From: betaboston.com

A company pitching disruptive toothpaste might seem like another April Fool’s Day prank, but Harvard Business School students Rachel Peterson and Calley Means say they are serious when it comes to rethinking the way we brush our teeth. The duo have launched a Kickstarter campaign for Matter, a paste which they claim is free from the dyes and petrochemicals found in other mainstream toothpastes. They’re hoping to raise $275,000 to launch their product commercially in the next year.
“Everybody in the entrepreneurial community at HBS is focused on tech right now, but we’re focused on consumer products,” said Means. “Often in tech, it’s the ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ products that are most successful. We tried to bring that to other physical products.”

Means said his own eureka moment arose from one of the most irritating aspects of everyone’s personal hygiene routine: the disgusting taste that occurs when you drink orange juice shortly after brushing. “I was talking to Rachel, and said, ‘You know, we put a man on the moon, but why can’t science fix this annoying thing?’” Means said.

Peterson, who graduated from MIT with a degree in chemical engineering, began looking into the science behind the issue. She and Means began to identify some of the products in toothpaste, which seemed rather disarming when you consider you’re putting them in your mouth: things like propylene glycol, an ingredient derived from crude oil which helps the paste stay moist, or tiny polyethylene plastic beads, which dentists have argued are unsafe as they’re prone to getting stuck in people’s gums (Crest has promised to phase out the beads, which it said had been used to add color to its products).

While a healthy toothpaste might sound like the same pitch that Tom’s of Maine has been making for years, Means claims that Matter will have the same feel and freshness of big brands, only without the chemicals. “There is a market opportunity to create a product that has better ingredients without compromising effectiveness,” he said.

Compare it to the Whole Foods model of selling groceries: crunchy food co-ops existed long before the organic market chain brought the concept mainstream. It was really all about making a pitch, and the delivery, to a more up-market consumer.

Means said they’ve been testing out flavors for the past five months and working with retailers to gauge interest in the product. If successful, the $275,000 Kickstarter funds will go toward getting the US Food and Drug Administration to approve their paste, which still requires both fluoride and stability testing. Tubes of Matter will retail for $5, and so far, the pair have raised over $12,000 toward their goal. They anticipate shipping out Matter in April of 2016.

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