// functional energy · media-native · retail-ready
EXPOSED
BEVERAGES
A functional energy brand built on a rare operating stack — and a media strategy that brings the culture of investigative journalism to every can.
Zico-Tier
Operator
1.6B+
Launch Reach
5 Founders
Operating Stack
$500K
Seed Raise
↓ scroll
The Thesis
A functional energy brand built around the culture of things being exposed — powered by a rotating network of investigative voices, led by an operator who has scaled and sold in this category before.
Why Now
Category Momentum + Cultural Momentum
Timing is the edge most beverage brands miss
Functional Energy Is The Fastest-Growing Sub-Category
Consumers are leaving sugar-heavy legacy brands behind. The winners of the last five years — Celsius, Alani Nu, Ghost, Bloom — validated the appetite and the exit pattern.
Investigative Content Is A Cultural Force
True crime, citizen journalism, and documentary YouTube are some of the most consumed content genres — and the audience overlaps almost perfectly with the energy drink buyer.
Creator-Led Brands Are The New Playbook
Prime, Feastables, Ghost — brands tied to creator networks are compressing CAC and outgrowing traditional launches. We're building the same playbook for the investigative space.
Gen Z & Millennial Caffeine Shift
Younger consumers are replacing coffee and soda with functional energy that fits their lifestyle. The next flagship brand in this lane hasn't been named yet.
The Team
A Complementary Operating Stack
This is not a first-time founder guessing — it's a team that has already scaled, sold, and distributed in this category
DD
Devin Dubovik
Founder & CEO
Beverage operations, manufacturing, and co-packing. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, HACCP certified. Drives operations, supply chain, and formulation coordination.
Beverage operations, manufacturing, and co-packing. Former plant management at Adirondack Beverages and Captech. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and HACCP certified. Currently drives business development at Bonded Pac (Charlotte co-packing facility, SQF/FDA/AIB/EPA registered), giving Exposed a direct operational relationship with production infrastructure. Leads operations, supply chain, and formulation coordination.
Operations
DB
Darlene Barbee
Beverage Operations & Strategy
Senior operator at Zico Coconut Water during its growth years. 30+ years leading F&B organizations. Leads formulation direction and commercialization.
A senior operator at Zico Coconut Water during its growth years — the category-defining coconut water brand later acquired by Coca-Cola. 30+ years leading F&B organizations, including executive roles at BEVWRX, Beyond Plastic, and Don't Quit. Works with beverage startups on formulation and commercialization. Leads formulation direction and commercialization strategy for Exposed Beverages.
Zico · BEVWRX
CH
Chris Hansen + TruBlu
Media Partner
TruBlu Crime Network — 457K subs, 1.6B lifetime minutes watched. First partner in the Exposed Network of investigative creators.
TruBlu Crime Network delivers 350K+ avg daily views, 10+ min avg watch time, and 1.6 billion lifetime minutes watched across 24 months. Chris Hansen and TruBlu serve as the launch media partner for the Exposed Network — with the brand thesis designed to support additional creator integrations over the life of the company.
Media · 457K Subs
TW
Tom Weiss
Retail & Distribution
Multi-brand beverage veteran with working retail buyer relationships and a track record of placing emerging brands on shelf.
Multi-brand beverage veteran with working buyer relationships across major U.S. grocery and convenience chains. Working expertise in formulation guidance and accelerating the path to shelf for emerging brands. Actively places new CPG brands into retail as part of his ongoing work.
Retail Access
VR
Vince Rua
Finance & Capital Structure
Former VP at Pioneer Bank. Extensive history running and advising operating companies. Leads capital strategy and investor reporting.
Former VP at Pioneer Bank with decades of experience in commercial lending, capital markets, and operational leadership across multiple companies. Leads capital strategy, investor relations, financial controls, and the Series A preparation workstream.
Finance
The Exposed Network
A Creator Network, Not A Single Partner
Exposed Beverages lives at the intersection of functional energy and investigative culture — with a rotating roster of partners
The brand is named Exposed for a reason. Every partnership in the Exposed Network shares a common thread — truth-seeking content. True crime. Citizen journalism. Long-form documentary. Investigative reporting. These are some of the most culturally resonant and fastest-growing content verticals on the internet, and they share the exact demographic energy drink brands spend millions to reach.
Our approach is to build an ecosystem of creator partnerships, not bet on any single personality. Chris Hansen and TruBlu are our launch media partner — by far the largest integration out of the gate — and the brand thesis supports additional creator integrations over time, each bringing their audience and each reinforcing the core theme: nothing stays hidden forever.
Our approach is to build an ecosystem of creator partnerships, not bet on any single personality. Chris Hansen and TruBlu are our launch media partner — by far the largest integration out of the gate — and the brand thesis supports additional creator integrations over time, each bringing their audience and each reinforcing the core theme: nothing stays hidden forever.
Launch Media Partner
Chris Hansen + TruBlu
True Crime · 457K Subs · 1.6B Min
Our launch media partner. Drives the founders-case release and product placement as the first creator integration in the Exposed Network.
Example · Illustrative Only
Nick Shirley
Citizen Journalism · Investigative
Shown as an example of the creator archetype we'd evaluate for future integrations. Not a current partner and not in discussion.
Category · Future Evaluation
Long-Form Documentary
Narrative · YouTube Native
Documentary-style creators who build deep engagement through multi-episode narrative formats — a natural fit for integrated placement.
Category · Future Evaluation
Solo Journalists
Field Reporting · Newsletter-Adjacent
Independent journalists with owned audiences and distinct editorial voices — a potential category for future integrations.
Nick Shirley is shown as an illustrative example of the creator type we'd evaluate — he is not a current or prospective partner. No additional partners are currently under contract or in formal discussion beyond TruBlu.
Each future partner will bring their own audience, their own credibility, and their own storytelling format. What they share is the cultural DNA of exposure — and that is what makes the brand legible, coherent, and defensible even as the roster evolves.
Our Media Partner
The TruBlu Engine
Our launch partner brings substantial owned-media reach in the investigative content category
// lifetime minutes watched
1,600,000,000
In 2 Years. Compounding Monthly.
127M
Total Views
457K
Subscribers
350K
Avg Daily Views
10+ min
Avg Watch Time
// what this translates to in paid media
Equivalent of $1.3M–$3.2M in annual paid media reach
Based on category-standard YouTube CPMs of $10–$25 for 10-minute watch placements. Integrated product placement eliminates the skip-rate penalty of paid pre-roll — and unlike paid media, this compounds as the channel grows, at effectively zero marginal cost to the brand.
TruBlu is our first and largest integration, but it is one node in the broader Exposed Network. The same mechanics — long-form watch time, authentic integration, and demographic overlap — apply to every future partner in the roster.
The Placement Moat
A Set No Competitor Can Enter
This is not sponsored content — this is proprietary environment
Exposed Beverages lives inside the most culturally resonant investigative content on YouTube. Our launch media partner is on camera with our can — not reading an ad for it.
◆
Proprietary Environment. Integrated content partner sets are exclusive, non-syndicated placements competitors cannot buy at any price.
◆
Organic Integration. Product appears in natural frames over 10+ minute episodes — not 15-second skippable ads viewers tune out.
◆
Built-In Demo Targeting. Investigative content audiences skew 18–44 — the exact energy drink buyer profile Celsius and Alani have spent millions to reach.
◆
Multi-Partner Moat. As the Exposed Network grows, the moat deepens — each new creator adds audience and reinforces the brand thesis.
Product & Positioning
Functional Energy, Focus-First
Nootropic-leaning energy for the focused — not a sugar bomb dressed as wellness
// evidence file 0817-exp
Blood Orange
// evidence file 0817-exp
Citrus Interrogation
Category
Functional Energy
Positioning
Focus · Clarity · No Jitter
Formulation
Darlene-Led
Product formulation is being finalized under Darlene Barbee's direction. Under evaluation: clean caffeine paired with L-theanine, B-vitamin stack, nootropic functional inputs, zero sugar, and natural sweetener architecture. Our positioning lane is deliberately underserved — most competitors win on either lifestyle (Alani, Celsius) or gamer/fitness (Ghost). None yet own focus-first functional energy with a culturally distinct brand voice.
Go-To-Market
The Founders Case Launch
De-risked, pre-revenue, media-amplified — a launch that validates demand before a single case hits retail
// phase 1 launch plan
The Signed Founders Case Drop
Online-only limited drop of custom 24-pack variety cases — each personally signed by Chris Hansen, bundled with a free TruBlu trial. Proves demand, validates unit economics, and converts buyers into recurring TruBlu subscribers.
Online-only limited drop of custom 24-pack variety cases — each personally signed by Chris Hansen, each bundled with a free TruBlu trial. Launched through the TruBlu media channel, which has a 457K subscriber base and strong average engagement per upload. Proves demand, validates unit economics, and converts a portion of buyers into recurring TruBlu subscribers — creating a second revenue kicker on every can sold. The founders-case model is designed to be repeatable — future creator partners can lead their own limited drops as additional integrations launch.
Signed collector's pack — limited run, signed by media partner
Trial included — subscription funnel on every order
Custom 24-pack variety — all flavors in one box
Owned media launch — near-zero CAC through partner channel
Validates demand — pre-revenue proof for retail buyers
Repeatable model — each future partner can lead a drop
Roadmap
What $500K Unlocks
A clear, milestone-driven path from seed to Series A
Phase 1 · Months 0–3
Formulation Lock & First Production
Finalize formulation, first co-man production run, inventory built, brand identity locked.
Darlene finalizes formulation. First co-manufacturing production run. Founders case inventory built. Brand identity and can design finalized. TruBlu media integration planned and scripted. Begin conversations with second creator partner for Q2 follow-on drop.
Phase 2 · Months 3–6
Founders Case Launch & Demand Validation
Online drop through TruBlu. Sell-through data captured. Second partner onboarded.
Online drop through TruBlu media engine. Sell-through becomes the demand signal. TruBlu trial conversion data captured. Proof of unit economics documented for retail buyer conversations. Second Exposed Network partner onboarded.
Phase 3 · Months 6–12
Initial Retail Rollout
Leveraging Tom Weiss's buyer relationships. Regional test before national expansion.
Leveraging Tom Weiss's buyer relationships at major U.S. grocery and convenience chains. Regional test before national expansion. Product placement campaign with TruBlu and future Exposed Network partners scales in parallel — driving traffic to DTC and shelf.
Phase 4 · Months 12–18
Series A at Proven Unit Economics
Raise at higher valuation backed by documented sell-through and retail traction.
Raise at a meaningfully higher valuation backed by documented sell-through, retail traction, and measured media-driven CAC. Capital deployed toward national retail expansion, category extension (additional SKUs), and continued Exposed Network buildout.
Use of Funds
Every Dollar Ties To A Milestone
No "marketing and growth" catch-all — capital is deployed against specific deliverables
First Production Run & Inventory
30%
Formulation & Lab Development
25%
Brand, Can Design & Packaging
15%
Working Capital & Reserves
12%
Legal, IP & Trademarks
10%
Key Early Hires
8%
The Ask
Ground Floor of a Category-Defining Brand
Simple terms. Clean cap table. Clear path to Series A.
Risks & Mitigations
What Could Go Wrong — And How We Protect Against It
Every serious operator accounts for risk. Tap any item to expand.
01
Category Competition
▼
MitigationWe are not competing on shelf presence alone. Our owned-media distribution through the Exposed Network creates a parallel acquisition channel that doesn't require beating category leaders in-aisle. Differentiated positioning (focus-first, culturally distinct) targets a lane competitors have not meaningfully entered.
02
Formulation & Co-Man Delays
▼
MitigationDarlene's 30 years of commercialization experience and existing co-man relationships compress this timeline materially. Devin's own co-packing background at Bonded Pac provides a secondary production backstop if primary capacity constrains.
03
Single-Partner Concentration
▼
MitigationThe Exposed Network is designed from day one to support multiple partners, not bet on a single personality. TruBlu is our launch partner — but the brand's design thesis (things being exposed) is partner-agnostic and survives any single-personality event. Additional creator categories are identified and will be evaluated as the brand launches.
04
Retail Slotting & Working Capital
▼
MitigationTom Weiss's buyer relationships compress slotting costs materially versus cold-entry brands. Phase-1 founders-case revenue directly funds Phase-3 retail working capital, meaning we do not raise again until we have real sell-through data to price it against.
05
Consumer Adoption Speed
▼
MitigationThe Exposed Network delivers compounding impression frequency from day one — consumers see the brand in the content they already watch, not just on a shelf. Combined with Darlene's formulation credibility and Tom's retail access, this creates multiple shots on goal rather than a single path to adoption.
Nothing Stays Hidden Forever.