INX Pre-Qualification Pitch: The Mad Optimist

by Aug 14, 2018

The Mill’s 2nd Annual INX pre-qualification pitch event was held on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Of the 12 pitches that were presented at this event, 5 will be moving on to the INX Pitch Event in Indianapolis, where the winning pitch will receive $100,000 in cash and services. We will be highlighting the 12 pitches at the pre-qualification in Bloomington in a series of blog posts. The following is a profile about The Mad Optimist, one of the 12 companies that pitched at this event.

Dimension Mill - Hoosier Energy INX Qualifier - The Mad Optimist 7-25-2018-6

The inspiration to create The Mad Optimist came from the founders’ desire of wanting people to have the ability to pick and choose ingredients that go into the products they use on a daily basis.  Since it didn’t already exist, they created it!

The Mad Optimist offers personalized body care products such as bar soaps, lip balms, bath soaks, and body sprays to like-minded individuals using their proprietary eCommerce body-care customizer. Founders Mohammed M. Mahdi, Mohammed A. Mahdi, and Anthony Duncan say that now is the perfect time for their company to exist because both the people’s desire for personalized products and the natural body care industry have been taking off exponentially in recent years. They’re one of the first companies to take notice, and combine the two trends with their 6 years of hands-on expertise.

The Mad Optimist’s vision is for the company to be the go-to source for body care products on a national level. The founders see a unique opportunity for using their brand to wholly reimagine and execute new ways of running a business—one based on employee equality and ownership, integrity, transparency, and constant improvement.

The founders of The Mad Optimist are extremely proud of the quality and craftsmanship of their products. They take pride in that all their body care products are made of, using strict, voluntary, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices). They’re also proud of their loyal customer base, who have been very supportive of their mission: Showing the world that goodness can prevail.

The Mad Optimist sees many levels of potential growth for their company. In terms of personalized body care, they plan on adding more body care products and designing options; liquid soap and the ability to upload photos to print on the label, for example. On the level of sales channels, the founders plan on offering retail/in-store products, based upon real-time trend data they see coming from their eCommerce customers designing custom products.

To learn more about The Mad Optimist, check out their site here.