WEBVTT - Ep. 27: Roy & Ryan Seiders 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:06.240 Hey everybody, and welcome episode number twenty seven Hunting Collective. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:11.280 Of course, I'm Been O'Brien, and today we're joined by 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.280 two brothers, two brothers that just so happened to have 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:21.760 founded company Yettie. These two brothers are about as regular 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.919 as regular guys get, a couple of hunters and anglers 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.200 who love going outside and just so happened to be 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.480 smart enough to figure out what is now the best 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:37.720 premium cooler in the business, and why it's important for 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.440 me to talk to them. Well, a lot of you 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.559 guys know me as the Yetie guy. Of course, a 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:45.800 lot of you guys know I worked at YETI for 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.760 the last going on three and a half almost four years, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.920 and I no longer work that Yetie. I on to 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.200 a new adventure. Uh. That's kind of why we started 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.760 this series of Texas podcasts, going back to episode number 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.120 two four with Woman Menzer, for me to say goodbye 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:08.280 to Texas as we moved north to Montana. And so 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:13.280 when I think about the final podcast in Texas that 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.479 we would put out, it had to be Roy and 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.000 Ryan Sears, and it had to be running Ryan Caesars 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.399 because they're basically the reason I came to Texas to 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.920 follow them on a journey to create this company called 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.200 Yet and it was a hell of a run. And 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.480 they're a hell of a couple of dudes with a 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.120 great story of success that I feel like we can 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:42.480 all learn from. So enjoy that story and it's totality 0:01:43.319 --> 0:02:05.400 for episode number coming right up, Roy and Ryan, how 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.000 are you guys great? Thanks for having good How are 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.399 you doing. I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing real good. 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.880 It's hot you you'll be out of here next week, 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.080 that's true. Yeah, yeah, you guys are, especially Bozeman, Montana. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.840 You guys are especially the last of my podcast, I 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.080 was doing to trying to like get a final lap 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.799 in Texas and appreciate my time. So I figured you 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.119 guys would be perfect since you're yetties and you guys 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.600 the reason I came here, you minds would be good 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:36.639 way that hopefully enjoyed your stay. I really did join stay. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.880 How long were you here for? Four years? Just a 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.200 little under four years? Like two months under four years? 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.640 And what were your highlights of Boston and Texas? Boy? 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.960 That could be that could be you're flipping around on 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:54.400 flipping around overready early man? Uh? I remember when we 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.280 first were sitting in the YETI flagship store, and I 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.440 remember when we launched this thing. Gosh, wasn't a year 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.600 and a half ago, sounds about right. And you had 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.839 a room full of like the people. Yeah, that was fun. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.880 Lance Armstrong, Ryan Bingham's playing with JT. Van zand singing 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.040 song from Towns van Zan. You just had pretty much 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.000 Troy Landry running around. You had Fly Fisherman from Montana, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.000 bull Riders from Colorado, had the Cowboy, the UFC fighter 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.960 was here. Yeah, Cowboys Seroni was here. So you got 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.280 like cowboys Seroni hanging out with like Flip Palette, yeah, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:32.400 from Fishing Guide and and so this is I mean, 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.840 what a awesome way too to celebrate that, like what 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.000 you guys have done and what this place is, even 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.600 this town, it just felt like I think somebody wrote 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.440 later on that they it was the weirdest group of 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:48.720 people that ever been assembled. This town's motto is keep 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.000 it weird. So yeah, it was. It was a pretty 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.640 uh interesting crew for sure. Yeah, you have any memories 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:59.520 from that night specifically, you know, no, not really, uh 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.200 nothing other than I mean it's a it's a special 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:07.280 night for for Ryan and I because you know, never 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.720 in our wildest dreams that ever think Yetie would be 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.840 where it is and and to have that flagship open up, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.760 and and a lot of those folks that were there 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.880 were friends and family, but also the Jetty ambassadors that 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.640 Ryan and I grew up and kind of aspired to 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.000 and looked up to. These guys, whether it's um, you know, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.320 I can't remember Flip was there, but guys like Flip 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:35.200 Palette and uh, the rest of the crew. Um, So 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.520 that that's pretty Yeah, pinch yourself a little bit to 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.279 see that. I think I was at night too, between 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.440 SIPs whatever Margarite was drinking. But yeah, that was one 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.600 of my highest because I just remember looking around that 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.760 room thinking, Okay, yeah, this is not this is not 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:55.520 where I came from. It's a little bit different. Um, Brian, 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.760 you have a pretty good powered description. Did you describe 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.760 what the flagship is, what it looks like, 's here? 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.960 Where it is? Well, I mean, I think the reason 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.440 we brought we decided to open a flagship in Austin, 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.599 if that's what you're getting at, is just so when people, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.960 you know, Yetti being from Austin started in Austin, and 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.599 when people come visit here, you know, and and it'd 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.039 be nice to have a place to go to see 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.039 all the Yetti products and to say that while you 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:22.880 were in Austin you got to go to the Yeti 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.880 store and so, you know, with all our offices here, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.760 we didn't necessarily want it right at our offices, but 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.720 having it downtown where you can stop in and and 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.200 and get a drink at the bar and see all 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.320 the product and all the way the store is, uh, 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.120 you know fitted out. It's it's pretty neat to see everything, 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.840 celebrate the products, the brand, the history, our heritage that 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.919 you know, there's there's a lot of nods to Austin 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:53.080 and and Ryan and nice family being from Austin. That's 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.680 that's a lot of fun to put put together. Yeah, 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.360 and there's artifacts from your life growing up. Yeah, he 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.360 tagged into the bar you're sitting there. That's a lot 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.000 of fun. Is that fun to see? Yeah, it is. 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.599 And again it's uh, it can be a little bit 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.080 of like pinch yourself type, you know, overwhelmed. We never 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.360 thought that, but it is. You know, we have a 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.520 we have a history in the outdoors, and it's fun 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.680 to kind of see those artifacts from Ryan and I 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.840 growing up in the outdoors and and um, whether it's 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:29.799 our first deer or or um, you know, our old 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.000 buck knife for whatever, it might be a lot of 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.320 memories on each one of those items. Yeah, yeah, my 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:39.800 all my stuff like that displayed like a bedroom my 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:45.720 parents has like a treadmill in it. Yeah, a lot 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.520 of these artificts. My mom tends to our mom tends 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.000 to uh keep everything. So we just had to go 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.359 visit our parents out in Driftwood and take through a 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.800 bunch of stuff. Yeah, we got it, thought and and 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.000 my you know, the one one cool thing is my dad. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.719 Our dad always had a camera with him, so all 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:12.520 of our adventures were pretty much recorded with good photographs. 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.160 And whether it was a grand ol fishing trip or 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:21.880 um siege of Creek deer hunt. Yeah yeah, um, that's 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:23.480 a probably a good place to start with. How this 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:25.520 all you you got to be here? Maybe that's a 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.720 nice nice like bo I mean, you guys are this 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.080 YETI will continue to grow and it's gonna probably still 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.440 shock you guys every year. Well I think I think 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.280 I think you're right, it will, um, But for the 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:41.080 purposes of this, it's it's starting probably starting with Roger, 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:46.000 your your father, and the way he was as a 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.040 young man or but also as raising you guys to 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.720 be independent, to be entrepreneurs, to think for yourselves, talk 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.679 about you know, your upbringing. So I I do think 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:58.960 yet he kind of start the origin of YETI you 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:03.480 definitely would would be with with our dad. And you 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.840 know when um My, both my parents were raised here 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.840 in Austin, but after um, after the college, they were 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:16.240 filming themselves in Houston. My mom was a nurse and 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.840 our dad was a school teacher wood shop teacher in Houston. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:27.119 And one of his um semester projects were building fishing 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.880 rods with his students. And he was also a big fisherman, 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.640 and so he did a lot of custom rod building 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:37.000 on his own. And um you know he uh in 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.960 his classroom and through his own custom rod building, he 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.320 discovered that there really wasn't a good finish for for 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:47.480 coating fishing rods. And this is the coating that goes 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.960 on top of the thread that the thread holds the 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.040 fishing guide to the rod blank And I think at 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.880 the time, Ryan, they're using some type of wood varnish 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.640 that sounds several coats of wood varnish and it just 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:00.640 wouldn't last. The life of the rod would be the 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.400 first thing that failed. So he was looking for a 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:08.439 solution for himself and in his classroom, and he got 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.280 together within a POxy company and they developed a two 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.679 part of POxy that was clear and flexible and UM. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.360 So it was a solution, but it was it is 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.920 more than what he could um he could use on 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.000 his own and through the classroom. So he took it 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.280 to market to see if there's an opportunity there and 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.960 went to a local sporting goods store in Houston and 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.880 started selling it through there. And you know, I think 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.400 that led to a fishing tackle show UM called Athma, 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.280 which is the which is now called eye Cast, which 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.439 YETI is that's the same show. We go to Yetti 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.840 and UM and he he he created the solution and 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.959 it was kind of right timing, and it it became 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.640 kind of an industry standard on on both custom rods 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.600 and rod manufacturers. So if you look at the fishing 0:09:55.679 --> 0:10:00.400 rod industry, you have folks like Sage, Scott, I, Rod 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.240 st Croix, G. Loomis all used his finish on on 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.319 their rod blinks. And and then he got from there 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.319 he got into all kinds of rod building equipment and 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.920 and how to videos and instructions, and you wrote some 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.920 little books on on how to build a customer fishing rod. 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.680 So you know that was in the late seventies. He 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.439 started that business out of our garage in Houston. I 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.360 mean I think I was born the same year he 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.960 started it, in seventy seven, and I would have been 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:35.080 about four or five. And UM, but what that did 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.400 was it gave him the the freedom to um move 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:42.319 back to Austin. So I think when when I was 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.079 five or six, we moved back up to the Austin 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.760 area out in Driftwood. But I think you know that 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.080 the funny thing about his business is that it was 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.880 always kind of a one man show, is him and 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.000 one or two full time employees and and and his 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.360 business was always attached either in our in the rage 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:05.839 or small building next to my parents house and UM. 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.480 And so that exposure as a kid from you know, 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.000 seeing him do where all the hats and and those 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:19.199 were like shipping and receiving, product development, UM, building a catalog, 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:25.320 price sheets, customer service was a big deal. HR and 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:30.160 and UM you know, uh counts receivable counts. But I 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.120 mean it's a little one oh one class and small business. 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:35.560 And and I know at the time we didn't recognize 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.680 what the exposure we were getting, but it was really 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:44.079 a big, big deal as as Ryan and I decided 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.080 to start our own business. You know, we'd go to 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.840 trade shows with him as a kid, and so we 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.640 understood the industry. We knew the brands in the industry. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.880 We knew the guys like flip Palette, that kind of 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.480 the ambassadors of the industry that we we'd watched their 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:05.800 uh what was Walker's case today morning ESPN Saturday flip Palota, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.440 So we we we would watch a flip Palette on 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.160 on our Sunday morning ESPN Walkers k And then you 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.839 know at the annual ATHMA show, we'd see him walking 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.760 around there as well. And we actually, probably Ryan Moore 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.440 so than myself got to know flip um over those 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:29.480 years and um and and so being growing up in 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.360 the industry and seeing that firsthand experience of running a 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.520 small business by yourself and doing everything, and even my 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.720 mom got involved, um so so and and you know, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.600 during the summers, Run and I were working in the business, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.000 kidding up, you know, small kits and and answering the 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:54.520 phone when my dad wasn't available. Just exposure that that um, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.080 you know, again we didn't know what we're getting, but 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.360 it was just gave us a huge advantage when we 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.760 decided to start our own business. We kind of had 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.680 a road map. I guess I don't want to sound 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.480 like some kind of you know, shrink or something, but 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.360 it was a good childhood. Uh you know it was 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.880 my you know in the business that that that exposure 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.520 was great. But I think our dad was very hands on. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.720 Our parents were very hands on and um, and you 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:27.400 know that their priority was their family and kids and 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:31.920 and um, you know my dad today, our dad today 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.440 treats the grandkids the same way they treated us, which 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:42.960 is just all out and if if whether it's fishing, hunting, um, skateboarding, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.240 uh you name it, and it's skateboarding. Well you know 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.040 the funny when we showed a little bit of interest 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.040 in skateboarding as a kid, and you know this was 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.120 probably in the mid eighties, and him being a wood 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:59.160 shop teacher, uh he uh, he decided, well, I'm going 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.880 to build these guys a half pipe and uh so 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.240 in our front yard, which we had some property out there, 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.120 in Driftwood in in our front yard. We uh we uh. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.880 He built the probably way oversized for what we had, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:19.440 eight ft tall vertical and he still got a scar. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.160 Of the later ones after that we built with friends. 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:25.560 They were more about a six ft with no vertical, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.760 and that was more is a lot of a lot 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.240 of fun. But at the time, at the time, and 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.040 drifted Its twenty five miles southwest of Austin at the 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.080 time is probably one of the better ramps in Austin. 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.600 So we had kids coming all over from from Austin 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:46.120 in central Texas to skate our ramp. And um, my 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.480 dad tells stories about him. He had a water cooler 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.040 out there that's way out in the middle of the 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.720 yard and um, and he'd go through a dozen five 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.160 gallon water bottles a day because kids would just be 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.680 out there rotating through and um. And remember if we 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:02.840 if we left town, my dad would have to run 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:08.120 a chain across it. And uh. But the funny thing 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.360 is to look back on that and and look at 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.680 the liability that might have might have been involved with 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:20.480 that foot vertical. They yeah, and kids traveling in from 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.840 all over, We didn't you know. These they're all great 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.280 and it's a ton of fun when we did that 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.880 for a couple of years. But but nevertheless, my parents 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.120 and and my dad, you know, uh, they were all 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.720 in on everything we're doing and their hands on and 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:40.080 it felt like, you know, business was always kind of 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.840 second priority to to family, which is something that Ryan 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.280 and I have struggled with as Yettie has grown and 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.480 it's kind of taken all of our resources to keep 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.200 up with the business. Luckily, we're at a spot today 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.160 that family is first and and uh, but we also 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.480 have to balance that with with our own pursuits around 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.400 hunting and fishing. And when when my dad went when 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.640 our dad went fishing, Um, I mean it was a 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.440 family activity. It's like that's the only way to do that, right, 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.000 I mean, I'm right now he's struggling with that. How 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.680 do you bounce that all out? And uh weird pile 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.320 into his fifteen passenger van and uh takes some friends 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:22.480 and head to Grandall, Louisiana and fish down there. So, um, 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.120 you know, I think our our parents offered kind of 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.600 that visibility into small business and and the fishing tackle 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:34.160 market and you know, being exposing us to the outdoors 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.160 at an early age, do you have any Uh, Well, 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.240 it's funny because you're a lot of your family members. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:44.680 Scott Cedars owns his own business is very successfully old Scott, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:49.360 and your brother Rick owns his own business was very successful. Yeah, 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.040 it feels like it's just kind of the thing. I 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.560 don't know. I think, Um, we're not smart enough to 0:16:55.600 --> 0:17:00.280 do anything else. So I I the funny thing the 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.360 if if I was interviewed by Yeddie today, I wouldn't 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:08.320 get hired. There's no way. Yeah. But um, and that 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.240 that happened pretty early. So so I think our way 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.159 of kind of figuring out our own own path was 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.200 we're gonna start our own business. Yeah, and we saw 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.359 our dad's lifestyle and we liked it and we knew 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.360 we knew how to do that, and that's how we 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:23.760 kind of Nowadays people are like, how, what's the secret? 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.880 Ryan's the secret? The secret is you just gotta do it. Yeah, 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.119 that's that's the hardest part. Well, that's what it always 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.359 struck me about you guys. There was just there was 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.880 no fear of you didn't have to like jump off 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.159 a ledge to get to be entrepreneurs, start shop, and 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.960 we were already doing stuff before Yeddie, and so it 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.199 was just we were doing different things until one of 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.800 them hit like we need. It's not like somebody now 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:49.960 you get in the corporate structure and you're you feel 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.119 like you have you're taking a leap, taking a chance 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.160 to go to your own thing. You guys never felt 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.240 like I never felt like I was taking a chance. 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.080 I did see after college. I did see my buddy 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.920 starting success estual careers and making money right away, and 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.639 that you know, when you start comparing yourself to others, 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:07.280 that was kind of ate at me a little bit 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.440 because I was I felt like I was kind of 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.440 spinning my wheels and trying to figure it out. And 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.199 uh so, you know, to kind of back up, we 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.280 Ryan and I both knew we we wanted to start 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.320 our own business right after school, and we grew up 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:25.280 building fishing rods and and um using my dad's product 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:30.639 and uh Ryan started a fishing rod company. Yeah. So, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.560 so I had built fishing rods through middle school, high school, 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.560 a little bit in college, but when I went to college, 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:38.480 I pretty much knew that when I got out, I 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.399 wanted to start a start building rods full time and 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.960 develop a brand name rod company and uh, so I 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.560 got out of school the end of ninety six started 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.800 Waterloo Rod Company INN and uh I had a great 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.200 time with it, you know, never made that much money, 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.200 but had a lot of a lot of freedom and 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.679 good lifestyle type business and earned a lot, made a 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:05.719 lot of good connections and uh and really enjoyed it. 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.359 Had an opportunity to sell it in two thousand and 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.480 five and I did. And then you know during that 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.119 time is when Roy had been had been getting involved 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.520 with coolers. I think he started. I think it's a 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.160 great story how you sold it because you weren't looking 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:27.920 to sell exactly like I've heard this story. Probably early 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.640 two thousand five, had one of my best customers that 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.000 you know, kind of retail customer, not a store, but 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.240 he had bought a lot of rods from me, and 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.879 he was just always afraid that, you know, if I 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:41.000 had disappeared, that he wouldn't have enough rods. I mean 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.480 he would every time I hear from him, he'd buy 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.880 another three or four rods from He had a closet 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.760 full of them. And anyway, he called me and said, hey, 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.920 you interested in in selling your rod companies? I don't know, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:54.320 and he threw out a number to me that wasn't 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:56.719 enough to get me interested, since that's the only thing 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.479 I've ever done, And so I thought that it was 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.560 interesting that he was interested in buying this rod company. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:05.760 He was moving out of Austin down to Victoria, and 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:07.560 he had someone in mind to run it for him 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:13.320 down there. Anyway, Um, about a couple of months later, 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.560 he calls calls me back up. I was up one 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.040 night finishing rods and in they're late, and he goes, well, 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.400 you know, what would you sell this thing for? And 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.000 so I threw out a number that I thought was high. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:25.600 I knew would take me a long time just to 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.080 save up that much money. And as soon as I 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:31.119 said it, he goes sold. And my heart just sank 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.360 because I knew that when this guy said sold, he 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:41.120 was he was kid, and so you know, you didn't 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:42.639 know what you could get away with. But when I 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:44.600 when I threw out the number, he said sold, and 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:46.680 I knew it was a done deal. And he ended 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.480 up having one of his buddies by it. And it's 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:54.439 still run today down in Victoria and Victoria, and so 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:56.520 it's kind of neat to see that still going. Probably 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.840 much more successful than than what you took a little 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:02.199 more serious than I was at the time. What you 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:07.879 do after So so immediately after we closed, I get 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.960 in my perfect timing for darre season and I had 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.200 Southern Colorado on a bow hunt for Elk on public 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.320 land and then did that for like two weeks, come 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.119 back and just go full blast into whitetail hunt and 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.240 I went to Illinois that year, did some South Texas, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.639 did some Panhandle Texas Panhandle of Texas where we had 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:31.080 a lease spent that was two thousand that had been 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.560 two thousand seven. Yeah. I ended up getting a pretty 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.080 good deer in the Panhandle that year, my first big 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:40.280 one in the Panhandle. And uh, you know, came home 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.800 from about you know, September through December hunting and looking 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:46.760 for something to do. And then that's when I started 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.040 helping out Roy at the warehouse he had with the 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.840 with the coolers before we started Yettie. Yes. So, so 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:55.639 to back up a little bit, when Ryan was running 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.000 this this fishing rod company, I came out of school 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.920 three or four years later and trying to figure out 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.560 my path in the small business world. And you know, 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:10.720 our dad's business was um it could support him, but 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:14.040 it was not any bigger than that. The opportunity was 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:16.240 not much bigger than that. So I really didn't have 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.199 opportunity there to go into business with him. UM, So 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:22.600 I gotta figure out my path, and I was working 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:26.919 on several projects. Um. One of the first things I 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.199 did was a a a fold up shooting bench. Yeah 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.679 and uh, And I went to McBride's here in Austin, 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:36.760 and I started selling them a few And this was 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.560 a real simple design. You ap plywood top that it 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:44.240 could handle left handed shooter or right handed shooter. And 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.119 the base was like this little fold up metal saw 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.480 horse and and so it packed down really nice, and 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.000 and it was you know, it's a decent product, but 0:22:54.160 --> 0:23:00.440 it's a pretty small market. I remember I was those things. 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:02.479 So I was selling some to McBride's and selling them 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:07.119 to friends and family, and then um, I also I 0:23:07.160 --> 0:23:10.760 started reaching out to like Cabella's, And I remember just 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.679 reaching out on a daily basis to to the buyer 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:15.880 at Cabella's and seeing if I could get any kind 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:19.080 of response, and I couldn't get through his assistant. And 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:21.520 I sent a couple of products up there, of these 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.600 folding shooting benches because I knew if I could get 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:28.440 it in the Cabella's catagory catalog, could do okay. Um. 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:30.439 You know, I finally got through to that buyer up 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.840 there and and UM he said, I like it quite 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.200 a bit, but you know, I don't think we're interested 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:38.960 in it. So that, you know, I kind of decided 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.720 to go look at other opportunities. And at the time, 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:47.000 my dad was UM, he was UM messed around with 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:49.879 aluminum boats for the way we fished on the Texas 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:55.600 coast and um and we'd get these aluminum holes built 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:59.320 down in Florida bringing back up here to um driftwood 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:01.879 and we'd rig him out. So I I that, and 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:05.400 he was just doing that for our own fishing. I decided, well, 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:07.879 maybe there's an opportunity there. I'll try to turn that 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:13.640 into a business. And I UM, so I started going 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.560 to a few boat shows, the Houston Boat Show and 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:20.439 and and um and these were just highly specialized shallow 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.080 water boats. Usually a tunnel hole. I'd hang a ninety 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:25.560 horse Shamaha on it and put a center console in it, 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.359 and you know, everything about the boats were kind of 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:34.280 durable and well thought out, well well designed and um 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:37.399 and on every boat you'd least you would have at 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:39.720 least two coolers on each boat. You'd have one in 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:42.359 front of the center console and one behind the center console. 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:45.320 And maybe you'd elevate that one behind the center console 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:47.560 and using it use it as a kind of a 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:51.840 um a leaning post or leaning platform, and use them 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:54.800 as seats. You'd keep your fish fresh in them, your drinks, 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:59.440 your your sandwiches, whatever, and so everything about the boat 0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:03.679 was was uh fairly high quality and um, but the 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:06.520 coolers that were available to me at the time really 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:08.200 didn't match up to the rest of the quality of 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:11.399 the boat. So, um, didn't your dad say you you 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:16.919 only sold like one boat? You say, said that if 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:19.200 we can stay in business as long as you don't 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:23.000 sell too many boats, we're only we're losing a thousand, 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:25.440 two thousand dollars per boat. That just don't sell too 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:30.239 many of them will be fine. That's what I remember that, right. 0:25:30.480 --> 0:25:32.439 I don't know if that's right, but yeah, that's that 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:37.479 sounds uh, that sounds pretty accurate. Um. So you know, 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:39.879 the cool thing about the boat business is that I 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:44.440 learned a ton and and like Ryan's fishing rod business. 0:25:44.680 --> 0:25:48.679 Um um, it exposed me to a lot of different 0:25:48.720 --> 0:25:51.959 things and and clients and other people and the way 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:54.240 they fish. And then you know, what I quickly realized 0:25:54.240 --> 0:25:58.080 about the boat business is that it's highly specialized and 0:25:58.160 --> 0:26:02.440 it's highly you know, custom and everyone has their idea 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:06.080 what the perfect boat is. Um. But you know, it 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:09.440 also exposed me to the shortcoming you know, we've been 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:12.520 using We've been using coolers all of our life, you know, 0:26:12.960 --> 0:26:15.840 when in the outdoors, hunting and fishing. But it really 0:26:15.880 --> 0:26:20.080 amplified the shortcomings of ordinary coolers. You know, the hinges 0:26:20.119 --> 0:26:22.240 would break, that you would use it as a seat 0:26:22.280 --> 0:26:25.120 and you'd go out poundling across the bay, that that 0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:29.600 lead would start caving in, the latches would snap, the 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:32.399 you know, they would fall apart in and you know, 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:34.959 so it wasn't really an ice retention issue. Is more 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:38.080 of a durability issue. These these coolers would follow apart 0:26:38.119 --> 0:26:43.160 after a short season, and I was frustrated. I wasn't 0:26:43.200 --> 0:26:45.840 necessarily looking for a solution, but I was frustrated with 0:26:45.880 --> 0:26:52.119 the with the shortcomings. So UM. I h. Ryan was 0:26:52.160 --> 0:26:56.600 actually at a shallow water expo out in Florida, and 0:26:56.640 --> 0:26:58.879 I remember him calling me up and saying, Hey, I 0:26:58.880 --> 0:27:02.160 think I found the cooler it might be uh, might 0:27:02.200 --> 0:27:06.600 be a good fit on your boats. And um, so 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:11.480 that that original cooler, um was this Thailand made ice 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:14.480 chest that was Roada molded, and it kind of exposed 0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:17.560 me to, oh, there is a better product out there 0:27:17.600 --> 0:27:21.399 that's heavy duty, and I um I started So I 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:25.000 started putting those coolers on my boats. But also recognized 0:27:25.080 --> 0:27:28.840 that if I'm frustrated with the shortcomings of ordinary coolers, 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:31.840 I bet there's other people out there too. And so 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:37.440 I got ahold of that distributor and got pricing on 0:27:37.520 --> 0:27:40.639 this product and and um where I could resell it 0:27:40.680 --> 0:27:44.200 in Texas. So I got that that original Thailand cooler 0:27:44.880 --> 0:27:48.639 that and started open up accounts here in Texas, you know, 0:27:48.800 --> 0:27:53.120 like McBride's Fishing Techle Unlimited in Houston and you name it. 0:27:53.680 --> 0:27:57.080 And and so pretty quickly I had a handful of 0:27:57.640 --> 0:28:01.879 retailers that were reselling this product. You know, I was 0:28:01.960 --> 0:28:04.320 just a distributor. I I didn't you know, I didn't 0:28:04.359 --> 0:28:07.560 own the brand. I didn't. It wasn't my design. But 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:10.240 but it was again, like so many things that happened here, 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:12.359 all these were stepping stones, you know, whether it was 0:28:12.400 --> 0:28:18.760 my dad's company to to Ryan's road company to to UM, boats, 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:22.320 shooting benches, all these are stepping stones to YETI, and 0:28:22.400 --> 0:28:24.760 it exposed me to the cooler business. And pretty soon 0:28:24.800 --> 0:28:29.640 I was building up a retail network in and UM. 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:32.320 You know, after doing that for several years, I recognized 0:28:32.400 --> 0:28:37.840 that although that Thailand product was good, there's plenty opportunity 0:28:37.960 --> 0:28:41.640 to improve it, improve the product. So I set out 0:28:41.680 --> 0:28:45.479 for UM to make one, build one from the ground up. 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:47.840 And and that's kind of when Ryan was selling his 0:28:47.920 --> 0:28:50.520 fishing rod company and we joined up and he decided 0:28:50.520 --> 0:28:54.160 he didn't have enough money to hunt. I was for sure, yeah, 0:28:54.680 --> 0:28:57.840 if I maybe had it. But what strikes me about 0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:00.680 that just hearing because I never heard about I knew 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:03.320 about the boats and rods, but I didn't know about 0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:05.320 you know, the shooting benches are kind of the way 0:29:05.320 --> 0:29:07.120 that you went through. And I mean you describe it 0:29:07.160 --> 0:29:08.520 as a step to yetti, but it could have been 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:11.400 a step to anything you could have figured out, you know, 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:15.760 stainless steel. You know, fishing shirts have been uncomfortable. Whatever, 0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:17.560 it didn't matter what it was like, it was leading 0:29:17.560 --> 0:29:20.080 to something. Always you always feel like when you were 0:29:20.120 --> 0:29:22.800 doing that, you're just we're just hustling or you always 0:29:22.800 --> 0:29:25.000 felt like I'm gonna find something that's gonna be big. No, 0:29:25.240 --> 0:29:29.320 I didn't. I didn't Our goal ryananized goal when we 0:29:29.320 --> 0:29:32.160 were starting our own business as something like my dad's 0:29:32.160 --> 0:29:36.440 company that could support us in our lifestyle. We never 0:29:36.560 --> 0:29:39.080 in our a million years did we ever think that 0:29:39.120 --> 0:29:41.920 it would turn into something bigger or even what Yettie 0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:44.480 has turned into. We were used to these smaller industries, 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:47.360 like like, you know, the fishing industry is pretty big, 0:29:47.360 --> 0:29:51.440 but the fly fishing trade shows a little smaller and uh, 0:29:51.520 --> 0:29:53.960 and some of these outdoor companies, you know, they're real 0:29:54.040 --> 0:29:56.600 specialized and not that big. They have great brands and 0:29:56.640 --> 0:30:00.280 they're great companies, but they're highly specialized. And and it's 0:30:00.360 --> 0:30:03.400 it's it's they're not very big companies and they're really cool, 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:06.480 but it's a lifestyle. It's a lot of fun. When 0:30:06.480 --> 0:30:09.840 we started Yettie, you know, we were thinking more down 0:30:09.840 --> 0:30:12.080 that same path and anything that we were starting, we 0:30:12.160 --> 0:30:15.080 were we were thinking down the path of all we 0:30:15.160 --> 0:30:19.200 cared about was it being successful enough to support us, 0:30:19.360 --> 0:30:22.240 meaning us in our family. That's why I always tell 0:30:22.280 --> 0:30:24.240 people like, this is a what we're talking about, here's 0:30:24.240 --> 0:30:29.000 a plastic box. It's a pretty damn badass plastic box. 0:30:29.040 --> 0:30:31.400 But like it, it was only a hunting and fishing thing, 0:30:31.440 --> 0:30:33.440 because that's what you guys loved it. That's what it was. 0:30:33.560 --> 0:30:36.600 It wasn't like, well that's where we'll make all the money, 0:30:36.800 --> 0:30:41.120 We're gonna be rich. I recognized it as an opportunity. 0:30:41.320 --> 0:30:46.080 I knew that there's potential there, but never did I 0:30:46.080 --> 0:30:49.320 ever see it going to where it went. And and 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:53.600 you know, our our frustration around coolers was definitely around 0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:58.840 hunting and fishing and on boats, and and again it 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:01.760 was way more about durability. The nice retension. Ice re 0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:05.560 tension became a really cool feature that you know when 0:31:05.560 --> 0:31:08.200 you when you do these thick walls with polyurethane foam 0:31:08.200 --> 0:31:11.640 and a full frame gasket. Yeah, of course that that's 0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:13.960 a becomes a big deal and hold hold ice a 0:31:13.960 --> 0:31:18.280 lot longer than a commodity ordinary cooler. And for certain 0:31:18.320 --> 0:31:21.800 pursuits that's a that's a you know, multi day trips 0:31:21.960 --> 0:31:24.440 or or you know, you're l hunting up in Colorado 0:31:24.480 --> 0:31:27.080 and driving it back to the heat and Texas and 0:31:28.040 --> 0:31:30.480 ice re tension is a big deal. But our frustration 0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:34.040 was by far in the yea, and the and around 0:31:34.080 --> 0:31:39.480 the durability of the lid, the latches, the hinges, the handles, 0:31:39.480 --> 0:31:42.400 all that stuff. I always say that, you know, you said, well, 0:31:42.440 --> 0:31:44.600 why would you need a cooler like that? We'll come 0:31:44.680 --> 0:31:48.280 live in Texas for just one summer and then you'll 0:31:48.280 --> 0:31:50.960 be like even even yeah, even a day on the 0:31:51.000 --> 0:31:56.280 water in Texas is can go through ice. It's a 0:31:56.680 --> 0:31:58.520 late August, mid to late August right now, and you 0:31:58.560 --> 0:32:02.280 go outside, you're like us, You're running from your A C. 0:32:02.480 --> 0:32:05.920 Truck to the to the still sweat. Can't quite do it. 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:08.160 But yeah, that's always interesting to me, is like trying 0:32:08.160 --> 0:32:11.400 to analyze as you guys go through this thing. So 0:32:12.240 --> 0:32:15.000 you start Yetie. In two thousand six, we start Yetie. 0:32:15.080 --> 0:32:17.240 And how did you come up with a name? That's 0:32:17.240 --> 0:32:25.240 always a question. Yeah. So, um, you know, first of all, 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:27.960 we knew how important a brand was. We knew we 0:32:28.040 --> 0:32:31.480 knew being exposed to the fishing tackle industry and seeing 0:32:31.480 --> 0:32:38.040 all those brands there, and and you know guys like um, Sage, 0:32:38.080 --> 0:32:40.600 which I thought was a really cool brand, Sage fly 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:43.320 rods and what are some four letters? And it wasn't 0:32:43.360 --> 0:32:46.760 somebody's last name similar to what Yeah, you know, this 0:32:46.840 --> 0:32:48.920 is not a knock on Loomis Rods, but that's a 0:32:48.960 --> 0:32:53.800 great fishing rod. But it's named after Gary Loomis, the founder, 0:32:54.440 --> 0:32:59.280 and it's just not as cool as as a yeah sage, 0:32:59.520 --> 0:33:03.760 yes smell Yeah. And so so, you know, being exposed 0:33:03.800 --> 0:33:09.880 to other brands, whether it's Patagonia or or um Able 0:33:10.040 --> 0:33:12.360 which ables the last name I guess, is that right? 0:33:12.760 --> 0:33:16.560 It was Steve Abel. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good name. Yeah, yeah, 0:33:16.600 --> 0:33:20.240 still yeah it is. If your name something cool, your 0:33:20.320 --> 0:33:22.640 last name something, if Sam's is a great name. Yeah, 0:33:22.680 --> 0:33:24.520 if you guys have been like Roy and Ryan, like, 0:33:25.560 --> 0:33:29.400 we want you know, short that looked good on a hat. 0:33:29.480 --> 0:33:32.560 You know, we're used to seeing seeing you know, stage 0:33:32.640 --> 0:33:36.360 for example, on a hat looked great. Uh and you 0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:39.480 know with something short that you could remember and remember. 0:33:40.760 --> 0:33:43.800 Yeah I do, but but I just wanted to. We 0:33:43.880 --> 0:33:46.160 knew how important a brand was. We knew that that 0:33:46.160 --> 0:33:49.120 that that you know, we aspired to be one of 0:33:49.160 --> 0:33:52.760 those brands that that resonated with us, that had a 0:33:52.800 --> 0:33:56.480 cool name that we could remember looking on a hat, shirt, whatever. 0:33:56.640 --> 0:34:00.320 So we start putting together a list of names, and 0:34:00.400 --> 0:34:02.720 we put together a list of about ten names, and 0:34:02.720 --> 0:34:06.400 I remember Yetti. I mean, like so many things over 0:34:06.440 --> 0:34:09.200 the years, when when I'm starting to think about something, 0:34:09.239 --> 0:34:12.560 I'll I'll lay up, lay in bed and just you know, 0:34:13.000 --> 0:34:14.719 it'll keep me up at night. So I remember laying 0:34:14.760 --> 0:34:18.320 there in bed at night, uh, probably early two thousand 0:34:18.360 --> 0:34:21.239 and six and going through names after name then. I 0:34:21.239 --> 0:34:23.240 don't know how it popped in my head, but Yetie, 0:34:23.320 --> 0:34:25.240 I knew it was kind of that that ice monster 0:34:25.320 --> 0:34:29.640 of the Himalayas that okay, I like that visual of 0:34:29.440 --> 0:34:35.840 a of a cold, tough environment, and Yettie was pretty unique. Um, 0:34:35.880 --> 0:34:38.360 and I liked that it was that it was four letters, 0:34:38.920 --> 0:34:40.520 and so I had to it to the list, and 0:34:40.520 --> 0:34:44.200 it you know, it was my favorite going into that list. 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:47.279 But I just we as we took that list to 0:34:47.760 --> 0:34:51.719 friends and family and bounce those different names off off 0:34:51.800 --> 0:34:57.160 the off, those folks, Um, not everyone liked the name Yettie. 0:34:57.160 --> 0:34:59.120 And a lot of times they're like, what what is 0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:01.360 he Yettie? And I tell then what it was, and 0:35:01.360 --> 0:35:09.040 and uh yeah, and and um okay, they they maybe 0:35:09.080 --> 0:35:11.080 they got it after that, but they weren't sure if 0:35:11.080 --> 0:35:13.960 they liked it, and and and some people were big 0:35:14.000 --> 0:35:16.600 fans of it. But when we went back to that 0:35:16.760 --> 0:35:22.439 same group a week or two later. The the one 0:35:22.520 --> 0:35:25.880 common theme. Even even if they didn't like the name Yetti, 0:35:26.040 --> 0:35:29.080 everyone could. I asked, I asked this, these guys, which 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:33.080 names do you remember? Remember? All of them? All of 0:35:33.080 --> 0:35:35.640 them could remember Yetti. So I thought that was a 0:35:35.680 --> 0:35:38.600 good validator of what what we set out to do. 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:40.600 And um, so we went with it. Some of the 0:35:40.640 --> 0:35:44.120 other names on the list where we used tundra. Tundra 0:35:44.200 --> 0:35:47.359 was on the list and that was our first, you know, cooler, 0:35:47.760 --> 0:35:49.960 and then Sherpa was on the list too. That was 0:35:50.000 --> 0:35:54.560 actually a predecessor to the tun tundra. Um was that 0:35:54.640 --> 0:35:58.800 the first one. Serpa was the first Yetti. You run into. Guys, 0:35:58.800 --> 0:36:02.680 every one. I was like, a sure bok, Yeah, time 0:36:02.719 --> 0:36:06.440 to cut that thing and happen. Get a tundra m upgrade. 0:36:06.440 --> 0:36:08.280 They told us the last one you ever bought. Were 0:36:08.360 --> 0:36:12.319 just kidding about that, just choking around, Get you another one. 0:36:12.960 --> 0:36:15.240 And we had some other terrible names on that list, 0:36:15.560 --> 0:36:19.759 and um, but I can remember. Yeah, yeah, I thought 0:36:19.760 --> 0:36:21.799 there I might laugh at one. There there are some 0:36:21.920 --> 0:36:25.719 that I'm not going to share that you would laugh at. No, 0:36:26.000 --> 0:36:30.160 all right, Um, the so we went with the name. 0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:34.960 And you know, I remember the first couple of weeks 0:36:35.000 --> 0:36:38.040 of answering the phone and saying yetti yetti. Cooler said, 0:36:38.120 --> 0:36:40.600 it sounded weird to me. I felt a little bit weird, 0:36:41.320 --> 0:36:44.680 and um, but luckily it worked out for us. Well 0:36:44.680 --> 0:36:47.399 the business gets going right. So yeah, So for for 0:36:47.400 --> 0:36:49.880 for a long time, it was just Ryan and I 0:36:50.239 --> 0:36:56.000 and and we're um, no, it's we can handle the business. 0:36:56.040 --> 0:36:59.279 And again this is this is um we knew how 0:36:59.320 --> 0:37:01.359 to operate a bit, and it's just from watching our 0:37:01.440 --> 0:37:06.680 dad and from Ryan's previous business and and um, you 0:37:06.680 --> 0:37:09.560 know another thing that we didn't do was you know, 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:12.880 we kind of we self funded it. It was a 0:37:13.120 --> 0:37:15.800 it was a something that you know, we used a 0:37:15.800 --> 0:37:19.560 little bit of Ryan's proceeds from from his fishing road company, 0:37:19.640 --> 0:37:21.759 and then a line of line of credit at the 0:37:22.000 --> 0:37:26.400 UH from the local bank. And you know, um, I 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:29.799 see a lot of companies today, startups, and they all 0:37:29.840 --> 0:37:33.839 are looking for seed funding, and I don't think we could. 0:37:34.080 --> 0:37:36.440 Ryan and I didn't have the skill set to go 0:37:36.640 --> 0:37:40.160 navigate that. So you know, luckily our earning supported our 0:37:40.200 --> 0:37:42.560 growth and and we're able to get it off the 0:37:42.560 --> 0:37:44.960 ground with the working line of credit. From our locals, 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:48.160 and we were pretty low rollers. Yeah, we're We're. We 0:37:48.200 --> 0:37:50.319 didn't spend a lot of money back then. Everything. We 0:37:50.320 --> 0:37:51.960 didn't take money out of the business. We kept it 0:37:52.000 --> 0:37:55.160 in and continued to fund the growth at the company. 0:37:55.239 --> 0:37:57.200 Yeah that, I mean, that's a really good point. We 0:37:57.360 --> 0:37:59.760 I mean, I was living in a in a house 0:37:59.800 --> 0:38:02.879 out next to my um parents that my parents owned, 0:38:02.920 --> 0:38:07.200 so I you know, I wasn't paying anything there. Yeah, 0:38:07.200 --> 0:38:10.440 there was a garage kind of back behind my parents 0:38:10.440 --> 0:38:12.839 place that were full of coolers. And then as as 0:38:12.880 --> 0:38:16.440 we outgrew that, we went down the street and in 0:38:16.520 --> 0:38:19.680 Driftwood and and found a warehouse that was sitting Bacon. 0:38:19.760 --> 0:38:22.080 We got a good deal on that and sub leased 0:38:22.120 --> 0:38:26.719 it actually from from the tenant and um there's kind 0:38:26.719 --> 0:38:32.839 of a crazy story behind that as well. Um we UM. 0:38:32.880 --> 0:38:36.839 So I I sub leased two thousand square feet from 0:38:37.000 --> 0:38:41.600 the tenant, and I think this building was UM probably 0:38:41.640 --> 0:38:43.960 eighteen thousand square feet, and that I used that a 0:38:44.000 --> 0:38:48.080 little front right hand corner of that warehouse to ship 0:38:48.080 --> 0:38:53.040 and receive product out of and UM and the tenant 0:38:53.120 --> 0:38:55.640 was absentee. He'd come in about once a quarter and 0:38:55.719 --> 0:38:58.800 checking on his product that was there. But as we grew, 0:39:00.239 --> 0:39:03.760 we uh, I began using his space for our product, 0:39:04.400 --> 0:39:07.200 and I would pile the coolers on top of the 0:39:07.480 --> 0:39:10.120 on top of his product, which was all and it 0:39:10.520 --> 0:39:12.680 was all in boxes and on pallets, so it's easy 0:39:12.719 --> 0:39:17.560 to do it without causing any problems. And um as 0:39:17.640 --> 0:39:22.400 we um and this this are are you know our 0:39:22.560 --> 0:39:30.160 LEAs or landlord landlord? Uh would Bryan's here to Landlord 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:31.880 would call us up and say, hey, I'm coming in 0:39:31.920 --> 0:39:35.440 town next week on Wednesday. So before he would come in, 0:39:35.600 --> 0:39:38.600 we would pull everything back into our little two thousand 0:39:38.600 --> 0:39:40.440 square feet pile it up so high you couldn't get 0:39:40.440 --> 0:39:43.120 to anything, and then he would come in, look around 0:39:43.160 --> 0:39:45.640 and say, y'all are doing good? Y'all. Every time I'm 0:39:45.640 --> 0:39:47.319 come in here, that pile gets bigger, The pile of 0:39:47.360 --> 0:39:50.440 coolers gets bigger. And then then he'd leave town and 0:39:50.440 --> 0:39:53.359 and you guys like, well, yeah, it's all always over 0:39:53.480 --> 0:39:55.640 here on our side. It's never on your side, if 0:39:55.640 --> 0:39:58.600 that's what you're saying. So in order to ship stuff out, 0:39:58.640 --> 0:40:00.279 we as soon as he would leave, we we had 0:40:00.320 --> 0:40:02.160 basically shut down while he was there, and then we 0:40:02.160 --> 0:40:05.160 would spread stuff back out and start shipping again and 0:40:05.160 --> 0:40:07.360 again we were low rollers. We figured out how to 0:40:07.400 --> 0:40:10.840 get things done on what that had to make you 0:40:11.080 --> 0:40:13.000 more nimble, right, because you weren't. You're like, well, we 0:40:13.080 --> 0:40:15.600 got a million bucks seed money, we can just spend, spend, spend. 0:40:15.640 --> 0:40:18.520 You're like, we got what's in our pockets? Yeah? Bank, 0:40:18.800 --> 0:40:22.960 I mean if every dime count. And and you know 0:40:23.040 --> 0:40:27.919 when we when we had extra capital sitting in the bank, 0:40:27.960 --> 0:40:29.680 we were using it to go out and go to 0:40:29.800 --> 0:40:32.799 trade shows, build a brand, starting starting to do some 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:37.319 marketing and or invest into more inventory, and using that 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:40.760 to just fund the growth and and scale the business. 0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:46.200 But we quickly realized that that we needed help and 0:40:46.280 --> 0:40:49.440 that this thing was bigger than just us. And so 0:40:49.520 --> 0:40:53.920 that's when we started to look for um smart and 0:40:54.000 --> 0:40:57.120 capable folks to bring into the company. And and it 0:40:57.200 --> 0:41:00.400 was the early guys like the Johnny Comba all was 0:41:00.560 --> 0:41:05.719 and and the David Bullocks and who uh you know, 0:41:05.800 --> 0:41:09.080 these guys were just problem solvers and because of a 0:41:09.120 --> 0:41:11.840 small team, again, they had to wear multiple hats. So 0:41:12.000 --> 0:41:15.400 David Bullock, our CFO, who we hired as our CFO, 0:41:16.200 --> 0:41:18.360 I mean he would help me with the catalog and 0:41:18.400 --> 0:41:20.440 help me with the copyright. He would also help me 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:23.680 with help us with customer service. He would be jumping 0:41:23.719 --> 0:41:27.359 on the phone. So he wasn't a CFO somewhere else. No, no, no, no, 0:41:27.960 --> 0:41:31.520 he was just a smart yeah with it, Yeah U 0:41:31.600 --> 0:41:35.080 T M B A and and so he came in 0:41:35.360 --> 0:41:39.040 and um and Yeah. He spent a little bit of 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:41.480 time closing the books each month and working with our 0:41:41.520 --> 0:41:45.200 bank and hopefully extending our line of credit at the 0:41:45.200 --> 0:41:48.439 bank and that relationship. But that might have been five 0:41:48.480 --> 0:41:51.920 percent of his time. The other was everything else in 0:41:51.960 --> 0:41:55.400 the small business of you know, customer service to to 0:41:55.800 --> 0:42:00.040 um you know, helping lay out a catalog and the 0:42:00.120 --> 0:42:03.240 copy that goes in the catalog. So that was pretty interesting. 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:04.960 Well there's a big turning point around a guy named 0:42:05.000 --> 0:42:07.920 Ivan Brown. Yeah, you're gonna tell that story because I 0:42:07.920 --> 0:42:09.720 think it's one of those things where we talk about 0:42:10.040 --> 0:42:11.799 I think it's fun for people to hear about the 0:42:11.840 --> 0:42:14.880 struggles what you're going through. And even like the quirky 0:42:14.920 --> 0:42:17.839 hay removing the warehouse around I got fun. But there 0:42:17.920 --> 0:42:21.080 was like a pinnacle in the business world almost you 0:42:21.120 --> 0:42:24.360 were actually planning to shutter down because something happened that 0:42:24.440 --> 0:42:28.680 yeah yeah, yeah, so so so um so Ivan Brown 0:42:28.840 --> 0:42:33.920 was our original cooler manufacturer was in the Philippines, Okay, 0:42:34.160 --> 0:42:37.840 and um. Ivan Brown was the owner of that factory 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:42.920 and UM and he was also the owner slash engineer. 0:42:43.000 --> 0:42:45.759 So Ryan and I worked closely with Ivan and as 0:42:45.760 --> 0:42:50.239 we developed the Tundra, um No, we were. I would 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:53.080 go over to the Philippines, sit sit down with him 0:42:53.800 --> 0:42:59.200 and and work through these design features and um. And 0:42:59.560 --> 0:43:02.440 you know those early years of the of the Sherpa 0:43:02.480 --> 0:43:05.400 and then the Tundra, we had all kinds of quality 0:43:05.440 --> 0:43:07.799 issues and and I look him back, I don't even 0:43:07.800 --> 0:43:10.480 know how we stayed in business given some of the 0:43:10.560 --> 0:43:14.319 challenges we were faced with the with these issues and UM. 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:18.920 But you know, Ivan was just a fantastic resource. And 0:43:18.960 --> 0:43:22.520 when when we had a challenge, whether it was a 0:43:22.520 --> 0:43:26.719 a production issue, uh, you know, quality issue that we're 0:43:26.719 --> 0:43:30.560 having with our customers, you know, he was always in 0:43:30.640 --> 0:43:33.719 the weeds with us to help solve the problem. And 0:43:33.800 --> 0:43:39.040 he saw us as a as a no, a way 0:43:39.080 --> 0:43:42.960 to get into the US market and and grow his 0:43:43.040 --> 0:43:48.160 manufacture over in the Philippines. So you know them. But 0:43:48.239 --> 0:43:50.040 he was all in with us, and and he would 0:43:50.080 --> 0:43:52.600 come over and visit with us here in the States. 0:43:52.640 --> 0:43:54.919 And he might go to travel to a trade show 0:43:54.960 --> 0:43:59.360 with us, and we'd we'd go spend time over the Philippines. 0:43:59.400 --> 0:44:01.480 You know. The funny think about the Philippines. Ran and 0:44:01.520 --> 0:44:06.040 I growing up in Texas is we felt like, you know, 0:44:06.200 --> 0:44:08.319 I'm in my late twenties. I guess Ryan might be 0:44:08.600 --> 0:44:13.440 early thirties. Here. We felt like a fish out of water. 0:44:14.719 --> 0:44:17.759 And I mean, I mean we're we're kind of homebodies 0:44:18.600 --> 0:44:23.920 and um being over there. Um, it's just it's just 0:44:24.800 --> 0:44:28.720 it's a culture shock. Whatever it's you're just it's different. 0:44:29.320 --> 0:44:33.399 And and um, unlike our middle brother, who I think 0:44:33.440 --> 0:44:37.719 wherever he travels, he feels at home, you know, uh, 0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:41.040 and he he travels all over in his and his 0:44:41.200 --> 0:44:46.520 granite business, you know, Brazil, China, Italy, whatever, and he 0:44:46.560 --> 0:44:49.239 feels at home traveling abroad. And Ryan and I are 0:44:49.360 --> 0:44:51.399 way more home bodies. Well, I think that's what people 0:44:51.400 --> 0:44:54.080 think about Big, the big Yetie company now. They think, oh, 0:44:54.120 --> 0:44:55.480 the guys have found it. That must have been like 0:44:55.640 --> 0:45:00.840 slick Harbard businessman that And I always might do my 0:45:00.840 --> 0:45:03.239 best describe you guys like this normal dudes. I don't 0:45:03.239 --> 0:45:06.279 know what you're expecting, but it ain't that like it's 0:45:06.320 --> 0:45:09.000 not what you think it is. Um. I mean we 0:45:09.040 --> 0:45:10.960 did some things that we were sticking our neck out, 0:45:11.000 --> 0:45:14.759 and I was sticking I mean, we were going over 0:45:14.800 --> 0:45:17.600 to the Philippines at an early age, and it just 0:45:18.280 --> 0:45:21.279 it was I guess getting outside of your comfort zone 0:45:21.320 --> 0:45:23.680 is what it is. It helped a lot to go 0:45:23.880 --> 0:45:26.360 there together, you know. Oh yeah, yeah, I you know 0:45:26.440 --> 0:45:29.279 spent how long like long stretches over there. Yeah, you know, 0:45:30.320 --> 0:45:32.839 our initial visit was for a few days, and we 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:35.120 maybe went back and forth once or twice after that. 0:45:35.200 --> 0:45:38.040 Then then when we were designing the tundra from the 0:45:38.040 --> 0:45:39.840 ground up, I think I was over there for a 0:45:39.880 --> 0:45:42.800 couple of weeks or if not more so. You worked 0:45:42.800 --> 0:45:46.200 with Ivan, yes, And I would talk to him daily 0:45:46.320 --> 0:45:51.680 by either through email or phone calls and and so, um, 0:45:51.719 --> 0:45:55.480 you know, um, Ryan and I had grown pretty close 0:45:55.480 --> 0:46:00.440 with Ivan, and UM, you know, one day email him, 0:46:00.440 --> 0:46:03.960 I didn't get a response, which wasn't too unusual, but 0:46:04.040 --> 0:46:07.720 I followed back up with him, um later that evening 0:46:07.840 --> 0:46:11.279 or or maybe the next day, and and I got 0:46:11.320 --> 0:46:15.440 ahold of his wife and and Ivan had passed away, 0:46:15.680 --> 0:46:21.720 and um, and you know, I I've told his wife 0:46:21.760 --> 0:46:25.880 that I'm sorry and asked what happened and and she said, well, 0:46:25.920 --> 0:46:28.319 he was on his way home from work and two 0:46:28.320 --> 0:46:31.920 guys on a moped pulled up beside him and shot 0:46:31.960 --> 0:46:37.080 and killed him. And um, so I never we never 0:46:37.120 --> 0:46:40.160 got to the bottom of the story of of what 0:46:40.320 --> 0:46:44.480 happened there. And it was something that's tragic that that, 0:46:45.000 --> 0:46:47.000 first of all, we lost someone that was close to 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:51.160 us and um, and and he was he was a 0:46:51.239 --> 0:46:53.440 key man to our business. So you know, I remember 0:46:53.440 --> 0:46:56.360 going Ryan and I had a handful employees at the 0:46:56.480 --> 0:46:59.160 employees at the time, and remember going into the office 0:46:59.200 --> 0:47:01.520 the next day and kind of broke the news to 0:47:01.600 --> 0:47:03.799 them that it didn't look good. I mean, that's that's 0:47:03.800 --> 0:47:07.000 how important what it was he was too to us, 0:47:07.080 --> 0:47:10.399 is that it didn't look good. And and this this, 0:47:11.320 --> 0:47:13.439 we don't know if that factory is gonna be able 0:47:13.480 --> 0:47:17.760 to produce products without him, and and we just didn't 0:47:18.080 --> 0:47:22.480 have a whole lot of confidence in our future. And um, 0:47:22.520 --> 0:47:25.920 you know, Ryan and I are deciding what what are 0:47:25.920 --> 0:47:28.719 we gonna do here? And you know one thing we did. 0:47:29.040 --> 0:47:33.960 Um We're sitting on some pretty decent amount of inventory, 0:47:34.000 --> 0:47:37.040 and we decide, well, um, let's go ahead and raise 0:47:37.120 --> 0:47:40.080 prices a little bit because if that's if we're liquidating here, 0:47:40.360 --> 0:47:43.840 let's go ahead and raise the price and and and 0:47:44.040 --> 0:47:47.200 try to get a little bit more money for it, Okay, 0:47:48.080 --> 0:47:50.880 and um, So we sent it. I think we probably 0:47:50.880 --> 0:47:54.040 had a fifty retailers at the time we sent out 0:47:54.080 --> 0:47:59.080 an email and and didn't get any kind of response 0:47:59.280 --> 0:48:02.960 on that price increase, had no complaints on the price increase. 0:48:03.080 --> 0:48:06.120 That was kind of a moment that you know, we 0:48:06.480 --> 0:48:10.000 learned from about pricing that you could you know that 0:48:10.000 --> 0:48:12.839 that that at the way it was selling and the 0:48:12.960 --> 0:48:15.239 with the brand name, that pricing wasn't the first thing 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:18.080 people looked at as far as you know, when they 0:48:18.080 --> 0:48:21.080 were making that decision to purchase a cooler. Yeah. Um. 0:48:21.280 --> 0:48:23.880 Then then the next thing we did was we started 0:48:23.920 --> 0:48:26.520 getting on planes and going to visit other road of 0:48:26.600 --> 0:48:30.000 molders and um. At the time in the Philippines we 0:48:30.040 --> 0:48:32.840 had the tunder was a decent product, but it was 0:48:33.520 --> 0:48:36.279 made from an inferior mold, a sand cast called a 0:48:36.280 --> 0:48:43.560 sand cast mold and UM and we started visiting domestics 0:48:43.600 --> 0:48:48.960 suppliers and quickly realized that this sand cast mold that 0:48:49.040 --> 0:48:52.359 was in the Philippines wouldn't necessarily apply to the US 0:48:52.480 --> 0:48:55.160 manufacturers because once you get that product out of the mold, 0:48:55.520 --> 0:48:58.400 you have to do so much handwork to it um 0:48:58.640 --> 0:49:02.160 that that uh the cost of labor in the US 0:49:02.239 --> 0:49:04.880 didn't really allow you to do that. So what that 0:49:04.920 --> 0:49:09.200 did was there's another mold, a called you know as 0:49:09.239 --> 0:49:13.480 a C and C UM mold, just higher precision. And 0:49:13.520 --> 0:49:17.439 when you when you uh use that particular mold, you 0:49:18.640 --> 0:49:20.880 get it out of the product and there's it's the 0:49:20.920 --> 0:49:25.000 fit and finishes just way elevated, so very very little 0:49:25.040 --> 0:49:26.799 touch up needed when you bring it out. It's like 0:49:26.800 --> 0:49:30.040 a mirror finished mold, real real pretty part and when 0:49:30.040 --> 0:49:33.279 the when the cooler comes out of that, there's not 0:49:33.960 --> 0:49:40.720 you don't have to throw additional labor at So UM 0:49:40.840 --> 0:49:43.080 we went through that process, and in the meantime, the 0:49:43.480 --> 0:49:46.239 Philippine factory had got back up and running, and by 0:49:46.239 --> 0:49:50.000 that time Ivan had hired a few young engineers that 0:49:50.800 --> 0:49:53.640 UM they were able to kind of take take over 0:49:53.680 --> 0:49:56.799 where he left off, and we started getting product again 0:49:56.840 --> 0:49:59.440 from them, and and and we're we're building a supply 0:49:59.560 --> 0:50:02.800 chain domestically using the C and see these high quality 0:50:02.840 --> 0:50:05.359 C and C molds. So all of a sudden Through 0:50:05.400 --> 0:50:09.200 that process, our product begins to elevate, the quality begins 0:50:09.200 --> 0:50:11.520 to elevate because we start refining some of some of 0:50:11.560 --> 0:50:15.120 those details, some of those details in the tundra we 0:50:15.160 --> 0:50:18.560 start refining through this new mold. Did you feel like 0:50:18.600 --> 0:50:20.239 he had more wiggle room? Now You're like, look, the 0:50:20.239 --> 0:50:22.960 consumer will pay for this, Like, yeah, yeah, that's right, 0:50:23.840 --> 0:50:27.520 I think so the consumers willing to pay more for it. Therefore, 0:50:27.600 --> 0:50:30.399 we we have the room to add value. So that's 0:50:30.400 --> 0:50:33.240 exactly what we did. We we added value where we could. 0:50:33.800 --> 0:50:38.160 And the tundra of those first couple of years there's 0:50:38.200 --> 0:50:43.799 a cousin to the next generation UM tundra, and we 0:50:43.800 --> 0:50:47.640 we modified all the details the gasket, the latch, the 0:50:47.760 --> 0:50:51.239 drain plug that the rope handles and so all. Then 0:50:51.320 --> 0:50:56.279 then we started sending um um. We opened up a 0:50:56.360 --> 0:51:00.600 domestic factory and got this higher quality part, and then 0:51:00.640 --> 0:51:06.200 we um any. We we brought the higher quality molds 0:51:06.280 --> 0:51:09.000 into the into the Philippines, and all of a sudden, 0:51:09.200 --> 0:51:13.080 we're dual source. Now it's a higher quality part and 0:51:13.760 --> 0:51:17.520 it's a value add where we where we could. And 0:51:17.640 --> 0:51:22.359 UM So as tragic as as as Ivan's um death was, 0:51:23.040 --> 0:51:26.120 all of a sudden, we're much stronger company. We we 0:51:26.200 --> 0:51:29.400 have a just a much better product. Our margin profile 0:51:29.840 --> 0:51:35.000 helps invest into that growth and um and then you know, 0:51:35.600 --> 0:51:37.960 once we once we kind of neled the product and 0:51:38.160 --> 0:51:41.640 kind of settled back into a routine from there, Okay, 0:51:41.920 --> 0:51:46.000 let's start. Let's start, you know, kind of putting dollars 0:51:46.000 --> 0:51:50.759 at work and branding and marketing and um no. I 0:51:50.800 --> 0:51:55.280 think our big tipping point was probably in two thousand 0:51:55.320 --> 0:51:58.240 and ten when we started getting guys like Flip Palette 0:51:58.239 --> 0:52:01.759 and Jim Shocky to do thirty second commercials for us 0:52:02.200 --> 0:52:06.120 and take it to the you know, the the outdoor 0:52:06.239 --> 0:52:09.840 channel and talk about you know, Yetie being wildly stronger, 0:52:09.920 --> 0:52:14.600 keep ice longer, it being grizzly resistant, and and then 0:52:14.880 --> 0:52:18.600 just telling our our thirty second story. And when we 0:52:18.640 --> 0:52:20.440 got it on the outdoor channel, that was a that 0:52:20.520 --> 0:52:23.120 was a tipping point because it was that hardcore consumer 0:52:23.160 --> 0:52:25.200 like Ryan and I that were around fishing and hunting well, 0:52:25.239 --> 0:52:27.880 and people don't remember that. Back in two thousand ten, 0:52:27.960 --> 0:52:29.759 you had you know, Jim shock he was kicking yet 0:52:29.760 --> 0:52:32.879 He's off the back of his truck. Yeah, you had um, 0:52:33.080 --> 0:52:36.319 Si Robertson and Phil Robertson I want to say there 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:39.560 was a commercial about Wiley stronger, No keeps eyes longer, No, 0:52:39.680 --> 0:52:43.400 Whiley stronger, like all these the duck commanders. Yeah, it 0:52:43.440 --> 0:52:44.960 was a much smaller world then, right. You had the 0:52:44.960 --> 0:52:47.440 outdoor channel you had and then you had print and 0:52:47.480 --> 0:52:49.640 that's about all there was. Yeah, that's it. That's it. 0:52:49.760 --> 0:52:52.840 There's the personalities were So there's there was major personalities 0:52:52.840 --> 0:52:55.360 who somehow you guys got on board of the product 0:52:55.400 --> 0:52:57.640 early on it. So here's how we got those guys. 0:52:58.320 --> 0:53:02.279 No other cooler company was was pursuing those guys. So 0:53:02.440 --> 0:53:06.799 the big uh commodity type coolers of the world, they 0:53:06.800 --> 0:53:11.400 were mass market, mass channel and and they weren't focused 0:53:11.400 --> 0:53:14.120 on hunting or fishing. So when we when we went 0:53:14.160 --> 0:53:18.319 after uh Flip Palett or Jim Shocky, Yeah, those guys 0:53:18.360 --> 0:53:22.279 were sponsored by phishing rods or optics or guns or 0:53:22.480 --> 0:53:25.920 boats or whatever else. But they've never been approached by 0:53:25.920 --> 0:53:28.200 a cooler company. So if you if you were starting 0:53:28.239 --> 0:53:32.319 an archery company, for example, a bow company, and you 0:53:32.320 --> 0:53:34.040 know you were trying to go in there and find 0:53:34.080 --> 0:53:36.359 someone on TV and get them to use your bow 0:53:36.440 --> 0:53:39.320 is much more difficult because they were already sponsored by 0:53:38.920 --> 0:53:43.560 by an archery. Yeah, so having a cooler and you 0:53:43.560 --> 0:53:45.640 could make friends with any of these guys sending them 0:53:45.680 --> 0:53:48.239 a high quality cooler, they start using it and say, hey, 0:53:48.280 --> 0:53:50.160 you know, when we get around to do in some advertising, 0:53:50.160 --> 0:53:52.680 we'd like to get a testimonial for you or maybe 0:53:52.680 --> 0:53:55.239 shoot at thirty second commercial. And it was there was 0:53:55.280 --> 0:53:58.640 a void in the outdoor marketplace, you know that we 0:53:58.719 --> 0:54:02.680 could uh, you know, take advantage of well, and then 0:54:02.760 --> 0:54:05.759 then there's avoid in the consumer market point. Yeah, that's right, 0:54:05.800 --> 0:54:09.480 So so avoid with the with that that personality. But 0:54:09.680 --> 0:54:13.360 when we walked into McBride's here in Austin, or Fishing 0:54:13.400 --> 0:54:18.240 Tackle Limited in Houston, those guys they weren't selling coolers 0:54:18.719 --> 0:54:22.040 because you could go get your commodity, the ordinary cooler 0:54:22.120 --> 0:54:25.400 down the street at Walmart. So although every single consumer 0:54:25.440 --> 0:54:27.640 that walked in their doors was a cooler user, because 0:54:27.680 --> 0:54:30.520 if you did anything outdoors, you were using coolers. The 0:54:31.239 --> 0:54:34.320 small specialty shops, the mom and pop shops of the world, 0:54:34.360 --> 0:54:38.760 the hard little hardware stores, fishing tackle stores, hunting Ammo stores, whatever, 0:54:39.120 --> 0:54:43.400 those guys, we weren't replacing a product. We were giving 0:54:43.440 --> 0:54:46.480 them a product that they could sell to their to 0:54:46.640 --> 0:54:51.279 their customer now everyone that walked in the door was 0:54:51.320 --> 0:54:54.840 a potential buyer because of the price point. You know, 0:54:54.920 --> 0:54:57.279 it wasn't for everybody, but we knew if we could 0:54:57.280 --> 0:54:59.840 get our foot in the door at these retailers, the 0:55:00.000 --> 0:55:03.320 it that like us, there's gonna be a certain for 0:55:03.480 --> 0:55:06.279 small percentage that we're frustrated with ordinary coolers and that 0:55:06.320 --> 0:55:09.200 they we could get them too willing to pay up 0:55:09.239 --> 0:55:14.319 for value add endurability and ice retention. So, you know, 0:55:14.400 --> 0:55:18.120 when we recognize that void in the marketplace, it was 0:55:18.320 --> 0:55:20.480 a kind of a lightbulb moment for us, is like, 0:55:20.880 --> 0:55:23.279 holy sh it, this is this is a big opportunity. 0:55:23.280 --> 0:55:29.359 Do you think it's twenty it's this. There's a lot 0:55:29.360 --> 0:55:31.680 of products out there. There's a lot of ship floating around. Yeah, 0:55:31.680 --> 0:55:34.920 there's not a whole lot of people creating markets in 0:55:35.000 --> 0:55:38.080 any segment of any consumer products. But there's not a 0:55:38.080 --> 0:55:40.920 whole lot of people creating anything. And what what happened 0:55:40.960 --> 0:55:45.279 pretty quickly is premium coolers became a thing where to 0:55:45.280 --> 0:55:48.520 where there was never a market for them before or 0:55:48.880 --> 0:55:50.680 if they're I will I will say it for you. 0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:54.200 The longest time, it felt like we were under the radar. 0:55:55.040 --> 0:55:58.400 You know, two thousand and six through ten to eleven. No, 0:55:58.640 --> 0:56:01.839 we didn't. We you know, us and one or two 0:56:01.880 --> 0:56:04.439 other guys out there in the market. We're doing high 0:56:04.480 --> 0:56:06.680 and coolers, but you know, we weren't getting a whole 0:56:06.680 --> 0:56:12.319 lot of attention. And then over the last four or 0:56:12.320 --> 0:56:15.000 five years, there was just a wave of me too, 0:56:15.560 --> 0:56:18.400 uh and and um, well we're all this story builds 0:56:18.400 --> 0:56:26.160 to when you hired me really exactly. Um So, so 0:56:26.320 --> 0:56:28.920 you know, in those early years, it's all about finding 0:56:29.160 --> 0:56:31.000 the right people to bring into the company. I think 0:56:31.280 --> 0:56:34.279 there's a lot of things that made Yetty successful, but 0:56:34.719 --> 0:56:38.640 probably more than anything was finding the right people to 0:56:38.680 --> 0:56:41.200 bring into the business. And and it was those early 0:56:41.280 --> 0:56:45.600 guys and gals, but also you know, even the even 0:56:45.640 --> 0:56:47.960 the folks that we hired today. It's just it's part 0:56:48.040 --> 0:56:53.000 of that team that that um you know has made 0:56:53.000 --> 0:56:55.440 this thing so special and and we can you know 0:56:55.920 --> 0:56:59.120 for uh, we've been fortunate to find the right people 0:56:59.120 --> 0:57:01.239 at the right time. Well, you and you grow the 0:57:01.239 --> 0:57:05.040 thing like it's it's probably best to fast forward when 0:57:06.080 --> 0:57:08.160 you know this thing's growing, it's growing exponentially. When I 0:57:08.200 --> 0:57:10.239 first found out about him, it was very much oh 0:57:10.239 --> 0:57:17.520 the cup company, Um, you introduced the ram the products. Yeah, 0:57:17.600 --> 0:57:20.040 and I can't remember if that was fifteen fourteen or 0:57:20.040 --> 0:57:22.280 what it would have been fourteen okay, okay. So so 0:57:22.400 --> 0:57:27.240 we recognized early on that the Yetie brand could go 0:57:27.400 --> 0:57:34.880 beyond coolers, okay and um and we recognized that that um, 0:57:34.920 --> 0:57:37.800 you know, the brand was bigger than a one product company. 0:57:38.000 --> 0:57:40.480 And essentially that's what we were with the with the 0:57:40.560 --> 0:57:43.880 Tundra coolers were one product company. We had different sizes, 0:57:44.480 --> 0:57:47.680 we had great accessories like corner chalks, tie down system, 0:57:47.760 --> 0:57:50.280 see cushion se deck for standing using it as a 0:57:50.280 --> 0:57:54.800 casting platform. But uh, you know, the we were a 0:57:54.840 --> 0:57:57.280 one product company, so we were we recognized that there 0:57:57.360 --> 0:58:01.480 was other product category that we could take this kind 0:58:01.520 --> 0:58:05.080 of same approach to. And the first natural one for 0:58:05.160 --> 0:58:08.080 us was the soft cooler space. You know, the soft 0:58:08.080 --> 0:58:12.160 coolers were you know, you walk into Target, you'll see 0:58:12.960 --> 0:58:15.400 the twenty foot aisle full of all kinds of different 0:58:15.400 --> 0:58:17.920 colors and shapes and sizes. Always joke that they're falling 0:58:17.920 --> 0:58:20.600 apart on the shelf. Yeah they are. Like sometimes you'd 0:58:20.600 --> 0:58:22.880 be like, is that broken already? It's in the it's 0:58:22.920 --> 0:58:26.880 on the shelf to buy, and and uh so we UM. 0:58:28.800 --> 0:58:32.280 The Tundra is a heavy product. It's meant to be 0:58:32.360 --> 0:58:35.280 more stationary. You put it on the boat, you leave it. 0:58:35.320 --> 0:58:36.880 You put it on your front porch or the back 0:58:36.920 --> 0:58:39.520 of your pickup truck. You leave it there. You know, 0:58:39.600 --> 0:58:41.680 you might move it from time to time, but it's 0:58:41.800 --> 0:58:44.960 it's way more stationary. What a soft cooler gave you 0:58:45.040 --> 0:58:48.480 was the you know, shoulder straps, lightweight portability where you 0:58:48.480 --> 0:58:52.640 can take it, you know, haul it somewhere fairly easy. 0:58:52.920 --> 0:58:56.400 And UM and we just saw the exact same opportunity. 0:58:56.440 --> 0:59:00.840 We we saw that these cheap commodity type soft coolers 0:59:00.880 --> 0:59:04.520 that it would leak, the seams would bust, and we 0:59:04.520 --> 0:59:08.840 we we went through a process of developing a soft cooler, 0:59:09.320 --> 0:59:13.080 and luckily by that time we had folks like Chris 0:59:13.160 --> 0:59:18.400 Keller who who could run a development process for us 0:59:18.640 --> 0:59:23.080 and and put some engineering effort into the front end 0:59:23.160 --> 0:59:25.560 instead of after the fact. And the Tundra we are 0:59:25.600 --> 0:59:29.640 all of our engineering went into after market. Yeah, our 0:59:29.760 --> 0:59:34.920 our market, our market feedback was our our testing process. 0:59:35.440 --> 0:59:40.160 Now we got into UM as we developed the product 0:59:40.200 --> 0:59:45.440 team are UM engineering resources went into the front end 0:59:46.040 --> 0:59:48.160 and so we we we know, we learned a lot 0:59:48.200 --> 0:59:52.120 about r F welding and taking coded nylon and not 0:59:52.280 --> 0:59:56.760 using stitches but radio radio frequency to adhere the fabrics 0:59:56.760 --> 1:00:01.880 together some high end waterproof zippers that have a docking 1:00:01.920 --> 1:00:06.120 station that that are used in in UM like survival 1:00:06.160 --> 1:00:11.560 suits for offshore crabbing and stuff like that. UM. And 1:00:11.560 --> 1:00:16.560 and so you combine RF welding, coated nylon waterprool zippers 1:00:17.200 --> 1:00:19.720 and uh inch two inch and a half of insulation, 1:00:19.800 --> 1:00:22.920 you have the ultimate badass solt cooler. And that's when 1:00:22.960 --> 1:00:26.040 we launched the hopper, and that hopper was probably it 1:00:26.080 --> 1:00:29.160 was it was a long development process that took you know, 1:00:29.720 --> 1:00:32.800 probably two or three years. And about the same time 1:00:32.840 --> 1:00:37.680 we were launching that, we were launching them our stainless drinkware. 1:00:38.280 --> 1:00:41.800 And you know, vacuuments related drinkware has been around for 1:00:41.840 --> 1:00:44.760 a long time, like Stanley and Thermis, and it's always 1:00:44.800 --> 1:00:47.760 been in like a like a Thermis type setting or 1:00:47.840 --> 1:00:52.400 bottle type setting. And UM. Now I remember Ryan showing 1:00:52.440 --> 1:00:54.959 me a product that you know, hey, Roy, we should 1:00:55.000 --> 1:01:00.040 consider something like this, and UM using this vacuumentally and 1:01:00.480 --> 1:01:05.080 technology and UM, so kind of the natural thing for us. Well, 1:01:05.120 --> 1:01:08.000 let's just make it make a cup and so we 1:01:08.080 --> 1:01:10.240 made a twenty ounce and the thirty ounce and put 1:01:10.280 --> 1:01:13.200 a clear lid on it. And that that I feel 1:01:13.240 --> 1:01:18.160 like that clear lid was kind of a another like 1:01:19.640 --> 1:01:22.000 a pivotal point for us, because as soon as you 1:01:22.040 --> 1:01:24.680 put a black lid on a stainless steel cup, it 1:01:24.720 --> 1:01:26.960 turns it into a coffee cup. And what we with 1:01:27.040 --> 1:01:31.960 that clear lid, it it um it gave you the 1:01:32.080 --> 1:01:35.120 sense of something refreshing. I guess where you can see 1:01:35.120 --> 1:01:39.040 the ice and and and so we launched that and 1:01:39.280 --> 1:01:42.360 um that was yeah to this fourteen, I mean it 1:01:42.480 --> 1:01:44.680 was it was a different way of putting out products. Right. 1:01:44.680 --> 1:01:46.240 That was the first time you guys, guys really sit 1:01:46.320 --> 1:01:48.120 down and like, hey, we we got yes here, We're 1:01:48.120 --> 1:01:51.160 gonna capitalize Almo success and create something that we think 1:01:51.680 --> 1:01:54.280 is gonna you know, dominate this marketer. For the continuum, 1:01:55.000 --> 1:01:57.000 it was a different process that it feel different where 1:01:57.000 --> 1:01:59.320 you guys excited coming to work, like let's look at 1:01:59.360 --> 1:02:04.080 every damn I as as we brought on more resources, 1:02:05.160 --> 1:02:08.360 whether it was a product team, marketing team, whatever and 1:02:08.480 --> 1:02:13.080 started building out these badass teams. Yet he has definitely 1:02:13.120 --> 1:02:17.440 become um way, I mean more and more like attractive 1:02:17.480 --> 1:02:19.360 and fun and being a part of that and being 1:02:19.360 --> 1:02:22.640 a part of something that's much larger than yourself and 1:02:22.640 --> 1:02:25.480 and you when you have resources, it's a special thing 1:02:25.560 --> 1:02:27.960 because you know, you start working with the team towards 1:02:27.960 --> 1:02:31.680 a goal and it's it's it's way cooler than doing 1:02:31.680 --> 1:02:35.720 it on your own. And um and uh so the 1:02:35.960 --> 1:02:40.040 so the cup, the Rambler, the twenty and thirty. Kind 1:02:40.040 --> 1:02:42.400 of the magic about that was it did have a 1:02:42.440 --> 1:02:45.120 wow factor with this vacuum in relation holding ice for 1:02:45.160 --> 1:02:47.200 a really long time or keeping your coffee hot for 1:02:47.200 --> 1:02:51.480 a really long time. But our brand was these coolers 1:02:51.480 --> 1:02:54.800 that were at three and four hundred, even five hundred dollars, 1:02:55.360 --> 1:02:59.480 and even the soft coolers are are relatively expensive, that 1:02:59.520 --> 1:03:03.200 are ten x of an ordinary soft cooler, you know, 1:03:03.360 --> 1:03:07.400 two three, three dollars, And all of a sudden, we 1:03:07.400 --> 1:03:10.040 were coming to market with a product that's way more 1:03:10.200 --> 1:03:13.600 of an affordable luxury at a thirty dollar price point, 1:03:13.640 --> 1:03:16.680 our thirty five dollar price point. And it still has 1:03:16.680 --> 1:03:20.880 a wow factor, It still has a durability, still has 1:03:21.040 --> 1:03:27.200 you know, the vacuum insulation for ultimate ice retention, but 1:03:27.200 --> 1:03:30.959 but it that price point just gives you that much 1:03:31.160 --> 1:03:35.600 broader Yeah, that's right, and and all of a sudden, 1:03:36.920 --> 1:03:39.200 a lot of folks that maybe wouldn't pull the trigger 1:03:39.240 --> 1:03:42.320 on a cooler, we're pulling the trigger on a thirty 1:03:42.320 --> 1:03:44.560 dollar piece of drink War, which is still super premium 1:03:44.600 --> 1:03:50.720 for drink War drink wears item. And now you're you're 1:03:50.880 --> 1:03:54.200 tripling that. And I mean with anything we do, we 1:03:54.280 --> 1:03:57.840 try to find ways to add value. You are, when 1:03:57.840 --> 1:04:01.160 we're developing product, it's all about how do we make 1:04:01.200 --> 1:04:04.880 it better? And and uh so we're making a super 1:04:04.880 --> 1:04:08.280 premium drink, so that up. Yeah, And that's so that's 1:04:08.280 --> 1:04:10.560 why I want to get to that blowing up. Because 1:04:10.560 --> 1:04:12.080 when I got when I came on, and it was 1:04:12.120 --> 1:04:13.960 kind of like, I remember when I interviewed with you guys. 1:04:14.240 --> 1:04:16.640 I think Ryan might don't. I think you were probably hunting, 1:04:17.560 --> 1:04:20.360 I think, but I think Ryan sat me down with 1:04:20.440 --> 1:04:22.960 David Bullock and just asked me questions about like what's 1:04:22.960 --> 1:04:25.960 your favorite white tail hunter? And that's not what I 1:04:26.000 --> 1:04:28.520 had I had prepped. I'm like, yeah, what about marketing, 1:04:28.600 --> 1:04:30.440 I got it, I got some answers, and so I 1:04:30.480 --> 1:04:32.520 think I might have said something like, oh, Bill Winky, 1:04:32.640 --> 1:04:36.520 I love that guy. He's like, yeah, Okay, this is 1:04:36.560 --> 1:04:38.640 working out, so like, how do you cook up a 1:04:38.680 --> 1:04:42.320 turkey breast? I'm like, wow, put in the oven. And 1:04:42.920 --> 1:04:45.800 it just felt immediately like I didn't know anything about Austin, 1:04:45.840 --> 1:04:48.040 I didn't anything about Texas. I really didn't know anything 1:04:48.040 --> 1:04:50.800 about Yettie other than it was cool and the opportunity 1:04:51.120 --> 1:04:54.440 was attractive and it's it was worth checking out. And 1:04:54.480 --> 1:04:56.919 once I left that interview, I was like, I'll beg 1:04:57.000 --> 1:04:59.320 these guys to let me come down, and I don't. 1:04:59.560 --> 1:05:02.240 I think people were asking me like why, Like I'm 1:05:02.280 --> 1:05:03.880 not really. You just had to have kind of have 1:05:04.000 --> 1:05:05.760 seen it. You have to go in the office and 1:05:05.800 --> 1:05:08.640 see the sticker wall and see like the open floors 1:05:08.640 --> 1:05:11.000 and people run around being cool, and just feel the 1:05:11.080 --> 1:05:14.000 vibe be like yeah, yeah, and trust the energy of 1:05:14.000 --> 1:05:15.960 a place, because that's what always struck me is that 1:05:16.600 --> 1:05:19.400 is the energy of what it felt like to walk 1:05:19.400 --> 1:05:21.400 in at that time. And that's at the time where 1:05:21.760 --> 1:05:23.800 things were kind of bubbling up to the point where 1:05:23.800 --> 1:05:25.720 you guys were you know, Forbes was coming around to 1:05:25.800 --> 1:05:28.680 interview you guys and the New York Times and started 1:05:28.720 --> 1:05:32.160 poking around and and it started like there was more 1:05:32.240 --> 1:05:34.520 than just who would have thought, who would have thought. 1:05:35.280 --> 1:05:38.440 But that that spins into was it, Chris, I want 1:05:38.440 --> 1:05:42.439 to say Christmas? Is that right? When it's uh? When 1:05:42.480 --> 1:05:45.280 we we just couldn't we couldn't keep up. Yeah, I 1:05:45.320 --> 1:05:50.280 mean we basically the appetite from the consumer. For all things, 1:05:50.400 --> 1:05:52.560 Jettie Drinkwar was kind of leading the charge. But for 1:05:52.600 --> 1:05:56.720 all things Jettie was just like, is everything we can 1:05:56.760 --> 1:05:58.240 do to keep up with the business. And we didn't 1:05:58.280 --> 1:06:02.640 keep up with the business. And and um, the the 1:06:02.760 --> 1:06:05.880 demand was here and and our supply was here, and 1:06:05.920 --> 1:06:10.360 there's a huge gap, and you know, we um and 1:06:10.360 --> 1:06:14.040 and our our hiring was probably behind of what it 1:06:14.080 --> 1:06:17.440 needed to be in our infrastructure and our systems. You know, 1:06:17.760 --> 1:06:20.080 we weathered the storm, and it was you know, if 1:06:20.120 --> 1:06:21.920 you're gonna have a problem, it's a great problem to have. 1:06:23.160 --> 1:06:26.760 But every time we felt like we're gonna catch up, 1:06:27.720 --> 1:06:30.960 the demand took another step ahead. And then we thought 1:06:30.960 --> 1:06:33.560 we're gonna catch up again, and demand took another step ahead. 1:06:33.560 --> 1:06:36.720 And we were just out there finding trying to build 1:06:37.240 --> 1:06:40.560 systems and people and teams to keep up with the business. 1:06:40.640 --> 1:06:45.240 And again, you know, we were fortunate to find the 1:06:45.320 --> 1:06:50.360 right people at the right time. I guess we um um, 1:06:50.400 --> 1:06:53.400 you know it was. It was a ton of fun, 1:06:53.480 --> 1:06:57.280 but it was also uh very stressful. And if you know, 1:06:57.320 --> 1:06:59.800 if I look back at Jetty and these stepping stones 1:06:59.840 --> 1:07:03.400 that were talking about, you know, to kind of sum 1:07:03.440 --> 1:07:06.880 up Yettie, it's been you know, a ton of fun 1:07:07.120 --> 1:07:09.400 and again never in our wildest dreams that did we 1:07:09.440 --> 1:07:12.160 ever think it would be what it is, and it's 1:07:12.280 --> 1:07:14.800 it's it's but it's also been a ton of hard 1:07:14.840 --> 1:07:17.760 work and and a lot of I think, a lot 1:07:17.800 --> 1:07:22.640 of sacrificing along the way, and you know, sacrifice, you know, 1:07:22.800 --> 1:07:26.880 your own pursuits. You know. I think when Ryan that 1:07:26.880 --> 1:07:29.920 that elk hunt that he went on, he was my 1:07:30.000 --> 1:07:33.440 last Elk hunt. I was in two thousand five, and 1:07:33.440 --> 1:07:36.480 and you know, getting Yettie started after that and I 1:07:36.480 --> 1:07:43.800 didn't go el cutting again until last year or whatever. Stressful, 1:07:43.920 --> 1:07:45.880 So so we thought we were starting a life cut 1:07:46.080 --> 1:07:49.440 lifestyle company to go do things like that, but it 1:07:49.520 --> 1:07:50.960 was everything we could do to keep up with the 1:07:51.000 --> 1:07:55.360 business and sacrificing our own pursuits. Family. I didn't like 1:07:55.880 --> 1:07:58.880 leaving work, leaving to work early and getting home at 1:07:58.960 --> 1:08:02.120 dark when I had a young family. Friends, I mean, 1:08:02.400 --> 1:08:06.760 those were you know, fourth priority. Yeah, and and but 1:08:06.880 --> 1:08:09.960 as as um as the company has grown and we 1:08:10.080 --> 1:08:14.080 built out the team. Um, you know, Ryan and I 1:08:14.120 --> 1:08:16.519 had definitely taken a step back at yet where we 1:08:16.680 --> 1:08:22.559 can refocus our priorities on on the right health, family health, 1:08:22.640 --> 1:08:26.680 and and friends and and being outdoors again. So when 1:08:26.680 --> 1:08:29.000 the things growing like that, you know that that company 1:08:29.040 --> 1:08:32.240 was growing, Folks that you know, forget what it was 1:08:32.280 --> 1:08:35.360 like those those years I was in the building and 1:08:35.400 --> 1:08:38.880 I are just remember having so many friends, so many 1:08:39.120 --> 1:08:42.360 my like my third answer movie, like calling me up, Hey, 1:08:42.920 --> 1:08:44.719 I haven't talked to you in eight years, just wanted 1:08:44.760 --> 1:08:50.160 to check in and also got yeah. I can only 1:08:50.160 --> 1:08:51.720 imagine what it was like for you guys. Did you 1:08:51.760 --> 1:08:55.040 ever Like for both of you there had to been 1:08:55.400 --> 1:08:57.240 I just remember being around and seeing you from afar 1:08:57.320 --> 1:08:59.439 and thinking like, there's some reluctance in this because you've 1:08:59.439 --> 1:09:01.280 got to be the ace of people want to reason 1:09:01.320 --> 1:09:04.519 to you know, other than the products to jump into 1:09:04.520 --> 1:09:07.000 the brand. Right, you created hashtags and created all that, 1:09:07.160 --> 1:09:10.000 but still they want an origin story. That people want 1:09:10.000 --> 1:09:13.520 to know this story that you're telling right now. Um, 1:09:13.600 --> 1:09:15.200 and so then they want to interview you, put you 1:09:15.240 --> 1:09:17.360 on covers and and have you be at some level 1:09:17.400 --> 1:09:18.760 the face of this thing is that there was the 1:09:18.840 --> 1:09:21.280 reluctance there. Ye oh yeah. First of all, it's not 1:09:21.400 --> 1:09:24.120 natural for Eye, for Ryan and Eye to get up 1:09:24.120 --> 1:09:26.680 and talk to people or to be a part of 1:09:26.720 --> 1:09:28.879 an interview like this. If you call this an interview, 1:09:29.200 --> 1:09:33.439 I'm doing this for you, not for me. Well, I 1:09:33.479 --> 1:09:37.200 got you a waterloo a free soda there, that's right. 1:09:37.920 --> 1:09:41.240 So so it's it's not in our DNA to be uh. 1:09:41.880 --> 1:09:44.040 I don't know if this is the limelight, but whatever 1:09:44.080 --> 1:09:46.000 you call, it's not in our DNA to be front 1:09:46.040 --> 1:09:49.839 and center. And but it definitely comes with the territory. 1:09:49.880 --> 1:09:53.400 I will say that I've gotten and I think both 1:09:53.479 --> 1:09:55.760 Ryan and I have gotten really good at saying no, 1:09:56.240 --> 1:09:59.439 because it does come on on a weekly So why 1:09:59.439 --> 1:10:00.880 are you here? I thought you was gonna tell me 1:10:01.720 --> 1:10:04.200 for you. I'm only doing it for you because he 1:10:04.520 --> 1:10:07.759 came and worked for us for four years, four years, 1:10:07.920 --> 1:10:14.519 four years, So we're gonna get them out. Consider yourself 1:10:14.600 --> 1:10:19.959 lucky in a lot of ways. It's funny because, um, 1:10:20.080 --> 1:10:22.120 I look back at that time and it was like 1:10:22.360 --> 1:10:24.680 being in a tornado. Like you knew you were in 1:10:24.680 --> 1:10:27.120 a tornado. You knew that everything around you was spending 1:10:27.120 --> 1:10:29.280 way too fast for you to understand. But there's nothing 1:10:29.320 --> 1:10:31.799 you can do. You're just inside. It's fun, it's fun, 1:10:31.920 --> 1:10:35.040 but it is a tornado. And I will say today, Yeddie, 1:10:36.880 --> 1:10:40.479 we're way more professional. I mean, right, I was CEO 1:10:40.560 --> 1:10:43.640 up until three years ago. Ryan was right there beside me. 1:10:43.760 --> 1:10:48.120 And now we have a team that is deeply rooted 1:10:48.160 --> 1:10:52.519 into um, you know, the outdoors in their their history. 1:10:52.560 --> 1:10:55.719 But they're also very professional. You know, Matt righteous our CEO, 1:10:56.479 --> 1:11:00.360 he's a he's a professional. I mean he is a 1:11:00.400 --> 1:11:05.120 pro and he and he uh he lives and breathes 1:11:05.240 --> 1:11:09.560 the brand like us, but he's a pro. And and um, 1:11:09.600 --> 1:11:13.439 you know those early days of the chaos and the 1:11:13.479 --> 1:11:17.200 shooting from the hip and the tornado, those are kind 1:11:17.240 --> 1:11:20.800 of Matt has a handle on those things. And it's 1:11:20.840 --> 1:11:23.960 it's way more control. It's at times for me it's 1:11:23.960 --> 1:11:26.439 a little bit frustrating because I feel like we're moving slow. 1:11:26.800 --> 1:11:29.639 But it's way more intentional. It's way more intentional where 1:11:29.640 --> 1:11:34.120 we're going, and way more precise and and decisions are 1:11:35.280 --> 1:11:37.840 thought out. Yeah, no, we When I think my third 1:11:37.960 --> 1:11:39.800 day there there was it was a sales meeting and 1:11:39.840 --> 1:11:42.479 then somebody rolled in a Tundra M one ten full 1:11:42.479 --> 1:11:49.040 of Franklin barbecue. Yeah. I was like, well, okay, But 1:11:49.040 --> 1:11:51.680 but the fun thing now for for Ryan and I 1:11:51.920 --> 1:11:54.720 is we get to kind of take Yeeddie out of 1:11:54.760 --> 1:11:57.840 our own pace. And I'm no, we're still involved, and 1:11:57.880 --> 1:11:59.800 I'm still very involved on the product side, and that's 1:11:59.800 --> 1:12:03.679 where my passion is and the product brand and and 1:12:03.760 --> 1:12:08.080 but but the you know, we have sixty person product team. 1:12:08.160 --> 1:12:11.280 So you know, at one time I was the product team. 1:12:11.360 --> 1:12:16.559 Now we have this machine that's full of bright people 1:12:16.680 --> 1:12:20.439 that are driving a product roadmap. And it's way bigger 1:12:20.680 --> 1:12:23.800 than four years ago. When I walked in the door, 1:12:23.840 --> 1:12:25.559 it was the you and Chris Kelly. Yeah, that's right, 1:12:25.600 --> 1:12:28.000 that's you know, and then DJ Bell that's three people. Yeah. 1:12:28.040 --> 1:12:31.000 Now there's sixty yeah, And and those are engineers to 1:12:31.280 --> 1:12:34.599 to industrial designers. And it's it's fun to go in 1:12:34.680 --> 1:12:39.000 there and debate about product ideas and what's features and 1:12:39.000 --> 1:12:44.320 and value add But again I can go fishing, be 1:12:44.439 --> 1:12:46.439 with the family, and I kind of go and come 1:12:46.479 --> 1:12:50.320 as I please. Um, well, that's important. I mean I 1:12:50.320 --> 1:12:52.800 think once you become a brand like yet he has 1:12:52.880 --> 1:12:56.080 like people start to ask questions, and they start to, uh, 1:12:56.280 --> 1:12:58.920 you know, make assumptions and and so there's all these 1:12:59.080 --> 1:13:01.360 little thing is associated with the brand that I didn't 1:13:01.360 --> 1:13:03.320 want to let you out of here without, but you know, 1:13:03.479 --> 1:13:06.200 asking or at least talking through some of the things 1:13:06.200 --> 1:13:10.120 that happened, because a lot of these are our questions 1:13:10.120 --> 1:13:12.559 that you never thought of or things that you never 1:13:12.600 --> 1:13:15.320 want wanted to happen. You just wanted a company support 1:13:15.360 --> 1:13:17.960 yourself and then kept growing. It kept growing, it kept growing, 1:13:18.000 --> 1:13:19.840 and then all of a sudden people are saying, like, 1:13:19.880 --> 1:13:22.400 what are you gonna do for conservation? You're like, well, yeah, 1:13:22.600 --> 1:13:26.639 I don't know. We're just doing this and so that's Um. 1:13:27.360 --> 1:13:29.960 I think the probably the most important one I think 1:13:30.000 --> 1:13:32.800 is you guys are hunters and anglers. This is a 1:13:32.880 --> 1:13:38.439 hunting podcast. Um. When you see the company now, it 1:13:38.560 --> 1:13:42.719 serves many ecosystems, right, It serves as we talked about, 1:13:42.720 --> 1:13:46.879 it serves hunter It serves hikers and campers and surfers 1:13:46.880 --> 1:13:49.160 and climbers. Yeah yeah, so let me interrupt there. So 1:13:49.320 --> 1:13:51.599 our laser focus in the early days was around hunting 1:13:51.600 --> 1:13:56.599 and fishing. We quickly realized that that Coolers was much 1:13:56.640 --> 1:13:59.240 bigger than that, and it started spilling over into these 1:13:59.240 --> 1:14:04.320 other mark It's like ranch and farming and and and 1:14:04.439 --> 1:14:09.360 it you know, the camping, telgate, surfing community and really 1:14:09.800 --> 1:14:12.920 you know being outdoors, you know, oil filled construction. And 1:14:13.240 --> 1:14:19.519 so when we saw that happening, uh that because I mean, yeah, 1:14:19.560 --> 1:14:21.840 started we were designing for the hunting and fishing and 1:14:21.920 --> 1:14:25.240 all the marketing was based around hunting and fishing. But 1:14:26.640 --> 1:14:29.040 as we saw it starting spilling over, you can go 1:14:29.120 --> 1:14:32.760 so many different directions, but we had to pick. And 1:14:32.840 --> 1:14:36.120 so outside of hunting and fishing, we went into you know, 1:14:36.280 --> 1:14:45.320 beer and barbecue, into into music, into just general outdoor camping, kayak, ranch, ranching, rodeo. Yeah, 1:14:45.640 --> 1:14:48.599 so I started to interrupt. I know that's I kind 1:14:48.600 --> 1:14:50.200 of knew the answer to the question, but I was 1:14:50.240 --> 1:14:53.160 trying to want to phrase it so everybody can't understand 1:14:53.280 --> 1:14:56.320 that transition. So in marketing terms, it's like we have 1:14:56.439 --> 1:14:58.240 the core, the people that started with the brand, the 1:14:58.280 --> 1:15:00.080 people that were buying the product. When Ryan was on 1:15:00.160 --> 1:15:02.200 trade shows and Roy was going you guys were going 1:15:02.200 --> 1:15:04.240 to trade shows and staying behind a table and trying 1:15:04.280 --> 1:15:06.120 to explain why this thing is what it is, why 1:15:06.160 --> 1:15:11.000 it's worth That's worth. And then eventually you realize these 1:15:11.040 --> 1:15:13.040 other opportunities to brand starts to grow, but you still 1:15:13.080 --> 1:15:14.519 have this group of people that were, like I was 1:15:14.600 --> 1:15:17.879 riding with you from day one. I saw early adopters. 1:15:18.040 --> 1:15:20.280 You're I'm your people, You're my people, And I think 1:15:20.320 --> 1:15:24.640 that's every good company that grows goes through that. And 1:15:24.680 --> 1:15:27.000 I always explained it's it's a cooler. It was never 1:15:27.000 --> 1:15:29.040 a hunting cooler, fishing cooler. It was only that because 1:15:29.120 --> 1:15:31.439 Roy and Ryan, that's what they love, That's what they knew, 1:15:31.479 --> 1:15:34.720 that's what they did. So just explain now from teens 1:15:34.760 --> 1:15:37.000 point of view, how you look at that, You know, 1:15:37.200 --> 1:15:38.800 what you would say to hunters and fishermen as this 1:15:38.840 --> 1:15:43.240 company grows, like, we're with you, We've always been with you. Yeah, 1:15:43.280 --> 1:15:47.240 I mean, the the Tundra was designed around I mean, 1:15:47.280 --> 1:15:49.599 it works great for any type of hunting adventure you going. 1:15:49.760 --> 1:15:52.960 But the hard cooler was really designed and with with 1:15:53.360 --> 1:15:56.120 a lot of good features for fishing and being able 1:15:56.120 --> 1:15:57.920 to tie it down to a boat, being able to 1:15:57.960 --> 1:16:00.680 have a you know, a seat could on it, or 1:16:00.720 --> 1:16:04.559 the or the sea deck. Yeah, and so so there 1:16:04.600 --> 1:16:07.479 were a lot of features that that appealed to the 1:16:07.880 --> 1:16:13.200 hardcore fishing, you know, person and all those features didn't 1:16:13.240 --> 1:16:15.880 take away from it when you crossed over into hunting. 1:16:15.880 --> 1:16:18.120 And then we came out with the Tan cooler, which 1:16:18.320 --> 1:16:21.200 we thought appealed to more of the hunting buyer, you know. 1:16:21.960 --> 1:16:25.040 And uh, but yeah, I mean everything we did was 1:16:25.240 --> 1:16:28.880 every ad we did on television and print was all 1:16:28.920 --> 1:16:31.639 based around hunting and fishing, and over time it did 1:16:31.760 --> 1:16:35.400 we did to go beyond that. We still or I 1:16:35.439 --> 1:16:37.559 was talking to one of our long time TV guys 1:16:37.600 --> 1:16:40.879 today on the way over here, uh, in the fishing community. 1:16:40.880 --> 1:16:43.760 So we're still do that, but it just has we 1:16:43.800 --> 1:16:47.360 had to pick areas to focus on and eventually, you know, 1:16:47.520 --> 1:16:50.559 right now we have about six or seven markets that 1:16:50.600 --> 1:16:55.719 we actively advertised to. Yeah. Yeah, and I think from 1:16:55.720 --> 1:17:00.680 from my seat at the table, it's very much there is. 1:17:00.800 --> 1:17:04.200 Once you attach an ideology to something or get people 1:17:04.320 --> 1:17:06.200 excited around, hey, this is built for you. It's built, 1:17:06.200 --> 1:17:08.360 it's durable because you're gonna beat the crap out of it, 1:17:08.439 --> 1:17:11.200 like yeah, um, you just kind of return to him 1:17:11.200 --> 1:17:14.800 and say, still you yeah, still is still what of 1:17:14.880 --> 1:17:17.320 all the all the different outdoor activities, Roy and I 1:17:17.360 --> 1:17:20.400 are still I think that's focused on hunting and fishing 1:17:20.400 --> 1:17:23.640 ourselves and so that's who we are. Yeah. So I 1:17:23.640 --> 1:17:25.320 think that's why I like talking to you guys. That's 1:17:25.320 --> 1:17:28.800 the important thing. The company is what it is because 1:17:28.840 --> 1:17:31.400 you made it that way and you're still that way. 1:17:31.479 --> 1:17:36.320 That's right. And I would say that as we have 1:17:36.479 --> 1:17:43.120 expanded into these other markets, that that core consumer is 1:17:43.280 --> 1:17:48.640 still the hunter, the fisherman, the outdoorseman, and but it is. 1:17:48.760 --> 1:17:51.240 It is a little bit tough to expand into other 1:17:51.400 --> 1:17:57.120 markets and not alienate that that early adopter core consumer. 1:17:57.280 --> 1:18:00.479 And that's something we talked about every day. Is like, um, 1:18:00.800 --> 1:18:04.519 but it it's that's who we are. I mean, it's 1:18:04.640 --> 1:18:07.040 we we are that we are the early adopter. We 1:18:07.080 --> 1:18:11.400 are that core consumer. That's what who Ryan and I represent. Uh. 1:18:11.439 --> 1:18:12.960 The other question you get all the time is a 1:18:13.040 --> 1:18:16.760 price question. Um well, I think we've hopefully explained in 1:18:16.760 --> 1:18:18.439 this conversation a little bit wide is what it is. 1:18:19.160 --> 1:18:22.479 But you guys are again just regular dudes hunting and fishing, 1:18:24.560 --> 1:18:26.880 connecting with regular guys hunting and fishing. This was never 1:18:26.920 --> 1:18:28.640 a brand for people on yachts. It was never a 1:18:28.640 --> 1:18:30.320 brand for people had a lot of money to spend. 1:18:30.720 --> 1:18:34.759 It was a brand for the price came about more. 1:18:34.800 --> 1:18:36.879 You know, Roy and I didn't really have a business 1:18:36.880 --> 1:18:41.840 background in school, and so to me, the price more 1:18:41.960 --> 1:18:43.599 came out of, Hey, we want to build the best 1:18:43.600 --> 1:18:47.840 cooler possible. What is that in price gonna look like? Yeah, 1:18:47.960 --> 1:18:50.799 and so if we can find ways to add value, 1:18:50.880 --> 1:18:55.080 if if, whether whether whatever it might be, We're always 1:18:55.120 --> 1:18:59.280 going to look for ways for our pursuits. It was 1:18:59.360 --> 1:19:02.040 always about the best gear for our pursuits. And and 1:19:02.080 --> 1:19:06.160 I think when we when we're out either chasing redfish, 1:19:06.240 --> 1:19:10.639 tarpan or white tail or quill hunting for whatever reason, 1:19:10.760 --> 1:19:13.320 because that's your passion, you always want kind of the 1:19:13.400 --> 1:19:16.280 best gear for that those pursuits and that that could 1:19:16.320 --> 1:19:21.040 be a Sage fly rod or um, you know, a 1:19:21.160 --> 1:19:26.559 high end optics um, whatever that might be. But you know, 1:19:26.880 --> 1:19:29.600 and that that's kind of we took that same mindset 1:19:29.680 --> 1:19:32.360 to the cooler industry and if we can find ways 1:19:32.439 --> 1:19:35.320 to add value, we're going to add value. Unfortunately, it's 1:19:35.320 --> 1:19:37.519 gonna cost more and you have to charge more forward, 1:19:38.120 --> 1:19:41.000 and you know, the product is not forever because of 1:19:41.040 --> 1:19:42.960 the price point. It's not for everybody, but it is 1:19:43.400 --> 1:19:46.960 it is gonna be the best in class and it's 1:19:46.960 --> 1:19:49.799 gonna be the value add and it's going to be durable, 1:19:50.040 --> 1:19:53.479 and you know, high performance, high quality, well thought out 1:19:53.479 --> 1:19:56.400 design and engineering. I've been around you guys enough to know, 1:19:56.520 --> 1:19:58.880 like when somebody's wearing a pack or a pair of 1:19:58.920 --> 1:20:01.680 boots or something, the question it's always what's that? What 1:20:01.640 --> 1:20:03.880 are you wearing there? Yeah, because you want to have 1:20:03.920 --> 1:20:05.800 the best thing, because maybe that guy's got something better, 1:20:05.800 --> 1:20:15.000 he knows something about it. Yeah, Um, that's a that's anything, God, everything, 1:20:15.360 --> 1:20:17.559 it's all. It's it's fun to be kind of a 1:20:17.600 --> 1:20:21.880 gear head and kind of chase the the top of 1:20:21.880 --> 1:20:26.920 the line stuff for your pursuits. Yeah. Yeah. You guys 1:20:26.960 --> 1:20:33.280 have uh a boatload of kids now, yeah. Right, And 1:20:33.280 --> 1:20:38.400 I knew that congratulation on the fifth I didn't know about. Um, 1:20:38.520 --> 1:20:42.160 what would you tell your kids when they come of age? 1:20:42.240 --> 1:20:43.559 You know, what would you want to teach them from 1:20:43.560 --> 1:20:46.160 the Eddie story, your experiences? You know what's the first 1:20:46.160 --> 1:20:48.320 thing you might tell them that you learned? Ryan take 1:20:48.320 --> 1:20:51.920 a shot at Well. It's real tough to to to 1:20:52.000 --> 1:20:53.920 think about that, you know, the way Roy and I 1:20:53.960 --> 1:20:57.599 grew up out in the country, Yet twenty five miles 1:20:57.600 --> 1:21:00.479 from Austin with our dad growing up in the small business. 1:21:00.560 --> 1:21:02.960 I mean we had a you know, we had land 1:21:03.000 --> 1:21:04.760 leased right across the street from our house. We could 1:21:04.800 --> 1:21:08.800 go hunting before school in the morning. Uh. The way 1:21:08.840 --> 1:21:12.800 we grew up is hard for Roy and I to duplicate. Now. 1:21:12.880 --> 1:21:16.080 You know, we live in in Austin. Now we do 1:21:16.160 --> 1:21:18.640 all like we like Austin. I mean it's it's a 1:21:18.640 --> 1:21:20.559 great place to live, great place grew up, and we 1:21:20.680 --> 1:21:22.920 we have places to take the kids hunting and fishing 1:21:22.960 --> 1:21:26.880 and we do a lot of that. But you know, uh, 1:21:27.200 --> 1:21:30.960 it's it's hard to relate to Yetti now in our 1:21:31.000 --> 1:21:33.640 as our kids get a little older. Uh, you know, 1:21:33.680 --> 1:21:36.599 it's just not the same same environment that we grew 1:21:36.680 --> 1:21:39.439 up in with our dad seeing seeing this, you know, 1:21:39.600 --> 1:21:43.080 one or two man operation, you know, going to the 1:21:43.120 --> 1:21:46.200 trade shows, answering the phone, shipping stuff out, all that. 1:21:46.320 --> 1:21:48.720 Yet he just grew so far past that that it's 1:21:49.000 --> 1:21:52.080 like I'll, yeah, I'll bring some of my kids up 1:21:52.120 --> 1:21:54.960 to work from time to time, but they can't even relate. 1:21:55.280 --> 1:21:58.200 I mean, it's it's totally different. And I think the 1:21:58.439 --> 1:22:01.799 one thing that Ryan and I struggle with is we 1:22:01.800 --> 1:22:04.719 we grew up hunting across the street from my parents 1:22:04.720 --> 1:22:09.599 place on that least land and and if we found 1:22:09.600 --> 1:22:12.280 an eight pointer over there, like we were doing everything 1:22:12.320 --> 1:22:14.960 we can too, and it was like the season goal 1:22:15.120 --> 1:22:18.280 if you killed a hill country eight pointer. I say 1:22:18.280 --> 1:22:19.720 the same thing I used to when I grew up. 1:22:19.720 --> 1:22:22.720 It was like how many points it was. It was 1:22:22.720 --> 1:22:25.160 like it was he six, seven, Well, that's onto, that's 1:22:25.200 --> 1:22:28.719 not typical, the eight, that's typical. Nine, well that's not typically. 1:22:28.800 --> 1:22:32.360 That's all one. It's never the numbers are so much lower. 1:22:32.960 --> 1:22:35.280 So now Ryan and I have a place in South 1:22:35.320 --> 1:22:39.679 Texas and we you know, it's a white tail ranch 1:22:39.880 --> 1:22:45.479 and we're we're into chasing free ranging white tails and um. 1:22:46.520 --> 1:22:51.280 And but when I take my kids down there, it's, 1:22:52.680 --> 1:22:57.120 you know, there, it's not reality. It's there's it's the 1:22:57.160 --> 1:22:59.439 pursuit of chasing an eight pointer is not there. It's 1:23:00.080 --> 1:23:03.320 it's like, okay, let's go shoot a dough because I 1:23:03.320 --> 1:23:08.040 don't I don't want my son killing a whatever. It is. 1:23:08.080 --> 1:23:10.280 Shut out to Ben Bennion, by the way, I'm sure 1:23:10.320 --> 1:23:15.639 you're out there. We have the season is right around 1:23:15.680 --> 1:23:18.320 the course, and we've been getting some trail camp pigs. 1:23:18.400 --> 1:23:21.000 But but you know that they'll miss that they'll miss. 1:23:21.240 --> 1:23:25.599 Our kids are gonna miss the small business experience that 1:23:25.680 --> 1:23:32.200 we had, and they're gonna miss, like it's hard to 1:23:32.280 --> 1:23:35.439 duplicate even the hunting that we I mean we we 1:23:35.439 --> 1:23:38.679 were hunting on a budget as a kid. We were 1:23:38.720 --> 1:23:42.200 working our way up from hunting right across the street, 1:23:42.240 --> 1:23:45.479 trying to kill a hill country eight, getting invites from friends. Yeah. 1:23:45.520 --> 1:23:47.920 Then then then it's you know a friend that has 1:23:47.920 --> 1:23:50.080 a ranch that brings us, you know, brings us down 1:23:50.120 --> 1:23:52.599 and and just have to blast over a long weekend 1:23:53.160 --> 1:23:56.599 and then going on on day hunts down to South Texas. 1:23:56.600 --> 1:23:59.280 I remember doing some of that day bow hunts, you know, 1:23:59.360 --> 1:24:03.040 like a hunter hundred fifty dollars a day and maybe 1:24:03.040 --> 1:24:05.360 a kill fee, I don't know. And then after that, 1:24:05.520 --> 1:24:07.519 Roy and I we got to wait up to our 1:24:07.680 --> 1:24:11.280 our Texas Panhandle lease and that was unbelievable times. We 1:24:11.320 --> 1:24:14.280 had you know, eight other friends on there and men 1:24:14.320 --> 1:24:16.400 you look forward to the month in November, spent as 1:24:16.479 --> 1:24:19.840 much time there as you could, and uh, and and 1:24:19.920 --> 1:24:21.720 the way and then and now having our own place 1:24:21.760 --> 1:24:24.320 down in South Texas. Uh, it's just really you know, 1:24:24.800 --> 1:24:27.920 been the steps along the way and it's you know, 1:24:28.240 --> 1:24:30.920 running straight into our operation we have going on down 1:24:30.960 --> 1:24:33.920 South Texas. It's just h yeah, and so our kids 1:24:33.920 --> 1:24:36.639 are skipping all those steps that we took to get 1:24:36.640 --> 1:24:40.880 to South Texas. There are nothing more than having a 1:24:40.920 --> 1:24:44.160 big ranch. I just I just got to manage our kids, 1:24:44.439 --> 1:24:49.080 the kids expectations down there. And and I kind of 1:24:49.080 --> 1:24:52.160 wish I could duplicate what I had growing up of 1:24:52.360 --> 1:24:57.000 Like I mean, I remember the night before the opening day, 1:24:57.720 --> 1:25:00.800 I wouldn't I couldn't go to sleep either, I could 1:25:00.920 --> 1:25:02.880 go to sleep, and it was and it was the 1:25:02.920 --> 1:25:05.080 coolest thing. And the biggest thing across the street from 1:25:05.120 --> 1:25:08.600 our house was a shitty eight point and uh, I 1:25:08.680 --> 1:25:11.719 got the buckets full of skull cap spikes and stuff 1:25:11.720 --> 1:25:14.080 that are the coolest thing I ever saw. I just 1:25:14.160 --> 1:25:17.519 hope my kids will lose sleep before the opening day 1:25:17.520 --> 1:25:19.920 of deer season. Yeah, well, we hope they get rest. 1:25:19.920 --> 1:25:24.080 I mean, I wanted to be but yeah, that's the great, 1:25:24.840 --> 1:25:26.680 great thing to say, is it's like you'll never at 1:25:26.760 --> 1:25:29.800 least Roger at least your dad's around, Like you make 1:25:29.840 --> 1:25:32.000 them go work at flex Coders. Yeah, that's right, that's right, 1:25:32.080 --> 1:25:33.640 And that's what I should be doing. I should be 1:25:33.680 --> 1:25:36.280 sending them out to Driftwood where my where our dad 1:25:36.400 --> 1:25:39.240 still operates that business, and make them work in the 1:25:39.280 --> 1:25:43.280 business over the summers, a little taste of that. Yeah, 1:25:43.600 --> 1:25:46.360 that's a that's the interesting one. I've got a little 1:25:46.360 --> 1:25:47.960 one now and I think about that all the time. 1:25:47.960 --> 1:25:53.000 Of course I don't have but you you have access 1:25:53.080 --> 1:25:57.439 to to all these great pursuits through your industry. And 1:25:57.520 --> 1:25:59.559 if you, as your kid grows up in with you, 1:25:59.640 --> 1:26:01.880 with you around, it's not gonna be. It's not gonna 1:26:01.880 --> 1:26:03.840 be saying we're moving to Montana for very much so 1:26:03.840 --> 1:26:05.679 we can have no reality. We live in a place 1:26:05.720 --> 1:26:08.240 where we can just run over to the Galton River 1:26:08.360 --> 1:26:11.519 whenever we need to, or run off and hunting elk whenever. 1:26:12.000 --> 1:26:14.679 That's very much what I was hoping to achieve there. 1:26:14.720 --> 1:26:17.559 But that's it's funny how generationally, I mean, your kids 1:26:17.600 --> 1:26:19.320 are gonna be awesome. They're gonna be great, but they 1:26:19.400 --> 1:26:22.000 just won't have it. They won't have with you. And 1:26:22.200 --> 1:26:25.920 that's because you, you guys, had success, so that those 1:26:25.920 --> 1:26:29.920 are weird there. Um, is there any you know, what 1:26:30.000 --> 1:26:32.479 do you see for the future? This thing like you know, 1:26:32.680 --> 1:26:35.639 I'm having a I think we're both having a ton 1:26:35.680 --> 1:26:38.800 of fun being uh involved in yetting and kind of 1:26:38.800 --> 1:26:41.400 doing it at our own pace. But you know, our 1:26:41.439 --> 1:26:44.680 future is is a little bit of yetti and a 1:26:44.680 --> 1:26:49.000 little bit of you know, family first and pursuits and 1:26:49.000 --> 1:26:52.320 and you know, I think we're excited about this upcoming 1:26:52.400 --> 1:26:55.400 hunting season. I think, Ryan, what do you have lined up? 1:26:55.400 --> 1:26:57.120 I guess you just got let's go, let's we gotta 1:26:57.160 --> 1:27:02.599 tell some hunting stories. Ryan just got start. So Bryan 1:27:02.640 --> 1:27:06.439 took twelve years off from LK hunting. Yeah, last year 1:27:06.479 --> 1:27:09.000 I got a good, real good win last year, and 1:27:09.040 --> 1:27:11.679 I kicked the gears right up. The sheep hunting, Yeah, 1:27:11.760 --> 1:27:14.280 I had been about four or five years ago. I 1:27:14.280 --> 1:27:19.280 I started applying for every sheep tag there was and 1:27:19.920 --> 1:27:22.799 in the US, and I guess it's just the US, 1:27:22.840 --> 1:27:25.600 every state that had sheep that you could apply for 1:27:25.760 --> 1:27:29.040 those Western type hunts. And I've always been just hardcore 1:27:29.080 --> 1:27:32.160 white tail hunter, which you know obviously isn't very active, 1:27:33.000 --> 1:27:35.240 but it's a lot of fun. I really white tells 1:27:35.280 --> 1:27:37.320 my favorite thing to hunt. But I always kind of 1:27:37.320 --> 1:27:38.879 had in my back of my mind. I got buddies 1:27:38.920 --> 1:27:41.799 going to Africa and doing all kinds of other crazy stuff. 1:27:41.840 --> 1:27:46.160 But I had seen this um this book about sheep hunting, 1:27:46.200 --> 1:27:49.360 the kind of the old school sheep hunting called Great 1:27:49.400 --> 1:27:51.519 Sheep and Great Sheep Hunters, and it's a lot of 1:27:51.560 --> 1:27:54.360 old black and white photographs. I think it's by Robert 1:27:54.400 --> 1:27:56.800 Anderson's and it's kind of a coffee table book, but 1:27:56.840 --> 1:28:01.200 it's really about the old um you know, sheep hunters 1:28:01.240 --> 1:28:03.519 and and then some of these early days of sheep 1:28:03.600 --> 1:28:06.920 hunting and twenty one day hunt stuff like that. And 1:28:06.960 --> 1:28:08.479 so I thought it'd be neat to start putting in 1:28:08.600 --> 1:28:10.759 try to get try to draw one of these tags. 1:28:10.880 --> 1:28:14.400 And this last year I was actually quill hunting down 1:28:14.439 --> 1:28:16.760 to South Texas, got a text message saying, hey that 1:28:16.840 --> 1:28:21.240 I drew the the Toke tag in Alaska, which um 1:28:22.040 --> 1:28:24.879 to I guess it's maybe a wilderness area in Alaska 1:28:24.960 --> 1:28:29.200 was set aside in nineteen seventy four for for doll 1:28:29.280 --> 1:28:33.200 sheep management. And and you can't just the residents can't 1:28:33.240 --> 1:28:35.680 go buy a tag over the counter there. They do 1:28:35.800 --> 1:28:37.920 get preference in the draw system. But I think for 1:28:38.040 --> 1:28:41.320 my early season hunt, I think five out you know, 1:28:41.400 --> 1:28:44.240 five non residents drew this tag. I was one of them. 1:28:44.280 --> 1:28:47.200 So I felt real lucky to get it, and then I, 1:28:47.640 --> 1:28:50.519 you know, have to get in uh in shape for 1:28:50.520 --> 1:28:52.800 the hunt. People talk about being in sheep shape. Here 1:28:52.920 --> 1:28:56.080 here's the funny part of the story. How many how 1:28:56.120 --> 1:28:58.519 much weight did you lose? I lost twenty two pounds 1:28:58.560 --> 1:29:01.519 before I left. Give Ryan. Ryan has a lot of 1:29:01.560 --> 1:29:04.080 motivation to lose a little weight. And you know he 1:29:04.120 --> 1:29:08.360 wasn't overweight to begin with, but give him a sheep 1:29:08.439 --> 1:29:12.080 hunt to work towards and he loses. I heard all 1:29:12.120 --> 1:29:14.680 these stories from I heard like guys would come into 1:29:14.680 --> 1:29:17.040 the aspit like I was on I was hiking the 1:29:17.439 --> 1:29:22.000 Barton Creek trailing that I had my backpack on going 1:29:22.080 --> 1:29:24.240 up and down that in a hundred degrees. We did that, 1:29:24.400 --> 1:29:26.800 DJ and I did that years ago training and that's 1:29:26.840 --> 1:29:29.360 a that's a start training. I knew it would be 1:29:29.439 --> 1:29:32.040 miserable hunt or it would be tough to get through 1:29:32.080 --> 1:29:34.840 it without getting in better, without losing weight and getting 1:29:34.920 --> 1:29:37.920 better shape. And I always exercise a lot, but just 1:29:38.000 --> 1:29:40.280 kind of eat too much, eat whatever I want, and 1:29:40.320 --> 1:29:42.559 then you know, kind of let let myself go on 1:29:42.680 --> 1:29:46.360 that regard. But I started eating healthier, kind of lower 1:29:46.439 --> 1:29:49.439 carbs and and uh we had an app though, right, 1:29:50.280 --> 1:29:53.280 a nutrition app yeah. Yeah, so so my fitness Pal. 1:29:53.400 --> 1:29:55.760 That's the I actually ended up having a guy helped 1:29:55.760 --> 1:29:57.200 me out, and he wanted me to get going on 1:29:57.240 --> 1:30:00.559 my fitness Pal and and logging every thing you eat, 1:30:00.560 --> 1:30:02.479 and I did some of that. But really what I 1:30:02.560 --> 1:30:06.160 boiled down to is is eating just more you know, 1:30:06.439 --> 1:30:09.160 protein and fat and less carbs, and that the way 1:30:09.240 --> 1:30:14.040 to start drawing and most of your alcohol. Yeah. Uh 1:30:14.080 --> 1:30:17.120 and and exercising. Yeah. That the alcohol parts hard for 1:30:17.160 --> 1:30:19.040 a lot of people. I did okay with it, you know, 1:30:19.360 --> 1:30:24.120 you know it, Uh, not too much. I mean there 1:30:24.160 --> 1:30:25.960 was a couple of days, Uh did real good and 1:30:26.000 --> 1:30:28.200 efficient tournament that I was in, and I had a 1:30:28.280 --> 1:30:33.400 cheat cheat evening that evening there. But but uh, but overall, 1:30:33.560 --> 1:30:37.120 I enjoyed the process of gearing up for the sheep hunt, 1:30:37.120 --> 1:30:39.960 all the gear that goes into it, and then and 1:30:40.000 --> 1:30:42.880 then the training and then the eating healthier, losing the weight, 1:30:42.920 --> 1:30:46.160 the whole experience, and then the hunt went great. Uh 1:30:46.760 --> 1:30:50.200 you flew flew down your sheep guide? Yeah? From where 1:30:50.240 --> 1:30:52.960 was he based? Well, he you know, he he guides 1:30:53.000 --> 1:30:55.439 in in Alaska for about four or five months a year, 1:30:56.080 --> 1:30:59.000 and then uh, he's out of Idaho and so so 1:30:59.080 --> 1:31:02.160 you flew him. He Ryan flew him down to Austin too. 1:31:02.280 --> 1:31:04.880 We would call this unorthodox. Yeah, that was It's the 1:31:04.880 --> 1:31:08.120 first time anybody requested that. But in order to try 1:31:08.160 --> 1:31:11.680 to you know, everything you put in your pack, you know, 1:31:11.760 --> 1:31:15.840 accounts his weight, and uh, I wanted to be really organized, 1:31:15.880 --> 1:31:17.280 and so I felt like there was some guy I 1:31:17.280 --> 1:31:19.240 got a list of what I need to bring, but 1:31:19.280 --> 1:31:20.920 I still felt like there were some gaps in it, 1:31:21.000 --> 1:31:23.400 and how you pack the pack, how you get it 1:31:23.439 --> 1:31:26.519 to fit right, all that kind of stuff. So I 1:31:26.560 --> 1:31:28.680 bought his plane ticket. He came down, spend a day 1:31:28.680 --> 1:31:30.519 in half with me. We hiked up and down the 1:31:30.520 --> 1:31:32.360 steep of stuff we could find in Austin, got the 1:31:32.360 --> 1:31:35.000 pack all fitted right, knew what I could, you know, 1:31:35.040 --> 1:31:37.840 We went through all my gear, you know, obviously this 1:31:37.920 --> 1:31:41.760 is a month before the hunt, and got rid of 1:31:41.800 --> 1:31:44.360 the stuff that he didn't need because he's been doing 1:31:44.400 --> 1:31:46.680 this and and knows what you need and don't need. 1:31:46.720 --> 1:31:49.719 And that was as important as anything. And just showing 1:31:49.760 --> 1:31:53.479 how to pack up the pack right and uh, and 1:31:53.720 --> 1:31:55.720 that gave me a lot more confidence going into the 1:31:55.800 --> 1:31:57.800 hunt and who I was gonna be spending time with 1:31:57.920 --> 1:32:02.280 during the hunt. This guy his name is Brandon, and 1:32:02.439 --> 1:32:05.000 uh shout out the Brandon. I mean that, like, uh, 1:32:05.200 --> 1:32:08.519 I was saying telling somebody about that. I was like, yeah, 1:32:08.600 --> 1:32:11.240 the packing is good to would be comfortable, and you 1:32:11.280 --> 1:32:13.080 know what's on your back, but the time spent with 1:32:13.080 --> 1:32:15.840 the individual that you have to be stuck with for 1:32:15.920 --> 1:32:17.960 that amount of time is way more important than what 1:32:18.040 --> 1:32:20.680 you learned about packing. Yeah, yeah, so so and and 1:32:20.720 --> 1:32:22.400 that was nice to meet him and know what I 1:32:22.439 --> 1:32:26.960 was getting into before I traveled up to Alaska for 1:32:27.000 --> 1:32:29.679 a week potentially spent twelve days with him or whatever 1:32:29.680 --> 1:32:33.160 it was, so it uh, just make sure he's not 1:32:33.320 --> 1:32:37.439 you know, he likes jerky, it likes the right flavor 1:32:37.479 --> 1:32:40.400 mountain house. So it was a lot of fun. Had 1:32:40.400 --> 1:32:43.960 a great sheep hunt and uh uh you know my 1:32:44.040 --> 1:32:47.000 first super cub experience that oh you were nervous. You 1:32:47.040 --> 1:32:49.439 were very nervous about Yeah, you know, I don't like 1:32:49.800 --> 1:32:53.560 one pilot and me sitting right behind him. But it 1:32:53.960 --> 1:32:59.439 was real comfortable and uh enjoyed. Yes, all grizzly. Yeah, 1:32:59.680 --> 1:33:02.639 first time I think I'd probably camped in grizzly country, 1:33:03.040 --> 1:33:07.160 you know. Uh, and uh it was able to see 1:33:07.160 --> 1:33:09.719 one on opening day a sheep season that was pretty 1:33:09.720 --> 1:33:13.800 wild and uh, but overall just fun being up in 1:33:13.840 --> 1:33:16.639 that country, seeing all that, all the experience first time 1:33:16.680 --> 1:33:20.440 to Alaska and to experience all that that toke Wilderness 1:33:20.520 --> 1:33:24.800 area or management area and uh and to kind of 1:33:25.840 --> 1:33:29.400 you know, see what I had been reading about for 1:33:29.439 --> 1:33:32.040 so long and all these and all these sheep type 1:33:32.080 --> 1:33:34.880 books or picture books or whatever. To actually be there 1:33:34.920 --> 1:33:37.840 in that country was pretty special. Yeah, and you were saying, 1:33:37.920 --> 1:33:40.599 you're very happy to have drawn that tag and to 1:33:40.600 --> 1:33:42.040 have some way I mean it's you know, you can't 1:33:42.040 --> 1:33:44.479 say really earned the tag, but the way that you 1:33:44.520 --> 1:33:46.840 got the tag was was natural. And yeah, I mean 1:33:47.200 --> 1:33:49.880 some sheep punch you could just you know, pay to 1:33:49.960 --> 1:33:51.800 go on as part of an outfitter, and and I 1:33:51.840 --> 1:33:54.760 had to pay it. Alaska requires you to to to 1:33:55.040 --> 1:33:57.479 hire it outfit or before you even apply for the tag, 1:33:58.160 --> 1:34:00.240 or to have a contract signed with the out or 1:34:00.280 --> 1:34:01.840 so they won't let you go on your own if 1:34:01.840 --> 1:34:04.920 you're a nonresident, which I wouldn't want to go on 1:34:05.000 --> 1:34:07.080 own anyway. I was glad to have have this guide 1:34:07.160 --> 1:34:12.880 with me. But uh, it it was it was neat 1:34:12.920 --> 1:34:16.280 to draw draw that tag and and to be able 1:34:16.320 --> 1:34:18.519 to go on that hunt. It was such a limited 1:34:18.800 --> 1:34:20.839 amount of people that get to go into the token 1:34:20.920 --> 1:34:23.760 hunt sheet. So the question is is are you going 1:34:23.800 --> 1:34:26.360 to chase the other three sheep? I'd like to now, 1:34:26.400 --> 1:34:28.040 I wanted to see how this first hunt went, but 1:34:28.080 --> 1:34:29.800 I had such a such a good time, you know. 1:34:29.880 --> 1:34:31.479 I would like to try to figure out how to 1:34:31.760 --> 1:34:36.040 the desert Big Horn, yea desert Big Horn, Rocky Mountain 1:34:36.080 --> 1:34:38.840 Big Horn, and then the stone Sheep. I think is 1:34:38.960 --> 1:34:43.040 British Columbia. Ucon maybe it is all that country. I haven't. 1:34:43.160 --> 1:34:45.439 I was on We're Shooting to YETI film last year 1:34:45.479 --> 1:34:48.000 and was in the Northwest Territories for where doll Sheep 1:34:48.040 --> 1:34:51.920 were and uh a little bit east uh and in 1:34:52.080 --> 1:34:55.280 north of Ward stone sheep hang out, and um, that's 1:34:55.320 --> 1:34:58.799 when I first realized what that country is all about, 1:34:59.080 --> 1:35:01.280 you know, and that and that has to give you 1:35:01.320 --> 1:35:03.320 a perspective change. I mean, you guys from Texas, you're 1:35:03.360 --> 1:35:05.840 hunting the least property. I mean it's you know, if 1:35:05.880 --> 1:35:08.360 there's adventure down here, Rattlesnake's most are most of the 1:35:08.400 --> 1:35:11.639 adventure in Texas? Well, Like, did you come back from 1:35:11.640 --> 1:35:13.680 that with a different perspective on hunting or just your 1:35:14.520 --> 1:35:16.519 just a different, different type of hunting. I mean I 1:35:17.320 --> 1:35:19.760 don't want I love the white tail hunting. I love 1:35:19.800 --> 1:35:22.519 sitting and you know these days hunting particular deer that 1:35:22.560 --> 1:35:24.880 you find on on camera, which we used to it 1:35:24.960 --> 1:35:26.800 was also exciting when you went out there and had 1:35:26.800 --> 1:35:29.120 no idea what was gonna come out. But I found 1:35:29.160 --> 1:35:31.680 plenty of challenge and hunting deer off of off of 1:35:32.520 --> 1:35:35.920 trail camp photos. But being out there in the wilderness, 1:35:35.920 --> 1:35:38.680 seeing how insignificant you feel out there, how big that 1:35:38.720 --> 1:35:42.240 country is, and how you know you really don't want 1:35:42.240 --> 1:35:45.000 to make any mistakes. Ye, you feel there's exposure to it. 1:35:45.160 --> 1:35:48.400 There's like, uh, hunting in South Texas, you don't feel 1:35:48.400 --> 1:35:51.960 exposed at all. But out there with with the weather, 1:35:52.760 --> 1:35:57.520 with even though with the terrain, getting getting hurt out there, 1:35:57.640 --> 1:36:00.920 uh with bears, with even though matter how small the 1:36:00.960 --> 1:36:04.679 possibility is of getting attacked by bear or shark somewhere, 1:36:04.720 --> 1:36:06.800 you know it's still out you know, the thoughts out 1:36:06.840 --> 1:36:08.600 there in the back of your mind. Well, that's it, 1:36:08.760 --> 1:36:11.559 Like that's those singular things that happened. Like you're probably 1:36:11.560 --> 1:36:13.720 in more danger driving to the airport, for sure, you 1:36:13.760 --> 1:36:15.400 get eaten by a bear. But when you see I 1:36:15.400 --> 1:36:17.760 saw a bear, the same kind of same circumstances, like, 1:36:18.680 --> 1:36:21.240 that's too close, that's a mile away. I'm like, that's 1:36:21.280 --> 1:36:26.160 what I'm saying, it's too close. Um, and you shot 1:36:26.200 --> 1:36:29.439 a good sheet, Yeah I did. Uh. We uh were 1:36:29.439 --> 1:36:33.160 able to scout before the season opened, and we found 1:36:33.680 --> 1:36:37.360 three rams the first afternoon. We were out there. The 1:36:37.479 --> 1:36:41.040 next morning the season, uh, that was Thursday. Season opens 1:36:41.040 --> 1:36:43.040 on Friday, So Thursday we went out to try to 1:36:43.040 --> 1:36:44.880 get a better look at one of those rams, and 1:36:44.920 --> 1:36:48.120 while we were trying to get closer, we found another, 1:36:48.360 --> 1:36:51.240 you know, group or band of rams up here. Uh, 1:36:51.320 --> 1:36:53.400 kind of over our left hand shoulder. When we crossed 1:36:53.400 --> 1:36:55.360 the creek. We can see back up there. And we 1:36:55.400 --> 1:36:58.200 spent the We spent from nine am to nine pm 1:36:58.240 --> 1:37:02.839 glassing the watching these rams interact. That day, button heads 1:37:02.960 --> 1:37:06.240 messing with each other. Uh. And it was a pretty 1:37:06.280 --> 1:37:09.120 cold day. I was at killing time as we were 1:37:09.120 --> 1:37:10.880 glass and I would eat. You know, I'd been eating 1:37:10.920 --> 1:37:13.240 so healthy. I ate about three or four candy bars 1:37:13.280 --> 1:37:15.960 and little fruit snacks and kind of odd on the sugar. 1:37:16.120 --> 1:37:18.760 So I'm hopefully done with that. That's the worst part 1:37:18.800 --> 1:37:21.600 about the training for those mountain hunts. You train, you 1:37:21.600 --> 1:37:23.320 get real healthy and you're feeling good. Then you go 1:37:23.320 --> 1:37:24.560 on the hunt. They're like, well, here's a bag of 1:37:24.920 --> 1:37:28.960 dehydrated salty crap Snickers bar in the cana tuna. You're like, 1:37:29.000 --> 1:37:32.639 wait a minute. I spent my whole time eating eating 1:37:32.720 --> 1:37:35.040 right for this. Now I gotta eat salt pouches for 1:37:35.400 --> 1:37:38.840 so you know now that the sheep punts over this year, 1:37:38.880 --> 1:37:40.720 that was kind of a lot earlier than I'm used 1:37:40.760 --> 1:37:43.000 to start in the hunt. I'd like to get in 1:37:43.040 --> 1:37:45.639 a couple more red fishing trips on the fly rod 1:37:45.680 --> 1:37:47.479 and then dove season will be here in a week. 1:37:48.439 --> 1:37:50.479 Love walking around my house last night and there were 1:37:51.760 --> 1:37:57.000 flying circles. A good dove hunt for me? Is I 1:37:57.080 --> 1:37:59.519 mean top not? That as good as it gets? Well, 1:37:59.800 --> 1:38:02.080 that's why? Is that? That's why there's the YETI bucket 1:38:02.640 --> 1:38:05.799 because yourself, I always surmise, I'm like the reason that exists. 1:38:06.000 --> 1:38:07.880 We you know, we're working on a swivel seat for that. 1:38:07.920 --> 1:38:11.599 I heard about that and that's gonna be yea. And 1:38:11.880 --> 1:38:17.559 you know I hunt South Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and 1:38:17.680 --> 1:38:21.439 so Kansas season will get started here mid September. And 1:38:21.479 --> 1:38:26.439 then Kansas quail season opens up mid November and the 1:38:26.600 --> 1:38:30.080 all start hunting quail and Kansas around then and and 1:38:30.160 --> 1:38:33.680 transition into South Texas. That's something over the last our 1:38:33.760 --> 1:38:36.599 Our granddad was a big quel hunter, and we got 1:38:36.640 --> 1:38:39.320 to hunt a little bit with him when we were 1:38:39.400 --> 1:38:42.519 kids before he passed away. I got too old to hunt. 1:38:43.240 --> 1:38:46.880 But that's something that recently Ryan and I have uh 1:38:47.120 --> 1:38:49.479 kind of got back into. It's the quel honey out. 1:38:49.760 --> 1:38:51.880 I think I will return to Texas As every year 1:38:51.920 --> 1:38:54.400 if I can to hunt quail. Yeah, probably texting you guys, 1:38:54.400 --> 1:38:57.240 he was watching the dogs work, and this the whole, 1:38:57.400 --> 1:39:00.400 the whole atmosphere of falling around the dog and and 1:39:00.479 --> 1:39:03.080 anticipating that kevy rise is so much fun. And the 1:39:03.120 --> 1:39:06.280 quail populations in Texas, especially down where you guys are 1:39:06.760 --> 1:39:09.320 on your ranch, is unbelievable, so that you can walk around. 1:39:09.360 --> 1:39:11.080 I walked around there by myself a couple of times. 1:39:11.080 --> 1:39:14.800 The shot that doesn't quail. Hopefully we get another good year. 1:39:14.840 --> 1:39:17.400 We haven't been getting much rain down there this this 1:39:17.680 --> 1:39:20.680 spring or summer, so I'm not sure what that has 1:39:20.720 --> 1:39:23.120 done to the quail population. But we'll see how to 1:39:23.200 --> 1:39:28.080 keep them going. Yeah, well, boys, um, thanks for bringing 1:39:28.080 --> 1:39:32.400 me down to Texas well. Ride. You know, you're one 1:39:32.400 --> 1:39:35.599 of the one of the folks that made it happen. 1:39:35.720 --> 1:39:37.799 Like I said, a lot of good people at Yeddie 1:39:37.800 --> 1:39:40.519 and that's that's our that's the reason for our success. 1:39:40.560 --> 1:39:43.960 And you're just one of the good ones. Well, I 1:39:44.000 --> 1:39:46.800 appreciate that. And then and I look back. I was 1:39:46.840 --> 1:39:50.240 saying this in another podcast and something something like, do 1:39:50.280 --> 1:39:52.000 you look back on your life or stages like you 1:39:52.040 --> 1:39:55.840 guys have stages. You're a stepping stones, stepping stones right 1:39:56.600 --> 1:39:58.479 and if you're doing it right, everything the stepping stone, 1:39:58.840 --> 1:40:03.040 you're not falling off. Occasionally you fall up, just back up. 1:40:03.080 --> 1:40:05.439 But for me, this is like this. My son was 1:40:05.479 --> 1:40:08.000 born in this stay. My son will forever be a 1:40:08.120 --> 1:40:12.479 te which he's a Texan in Montigana. I'd be happy splits. 1:40:14.200 --> 1:40:17.360 He's giving me good. So I would say I generally 1:40:17.680 --> 1:40:20.920 this time my life was very much transformative and and 1:40:21.240 --> 1:40:24.160 part of oneting to have you on because I knew 1:40:24.200 --> 1:40:29.200 your story. Everybody should know it. Not because the three 1:40:29.200 --> 1:40:31.400 of us who wanted to buy coolers you should do that, 1:40:31.960 --> 1:40:34.759 but because it's a success story and you guys aren't. 1:40:35.640 --> 1:40:38.520 You're normal guys who love something and turned it into 1:40:39.320 --> 1:40:43.080 this massive success that have affected other people's lives, mind included. 1:40:43.320 --> 1:40:45.920 And so I think that's that's the story that matters, 1:40:45.960 --> 1:40:50.000 not you know why the cooler is so damned Durham. Well, 1:40:50.040 --> 1:40:53.000 thank you, Um, it's been a lot of fun and 1:40:53.000 --> 1:40:54.880 and uh, I wish you the best of luck on 1:40:55.000 --> 1:40:57.439 your next journey and thanks for your four years here 1:40:57.439 --> 1:41:00.439 in Texas. Yeah, come come hunt out with me. Will 1:41:00.520 --> 1:41:02.160 let's do it, Ryan, you got a lot of years 1:41:02.200 --> 1:41:07.240 to make up. Make up? All right? Thanks a thank you. 1:41:09.200 --> 1:41:14.400 That's it. That's all Episode number twenty seven in the books. 1:41:14.800 --> 1:41:17.719 Thank you to Roy Cedars. Thank you to Ryan Cedars 1:41:18.160 --> 1:41:22.639 for joining me at the Getty Flagship store in Austin, Texas. 1:41:22.880 --> 1:41:27.080 It's a great conversation. They have one of the craziest stories, 1:41:27.439 --> 1:41:30.000 not only in business but just in life for where 1:41:30.000 --> 1:41:32.639 they started and where they are now. And I can't 1:41:32.640 --> 1:41:36.920 wait to watch those boys and their company in the future. 1:41:38.200 --> 1:41:39.920 I think it was important to have that conversation for 1:41:39.960 --> 1:41:43.960 many reasons, but I just I want to be able 1:41:44.000 --> 1:41:46.439 to reflect all my time there and let you guys 1:41:46.520 --> 1:41:50.400 know was good folks. Uh. The Cedars brothers are and 1:41:50.520 --> 1:41:54.400 how important they are to me. So a couple of 1:41:54.439 --> 1:41:56.719 days after that podcast, I got in a U haul 1:41:56.920 --> 1:42:02.040 in Drew in Drew twenty six hours up as Bozeman, Montana. 1:42:03.120 --> 1:42:06.719 And uh, that's where we'll be for hopefully very long time. 1:42:07.000 --> 1:42:09.679 And so we'll have some news and coming podcasts about 1:42:10.280 --> 1:42:13.439 exactly why we're here and what we're doing with the 1:42:13.479 --> 1:42:17.040 podcast and what it will be a part of. That's 1:42:17.080 --> 1:42:20.360 coming very soon, very very soon, so hopefully you stick 1:42:20.400 --> 1:42:23.960 around for that. In the meantime, the Hunting Collective dot 1:42:24.000 --> 1:42:28.880 com articles, videos, of course, podcasts a lot of good ones. 1:42:28.960 --> 1:42:31.759 Check out all our Texas podcast starting with Wyman, Mensor, 1:42:32.200 --> 1:42:37.599 Russell Cunningham, Omar, Crispy Avila, and then this one. Uh. 1:42:38.280 --> 1:42:40.360 I want to close by saying thanks to Texas for 1:42:40.439 --> 1:42:42.879 having me, thanks for letting me live in your beautiful 1:42:42.920 --> 1:42:48.040 city of Austin and changing my life. We'll see you 1:42:48.040 --> 1:43:10.240 next time with Hunting Collector step and a