How Bivo Grew 70% Through Storytelling, Events, and Retail
- Stanley Igboanugo
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In this episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, Jon LaClare sits down with Carina Hamel, co-founder of Bivo, to reveal how the company transformed a familiar plastic cycling bottle into an innovative stainless steel product—and built a rapidly growing brand around it.
Carina shares how Bivo worked with a former NASA engineer to solve one of its biggest product-development challenges: creating a lightweight metal bottle that delivers water quickly without being squeezed. The resulting design gives cyclists cold, clean-tasting water through a simple high-flow system that customers often find easier to use than traditional plastic bottles.
Beyond the product, Carina explains how customer feedback shaped Bivo’s messaging, product features, and marketing strategy. Through approximately 70 in-person events across the country, the team discovered an underserved audience of everyday cyclists who care more about enjoying the ride than competing at the highest level.
The conversation also explores Bivo’s pivotal transition from push marketing focused on immediate sales to pull marketing built around authentic storytelling. That shift helped increase blog readership by 650% in one year, with approximately one-third of website visitors now engaging with the company’s stories.
Carina also breaks down how Bivo expanded into independent retailers, built a network of 35 sales representatives, supported retail staff, protected wholesale relationships, and turned tariff uncertainty into international growth opportunities.
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
How Bivo engineered a high-flow stainless steel cycling bottle
Why customer feedback can uncover unexpected selling points
What in-person events reveal that online analytics cannot
How Bivo identified an underserved audience within the cycling industry
Why storytelling outperformed product-focused push marketing
How Bivo increased its blog readership by 650%
The strategy behind building a network of 35 independent sales representatives
Why product sampling helps retail employees become brand advocates
How to balance direct-to-consumer sales with wholesale partnerships
How Bivo responded to tariffs by expanding internationally
The brand-building strategy that helped the company grow 70%
You can listen to the full interview wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
If you’re developing a consumer product, expanding into retail, or trying to build a more sustainable marketing strategy, this episode offers practical lessons on listening to customers, creating authentic content, and turning product users into passionate advocates.
Want to learn more about Bivo?
Visit DrinkBivo.com, find Bivo on Amazon, or look for its stainless steel cycling bottles at your local bike shop.
Do you have a brand you’d like to launch or scale?
Visit HarvestGrowth.com to book a free consultation and learn how our team has helped generate over $2 billion in product sales.
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