{"id":560878,"date":"2026-05-01T16:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560878\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T16:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:53:11","slug":"two-paratrooper-friends-built-a-gummy-supplement-startup-between","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560878\/","title":{"rendered":"Two paratrooper friends built a gummy supplement startup between"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elia Naim and Ofek Tragash\u200f have already given the country nearly 400 days of reserve duty since the outbreak of the war. Next week, they will begin another round. But anyone expecting them to dwell on the hardship is likely to be disappointed. Instead, the two 28-year-olds would rather talk about the experience and the results of GOOM, the Israeli gummy supplement company they founded during that same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were both called up on October 7,\u201d Tragash\u200f said. \u201cOn that terrible Saturday, anyone with arms and legs who could hold a weapon went out to defend the country. It was natural and necessary. There was no other option. Since then, I\u2019ve done 390 days of reserve duty and Elia has done 370. Next week, I\u2019m heading out for another 100-day round, and Elia received a call-up order for August.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4 View gallery <\/p>\n

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Ofek Tragash and Elia Naim <\/p>\n

(Photo: GOOM)<\/p>\n

Naim was born and raised in Tel Aviv, the seventh of eight siblings. \u201cWe\u2019re not religious, that\u2019s just how it worked out,\u201d he said with a smile. He finished high school and enlisted in the Paratroopers Brigade\u2019s 202nd Battalion. After his military service, he traveled through Asia and South America for about six months. When he returned, he began working with his father, an electrical contractor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant waking up at 6 a.m. every morning and spending the day connecting electrical cables,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cI used to listen to marketing podcasts all day, because that was the field that always interested me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later spent several months working at advertising agencies, a job he describes as difficult and not especially rewarding. The turning point came when a car hit the motorcycle he was riding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t terrible, but I spent one day in the hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I told myself, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s so quiet in my head here.\u2019 That was the moment I decided to leave everything and start working on GOOM with Ofek.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tragash\u200f was born in Beit Yitzhak in the Hefer Valley. He is married and also lives in Tel Aviv, where he moved after completing his military service.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor as long as I can remember, I was drawn to e-commerce,\u201d he said. \u201cI always knew I wanted to be independent, to build something of my own. During the COVID period, together with Shir, who is now my wife and was then my girlfriend, we started a baby clothing business, Basically, and later sold it. Today, Shir specializes in app implementation and handles all the company\u2019s graphics and social media. We\u2019ve been working together for eight years. It\u2019s the hardest thing and the most fun thing. We\u2019re a winning team. We know how to separate work from our personal lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning?
\n\u201cWhen we go out on a date, we don\u2019t talk about work at all, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

In truth, it can be said that Naim and Tragash\u200f have a pretty good partnership of their own. They complement one another in temperament and worldview. They know how to dream together and execute, and even when they argue, they come out of it intact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very different,\u201d Tragash\u200f said. \u201cI\u2019m very calculated, very numbers-oriented, and Elia speaks first and thinks afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though he has dyscalculia, he doesn\u2019t make mistakes,\u201d Naim said with a smile. \u201cIt\u2019s true. We saw the differences, for example, when we were in Thailand to mark the brand\u2019s first anniversary. I was saying, \u2018Bro, don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get there and figure it out.\u2019 A week before we arrived, he was already giving instructions: he had booked the hotel, planned where we would be and where we would eat. If you have a partner who is exactly like you, it\u2019s very hard to move forward. Something has to be different. It\u2019s good that we\u2019re different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"GOOM\"<\/a>\"GOOM\"<\/p>\n

GOOM, in a sense, was born during the squad commanders\u2019 course Naim and Tragash\u200f took together. That is where they met, when they were assigned to the same platoon. They describe an immediate connection, largely because of a shared world of interests that spoke to both of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of nutritional supplements always interested both of us,\u201d Naim said. \u201cFor example, we talked about the importance of magnesium after long marches. That world mattered to us, and we didn\u2019t feel there was a complete answer to that need. From that pain point, it was clear to both of us that one day we would build a brand like this. So the joint work really began with an idea that came up on the first day we met, when we said we would still do things together. It was clear it would happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we were discharged, each of us went his own way, but of course we stayed in touch, and about three and a half years ago we really started working on it. The war came in the middle, but we never stopped for a moment. On the contrary, the difficulty and stress everyone is experiencing here only sharpened our understanding of the need. The fact that the world is moving more and more toward longevity, meaning not only extending life expectancy but mainly increasing the number of healthy years, proved to us that we were on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n

They began gathering knowledge and say they consulted with the best scientists they could find. Once they understood the composition of the formulas, they decided they wanted the supplements to come in the form of gummy candies rather than pills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clear that producing nutritional supplements as gummies would be more complicated because you have to preserve taste and texture, but we brought in people who gave us a solution,\u201d Naim said. \u201cOnce we were ready with the knowledge and the composition, we started approaching factories in Israel to manufacture the products for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened then?
\n\u201cWe ran into the less pleasant side of things. We approached several factories, which we prefer not to name, to develop formulas and place a first order. To put it simply, they threw us down the stairs,\u201d Naim said. \u201cToday we smile about it. Back then, it was one big frustration. The state\u2019s attitude toward reservists\u2019 businesses during wartime was not pleasant. Sometimes they explained that we were too young. Sometimes they said that because we were reservists on the front line, who could guarantee that we would meet our commitments? We found ourselves driving around the country between reserve duty rounds, trying to convince factories to believe in us, and one door after another closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discouraging.
\n\u201cTrue. Looking back, I\u2019m already more forgiving toward them,\u201d Naim said. \u201cMost of the factories didn\u2019t know how to produce gummies, but they also didn\u2019t try to meet us halfway. At one point I said to Ofek, \u2018What, they don\u2019t want money?\u2019 We wanted to pay and they didn\u2019t want it. Maybe because most of those factories\u2019 production is for export, and they probably told themselves, \u2018Fine, these young guys will place one order and that\u2019ll be it, so why invest in them?\u2019 That said, we also made beginner\u2019s mistakes. At first, we didn\u2019t know how to approach these companies correctly. When I look at emails I sent back then, I wouldn\u2019t have answered myself either. We learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did the people around you encourage you at the time?
\n\u201cIt was split. Some people close to us were sure we had lost our minds, and others encouraged us. People also asked why we were wasting time here, because so many friends are moving abroad. We refused to hear it. Our focus is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, all it takes is one person to believe in you. For the two young entrepreneurs, that moment came when they reached TopGum, an Israeli company that develops, manufactures, sells and markets candies and nutritional supplements, and operates a gummy production plant in the Sderot industrial zone. TopGum is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a market value of 1.7 billion shekels and exports most of its products to the United States. It is considered one of the most significant and surprising Israeli success stories of recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe managed to convince them to give us a chance,\u201d Tragash\u200f said. \u201cToday, they don\u2019t regret it, and we smile with satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4 View gallery <\/p>\n

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Tragash and Naim at the TopGum factory in Sderot <\/p>\n

(Photo: GOOM)<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also smiling all the way to the bank.
\n\u201cTrue,\u201d Naim said. \u201cIt\u2019s proof that determination pays off. Until about two months ago, we hadn\u2019t withdrawn a single shekel from the company. From the first day, we spent money, a lot of it, without knowing if or when it would come back. We invested hundreds of thousands of shekels, maybe even a seven-figure sum, in developing GOOM. You have to pay for everything connected to development and regulation. A lot of money goes into the label, and into getting a Health Ministry license and kosher certification, and the choking warning, and a certain font size on the label. It\u2019s strict regulation and you have to meet it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe paid salaries to our employees,\u201d he added. \u201cToday, the company has seven employees. We didn\u2019t take salaries. Now we can breathe. Today, the company has revenue of tens of millions of shekels. We recorded growth of 1,200% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2025. We also received several offers to buy the company and turned them down. Believe it or not, in the past two months we\u2019ve already started taking money out. We even went to Thailand. But basically, the money interested us less. What interests us is how much we can grow and how many people we can help through our products. From the beginning, we believed in the product, and we still do. We dream at night about the next thing we\u2019ll do at GOOM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take us back for a moment. When did you realize you were on your way up?
\n\u201cWe went to market a year and a half ago, after almost two years of development,\u201d Naim said. \u201cIt\u2019s also important to note that our sales are only through the website, with advertising on social media. I remember the first days of sales. On the first day, we got an order, and on the second day, two or three. We were unbelievably excited. Then, on the third day, suddenly someone asked to cancel her order. I had a crash. I told myself, \u2018Why do I need this adventure?\u2019 I recovered pretty quickly. Three months after we started selling, I understood that we were in a good place. We already had solid sales revenue, a fast sales pace, good reviews. People got hooked on the products.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4 View gallery <\/p>\n

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Tragash\u200f said the first bank transfer to the factory was a moment he remembers clearly.
\n\u201cIt was terrifying,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we believed in what we were doing from day one. Then, after six months of sales, when we understood we had returning customers, and in a field like this returning customers are hard to get, we understood we were in a good place. Today, more than 45% of our customers are returning customers, which is an insane figure for a brand that is a year and a half old in one of the most competitive markets there is. The number of friends who said they came to us through a friend\u2019s recommendation is crazy. In practice, pretty quickly we got proof that our product was good, and then the competition stopped being interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why not sell through supermarket and pharmacy chains?
\n\u201cWe want control over how the products are received and monitored. We want to control the end customer. That\u2019s important to us. It\u2019s possible we\u2019ll be in the big chains, but that\u2019s a different game. At this stage, we\u2019re still not ready to sell through chains. Maybe that will change in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why gummies, by the way? What is wrong with supplements in pill form?
\n\u201cThe idea is consistency,\u201d Naim said. \u201cTaking a pill feels like taking medicine. We researched the subject in depth before making the decision. There are pills and drops, but it\u2019s not fun. We really connected to the book \u2018Atomic Habits\u2019 by James Clear. He explains how to embed good habits and make them permanent, and the conclusion is that if you don\u2019t stick to something, most of the time the problem is your environment, not you. The goal is to find something you look forward to, and that\u2019s how it is with gummies, because of the taste and the texture. We emphasize that the formulas are vegan and sugar-free, in accordance with strict GMP and FDA standards, with a focus on quality and safety. That\u2019s an important part for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Half a year after you started, the war broke out, and during these years there were also wars with Iran. How did that affect production and sales?
\n\u201cAs of now, we have four formulas, and another four are currently in development,\u201d Tragash\u200f said. \u201cOur nutritional supplements can improve daily health. One example is a probiotic and prebiotic formula that balances the digestive system from within and affects energy levels and vitality throughout the day. We all need that on ordinary days, and certainly in days of pressure and stress. Another example is the formula for our flagship sleep product, Deep Sleep, which reached sold-out status during the last war, with a waiting list of thousands of people, because Israelis are looking for sleep solutions during wartime and in general. Now we\u2019re developing four more formulas, three of them for the body.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here you are, heading into another reserve duty round. Does it really not worry you?
\n\u201cHand on heart, the first moment I get a reserve duty order, it\u2019s an arrow to the heart,\u201d Tragash\u200f said. \u201cI ask myself, \u2018How will I do this?\u2019 But then we immediately pull ourselves together. The fact is that we\u2019re managing to combine reserve duty with work. We\u2019re definitely not victims, and we\u2019ll continue serving as long as it\u2019s required. By the way,\u201d he added with a smile, \u201cone of the problems was when we came out of Lebanon and I had to decide who to call first: the business, to ask what\u2019s going on, or my mother, so she wouldn\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the answer?
\n\u201cMy mother, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elia Naim and Ofek Tragash\u200f have already given the country nearly 400 days of reserve duty since the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-560878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}