Why Hedge Funder Demond Martin Quit His Job to Start an Energy Drink

Martin’s company WellWithAll sells supplements and energy drinks—but its bigger goal is raising $300 million to close health gaps for Black and Brown communities.

BY TOM FOSTER @TOMFOSTER2

Michael Archbold had been through the IPO road show ritual plenty of times. Most meetings follow a script. The executives talk for 20 minutes. They show slides. The investors listen. Except this time was different. 

At a hedge fund in Boston called Adage Capital Management, Archbold sat down across from a 35-year-old portfolio manager named Demond Martin. Before Archbold, then the president and COO of the Vitamin Shoppe, could launch into his presentation, Martin stopped him. He had already read the thick prospectus and had marked it up with colorful sticky tabs and dog-eared corners. He ticked off what he liked—the discipline, the positioning, the focus on returns. Then Martin made a promise. 

“I am going to be your biggest investor,” he said. “I just ask that we have good com­munication and you don’t screw this up.”

Martin had a reputation for that kind of preparation and conviction. At Adage, he spent years studying consumer businesses up close—walking store aisles, tracking promotions, calling executives with questions most investors never thought to ask. Over time,........

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