Digital Social Hour
Robert Neuner: How a Beer Distributor Built a Global Oxygen Brand | DSH #1630
19 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What is Boost Oxygen and how does it work?
Boxing were banned and MMA were banned. And tennis were banned.
Chapter 2: How did Rob transition from beer distribution to selling oxygen?
And the USTA bans the use of oxygen.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Boost Oxygen face with the FDA?
I was with one guy, Winder Bill, he had only one lung.
Chapter 4: Why is there public skepticism about selling oxygen?
And he had to get special dispensation from the USTA to use our oxygen. Wow.
Chapter 5: How did Boost Oxygen get featured on Shark Tank?
And people are like, you know, why are you selling air?
Chapter 6: Why is oxygen banned in boxing, MMA, and tennis?
It's like, it's not air. It's pure oxygen. I'll be honest, that was my first reaction when I first saw it.
Chapter 7: How does Boost Oxygen market to athletes and older customers?
Okay, guys, we got Rob from Boost Oxygen here. What a cool product, man.
Chapter 8: What new product is Boost Oxygen launching and how does it relate to hydration?
He made these custom bottles right here. Thanks for these. They're good. Yeah, it's all Bill Banks, the social media guy. Yeah, these are sick. And I took a couple of, what would you call it, hits? Hits, inhalations, I could call it you all. Yeah, can you explain the process of inhaling oxygen, what that does for the body?
Yeah, so oxygen will do essentially nothing for you if you're not depleted. So if your SpO2 levels are low, if you're short of breath, if you are at altitude and you're short of oxygen, you breathe it in, you feel better. Got it. And as you get older, you lose some oxygen levels too, right? You do, yeah, exactly. I think, what's it, 2% of your lung capacity every year after the age of 50. Wow.
So people who are older or hiking and stuff really appreciate having a little extra oxygen. Yeah. Was that why you created this on a hike? No. So kind of a long story, but I was in the beer business before. I imported beer from the Czech Republic and distributed beer in Connecticut. Sold that back in 2006. And a friend of mine said, well, what are you going to do now? And I said, I have no idea.
And his father was an executive at Precision Valve, and he had seen these oxygen cans in Germany. I had seen them in the Czech Republic. And he said, well, we could do oxygen cans because we have the background for it. So one thing went to another. We experimented.
And Mr. Morneau, Damon Oak, took me by the hand, showed me all the suppliers, where to get it filled, and just learned as we went along. What a big change from the beer company. A little bit, yeah. So I tell people I spent 10 years getting people drunk and the next 20 years getting people sober. So it's fun. So this was taken off in Europe. Uh, yes, we have an office in Prague still.
Um, and actually my partner from the beer business, uh, is still, um, doing the, uh, boost auction for us as well. And, uh, yes, it's worked out. Uh, it's worked out really well. Uh, we sell a lot more in the UK and Germany, uh, but quite a bit in Czechia too. Interesting. Yeah. So 20 years you've been doing this. Did it take off right away? Yeah, almost. No.
So oxygen is considered to be a drug, a prescription drug. We sell it without a prescription. And we knew that we were selling it legally because it's not 99.2% or above. It's aviators breathing oxygen, which you could buy without a prescription. But still, we're selling oxygen. So the first five, six years,
We sort of dabbled along, kind of sold it, not under the radar, but weren't really sure about investing a lot in it. It made some money, some contract manufacturers. And then after about five, six years, the FDA came to visit me. Oh, yeah. And yeah, officially. I bet that was pleasant. It was surprising. But they showed up at my door in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and yeah.
They stayed there for a week. And at the end of the week, they said, okay, well, as long as you don't make medical claims, we'll allow you to continue to sell this. And that's when I went all in. And so, okay, now I can invest money in a bigger way. So that was a big hurdle. It was.
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