Episode 010 – Normalizing UTIs and Vaginal Health with Cranel

Today on The Heart-led Brand Podcast, we’re chatting with Christine Jurzenski and Erica Schultz of Cranel!

Cranel is a vaginal health brand on a mission to normalize and prevent UTIs. It all started as a conversation among friends that led Christine and Erica to question a lot of things around their vaginal health. Do cranberries actually help with UTIs? Why cranberries? And is a giant bottle of sugar-filled Ocean Spray really the best option?

They quickly realized there was so much they didn’t understand about their own bodies and that curiosity sparked an idea to create a simpler, more effective solution designed with women in mind – Cranel.

Episode Highlights:

How they decided to start Cranel while working in finance:

Christine: “I met Erica in 2015 and it was a very male-dominated field where I was working. So I go into the office one day and I had gone downstairs and bought like a liter of Ocean Spray. And I was like, 'I'm just going to chug this.’ And I get in the elevator, my boss walks in. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, so embarrassing!’ And he was like, “Oh, do you like, love cranberry juice?” I was like, ‘I pray that this man does not know why a woman drink cranberry juice.’

And then I went to dinner with Erica that night and I was like, “Isn't it insane that there's not like, you know, discreet products that women can drink that's just natural as opposed to always getting antibiotics?” And so then we really kind of started exploring that as a concept. And the more and more research that we did, all these factors really kind of led us to, okay, let's start a product and see how we go.”

Erica: “Yeah, I mean, from that, we even surveyed some of our friends to understand is this an old wives tale or does this actually work? And so me and Christine have this thing about micro steps, like, we're just going to give ourselves really small tasks because otherwise you'll feel overwhelmed. We both had full time jobs. We had lives going on and we didn't want to feel overwhelmed. So we would just do really small things each week and feel good about what we've done. Our first month or two was just bringing, like, 3 pieces of research each. Just like, let's see, is this science-backed or is this not science-backed? And we found that it actually was science-backed!

And then we also surveyed family and friends. And over 90 percent of the people we surveyed knew that cranberry was an elixir for UTIs but didn't know why. So it was kind of like, okay, everyone knows cranberry is a thing. We've got science to prove that cranberry is a thing. Let's just see if we can make this work.”

Some of the things you might not know about UTIs:

A UTI happens when bacteria sticks to your bladder wall.
The reason cranberries are a natural remedy for UTIs is because they contain Proanthocyanidins (PACs), an active ingredient that helps stop bacteria from adhering to the urinary tract.
Many women turn to plain cranberry juices to help with their UTIs (like Ocean Spray). But these juices are filled with sugar, which can actually make your infection worse because bacteria feeds off sugar.
Antibiotics are also a common solution for UTIs, but over 25% of women are resistant to antibiotics, specifically for UTIs. Antibiotics also might not be an option for people who are struggling with other health issues.
UTIs impact women at all stages of life and aren’t just a result of sexual intercourse. For example, they are actually common in children! As a child grows, their urinary tract is expanding/contracting. This makes it easy for bacteria to get stuck and cause a UTI. They are also common for women who are peri and postmenopausal because their body starts producing less estrogen, which helps keep good bacteria in the urinary tract.

On taking the leap to go full-time with the business:

Christine: I think one of the biggest challenges was taking that leap of faith to go full time and to raise money. We definitely had like advisors on our side being like, you know, do it! What do you have to lose? And I think that's a really hard decision to make. And at that point we'd been doing it for about a year as just a side hustle and it wasn't sustainable to keep it as a side hustle. Like you're reading every night after work, all the weekend, putting everything into it. And so I think that was probably one of the most challenging parts of, you know, the path was being like, ‘Hey, let's go out and raise money and let's really build this.’

We had to do so many meetings and it was a big education piece and you just have to kind of keep the momentum, keep your enthusiasm every meeting, which can be really hard. And I think that's why it's always good to have a co founder to lift each other up in different moments.

And for me, it was the best thing I've ever done. And you really learned that you can take that leap of faith. You can push yourself and you can do things that you never thought you could have done.”

Erica: “I totally agree with that, especially having someone else. Like, I think there are a lot of nois and there are a lot of brick walls that you face and it's nice when you have someone else there to go through it.”

Their tips for pitching a product to investors:

Christine: “I think being relentless in your pursuit is important and with that, you should be well equipped with a very polished deck, a very polished product, and a very polished story, and your passion will come through. We would literally chase people, I would call people, in a charming way, but I'd be like, “It's my daily call to you, I need a yes or no, are you in or not?”

And never underestimate the power of FOMO! Get someone's friend and tell 'em that they're putting a dollar in, like it doesn't matter. And just get that momentum and get people excited. And even if they choose not to invest in that round, keep them along for the journey and keep that FOMO going. Keep people getting excited, I think is really important. But you can only do that if you like deeply believe in your product.

I think when we first started speaking to people, it was definitely like, “Is this really a problem?” And we're like, “Go home, talk to your wives, talk to your daughters!” And then they would come back and they would be like, “Oh, my God, everyone has UTIs!”

We were small when we first started raising money, but we had really good statistics. Like even at that time, even though we had really low monthly revenue, 50% of it was subscription and 50%of people were coming back for purchasing again. And we really were able to focus on those like big percentage numbers.”

Erica: “Yeah, I'd also just say don't be afraid to reach out to your network. You'd be surprised who people know. Everyone wants to be part of your journey. People want to see you succeed. So don't be afraid to reach out to your network and say, “Hey, who do you know? Do you know this person? Can I get an intro?”

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Shop their cranberry shots: ⁠cranel.co⁠