We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Willy Kwak. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Willy below.

Alright, Willy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

If I had the opportunity to restart my business, one of the first things I would have done would be to start sooner. I’m naturally a perfectionist so I’ve always felt that I needed more information before I started in order to minimize risk. What I didn’t realize until after having been in business for a few years is that getting 70-80% of the way to being ready is typically all that’s needed to launch it and you can always iterate along the way. Starting my business earlier would mean that I get proof of concept quicker and feedback from my potential customers, which means more time and opportunity to iterate my product and offering along the way. This also would mean that I get my first sale much sooner and getting to that first sale is a huge win because someone paid for a product or service that you’re offering. Getting feedback from that first, second, and third customer helps you to iterate and improve your product, meaning you can make it even more valuable to your next customers.

When I started my business, I was a litigation consultant and my job required me to be a perfectionist as our work was scrutinized by someone whose job it was to find mistakes. I realized that my experience and natural tendencies had pros and cons for when I started my business. The largest benefit was that I would make sure to do all the necessary research before jumping into anything and the major con was that I became more and more afraid to take risks because I thought that more research meant reducing my risk. What I didn’t realize was that as long as the decision isn’t a make or break decision for the company, “good enough” is often enough. More often than not, we tend to spend too much time ruminating over a decision that doesn’t require as much time and effort as one typically gives to it and we’re much better off making a decision and iterating along the way.

Don’t let perfect get in the way of progress!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Willy, the founder of Keto Krack’d. I found keto for the first time in 2013 and I went on it because I needed to change my diet, which consisted of surviving off the $1 menu at fast food restaurants for nearly a decade. I thought to myself, “heck, this can’t be worse than what I’ve been doing” so I gave it a shot and I found lots of success with it as it essentially meant eating lots of whole foods and reducing lots of processed foods. I felt great while on keto but I was missing something… I was craving sweets as they’re basically off limits on a ketogenic diet. For years, I would scour Amazon and my local grocery stores to try the newest sugar-free, low-carb, or keto-friendly snacks and I was always so excited to try them because they were so rare to find. I would do my research and read other people’s reviews before purchasing something because these snacks weren’t cheap and I wanted to make sure they were going to be worth my hard earned money! Unfortunately, I was disappointed time after time… It wasn’t until 2019 when I’ve had enough and I KNEW that I could make something so much better than what’s available for sale as I was making lots of treats at home out of necessity. That weekend, I started the company, purchased confection books, and signed up for chocolate making courses because I knew I could make something delicious and our community deserved something better!

Fast forward to Jan. 2021. It’s still the middle of covid and I’ve been working on this side project during the weekdays after work and all day on the weekends for nearly 2 years, I finally felt I was ready to make the move to do this full-time but I was nervous and afraid. Before I could quit, I was actually let go from my company and it was the best thing that ever happened to the brand as I don’t think I had the confidence to truly quit on my own as receiving a salary and being able to save for my future was just too comfortable. When I was let go from my company, my ego was hurt and I felt lost. I knew that I now had all this free time to work on building Keto Krack’d but I didn’t quite know how I was going to make money as it was all just an idea up until that point. Over the next few weeks, I spent that time exploring my options and I realized that I had to create something that only I could make given my knowledge of keto-friendly ingredients and my knowledge of how to make confections. And I thought CANDY BARS without sugar would be perfect.

I began brushing up on my confectionery books and thought what are some candies that people love? I ultimately wanted to recreate the Butterfinger and the Girl Scout Cookie Samoas so I got to work on R&D. After a few weeks and multiple test batches, I was finally able to recreate these classic treats except without sugar or dairy!

The problem I solve for our supporters is to life a healthier life without the sacrifice. Typically if we want to eat healthy, we’re having to sacrifice taste to do so and if we want to have something tasty, we sacrifice our health. We’ve solved that issue for the people who want to remain healthy or become healthier by offering an alternative which helps them stay on their goal. We also solve the problem for people who used to be able to enjoy sweets but aren’t able to anymore whether that’s due to dietary changes or lifestyle changes. We help them realize that they can actually enjoy the nostalgic treats they used to and not miss out on any of the indulgence like they thought they had to. We want to show people what’s possible without sugar!

Although we’re still a relatively new brand, I’m most proud of the fact that we have supporters who enjoy what we make and we’re able to bring them happiness. I want people to know that we’re growing this brand so we can help people eat healthier, but also to bring them happiness with every touchpoint they have with us, whether that means enjoying our confections, engaging with our social media outlets, or even reaching out to our customer support.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My initial plan in building Keto Krack’d was to work full-time and save money while working with a co-manufacturer to make the finished goods for me. In the initial talks with co-manufactures, I had to change my formula so it would fit the specific requirements for the product to run through their machines and I realized that what I was trying to make was becoming similar to what was on the market, which defeated the purpose of why I started the brand in the first place.

It wasn’t until I was let go from my job that I had all this time on my hands and that I could create something that only I could make. That’s when I pivoted the product offering and making a handmade confection with no sugar or dairy in it and it was the best decision I could have made.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I suffer from severe social anxiety and it affects me on a daily basis. If I were to stay at home all day and never attend events to network or to get my product out into the world, my brand would fail and I wouldn’t be able to positively impact people in the way that I want to. My desire to build Keto Krack’d and to help people eat healthier is stronger than my social anxiety and fear & discomfort in talking with people or being in public and I believe that’s what illustrates my resilience. Every day, I face something that I am uncomfortable doing but I do it anyway because I know that doing it will positively affect people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ketokrackd.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ketokrackd
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ketokrackd
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-kwak