Ex-L’Oréal Senior Brand Manager Frida Ålgars’ New Supplement Brand The Tenth Supports The Body And Mind

Trying to balance 16-hour days working as a marketing manager at supplement company Swisse Wellness and two young kids, Frida Ålgars was battered by stress and completely exhausted. To make matters worse, the stress and exhaustion were doing a number on her skin, which was festooned with breakouts.

“I always remember this moment where I went to a shop, and I saw a woman I thought was another woman. I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s me,’” she recounts. “I didn’t recognize myself anymore, and I knew there were so many other women who felt like I did.”

Long desiring to leap into entrepreneurship, Ålgars, who previously was a senior brand manager at L’Oréal, figured the time was right to step back from the corporate grind and spearhead a business of her own that could help her—and all those other women suffering under the same pressures as her. Early this year, following 18 months of development, Ålgars launched The Tenth Co, a Melbourne-based brand starting with a single supplement called Flow State designed to support the body and mind. “If you are feeling wired and tired, this is for you,” she says.

The Tenth is named for the tenth cranial nerve, aka the vagus nerve. Ålgars explains, “This concept came about when I felt my worse, and I thought, ‘Where do I feel my best?’ I feel my best on vacations where I can relax, rejuvenate and feel ready for the world again. I wanted to create something with that feeling. That’s where the vagus nerve came in. It’s in charge of our relaxation response.”

As Ålgars examined the supplement market prior to launching The Tenth, she sensed there was an opening for a brand addressing mental and physical health that didn’t require people to ingest several supplements to achieve multiple benefits. Flow State proclaims it has a myriad of benefits, from promoting calm to boosting energy, fostering immunity, brain function and digestion, and enhancing hair, skin and nails.

“If you are feeling wired and tired, this is for you.”

“I was so tired of taking a gazillion different supplements. They were great, but there was a lot to remember and a lot to take,” says Ålgars. “I thought there could be a better solution.”

Ålgars formulated Flow State with assistance from Oscar Serrallach, a functional doctor and author of “The Postnatal Depletion Cure.” Serrallach guided Ålgars during her pregnancies and postnatal care. Flow State contains 16 ingredients, including saffron, turmeric, biotin, magnesium glycinate, kelp and selenomethionine, at dosages Ålgars describes as effective for delivering the panoply of results it promises. The Tenth details the dosages on its website.

Ålgars believes Flow State’s results separate it from supplements that have problems with compliance. “There are good supplements, but there are not many that actually are efficacious products with bioavailable ingredients at evidence-based dosages and ingredients that have both individual and synergistic effects,” she says. “Here is another challenge with supplements. Depending on how you formulate them, they will take several weeks for their full effect, but you need to have ingredients that will have quicker impacts so the consumer has an incentive to keep taking them.”

Ålgars envisions The Tenth’s core consumers as women in their thirties juggling jobs and families. She conducted consumer research with nearly 100 women to inform The Tenth’s development and messaging. She discovered that women are routinely stressed, and they connect their stress to how they look as well as their well-being. She also discovered that, despite an onslaught of powder formats in the supplement space, powder was the supplement format they preferred least.

“I definitely want this to become a global brand.”

The Tenth sells a one-month supply of 90 Flow State capsules for $65. “In my previous job, all we wanted to do was powders,” says Ålgars. “For Flow State, we did three capsules a day, which I was very much advised against, but I didn’t want to have two really big capsules. No one wants to swallow enormous pills. If you are more into powders, you can take them apart and put them in a smoothie or drink.”

Ålgars settled on Flow State’s pricing to enable it to be attainable for a broad audience. “We want as many people as possible to experience the benefits. Whilst the brand has premium positioning, we want people to feel like they get a really good value,” she says. “I was advised by many to charge more, but I decided not to.”

Ålgars expects to introduce a second product in a few months. The Tenth will double down on supplements, but eventually expand to verticals outside of supplements, too. Ålgars says, “There’s a bigger mission for the brand is to have a full suite of products that adds to the consumer and makes her life easier.”

The Tenth is currently in direct-to-consumer distribution, but Ålgars plans to place it in retail. She points to prestige beauty and wellness-focused retailers as fits for it. The goal is to secure a key retailer in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. To drum up awareness in advance of a retail push, The Tenth is cultivating influencers and reaching out to the press.

Ålgars declined to disclose the amount of money she poured into developing self-funded The Tenth or a first-year sales projection. In the long term, she says, “We definitely have ambitious growth targets. I definitely want this to become a global brand.”