Our Mission

A hydration problem.

If Nicolas and I had grown up somewhere other than Marin County, located in Northern California, it seems improbable that we would have encountered the issue that eventually led to the creation of MXXY. The issue in question was dehydration. Statistically, 75% of Americans suffer from chronic dehydration, and we were among this majority.

As high school athletes, Nicolas and I frequently spent our Friday afternoons with our friends on Mount Tamalpais or in West Marin near Point Reyes, making the most of the limited time we had each weekend to ride or hike. At the same time, we were doing our best to stay hydrated in preparation for our Saturday morning football and baseball games. Despite drinking liters of water during our outings, we consistently woke up feeling groggy and often took days to feel completely rested. 

It wasn't until our senior year that we began noticing fluorescent bottles appearing on bike frames and in backpacks across Marin. This marked our initial introduction to electrolytes, the essential hydration supplements used by endurance athletes to optimize their hydration.

We soon realized that these supplements could be the missing link in our hydration strategy. The logic behind that idea wasn't complex. To quote to the National Library of Medicine:

 

You lose electrolytes when you sweat. You must replace them by drinking fluids that contain electrolytes. Water does not contain electrolytes.

 

It became evident why drinking water alone wasn’t sufficient for proper hydration. We weren’t replenishing the essential electrolytes that are crucial for bodily functions, namely potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. Instead of carrying sugary sports drinks like Gatorade, which left us feeling as though we had consumed a soda during a workout, we turned to products favored by top athletes worldwide. Electrolyte concentrates such as Skratch Hydration Mix, LMNT, and F2C became our go-to solutions.

What was remarkable was the sustained impact of these supplements. The benefits were not only felt in the hours following our rides but also in the days after. By replenishing electrolytes during strenuous physical activities, we were able to immediately restore the critical electrolytes lost through sweat. This led to significant improvements in our muscular performance, focus levels, and recovery times. We would wake up for an 11 am game feeling fantastic. These benefits were accessible even to us, two nineteen-year-olds far from professional athletes. It became clear that the advantages of consistently hydrating with high-quality electrolytes extended beyond any specific activity or use-case, serving as a solution for an active lifestyle.

However, there was a significant challenge. Hydrating with these supplements on a trail proved to be problematic. Nicolas and I had always preferred using Camelbaks or similar hydration packs with reservoirs. These were convenient, easy to access, and simplified the task of staying hydrated. Unfortunately, the reservoirs were not designed to accommodate our evolving hydration needs. Placing supplements directly in a Camelbak would damage it, given the difficulty of cleaning the system. As a result, we ended up carrying extra bottles on our bike frames, which introduced its own set of challenges. Having to stop to reach for a bottle often led us to forget to hydrate, and the electrolyte solution mixed in the morning became intolerable by the afternoon after being exposed to the sun.

Building generation 01.

Having grown up just 15 minutes from, San Francisco, and an hour from Silicon Valley, our instinctive response was to build our own solution. We envisioned a hydration system that combined the on-demand access of a hydration pack, the easy cleaning of a bottle, and the ability to adjust electrolyte levels in real-time to adapt to changes in temperature and conditions.

The initial version of our product was both expensive and cumbersome, but it achieved our objectives. By designing a clip that held together two irregularly sized reservoirs and leveraging Nicolas’ expertise in aerospace engineering, we created a remote-actuated pinch valve and a chest-mounted dial. This dual-reservoir system enabled a rider to switch between two different liquids and even mix them together across four different settings.

 

An opportunity to learn from the best.

Designing the first version of our technology thrust us into an entirely new world. Our debut event was the Sea Otter Classic, a renowned race and bike expo in Monterey, California. Despite the $199 price point and a product that required users to wear our custom backpack, we sold out. More importantly, when we demonstrated the combination of solutions—the dual-reservoir, Mix Dial, and easy cleaning—we saw most athletes' eyes light up. We knew we were onto something, and the feedback proved even more valuable than the sales.

Sea Otter attracts some of the best cyclists in the world across gravel, downhill, and road disciplines. Through conversation, we discovered the product's pain points: it added weight, didn’t fit in their preferred hydration packs, and lacked credibility, coming from two kids in a spray-painted tent. However, they had never seen a system that eliminated the need to carry bottles or interrupted their ride to reach for them. Most importantly, they had never encountered a system that could be easily cleaned when used with supplements.

Developing Flexx™.

Sea Otter served as one of many events where we showcased and sold MXXY. From Monterey to the GoPro Games in Vail, Trailfest in San Diego, and Leadville in Colorado, we engaged in literally thousands of conversations with athletes. Through these interactions, the prerequisites for a scalable iteration of our technology crystallized:

1. Universal Compatibility: The system had to seamlessly integrate into any pack.
2. Ease of Cleaning: It needed to offer unparalleled ease of cleaning.
3. Durability: It had to withstand the harshest environmental conditions.

Over the subsequent 18 months, we undertook the design and manufacturing process that culminated in the Flexx Hydration System. In October, we quietly launched our lightweight, universally compatible hydration system, and after 6-months of field validation, the technology has surpassed our wildest expecations. 

Advancing optimized hydration.

Electrolytes are indispensable for optimizing hydration in active individuals. Our commitment transcends the development of products for endurance athletes; it includes making electrolytes more accessible to the more casual active consumer, and education around what "optimal hydration" actually means.

We strive to inform our community about the pitfalls of conventional drinks like Prime and Gatorade, emphasizing the hydration practices of elite athletes and the science behind them, and provide access to experts in various fields, ranging from hydration scientists to professional coaches.

If you've reached this point, we sincerely thank you for being part of the vision we're bringing to life and for contributing to the hydration revolution.

Drew Dawson

CEO & co-founder