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May 3, 2017 · 15m · top-founders

648:Biluu Lets Mexicans Safely Drink Tap Water for $150 with CEO Peter Aronso

Nathan Latka · 7m spoken Peter Aronson · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Biluu founder Peter Aronson to discuss how his startup is transforming Mexico's $15 billion bottled water industry with an affordable direct-to-consumer filtration system.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 53.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.5 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 1.5 Nathan pushing back 4.3
05100:0010:000:27–2:44 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Nathan Latka on Analytics and Dashboard Tools Nathan repeatedly pushes Peter for specific per-capita figures and expenditure metrics that Peter does not have readily available. Peter provides general industry context about bottled water spend exceeding broadband costs.2:44–7:04 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Investigative Journalism Roots and Biluu's Origins Nathan constructs an elaborate payback period calculation assuming the product costs $3,849 USD, but Peter politely schools him by explaining that Mexican pesos use the dollar sign, bringing the real cost down to $170 USD.7:04–11:10 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Overcoming Consumer Skepticism and Word-of-Mouth Traction Nathan presses Peter past his vanity metric of 1,500 daily users to get the real sales figure of 100 units, and refuses Peter's request to edit out an awkward moment regarding technology licensing.11:11–13:26 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Klipfolio Dashboard Software Mid-Roll Sponsor Pitch The segment consists of an ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Peter briefly educates Nathan on the Getting Things Done methodology.0:27–2:44 · Guest teaching 3/10 Nathan Latka on Analytics and Dashboard Tools Nathan repeatedly pushes Peter for specific per-capita figures and expenditure metrics that Peter does not have readily available. Peter provides general industry context about bottled water spend exceeding broadband costs.2:44–7:04 · Guest teaching 7/10 Investigative Journalism Roots and Biluu's Origins Nathan constructs an elaborate payback period calculation assuming the product costs $3,849 USD, but Peter politely schools him by explaining that Mexican pesos use the dollar sign, bringing the real cost down to $170 USD.7:04–11:10 · Guest teaching 2/10 Overcoming Consumer Skepticism and Word-of-Mouth Traction Nathan presses Peter past his vanity metric of 1,500 daily users to get the real sales figure of 100 units, and refuses Peter's request to edit out an awkward moment regarding technology licensing.11:11–13:26 · Guest teaching 3/10 Klipfolio Dashboard Software Mid-Roll Sponsor Pitch The segment consists of an ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Peter briefly educates Nathan on the Getting Things Done methodology.0:27–2:44 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Nathan Latka on Analytics and Dashboard Tools Nathan repeatedly pushes Peter for specific per-capita figures and expenditure metrics that Peter does not have readily available. Peter provides general industry context about bottled water spend exceeding broadband costs.2:44–7:04 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Investigative Journalism Roots and Biluu's Origins Nathan constructs an elaborate payback period calculation assuming the product costs $3,849 USD, but Peter politely schools him by explaining that Mexican pesos use the dollar sign, bringing the real cost down to $170 USD.7:04–11:10 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Overcoming Consumer Skepticism and Word-of-Mouth Traction Nathan presses Peter past his vanity metric of 1,500 daily users to get the real sales figure of 100 units, and refuses Peter's request to edit out an awkward moment regarding technology licensing.11:11–13:26 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Klipfolio Dashboard Software Mid-Roll Sponsor Pitch The segment consists of an ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Peter briefly educates Nathan on the Getting Things Done methodology.0:27–2:44 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Nathan Latka on Analytics and Dashboard Tools Nathan repeatedly pushes Peter for specific per-capita figures and expenditure metrics that Peter does not have readily available. Peter provides general industry context about bottled water spend exceeding broadband costs.2:44–7:04 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Investigative Journalism Roots and Biluu's Origins Nathan constructs an elaborate payback period calculation assuming the product costs $3,849 USD, but Peter politely schools him by explaining that Mexican pesos use the dollar sign, bringing the real cost down to $170 USD.7:04–11:10 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Overcoming Consumer Skepticism and Word-of-Mouth Traction Nathan presses Peter past his vanity metric of 1,500 daily users to get the real sales figure of 100 units, and refuses Peter's request to edit out an awkward moment regarding technology licensing.11:11–13:26 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Klipfolio Dashboard Software Mid-Roll Sponsor Pitch The segment consists of an ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Peter briefly educates Nathan on the Getting Things Done methodology.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 64.4% · guest 35.6%0:00 · Nathan 64.4% · guest 35.6%3:00 · Nathan 27.7% · guest 72.3%3:00 · Nathan 27.7% · guest 72.3%6:00 · Nathan 33.5% · guest 66.5%6:00 · Nathan 33.5% · guest 66.5%9:00 · Nathan 61% · guest 39%9:00 · Nathan 61% · guest 39%12:00 · Nathan 78.1% · guest 21.9%12:00 · Nathan 78.1% · guest 21.9%15:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%15:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:18 Peter asks to edit out technology licensing details

When stumbling over currency fluctuations and supplier relationships, Peter halts the flow and requests to cut the discussion from the podcast.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:18 Nathan refuses the 1,500 users vanity metric

Nathan repeatedly rejects Peter's framing of having 1,500 users drinking the water until he extracts the actual unit sales number of 100 devices.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:04 Peter corrects Nathan on Mexican Peso symbol usage

Peter disassembles Nathan's 3.7-year payback calculation by educating him that the store prices are listed in Mexican pesos rather than US dollars.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:21 Nathan instantly re-routes and identifies business model as licensing distribution

Rather than allowing Peter to backtrack or edit the tape, Nathan immediately diagnoses the operation as a third-party technology licensing distribution deal.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Nathan Latka on Analytics and Dashboard Tools 4316 Nathan repeatedly pushes Peter for specific per-capita figures and expenditure metrics that Peter does not have readily available. Peter provides general industry context about bottled water spend exceeding broadband costs.
Investigative Journalism Roots and Biluu's Origins 3724 Nathan constructs an elaborate payback period calculation assuming the product costs $3,849 USD, but Peter politely schools him by explaining that Mexican pesos use the dollar sign, bringing the real cost down to $170 USD.
Overcoming Consumer Skepticism and Word-of-Mouth Traction 6237 Nathan presses Peter past his vanity metric of 1,500 daily users to get the real sales figure of 100 units, and refuses Peter's request to edit out an awkward moment regarding technology licensing.
Klipfolio Dashboard Software Mid-Roll Sponsor Pitch 1300 The segment consists of an ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Peter briefly educates Nathan on the Getting Things Done methodology.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Supported
Aronson: Mexico Is the World's #1 Bottled Water Consumer Per Capita
“Mexicans have gotten that message loud and clear, and that means that Mexico has become the number one consumer per capita of bottled water in the world.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 1:37
Assertion Supported
Aronson: Mexico's Bottled Water Market Is $15B Growing at 8-10% Annually
“It's a fifteen billion dollar a year industry, and it's been growing like eight to 10% a year.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 1:48
Assertion Partly supported
Mexicans Spend More on Drinking Water Than Broadband and Phone Combined
“70% of the tap, 70% of the bottle water that's consumed in Mexico are these five-gallon jugs, and typical family will be buying about two of those per week, which means that the average Mexican family is spending more per month on their drinking water than on …”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 2:07
Disclosure
Aronson: Biluu BT-100 Purification System Costs 3,849 Pesos (~$170 USD)
“So that's 3849 pesos, which is about a 170 bucks.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 6:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Biluu reaches about 1,500 daily water drinkers
“We have about 1500 people drinking our water every day now.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 7:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Aronson: 42% of Biluu's growth comes from referrals
“And actually, 42% of our growth is come from referrals.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 8:43
Disclosure
Biluu operates via an exclusive technology licensing agreement
“We have a, an exclusive license to this technology.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 9:28
Disclosure
Biluu requires six-figure sales volume to retain licensing exclusivity
“Well, those numbers are confidential, but we're talking about you know, six figure sales. We need to maintain those kind of those kinds of numbers in order to see our exclusivity continue.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 9:45
Disclosure
Biluu is entirely self-funded by its founders
“My partner and I are both self-funded.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 10:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Biluu partners with an influencer reaching 2M monthly viewers
“We've got one brand ambassador who's got user engagement of two million people per month, and they're promoting Beeloo on their internet show.”
Peter Aronson May 3, 2017 ▶ 10:55
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