Nathan, who built the natural gum brand Underbrush and shares his story online as Nathan & Sons, joined Sean Kelly on the Digital Social Hour to explain how he sold through his inventory without spending a dollar on ads.
The conversation moves from gum base ingredients and packaging design to the mechanics of building an audience on TikTok, with Nathan walking through the choices — some deliberate, some improvised — that turned a small, handcrafted product into a fast-growing brand.
About Nathan & Sons
Nathan founded Underbrush Gum around a simple premise: chewing gum without the synthetic, plastic-based gum bases found in most mainstream brands. Operating under the Nathan & Sons name, the company positions its gum as plastic-free and formulated with natural, remineralizing ingredients.
What set Underbrush apart, by Nathan's account, was an entirely organic go-to-market approach. Rather than buying ads, he built early sales and brand awareness through TikTok content, turning product education and behind-the-scenes process into reach inside a famously crowded gum industry.
What Nathan & Sons and Sean Kelly Talked About
- How Nathan built Underbrush Gum's early sales entirely through organic TikTok content
- His decision to leave plastic-based gum bases out of Underbrush's formula
- The natural, remineralizing ingredients Nathan highlights as core to the Underbrush recipe
- His take on how microplastics show up in everyday products like gum
- Why Nathan kept early production handcrafted rather than jumping to mass manufacturing
- The packaging choices Nathan made to set Underbrush apart on the shelf
- How Underbrush carves out space inside a gum industry estimated at $50 billion
- The tradeoffs Nathan weighs between retail placement and direct online sales
Why This Conversation Matters
Underbrush Gum's growth is a case study in what product-first content can do without a paid media budget, and Nathan's account of building it lays out the real work behind that kind of traction. For entrepreneurs weighing craftsmanship against scale, or anyone curious about what natural formulation actually requires, this conversation offers a grounded, first-hand look.
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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About Sean Kelly & the Digital Social Hour
Sean Kelly is an entrepreneur and the host of the Digital Social Hour, one of the fastest-growing interview podcasts in the world, where he sits down with entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, and cultural voices for candid, long-form conversations. The show draws over 100 million views a month across platforms. Explore more guest features on SeanKelly.io.
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