Expectant and new mothers have plenty to stress about, from picking the perfect baby name to choosing the right nursery color. What they shouldn’t have to worry about is getting enough vitamins and minerals in their diet to keep themselves and their growing baby healthy. John Mascari CC’08 and his business partner, Kwany Lui, noticed their expectant friends and family looking for healthful and delicious ways to get more nutrients; from this need, Bundle Organics was born.

A collection of three organic pasteurized juices (the juices are pasteurized to prevent the growth of bacteria that could be dangerous during pregnancies), Bundle Organics products are fortified with vitamins and minerals that expectant women can take in addition to their daily pre-natal vitamins for a boost in nutrients like folic acid, calcium and Vitamin D. Bundle Organics customers can select juice combinations from the company’s website and then decide how many shipments they want delivered to their home.

Mascari and Lui founded the company in 2013 and have since added consultants such as ob/gyn Dr. Errol Norwitz and dietitian Miriam Erick to ensure that the juices are providing the right mix of fruits, vegetables and supplements to keep customers nourished.

A former Spectator publisher, Mascari credits the paper with giving him a crash course in business management. As publisher during the 130th and 131st managing boards (2006 and 2007), Mascari was responsible for keeping the business side of the newspaper running smoothly. He explains the value of his Spectator experience: “[Spectator] was truly an entrepreneurial environment; it gave me so much responsibility at a young age in terms of running a business.” He adds, “Ever since leaving Columbia, I’ve tried to recreate that environment where I was working around really bright, motivated, entrepreneurial people. I think that having that experience when I was at college is what put the entrepreneurial bug in me and made me go on to business school.”

Now an alumnus of Harvard Business School (2012), Mascari says that moving into the Columbia Startup Lab space is an exciting next step for his growing company. The company is e-commerce based, so although the juices are made in Southern California, Mascari will operate the business side of Bundle Organics in New York. The Columbia Startup Lab provides space for the company to develop while being in a supportive and educational environment. Mascari says that part of the appeal of the Columbia Startup Lab is its ability to bring together so many people in a communal space. He explains, “It reminds me a lot of certain things that I liked about college as an undergrad, in the sense that it’s bringing together folks with very different backgrounds — between all the schools that are involved and people working in different industries — but giving us a platform to find common ground and work together.”