For many of us, all it takes to become vegan overnight is one unavoidable, in-your-face experience with where our food comes from. Nicolas Hartmann, an athlete’s nutritionist and founder of vly, is no exception. After visiting a dairy farm in 2015 and subsequently becoming vegan, he was taken aback by the lack of focus on health in many plant-based products. Equipped with the dedication of a former athlete, an Oxford degree, and business experience from a private equity company, he stepped right into the competitive vegan dairy industry. And not with just any “milk” –⁠ he chose pea. 

“I grew up dreaming about becoming an NBA star. The dream never came true, but my passion for health & optimizing the body never went away. I wanted to combine both worlds and create very nutritious, plant-based dairy alternatives. Without compromising on taste, you know.” 

The latter proved to be the real test of stamina for entrepreneurship. “Seeing our first products running on an industrial line was such an unforgettable moment for me. Prior, we’d spent 1.5 years iterating between lab benchtop and pilot plants with many (many!) setbacks. The number of nights we drove home from a trial, tested the product, and the taste was just horrible is countless. That alone made the final scaling step so gratifying.”