VeloVita Review: “Fuel your brain” energy drink
VeloVita operate in the nutritional supplement MLM niche. The company is based out of Miami, Florida, however this isn’t disclosed on their website or social media pages.
Heading up VeloVita are co-founders Kosta Gara (CEO) and Jeff Mack (President).
Kosta Gara (right) appeared on BehindMLM’s radar last year, as iGalen’s Chief Executive Advisor.
At the time iGalen was being sued by its product supplier ATM Metabolics.
A settlement saw iGalen lose access to their flagship product, prompting its collapse in November.
Through Gara Group, Kosta Gara also provides development solutions to MLM companies.
Traffic to Gara Group’s website appears to have peaked while iGalen was operating. It has since declined.
We first came across Jeff Mack in 2012 as CEO of Vidacup. Vidacup ran for a few years before closing up shop.
I wasn’t able to pinpoint an exact date but I believe it was sometime between 2015 and 2016.
After Vidacup Mack (right) promoted himself as an “international network marketing expansion expert“.
Update 6th October 2022 – In recently researching another MLM opportunity, I’ve learned VeloVita is a LaCore Enterprises company.
I originally thought it might be a new development, owing to Velovita INC being a relatively new Texas company:
Corporate records from Florida however reveal Velovita was always a LaCore Enterprises company:
I double-checked and there’s no mention of LaCore Enterprises or owner Terry LaCore anywhere on Velovita’s website.
Being a LaCore Enterprises isn’t a negative for Velovita but not disclosing company ownership is.
LaCore Enterprises is based out of Texas and owns a number of MLM companies, all of which market products manufactured by LaCore Labs.
/end update
Read on for a full review of VeloVita’s MLM opportunity.
VeloVita’s Products
VeloVita’s flagship product is Bran, a water mixed dietary supplement made in the US.
Brān is a well-rounded nootropic with a leading edge nanotechnology for maximum impact to deliver an instant boost to the central control unit of your body – your brain.
Brān contains a blend of 16 nutrients for a clean and long-lasting energy boost and mood enhancer while helping the body to burn glucose and stored body fat.
Bran is available in three flavors; chocolate sea salt, lemon drop and caramel macchiato.
A box of Bran contains twenty-five single-serve pouches. Retail pricing isn’t provided, however we do know Bran wholesales for $64.95 a box.
Retail pricing will be more than wholesale but by how much I can’t say.
VeloVita’s Compensation Plan
Although there’s no mention of it in their compensation plan, VeloVita’s commission qualification requires retail customer acquisition.
Given that, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on retail sales. The company also pays referral commissions on products ordered by recruited affiliates.
Residual commissions are paid through binary team cycles, rounded out by additional performance-based bonuses.
VeloVita Affiliate Ranks
There are six affiliate ranks within VeloVita’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Affiliate – sign up as a VeloVita affiliate and qualify for MLM commissions
- Star – recruit two MLM commission qualified affiliates and be earning 10 residual commission cycles a week
- All Star – recruit and maintain four MLM commission qualified affiliates and be earning 25 residual commission cycles a week
- Rock Star – maintain four personally recruited MLM commission qualified affiliates, have one Star or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of your binary team and be earning 50 residual commission cycles a week
- Super Star – maintain four personally recruited MLM commission qualified affiliates, have four Star or higher ranked affiliates on both sides of your binary team and be earning 150 residual commission cycles a week
- V-Star – maintain four personally recruited MLM commission qualified affiliates, have four Rock Star or higher ranked affiliates on both sides of your binary team and be earning 500 residual commission cycles a week
MLM Commission Qualification
To qualify for MLM commissions, a VeloVita affiliate must recruit two affiliates and refer and maintain three retail customers.
Retail Commissions
By requiring affiliates to refer and maintain three retail customers, it’s assumed VeloVita pays retail commissions.
Typically retail commissions are paid out as the difference between the wholesale cost and retail price of products ordered.
There’s no mention of retail commissions in the company’s compensation plan though, so we can’t give you any specifics.
Referral Commissions
Referral commissions are paid on boxes of Bran ordered by personally recruited affiliates.
- Advocate and Promoter tier affiliates receive a 10% referral commission rate
- Influencer tier affiliates receive a 15% referral commission rate
- Ambassador tier affiliates receive a 20% referral commission rate
Residual Commissions
VeloVita 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.
At the end of each week VeloVita tallies up new sales volume on both sides of the binary team.
Residual commissions are paid based on “cycles”.
A cycle is generated when 200 GV in sales volume on the weaker binary team side is matched against 400 GV on the stronger side. One cycle pays out $30.
Residual commissions are capped based on rank:
- Stars can earn up to $6000 a week (200 cycles)
- All Stars can earn up to $12,000 a week (400 cycles)
- Rock Stars can earn up to $27,000 a week (900 cycles)
- Super Stars can earn up to $54,000 a week (1800 cycles)
- V-Stars can earn up to $120,000 a week (4000 cycles)
Matching Bonus
VeloVita pays a Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.
The Matching 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.
VeloVita caps the Matching Bonus down seven levels of recruitment:
- Star ranked affiliates earn a 5% match on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates), 4% on level 2 and 3% on level 3
- All Star ranked affiliates earn a 6% match on level 1, 5% on level 2, 4% on level 3 and 3% on level 4
- Rock Star ranked affiliates earn a 7% match on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on level 5
- Super Star ranked affiliates earn an 8% match on level 1, 7% on level 2, 6% on level 3, 5% on level 4, 4% on level 5 and 3% on level 6
- V-Star ranked affiliates earn a 9% match on level 1, 8% on level 2, 7% on level 3, 6% on level 4, 5% on level 5, 4% on level 6 and 3% on level 7
Lifestyle Bonus
The Lifestyle Bonus is a weekly bonus paid out to Star and higher ranked VeloVita affiliates.
- Stars receive $125 a week
- All Stars receive $250 a week
- Rock Stars receive $500 a week
- Super Stars receive $1250 a week
- V Stars receive $2500 a week
Quarterly Partnership Bonus
VeloVita takes 1% of company-wide revenue and places it into the Quarterly Partnership Bonus pool.
V Star ranked affiliates each receive an equal share in the pool, paid out quarterly.
5 Year Retirement Bonus
If a VeloVita affiliate maintains MLM commission qualification for five straight years, the company waives their annual fees and rank volume requirements.
Joining VeloVita
VeloVita affiliate membership is $49.95 a month.
New affiliates must also purchase boxes of Bran:
- Advocate – 1 box of Bran for $64.95
- Promoter – 6 boxes of Bran for $324.75
- Influencer – 12 boxes of Bran for $649.50
- Ambassador – 25 boxes of Bran for $1299
Note that for the Influencer and Ambassador tiers, the annual fee is waived for the first year.
In addition to bundled product, how much a VeloVita affiliate spends when they sign up impacts their income potential.
Conclusion
It’s a bit nit-picky but I have to bring up the name of VeloVita’s flagship product; Bran.
The company helpfully informs us that Bran is “pronounced breyn” (brain, get it? *groan*). This begs the question though, why they didn’t just name it that?
VeloVita is an American company run by Americans from within America. America doesn’t do the “line above e” thing so, more likely than not, Bran is going to be referred to as “bran”.
Personally I don’t have a problem with that that. It just seems silly to come up with a trendy name for your product that nobody is going to intuitively pronounce correctly.
That aside VeloVita markets Bran as an energy drink:
Using wholesale pricing as a template, one serving of Bran comes to $2.60 a serve. Retail will be more than that but because retail pricing isn’t provided, how much more who knows.
I noted specific caffeine amounts aren’t provided on Bran’s nutritional information chart, however it does contain “green coffee bean extract”.
For a marketed energy drink I found it odd caffeine content wasn’t disclosed. The rest of the ingredients sound like the usual chemical stuff you find in energy drinks.
If you’re a regular consumer and/or health conscious, by all means run a comparison.
Out of curiosity I went and looked up Red Bull, which also contains niacin and vitamins B6 and B12. A can of Red Bull has 75 mg of caffeine, Bran has way less sugar and calories.
Alpha-GPC appears to be the “fuel your brain” ingredient in Bran. It’s appears in “nootropics” branded drinks. Doesn’t seem to be big in the energy drink market.
Moving onto VeloVita’s compensation plan, the first thing that struck me was “pay to play”.
At least as presented in VeloVita’s compensation plan, an initial product purchase are mandatory.
What would a new VeloVita affiliate need with 20 boxes of twenty-five servings of Bran each? No idea.
Sounds like a good candidate for inventory loading.
More importantly, how much a VeloVita spends when they sign up dictates their referral commission rate. This is blatant pay to play and is a regulatory compliance issue.
On the flip side, VeloVita requires affiliates to maintain three retail customers to remain MLM commission qualified.
I’m assuming this means each customer must be ordering at least one box of Bran a month.
When weighed against an affiliate’s own one box a month autoship, that’s a pretty good ratio. Bonus points for making an affiliate’s autoship free (1 box) if they MLM commission qualify.
VeloVita could run into problems if the majority of affiliates remain stuck trying to qualify for commissions, but we’ll have to see how that plays out (the company is currently in prelaunch).
One thing that struck me as odd was the “discount pricing” offered.
Unless I’m reading that wrong, VeloVita affiliates can receive as much as a thirty percent discount… provided they purchase 40 boxes of Bran a month.
That’s a thousand servings and comes in at $2598 with no discounts. The 30% discount drops the price to $1816.60.
Still, even with enthusiastic sampling nobody needs to be spending that much a month on affiliate autoship. And if they are, three retail customers on autoship isn’t anywhere near enough.
One thing VeloVita could is ramp up required customers on autoship per box of Bran an affiliate themselves has on autoship.
One box on autoship = one retail customer on autoship. Two boxes = three retail customers on autoship. Three boxes = five retail customers etc.
The rest of VeloVita’s compensation plan is adequately balanced and simple to follow. They just need to address pay to play and potential inventory loading.
One last thing I’ll mention is I’m assuming Bran is supposedly to be consumed as a daily supplement. Limiting boxes to 25 servings seems to be a sneaky way to get people to buy more.
If this is intentional, I’m not a fan of such practices. If not, surely it can’t be too hard to bump the serving size up to a more traditional thirty? Adjust Bran’s pricing accordingly.
Pending VeloVita addressing the concerns raised above, approach with caution.
Why is it that these MLMers can only REPEAT their mistakes by retreading the same theme over and over?
Kosta Gara eh? Please no Lacore or Underwood in the background!
There’s one aspect you missed. You can sell this product on your own eCommerce website without paying $49.95 per month.
VeloVita dropships the product for you and ships it to the customer. You get a 10% commission on each sale.
That’s a nice touch.
I didn’t see that in the comp plan or on VeloVita’s website.
I suppose it is a nice touch but how many distributors are going to have viable ecommerce sites?
I assume Amazon/eBay are prohibited?
If you scroll to the bottom of the link below and hit affiliate instead of member you’ll see it:
velovita.com/member-rewards/
I think it’s separate from the MLM opportunity. So it’s for people that are into dropshipping.
And I have no clue about Amazon or Ebay.
Ah yeah, it’s single-level commissions so outside of the MLM opp.
I might have come across it and just ignored it because of that. Can’t remember now.
So what’s the bigger catch, in 5 years everyone is suing for heart palpitations etc? The caffeine amount? Something not on the ingredients?
If it’s not for you them move on … Simple.
(Ozedit: derails removed)
I’m not in VELOVITA but I did take a look at it and it appears to be a good direct sales company, excellent product, priced very fairly, customer/retail focused (they have a 3 Customer requirement by every member), reasonable shipping, even offers an affiliate programme for those that don’t want to build networks, and a fair reward plan…
…and yet you guys could have said something nice, even in your Summary at the end, yet because you couldn’t find too much negative to say, you spend the first part of your Summary attacking the product’s name? lol. Seriously?
C’mon, you guys are better than that, surely?
Our review is balanced, we praised Velovita’s good and called out the bad.
You want to be a defensive snowflake about the company’s poor branding, that’s on you.
MLM stands for multilevel marketing. Having a crap product name is going to effect marketing of said product and that’s worth mentioning.
(Ozedit: derails removed)
…and in terms of your ‘crap product name’ definition, be objective and at least say that’s just your opinion. You have no idea whether it will affect marketing do you? (BTW affect is spelt with an ‘a’).
Don’t forget they said it was a ‘crap product name’ to call a computer company after a fruit! …yet that kinda worked out ‘not so crap’ 😉
Nobody in the US is reading “bran” as “brain”. It’s poor branding for an English-speaking market and it’s worth pointing that out with respect to distributor marketing efforts.
Take it or leave it.
This product is available in other countries, and has the bilingual capabilities for great customer service. Just gets better and better!!
A product with bilingual capabilities, well I never!
Uh…its Brān…with a – over the a to make it a long a, as in eh…rather than a short a, as in ah
You go a lot of things wrong…maybe you’d better look into it a little more.
I guarantee you nobody in the US will recognize this or care. Ditto the rest of the world except perhaps a few select countries.
Face it, the naming of Bran is a marketing fail.
Yet you have failed to point out one. Nah I’m good.
I’m not in the US and the only time I’ve seen a dash over the letter to indicate a long vowel is when I was studying Latin.
I guarantee you that’s not the market they’re going for.
Despite being used to the diacritic I also read “bran” as “bran”, partly because I don’t expect to find Latin pronounciation aids on a packet of vitamin powder and partly because actual bran is a health food.
If you have to explain your brand, it’s crap and you should try again. Proper brands embrace popular mispronounciations rather than trying to correct them. (In Western adverts Toyota always call themselves “Toy-oh-ta” not “To-yo-ta”.)
I’m not a critic of the company or the name. One never knows for sure what will work and what quirky things might play well. It’s a gamble.
That being said, coming from America, my immediate impression was of a fiber packet of some kind due to the name “Bran”. It does have to be explained.
As I watched the ad, I gathered that the intention was to call it “Brain” since it’s intended to improve brain function via nutrition/supplement.
So ….. Explain how a bunch of Stimulants …. and a few amino Acids to change the Chemical Make up the brain Temporarily to allow the Stimulants to kick in even harder …… Be a health product ???
Let alone talk about Memory, Focus, and all the other Crazy things that go along with it …..
That’s like Snorting Cocaine and telling people about how Focused they are going to be … Along with a bunch of other Crazy claims …….
I can’t believe people just Don’t Read the Label and look up what the Long-Term Health Consequences are by taking such Chemicals and then tell me that making a few bucks is worth it ……
Zoom meeting announcement on their official Facebook page…Doctor will explain the health benefits of using all 3 products together. Is this a medical claim?
Depends on what the doctor says. If any specific diseases and/or conditions are mentioned, then yes it’s a medical claim.
Article updated to note Velovita is a Lacore Enterprises company.
RIP Jim Beasley in #2.
Thanks Oz, you have a wicked sense of humour.
You could just template the Lacore reviews at this point and use a article generator.