Friends of almost 20 years and business partners for over a decade, Seth Inyang and Vinh Lieu say relationship-building is a key part of their entrepreneurial journey.

The co-founders of Elemental Bottles (asi/51846) credit their success to satisfying customers with quality products, a promise fulfilled by their engineering-based approach to “account for almost everything.” “We try to come through with what we say we’re gonna do,” says Inyang, “offering a little bit more and meet those expectations the best we can. That’s what’s helping us grow as much as we are.”

Inyang and Lieu met at a California engineering firm when Lieu was a summer college intern and Inyang worked there full-time. Each carried an entrepreneurial spirit and ran their own companies on the side – Lieu making 3D models with CNC (computer numerical control) machinery and Inyang creating footwear. The two teamed up and started a membership-based equipment shop where they taught customers how to use 3D printers, laser machines and other equipment. And while that business didn’t last, it served as their introduction to promotional products, as they made the most money engraving and printing goods.

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Seth Inyang and Vinh Lieu, the co-founders of Elemental Bottles (asi/51846) and the Supplier Entrepreneuers of the Year, join the Promo Insiders podcast to share their journey and why they work so well together.

After being disillusioned by “boring-looking drinkware in the market,” says Lieu, they founded Elemental Bottles in 2012 and launched their first product: the Classic 25-oz. bottle. Bolstered by design expertise from Inyang (who recounts his time developing a fashion line at Iowa State University) and business acumen from Lieu (who describes himself as “analytics and cash-flow oriented”), the company developed a drinkware line featuring sleek, sustainability-focused bottles and tumblers.

“We’re a young, new underdog company, and people love that about us,” says Lieu. “The brand is extremely unique because everything we do, we patent. We design our own products, so it’s one-of-a-kind and it allows us to express ourselves.”

Today, Elemental has grown to 35 employees; from 2022-2023 it grew its revenue about 90%. Still, for the first three years of Elemental’s existence, Lieu and Inyang continued to hold down their day jobs as engineers. “The first thing to scale the business is to make more time, and we couldn’t do anything to grow the company if we were still going to our daytime jobs for eight hours,” says Lieu. “We were serious workers, so when we would go there, we actually didn’t do anything for our business.”

Shortly after the making the full-time leap into Elemental, the pair were faced with a new challenge: the pandemic. Yet, even with confronting the unforeseeable, Inyang and Lieu engineered a quick fix, shifting production to personal protection equipment (PPE). Leveraging Lieu’s family connections to produce masks in Vietnam, Elemental was able to stay afloat.

“We’re a young, new underdog company, and people love that about us.”Vinh Lieu, Elemental Bottles

“Vinh and I were used to doing stuff like that, so when that occurred, to other people it might have been extremely stressful,” says Inyang. “I remember late nights where I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna get this figured out.’”

Having first discovered Elemental while looking for BIPOC-owned businesses to support during the pandemic, Eileen Custodio, an account manager at BrandVia Powered by HALO (asi/145037), says working with Lieu and Inyang has “always been super easy.” She adds that she often recommends Elemental products to customers, even those not looking for drinkware. “Given their background and how much they’ve grown over the past couple of years, I think it’s phenomenal,” she says.

Working so closely together hasn’t dulled the duo’s relationship with each other – for example, they recently embarked on a camping trip together. As they pursue the firm’s goal of becoming “the next big drinkware company that everyone is talking about” and extend its global presence, they continue to prioritize a people-centric mindset.

“Most of our business is coming from existing customers, so we can’t ruin those relationships – it’s word of mouth,” says Lieu. “Somebody talked about us, so that’s why we’re receiving this award. Relationships, adding value and taking care of people in business or life is our goal.”