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Naak- Ultra Endurance Nutrition. Interview & Products Overview with Will Walcker CEO/Co-Founder
Dec 5, 2025
Naak- Ultra Endurance Nutrition. Interview & Products Overview with Will Walcker CEO/Co-Founder
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0:00
Okay, we're here at Knack with Will who
0:03
is the founder and CEO and we're
0:07
wrapping up uh TR with some nutrition
0:10
kind of we kind of need it.
0:12
Will tell us a bit about Knack's origins
0:15
uh and products and uh
0:17
yeah for sure
0:18
etc. So I mean like Knack was created in
0:21
2016 and um I I'm the founder of the
0:24
company and like the reason why uh we
0:26
decided to create this with my partner
0:28
Min um comes from the fact that we were
0:30
doing a lot of like triathlon at the
0:32
time but also like started to do like
0:34
some running and realized how much like
0:36
the distance were always like
0:38
increasing. So it was always like the
0:41
course for like more and more you know
0:43
more kilometers and um one thing that we
0:46
actually realized is that more like like
0:49
nutrition hasn't changed and people are
0:51
have had so many like gastrointestinal
0:54
you know issues uh like it's 85% of like
0:57
did not finish reasons that came from
0:59
that you know that problems. So we felt
1:01
like maybe we needed our body needed
1:04
like something different, you know, to
1:05
fuel with in order to reduce this GI
1:08
distress and also like get a get a
1:10
better like more stable energy over
1:12
time.
1:13
And when we looked at like all the
1:16
science and stuff like this, we realized
1:18
that we needed like more protein,
1:20
different types of like complex uh carbs
1:22
and fast acting sugar as well. Uh and
1:24
also we integrated like more
1:26
electrolytes to create what we call the
1:28
ultra energy. So ultra energy is really
1:30
like the science that is behind like all
1:32
the products and that makes it you know
1:34
really specific to ultra distance.
1:37
And the other aspect that we had a lot
1:39
of trouble with uh with sport nutrition
1:41
at the time uh was actually the
1:43
sustainability and like healthy you know
1:46
aspect and uh we were like together both
1:49
like vegetarian and we were really
1:51
paying attention a lot in like
1:53
everything we were eating and we had to
1:55
compromise like all the time with like
1:57
sports nutrition. So our mission was
1:59
really to build like sports nutrition
2:00
that was made for performance but in a
2:04
sustainable way. So we wanted to combine
2:06
like those two worlds to make it like
2:08
the best uh you know nutrition uh on the
2:10
market.
2:10
And your background your backgrounds how
2:13
did you get I mean you were you were
2:15
competing and you know but yes this is
2:18
can be complex stuff. So how did you do
2:20
this?
2:20
So the thing that helped me the most
2:22
like was definitely my athlete
2:24
background. um that helped me like
2:26
understand like the body needs and stuff
2:28
like this. And then we surrounded
2:30
ourselves also with like sports
2:31
nutritionist like food engineer um and
2:34
other people that helped us like in
2:36
business to like build the company and
2:38
scale it to where it is now.
2:40
And um are I'm curious are the where are
2:42
the products produced?
2:44
Uh most of the products are produced in
2:46
Canada.
2:46
Canada. Yeah. Um and um also I was at
2:50
UTMB this year and you're the are you're
2:52
are you're the official nutrition
2:54
sponsor.
2:54
Yes.
2:55
Now how did how did that happen and what
2:59
you know I guess it's more than just
3:02
okay we need a sponsor and they'll pay
3:03
but what about the product and how did
3:05
they feel about it? The full story is
3:07
that basically we wanted to start going
3:10
international and uh we went to uh UTMB
3:13
one year just to have a booth and like
3:15
spend some time there, meet with like
3:17
the you know the other trail runners in
3:19
Europe and see how people would react to
3:21
our product. We were like incredibly
3:23
surprised how people loved uh the
3:25
product and could resonate with like the
3:27
the mission and everything we built. And
3:29
I also met with some people from the
3:31
UTMBB organization
3:33
where at the time I was like are you
3:36
guys at some point like looking for a
3:38
partner for the UTMB and they were like
3:40
oh yeah actually we're looking for a
3:42
partner for like next year. I
3:43
like oh wow I wasn't ready you know to
3:46
start like sponsoring UTMB like so so
3:48
early in our process but
3:51
it was just like such a good match
3:53
just because like they were looking for
3:54
like a premium brand really dedicated to
3:57
Ultra. So they were like this is the
3:59
brand. Exactly. This was like the brand
4:01
they needed and on our side we wanted to
4:04
go global and UTMB World Series was like
4:07
growing you know on a global scale which
4:08
is like you know it is now like the
4:10
largest uh uh like series of trail
4:13
running events in the world uh which
4:15
really helped us like build the the
4:17
company globally.
4:18
Excellent. Now could you just quickly
4:20
kind of scan through the different
4:22
products? Okay. you know, um, and what
4:26
they're for and why they're different.
4:28
Go ahead.
4:28
So, like all those products like from
4:30
here to this this way, uh, our like
4:34
ultra energy products
4:35
which are really made for like low to
4:37
medium intensity really long distance
4:40
efforts I would say. Uh, and we have
4:42
like different types of products from
4:43
like the liquid ones with the drink
4:45
mixes uh to like solid uh with the bars
4:48
and waffles and through the semi- liquid
4:51
options with the purees that we have
4:53
here which are you know made of fruits
4:55
and vegetables. So it's like very very
4:57
healthy. And then we developed um this
5:00
boost product line that is more relying
5:02
on like cards uh fast acting sugar but
5:06
also still like some complex cards with
5:08
the same approach of the the ultra
5:10
energy. Uh the only thing is that you
5:12
don't have protein but you still have
5:13
like some electrolytes that makes it
5:15
like something the protein. Yeah, the
5:17
protein is included like in all the
5:19
energy products.
5:20
Yeah, got it.
5:21
And this one is really like more high
5:23
intensity efforts. It's really like your
5:25
racing uh racing fuel. And then we have
5:27
the recovery products uh with all those
5:30
like recovery bags and complete mix
5:32
recovery. So this is all the products
5:34
you need just to recover and it's it's a
5:38
broad portfolio that covers
5:40
it's a onetop different needs as opposed
5:43
to being very siloed.
5:45
Exactly.
5:48
That's
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