A 23-Year-Old Finds Big Opportunity in the New CBD Industry

Alex Sourry in Pueblo, Colorado learning the CBD Business. Credit: Tim Drennan

“Try pitching to your father that you’re going to launch a company around hemp, and you want him to be involved.” joked Alex Sourry. “It was quite a dinner convo.”

From lattes to grilled cheese,dog treats and gummies, CBD has made a bold presence in the last couple of years. Now heading up a growing CBD business, Alex Sourry entered the startup world early. At just 19 years old he broke into the business world, following closely behind to entrepreneurial father, Phillip Sourry. Originally from New York, Sourry attended Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida where he majored in business marketing and sought out to be undoubtedly successful. While maintaining the typical college life, he was able to expand his horizons.

In a nutshell, CBD is a derivative of the hemp plant. They have products that have less than the federal limit of .3% THC. The hemp is processed and extracted into distillate to which MYKU Biosciences formulates and creates consumer friendly products. Sourry’s company manufactures this oil and sells it to other brands. “We can make 6,000 tinctures in one hour and a lot of others can’t do this. We are all automated,” he adds.

Now at 23 years old, Sourry has ventured off into different business ventures to find his niche. Before this successful launch, he was the VP of a consumer electronics company and understood all things distribution. His partner’s friend introduced Sourry to the CBD business. He had no idea what CBD was at the time and was intrigued by the concept.

“I knew that selling product through my channels would be a great addition to what I was doing, and when I learned more about it, it was something that I wanted to get behind considering all of the benefits,” he said.

The young entrepreneur is now the co-founder of MYKU Biosciences. He got into it over two years ago when CBD was just starting out and his father, Phillip is now the current CEO. Clearly that dinner conversation went well. Sourry wanted to go after a wider market knowing that there was an opportunity to expand the CBD business.

The initial idea and pitch for MYKU initially started by being a brand and cut it down to just our team collectively sculpted a business model for building capacities for contract manufacturing. They prepared a business model in a featured commodities market from ground up and the pitch was based around the people involved and the experience that was collectively brought to the table.

Along the way he was able to bring in multiple investors to enhance his idea. It was his idea to bring in partners, because besides the funding, he wanted to leverage their know how and experience to be able to navigate the market and bring manufacturing ideologies to a space that did not have that scrutiny in manufacturing.

“We spent a lot of money in machinery and equipment. We needed a lot of cash to get that. We had to get the money from investors and we had to get customers. Money was put up at the start and investors put in x amount of dollars.” Sourry deployed capital into expanding machinery and equipment.

At a high level, MYKU Biosciences is a full supply chain company. They offer R&D through their expert team. They focus on formulation, sourcing, packaging raw materials, bottling, capping, shrink wrapping, label application and more. Post production, his business offers B2B (business to business) fulfillment.

“We currently fulfill for some of the largest B2B distributors with CBD in their channels and are well versed with requirements,” he said.

“We are a diligent, fast-paced manufacturing company that strives on consistency, transparency, and most importantly, quality consumer products.” Sourry also explains that sometimes there is a problem building throughout and being sure that he remains high quality as quantities ramp up mixed with transparency and consistency.

Consumer Packaged Goods, CPG, is their main target as well as natural product brands. They are in the works of trying to distribute their products to stores. The brands handle the marketing to specific demographics but Sourry creates products toward their niche with price sensitivity, ingredient complexities and asks in mind.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about people and you’re only as strong as the weakest link”, Sourry adds. The initial idea was to own a brand but build enough capacity to handle private label manufacturing for brands.

Sourry is a determined, quick-minded, and intelligent businessman. After all it is in his blood. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs. His mother an entrepreneur herself, and his father Phillip worked in consumer packaged goods for Colgate.

When it came to branding, Sourry said it wasn’t easy. He wanted to base his company’s concept on the ancient goddess of hemp and longevity “MAKU,” but they ran into a patent problem and changed it to MYKU by turning the ‘A’ upside down. “It’s an insight into how we are agile and pivot on a dime to keep the engine roaring,” Sourry explains.

As for marketing and advertising, Sourry teams up with vendors as a package deal to approach brands. “Networking, moving, shaking, listening and pairing up with the correct people and circles is how we attracted big brands,” he says with a smile.

The young business mogul is thrilled with his success but knows he has a long way to go.  As he puts it: “There is always room to grow, learn and improve, and I’m just getting started.”