Even before coronavirus arrived in Minnesota, Breathe99 was undergoing some big changes.
The founders had spent several years working on a high-tech face mask that filtered common contaminants from the air and protected those with respiratory diseases or living in high-pollution areas. But things weren't going the way they hoped.
In 2019, Breathe99 attempted a Kickstarter campaign for its B1 Mask. Ultimately, it raised just under $30,000 of its $90,000 goal.
"That six-month gap between then and now was the abyss," Co-Founder and CEO Max Bock-Aronson told Minne Inno. "That time was our crisis of confidence. All early-stage companies face a point of inflection and that's what we were facing."
Bock-Aronson took a step back from the team last fall. Co-founder Coleman Rollins stayed involved and continued to work on the company's product. During that time, the two continued working on the business and determining what direction they wanted to steer the company.
"It was a very difficult period for both of us," Bock-Aronson said. "We got much more connected to why we were doing this in the first place. We came back to the idea that it's a fundamental human right to have access to high-quality public health tools and resources. And that became our 'why.'"
Breathe99 now bills itself as a public health business – not simply a mask company.
Kickstarter kickoff
Starting in February, the team began working on an updated design for its product. Eventually, this morphed into the B2 mask.
This new version is a reusable respirator that creators say filters 99% of common contaminants and reduces filter cost and waste by half. It can also be easily cleaned by putting it in the dishwasher or cleaning it with an alcohol-based spray. The only part of the mask that needs to be replaced is the filters, which the company says can be produced quickly and at a low cost.
"It completely changed our trajectory."
The team kept pushing and reiterating until they felt it was time time to give Kickstarter another try. By this time, Covid-19 had reached the U.S., and demand for personal protective equipment surged.
This time around, the company had a much different Kickstarter experience. Breathe99 launched its campaign on the morning of April 16. Founders gave themselves 20 days to raise $20,000 but met its goal in under two hours on the first day.
By the end of the campaign, Breathe99 had exceeded its goal more than 20 times over, ultimately bringing in nearly $500,000. Bock-Aronson said the founders learned a lot from Breathe99's first Kickstarter campaign, including the importance of preparation.
"Last time it was like we marched in the infantry but didn't have any air cover," he said.
They began engaging with their networks two or three weeks prior to launch, instead of a few days. They also lowered the goal on Kickstarter and shortened the campaign timeline.
By the time the campaign launched, the company had around $15,000 pre-pledged by local investors through Venn Foundation. Venn Foundation deploys seed capital to startups in the form of Program-Related Investments, a special kind of philanthropic investment intended to advance a charitable goal.
These PRIs are powered by contributions from donors in the form of donor-advised funds. Just about anyone can open one of these DAFs with Venn and recommend that their donations be used to make PRIs.
Venn Foundation provided Breathe99 with a PRI loan that comes with initial anchor support of $100,000 provided by the Bush Foundation, Damascus Road Partners, Morgan Family Foundation, the Xancharlize Fund and an anonymous donor.
Additionally, two Twin Cities-based companies, Protolabs and Worrell Design, also supported the company by providing capital, expertise and services. Bock-Aronson is a design engineer at Worrell, a firm in Northeast Minneapolis that creates and tests medical products.
"Reaching almost $500,000 is incredible. We didn't plan for this."
The rest of the funding (close to 50%) came organically from Kickstarter users. After the campaign took off, Kickstarter began promoting it on other pages and it attracted attention from around the world.
"It really speaks to the power of the platform and the amount of traffic it gets," he said. "Reaching almost $500,000 is incredible. We didn't plan for this."
Minne Inno spoke with Bock-Aronson on the day the Kickstarter campaign wrapped up and stayed in contact with him over the course of several weeks to follow the company as it prepared to officially release its B2 mask to the public.
Mid-May
About a week after the Kickstarter campaign ended, the team worked on finalizing details of the mask and its release before sending away production orders. Bock-Aronson said he and his co-founders made final decisions on molding, worked on filter labeling and creating packaging disclaimers.
"In a sense, we're transitioning from higher-level items and drilling down into all of the ancillary, but important details surrounding a product like B2," he said in an email at the time.
Breathe99's first production order will be for 10,000 masks. It plans to start shipping at the end of June.
Founded in 2018, Breathe99 is still a relatively young company. Bock-Aronson said one of the biggest challenges the team faces right now is building the business as it's trying to operate. In the last two months, Breathe99 has grown its team by 200% and its board by 50%.
"We're experiencing growing pains and realizing the need to formalize our work processes and tools," Bock-Aronson said.
Breathe99 is also in the process of re-registering as a Public Benefit Corporation and finding a way to measure the double bottom line of creating profit and providing social benefits.
"Essentially, there is a lot we're still figuring out, and the model we're trying to deploy is more complicated than a standard business," Bock-Aronson said. "So at times we risk becoming overwhelmed or distracted."
Even after the campaign ended, Breathe99 continued to receive a lot of inbound interest on both the direct-to-consumer and B2B sides. The team was excited by this, especially because the company has not yet invested in any marketing efforts.
But at the same time, Bock-Aronson felt wary. He wants to be sure the company continues to operate efficiently as Covid-19 continues to spread.
"Our team is really united and we're all feeling invigorated by working with other passionate, talented people on a shared mission to protect people and communities around the world," he said.
Late May
The end of the month brought big wins and changes for Breathe99. The team formally became members of Impact Hub, a local coworking space for impact entrepreneurs. The company is also building more relationships in this community and collaborating with others to determine the best ways to measure and communicate Breathe99's impacts.
The startup was also selected to interview for the highly-competitive Y Combinator accelerator and was accepted to another local startup competition.
Breathe99 continues to receive inbound interest for its product from a wide range of groups looking to receive donated B2 Masks. This includes a prominent neurobiology lab at the University of Minnesota and the entire Navajo Nation.
As part of the Kickstarter campaign, the company said it would donate masks to those who need them. Breathe99 can't make the "buy-one-give-one" model work quite yet. Bock-Aronson said they're able to donate one mask for every four purchased. But in time, the company hopes to reach the one-to-one ratio.
The team continues to make final tweaks to the B2 Mask as it prepares to begin distributing its product in the coming weeks.
"If this pandemic hadn't occurred, we might not be releasing the B2," Bock-Aronson said. "And we almost certainly wouldn't have run another Kickstarter. It completely changed our trajectory."
