How Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed Are Disrupting Supplements | Zeke Bronfman The Absorption Company

Zeke Bronfman co-founded The Absorption Company alongside Twilight and Vampire Diaries actors Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder, and deliberately kept them off the packaging and website. Because this isn't a celebrity brand. The only celebrity here is bioavailability. This is a masterclass in using celebrity founders the right way: as a distribution lever, not a brand identity. After selling their zero-sugar canned cocktail company in 2022, Zeke and co-founder Nate discovered they were peeing out up to 85% of the supplements they'd been spending thousands on every month. The culprit? Traditional supplements absorb at just 10-16%, meaning 84% never reaches your cells. That frustration became The Absorption Company: a science-first supplement brand using pharmaceutical-grade Capsoil technology to deliver nutrients up to 8x more effectively, backed by published clinical studies. Zeke breaks down how the partnership with Ian and Nikki came together (he had no idea who Ian was before their first call), why keeping celebrities off the bottle actually builds more trust with doctors and consumers, and how he strategically deploys their platforms for performance marketing, retail doors, and fundraising without letting the brand become dependent on fame. He explains: Why 77% of Americans take supplements daily yet 90% are still deficient in key nutrients The 3-step absorption failure killing every supplement you've ever bought How Capsoil technology makes their berberine absorb 6x better and CoQ10 10x better Why they're building D2C first, even with major retailers already knocking The one thing every celebrity brand gets wrong (and how to avoid it) Chapters: Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Building The Absorption Company with Celebrity Co-Founders 00:01:04 Zeke's Background: From Better-For-You Cocktails to Supplements 00:03:37 The Founding Story: Discovering the Supplement Absorption Crisis 00:04:35 What is The Absorption Company: Solving the Bioavailability Problem 00:05:54 The Science Behind Absorption: Three Critical Problems 00:08:08 Building IP and Brand Moat: The Thorne Comparison 00:09:39 The Partnership Origin: How Four Co-Founders Came Together 00:12:00 Celebrity Strategy: Amplifiers Not Figureheads 00:13:43 Leveraging Celebrity Co-Founders: Ads, Podcasts, and Retail Doors 00:17:27 Why Celebrities Launch Supplement Brands 00:20:16 Product Lineup: From Solutions to Foundational Supplements 00:24:27 The D2C-First Strategy: Why They're Not Rushing to Retail 00:26:10 Learning from Celebrity Brands: The IM8 Performance Creative Model 00:27:17 Common Mistakes in Celebrity Brands 00:29:18 Fundraising as a Celebrity Brand: How Investor Sentiment Has Shifted 00:30:39 What's Next: New Product Launches and Category Leadership HotStart VC Subscribe to the HotStart VC newsletter: https://hotstart.beehiiv.com/ Become a HotStart Angel and co-invest with us in celebrity- and creator-founded brands starting from $5,000: https://www.hotstart.vc/angels/ Check out our fund: https://www.hotstart.vc/ Scott van den Berg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-van-den-berg-22b534150/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottvandenberg_/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scottvandenberg_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@scottvandenbergvc Zeke Bronfman The Absorption Company: https://www.absorbmore.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezekiel-bronfman-66b613175/ HotStart VC is a fund that exclusively invests in brands founded by celebrities and creators. We're the go-to platform for celebrities and creators launching brands, providing capital, strategic support, and the infrastructure to scale.