Living Your mainelove: Austin Williams and the Maine Blue Index

CEO and Co-Founder of mainelove, Jen Millard, had a fascinating chat with Sea Street Founder Austin Williams about all things water, Maine, the local economy, developing new business, and the Maine Blue Index.

Sea Street is a private-sector economic development firm accelerating Maine’s future economy. They build the infrastructure, relationships, and field-tested tools that support business growth, unlock investment, and advance real economic outcomes.  

The Maine Blue Index is their first initiative. It's a real-time map of who’s shaping Maine’s water economy—from aquaculture and next-gen marine technology to drinking water. And mainelove is proud to be part of the index!

Transcript

Jen Millard 0:04

Welcome to Living Your mainelove, the podcast that celebrates the people who are living with passion, purpose, and a whole lot of heart. Each month we'll sit down with people who are following what lights them up in Maine and beyond. Welcome, Austin. Great to have you here today.

Austin Williams 0:20

Appreciate that. Yeah, it's great to be here.

Jen Millard 0:22

Yeah, would love to talk to you today about what you're working on in economic development and the blue economy. But let's start with you. A recent Mainer!

Austin Williams 0:32

Yeah, yeah, recent Mainer. Through the looking glass for a long time, right? I think uh we'd been in Boston, my wife and I, we'd always been thinking about where we might go next post-Boston. We had our our first child, Owen, he's four now, uh, in Boston. We were always looking up, you know, the highway, saying, like, how do we get up to Maine potentially? And I had roots here. My uh grandmother has a place in in Perkins Cove that we visited growing up and was always thinking like what would be the route to get up here. And that was back in 2020. And then I was really fortunate, you know, I was in economic development previously working for the mayor's office in Boston, and there was a headline in 2020, right, you know, right as COVID was blowing in, right as a pandemic was blowing into town, which was that uh Dave and Barbaro, who are now well documented here in town, were putting $100 million into Northeastern University to start something called the Rue Institute, which was this really exciting and ambitious economic development uh mission and vision. And I knew the team at Northeastern pretty well and was able to get in touch with that team, and then I was part of the team that started the Rue Institute here in town. And so, you know, still in pandemic, everyone's working virtually, so I wasn't quite up here as often as I would have liked, and took a little bit longer, few adventures later, but in late 2023, we finally found a house in Scarborough and we're right by the beach, you know, we're less than a mile away.

Speaker 2 1:49

So you're Mainer mission is accomplished.

Austin Williams 1:51

Mission accomplished. And then, yeah, for the purposes of economic development, uh and our conversation today, you know, we're something that I'm excited to talk about is the Maine Blue Index, which Maine Love is part of, and and that's tied to something called Sea Street, which is uh a new economic development effort that we're starting to help Maine grow, you know, really helping grow.

Jen Millard 2:11

Yeah, let's start with Sea Street and uh and what what's the mission and and how did the organization come to be? You know, most economic development groups typically have uh government adjacency. And I was drawn to your organization because it it was an authentic group.

Austin Williams 2:27

Yeah, it's uh it's private sector, and I think that goes part in parcel having again been in government. You need to have both. You need to have the structure there and then the grease in between the wheels that helps things move sometimes a little bit faster than the broader structure moves. And so I saw an early opportunity to say how do we create some systems that are maybe lacking in Maine, create some conversations and some interest and some buzz that's maybe lacking in Maine, uh, that would be advantageous to where the state has just a tremendous amount of potential. And one of those spaces is the blue economy, which I I know we're gonna talk about. And so Sea Street's entire mission is to help nurture that future economy. And one of the ways we're doing that is through tools. And so data, tools, things like the main blue index.

Jen Millard 3:11

Amazing. Amazing. Well, I know I sent you an email out of the blue. You did, uh, literally out of the blue. Um, you know, it appeared that most of the blue index, if not all of the blue index that was at least available for me to see, yeah, were all ocean-based uh entities.

Speaker 5 3:29

Yeah.

Jen Millard 3:29

And I sent you an email that said I'd like to be included in the blue index for Maine Love Water.

Austin Williams 3:35

Yeah.

Jen Millard 3:36

How did you find my email?

Austin Williams 3:39

That was a busy day, but you were one of the first. Um we went live with the Maine Blue Index, and I'll just I'll take a step back. What the Maine Blue Index is is it's a living map. It's uh the living map of Maine's blue economy. And believe it or not, it's the first time that we've been able to really visualize and see that that economy in its entirety, which is surprising because it's such a key part of the state's heritage and a lot of the attention that's being put forth today. But that's what it's meant to do, is to capture the activity that's happening in that space and and to begin to allow for decision making and connections and many things that uh will come about. But that day we had gone live that morning, and instantly there were a bunch of companies that were submitting, and there were some people following and some people talking about it, and I was just so excited over the moon to see that.

Jen Millard 4:22

Amazing to see that come to life and feel it as a founder and all that.

Austin Williams 4:26

Yeah. And then a company called Main Love submitted, it was like 2 p.m. or something like that, and I was like, I know this name. And so I I knew it and I recognized it from the Hearts of Pine from the Soccer team.

Speaker 2 4:37

Yeah, we're this water sponsor for the Hearts of Pine.

Austin Williams 4:38

And what and what uh Gabe's been building here in town is like such an awesome effort in itself. So I took a second look. I was like, okay, main love, we read about this. And you had taken the time to write like a really thoughtful submission because part of the main blue index is submit companies that aren't listed in there. And we we launched with 300 companies a month ago, and it's well up and over that now already, which is great. So the submission engine is is is working and doing what it's supposed to be doing. But you were one of those companies, and I started reading about what Maine Love was doing, and you know, the blue economy traditionally is uh it's been tied to the ocean, and industry definitions, again, as someone who's worked in economic development, like they're notoriously fickle. And I'm not someone who likes to be particularly dogmatic about really anything in life. I think there needs to be a little bit of you know touch and go. And so, you know, you think about some sectors like fintech, maybe. It's pretty uh easy to understand what that is. Like, okay, financial technology, usually at the the breaking part of the wave. But blue economy, you know, we're we're talking about a color. So we're like, okay, blue, like not even really accurate if you think about the color itself.

Speaker 5 5:36

Absolutely.

Austin Williams 5:37

But it is a word, it is a uh a badge that's existed at scale, and people have used it to usually describe things that are tied to the ocean, or efforts that are tied to the ocean, or economic efforts that are tied to the ocean. And I think there's more to it than that. You know, I think there is a big sense of connectedness of water and the elements of water and the ecology of water and the Well we are big about you know, water drives community. Sure.

Jen Millard 6:03

Since the origin of time, water drives community, you know, watering holes with animals, lions lay down their claws, they don't eat antelope at watering holes, you know.

Speaker 2 6:11

Yeah.

Jen Millard 6:11

So we really uh one of the reasons we lean so far into sports, for example, is uh, you know, community of fandoms. But fandom, community, alcohol replacement, no single-use plastic in event stadiums. Yes, you know, where we can have the biggest impact.

Speaker 4 6:26

Yeah, it makes sense.

Jen Millard 6:27

Um and so we're really focused on uh, you know, event stadiums, colleges. Yeah. Obviously we do the retail around those engagements, but it's really that where can you make the biggest impact? The biggest impact are at stadiums that have thirty thousand people that are that do not have an aluminum option.

Austin Williams 6:45

Right, that's right.

Jen Millard 6:46

So we're really trying to be the alternative to single-use plastic with the best water in the nation in 48.

Austin Williams 6:52

Yeah.

Jen Millard 6:52

Um, from Maine. And so proud of the source.

Austin Williams 6:55

Of course.

Jen Millard 6:56

The name is on the can.

Austin Williams 6:57

But therein lied the connection right there, right? It was sort of you and the submission you wrote effectively widens the aperture that I had previously taken to say, like, okay, you know, when we're gonna launch this main blue index, it's going to capture the blue economy as previously defined as something that would tie to the ocean. And in that moment, I said, there's an opportunity to make this bigger and make it a bigger tent because it has to be bigger, and there is more that ties to it, and there is an element of water stewardship, which is exactly what it's like. Absolutely, Maine Love is doing. And so I appreciate that because you were at the vanguard of sort of a newer definition and a more holistic definition of something that is incredibly important for the state uh to be paying attention to.

Jen Millard 7:34

Well, I came back to Maine with an intention. I was I uh I've been spending summers here. I was born in Wyndham, I'm 12 generations Maine. If I'm gonna come home to Maine, we're gonna do something big.

Speaker 5 7:45

Yeah.

Jen Millard 7:45

And I'm trying to do something big for the state. And I think we set at a point in Maine where we've relied on traditional agriculture businesses to be our foundational economic values.

Speaker 4 7:58

Yes.

Jen Millard 7:58

Um, those will probably not change. How do we add additional things like the Rue? I mean, Barbara's and her gift and and the institute have been an amazing opportunity I think for Maine to focus on data and data jobs and and getting people uh skilled to take those jobs.

Speaker 4 8:16

Yes.

Jen Millard 8:16

Um however, I have personally found it difficult to find people to hire uh in Maine with those skills. So we obviously have some work to do.

Austin Williams 8:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes too it's tied to you know, there's a having been in economic development for a long time and business development for a long time professionally, there's a truism, which is that you can't grow what you can't see. And that was part of the reason we started the Maine Blue Index was because I know that there's a ton of opportunity for the blue economy. There's also a ton of buzz right now from the state, there's a lot of energy into this uh area, and yet it's remained fairly chaotic. Uh I think it's been hard to find the time, the structure, the speed at which to begin making things real. And so start with information, you know, start saying what's on the shelf. And from there, you can begin to grow, you can begin to strategize, you can begin to make policies that affect the thing that you can now see, which before you didn't really have your finger on the thumb of. And that was the case. You know, part of the reason and started the main blue index was I had looked and said, like, what is the main blue what is the blue economy here in the state? And it was scattered. And so now we have a place that includes aquaculture, main love, research, autonomous robots, surf shops, and all of the amazing companies that comprise an incredibly important sector to the state. And so finding talent is always, you know, wherever you go, uh having been in that space, workforce development and economic development, is always an issue. But I think a lot of the times it has to do with visibility. And water is part of Maine's heritage, and I think it infuses a lot of people's mindsets here in the state. I think it shapes our identity, it shapes how we act with each other. Uh interestingly, one of my questions is if you could bottle the spirit of Maine, what would it entail?

Jen Millard 9:58

And I think that's the answer.

Austin Williams 10:00

That's a very poetic question. If I you know, I I I yeah, the water , a lot of places of the water, right? If you kind of think back over time, like the development of cities and towns, a lot of places, particularly in the US, are of the water. Uh their early economies were shaped by the water, and their early jobs were shaped by the water, and the people were shaped by the water. But at some point, uh for a lot of those cities, I'd probably count Boston in this, you know, the water became secondary. It became a nice to have, it became a view, maybe that you paid top dollar for. It didn't become something that shaped the state's destiny or the economic destiny of the state. And I don't think that's the case for Maine. I think in Maine it it is part of who we are.

Jen Millard 10:38

And so to the point where it's uh a little taken for granted. Sure. Um, you know, when I first started touring breweries and meet and meeting people, you know, I've been away a long time. Yeah um you know, the first answer I would get was, you know, Jen, if you want water, just go get some out of the faucet. What are you doing? You know, I was like, that's actually the point. That's actually the whole point, is that I've lived in areas of water scarcity. Um I've lived like California, I've lived in areas with, you know, accelerated uh development like in Austin where infrastructure just cannot keep up with the uh you know influx of people and buildings, you know. So my water is not attractive when it comes out of the faucet. They it's legal to drink.

Speaker 5 11:20

Yep.

Jen Millard 11:21

But I don't know many people who drink it. That's right. And so coming home here has been a really interesting year. We just crossed our year anniversary. Congrats. Um, thank you. It's been an amazing, amazing year. We just crossed 200 stores in Maine, the Hearts of Pine, heading down to Boston.

Austin Williams 11:38

Nice.

Jen Millard 11:38

But the product is built for people from away.

Austin Williams 11:41

Yeah.

Jen Millard 11:41

People who have the affinity of Maine.

Austin Williams 11:44

We'll pull some people off the Maine by way of Boston. By way of water, right?

Jen Millard 11:47

And kind of started uh actually reinforced. I was in Austin, I'm in an elevator, young lady gets on with a a Maine t-shirt on. I'm like, Oh, I just got back from Maine.

Speaker 5 11:57

Yeah.

Jen Millard 11:57

Were you where were you in Maine? She's like, Oh, actually, I went to school in Boston.

Speaker 5 12:01

Yeah.

Jen Millard 12:01

Which means she went to Harvard.

Speaker 5 12:02

Yep.

Jen Millard 12:03

Went to school in Boston. But the comment she made was, um, my best memories of college were the weekends I spent in Maine.

Speaker 5 12:11

Yeah.

Jen Millard 12:12

And that's it.

Speaker 5 12:13

Yeah.

Jen Millard 12:14

That's the essence right there. That's the that's the feel of the brand of I'd like to be in Maine. Totally. Totally. Uh, you know, we're humble, we're proud people, hardworking. Right. How do we take that? Just not here for vacation. Yes, and and then the ability to your point on sort of the starting with data.

unknown 12:32

Yeah.

Jen Millard 12:33

You know, it's a CPG company. This is all about five SKUs and the data around five SKUs. Um, but it is ultimately a product and data business.

Speaker 5 12:42

Sure.

Jen Millard 12:43

How do we how do we build more of them in Maine around the blue economy? So I'd like to think that we're a leader in what we're doing to show that uh I often get told, Jen, you're moving too fast. You're moving too fast. Like this is actually how you do it.

Austin Williams 12:57

Not in this day and age.

Jen Millard 12:58

This is how you do it, right? Uh a year up to be regulated.

Austin Williams 13:02

Forgiveness, not permission, that's correct.

Jen Millard 13:04

Correct. So in Maine, I have um have been a little controversial.

Austin Williams 13:09

Good. Um because otherwise controversial.

Jen Millard 13:13

Well, with your economic development answer, the answer I usually get is something uh to the effect of, you know, Jen, you haven't been in business a year. We're not capable of funding you.

Speaker 5 13:24

Yeah.

Jen Millard 13:24

I'm like, then you're not really a seed fund, are you?

Speaker 5 13:27

Right. Yeah.

Jen Millard 13:28

So the ability to access resources not for ideation.

Speaker 5 13:34

Yeah.

Jen Millard 13:35

Plenty of resources in Maine for ideation. But where I sit in commercialization, my access to capital in Maine is nascent for growth. I must go outside of Maine to find growth capital. How do we with your background and and your perspective, how do we how do we start that momentum in Maine? Because obviously businesses can't grow if a bank is saying, Jen, I can't give you a loan because you don't have three years of history. Now I know from starting other businesses that I'm already ahead.

Speaker 5 14:05

Yeah.

Jen Millard 14:06

At one year, I'm not gonna wait three years to be underwritten by any of the banks in Maine, and this is not to be discouraging to other entrepreneurs to discuss things with banks in Maine. But the basic underwriting process does not meet a venture mindset.

Austin Williams 14:20

Right, sure.

Jen Millard 14:21

So coming from Boston, how do we fix it? How do we how do we think about that?

Austin Williams 14:26

Believe it or not, I mean that problem exists everywhere. Even when I worked in Boston, um you talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs. I mean, my I had a mandate which was attract the Amazons of the world to Boston, but also support the startup ecosystem in Boston. And uh those are important because you have to sort of protect each of those.

Jen Millard 14:41

I've done a lot of work with Mass Challenge. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Austin Williams 14:44

Phenomenal organization. And you talk to entrepreneurs in Boston a lot of times, it's like what's what's holding you up? What's preventing growth? And access to capital. And that's surprising. You know, Boston is full of capital.

Jen Millard 14:53

But for healthcare and for like significant businesses that have good CAMs that have ownership.

Austin Williams 15:14

And that's unfortunate because you then lose a lot of potential businesses and opportunities to the Bay Area. I remember the mayor of Boston, the former mayor of Boston used to say uh one of Boston's biggest exports is its talent. And that was kind of always interesting to hear. I guess that's the thing. Yeah, all leaving the East Coast and going elsewhere. And Maine has a similar dilemma that it's run up against. And I think the difference is to your point, sometimes it's a little bit about uh almost like a learned helplessness or a learned risk aversion, and that can become infectious. This sense that, ah, you know, we don't do that because it is inherently risky, and that's what I feel. That's what I feel is like it's it's entrenched in the culture. Yeah, but if you're for you to be doing this and to be leading the charge in spite of that risk aversion is now actually ideally creating some appetite to try something new. So in those banks, in those you know, venture outfits who previously might have been a little bit more hesitant to now see proof of concept, of course you're having to do it the hard way, which is not ideal, but if they can see it, they can believe it. And ideally, the more we have that happening, you know, you leading the charge on things like that, now we can start to unlock some of that capital too.

Jen Millard 16:28

And I think that's you know, my personal mission, you know, I built a bunch of software companies in the fintech space, but I've not built anything in Maine. Maine has not gotten a tax dollar from Jen Millard in a very long time. Um and I uh like to have a place to create a place that enables young people to remain in Maine.

Speaker 4 16:46

Yes, absolutely.

Jen Millard 16:47

So my team is very early in career. I feel like I'm running a business school. Um very early in career, but with incredible passion and incredible energy about Maine.

Speaker 5 16:56

So that's what I'm gonna say.

Jen Millard 16:57

Why do we want them to leave? We don't want them to leave, we should keep them here. So we need to create companies to show them that you can stay.

Austin Williams 17:04

That's right. And I think that it was it reminded me of something we were talking about earlier, which was Maine's relationship and history with the water, right? And so I think you can't grow what you can't see, you can't support what you can't see, you can't get a job at what you can't see. And so if we know for a if we know this to be true, that Maine's water and Maine's water access and ocean and lakes are incredibly important to people here in Maine that shaped people's personas and how they act. So we know that to be true. We know people are leaving or maybe not staying in Maine because they don't think the opportunities are here. And so you could start to make a case that why don't we show them what's here in the thing that they potentially care about most? What do they care about most? Well, they really care about water. And so now we have with the Maine Blue Index uh several hundred organizations that are operating in the sphere of water, whether it's aquaculture, whether it's something else, whether it's Maine Love. And so can we tap into that inherent joy that people have about the water here in Maine to say you can not only can you stay here, but you can stay here and you can work at a place that actually is going to motivate you on a much deeper level than just a a paycheck.

Jen Millard 18:01

I would say the love of Mainers for Maine Love has been incredible to watch. People are, you know, I get uh every day I open my inbox to a joy of of people who are, you know, we're so proud of what you're doing, and you know, thank you for um thank you for doing the water economy where the water, the money for the water stays in Maine. So we've tried to be very intentional that, you know, there's brewers have capacity, they're already connected to the water system. How do we help them diversify revenue? And then how do we enable into a master brand, right? So it's distributed manufacturing, sure. You can take it from multiple places. Ultimately, it's the same base product to make uh a bigger expression so that brewers can focus on making amazing beer, but they have some revenue diversification that enables them to keep their people employed all year. Most brewers, you know, lay people off in November and hope to find them again in May.

Speaker 4 19:00

Yes, I never know.

Jen Millard 19:02

How do we keep people employed? So the job creation, interestingly for me, and retention is retention at brewers will be greater than the amount of this job this business can actually be run with a few big brains, I suspect.

Austin Williams 19:18

I think that's also part of the story at some point to say not only jobs created but jobs saved.

Jen Millard 19:22

Well, interestingly, because of some of the way the state works with economic development or fame, the financial authority of Maine, which has been a wonderful supporter of Maine Love or lovely. But their uh, you know, their initial instinct is that, you know, to be risk averse. And so really what I feel like my role has been over the last year inside Maine is to show people how how to do it.

Speaker 4 19:49

Yes.

Jen Millard 19:50

And so I now have a lot of entrepreneurs in Maine that have actually been asking to come to work at my warehouse. Can I just work where you are, Jen?

Austin Williams 19:58

Yeah. All right. So learn through osmosis.

Jen Millard 20:00

Learn through osmosis. So I see the same groups at startup Maine. Yes. A lot of those, you know, businesses that struggle from ideation to commercial.

Speaker 5 20:09

Sure.

Jen Millard 20:10

And so really trying to show by example that this is how you do it. It can be done here. It might take a little extra muscle, it might take a little extra emotional control and pushing, but this is how you do it. And that you can make an impact. The other thing that I my great joy is working with students. So I give a lot of my time to the Halloran lab at Colby College, which is an entrepreneurship program at Colby. But there's a lot of students who believe that they have to be a Mark Zuckerberg and that they are not successful unless they have launched some, you know, metaverse.

Speaker 5 20:47

Um by the time they're thirty. Right.

Jen Millard 20:49

I'm fifty-seven. I'm coming home to show that you make a difference at any age.

Speaker 4 20:53

Yes.

Jen Millard 20:54

At any time. You've moved to Maine with intention to make a difference. And so how do we get more of people like us with your economic development hat on? What would what would Maine what would Maine need to do to get more of us?

Austin Williams 21:07

I think it's doing a lot of it already. Part of it is that action. I think it's the bias for action of the maybe the few versus the many, but folks like yourself who, in spite of perhaps the advisors or the the folks that said, uh, maybe don't don't try that out, just go and do it anyways. And I think the same opportunity exists for the blue economy here in the state. Like we've been talking about that economy being uh what I would consider a right to win for Maine. Uh, and I mean that economically speaking. I mean that we can be competitive and win in that sector. But in order to win, you have to take some risks. And you have to the more you put yourself in a position to win, the more you're kind of putting your neck out there. And so I think if we can lead through example by saying, like, let's get some activities and such a main thing, by the way.

Jen Millard 21:54

You say what you do, do what you say in Maine. Jeannie's heard me say this a hundred times, in that, you know, I can't just arrive back in Maine after being gone for thirty years-ish and um expect to pick up where I left off. I have to sort of earn my way back into the community. It helps that I'm twelfth generations Maine.

Austin Williams 22:13

Oh, yeah. Our daughter's from here, we're the rest of us are from away. So our daughter Nelly, she's gonna get us into all the top society.

Jen Millard 22:19

Interestingly, if I don't tell people that I'm twelfth generations Maine, I get a different attitude. Yes, I'm relegated to, oh, you've obviously lived away. Right.

Austin Williams 22:29

Yes. Um, yeah, that's I encountered that. Yeah.

Jen Millard 22:32

And so I think we also have to be of greater hearts and minds that it takes a bigger village uh in order to make great products that are not timber, are not lobster, are not our traditional sort of agriculture, aquaculture.

Austin Williams 22:46

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. I think again, show folks what's possible, show them what's here, show them the momentum, and take a healthy risk, a healthy approach to risk, and that it's not just a space to retire at or a space to vacation at or a state to do those things at. Uh it's a state where you can come and do big things and do them quickly. And I think there is an element of speed that matters with all this. You know, you're talking about the very successful first year. It's easy to assemble efforts and goodwill and groups and committees and to talk about the next five years and the next decade. And there's usually a lot of good ideas in those reports and things like that. Absolutely. Sometimes it just takes starting and doing it with the stuff. Well, actually, I am a just start.

Jen Millard 23:27

I am a just start bias to action. Um, you know, that's what we did a year ago. Yeah, let's just start. We didn't have a concept, we didn't have I just had this idea that you know, I was at a brewery and the equipment was running. I'm like, why is the equipment why is nothing running? Why do I not hear manufacturing happen? And they're like, oh Jen, we already made all our beer this week. I was like, but what else are we doing?

Speaker 4 23:55

Yeah.

Jen Millard 23:55

S cricket.

Speaker 4 23:56

Oh, that's fascinating.

Jen Millard 23:57

And that's every brewery. That's not just one brewery, it's every brewery. So then you recognize that you have all this capacity connected to the same water with millions and millions of dollars of infrastructure that's already been underwritten.

Speaker 5 24:09

Yeah.

Jen Millard 24:09

How do we help them diversify their revenue streams to enable their entrance to the blue economy in a way that they wouldn't have thought of? They think of themselves as artists, brewers.

Austin Williams 24:21

Yeah.

Jen Millard 24:21

So this is really to enable them to do revenue diversification.

Austin Williams 24:25

Yeah, and the mission can remain exactly the same, but just find a way to keep the lights on or the machines on in this case.

Jen Millard 24:30

So I had some brewers this winter that didn't lay people off. They actually hired people and we ran water all winter.

Austin Williams 24:35

That's great.

Jen Millard 24:36

Um I'm sitting a little heavy on inventory because I didn't know what to expect for the summer, right? As brewers kind of ramp back up.

Austin Williams 24:42

Yep. Yep.

Jen Millard 24:42

But we helped uh right down the street from me.

Austin Williams 24:45

I don't know if you know the folks at uh Higgins Beach Market, but they just read they redid Higgins Beach Market, and uh I haven't been in the new version yet. I've been going down to Hanks, which is down the street, but I I would expect that this would be a perfect.

Speaker 2 24:55

We are already there at the Higgins Market.

Austin Williams 24:57

Good, good, good, good.

Speaker 2 24:58

We actually took photos there yesterday.

Austin Williams 25:00

Yeah, the new setup is really, really, really nice. But I think of that motion of I mean, we're so close to that beach and that market that's your home store.

Jen Millard 25:08

So I've always lived next to the town landing in Falmouth.

Austin Williams 25:11

Nice.

Jen Millard 25:12

That was my home store. And so as a founder carrying the first case of water into the Falmouth Town Landing, I literally lost my mind. Like, is this actually happening? Am I actually doing this? And it it's a such joy.

Austin Williams 25:25

That's so fun.

Jen Millard 25:26

Such joy. And then when you see it at Higgins, you'll see it quickly.

Austin Williams 25:30

I mean, I think what you're doing is exactly what Maine needs. It's going to create magnetism. And it's scary, right, to start anything new and to take a leap to do that. Even in some ways, what we're doing at Sea Street and what we're doing with the main blue index is a leap. It's a leap to create inertia and momentum where there could be structure and there could be momentum. And there's going to be more coming on that front too. You know, we're going to be launching a few more initiatives to drive that flywheel a little bit faster. Uh, but it starts by doing, right?

Jen Millard 25:57

And really what we've really enabled is enabled brewers to become Copacks.

Speaker 5 26:01

Yeah, great.

Jen Millard 26:02

Help them understand that water is food. So water is regulated by the FDA.

Speaker 5 26:07

Yep.

Jen Millard 26:07

Uh beer is regulated by the ATF, interestingly.

Speaker 4 26:10

Interesting, yeah.

Jen Millard 26:11

Um so there's little to no hygiene required if you make beer.

Speaker 5 26:15

Yes.

Jen Millard 26:15

Um, but you know, water is food. So there is a little mindset shift, mindset shift uh at the brewer. You have to, you know, have hand washing stations, a few things that, you know, hygienically we'd like probably like to have happen at manufacturing. But interestingly, um there's really only one GMP Copac, uh good manufactured principle Copac um in the entire state of Maine. Wow. And so what we've been enabling is for brewers to see revenue diversification and to become Copacks.

Speaker 4 26:48

That's really great.

Jen Millard 26:49

So it's great they're making water for me, but ultimately they could be making other things for other people.

Speaker 5 26:54

Yeah.

Jen Millard 26:55

So think bigger. So we're trying to help that entire economy think beyond beer. You started with beer, it doesn't mean you need to end with beer. You can still make beer.

Austin Williams 27:04

What do you need to be 10x the current size here in Maine? What do you need?

Jen Millard 27:09

For me.

Austin Williams 27:09

What is what does Maine Love need to be able to do?

Jen Millard 27:12

So at this point, yeah, at this point, it is capital.

Austin Williams 27:15

Is it?

Jen Millard 27:16

Uh because it's time to put the right butts in the right seat.

Austin Williams 27:19

Let this be a call to arms for everyone to uh you know.

Jen Millard 27:22

Yeah, it is a call to arms. It's literally I've spent I've been fundraising for two weeks, so I am uh a little tired today.

Austin Williams 27:28

Let's push that signal.

Jen Millard 27:29

It is about it is about the access to capital. And honestly, not just equity, because I need equity to fund jobs.

Speaker 5 27:36

Sure.

Jen Millard 27:37

But also working capital so that uh because this is manufacturing. Um and so it's interesting. Unlocking working capital is very challenging because I have no assets. Yes. The beauty of my model, of the reason why people are investing in me, is because I have no assets, interestingly enough. But then that leaves underwriters in a really confused position.

Speaker 4 27:58

Yes, I can see.

Jen Millard 28:00

So it it is a little bit of a unique ask for a working capital line with with uh forecasted revenue.

Speaker 5 28:06

Yep.

Jen Millard 28:06

Um that's really where we are. But it is really fundamentally about cash and talent. That is where we are. I've hit that 85%. I'm at 200 doors.

Speaker 5 28:14

Yep.

Jen Millard 28:15

I'm at full distribution with a distributor in Maine. We're moving down 95. My goal is head of the Charles for October with a giant expression with Aramark, actually.

Speaker 5 28:28

Yeah.

Jen Millard 28:28

And so we're driving for that October event to then get to the garden.

Austin Williams 28:35

Awesome.

Jen Millard 28:36

And then move down to New York, right?

Austin Williams 28:38

So and it's uh keeping the Maine on the can all the while. Yeah.

Jen Millard 28:41

Absolutely. I mean, this is all IPO.

Austin Williams 28:44

Maybe a QR code for Zillow. Oh, already the house, you know. Already, right here. Right.

Jen Millard 28:49

Just you know, we'll backlink Zillow right in there. It'll be great. Exactly. So it is uh, you know, I do I did it intentionally. Um you know, we don't work with the Tourism Bureau, actually. But um I do believe I do believe this is the best expression for Maine. Yes. For people from away with an aspiration for Maine.

Speaker 4 29:09

Totally.

Jen Millard 29:10

I want to drink Maine water in Florida. I'm gonna drink Maine water in Boston because there's an affinity. There's a concept that it's cleaner, artisanal.

Austin Williams 29:19

Yes.

Jen Millard 29:19

And they're not wrong.

Austin Williams 29:20

No, I mean that's not.

Jen Millard 29:21

This is the best water in the nation.

Austin Williams 29:25

Particularly in the craft beer industry, you I mean, right now you look across a sea of logos and uh designs, and some of them are just so interesting that they do catch your eye, and you're like, I'm frozen otherwise, so that's what I'm gonna go with.

Jen Millard 29:36

Choice paralysis, though. If you stand in front of that beer cooler at Whole Foods, yeah, you panic a little bit. It's choice paralysis. There isn't a consumer that is not going to feel choice paralysis. My career spending consumer my entire time. And actually, it was actually one of the initial learnings was we must, because we are in a beer can, it must look so unique that it cannot be confused to be beer.

Austin Williams 29:58

That's interesting. And that's actually.

Jen Millard 30:00

Part of the palette design here is intentionally. My co-founder who helped build the logo, Kalon Guiterres, spent a lot of time with Ralph Lauren and spent a lot of time at Apple. And so really what you see in our expression is a little polo pony opportunity of how do you do pillars of brand in water.

Speaker 4 30:20

Oh, that's so cool.

Jen Millard 30:20

And think about the vessel being different for different applications. It's ultimately the same water.

Speaker 4 30:26

That's great.

Jen Millard 30:27

But I also make a beautiful sexy can for water for whiskey, for bars, or uh for weddings. Oh, um so you can use the same product. We're just making u functional packaging.

Austin Williams 30:38

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Are you in Whole Foods yet?

Jen Millard 30:42

So we have an opportunity to be at the Whole Foods Shelf here locally.

Austin Williams 30:45

Cool. Um I don't know anything about getting into Hands.

Jen Millard 30:47

Interestingly, um uh I could have gotten into Hannaford last year, probably if I'd pushed my way in to the local shelf.

Austin Williams 30:55

I'll drive by next time and just they've been amazing.

Jen Millard 30:58

No, John the non-alcoholic buyer there has been an incredible uh person. Mike Vale at Hannaford is an incredible leader. And I think this is an important point for new brands in Maine actually. So people are very attracted to that local shelf. And if you look at what's on there, beautiful products. There's a beautiful jam I like. I couldn't tell you the brand. Because the branding is not necessarily of uh of significance, right? And so um I actually waited a year for Hannaford to call me to get fifty of their top doors.

Speaker 5 31:30

Okay, that's not one door. Yeah, great.

Jen Millard 31:32

And so sometimes the tactical patience is the hardest exercise. Yeah. And that was a tactical patience exercise. But I'm pushing fifty doors this week.

Speaker 5 31:43

Congratulations right before summer. Great perfect. Yeah.

Jen Millard 31:46

And we'll do a lot of interesting things with them. But I'm a big believer, I've been a sales leader most of my career. It's a much different conversation if the client is coming to you than if you are pushing on the client. That's right. Um so we've made with intention, you know, this is water, CO2, and natural essences, which is an oil, a very expensive oil. Yeah. It's 18 cents of flavoring in one can. Wow. All right. I gotta work on that. However, um it's important to me to have the best ingredients.

Speaker 4 32:17

Yes.

Jen Millard 32:18

Right? And so we've worked really hard, no sugar, no stabilizer. Yeah. That's very important to Whole Foods. Yes. And so we've been mindful to create the product in an intentional way, and I've worked with that innovation practice at Whole Foods for many years.

Speaker 5 32:30

Yeah, cool.

Jen Millard 32:30

Um, to be able to go with a big you know, there's only one Whole Foods in Maine. So really what I want is the Northeast Corridor. Yeah, the one in Portland is the only one. So to really be of significance to Whole Food, I need the region.

Speaker 5 32:43

Yep.

Jen Millard 32:43

And that's Maine to New York.

Speaker 5 32:44

Yep.

Jen Millard 32:45

So I need my New York license. I have my Mass license, I have New Hampshire, I'm just about crossing New York.

Speaker 5 32:50

Yeah.

Jen Millard 32:51

And then New York has a bunch of reciprocity. I cross New York.

Austin Williams 32:54

I'm the same.

Jen Millard 32:57

So that's the right time to go to Whole Foods.

Austin Williams 32:58

All right, perfect.

Jen Millard 32:59

And so we'll be going next.

Austin Williams 33:00

I'm gonna get you to Higgins Market in the meantime.

Jen Millard 33:02

Well, you just keep buying from Higgins Market.

Austin Williams 33:04

Exactly, exactly. That's amazing.

Jen Millard 33:06

But moving down ninety-five is really um to our uh we are when you joined us in the room today, we were talking, yeah. Um, water is really unaffordable, nor is it good for the earth to ship outside of about five hundred miles. Because a pound of water, sixteen ounces is a pound. So it's very heavy to ship. And so what you find in the logistics system supply chain is there's capacity almost everywhere. Every truck backhauls back to Boston empty.

Speaker 5 33:34

Yeah.

Jen Millard 33:35

Um trucks are riding half full of alcohol today because they're no longer full because people aren't buying as much alcohol. So in every part of the supply chain there is capacity. So our other our other mission here is to leverage capacity. That's why we are asset light on purpose. So I d likely will not distribute Maine Love in California, for example. It would cost too much to ship the product to California to not only make economic sense for a consumer, but it's just bad business.

Speaker 4 34:07

Yes.

Jen Millard 34:07

And so I expect us to be a very strong regional brand. Do not need world domination to run a beautiful product from Maine to Florida. That's really our town. It's Maine to Florida.

Austin Williams 34:19

I heard this once, I was an investor used this turn of phrase, but it was uh talking about some of the early delivery apps and um in particular DoorDash, and they succeeded in boiling a thimble and not boiling the ocean. I think that's exactly what you're talking about here.

Jen Millard 34:31

Fair enough. I think that's a great analogy.

Austin Williams 34:33

Own the region. And at some point, too, I mean, you have a a tremendous environmental mission, it sounds like and to ship to California at a certain weight starts to eat into that environmental mission, the single use and the recycling benefits, and now suddenly you're faced with a new dilemma altogether.

Jen Millard 34:50

So plenty of people in New England.

Austin Williams 34:54

Can't get it out in Cali. My little sister will be disappointed. She's out in San Diego, but uh I'll taunt her from up here and say, why don't you come back?

Jen Millard 35:01

Well, going back to my question of what you would put in the bottle of Maine, how would you uh think about telling uh people from away what Maine is if you were to bottle Maine?

Austin Williams 35:11

Oh, it's I mean it's an interesting question. Maine is special, right? I think Maine is authentic more than anything. You know, my connection to Maine is it goes back to childhood when I grew up in Massachusetts, and so when we weren't in school, there were two places we usually were. Uh we were either on Cape Cod or we were up in Maine. And the water was a huge part of that. We were in the ocean, we were around, we were around the lakes. I remember when we used to stay in Agonquet and Perkins Cove, my mom used to wake me up really early, begrudgingly. I was in like, I don't know, elementary school or middle school, and she would say, like, I'm gonna go walk the marginal way, you're coming with me. And I was like, I don't want to go with you, like, come on. But she would like, you know, sweeten the deal with like a muffin at the end of the line or like a pancake or something, and so I'd be out there and like in the fog or in the mist, and by the end of the walk, it's a pretty good walk. By the end of the walk, you know, the sun has burned off the mist and you can see the whole ocean, and it's it that sticks with you. And I I think that for someone who comes to Maine, I like to think that those little moments create that stickiness, and that begins to pave the way towards how they come to Maine. So, you know, how do we bottle Maine in a can? We get more people paying attention to Maine. How do we get more people to pay attention to Maine? We tell Maine story. How do we tell Maine story? Well, we do it through Maine Love, we do it through what we're doing with the Maine Blue Index, we do it through C Street, we do it through authenticity. And I think that's what people want now more than ever.

Jen Millard 36:28

More than ever. I mean, the reason why we're water purely from Maine is because Gen Z does not want to be marketed to, period. Full stop. We'd like to have it be very authentic and very straightforward. And if we make it look too mystical, uh they're not going to be about it. And um we wanted to be, you know, a little forehead to the uh two by four to the forehead. It's nobody can tell me you don't know what this is.

Speaker 5 36:52

No, that's right.

Jen Millard 36:53

Right if you pick on shelf, so we've actually had this debate. Do you call it main love? How do you order it at a restaurant? It's been a very interesting thing.

Austin Williams 37:00

Well, that's really interesting.

Jen Millard 37:01

And uh and everyone's very worried.

Austin Williams 37:04

Oh, we've got main love on tap.

Jen Millard 37:06

Actually, uh that might be a thing, actually. Water and kegs is a thing. Yeah, water and kegs is definitely gonna be a thing. Um, but water is you just need the vessels.

Speaker 5 37:16

That's it.

Jen Millard 37:16

Boston, you just gotta figure how to move water around. It's it's all about the vessels, really, right?

Austin Williams 37:21

So fun.

Jen Millard 37:22

Um we should be able to, if we can put beer in kegs, we can put water in kegs.

Austin Williams 37:25

Yeah.

Jen Millard 37:25

It's okay.

Austin Williams 37:26

And I can see that being a big draw for people too. I mean, again, you're tapping into all these themes of like, I don't want alcohol consumption, I don't want a beer tonight. I do want that though.

Jen Millard 37:34

So it's so fun as a founder. We give away a lot of water to events, obviously. Cans in hand is my big moment. That's what we call it right now. How many cans can I show in hands at this moment? Which is why we really love Gabe and the Hearts of Pine and been able to really do some incredible brand work with them.

Speaker 5 37:51

Yeah.

Jen Millard 37:51

And it's so wonderful to see Mainers enjoying it and understanding that it's built by Mainers and they're buying it, which is incredible. I love that Mainers are buying it, but there's only a million people in Maine.

Speaker 5 38:02

Sure.

Jen Millard 38:03

So it has to it has to move down uh down the DMAs here. We're really trying to have that sense of community, which has really been really that tie to sports, active, relaxing. You know, so this summer we're doing sailing events. We do we're the Batcove Music Festival sponsor. We're uh doing uh uh we were the project graduation sponsor for Yarmouth High School. So we've tried to do a variety, everyone drinks water.

Austin Williams 38:30

Yeah.

Jen Millard 38:30

Water does not discriminate.

Austin Williams 38:32

Not a bad, not a bad tagline, right? Uh everyone drinks water. Saying that to our kids lately, hot dehydrate, hot dehydrate. And so that's a good one, yeah. Owen and Nelly will love this. I mean, anytime we have something in the can, they're like, I I want whatever that is. You know, I think just the the object itself seems beyond what they're normally used to. And so I'm sure there's a whole market with parents who are going to be excited about this in particular.

Jen Millard 38:53

It's interesting the feedback has been a lot of the parental feedback is um it's amazing, it has no sugar.

Austin Williams 38:59

Yeah, that's what I mean.

Jen Millard 38:59

Yeah, no sugar, it tastes great, it's local, um, and very, you know, very clear.

Austin Williams 39:05

Yeah, I know the source. I know the source is clean. Yeah, it's important.

Jen Millard 39:08

So did you know anything about Sabago Lake before you uh came back to Maine?

Austin Williams 39:12

I knew it because of the the home we purchased. It was I we were very fortunate with the house that we landed at in Scarborough. We we met the folks and the former owners uh off market and we had a really good relationship with them in the process of getting the house. But in the course of talking to the owners, I remember one of the things I'd asked was like, Oh, how's the tap water? And the former owner, he goes, he goes, Oh, it's from Sebago. He's like, So it's the best. And I I was the first time I acted as if I knew, I was like, Oh, good, good, good, good. And I'm like googling where like what is this and what why is it good and is it actually good? But lo and behold, lo and behold, it is the best. Which I was n not previously privy to, but I found out.

Jen Millard 39:53

And it's really about the trees.

Austin Williams 39:54

Yeah.

Jen Millard 39:55

Which is why we have a tree on our can.

Austin Williams 39:56

Wait, how so? I didn't know that.

Jen Millard 39:58

So the water in Spago Lake has a waiver for solids. That's what's makes it so pure, so it's so clean, it does not need to be filtered for solids.

Speaker 5 40:06

Okay.

Jen Millard 40:06

It only needs to be filtered for bacteria and treated for bacteria, if if any. So it's very light, but that's because um the forest around Spago Lake is only about fifteen percent deforested. And so you're really that forest is a water treatment plant. So the water starts up at Bethel, Crooked River, rolls all the way down the mountains, takes about ten years to get to Spago Lake.

Speaker 4 40:29

Yes.

Jen Millard 40:29

But the water is really being filtered by the trees. So the forest is actually more important than the lake.

Austin Williams 40:36

Team effort here. This is really cool. Land and water, yeah. Right, isn't it?

Jen Millard 40:40

The whole state is in this can, absolutely.

Austin Williams 40:43

That's incredible.

Jen Millard 40:43

But it's really about the forest. And so one of our missions is to really support the land trusts that are around Sebago Lake because ultimately the more private land for uh that is donated to land trusts is protected from development. Um, we get to enjoy it for hiking. The water will remain at a high standard.

Speaker 5 41:04

Okay.

Jen Millard 41:05

Um in places where the deforestation hits about 20, 25 percent, your wild water quality starts to really erode.

Austin Williams 41:12

That's so interesting. I wonder how many folks know that. I mean, I I can I think again, you hear the water is from the lake, so you assume the lake has everything to do with the quality of the water. You think nothing about what's on the shore.

Jen Millard 41:22

It's really about the filtration, and the filtration is really from the trees.

Austin Williams 41:26

Cool.

Jen Millard 41:26

So um it's really about you know protecting the forest around the lake and then smart development, right? Obviously, people need homes, development will continue, people need jobs, all those things. But the fact that we're focused on preserving the land around the lake puts us in a really incredible position.

Speaker 5 41:45

Excellent.

Jen Millard 41:46

If Portland water district had to construct a water treatment plant, it'd likely be over four hundred billion dollars.

Speaker 5 41:53

Wow.

Jen Millard 41:53

Um even con conceptually, thinking about that number in Maine is outrageous. So the best thing we could do is not cut down trees.

Speaker 4 42:02

Yeah.

Jen Millard 42:02

You know, how do we how do we protect the forest? So that's sort of our um understated mission. I wouldn't say we've been loud and proud about that yet.

Austin Williams 42:13

I think again just you're creating that stickiness with the the brand itself.

Jen Millard 42:17

And really trying to to show the best of Maine here.

Austin Williams 42:20

Yeah.

Jen Millard 42:20

I'm really proud to be from Maine. I think most Mainers are proud, humble people.

Austin Williams 42:24

Yeah.

Jen Millard 42:25

I'm proud to be doing this with Mainers and proud to be having having our state on our can.

Austin Williams 42:30

Good. I love it. I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy you're doing what you're doing. So happy that you're in the Maine Blue Index.

Jen Millard 42:35

Thanks for having us. I'm so glad I emailed you.

Austin Williams 42:38

I'm honest, I mean when I say I expanded that aperture, it it really did.

Jen Millard 42:41

It it it became just abundantly clear that Well, I think I saw uh note that it was launching.

Austin Williams 42:47

Yes.

Jen Millard 42:48

And I sort of did a little research, and I'm like, these are all ocean companies.

Speaker 4 42:52

Yes.

Jen Millard 42:52

Why wouldn't I qualify? Yeah. And so that's why I wrote you the notes. And I honestly didn't expect an answer, to be honest. I thought it would be like into some mystical inbox.

Austin Williams 43:01

No, no, no. There you go. Yeah.

Jen Millard 43:03

And here we are just a couple weeks later.

Austin Williams 43:05

Here we are. Amazing.

Jen Millard 43:06

Well, how can I how can Main Love be supportive for what you're doing?

Austin Williams 43:10

I mean, you already are. You're in the index, which matters. I go back to that saying, you know, without the information, there there is no strategy, there is no growth. And so the main blue index, we're a month in now. And even in that month, so much has changed. It's already grown, it's already starting to build a momentum, which is fantastic. And the size of that map will determine the power of the future that we're able to build. And so for anyone out there who's working in the water economy, who's working on the blue economy, please reach out. You know, I'm I'm aw at cstreet.co and get in touch, be part of that main blue index, be part of what the future economy can hold for the blue economy, and let's see what we can do together.

Jen Millard 43:52

And how are we going to help Maine and think about water as an economy in Maine Austin? How do you and I do that?

Austin Williams 43:58

We just do it. We're just Nike it, right? We just do it. We just keep showing up and doing it and every day for example. And talking about it and making it sound fun. I think uh again, like if things that sound fun, people want to get involved with. And so what better thing than the water? The water brings people so much joy. I mean, it's literally hydrating, but like it also brings people a ton of joy. And so let's spotlight it, let's celebrate it, let's make it something that is not only joyful but also economically viable, which I think is exactly what we're doing here today.

Jen Millard 44:27

And I would I would I would lead with, you know, Sebago Lake is instantly replenishable as long as it rains.

Austin Williams 44:33

Yes.

Jen Millard 44:33

And according to As long as we don't mess with the trees. As long as you don't mess with the trees. And if uh and you know, Maine continues to get more rain than snow. So there's an argument that we are water of abundance in Maine. We sit of abundance.

Speaker 5 44:46

Yep.

Jen Millard 44:46

Um other areas of the nation sit in great scarcity, you know, with Maine, you know, from Maine with love, as Rob Todd would say, right?

Speaker 5 44:53

Yeah.

Jen Millard 44:54

So how do we how do we show the world that we have a great resource of abundance and water, right? And made with love.

Austin Williams 45:02

The new tagline. Great.

Jen Millard 45:04

Well, thank you, Austin. This has been amazing. Um I so am grateful to be in the Blue Economy Index.

Austin Williams 45:10

Likewise.

Jen Millard 45:11

And uh would love to work with you anyway in the future. Let's do it.

Austin Williams 45:14

Absolutely. Thank you, James.

Jen Millard 45:16

Thank you.