strip.

Kat 15:33

Got it.

Aastha 15:33

Maybe once it catches up, we are constantly innovating and figuring out how to do things better, how to get. More caffeine onto a strip, so maybe we can figure out how to get more multivitamins on it. Some molecules tend to be larger, so. It messes up with the strip.

Kat 15:54

Oh, I see. Okay. Let's talk about you being an entrepreneur and a mom. I think you said when you had your child, you just launched, right? What were some of those challenges early on when you became a new mom in trying to juggle a new business?

Aastha 16:09

It was a crazy ride. So I spent a lot of time in r and d and this is before I was pregnant, so I could travel, really figure out the exact. Formulations. I wanted to do the flavor, the packaging, so that part took a lot of time and it's wonderful that I had the time and the resource to resources to really focus and, get that done properly. A lot of people, especially in the tech industry, there's that concept of MVP, right? Just launch and then figure out the rest. I wanted to take it in a different manner. I wanted to do these things properly from the get go, so the right packaging, the right flavor, the right formulation. So that took a lot of time, I'm gonna be honest. And when we finally narrowed down and our first batch was, fully launched, I found out I'm pregnant. So it kind of happened at the same time, it restricted a lot of physical events that I would have done with the launch to do and promote trials and travel in the first year of business. Mm-hmm. Because that coincided with pregnancy and being a new mom. But at the same time, it also gave me good perspective. And a push to do things well. I also learned how to prioritize things better because in my mind, I'm constantly making decisions, right? To do this, to do that, what takes precedence. So it has kind of helped me figure out what needs my attention right away and what I can do later.

Kat 17:52

How do you figure out what is more important? How do you block your time or how do you figure out like what to prioritize and what can wait,

Aastha 18:01

you know, that matrix about what is important and

Kat 18:05

urgent?

Aastha 18:06

How much urgent? Yeah. So I'm just constantly plotting things that cross and once I make a choice. I don't second guess it. This is where this is plotted. This is where it's going to stay I made a choice, so don't feel guilty about it.

Kat 18:20

Yeah,

Aastha 18:21

I might decide to sit down and the minute later I think of something else, it's like, no, I made a choice. Let me finish this task at hand and then I will get to it.

Kat 18:29

That's a good method to not distract yourself.

Aastha 18:33

Doesn't that happen to you? You would start to sit something down. I was like, oh shoot, I remembered I had to do that. and it's not just professionally, you are just juggling so many things in your personal life as well, right?

Kat 18:42

Mm-hmm.

Aastha 18:43

I was like, oh, I need to order clothes for the next size. But no, I need to finish this.

Kat 18:49

That's funny. It's, yeah, I, I've also liked that it's like, oh, I forgot to make their snack for later today, or I forgot to do this. But what are some things that you do for yourself to stay grounded? Is, are there wellness routines that you follow? Do you take other supplements in addition to your strips?

Aastha 19:07

I take my multivitamins the prenatal vitamins and I also take iron because I figured out I'm anemic, so I need the iron. I've been taking that for myself. I started working out again because there was a big. Pause there. So restarting to work out. Getting out there doing simple walks kind of gives you good reset. So I try to be religious about those.

Kat 19:38

Do you have any moments where you feel. Guilt about not spending more time with your, with your baby, because that's the one thing about being an entrepreneur and a mom, right? I feel like I'm constantly trying to weigh the, that,

Aastha 19:51

think of it this way. Doesn't that help you figure things out better? Is like whatever you're doing, you chose to do that as opposed to being with your baby.

Kat 20:01

Hmm. So it needs to be

Aastha 20:03

important enough. Yeah, clearly it's important. Yeah. So that way you cut out a lot of unnecessary tasks. and being an entrepreneur allows me to work from home, so I generally get a lot of time with the baby. I'm very fortunate to be able to do that so that I have more flexibility in my routine. Maybe I can coincide if I need to really drill down and work on something, I can do that during nap time or. Me and my husband can take turns.

Kat 20:33

What are some challenges being a new founder and coming from a pharmacy background, was there anything that you feel like you learned about yourself or any advice that you would give to a new founder? So

Aastha 20:45

this is something that I realized after talking to a lot of people, because I come from a pharmacy background. I assumed everyone knew about things, but I was wrong because you get so involved in something, you assume subconsciously that other people might also be thinking the same things. So you have to let go of that bias. I also read this really nice book, which I think everybody should read. It's called the Mom Test.

Kat 21:12

The mom test? No,

Aastha 21:14

it's essentially saying that if you ask your mom, oh, what do you think? This is a good idea, your mom's always going to say yes because nobody likes to be impolite on your face. So to get unbiased opinions out of someone to test any product or get any idea, you need to remove that bias because you need authentic opinions. So how to ask the right questions. How not to pitch, essentially, because once you pitch an idea, nobody you know is going to say, oh, that's a terrible idea. Do you ever think your mom's gonna say anything about an idea? People want generally, or even if they said it's a good idea, that's not something they might spend their money on.

Kat 22:02

It's like they like it, but they're not actually going to buy it.

Aastha 22:04

How, How important is that problem for them to solve? Would they spend money to solve it? Something might just be a minor inconvenience, but that doesn't mean they're going to replace what they currently have in place. So to how to ask the right questions, how to get out of your own way, and how to inform people without being preachy. That's a constant struggle from the background I have.

Kat 22:30

Yeah. So how do, so in this book that you're referring to, like how do you ask the right questions? What's an example of how you would reframe so that you get the truth and not, you know, a nice comment like somebody's just giving you positive feedback all the time. Like, how do you actually get the real feedback?

Aastha 22:47

You get the real feedback by asking people what they do, not what they think.

Kat 22:52

Okay,

Aastha 22:53

so you would ask with what you prioritize and what do you currently do, like asking you what supplements do you take? Do you like it? What's your problem? Do you do anything about the problem that you have?

Kat 23:07

Okay,

Aastha 23:07

how much money would you spend to solve that problem? And you know, things like that. Are you actually looking to solve that problem? Sometimes some things are just minor inconveniences, which we don't even want to solve. Is that a priority for you?

Kat 23:23

the other thing too is people will say that they're willing to buy something, but then they actually don't. Don't end up buying it. Right.

Aastha 23:31

I think I'm also constantly learning this is you don't pitch. Mm-hmm. You just ask what they actually do. What are the things that they have tried to do instead? So focus on behavior instead of intention.

Kat 23:47

Got it. Okay.

Aastha 23:47

cause behavior tells you more.

Kat 23:49

Yeah, that makes sense. In the example of supplements, if you ask somebody if they're currently satisfied with their routine. What are you finding is the pain point that would get somebody to actually, change their behavior that you've identified specifically with your product?

Aastha 24:06

It's narrowing down on the problem that somebody has, because all our products are so different. They solve a bunch of different problems for everybody. I'll give you an example. I met somebody who was addicted to caffeine from college days where used to energy drinks and 20 cups of coffee a day. I'm not kidding. Literally 20. And this is somebody who was already using my product and the person told me that they are actually. Using the strips like a nicotine patch, not putting on the skin. Yeah. But basically how you use a nicotine patch to get rid of that. Feeling too smoke. So you give yourself small doses without having to go through coffees and then you are constantly fighting gut issues or peeing all the time. So, which was interesting because I did not pitch, someone came to me and told me this is what they're using for, I had never thought of this use case. That somebody who might be addicted to caffeine would use a strip to get rid of that habit.

Kat 25:09

That's interesting. Yeah.

Aastha 25:10

So that happens when you ask open-ended questions like what problem are you looking to solve? Like this is not a use case. Honestly, I had thought off.

Kat 25:21

That's an interesting way to approach the caffeine situation.

Aastha 25:25

For some people coffees have become too expensive.

Kat 25:28

Yeah. So is all the other supplements.

Aastha 25:30

That is true. But like you weigh$6 latte to less than a dollar strip.

Kat 25:37

Mm.

Aastha 25:37

So the math is mathing.

Kat 25:39

You're right. If you were to look back, what kind of advice would you give your younger self knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your younger self who's, who's starting out on a, this kind of journey?

Aastha 25:50

Keep an open mind because I feel like there were a lot of things that I could have figured out without doing trial and error.

Kat 26:00

Hmm.

Aastha 26:01

If I just kept an open mind instead of basically, you know, throwing everything at the wall and figuring out what sticks. Pick your battles. Hmm. Like, okay, this is what I want to try to do first. Otherwise, you're spread too thin. If you try to do everything, it's like, oh, I'm gonna work on five different channels and, because I made something, people would come, no, they won't. They don't know it exists. So. Being more thoughtful of the whole funnel and working on each part of it.

Kat 26:33

Yeah. That's a lot for are you a team of one person or do you have some people helping you?

Aastha 26:38

Oh, no, I have we work with some freelancers and my, I have a really nice co-founder who's my brother, and he can help with a lot of things, especially while, you know, my priorities were divided. One person has to keep the eye on the ball.

Kat 26:55

Right? Yeah. I mean, that's another thing too with starting a business is finding the right people to, to take some of the things that you can't do or to balance out your own skills and your own, like your own strengths. Right. Does your, does your brother have a science background or a business background or,

Aastha 27:14

he has a business background as well as a manufacturing background.

Kat 27:17

Oh,

Aastha 27:17

so that compliments. My skillset, which is more branding and, you know, pharmacy related. It's also an alignment of being able to communicate with each other, right? Because we know we can say things to each other without hurting the other person's feelings. That is important because you should be able to say what you want. And challenge each other's opinion. And that's something sibling can do well

Kat 27:51

yeah.

Aastha 27:51

Because you have so much practice.

Kat 27:54

Yep,

Aastha 27:54

Yeah. And I can put my ego aside with a sibling.

Kat 27:58

Yeah.

Aastha 27:58

So we can challenge each other and not worry about hurting their feelings.

Kat 28:05

what's next for aim? Do you plan on adding any other types of products under the AIM nutrition umbrella,

Aastha 28:12

no. Right now we are very focused on. Putting melting strips out there. We're doing more in-person activations because as I was telling you about it, most people don't know it exists. And it is a lot different when you get to see the product and try it for yourself. Right? There's a lot more confidence once you see it. You know how a pills work. You have tasted gummies before, so you wouldn't know if this works for you until you try it and see it in person. So we are doing a lot of in-person activations. Going to markets, doing college campus events. Events at gyms. So we did something for a marathon. So things like that. Doing in-person activations.

Kat 28:54

That's smart. The trial part is very important for something like this.

Aastha 28:57

If you just saw the box somewhere, would you ever pick it up?

Kat 29:01

Well, you wouldn't know what it is. You wouldn't make the connection.

Aastha 29:04

Exactly. Yeah. Which is valid. I didn't know this. I'm honest, I didn't, I assume that if I just make it, someone would buy it, which obviously sounds very naive, but something that you learn along the page.

Kat 29:19

Yeah, yeah. But you're not in retail yet, right?

Aastha 29:22

It's on Amazon. It's on our website. It's on TikTok.

Kat 29:26

Yeah, because once you go into retail, I think that's where your ch your, your challenge is you're sitting alongside all of the other known supplement type of brands. And the box is different. Like you're used to seeing a jar or a bottle of pills. So like to see the square. Square box.

Aastha 29:45

And you see those, oh, 60 gummies. 60 capsules, and then you see 30 strips, but you forgot that this is. The serving size is two pills, so it's literally a one month supply.

Kat 29:56

Mm. I've, I've found that people don't do the math though. The consumer just does not equate when they're looking at, they don't get that part.

Aastha 30:04

Yeah. Or you just read, oh, this percentage of dietary value should be wonderful. Yeah. What a bargain.

Kat 30:10

Right. Exactly. Any other last thoughts about the supplement industry or any other advice you wanna give to somebody who is, who wants to achieve more wellness and more balance in their life?

Aastha 30:22

Yeah, keep it simple. You are using these supplements to simplify your life. Keep it simple. Don't make choices, which are hard to keep up, If you were doing powders or you have to mix it into something and you have to drink it every day, you have to make it. It's a big ritual and a big commitment, which honestly you might not do every day. Pick a routine that works for you and your body.

Kat 30:50

I agree with that. I have your strips next to my bed the sleep one. And that is a good way to habit stack.'cause I'm getting into bed and I see it right there. And because it's not a pill. I don't need to go get water to take it.

Aastha 31:02

Yeah. And you don't need to like, oh, now I need to brush my teeth again because I have gummy stuck to my teeth.

Kat 31:07

Yeah. That's a good point too. Yeah. A lot of people take it after they brush their teeth.

Aastha 31:12

Once I'm in bed, you can't make me get up.

Kat 31:15

Yeah, exactly.

Aastha 31:16

Unless there's a crying babies, because then you have to.

Kat 31:19

Yes. So how can people learn more about Aim and yourself?

Aastha 31:24

Well, you can go on our website. You can go on our Instagram page and you can just reach out to me if you have more questions. On email, on LinkedIn, I'm available.

31:36

All right. Now for the takeaways, and I apologize because I'm recording this outro after this episode was recorded. And as you can hear, I lost my voice, so bear with me. But this was such a great conversation. One of the biggest takeaways that I got from talking to Aastha is that so many of us have cabinets just full of supplements, and we take them on autopilot. Most of us don't know what's really in them we don't know how they're dosed. We don't know how much our body is actually absorbing. So this conversation really opened up my eyes in terms of analyzing. Now what is in my cabinet? Do I need all these capsules? Do I need all these gummies? What kinds of fillers are being used and not just assuming that more product means. A bigger dose automatically or better results. Second, I loved Aastha's approach to juggling competing priorities. Just make a decision to do something, finish the task in front of you, and then stop reopening every choice midstream and allowing yourself to be distracted. This is just a great way to manage overwhelm and to not second guess yourself every five minutes. And finally, this is for anyone who is in marketing entrepreneurship, founders. I'm definitely taking this with me as I build my own brand, but Asta pointed out that in order to address real pain points with your customer, you have to uncover their behavior, not just their intention, because it's what they do or not do. That will give you clues into real use cases and whether or not you're actually addressing the right problems. If this episode got you thinking differently about supplements and habits, I'd love for you to share it with a friend. Send it to someone whose supplement drawer is maybe overflowing. And if you've been enjoying the show, please leave a rating or review as it does help other people discover the show. And if you're not already following, well done. Make sure you are, because we have so many more conversations coming on beauty, wellness and what it really means to feel good from the inside out. Until next time.