Since launching Sult in April, Porpora and Goldsmith have built a cult following of nearly 40,000 social media followers, delivering raw, unfiltered content and behind-the-scenes snippets, and even asking their audience for input on branding and packaging designs.
In doing so, the pair are not just building a brand but a community, according to Porpora.
“We’re not just trying to sell a product,” he told NutraIngredients. “We’re trying to build something more meaningful—we almost want people to feel like Sult is a friend rather than just a product offering.”
Setting up
With a background in sports ambassador management, Porpora describes himself as ‘obsessed’ with wellness and fitness. Eager to carve out his own path in the industry, he began looking for gaps in the fitness market, spotting an opportunity to create a hydration brand that appealed to the ‘everyday consumer’.
“Having been through all the different areas of wellness, I felt like there was a big opportunity to create a brand, particularly in the hydration space, that wasn’t all about performance but about how we can all live a little bit better,” he said.
He created Sult with this market in mind, drafting in Goldsmith who also has a passion for health and fitness, as well as a large online following.
“My biggest struggle in life so far has been my battle with an undiagnosed eating disorder that I had for eight years, which I finally came to terms with during lockdown,” she said. “Long story short, I decided to recover and share my weight gain journey online, and within a month I gained 100,000 followers.”
Goldsmith is now a full-time fitness and wellness influencer, boasting close to one million followers across Instagram and TikTok.
“Being an influencer is amazing and holds so many incredible benefits, but I still felt like I needed to do something more,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to have my own business, but I never knew what that would look like or where I’d begin with it. So, when Henry reached out to me last September proposing the idea of Sult, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try.”
The pair began looking at the electrolyte offering but felt there were none on the market which met their expectations.
“I found that there was always a compromise with electrolytes,” Goldsmith said. “The ones that tasted great were full of unnecessary ingredients or super low on sodium, and the ones that were made of great ingredients tasted terrible. So, I knew that we had to nail both flavor and ingredients.”
Sult’s electrolyte powders come in two flavors: Peach Citrus and Watermelon Berry, with each containing sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride and phosphorus, with no sugar or artificial flavors.
“Getting the flavors how we wanted was one our biggest challenges,” Porpora said. “We probably spent four months solid just working on the flavor alone. Electrolytes can be quite challenging to work with flavor wise, and we wanted to create something that you actually wanted to drink on the daily.”
Pre-launch, the pair had more than 6,000 people signed up to the waiting list and quickly sold out their first round of inventory.
Peach Citrus, which combines the UK’s favorite flavor with a sweeter, fruity undertone, is now Sult’s best-selling flavor, with new combinations currently in the works.
The ‘middle market’
In addition to taste, Goldsmith and Porpora spotted an opportunity to tap into the ‘middle market’—fitness-minded consumers who are not professional athletes but work regular jobs and enjoy staying active and having fun on the weekend.
“Electrolyte brands were so polarized, either they’d focus solely on athletes who are running half marathons every weekend or they’d focus on the party goers,” Goldsmith said. “There weren’t any brands that identified with the people in the middle.”
Porpora explained that Sult aims to personify consumers who are like himself and Milly, who both have flourishing social lives but also a strong wellness focus.
“We’re trying to embody ourselves—two individuals who love to keep fit and healthy but don’t identify as athletes," he said. “We’re all about enjoying ourselves, going out for a couple of drinks and using electrolytes for hangovers and brain fog just as much as performance.”
To perfect the formula, the pair sought advice from a number of nutritionists and formulation experts and have recently appointed NHS surgeon and social media educator Dr. Karan Rajan as their official head of ‘Sulty science’.
“We had numerous experts go over our formula to back up what the manufacturer’s in-house nutritionists were saying,” Porpora said.
“We sought lots of outside advice and asked how we could improve it. One of the main things for us was sodium content. A lot of brands use very little, and some brands use a lot. We tried to make sure that we positioned ourselves as in the middle of the two.”
Looking ahead
Sult is currently a three-person band, with Goldsmith and Porpora managing everything from marketing and branding to customer service and sales, and Alex Campbell serving as creative director.
As well as new product development, the small team are now looking to expand to help the business grow.
“We’re looking to make our first hire very soon, and we’re doubling down on content even more than we were before by getting a videographer to follow us around to really bridge any gap between us and our community so they can see everything,” Goldsmith said.
Porpora and Goldsmith have a clear mission: to make Sult a key player in the wellness space and reposition electrolytes as not just for athletes but for everyday consumers as well.
“I think we’ve really found exactly what Sult’s mission is, which is to infiltrate hydration into all areas of life, not just the gym,” Goldsmith said. “We’re so passionate about Sult being a part of everyone’s life in every aspect of it.”
