Meet Clayton Oetting | CEO of HIBO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clayton Oetting and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clayton, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
The single most important decision I made to contribute to success is to focus on learning. From day one I have focused on finding mentors & investors that know more about the food & beverage product world than I do and let them help guide how we innovate and plan the business. Also, I love to learn from customers. If we can let customers dictate how our brand evolves then we’ll be in a much better position to help them solve their problems!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We believe being healthy is about being future-focused in what you eat and do. The effect of ingredients tomorrow is just as important as their flavor or energy today. Our thought process behind starting HIBO Energy was to see if we could solve a health problem our family was having! When my wife and I were about to graduate UGA, we had a bunch of family members giving up artificial ingredient-heavy energy drinks to get healthier. They all experienced great health-benefits, but wished there was something healthy with good ingredients that they could switch to.

I studied food science in school so we thought to make our own healthy energy drink, and this idea was centered around finding new ways to replace harmful artificial ingredients with natural ones, while achieving better flavor! We started with experimentation at home and in the food science school and accomplished 3 key things:
1. Professors of mine helped us replace preservatives with hibiscus superfood.
2. We taste tested for a year with family and friends to replace artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners, and won the Flavor of Georgia Competition twice for our flavor.
3. We worked for 2 years on an energy blend that achieves more energy with less caffeine.

After 2.5 years of an innovation loop of creating a product, selling that product, learning from customers, and then iterating the product to what people want, we have created our solution to healthy energy this year! It has not been an easy process starting this brand. We bootstrapped the business from day one, buying canning equipment and canning at night while selling during the day. We have run out of money before, and had to rely on mentors that believed in us to help us move forward and get to where we are!

Over these past couple years we have learned the value of wise business planning, seeking wisdom, being frugal, and how to succeed in this industry. We’re looking forward to serving more people with healthy energy!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Starting in Athens, I would take them to a Bulldog game and go to dinner at the Royal Peasant. The next morning I would take them to Jittery Joes for coffee, and then to Independent Baking for a pastry. Next we could have a hike up Bear Hollow, or go for a bike ride on the Athens greenway. We’d grab lunch at Baddies burgers, and then grab ingredients to make dinner at Earth Fare.

At some point we’d have to take a trip to Atlanta to go to Good Kitchen and Market in Roswell, check out the Georgia Aquarium, and then stop for coffee and a snack at SAVI Provisions!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to thank Hal Kravitz for being such a great mentor over the years!

Website: www.drinkhibo.com

Instagram: @hiboenergy

Linkedin: HIBO Superdrink Energy

Other: TikTok: @hiboenergy