Jon Klipstein on Die Tryin Co., TikTok Shop, and the UXO Rebrand

Episode 4: Jon Klipstein at Die Tryin Co. HQ

Ben and Cody stayed in Boise after Episode 003 with Kris Gethin and drove over to the Die Tryin Co. warehouse to sit down with Jon Klipstein, the founder behind what started as UXO Supplements in 2015. The three of them crack Bum Energy Root Beer -- the podcast is powered by Cognizin -- and spend the next 90 minutes going deep on TikTok commerce, honest reviewing, DTC strategy, a hard-won rebrand, and the cash flow realities that don't show up in anyone's highlight reel.

This one is less about any single product and more about what it actually looks like to build a sports nutrition brand from the ground up, make expensive mistakes, and keep moving anyway.

What We Covered

Jon and Ben have a shared history that goes back to early UXO days on PricePlow, and that familiarity shows. The conversation covers real operator territory:

• How Emtiaz (Em), the founder of Ekkovision, changed Jon's understanding of TikTok before most people knew the platform could move product
• What makes short-form content actually convert vs. just rack up views
• TikTok Live, the auction feature, and why live selling has become the new Home Shopping Network
• Why small supplement brands should stay DTC instead of chasing GNC purchase orders
• The full story of UXO's rebrand to Die Tryin Co., including the failed bright-label agency detour and the buyer feedback that finally pushed the change
• How Die Tryin frames veteran identity without leaning on it as a crutch
• Project M777, SEND IT 3.0, and what heavy formulas actually demand from a flavoring process
• Why $1 million in revenue doesn't mean what founders think it means

Key Takeaways

TikTok Made Follower Count Irrelevant

Jon says his entry into TikTok came directly through Em. Em reached out wanting to rep UXO, Jon almost passed, and then within days of signing him on, commission notifications were stacking up from a creator with roughly 10,000 followers. The content was straightforward ingredient-and-value breakdowns -- no production polish, just genuine enthusiasm and a clear answer to "is this worth buying?"

Jon explains that he was hitting 750,000 views on videos when he had under 5,000 followers. The platform doesn't care who you are. It cares whether people finish your video. The irony he keeps coming back to: the videos he spent the most time crafting flopped, and the ones he threw up off the cuff hit. People can tell when you're trying to get their view.

The practical lesson for Bevlab and anyone building in this space: content-market fit beats follower count. A small creator who actually believes in what they're talking about can outperform a larger account doing obligatory sponsored posts.

Build Trust Before You Ask for Free Product

Jon started reviewing products by buying them himself, before TikTok Shop existed. Em coached him to do it this way -- show people you can make useful content before you ask brands for anything.

His review philosophy: be honest even when it's uncomfortable. There's a difference between bashing someone and explaining technically why a formula isn't going to deliver. He tells the story of calling out a proprietary-blend pre-workout, the owner sending product anyway, and that exchange eventually turning into a consulting relationship. A classy critique opens doors. Being the industry heel gets views but traps you there.

Ben connects directly: PricePlow had the same experience where negative or watchdog content performed well but drained the team and turned weekends into comment-section warfare. The short-term view numbers aren't worth it if the content role you end up playing isn't one you want.

DTC Compounds -- Retail Doesn't

One of the strongest operator sections in the episode. Ben uses a past DTC brand's GNC expansion as a case study, and Jon explains why retail isn't the win it used to be.

The shift: retailers like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe no longer guarantee sell-through. They need brands that drive foot traffic into the store. Gorilla Mind, RAW, and Ryse can do that because they have demand before they walk in the door. A brand with a passionate online community doesn't automatically convert to retail turns -- and the cost structure of retail (freight, promo spend, incentives, inventory risk) can break a small brand that isn't ready.

Jon says they saw this coming early and stayed DTC. Ben frames why that's the right call: DTC compounds. Every email list member, every retargeted customer, every repeat buyer builds on the last. The community builds the brand, and you own the relationship.

UXO to Die Tryin Co.: A Rebrand That Actually Solved Something

Jon traces the full arc. UXO started with a darker, military-coded identity that connected with the right audience. Then a branding agency pushed the brand toward bright, flashy labels designed to jump off shelves -- a change Jon didn't agree with but deferred to. They immediately lost followers and customers because the look no longer matched the brand people had bought into.

The name change came from an outside perspective. A prospective buyer who couldn't make a deal work left Jon with one piece of feedback: to you, UXO means something, but to everyone else it's just a three-letter acronym. Jon sat on that for six or seven months. He kept watching trade show conversations where he had to spend 20 minutes explaining unexploded ordnance before anyone cared about the supplement.

Die Tryin Co. solved the consumer-understanding problem and opened up new territory. People who don't buy supplements now wear the brand. The apparel can stand alone as a lifestyle product, which UXO apparel never really could. CT Fletcher complimented the branding at a recent event without being prompted. The rebrand cost a fortune -- labels, tents, signage, product launches -- but it was the right call.

The new brand motto is Always Moving Forward, a step forward from the old UXO motto, Built From Battle. Jon notes, with some dry satisfaction, that the new motto describes the rebrand process itself.

Veteran-Owned Is a Cherry on Top, Not the Pitch

Jon is direct about this. He respects Bare Performance Nutrition because Nick Bare leads with quality, athlete performance, and execution -- veteran identity is the final layer, not the selling point. Jon has applied the same logic to Die Tryin.

Military history still lives in the brand details: the Bomber Girl shirt nods to World War II nose art, the playing cards reference unit identity, Project M777 ties to his artillery background. But none of it requires the consumer to already know military culture. Die Tryin doesn't make you read a history lesson before buying a pre-workout.

Jon also says he's personally never been comfortable receiving recognition for service. He served because it was his job. That posture shows up in how the brand operates.

M777, SEND IT 3.0, and Why Heavy Formulas Are Hard to Flavor

Project M777 is the flagship -- a 50-gram serving with a full load of actives including 10g citrulline, 7g tyrosine, 5g creatine monohydrate, 5g betaine, 800mg Alpha GPC, and roughly 425mg total caffeine across natural caffeine and ZumXR extended-release caffeine. Jon calls the launch a gamble. It became the brand's best seller.

He also explains the 40/20 structure: at one scoop you get roughly 212mg caffeine and 40 servings per tub. Most users he recommends the one-scoop route. The flexibility makes the product more accessible and better value than the sticker shock of a two-scoop serving suggests.

SEND IT 3.0 is the daily driver -- now 25 servings, with 9g citrulline, 3.2g beta-alanine, 400mg Alpha GPC, 250mg natural caffeine, and 200mg PeptiPump added to the formula. Jon says they passed the savings from better ingredient pricing back to the customer instead of pocketing the margin.

Late in the conversation, Ben talks about building a flavor lab in his living room after learning from Joey Savage -- taste the raw ingredient first, then pick a flavor direction that works with the profile rather than against it. Ketones are tart, so lemonade. Greens should be tea-style, not fruit punch. M777 took five flavoring rounds to get workable. SEND IT is dialed. The gap between those two experiences tells you everything about what a 50-gram active ingredient load demands.

The Cash Flow Reality

Jon started UXO with $10,000. The company now carries hundreds of thousands in inventory. The bank account is still regularly empty.

The explanation is simple and often misunderstood from the outside: revenue becomes inventory, not cash. Growth requires buying more product before the next cycle of sales comes in. Production cycles run 8 to 10 weeks. Early goal was $1 million per year -- he quickly learned that doesn't get you as far as it sounds, and $10 million is when you start to feel like you have room to breathe.

The framing he keeps coming back to: they jumped into the business maybe 20 percent ready and figured out the rest while taking their lumps. A mentor in the early years, especially on the regulatory and manufacturing side, would have saved a fortune. Supplements aren't a generic e-commerce widget and the mistakes are expensive.

Why This Episode Matters

This episode is where sports nutrition and Bevlab overlap cleanly. Energy, formulas, content, community, and commerce are the same conversation -- and Jon has been running that conversation from the inside for a decade. The TikTok section is some of the most practical creator-commerce thinking Bevlab has recorded. The rebrand section is one of the better case studies we've heard on what it actually costs to let a name outlive its usefulness. And the DTC section is required listening for any small brand thinking a big retail purchase order is a finish line.

Die Tryin Co. is at dietryin.co. Jon is on TikTok at @DTC_CEO and @JonKlipstein.

Watch the Episode

Full episode on YouTube -- link coming when the video goes live.