How Rejection Led to the Rise of Run Gum

It's no secret that I have a pretty serious love for caffeine. I like the way caffeine wakes me up in the morning, the way it helps me think clearer, and of course the way it allows me to maximize my physical potential in training and racing. Like many people, I often used to rely on energy drinks to get my drug of choice.

Despite the fact that these sugary, acidic energy drinks were very hard on my stomach, I would often down one before I ran to get the performance enhancing stimulants I needed.

My love and expensive habit for energy drinks led me to seek out a sponsorship with an energy drink manufacturer. I emailed several letting them know about my accomplishments on the track and included ideas of how I could possibly give them a great return on their investment. I even went so far as to photoshop logos into race photos to truly give their marketing team and idea of the impressions I could generated for them.

I tried every angle I could to get the attention of a marketing team. I don't want to say I was desperate for an energy drink sponsor, but the word persistent would be an understatement. After sending dozens of emails and making many calls, I finally gave up. The rejection and sense of failure I felt was disheartening. I was sure that I had valuable advertising space to offer and solid marketing ideas for that space.

It wasn't until the spring of 2013, as I was violently purging my stomach of yet another energy drink, that I realized it was time to take matters into my own hands.

With Coach Sam's background in business and my background in biochemistry and marketing, we believed that we could not only market the hell out of an energy product, but could also create a BETTER product than what was currently being offered to athletes We set in motion what would ultimately become the world's first performance enhancing gum company, Run Gum.

Temporary tattoo king @nicksymmonds wins 800m today wearing logos of his @rungum brand pic.twitter.com/iOXjuysaJp

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 28, 2015

As Run Gum continues to grow and earn an ever increasing share of the energy product market, it is not lost on me that none of this would have been possible had I not experienced the rejection and sense of failure that came with not working out a deal with an energy drink partner. In the months that followed our launch, we were able to fuel, fund, and inspire athletes around the world. I even got to make my temporary tattoo idea a reality at the 2015 USA Outdoor Championships which generate millions of impressions.

I'm reminded once again of perhaps the greatest lesson Coach Sam has taught me,

The ultimate key to success in anything is PERSEVERANCE.