Today we’d like to introduce you to Felicity Lin.
Hi Felicity , so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We started Supermoon because of a problem we had ourselves. We wanted more protein in our day, but every shake we tried was thick, chalky, and too sweet. What we actually loved drinking were the fruit teas we grew up with at Taiwanese tea shops: light, refreshing, not too sweet. So we asked why protein couldn’t taste like that.
After two years of testing and R&D with different manufacturers, we finally landed on our our first product, Passion Fruit Jasmine Green Tea Clear Protein. It has 22g of protein, 90 calories, and no added sugars, and it drinks like an iced tea instead of a shake.
Now we’re getting ready to launch Lychee Oolong and a new hydration product line. Our goal is the same as day one: make protein feel like an easy, enjoyable part of everyday life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes definitely, Here are a couple of challenges:
– R&D: Getting clear protein to taste like a real fruit tea took far more rounds than we expected. Clear whey has its own flavor to work around, and most formulas cover it with heavy sweetness, which is exactly what we were trying to avoid. Finding the balance where it’s flavorful but not too sweet took a lot of samples and patience, and we’re still going through that process with each new flavor.
– Manufacturing: As a small business, we don’t have much leverage. Manufacturers typically want a large deposit up front, so we pay for inventory months before we sell it. Earlier this year we tried switching to a new manufacturer to bring costs down, but the product didn’t match our original. We went back to our first partner, which meant a couple of months without inventory. Even though that caused us to lose momentum a bit, we learned that quality isn’t something we’re willing to trade for margin.
– Shipping: This one surprised us most. With everything that’s going on, shipping cost skyrocketed, so we moved to a more reliable fulfillment partner even though it costs more. Shipping a heavy tub of powder isn’t cheap, and fulfillment companies have monthly minimums that hit hard when you’re small. Big brands spread those costs across thousands of orders. We’re still working toward that scale, so for now we absorb a lot of it to keep the customer experience good.
– Balancing it with our day jobs: We both still work full-time. Our jobs allows fund Supermoon ourselves instead of raising money, which means we get to make decisions based on what’s right for the product. The tradeoff is time. Supermoon happens before work, after work, and on weekends, and some weeks it feels like two full-time jobs. But it lets us grow at our own pace and keep full control of the brand.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Supermoon makes clear protein inspired by the Asian fruit teas we grew up with. Our first flavor, Passion Fruit Jasmine Green Tea, has 22g of protein and 90 calories with no added sugars, and it drinks like an iced tea rather than a heavy shake.
We split the work based on what we each do for our 9-5. I work in marketing, so I leads the brand: our look, our content, and how we show up at events and online. Eddie works in finance, so he handles the numbers side: inventory, costs, and making sure every decision makes sense for a small, self-funded business. Having both covered between the two of us means we’ve been able to build Supermoon without hiring outside help.
What we’re most proud of is making it work alongside our full-time jobs. Building a brand is a lot, and doing it before and after a 9-5 is even more. Every tub we ship is something we fit into evenings and weekends, and we’ve managed to grow it without giving up our careers or taking outside money.
What sets us apart is the flavor and the feel. Most protein brands are built around the gym and look the part. We wanted something for everyday people who are active in normal ways, whether that’s a run club, a tennis match, or a mahjong night with friends. Our flavors come from our own culture, not a trend, and the drink is light enough that people actually look forward to it.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
The biggest risk we’ve taken was putting our own savings into Supermoon. Protein is an expensive product to make. Quality whey isolate costs a lot, manufacturers require large minimum orders, and we pay a big deposit months before a single tub is sold. That meant committing real money to an idea before we had any proof that people outside our friends would buy it. If the first run hadn’t sold, we would have been sitting on a lot of inventory and a lot less savings.
Keeping our full-time jobs is what makes that kind of risk manageable for us. It gives us a safety net, so we can invest in the business without needing it to pay our rent. It also keeps us from making desperate decisions, like cutting corners on ingredients or raising money on terms we don’t love just to stay afloat.
Beyond that, we try to take risks in small steps. We tested the product at events and run clubs before scaling up production. We start new flavors with smaller batches. When we try a new marketing channel, we spend a little, see what works, and only then put more behind it.
Not every risk has paid off. Trying a cheaper manufacturer cost us a couple of months of inventory. But even that taught us something useful: the risks worth taking are the ones that protect what customers love about the product, not the ones that just save money.
Pricing:
- 57.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://drinksupermoon.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinksupermoon/
