Competitor Zyn markets nicotine pouches to fund Bros

Excel’s branding is ironic or doesn’t make sense given the growing popularity of synthetic nicotine pouches among office workers who want a boost.

“Starting Excel was the next logical step in continuing my life’s mission of productivity at all costs,” said John Coogan, creator of Excel and a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and YouTuber.

Largely seen as a safer alternative to vaping, vaping and cigarettes, market leader Zyn said it shipped about 385 million packs of nicotine products in the US in 2023, up 62% year over year.

In addition to the corporate world, the bags have also found loyal followers in certain circles of the political right.

Tucker Carlson, for example, who said the product “frees your mind” — is launching his own brand in November. It calls it Alp, which it positions as a more masculine alternative to Zyn.

The brainchild of a Soylent co-founder

Coogan told BI that he co-founded Soylent, a beverage and snack brand, “so people don’t have to leave their desk anymore.”

Coogan — who also serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Founders Fund — co-founded nicotine startup Lucy Goods in 2016 and closed a $10 million Series A funding round in 2020.

Lucy is home to several secondary brands, Coogan said, with more on the way.

Lucy’s first product was nicotine gum and she also sells a Breakers brand whose nicotine pouches contain a flavored capsule. “More for the Montauk season than the office,” he said.

Excel was founded in 2022.

The branding for Excel — which walks a fine line between seriousness and parody — was developed by Los Angeles-based creative studio Day Job, which has worked with clients such as Colgate and sauce startup Fly By Jing.

In an email interview with BI, Day Job co-founder Rion Harmon said the branding was inspired by Wall Street’s hedonistic heyday.

“We’ve all heard of the cocaine-derived story production in the ’80s,” Harmon said of today’s declining productivity levels. “We felt an obligation to find a solution.”

Coogan likened Excel to “American Psycho,” a satire he said was “rightly embraced by the finance fraternity as a style guide.”

“We hope Excel will quickly enter the Wall Street canon,” Coogan said, “to stand alongside Patrick Bateman, Gordon Gekko and many other icons.”