The 250-billion-dollar bottled water industry is a monstrous waste of energy, emissions, plastic, money, and yes, water. Ideally, it would not exist at all. Luckily, my guest today, Reuben Vollmer, agrees and has built Spout, an atmospheric water generation machine that provides ultra-high-quality water at the counter top, and all you need to do is plug it in.

Reuben’s route here is one of my favorites. A California drought that put his family farm’s water rights at risk led to a rumination on a field covered in morning dew, which led to a single-minded determination to provide extremely high-quality water from air on demand. He is a card-carrying polymath with a background in everything from film to rapid prototyping to advertising to engineering. What he has built at Spout is genuinely amazing.

Please enjoy my conversation with Reuben Vollmer.

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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fundamental-molecule/id1714287205

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A Chapman Film School alum, Spout Founder Reuben Vollmer’s career spans roles as a Creative Technologist at Deutsch LA and manufacturing manager in Torrance’s aerospace sector. Inspired by morning dew during a 2014 drought that threatened his family farm, he spent 11 years engineering air-to-water technology. His expertise in 3D printing and circuit design now informs Spout (formerly DewGood), a countertop device producing up to 2.5 gallons of pure water daily. Reuben blends imagination with engineering to provide a sustainable, independent water source free from plastic and pipes.

00:00 - Introduction

02:20 - Making Drinking Water From Air

03:21 - Turning California’s Drought Into Spout

07:29 - Why Failure Is Essential for Founders

09:13 - From Failed Prototype to Breakthrough Product

13:39 - Building a Hardware Startup With Limited Capital

20:20 - Creating Better, Cleaner Drinking Water

24:39 - Pricing and Marketing a $2,000 Water Machine

33:58 - Making Atmospheric Water Generation Mainstream

37:59 - Balancing Founder Ambition With Sustainable Growth

42:22 - Build What Customers Actually Want

Links:

Burnt Island Ventures: https://www.burntislandventures.com/

Reuben Vollmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reuben-vollmer-a9314341/

Spout: https://www.spoutwater.com/

Key Takeaways:

"I’m so used to failure. You know, if I’m not failing, then I’m not doing something right, honestly. And I fail probably nine times out of ten."

"Nobody cares that you have a box that makes water. They care if they don’t have to carry three packs of Aquafina to their car every week anymore."

"Focus on making a product that people want to buy, not on the product that you want to make."

"The grander the vision, I feel like the more energy there is to make it happen."

"That raw passion will get you a lot further than paying people. The paying people, most of them don’t care if you succeed or fail, they just want a check."

"We’re on a mission to make the best water on earth, which I’ve never heard a water company even strive to do… we’re not settled just being better than bottled water or tap water."