“Sanzo is at its best when we serve as a bridge across cultures for both AAPI and non-AAPI.” CEO Sandro Roco on building a beverage startup, what to avoid in influencer deals, & protecting the brand.

I’m a Sanzo drinker. I’m also a Sanzo angel investor. The order is important because I fell in love with the product before I even knew about the company, and the hustle of its founder/CEO Sandro Roco. Over the last few years he’s been a diligent company-builder, brand steward, and community leader. Watching the boom/bust cycle of DTC brands that were running on just the sugar high of venture dollars has given me even more appreciation for those who, yes, require investment capital along the way, but are playing the long game. Here are Five Questions with Sandro.

Hunter Walk: Backstory time! Tell us a bit about Sanzo and how it was founded?

Sandro Roco: I had the idea for Sanzo in 2018. I was working at a venture-backed apparel startup for 4 years and saw the power of building digitally-native brands through Facebook and Instagram (TikTok was still nascent).

Living in New York City and finding pockets of other Asian Americans, I grew to appreciate my own identity as an Asian American. Crazy Rich Asians became the №1 film at the box office that year. BTS, the K-pop group, was going on a nationwide tour where they were literally selling out football stadiums.

At the same time, 2018 was the summer of LaCroix and other flavored sparkling water brands across a larger $45 billion carbonated soft drink category that has been in decline in the U.S. as consumers reduce their sugary soda intake. The big thing I noticed, though, was that across all brands it would just be the same lemon, lime, grapefruit and mixed berry flavors and so I felt like there was room.

That said, I knew nothing about this industry. A lot of consumer goods entrepreneurs either worked at Procter & Gamble or Coca-Cola or Unilever. So getting into the industry was a bit of a process. I would go into specialty and natural food stores in New York City and look at the other independently owned and smaller brands and just cold-Instagram DM or cold-LinkedIn message the founders. Oftentimes the people behind the Instagram accounts were…