New chat with Atomic Tea’s Jessica & Russell Bohrson (Post-Dragons’ Den)

(note: This post is cross-posted at Dragonfly with potential additional comments.)

I’ve planned for months to do a post-Dragons’ Den interview with the Jessica and Russell and I am glad I waited for four more days after they pitched *atomic on national TV on Monday. (See my chat with them four months ago here.) I am glad because I was able to get a sense of how people feel after they watched the *atomic pitch. And I ended up asking the Jessica and Russell some of the questions raised by a few Dragons’ Den forum commentators.

For example, I asked how do they feel about the controversies about their deal being drastically changed by one of the dragon? To me, their answers showed great maturity and the ability to look at the big piture.

I also asked them about people saying stuff like “bubble tea is nothing new“. Again, they gave a very insightful answer. Watch how they explain in their own words. [Hint: Will you say the multi-billion Starbucks is copying the business of coffee?]

Here are some tidbits of information and observation that you might find interesting (well, I certainly did),

1. 2-atomic — Do you know that their store phone number in Calgary 228-6642 actually spells out 2-atomic ? Isn’t that cool? (Just match it to your telephone keypad and you will see.) And they got this number for free because the previous owner of this number was using it as an infrequently used smart ring and was really kind. Incidentally, as a return favour (and a karma thing), Jessica bought them a small gift to say thank.
2. Arlene — Arlene has visited their store, tried the drinks, and she loves it. Jessica and Russell have also visited Arlene’s Calgary office and really admire the hard working and nice Dragon.
3. Kiosk — To get a kiosk for *atomic, they actually went to get help from some industrial design students at University of Calgary to make the kiosk easier to use and more ergonomic. On the big scheme of things, this may be a small thing. At the same time, this is paying attention to details (like the phone number 2-atomic). Attention to details is something that is integral with what I call “Relentless Pursuit of Excellence“.

Finally, I hope you will enjoy the video chat (click to view in larger window) as much as I in talking to the wonderful and hard working Jessica and Russell. (Join their Facebook group here.)

(note: Jessica and Russell will appreciate very much if any Dragons’ Den or *atomic fans can post *atomic’s Dragons’ Den pitch on YouTube.)