Momentous is a human performance company that creates a wide range of nutrition products intended to help you perform at your best, both physically and cognitively. The company was founded by Matt Wan, and in 2017 he decided to ditch Harvard University during his Freshman year and return to building Momentous. The company is headquartered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and fuels an impressive community of high-performance athletes and professional sports teams.
You can find Momentous products in the hands of Alex Honnold, Molly Seidel, Emma Coburn, and many other world-class athletes. At the team level, there are over 150 professional and NCAA teams that currently buy and stock Momentous in their locker room. This includes 81% of NHL teams, 72% of NFL teams, and 67% of MLB teams.
This is not a brand superficially built on the glitz and glam of social media. Momentous products are developed with deep scientific backing, direct clinical proof, and patented ingredients. Plus, all products are rigorously tested by independent 3rd parties to guarantee ingredient labels match what you're consuming. Momentous products are NSF Sport and Informed Sport Certified; the gold standard in sports nutrition.
Over 150 professional and NCAA teams currently provide Momentous to their athletes.
Essential Whey Protein
The Essential Whey is made with the highest quality whey protein available; single-source, grass-fed whey isolate. Additionally, the whey isolate is cold-processed to preserve native protein structures which allows your body to rapidly absorb more nutrients. The inclusion of ProHydrolase, a clinically-proven enzyme blend, helps to aid your digestion and absorption of amino acids.
Essential Plant-Based Protein
The Plant-Based Protein is made with the highest quality ingredients and has a precise 70:30 blend of pea and rice proteins. This ratio yields a complete amino acid profile and the pea protein delivers a high amount of leucine, an amino acid critical for muscle repair. An ideal choice for vegans, vegetarians, or anyone looking for a healthy alternative to animal protein.
Recovery Whey Protein
The Recovery Grass-Fed Whey is a high-quality combination of whey protein and carbohydrates that is perfect after intense activities. This post-workout formula helps you improve recovery, restore glutamine levels, improve oxygen uptake, and support muscle mass. This protein powder is made with the same high quality whey protein as the Essential Whey collection and also includes the ProHydrolase enzyme blend.
The Momentous philosophy on protein to carb ratio is, include just enough carbs to raise blood sugar and decrease cortisol, thereby increasing the absorption of amino acids and improving muscle recovery. This science-backed approach has resulted in a 2:1 protein to carb ratio, instead of the 1:3 ratio that many other recovery formulas employ.
Nutritional excellence: single-source whey isolate from German grass-fed cows.
The collection of world class athletes choosing to fuel, recovery, and nourish with Momentous products is astounding! The livelihood of professional athletes hinges on their ability to physically perform, and they trust Momentous when they're in the trenches.
Alex Honnold: American climber known primarily for his big wall free solo ascents, largely in Yosemite National Park, California. Alex achieved widespread fame after starring in the 2018 documentary Free Solo, which documented his free solo climb of El Capitan via the climbing route Freerider. “Climbing and mountaineering are becoming less of a counter-culture lifestyle and more like high-performance sports. Climbers are treating themselves like real athletes and putting more effort into their workouts and recoveries, so it’s a good time for Momentous to be delivering high-quality recovery protein.”
Molly Seidel: Olympic bronze medalist in the Marathon, Division 1 Champion in the 10,000 meter Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and most decorated distance runner in Wisconsin history. "Getting quality protein and carbohydrates immediately after a run is a game-changer for me as I prioritize recovery."
Emma Coburn: Olympic bronze medalist, American record holder in the 3000-meter Steeplechase, and 10x US Champion. "Previously, my post-run nutrition would be a chocolate milk or energy bar, but luckily I've graduated to Momentous Essential Whey Protein with a scoop of creatine. I try to get most of my calories and fuel from real food, but Momentous Protein is a critical part of my routine."
High-quality protein and carbohydrates immediately after a run is a game-changer.
As the Momentous brand evolved, so did its team and aspirations. In the summer of 2021, Momentous merged with Amp Human, a human performance company with a flagship lotion product that unlocks performance and recovery benefits for athletes.
Jeff Byers co-founded Amp Human and after the merger with Momentous, he assumed the role of CEO for the newly combined company. In a prior life, or "Jeff 1.0" as he jokingly refers to it, Jeff was an NFL offensive lineman and college football standout at USC. His days as a high performance athlete helped him appreciate the outsized role that nutrition can play in human performance.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Jeff and chat about his background and Momentous.
Over the course of your football career, what were some of your defining moments?
JB: As I look back on my athletic career there were lots of high and lows, but the "growth moments" that shaped me are what matter most. My "growth moments" were not the National Championships, the playoff wins, or the NFL games started.. they were times of failure and adversity.
I was one of the top college football recruits in the country and at the age of 19 I walked out of the doctor's office with a bleak prognosis – I likely wouldn't play football ever again. Then, during my time as an NFL player, I was cut from two NFL teams. I won't sugar coat it, shit hurts.. it hurts bad, but it's important to have a short memory and embrace bounceback opportunities.
When I was injured in college I doubled down on academics and graduated early which allowed me to enroll in the graduate school of business while still on the football team. My response to being injured changed my career trajectory for the better – but don't get me wrong, it was a bumpy roller coaster ride.
You dedicated much of your life to a sport you loved, how did your growth moments help shape your identity?
JB: Having major injury setbacks at the young age of 19 stripped away my identity. It's easy to get caught up in sport and see yourself as an "athlete first", especially when you're performing at a high level, but everybody is so much more. One lesson I learned was don't let the outside world dictate what is core to your identity. Only you get to choose that. After my identity was stripped away, I had the good fortune of reassembling my identity in a more holistic way.
Nowadays, I don't consider myself an athlete. I love to train, adventure, and push my body – suffering in athletics is my happy place – but I no longer view myself as an athlete.
After life in the NFL, you jumped into entrepreneurship. What were your early days like as a founder?
JB: It's really strange, I look back on the early days and I had this blind ignorance that allowed me to move through the uncertainty and times of nearly not making it. I mean there were times when we, co-founder Erica Good and myself, almost didn't make it.. employee payroll was super tight, we weren't taking salaries, and our backs were up against a wall.
At our startup, the difference between succeeding and failing was incredibly thin. To succeed, I needed to be willing to fail, and I was, but I didn't fear catastrophic failure because my "growth moments" in football taught me how to bounce back. Never once did I think our company wouldn't make it. Sure, there were many times we got knocked down as entrepreneurs, but those bumps along the way meant we were uncomfortable and growing.
As an entrepreneur, you gotta believe that you're going to go all the way. And if you find yourself on the edge of a cliff, the brink of failure so to speak, then you're going to take every single inch to keep going.
When did your interest in human performance first emerge?
JB: My college football career at USC was plagued with injuries and this led me to constantly search for small incremental gains that I could add up for myself. I developed a real curiosity around connective tissue, sleep, cognitive performance, and physical longevity. The concept of human optimization has long been an area of interest and now sharing Momentous products with current athletes is very gratifying.
Photo Credit: Momentous
