Today we’d like to introduce you to Riley Gaertner.
Hi Riley, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Brave Bar is a classic “scratch my own itch” venture. At the University of Colorado Boulder I got into health, wellness, and nutrition and became frustrated with the ridiculous ingredients in our food, especially in protein bars. I started experimenting in the kitchen I shared with three roommates, aiming to create a real‑ingredient protein bar made with grass‑fed protein and naturally sweetened with honey and dates to bring to the Boulder County Farmers Market.
The packaging was a sticker I designed myself on a plastic baggie, and you could say the bar itself had more potential. The next year I increased the protein, refreshed the logo and packaging, and saw sales at the market, but I still couldn’t break into retail, and online orders on my homemade website were nonexistent.
After graduating, I moved back home to Austin, Texas, to keep building Brave Bar and take it more seriously. While working full‑time, I started getting online sales and entered a few local retailers, but I still felt the bar wasn’t where it could be. That’s when I entered an era of experimentation. Every day after work I’d tweak the recipe based on feedback from anyone willing to try the bar around town and at local gyms. After months of trial and error, Brave Bar finally became what it is today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Trusting my intuition and vision was a struggle at first, because, like any artist starting out, I had a vision for what I wanted and made something good, but I was aware it wasn’t yet where I wanted it to be. This became clear in the early days at the farmers market in college. People assumed that I worked for Brave Bar and wasn’t the founder, and some made unfavorable comments, including “no one will ever buy that.” Whether true or not, I had to trust my vision and core customers, and accept that it wasn’t meant for everyone. Customer feedback has to be taken seriously, but sometimes selectively.
Similarly, another struggle which I am sure hits home to some is that this game does not have instant feedback, and the rules are not clearly defined. What I mean by that is when I worked on the re-launch spending a good chunk of my savings and time without any results at first, I couldn’t help but to question whether I was making the right decision and if the bar was even good at all despite clear positive feedback from strangers. I couldn’t help questioning whether I had made the right decision or whether the bar was even good, despite clear positive feedback from strangers. I had to keep trusting the decision I made months earlier, long before there was any sign of light at the end of the tunnel.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Brave Bar?
Going into this, I knew the protein market was big and saturated, but I’ve always believed I had something real and different to offer. Most protein bars are heavily processed, built around macros, and light on real food. Brave Bar is built around real ingredients: grass‑fed collagen and whey protein, raw Texas honey, organic dates, and clean fats that actually fuel you. Each bar delivers 23 grams of protein, 7 grams of prebiotic fiber, and 340 calories of real‑food energy. No seed oils or tallow, no preservatives, no gluten, nothing artificial.
What were you like growing up?
I’m an only child, and was often told I was bossy, shy yet outgoing, and a bit misbehaved, all of which still hold true today, for better or worse. I believe being an only child helped me pursue what I was truly interested in. I was always doing little science experiments and playing outside with friends, but I was also always an entrepreneur; starting with lemonade stands, mowing lawns, selling fossils I found, starting a Minecraft server, launching YouTube channels, making homemade fireworks, photography, drop shipping, VHS digitization, and losing money trading stocks.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bravebar.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravebar.co
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089108984659
