Amee Richie and Jake Elliot-Hook, the co-founders of Sweet Bottle. Sweet Bottle has developed a reusable plant-based water bottle, which is made from sustainably sourced bamboo and wheat straw For every bottle sold. The company plants a tree and removes plastic from the ocean. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [0:34] Amee & Jake's personal background & journey[2:52] Sweet Bottle’s crowdfunding campaign[3:54] How Amee & Jake promoted their crowdfunding campaign[4:57] Sweet Bottle’s PR opportunity[5:54] How Amee & Jake spent the funding step by step[7:27] Sweet Bottle’s production process and materials[8:23] Sweet Bottle’s material transformation[9:03] How does Sweet Bottle work?[9:48] Lessons learned in the entrepreneurship journey[14:20] Amee & Jake bottle product development experience[15:21] Product development phase and working with manufacturers[16:09] Lessons learned working with manufacturing partners[18:20] Benefits and differences of working as co-founders[20:27] Dating and co-founding relationship experience[22:35] How to differentiate your product to competitors[25:34] Challenges faced against larger companies[27:07 ] Amee & Jake's 10-year visionKEY LESSONS & QUOTES “When we first started we were very, very stingy with our money, so my bit of advice would be to   not cut too many corners” [10:44]“I think it's really important to have the same vision and the same goal for the company as a couple co-founding together and communication skills ” [21:16]“We really want to fight against deforestation, so we always plant trees where they're needed most in the world” [27:18] Support the show