The Gatorade for Your Eyes: An Optometrist Builds a Drink for Screen Time | Dr. Roger Wu, The Eye Drink

Every eye doctor in America tells patients to take AREDS2 vitamins for their eyes. Dr. Roger Wu tracked how many of his own patients actually did it and found the number was under 10 percent. Meanwhile, the same people were drinking Gatorade, energy drinks, and probiotic sodas without being asked twice.So he built the vitamin into a beverage instead.Dr. Wu is an optometrist with two practices in Southern California and the founder of 20/20, maker of The Eye Drink, a ready-to-drink functional beverage formulated for eye health and aimed at anyone spending two or more hours a day on a screen. So, everyone.He walks Jeff through the entire build. The formulation labs that told him copper, zinc, and omega-3 could never taste like anything, several of which wanted $50,000 up front just to attempt it. The co-packers who refused to run oil-based ingredients through their equipment. The fight with his lab over sugar that started at zero, ran through about 30 prototypes, and settled at 5 grams of pure cane. And the study he ran inside his own practice, measuring macular pigment in 72 patients at baseline and again at 90 days, then re-running the whole thing because the improvement looked too good the first time.The business side is just as candid. He launched at the biggest eye care conference in the country in September 2025, then pivoted in February out of the optometry channel and into retail after beverage industry people told him the doctor route would take years. Samples are now with Sprouts and Bristol Farms, an Amazon reseller came inbound, and he is raising a bridge round: a Reg CF on Mr. Crowd and a Reg D for accredited investors ahead of a Series A, with most of it going to marketing.The last stretch is the part that will stay with you. A seven-year-old with dry eye. Presbyopia showing up in people's early thirties instead of their mid-forties. What he calls a coming tsunami of eye problems, and why he thinks nobody outside the industry sees it yet.TIMESTAMPS00:00 Intro 00:27 Meet Dr. Roger Wu 01:04 What The Eye Drink is 02:30 A 10-year-old idea 03:22 The AREDS2 compliance problem 04:19 Cold calling formulation labs 04:50 "They thought I was crazy" 05:17 The sugar fight 06:56 Finding a co packer 07:28 Launching in Vegas 07:55 The pivot to retail 08:24 Sprouts and Bristol Farms 08:53 "The Gatorade for the eyes" 09:10 Calling the FDA himself 10:54 Creating a 12th category 11:28 Gamers, creators, programmers 12:02 Electrolytes and hydration 12:47 Winning Southern California first 13:57 Why shipping dictates strategy 14:35 The Reg CF and the Reg D 14:55 Where the money goes 16:02 Will optometrists stock it? 16:47 Inside the 72-patient study 17:26 Drink versus pill 17:39 The subscription model 18:45 How much to drink 19:18 The day trader on five monitors 20:00 36-month shelf life 20:34 $535K from angel investors 21:10 Dry eye and macular damage 21:50 A 7-year-old with dry eye 23:15 Speaking at NASA 23:50 Presbyopia at 30 24:10 "A tsunami is coming" 24:36 Where to buy and how to investCONNECTThe Eye Drink, buy or subscribe: https://theeyedrink.com Reg CF investment: Mr. Crowd, https://www.mrcrowd.com Reg D and accredited investors: Sean Ellis, Moody CapitalDisclaimer: For informational purposes only. This is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Any Reg CF offering may only be made through the company's official Form C and offering page filed with the SEC on a registered funding portal, and any Reg D offering only through its official documents to eligible investors. Review those materials, including all risk factors, before investing. Early stage investing is illiquid and carries a high risk of total loss. Product statements reflect the speaker's own experience and observations, have not been evaluated by the FDA, and this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Nothing here is medical, investment, legal, or tax advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.