Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Kickfurther Merchant of the Week: Active 10



This week my Kickfurther merchant of the week is Active 10, which makes a topical analgesic cream. Darren Cohen, one of the company founders was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.  Darrin has played tennis since he was five years old. In all junior age divisions Darrin was ranked in the top five in Northern California and top 30 nationally. At the University of Virginia he competed as a top six player on the varsity men’s tennis team for four years, achieving an NCAA singles ranking of #36, and a doubles ranking of #10. When he graduated from UVa he competed on the ATP Professional men’s tennis tour. After one year on the tour Darrin achieved a singles ranking of #1100 and a doubles ranking of #740.

Q:  Can you tell me a little about Active 10?  What is the story behind the name?


A:  My partner and I founded Active Formulations in 2013. I was a professional tennis player ranked 750 in the world and had my career stop short due to nagging tennis elbow. My business partner and I were on the court one day and she was telling me about a few supplements that she manufactured and I suggested that she and I develop a tennis elbow cream. Over the course of the next year and half we worked with a chemist and manufacturer in Florida developing Active 10. The name is derived from the number of active ingredients we use to treat localized pain. We have since added one, but have stuck with the original name.

Q:  I see on Amazon that you have four different products. What are they, and what are the similarities and differences? How do I decide which one to order for my problem?

A:  We really only have one product at the moment. We sell Active 10 in a 2oz jar, a 3oz roll on container, and a 4oz tube. We also market our product to tennis pro shops and country clubs and call it Tennis Elbow Grease. Nearly half of all tennis players at some point will have tennis elbow so we are trying to appeal to that niche segment. As far as ordering, typically our customers start with a 2oz jar and once they figure out that what we are selling is a really high quality formulation that actually works will reorder our larger sizes.

Q:  For someone applying daily, how long does one package of your product generally last?

A:  The 2oz jar will last approximately 1 month with daily use.


Q:  I see on your website that Active 10 is sold at tennis clubs and chiropractors' offices. Do you have any requirements for those who carry your product or will you allow any retail outlet to do so?

A:  We wholesale our product to verified vendors. We like to research our accounts to make sure we are partnering with organizations that will represent our brand as a first class product.

Q:  How did you first hear about Kickfurther and why did you decide to use it?

A:  They approached us a few months back after they had heard about our product on social media. We were right in the middle of a major production run and figured we could use the help in funding half of the order.

Q:  You are in the payback phase of your first Kickfurther offer.   From a merchant's point of view, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Kickfurther financing vs conventional financing?

A:  The advantage to using Kickfurther is it was very little paperwork or background checks, and an extremely fast turnaround time. Essentially they just use the inventory as collateral. The disadvantages are obviously the really steep interest rates. We were sold a pitch about how the investors would help us to sell product, but that didn't actually happen.

Q:  Well, I'm trying.  Would you recommend Kickfurther to other businesses? Why or why not?

A.  I think its a really easy way to secure a little bit of money to help with production runs but in the long run its not really a viable business option. Margins are too thin to be paying 20% apr on money borrowed. So to answer the question, its a great way to get started but companies will need different sources of money at much cheaper rates to survive long term.

Q:    Have you tried Kickfuther as an investor? Why or why not? Would your recommend that friends invest via Kickfurther?

A:  I have used the site as an investor and feel its a really great way to earn excellent returns. I have recommended it to my friends as well. Returns are so high, I've seen the site crash because investors are clamoring to lend money at insanely high interest rates.

Q: Yes, I was on that day too,  I have notice though that especially with second offers that rates seem to be trending downward.  Of course the reason for the high interest rate on Kickfurther offers, or on loans from other sources is to cover the losses from companies that default.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

A:  Active 10 is the topical pain relief solution of choice of the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas State University athletic training rooms. We also have verbal commitments from Safeway and Lucky Grocery store to carry Active 10 in 2016.

I'd like to thank Darren for visiting with us here today.  The product photos above are all Amazon links; I get a small commission if you use those links to purchase Active 10.  I am also a backer of Active 10 on Kickfurther so when they sell, I get paid.

Active 10 is a link to an Amazon page showing all their different packages.  Active 10's website is here. 

If you would like to get in on the high returns Darren spoke about, you can use my referral link, and I get credit.  You get $5.00 toward your first investment.  If you have a business that needs help financing inventory, you can use this link and I get a finder's fee.     
Disease Called Debt

1 comment:

  1. That's so cool that you got to interview him before investing in his product. Awesome!

    ReplyDelete