Shortly after the Amazon launch, Bears with Benefits was already able to boast a conversion rate of over 20% on Amazon and outpace competitor Haribo in the search results. On top of that, they were awarded the Category Bestseller award by Amazon. Laurence Saunier and Marlena Hien were in the right place at the right time. Since 2018, they have been selling nutritional supplements in the form of gummy bears. Starting with Amazon, they already added a Europe-wide retail listing in Douglas stores in 2019 after winning a startup competition, and their own D2C store in 2022. In the podcast, the two talk about the ups and downs of founding the startup together, why they started with Amazon first, and the importance of packaging design for their own Amazon listing. In addition, Marlena and Laurence give detailed insights into their internationalization strategy.

(00:05:12) What are success criteria for founding with friends?
(00:09:06) How did they come up with their business idea?
(00:10:56) What was their experience with launching on Amazon?
(00:17:47) How many products do they currently sell?
(00:18:46) Why did they go into retail before launching the online store?
(00:20:35) What are Bears With Benefits' strategies for internationalization?
(00:25:53) What has changed since their exit?
(00:27:39) Why did they choose their current investor?
(00:31:00) What are the benefits of working with their investor?
(00:31:48) How much time should they take to internationalize?
(00:34:44) What are Bears With Benefits' main channels?
(00:37:20) Guessing question