Ep. 74 | Bringing Caapi to Market - Roberto Rodriguez

Jack sits down in Panama City with a co-founder of Happy Caapi to unpack why nervous-system regulation, not hustle, is the real unlock for clearer work and calmer relationships. Listeners will hear how he discovered the caapi vine and transformed it into a legal, non-inebriating daily ritual, as well as what it takes to source, produce, and educate responsibly in Panama. The two explore simple protocols that align with real life, fostering trust through consistency rather than hype, and positioning a wellness product based on evidence rather than promises. Expect takeaways on designing rituals that stick, making calm a competitive edge, and translating plant wisdom into modern routines.

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Welcome to Shakin’ Hands, where we provide the platform for entrepreneurs and thought leaders to share their stories in order to hopefully influence others to get out of the rat race and chase their own dreams. If you have any recommendations for guests or questions that you want to be asked, please don't hesitate to reach out. Anyways, if you enjoy the podcast, please like, comment, subscribe and share in order to keep the podcast growing. Otherwise, I'm your host, Jack Moran and this is Shakin’ Hands. If you're looking for business mentorship, I have a place where you can get feedback on your unique personal development and business growth challenges. Over the last year, I've brought together a group of impact driven thought leaders where we meet every single day to discuss psychology, communication, mindset, and business case studies. We have people who have made millions of dollars, lost millions of dollars, Harvard MBAs and new entrepreneurs like you and I. Entrepreneurship can be lonely. So if you're looking for a support system, please follow the link in the description below for some more information. Yeah, I'm so back with names faces. I'm incredibly in the same way. It's insane. I could made you like three years ago and then I don't know your name, but I can remember where we met. And your face I'm the same way I don't know about. No. Remember where we met. But I can remember. Like I know that I know you. Yeah, yeah. What's your business? We, make supplements. We have a brand called Happy Guppy, and we are pretty much revolutionizing with a new ingredient that people don't know about, but that we've had, like, incredible, receptivity towards. So it's called the Cappie wine. Maybe you buy. It's. Yeah, that's the thing. Like, no one knows about it, but it's once they try it, it's incredible. So yeah, we've been doing that for like almost two years. Actually, my whole premise of this, I don't know if we're on or not or whatever, but the whole premise was that you take one with me. If I think if if you were trusted enough to give me this interview, I think, I think you will be open enough to try one. So we make this package. Am I going to start tripping or some. No no no no no no. That's that's part of the this mystification of the thing. I want to give you a little pitch just for you to understand, but the biggest claim that I know about my product is that you will able you will be able to feel what is your nervous system regulated in 20 to 30 minutes, which is pretty much I think we're going to be talking more right about that. Yeah 30 minutes okay. Cool. So that's the whole premise. Like I, I'm pretty sure that you will feel more regulated in 20 to 30 minutes. What do you mean by regulated. So your nervous system is really that the command center of everything? If your nervous system is like out of regulation, you will be either like super hyped and like really afraid, but not necessarily in a good way. You might be like anxious or high to high activity. Or if in the other spectrum, if you're like, your energy's kind of low and you're not like feeling completely in your capacity to stuff, your nervous system is regulated, like in the in the downside, the copy, the alkaloids of the copy, will regulate your nervous system and you will feel great, like beyond just feeling like. Conscious and aware, you will feel like you know that, when people say like, I want the song, you will feel that way, way, way more easy. So that's the whole premise. Just let's do it. Yeah. Okay. So it's really easy. It's a packet. We grow the plant, the line here forever. Yeah. You all just like this, you know, like a little. You want to try one? Sure. We snorted or. It's like, energy gel, you know? Yeah. Let's rock and roll. I'm ready. Is it going to wake me up? I hope so, it's going to make you feel good on the level that I just explained. You know, it's going to regulate if you're feeling a little down energetically. Good tasting. Nice. Good. I think at least I have like points for being them and like, bringing something new to the conversation. This is the first time that I've, eaten something on the podcast. Yeah. I'm waiting for you to be like, dude, that's ayahuasca. You guys start losing it. No, it's not my taste. Good. I took a supplement pretty similar in taste. Probably not the same components, but it's very similar to this other thing that I eat. Yeah. What is it called? Symbiotic. Yeah, I know them. It's like, just like a it's like an alternative to, like an athletic greens. Something like that. I think satiates her pretty with so good. Yeah. It's called super Greens. Yeah. Yeah. This is good. All right. Well now we're just going to sit here in silence and see what the effects are. Yeah. We're just going to talk and you'll you'll tell me like, I think I feel something good. So have you read the book? The body keeps the score. You know, that book is. I think so. I haven't read it. I haven't, I've heard of it, but actually, I think I haven't read it like it said, from who? I forget who the author is, but it's about how your nervous system like stores trauma. Actually, and so they have like it's all about that premise and there's like a lot of, like traumatic feelings that have come out of that. And, like somatic healing. We've had some guys that were big into that, you know, that basically by like processing this, like energy out of your nervous system, you can release some of these traumas. 100%. That's very true. Like at the end of the day, the mechanics of our electro physical network in the body, in our mind, it's all, organized and driven by the nervous system. So, I am very aware of that. I'm actually going to look at the book. It's a really interesting, to hear the book that goes deeper into that aspect of trauma. But I'm very aware of the, nervous system role in everything we do, pretty much. So how did you get into this? Well. I consider myself that I've been on a journey of self-discovery for. I'm 32. You look a lot younger than I know. That's why I take the time to say 32. You know, it's like, I, I know I look younger, it's all because of this stuff. So. Partially. Yeah, but the journey of self-discovery has been like since I've been like 18, 19. And through all that journey, I've become aware of. Like knowing yourself, really? The meaning of that. Signifying that you accept and understand the limitations and the like, the, like the, attributes that you have and then building yourself from that process. It's a way bigger story. But let's just synthesize that, that that journey has took me to, try different things. Right? In that process. You mentioned ayahuasca and. Yeah, I've been I've drank ayahuasca before. And on that process of drinking ayahuasca, I understood a relationship with plants that I think it's heavily, myths. There's a lot of misinformation about it. Because we have the notion of like, yeah, drinking. I was this, this huge process and it is, but it's the, the, the perspective about it is that that does the work for you, but you even if you are revealed like, hey, you're becoming more aware consciously, of a lot of stuff in your life, you still need to do the conscious work of, you know, consistency out of the moment that you're drinking ayahuasca. There's still work to do. So on that process, I discover the capi vine. And I've been drinking it for like, more than five, six years. I met my business partner, Diego and he also drink. I was drinking the coffee. Wine and were. We've been friends for, like. A good 7 or 8 years. So we were like, we had a moment where we were not talking that much, just because of live experiences. And when we reconnected, we were like, Joe, I've been taking care of you. I'm like you. I've been taking care of you also. And that that moment, just like that day, we understood like, definitely this is something that has to be shared with the world. And but we did it for ourselves, which I think is a big it's like a big, big point of business. Like for me, when like the biggest businesses that are successful or that have like, solid relationship with their users is people that are actually driven because they wanted what they making. So we made it for ourselves. It's like, yo, we cannot make tea because normally you take this as a tea, right? But like, I want to take it right now and I'm not going to be waiting for you guys like, yo, let me make some tea. You know, we wanted something portable that tasted great because the vine by itself is not necessarily the best tasting. It's not bad, but it's not the best tasting. So we went on the journey to make that happen. And, now we have this product and we are. We could be building it. Where did you find the copy? Vine. How did you get introduced to that? Well, there is, og what are the things that you need to know about Panama? There's a lot of extremely interesting individuals that are Panamanian, that are like. They have incredible legacies that I, I know that a lot of people don't know them. There's this guy called Rodrigo. He has a farm in Oasis. It's called in snakes in the way to, Panama. It's like on on the from Panama to. But not on me. In regard to a specific amount, specifically. And he grew the copy vine. He's another fanatic of the copy mine. For but we're talking about like 20, 30 years plus. So he grows the copy wine there and we connected with with them, with him, my business partner Diego has a very good relationship with him. I knew him also back in the day. And then, yeah, when we had the idea, it's like, yo, really? Yo, I think we can actually bring copy to the people. So we connected with him. So we have a farm that where we grow, we make the ingredient, and we process it. We have a lab here in Panama also. Like, we'll be doing stuff, I think, pretty fair and good. Like we haven't skip any steps. You know, there's a lot of moments where you can look for shortcuts to just like, go on with whatever you want to do in this case with like going through every step of making everything right and solid because we want people to experience something that you know, has they can feel the energy of the product at that level. Also, what cultures are most familiar with the cabbage vine or is it from? Is it often used in Panama, or is there no one across the world that really knows about it? And it's like, no, it's mostly the Amazon. It's it's normally used by tribes. They shoot on the leaf and it's, it's actually used. It's really interesting. They actually use it when they have like community gatherings. So they everyone just like grabs, grabs a bunch of leaves and they start to chew and they start to have a conversation about the community. And they do this because it regulates them. And so everyone can talk in a space of like, comprehend, like, alignment. They are like, they have compassion to hear the other and like, they have the ability to communicate in a way more stable way, you know, but again, it's we're bringing, like, this ancestral connection into a modern type of situation. But it's it is well known in those communities. The thing is, like, if you ask around, I've asked a lot of people like, have you heard of the capi? And most of them, it's the first time that you hear it when I tell them about it. So that's the process. It's it's been a challenge also because it's a blessing and it's a challenge to have something that no one else has, but at the same time no one knows it. So you need to do the whole, you know, the whole educating and showing up, the product. That's why I thank you for taking the the product with me in the moment, because there's no better way for me to show you what is copy than that. You take it. I definitely feel like a little. It's, It's similar to, like, lion's mane. Now it's say, it's a little bit psychoactive. Yeah. It's alkaloids, it's adaptogens. Pretty much. The alkaloids we work with is harming, harming, which is the main alkaloid from the kappy. But it's quick, like, I think we have never we don't even have the 20 minutes, 15, you know, so with a lot of the supplements, it's like, this is going to be good for you. Just keep taking it and waiting in the future, you know, and then, a week, two weeks, three weeks until, like, you start to recognize something here is like, I guarantee I told you this in the start of the conversation, like in 20 minutes, you're going to be able to feel in, like in the zone, like you notice, I don't know if you start to notice. I like everything is just more clear on thought wise, like everything that you want to think about or want to like, execute mentally and physically. If you like to do sports, you have to try it. Also, it's really good. So I think we really have a good product. I'm happy that we're on this stage is being like a. Whole process to get there. But yeah, it works for sure. I can feel it already. Yeah. It is very similar to in the beginning when I first started taking Lion's Mane. Yeah. In the morning it was psychoactive. And I remember feeling like I could just work like 14, 15 hours a day and be super happy to do so. That eventually kind of wore off and like, kind of gained a tolerance to it, but it feels very similar to those like beginning. Yeah. That student adaptogens are next level. There's just like the the next evolution of what we actually need in our dietary consumption really. Like it's just game changers, you know, ashwagandha, ginseng and all of these other lion's mane. So yeah, we're bringing a new one into the mix. That's the whole premise. Like Kappa is a new one into the mix. What was your ayahuasca experience like a first time. Oh, so there's done a couple times. Yeah. How many times? A good amount of times. We had a guy on the podcast, yesterday that said he does it like four times a month. Yeah. I'm pretty much around that also. I think there's been months where I've done more, and once that I'm done less, that's what I'm saying. It's like it's a different definitely a different perspective of what you can consider it to be done. Also, it's like the way you do it right. The way you do it is a big influence on how you have the experience. But to get to your question the first time I could say I had two first time. So the first time I did it she was like yeah you have some visuals, you have some like connection into your environment. It feels like, yo, I feel this extra sense story experience happening, but it wasn't like eye opening at a level of like deep awareness. I became aware of a lot of stuff, but it wasn't like that depth. Then, like a couple, I tried it like a couple months after again, and that time it was a really interesting story because I went to the place and I brought, a bunch of mangoes, just, you know, I'm from the tropics, and I. I like fruit salad. And I was just eating, like, you know, when this one is mango season, it's mango season. Like, you get everywhere. A lot of mangoes for very cheap. It's just like it's a no brainer for me. So I just brought the bag. But I'm telling you, like a bag, like this big a sack. Exactly. And, would you bring it to to the place that we were drinking? It's here in Panama. Yeah. So. And I just started eating. Eating any mangoes? Any mangoes? In the afternoon passed by. We were getting ready to drink. We drank. At that moment, I didn't feel like nothing. I was like, I drank, like I think I drank, like two cups more or less. Nothing like the time passed by. It was already getting like, you know, midnight past midnight. And I'm like, yo, maybe. I don't know, maybe this was not like the experience that I thought I was going to have. Whatever I laid down, I remember we were like, going to hut. I remember I, slept like outside. I woke up, normal, like, okay, nothing in this particular, I'm like, I'm going to get something to eat. But I got up papaya. Sorry to eat the papaya. The first bite normal. The second bite. I was like, this papaya tastes like weird. But I didn't, like, paid too much attention. Then I ate another another bite of the papaya, and it was, like, disgusting. And it was the same papaya, so it was not the papaya, I came to realize. And then my body started to like, activate. Like the whole cup and a half, almost two cups that I drank started to like integrate in that moment. So I had like this. Everything that you made in like all the event ended like there's nothing more like there's people, people just hanging out. But in that moment is where I actually started to have the experience and it was really re that's like that was like the really eye opening thing. I feel that go way deeper connection with nature, with everything around. And before I know, I thought, like, I'm going to lay down a little bit just to like, integrate this in my while I was walking to go there, I got super nauseous and I threw up. When I threw up, I saw like this energy type of thing coming out of me that after I threw up, it felt like a huge release. Then I lay down and literally I had one of the most amazing and revealing geometry visuals that I've ever had, ever. But it felt like information, you know, at the end of the day, the symbol, our information. Maybe you're maybe we cannot, like, process them in the same way as we process words. But because, you know, abcdefg, you know, those are symbols that represent information geometry, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty aware. Now that is the same. So in that time, I was just like receiving all of this, like for an hour and a half literally was incredible. So that like woke up, that was like the real moment that I had, like an awakening, like my first time actually having that type of experience. Have you have you tried to work before? You're curious about it? 100%? I probably wouldn't do it, to be honest. Why? I've done just like a lot of like in college. I did a lot of hallucinogens, took a lot of mushrooms, like and like had great experiences from it. But I've just come to a point in my life that I think, like, I get a lot more benefit from a natural experience, like meditation and, and that type of thing. And so I have absolutely nothing against it. Yeah. I'm just very conscious of, like, energy, now. And I think that, like, I am not skeptical, but I am, Particular about energy influences, I agree. You know, I think it's a great take in general because there's so much like, in a way you can say that there's like, spiritual supermarket type of situation happening. Yeah. And definitely that's the right approach to have. Yeah. Yeah. It's not like, you know, I just feel like I'm on a good path right now. Yeah. And there have been times in my life where, like, I haven't been necessarily on a good path and maybe that would have been the time where I could take more of a risk on some, like, profound awakening or experience. But I feel like at this point in my life I'm on a good direction. Forward. And so that's why I'm pretty particular about, like the decisions that I make that could adjust that, that path, because something like that is a major like influx of energy. Yeah, it's it's definitely an after before and after. But again, it's from my experience the thing that I can, if there's one advice that I can give you is. It's all about how you do it. It's not just about the drink for sure. It's the intention, the methodology, the process, which actually really drives the experience. So that's like whenever you think about it, if you want to do it at some point or not, that's my my best advice. I can give you right to that. Yeah. For me it's like all these answers and everything that you find within those experiences are already within you. And always available. But it's just like, that is just like a tool to access those bits of information as this is like, yeah, maybe this is just like 50 notches down on the ladder. Yeah. You know, and that's like a much higher experience. Yeah. But so yeah, I mean, I get it completely. I have zero nothing against it. I'm not, I, I've taken hallucinogens. I've seen the positive effects. Yeah. You know, so just and maybe one day it comes to a point where it crosses through my. Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's always the important thing that is, that is turning the right time. Like when you, you know, when you actually want to, like, engage with that type of experience. So yeah, it's just curious because of the question, you know, where did this journey of self-discovery start? You said it's a long story, but we got time. So I had an experience. My dad died when I was 18, though, in a car accident. And then, like, started a series of processes within myself of, like, you know, you don't have the parental figure. You need to figure stuff out. More like, on your own. So I've always been aware that. Energy talks more than anything else, even logic, if you really think about it like. To put it on an example is like you, a very mundane example, but a real one. Like maybe you see this girl for the first time and you, you don't have any like logical perception of why you are attracted to her or why you or do you feel like this? But there's some basement level connection there is in reality. Yeah, there's some energy related to that. And I think that type of dynamic happens with everything we do. So I tap down into like I want to learn more about that process. You can say it's a spiritual path, but. I think that the the conceptual journey of spiritual path, again, there's a lot of like spiritual supermarket situation happening. And from my own experience, I've try to communicate in a way where it's I can bring it to the basis of actual facts and reality, because there's a lot of that. Yeah. Energy. How do you explain energy logically, you know, but the experience of becoming aware of of who I am and the energy dynamic that I want to bring to my life and like to the world it's all about at the end of the day, integrity. That's my one word. Because if you tell me that. Hey, I'm this good guy that wants to help everyone and grow their business and, like, get out there and we're here, and you're doing that when someone or recording or someone is seeing you. But when no one is around, you're actually not that person. That's like a heavy pointer that your energy is really not aligned to your truest intention. So that's like a reality. You don't need to think I don't understand spiritual words to just realize that that's really kind of clear and obvious, but that goes at a deeper level way deeper than what we just think. It's not like, it just an representation of who I am. It's like, what do you think about what do you, allow your reality to, to become like, how do you manage your energy around others? There's all there are all different layers of integrity within yourself that you can say that when that is in alignment, you really become aware of who you are because there's no lying to yourself. It's impossible. Like we can do it for a good amount of time. But deep down, most of us know what things we want and we need to work on. You know, sometimes it's harder to do that. But the baseline awareness most of the time is there. Maybe we don't have the tools, maybe both frustrated about how to do that, but. That journey for me has been understanding myself so I can work on all levels of integrity with myself so I can bring the energy that I want to my reality and the fullest capacity. That's my my way to tell you my spiritual journey. Without the. The communication layer that most of the time it's just like hype. It's because it's not. It's not like, easy path. It's not like a fun path necessarily either, because integrity means like, you know, there's stuff that you need to like, you cannot escape. And I think a lot of the spiritual wording sometimes becomes like escaping stuff. It's like, yeah, you can feel feel good and feel like bliss, but bliss is like the from my perception, like the real sustained bliss comes from your acknowledgment of your energy and your integrity, even when the moment is not, quote unquote blissful. Make it that the case by your own, perception of reality, right? So yeah, that's I think my journey has been mostly while ayahuasca is involved, 100% in that process. But also like the life experiences, death of my dad, like other experiences that I've had, which, at the end of the day, I really don't take into, like, I see them as experiences. I try not to hold down onto them. So I can relate to them in a better way and then like, you know, sustain my energy in a better way. What's your goal for the company moving forward? There's two levels, I think. One, at the level of the ingredient. We just want people to know that Kabi exists and that they can have in 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an experience of regulating and balancing their nervous system. You know, that's something that's a big message. And at a level of us as a brand, because it's two things I happy as a brand. But the ingredient, you know, like ashwagandha, like people didn't know what was ashwagandha. There were brands that were pushing ashwagandha forward. So our our first alignment actually is pushing copy to be known as actually an alternative, or a new, ingredient into, adaptogenic category. And as a brand, we just want to make that the most fun and accessible experience. That's why we move to pouches sessions. Normally this is like tinctures are done on droppers, but like. No one wants to carry a dropper. Like they don't remember them. Like, you know, there's no actually user experience related to that. So we're bringing, unknown ingredient to we're trying with our brand happy copy. We're trying to bring the best experience to this new ingredient. And our vision is to be worldwide. We do we really think that the ingredient is is for everyone? We started here in Panama. We're starting some efforts in the US. And it's a process. Like introducing a whole new ingredient is way more complex that. Like, just if I told you, like, hey, I'm to just an e-commerce store that's trying to sell supplements would be a different conversation. Because we're educating people around something that, you know, there is frameworks of how to bring this ingredient to, you know, stores all of that stuff. So but we want the big play, like worldwide. For, for the world to, to be able to try copy. Final question. What is the biggest piece of advice that you would give people that you've learned through your life journey? I think. Maybe in the contextual form of entrepreneurship is that. There is just no there's a quote that I love, actually, that is the long distance runner. This is like the acknowledgment, like the biggest piece of advice is that for you to acknowledge the earliest possible, that this is a long distance runner race and that there's no one in the race, there's literally no one else. It doesn't matter. Like your partners, your family. Like at the end of the day, when everything happens and when good things happen and not so good things happen, you are the person that is responsible for that. So the fastest you acknowledge that, it is that case that you're going to always have the capacity to relate to others and build a network to grow. That's very clear. But deep down within yourself, when everything is over and you go back to your house and you go back to sleep, you have to rely on yourself. So you need to build that relationship. And that requires like resilience. A lot of like knowing yourself and like acknowledging who you are. I think that's the biggest thing. I think if that is integrated, everything else, you can learn it, especially now that we're going to have incredible tools, the AI related and all of this stuff. So that's the biggest thing. It's great advice if people want to find your products or want to just connect with you, where can I find them? We are on Instagram just like that happy clappy. You can write to us there. We have a website. Have you got to be that com and we right now, actually we're running a seven day trial, for people to try it. There's no strings attached. We provide you a seven day, search. It's seven days of search. It's, And you can have the experience. Let us know what you think, and we'll, like, connect with you. The bigger. Yeah. Like the bigger aspect of what we can help you, like, do. Because again, as I said, for sports, incredible for working. It's amazing for moms that are like on process of, you know, dealing with the households they see grow because this is the final thing. You train your mind, you train your body, but you don't train your nervous system consciously. And we are on the path to change that. So this product, happy can be allows you to have a deeper relationship with your nervous system. It's a great mission. I appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you for coming on. Great job. Is.