KZ1 Review: eXfuze rebrands with slimmer product offering
KZ1 began as eXfuze, an nutritional supplement MLM company founded in 2008.
BehindMLM reviewed eXfuze way back in 2013. At the time the company was headed up by co-founder and CEO, Rick Cotton.
At some point Rick Cotton’s brother Don took over as CEO. He held the position until December 2016, at which time health issues saw him step down.
A joint decision between Cotton and the eXfuze Board of Directors saw Robert Kelly appointed CEO.
On October 2017 eXfuze changed its name to KZ1. I was unable to find a reason for the name-change.
At the time of Don Cotton stepping down, Kelley (right) had been with eXfuze for seven years. Cotton credited Kelley with “leading (eXfuze’s) largest market in Japan”.
According to Cotton, Kelley
is a former COO of Apple Japan (a $2 Billion-dollar business) and the CEO of two companies.
I did try to ascertain whether those two companies were MLM related but came up blank.
Read on for a full review of the KZ1 MLM opportunity.
KZ1 Products
KZ1 details three flagship products; Seven+ Classic, Impaqt Reset ALX and Impaqt Edge.
Seven+ Classic was eXfuze’s flagship product and, as far as I can tell, remains unchanged.
SEVEN+ Classic’s prebiotic whole food extracts and phytonutrients provide vital fiber and polyphenol “food” for the growth of powerful probiotic bacteria such as bifida and Akkermansia.
These microbiota greatly improve the filtering and barrier functions of the gut.
A tight, clean gut, in turn keeps toxins and pathogens from escaping into the bloodstream and helps reverse the tide of modern chronic autoimmune malfunction – with benefits on many, many levels.
Seven+ Classic retails at $106 for a 25 oz. bottle (~740 ml).
Impaqt Reset ALX is a supplement that “supports a more effective immune system, for more efficient allergen management”.
Impaqt Reset ALX retails for $132 for a bottle of 60 capsules (2 month supply).
KZ1 claims its Impaqt Edge supplement is ‘the most revolutionary ‘Multi-Benefit Smart Drink’ health supplement to hit the market”.
Edge is comprised of key nutrients that operate on a cellular level throughout the entire body, especially in the brain.
The magic in Edge lies in a team of key ingredients: curcumin, a vegetable-based DHA (Omega 3 oil), Inositol, Zinc and Beet Extract.
Together, they make an incredible IMPAQT on a myriad of functions in the brain and body.
Impaqt Edge retails at $106 for a box of thirty single-serve sachets.
The KZ1 Compensation Plan
Rather than provide full compensation plan documentation, KZ1 provides a summary on their website.
The following analysis is as complete a breakdown as I could manage from the source material.
Note that I did try to locate a copy of the KZ1 compensation plan from an external source, but was unable to find one.
Retail Commissions
KZ1 pays retail commissions on the sale of products to retail customers.
Retail commissions are calculated as the difference between the wholesale and retail price of products ordered.
A flat 20% cashback is paid on preferred customer orders.
A preferred customer is a retail KZ1 customer who opts for a monthly standing order, in exchange for a 25% discount.
Recruitment Commissions
KZ1 affiliates are paid when new recruits sign up with a Bronze, Silver or Gold Pack.
Specific recruitment commission rates are not provided.
Residual Commissions
KZ1 pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
A 10% residual commission is paid on sales volume tracked to the weaker binary team side.
Once paid out on, corresponding sales volume is flushed from both sides of the binary team. Leftover volume on the stronger side is carried over.
Note that KZ1 do not clarify how often residual commissions are paid out (typically weekly or monthly).
Director Check Match Bonus
KZ1 pays a matching bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.
The Director Check Match Bonus is tracked via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Within the unilevel team, generations are defined when a Director or higher ranked KZ1 affiliate is found in a unilevel leg.
Note that generations are calculated separately for each unilevel leg.
If a Director or higher ranked downline affiliate is found in a unilevel leg, they cap off the first generation for that leg.
The second generation begins immediately after them.
If a second Director or higher ranked affiliate exists deeper in the leg, they cap off the second generation for that leg.
If not, the second generation of that leg extends down the full depth of the leg.
KZ1 fail to disclose Director Check Match Bonus rates or qualification criteria.
Ambassador Leadership Bonus Pool
KZ1 take 1% of company-wide binary team volume and place it into an Ambassador Leadership Bonus Pool.
Ambassador Pearl and higher ranked affiliates qualify for a share of the Ambassador Leadership Bonus Pool.
Shares are calculated based on acquisition of Ambassador Points.
An Ambassador Pearl or higher ranked KZ1 affiliate acquires Ambassador Points for each week the retain Ambassador Pearl or higher rank.
Ambassador Points are tallied up quarterly, after which the Ambassador Leadership Bonus Pool for that quarter is paid out.
Joining KZ1
Basic KZ1 affiliate membership is $49.
New affiliates can also sign up with an optional Combo Pack:
- Bronze Combo Enrollment Pack – $250
- Silver Combo Enrollment Pack – $550
- Gold Combo Enrollment Pack – $1050
The primary difference between the Combo Enrollment Packs is bundled KZ1 product.
As far as I can tell Combo Enrollment Packs do not provide any increased potential income benefits.
Conclusion
My first impression of “KZ1” is that it was a terrible name for a company.
It conveyed nothing, and looked more like something I’d find printed on a gas canister.
It certainly didn’t sound like a company name or reveal anything about the KZ1 and its products. Then there’s the KZ1 logo, which at a glance looks like Arabic script.
To be clear I have nothing against Arabic script and that’s not what I’m getting at. But I honestly didn’t recognize the company name in marketing material until I had a hard look at the logo.
Early on in my research for this review I came across this:
“KZ1” is pronounced “crazy one”.
Hands up anyone who figured that out on their own.
Nobody? Right…
Look it’s not an impossible company name and logo to work with, but I do think whoever was in charge of marketing the transition from eXfuze missed the mark.
Moving onto KZ1’s products; I don’t know if it’s because it wasn’t provided or I missed it, but in my original eXfuze review I didn’t cite the retail cost of Seven+ Classic.
With a bit of digging I found retail pricing for a 25 oz bottle of Seven+ Classic at $42.97.
Today KZ1 is selling the same product in the same quantity for $106 – a 146% markup.
Uh, what?
I can sort of see Seven+ Classic selling at $42.97 but at $106 a bottle it’s a tough sell.
Similarly Impaqt Reset ALX and Impaqt Edge seem a bit steep for what you’re getting.
At the end of the day Seven+ Classic is a nutritional supplement that has no FDA approved medical benefits.
That said, I came across plenty of nonsense out of Malaysia regarding how Seven+ Classic can be used to treat strokes, gout, diabetes, hair loss, bacterial infections, skin disorders, gastric ulcers, bone fractures, motor sensory neuropathy, thyroid conditions (and who knows what else)…
If you suffer from any of the above – please do not substitute Seven+ Classic for medical advice.
One would certainly hope KZ1 have since cracked down on illegal medical claims.
Moving onto the compensation plan, I get what KZ1 is trying to do with summaries – but it just doesn’t work.
The summaries are detailed to the point you’re inevitably left asking specific questions about payouts, which aren’t provided.
If you’re going to give that much information, there’s no excuse for not also providing a link to a detailed compensation document.
In our eXfuze review I noted that retail was viable but left up to the affiliate.
In KZ1 the Seven+ Classic price-jump puts a big question mark on retail viability.
Without retail, you’re looking at signing up affiliates on packs, and primarily earning on their monthly autoship orders.
Those you recruit then set about doing the same, which ultimately would mean KZ1 is operating as a product-based pyramid scheme.
I can’t call it definitely, but at $106 a bottle I’m just not seeing anybody but KZ1 affiliates coughing up.
Approach with caution.
Update 2nd August 2023 – KZ1 has been sold to Kannaway for $5 million.
As the founder of this company and still actively involved you pretty much missed the mark on 50% of your findings. At one time I would come to your site and it was reputable but honestly I do not believe that to be the case anymore.
You recently butchered a review of another company that has real clout and that is when it came to my attention you are no longer connecting with the right sources. Just what you can dig up online – like those testimonials that have long been pulled and they are in Malaysia where anything goes in the industry but not allowed with our product.
The original Seven+ product has be 10X in ingredients since that price you put out there – again a failure of proper information.
Yet you failed to point out one (we were correct on the price hike).
Publicly available information is a perfectly valid source.
And the bullshit medical claims your Seven+ Classic products were/are being promoted in Malaysia haven’t been pulled. They were available and collected at the time of publication (May 9th, 2019).
eXfuze obviously had no problem with letting affiliates get away with this deceptive marketing because it has been publicly available for literally years.
What? We point it out and only now you’re going to pretend you give a crap?
Does that justify a 146% markup though? We’re talking $143 a liter here.
Your drink has the same name and branding. All the public are going to see is the same drink that’s now vastly more expensive.
Lastly clout is something fifteen year olds chase on YouTube. Suggesting having “real clout” as relevant when conducting due-diligence into an MLM company is terrible advice.
The reason you held BehindMLM as reputable is because we put detailed research and actual due-diligence into our reviews.
Your view only changed when we shone the microscope on you, not because we changed our methodology.
Take notes people, this is how you body someone:
Rick Cotton’s clout has left the chat.
(Ozedit: Not going to address what has been published above? Spambin.)
This is not a platform for you to rant and rave Richard. You can address my response to your initial comment or we’re done here.
I can shed light on the name change. ExFuze was rebranded, to reflect the bold new vision of its famous new leader, Robert Kelley, in a way that would best resonate with its main market, Japan.
As reported, Robert Kelley played a key role (COO) in building Apple Japan to a multibillion dollar enterprise, whose brand and influence in Japan are legendary.
He subsequently led two more businesses from start-up to prominent, publicly-held companies, building a reputation in the process as both an extraordinary CEO and human being.
That is why it was a very big deal when he agreed to take on the chief executive role for ExFuze, to lead its transformation to a truly world-class company – and the new name is reflective of that.
“KZ1” does, indeed, refer to “the crazy ones” – and that name is generating enormous excitement. Why? Check out Steve Jobs’ original call to action on youtube (“The Crazy Ones”) and you’ll begin to see.
Consider further that Robert Kelley was a key player on the Apple team that realized that vision in Japan, and it will make more sense.
Consider that although the name is technically English, its audience is primarily Japanese and it’s written in a bold caligraphy style like you’d see for a samurai movie title.
Further consider that with the same revolutionary mindset, Mr. Kelley brought two more extraordinary companies to prominence and that he is now targeting something much bigger, more revolutionary, more disruptive and category creating… and I think you’ll get the “crazy one” name.
We’re talking cult-like fervor in the systematic build of this new company. With this context, I think you’ll enjoy watching what follows.
I won’t address the rest of the review content, as it’s now irrelevant. KZ1 is for all practical purposes a radically new company with a radically changing comp plan, product offering, business structure, etc. In fact, KZ1 will no longer be an MLM in Japan by year’s end.
It’s preparing a much bigger opportunity. KZ1 is the new “it” company, in my opinion.
Hope that helps.
(By way of full disclosure, I am not an employee or officer of KZ1, but my company does provide outsourced product innovation and science services to KZ1. The opinions expressed above are my own independent views.)
Thanks for filling in the name-change blanks but… if Japan is such an important market, why is only Spanish and English offered on KZ1’s website?
Probably for the best. KZ1’s website Alexa ranking is 4.1 million. Whatever MLM business they have in Japan appears practically non-existent.
As someone that used to take and sell the exfuze product I can vouch for the efficacy of the original profuse and focus by way of blood tests from my doctor.
I had a myriad of allergies and health issues and I would get bronchitis every month, a bladder infection, sinus infection, etc., etc. I was a walking pharmacy with all the medications I took. I was also unable to exercise die to chronic pain and had 4 serious concussions.
I used to drink the profuse and focus and I took another vitamin/mineral product that was unrelated to this product. After a while, I never got sick each month and could finally exercise too. I didn’t need all of the medication I took either.
My doctor ran blood tests as she had been doing for me for years and my liver was working so well, it wasn’t registering in the normal range as were my hdl and ldl levels.
She also said that my Kidneys were working extremely well too. Her comment to me was “ WOW, whatever you’re doing, keep it up! You’re doing great. You were really one sick girl when you first cane to see me.”
Since the product change, you have taken the profuze and Focus off the market stating it was too expensive to bottle, distribute etc. and tripled the price of the classic claiming it is 10 x stronger.
I switched to the classic and used it for some time after you stopped making the pro and focus and my chiropractor, who started me on it, did too. But we had concerns re the efficacy of the “New and improved” product that was 3 times the price.
My chiro asked for proof that it was stronger but got nowhere with you. He used to sell it too but doesn’t anymore.
So my doctor ran blood tests on me to see if I was wasting my money or not. Guess what? I was wasting my money on the new and improved KZ1 Classic. It DOES NOT WORK BETTER than the original product.
Please note, that I originally started with the Classic but was advised by your customer service to pay more for the pro and focus because they were far superior and worked better! You’re just marketing it that way so you can make more money.
The KZ1 “CRAZY ONES” unfortunately are those of us that got sucked into believing the hype that it was an ethical company that cares about people and this new product was new and improved.
In the beginning, the product worked and I loved the story about why the Cotton brothers started the company which was because of their ailing father who was given more years to live because of all of the superfoods they were able to give him. It hit home because I too looked after my parents when they were dying.
SHAME on you for hiking the price so high it is unaffordable to those of us serious about our health and lying about it’s efficacy!!!
I challenge you this. If your new products are all that you say they are, I will take them for six months (all of them because I know the Classic isn’t any better than the original one)at your expense and have my doctor run blood tests before and after.
I know that just the Classic is not as powerful as you claim it to be. Of that I have no doubt!
Since you say that all this works, then what do you say? The public awaits as do I!!!!
The doctor began slow clapping. Then everyone broke out into rambunctious applause, and you defiantly exited the office to a standing ovation?
I’ve seen that “my doctor said” script and variations more times than I can count.
In truth any doctor would be wondering what this miracle cure was. And eXfuze would have rushed to have it studied and apply for its use as a treatment.
But they didn’t. And there are no peer-reviewed studies confirming either eXfuze or KZ1’s products have any medical benefits.
Not withstanding the need to change the formula in the first place if it was the miracle cure you’re pitching.
?!. I bet if I hit this Robert Kelley in the guts you would get one to the face.
Just to clarify, I did say I was using other vitamins and minerals as well. I also cleaned up my diet. It was not just the exfuze drinks that helped.
I have been dealing with doctors for a long time now and they aren’t quick to jump on things outside of their realm of knowledge nor expertise.
I was asked to start a website by my doctor as she feels I have a lot of knowledge with respect to chronic pain and concussions and she advised that she would follow me and guide others in the medical field to as well.
Her Dad was head of the pain clinic at a renowned hospital in the city where I live and her brother is an allergist.
You can choose to believe me or not. It’s entirely up to you. I don’t mind one way or another because I thought outside of the box against a number of world renowned doctors and have my life back. Yes, I travelled for treatment to various spots in the world…
Just an fyi, doctors can’t charge for recommending vitamins and, if they did it would tank the system. That came out of the horses mouth…
Oh, and my doctor did do a bit of a jig when she told me my bloodwork was changing and I was getting better. I had and have the privilege of dealing with some pretty amazing human beings who just happen to be my doctors!!!
Doctors by definition are experts with knowledge in medicine.
You have anecdotal stories that aren’t backed by medical studies or any other form of verifiable evidence. Please stop lying.
And just in case you double down on your nonsense and follow through, making unsubstantiated medical claims about MLM product is illegal.
If KZ1 has a competent compliance department they’ll shut you down. If they don’t, the FTC might come knocking.
I am not lying and I take offence to your claim that I am.
I am not attributing all of my health benefits to exfuze as mentioned above. You may want to take a moment to digest what I’ve written in it’s entirety.
(Ozedit: derails removed)
Feel free to provide peer-reviewed medical studies verifying KZ1 products have any effect on “allergies and health issues and I would get bronchitis every month, a bladder infection, sinus infection, etc., etc.”, as originally claimed.
Failing which, anecdotal stories = meaningless. And marketing an MLM opportunity on baseless medical claims = illegal.
A common trope from purveyors of “alternative medicine” from the US, and entirely based on ignorance on how healthcare systems around the world work.
In Europe, healthcare systems are funded in entirely different ways. One can’t generalize, but in plenty of countries what you’re saying is simply not true.
As one example of such a system: my doctor, or rather, a group practice of doctors (plus nurses and physiotherapists and the like), gets paid a set annual amount to have me on the books as their patient, regardless of how many times I go to see them, or what they do or prescribe when I do.
Whether they tell me to go away and not bother them, because there’s nothing wrong with me that taking some vitamin supplements won’t cure, or prescribe some extensive course of treatment involving regular additional doctor’s visits, and expensive prescription medication, doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to them (or me) financially. In fact, the second option is financially disincentivized (deliberately), since they’d have to do more work for the same money.
If financial considerations really played the part you claim in doctors’ prescribing behaviour, then European doctors would act completely differently from their US counterparts in this regard. They don’t, overall, because they’re using the exact same medical knowledge. They prescribe the treatments the condition of the patient warrants (and in Europe, they usually also don’t have to care about whether or not the patient can pay for it).
That’s not to say there aren’t all kinds of national differences in specific prescribing behaviour, but not for the simplistic reason you advance.
I am not lying and I take offence to your claim that I am. I am not attributing all of my health benefits to exfuze as mentioned above. You may want to take a moment to digest what I’ve written in it’s entirety.
Funny thing is I applauded your gumption to go after nonsensical claims, however, I didn’t say my change came within a week nor a month. It was a long arduous journey… I made multiple changes in my life.
(Ozedit: derails removed)
Cool, then all you have to do is provide peer-reviewed studies backing up your medical claims.
Until I called out yours. Got it.