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Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance. Today,

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Speaker 1: I'm joined by my buddies, Joe Elliston and Dennis Stokes

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Speaker 1: of Initial Ascent Packs. They're out of Coldwell, Idaho. Just

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Speaker 1: got some got some time with these guys. We were

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Speaker 1: all at the Mile High show there in Denver. Got

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Speaker 1: to got to talk to these guys and glad to

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Speaker 1: have them on the on the podcast. Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 2: Guys had to be here man, Yeah, thanks Jason for

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Speaker 2: having us on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, safe travels back home. Everything's went well. I

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Speaker 1: know you guys were a little nervous that, you know,

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Speaker 1: some of the employees were at the show and you

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Speaker 1: guys were gonna have to go back and try to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to take orders build the packs. Uh no, no,

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Speaker 1: all joking aside, How did you guys manage without the

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Speaker 1: without the crew?

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Speaker 3: You know what?

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Speaker 2: The old timers figured a few things out.

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Speaker 4: We did.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was you know, we had to dust off

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Speaker 3: our hats a little bit o our fulfillment hats and

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Speaker 3: it was good though.

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Speaker 4: I only had a couple questions.

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Speaker 2: The main thing that we could not figure out was

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Speaker 2: the stupid labels.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we had to go old school on the labels.

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Speaker 3: Because our our main employee that usually fulfills a lot

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Speaker 3: of the stuff, he's also our customer service guy, Cody.

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Speaker 3: He decided he would take the laptop that we used

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Speaker 3: to print the labels and all that with him to Colorado.

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Speaker 4: Oh well, then.

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Speaker 3: Leave the old guys to figure out how to hook

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Speaker 3: up to the label printer with their computers. And we

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Speaker 3: just finally bagged it and we ended up printing it,

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Speaker 3: printing it out on paper, cut and cut it, taped

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Speaker 3: it to the boxes. So we apologize if you guys

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Speaker 3: got some ratty look at packages, you know, in that

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Speaker 3: that period of time shortly there.

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Speaker 1: It's uh, it's so funny because you talk to a

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Speaker 1: lot of guys you know that there's you know, some

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Speaker 1: companies grow and they get too big and they don't

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Speaker 1: have to do that anymore. But it's funny you talk

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Speaker 1: to guys like my you know you guys or you

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Speaker 1: know some of these other guys we talked to that

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Speaker 1: are still involved in the business. They started and at

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Speaker 1: one time we were doing all of this. But you

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Speaker 1: always hear the stories where they have to go back

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Speaker 1: a year or two three years later and they're like,

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Speaker 1: I'm supposed to know all this, but man, it's uh

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Speaker 1: I'm glad there's somebody that's like better at this than me.

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Speaker 2: Now, oh yeah, I mean because we had to build

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Speaker 2: up packs. We hadn't built packs for a while and

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Speaker 2: made a few phone calls to our frame manufacturer about

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Speaker 2: this lot needs to be a little cleaner. The little

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Speaker 2: hands don't put them through quite as fas as they

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Speaker 2: used to.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's it's funny. I I designed the tube

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Speaker 1: covers to be tighter because it looks better at the end.

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Speaker 1: But then yeah, yeah, you go down there and help.

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Speaker 1: The ladies are complaining about their hands hurting, and you

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Speaker 1: go down there and put five covers on. You're like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I probably should have not made them that tight, but

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Speaker 1: I don't have to do it. Uh yeah. And I

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Speaker 1: noticed Dennis there to show, speaking of you know, guys

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Speaker 1: that build and do this. On a more, I noticed

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Speaker 1: he didn't have any eyebrows while we were in Mile Hi,

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Speaker 1: can you explain that?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I was hoping that wouldn't come up, but yeah I

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Speaker 3: had to.

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Speaker 2: So I was.

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Speaker 4: I was the guy.

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Speaker 3: Joe and I both operated out of our garages for

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Speaker 3: a long long time, and so my garage got the

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Speaker 3: job of basically being the fulfillment center and that's where

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Speaker 3: the packs were built and all that. So when Cody

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Speaker 3: came on, I taught young Cody, and he was eighteen

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Speaker 3: years old when he started with us. I taught him

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Speaker 3: everything he knows about building packs, and for a long time,

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Speaker 3: you know, he got his confidence up and he started

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Speaker 3: talking smack and saying that, you know, he wanted to

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Speaker 3: challenge me to a pack building competition. So after a

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Speaker 3: year and a half, we finally got this thing done,

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Speaker 3: and I was.

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Speaker 4: Feeling good at the expo.

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Speaker 3: I was feeling pretty comp about my abilities that I

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Speaker 3: could dust off my pack building apron and hat and

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Speaker 3: you know, and get right back and whip that young buck.

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Speaker 3: And so I made a bed that you know, Cody,

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Speaker 3: if you lose, you're gonna have to cut a cold

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Speaker 3: sack because he's got a headful hair. So you're gonna

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Speaker 3: have to cut a cold sack and let it, let

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Speaker 3: it ride for a little while, and you know, I'll

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Speaker 3: just cut all my facial hair off, including my eyebrows.

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Speaker 3: Never in a million years did I think that I

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Speaker 3: would have lost that competition. I even practiced, man, I

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Speaker 3: put in hours. I was here at five in the morning,

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Speaker 3: multiple days in a row. I was here till ten

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Speaker 3: at night, you know, just just knocking the rust off,

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Speaker 3: and I felt pretty good. I was timing myself with

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Speaker 3: time forget better every day. Well, when it came down

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Speaker 3: to it that Friday, I just I didn't have my

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Speaker 3: game together and I ran into a couple of those

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Speaker 3: slots that Joe talked about, and the old guy just

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Speaker 3: got behind and oh man, I ended up losing my

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Speaker 3: eyebrows to that kid, and.

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Speaker 2: He lost some other things too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he still reminds me about it. So, uh, I

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Speaker 3: got to come up with we're going to top Golf

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Speaker 3: as a team tomorrow and we're gonna have some other

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Speaker 3: competitions going on. You know that I that I used

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Speaker 3: to swim a pretty decent golf club.

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Speaker 1: So that's funny.

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Speaker 4: Retribution is coming.

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Speaker 1: That's that's too funny. Yeah, I'm I mean, at one point,

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Speaker 1: you know, you're always the guy that puts the originals

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Speaker 1: together and like you should know and then yeah, those

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Speaker 1: girls down there with old ladies down the bottom room

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Speaker 1: would smoke me on every process that we have. Yeah too,

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Speaker 1: I know, I know my only skill I have left

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Speaker 1: is like does that sound right or wrong? Like that's

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Speaker 1: all they called me down there for anymore. Like they

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Speaker 1: don't need me to fix the arbor press, so they

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Speaker 1: don't need me to fix this or determine that. It's like, Jason,

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Speaker 1: you're not useful for anything but telling us if this sounds.

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Speaker 4: Right or you know.

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Speaker 3: But he's my reads writing, So it's always and it's

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Speaker 3: like I show up every day and I've got to

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Speaker 3: create a new position for myself because what I used

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Speaker 3: to do is gone and somebody else is handling it

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Speaker 3: much better than I ever did.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. That's awesome though, that you get to see that

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Speaker 1: growth and you just kind of realize your place, like

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Speaker 1: all right, I meant to sit here and do a

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Speaker 1: little bit of marketing, a little bit of design, and

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Speaker 1: the rest of this is taken off without me.

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Speaker 4: It's cool, man, it really is.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So we're gonna jump into some icebreaker questions just

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Speaker 1: to just to get the conversation going before we jump

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Speaker 1: into the packs and the business and where things are going.

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Speaker 1: If either of you could hunt one species in one

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Speaker 1: place for the rest of your life, what would it

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Speaker 1: be and where would it be?

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Speaker 2: For me, it'd be bear, I just I get giddy

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Speaker 2: about bear hunting. Absolutely love it. You know, I think

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Speaker 2: it's you know, I'd probably just stay right here in

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Speaker 2: Idaho because there's so many of opportunities that haven't had

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Speaker 2: a chance to explore yet. And we have a ton

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Speaker 2: of bears here in all different color phase bears, which

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Speaker 2: I love. So yeah, I think Jason, for me, it's,

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Speaker 2: you know, after being cooped up all winter, having that

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Speaker 2: opportunity to get out in the spring and do spot

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Speaker 2: stock bear hunting.

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Speaker 1: I just I love it.

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Speaker 2: You throw a turkey on there is a mixture, you know,

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Speaker 2: a combo. It's hard to beat that. Yeah, and that

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Speaker 2: would probably be my choice right there.

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Speaker 1: So you're going and if you have to pick season,

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Speaker 1: spring or fall, you're going to spring, black bear.

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Speaker 3: Spring, yep, spring bear, thank for me, September and the

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Speaker 3: Elk Woods.

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Speaker 4: That's that's where I'm at.

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Speaker 3: I go back and forth a lot, but I yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's just hard to be that and I suck as

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Speaker 3: a caller. I'm first to tell you that. So Jason,

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Speaker 3: you and I are going to be talking simon. You

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Speaker 3: may even have to hire you, you know, to give

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Speaker 3: me some private lessons on side. But yeah, that's that's

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Speaker 3: where it's at for me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I I love you know, anything I can call to, right,

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Speaker 1: So that's why, like even spring turkey, you know, it's love.

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Speaker 1: People love to hate on out West, you know, especially

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Speaker 1: by the hardcore Western hunter, like, oh, you're chasing the tricky.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, but I get to interact with it.

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Speaker 1: And that's why I think, Yeah, you can call bears,

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Speaker 1: but you just don't get any you don't get any feedback,

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Speaker 1: like they're either going to come in or they're not.

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Speaker 1: And we've had success calling you know, some spring bears in,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, to something yells at me or talks back

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Speaker 1: or I can control a little bit. I just I

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Speaker 1: love that. And so you know, probably, man, I love

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Speaker 1: meal to your hunting, but it'd probably be that that

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Speaker 1: September elk and as well, what wild game meal has

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Speaker 1: topped all others for you if you can think about it, like,

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Speaker 1: what's that one meal that that's been the best from

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Speaker 1: any wild game?

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Speaker 3: Oh, access deer has been the top of my list

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Speaker 3: for the last few years I've had I've had some

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Speaker 3: opportunities to take a few of.

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Speaker 4: Those, and man, that meat is just it's just hard

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Speaker 4: to beat.

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Speaker 1: Are you are you going like a roast or a

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Speaker 1: steak or burger? Like what if you what's your specific

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Speaker 1: cut on that thing?

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Speaker 3: Man? It doesn't matter with that aroun deer, it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 3: But I mean, you know, I'm definitely going, you know,

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Speaker 3: for that backstrap and cutting those steaks.

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Speaker 4: I I love that.

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Speaker 3: But you know, even the loin, you know, I'm taking

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Speaker 3: it and just cooking it in my favorites, cooking it

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Speaker 3: bear fat and just getting that good seer on the

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Speaker 3: on the outside and then you know, a rare to

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Speaker 3: medium rare.

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Speaker 4: Oh man, it's hard to beat.

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Speaker 2: We actually had a customer last week who's over here

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Speaker 2: from Hawaii. He's doing some he's a helicopter pilot. He's

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Speaker 2: over here doing some training. He stopped in and was visiting.

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Speaker 2: He's like, you know what I think you shall whether

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Speaker 2: he said, forty six axis deer with his bow over there.

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Speaker 2: So he brought a bunch of access deer meat in.

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Speaker 2: So tomorrow, after we get back from top Golf taking

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Speaker 2: the guys down, then we're going to do a barbecue

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Speaker 2: over here some some axis deer. So nice, Tomorrow's gonna

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Speaker 2: be a great day.

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Speaker 1: I think I could be there one of my eight

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Speaker 1: nine hours away. I think I could be there in.

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Speaker 3: Time, you know what, I think you could make it,

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Speaker 3: Yeah for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know, I wish. So my favorite

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Speaker 1: wild game to date, and it has more to do

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Speaker 1: with the liver side, was that was that doll sheep

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Speaker 1: because I hate all liver. You know, you always hear like, well,

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Speaker 1: you've never had liver the way I make it, and

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Speaker 1: you try it like it's still terrible. Well, you've never

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Speaker 1: had liver the way I made it. And then I

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Speaker 1: had some of that doll sheep liver and I'm like, ah,

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Speaker 1: it's actually palatable and it's actually pretty good. And then

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the cost of doll sheep

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Speaker 1: or what it is, but like in your mind, I

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Speaker 1: wish you could. It needs to be like a blind

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Speaker 1: taste test, because that doll sheep has just been absolutely

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Speaker 1: amazing all the way through, no matter whether it's the

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Speaker 1: roast of steaks, just really really good. And then second

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Speaker 1: for me, you know, I've had some really good antelope,

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Speaker 1: had some really good moves, but like a specific cut those.

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Speaker 1: We go back to Kansas and I've been killing some

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Speaker 1: white tails out of the ag and the white tailed

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Speaker 1: dough backstraps, like my kids. You get my kids hooked

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Speaker 1: on that, and it's like you just start churning through it,

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Speaker 1: like you know, package of backstrap after package of backstrap,

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Speaker 1: and before you know it, you're out. But that that

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Speaker 1: white tail white tail dough backstraps in agg country is

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Speaker 1: pretty dang tough to beat. It is hard.

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Speaker 2: I grew up in Kansas, so we had we had

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Speaker 2: a lot of deer. We didn't hunt a lot back there.

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Speaker 2: We had a lot of friends that did, so we

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Speaker 2: had a lot of white tail. But I think back

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Speaker 2: to what you just said a minute ago. Though, for me,

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Speaker 2: the antelope, I would put that at the top of

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Speaker 2: the list. I absolutely love antelope.

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Speaker 1: If if it's taken care of right right, Like antelope

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Speaker 1: has been the best, near the best, and then it's

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Speaker 1: been near the bottom. If you can't get the hides

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Speaker 1: off and get that thing.

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Speaker 2: Cool down really quick, that's a ticket.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. The disparity between the good and the bad is

257
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Speaker 1: wide with antelope. But yeah, I agree, if if you

258
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Speaker 1: can get it taken care of quick, it's good. My

259
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Speaker 1: dad and uncles, before I got to travel out of

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Speaker 1: state with them, they always talked about their like antelope

261
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Speaker 1: processing factory. They would there was a bridge evidently in

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Speaker 1: the area where they were hunting, and it had some shade,

263
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Speaker 1: and my two uncles would be down there like skinning one.

264
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Speaker 1: Next thing I knew, like somebody would drop another one

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Speaker 1: over the bridge and like just take off without them,

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Speaker 1: and they were stuck their skin in forever. But they

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Speaker 1: said it was worth it to make sure, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're right around with that thing in the back of

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Speaker 1: your truck all day. It wasn't. It wasn't doing the

270
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Speaker 1: given that animal to credit and the you know it

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Speaker 1: deserves for table fare.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's good man, It's yeah. We started hunting

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Speaker 2: those probably seven eight years ago, I guess maybe even longer.

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Speaker 1: But you're right.

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Speaker 2: If you don't get cooled off in like an hour,

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Speaker 2: it's it's just not But if you do, man, it

277
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Speaker 2: is just phenomenal.

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Speaker 1: Yep, yep, I'm excited. I have a well, I have

279
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Speaker 1: a ninety six percent chance to draw an anelope tag

280
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Speaker 1: this year, which means I probably won't. Montana already told

281
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Speaker 1: me with with eighty eight percent chance that I didn't

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Speaker 1: draw elkin deer, so we'll see. But yeah, I should

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Speaker 1: be able to draw my first antelope tag this year,

284
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Speaker 1: and I've got points in whelming in Arizona. I always

285
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Speaker 1: thought I'm just gonna kill a a couple of big ones,

286
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Speaker 1: but the Montana, the unit should be good. So I'm

287
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Speaker 1: excited to finally get my first chance to antelope hunt

288
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Speaker 1: and awesome. Yes, yeah, So you guys starting to plan

289
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Speaker 1: your year? Do you guys? Are you guys excited about

290
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Speaker 1: any tags this year? You guys stay in local, you're traveling.

291
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Speaker 1: What what's got you guys are the most stoke for

292
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Speaker 1: this year?

293
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Speaker 3: Well, I you know, when when we first got into

294
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Speaker 3: this business, we thought we owned a pac company. Man,

295
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Speaker 3: you know what that means you just get to hunt

296
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Speaker 3: all the time. That is not the case. My goal

297
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Speaker 3: of the last few years has been to hunt one

298
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Speaker 3: more day than I did the year before, and so

299
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Speaker 3: I'm starting to build a little a few days out there.

300
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Speaker 3: But yeah, as far as for me, you know.

301
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Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna go on a couple of bear

302
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Speaker 4: haunts here this spring.

303
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Speaker 3: I'm excited about actually gonna take a couple of first

304
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Speaker 3: time bear hunters out. That will be sometime mid May,

305
00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:21,080
Speaker 3: and my son's gonna go with us, so we'll be

306
00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:22,720
Speaker 3: out there for three or four days. But I'm pretty

307
00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:27,800
Speaker 3: excited about about that. And then uh, I think we're

308
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Speaker 3: I'm waiting. I did put in for for sheep here

309
00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:38,200
Speaker 3: in idahop I'll do that periodically, but I'm not holding

310
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Speaker 3: up high hopes on that, so we'll see where that

311
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Speaker 3: goes and then do.

312
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Speaker 4: Just general stuff.

313
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Speaker 3: I am gonna do some white tail hunting again this year.

314
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Speaker 3: I'm going to Missouri, and then I'm gonna try to

315
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Speaker 3: do some white tail hunting here up north in Idaho

316
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Speaker 3: as well. I'm kind of addicted to those creators now.

317
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Speaker 3: I grew up around them and grew up hunting them

318
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Speaker 3: and got.

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Speaker 4: Away from it for a long time. And I killed

320
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Speaker 4: one a few.

321
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Speaker 3: Years ago and brought it home and it was young

322
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Speaker 3: buck and fixed it for the family. And my wife

323
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Speaker 3: told me, if I remember this correctly, she said something like,

324
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Speaker 3: because she never really ate whitetail growing up, but I

325
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,440
Speaker 3: fixed this for and it was one of the backs

326
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Speaker 3: drafts and fixed it for the family, and she just said,

327
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Speaker 3: you know, I.

328
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Speaker 4: Don't care what you do. I don't care what you hunt.

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Speaker 3: You know, next year, but as long as you plan

330
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Speaker 3: on bringing one of these home at least once a year.

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Speaker 4: I'm good with that. You need to do that.

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Speaker 3: So I thought, okay, yeah, I'll do that with the hat.

333
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Speaker 3: I'm a big fan of whitetail and Aglantu. Yep, yeah,

334
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Speaker 3: I think Jason.

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Speaker 2: For me, this is really my first year. So I

336
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Speaker 2: retired about four weeks ago from a day job, and

337
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,960
Speaker 2: so it's finally going to free me up to actually

338
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Speaker 2: be able to spend some time. I just the last

339
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,560
Speaker 2: five years, man, I just haven't been able to do

340
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:19,000
Speaker 2: a whole lot of hunt and if I got more

341
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,160
Speaker 2: three or four days out, that was a lot. So

342
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna do a bear hunt middle of the month

343
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Speaker 2: with a couple of folks here, and then I'm probably

344
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Speaker 2: gonna go back out with my son, my oldest boy

345
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Speaker 2: Parodi in late May for another bear hunt, which I

346
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,160
Speaker 2: can't you know, which I'm really looking forward to. And

347
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,440
Speaker 2: then this year I'm planning on you know, I'll be

348
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:46,200
Speaker 2: doing Mule Deer and Elk you know, in September and October.

349
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Speaker 2: So so yeah, I'm hoping to be able to spend

350
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Speaker 2: a lot more time out in the in the woods.

351
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Speaker 1: That's awesome. So we're gonna kind of get We're gonna

352
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Speaker 1: jump into kind of the origin story. You know, Joe,

353
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Speaker 1: you'd mentioned you grew up in can you know were

354
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,080
Speaker 1: you guys always hunters? Has it always been in your blood?

355
00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,400
Speaker 1: Were you guys always at you know, like, where did

356
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,920
Speaker 1: you guys we were the humble beginnings? Where did those start? Yeah?

357
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Speaker 2: I mean for me, yeah, I grew up you know

358
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,080
Speaker 2: in Kansa. Like I said, my father, he was a

359
00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,240
Speaker 2: I mean he was an avid hunter growing up. I

360
00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,400
Speaker 2: mean he's a guy that literally, you know, I've got

361
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,560
Speaker 2: elephant tusk in my office at home from when he

362
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,560
Speaker 2: was in Africa. You know, he hunted all over from

363
00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,200
Speaker 2: an early age, so I think, you know, he just

364
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,560
Speaker 2: kind of brought that mentality into our house from from

365
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,680
Speaker 2: the very very beginning. And I can remember back in

366
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:35,680
Speaker 2: cup Scouts.

367
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Speaker 1: You know, my.

368
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,800
Speaker 2: Dad was the one that taught hunter safety, and you know,

369
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,919
Speaker 2: it wasn't you know, like hunter safety today a lot

370
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,200
Speaker 2: of us just classroom work with a little bit of fieldwork.

371
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,679
Speaker 2: We spent two days out in the field and they

372
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,320
Speaker 2: had all kinds of stations stuff me, so it was

373
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,800
Speaker 2: it was hands on. So it's been a part of

374
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Speaker 2: my life as far back as I can remember. But

375
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Speaker 2: it was mostly when I was growing up, we did

376
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:02,560
Speaker 2: a lot of waterfowl hunting in Kansas, and we did quail,

377
00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:04,800
Speaker 2: but then we would go to South Dakota and go

378
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,440
Speaker 2: pheasant hunting. I really didn't do any big game hunting

379
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:13,560
Speaker 2: until until I got out here. So, yeah, it's always

380
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,000
Speaker 2: been a part of our life. We've always been taught

381
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,679
Speaker 2: to respect the animals, the importance of it, the conservation

382
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,560
Speaker 2: side of it. Huh. So, yeah, it's just kind of

383
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:24,239
Speaker 2: what we grew up with.

384
00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:32,119
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm originally from Florida, and so we hunted whitetail

385
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,400
Speaker 3: back there, although heavy in numbers.

386
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,880
Speaker 4: They were about the size of large dogs.

387
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:49,600
Speaker 3: But grew up hunting, fishing, hunted whitetail, hunted hogs, hunted kons.

388
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,480
Speaker 3: I was trapping as well, and just kind of I

389
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,719
Speaker 3: grew up on a dirt road and I was just

390
00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,800
Speaker 3: always running around trying to trying to figure things out,

391
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,840
Speaker 3: you know. So I grew up doing that, and and

392
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,879
Speaker 3: then when I went out to college, I kind of

393
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 3: put pushed the pause button on that a little bit

394
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,440
Speaker 3: still ide hundred when I was in college. But then

395
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,920
Speaker 3: once I moved out to Idaho, my world completely turned

396
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 3: upside down and I learned about elk and mule deer,

397
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,320
Speaker 3: all the things that we didn't have back there. It

398
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,159
Speaker 3: was just a complete one hundred and eighty degree change

399
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:29,560
Speaker 3: for me.

400
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,320
Speaker 4: So I just became obsessed with it. Especially I stopped for.

401
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,720
Speaker 3: A few years when when my twins were born and

402
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 3: we were raising our twins and I was working quitt

403
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:45,919
Speaker 3: a bit with my consulting business. And then when my

404
00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:50,919
Speaker 3: son was I think he was nine, No, he was seven,

405
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:56,119
Speaker 3: I believe he Uh, we would sit around and watch

406
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,679
Speaker 3: hunt shows and all that, and we got to watch

407
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:05,240
Speaker 3: Ted Nugent hunt. He really he really kind of took

408
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 3: took kindly to Ted Nugent.

409
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,480
Speaker 4: And just his excitement and everything's going on there.

410
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 3: And well, next thing, you know, Ted Nugent was coming

411
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,240
Speaker 3: to the Western Hunting Expo. So I said, you know what,

412
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,760
Speaker 3: let's I've never been to that, Let's let's go. And uh,

413
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,879
Speaker 3: my son and I went, and that that got me

414
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,719
Speaker 3: back into big game honting in I was buying packs

415
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,359
Speaker 3: like crazy and rifles and all kinds of stuff and

416
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,200
Speaker 3: so yeah, so since then, it's just kind.

417
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:40,119
Speaker 4: Of been crazy for me.

418
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:52,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good segue back into the next question. So,

419
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 1: you know, Joe from Kansas, Dennis from Florida. You guys

420
00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:58,679
Speaker 1: meet up in Idaho and make a pack, Like how

421
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:00,320
Speaker 1: long ago did that start? When did you guys meet?

422
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,320
Speaker 1: And then what kind of got got things going in

423
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:03,920
Speaker 1: that direction?

424
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean we met. We actually met at church.

425
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 2: We went to the same to it as a large church.

426
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,639
Speaker 2: I was a greeter there, and you know, I would

427
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,399
Speaker 2: we'd see each other on the weekends. We didn't know

428
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 2: each other to win to talk other than I would

429
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 2: say good morning, move on, and uh, you know, we

430
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 2: just we just didn't interact much until we were at

431
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:29,240
Speaker 2: a flag football practice for our boys. So my youngest boy,

432
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 2: Tie was playing flag football with Dnnis's son Trey. Now

433
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,480
Speaker 2: I think it was the first or second practice. I

434
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,399
Speaker 2: saw Dentnis there and uh, I just decided to go

435
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 2: over and visit with it because I recognized him from

436
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,360
Speaker 2: from church, and that started a conversation which then all

437
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 2: of a sudden about kids, you know, involved in sports.

438
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,359
Speaker 2: You know, you get kind of consumed with it. And

439
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 2: every weekend we're together, and every you know, a couple

440
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 2: of days a week we're together practice. And so that

441
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:57,520
Speaker 2: just led on to developing a friendship that moved into us,

442
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,240
Speaker 2: starting to do some honey together, and you know, we

443
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 2: had some common interest there and we were in a

444
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,639
Speaker 2: men's group together at the same time. It started up

445
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,680
Speaker 2: Tom shortly thereafter, so Dennis and I just started spending

446
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 2: a lot of time together. Our family started to gel together,

447
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 2: and we started going down to the Western Expo together

448
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,199
Speaker 2: as families, and we probably did that for good. I

449
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 2: don't know, Well, we've done it since probably two thousand

450
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 2: and eight, somewhere around then.

451
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:25,400
Speaker 1: We've been going.

452
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 2: I don't think we've missed a year since then, and

453
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 2: that's where the friendship started. But that's also where I

454
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,880
Speaker 2: would say the passion for the outdoors became exposed, right.

455
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 2: You know, I had a huge passion when I moved

456
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 2: here for backpacking, and that's really what I dove into

457
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 2: because coming from Kansas, with everything's flat, you don't see

458
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 2: too many mountain peaks. So that's that was kind of

459
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,200
Speaker 2: my passion. But I also, you know, grew up, like

460
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 2: I said, hunting but never done the big game. So

461
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,680
Speaker 2: we started bear hunting together in Turkey, hunting together a

462
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,679
Speaker 2: long time ago, taking our kids with us. That was

463
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,000
Speaker 2: always important to us, and uh, it just kind of

464
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:05,960
Speaker 2: developed from there.

465
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 1: Gotcha? So, so what inspired you to start that hunting

466
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 1: pack company? Like, how did you get to that point?

467
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 1: Was it just mountainside talks or hey we should look

468
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: at this, or hey I got an idea? Like how

469
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: what sparked that that direction?

470
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 3: Yeah? It was, I mean between Joe and myself, you know,

471
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 3: we had we had about every pack that was out there.

472
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:35,120
Speaker 3: And we're short statued folks, and I've me personally, I've

473
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 3: had a back injury since gosh the mid nineties, and

474
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 3: so for me, I could it was really hard for

475
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,639
Speaker 3: me to find a pack that fit properly. And it

476
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 3: was hard to find it was hard to find companies

477
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 3: that would actually fit you if if you will. And

478
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,280
Speaker 3: so me carrying you know, more more than say forty

479
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 3: or fifty pounds, it was.

480
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 1: It hurt.

481
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 3: And I really I just kept going through the packs

482
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 3: trying to figure out something that would that would work

483
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 3: for me, and uh, you know, Joe and I we

484
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 3: you know, we would have these talks and everything. And

485
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 3: one of the cool things that that I had used

486
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 3: and he had used we had used these seats and

487
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,959
Speaker 3: I forget what company, Crazy crew, Yeah, we'd use these

488
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,360
Speaker 3: seats and I actually killed some animals out of those

489
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 3: because they just really a rock solid backgress, you know.

490
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,720
Speaker 4: And we had.

491
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 3: Talked about, you know, with our with our packs, maybe

492
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,439
Speaker 3: maybe it'd be cool to kind of come up with

493
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 3: a seat, you know type thing that you know, with

494
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,640
Speaker 3: with a pack and try to try to put those

495
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 3: things together that that'd be really cool. And you know,

496
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,479
Speaker 3: and at the same time, I'm thinking, yeah, I got

497
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 3: to find a act that you know, it's going to

498
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:01,679
Speaker 3: work for me.

499
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,439
Speaker 2: And so one thing led to another.

500
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:06,360
Speaker 4: We started talking like, well.

501
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,120
Speaker 3: Why don't we do this?

502
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 4: And so we went to.

503
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 3: The Western Line Expo like we had every year, and

504
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 3: you know, we're just we're just kind of looking at things,

505
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 3: we're talking about things, and we just decided, well, we're

506
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 3: gonna try to do our own thing and and if

507
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 3: if nothing else, it would be something that worked for us. Yep,

508
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 3: because there were things about packs that we liked, we didn't.

509
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 4: Like, and and all of that.

510
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 3: And and again for me personally to have something that

511
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 3: that wouldn't just crush my back, it needed to be

512
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 3: something different, something special. So that's that's kind of how

513
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 3: we how we got started. And then we we started

514
00:25:55,840 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 3: working on it and this was back to the fifteen

515
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 3: early twenty fifteen. We knew we had to have a frame.

516
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 3: We spent three years just designing, testing, and trying to

517
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 3: figure out the frame.

518
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 4: We felt that the rest of it.

519
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 3: You know, was going to be I mean, you don't

520
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 3: reinvent the rest of it per se, but the frame

521
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 3: was something had to be unique and something that was

522
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 3: going to work.

523
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 4: And so we spent the.

524
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 3: Better part of three years working with three different engineering

525
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,640
Speaker 3: firms and trying to figure out that frame. And so

526
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 3: we we finally got it. And next thing, you know,

527
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 3: it was twenty eighteen in February and we were launching

528
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 3: at the westron XBO.

529
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember you guys' first first time there and

530
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: when you guys showed up, and yeah, it was you know,

531
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: it's back then. I think everybody knows we were using

532
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,360
Speaker 1: Kafaro and you know, and it was like we seen

533
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 1: you guys show up, and that's one thing. And these

534
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,919
Speaker 1: guys didn't ask me to say this. I've always had

535
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: tired about you too, is even though you know I

536
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 1: was using a different pack company. You guys were always

537
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: you know, super super nice, you know, welcoming. We could

538
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: sit and talk and it was just I always knew

539
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: from the get go, whether you guys knew how to

540
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,239
Speaker 1: design a pack or not, I knew you guys were

541
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,679
Speaker 1: great guys, you know. Uh so, yeah, you guys, you

542
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: guys showed up, there was something new, and you guys

543
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 1: know the history of packs more me. But I think

544
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 1: to that time, qu was the only other pack company

545
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 1: out there with like a carbon sheet type of frame, right,

546
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: So you guys were were maybe the first to bring

547
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,880
Speaker 1: a I don't want to say it, not that Q's

548
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:36,399
Speaker 1: wasn't custom design, but like the first ones, you know,

549
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: outside of a giant company that was that brought a

550
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: carbon fiber frame to the market. I think other people

551
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: had components, but you guys could do it in the sheet,

552
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:45,880
Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong there.

553
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean to your point. When we start, we

554
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,399
Speaker 2: didn't have a strong opinion that it had to be

555
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 2: carbon fiber, But after we kind of went through the process,

556
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 2: all things pointed like that was the best solution for

557
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 2: what we were trying to accomplish.

558
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:01,159
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think.

559
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,119
Speaker 2: KUU was out there with one. I know back in

560
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 2: the day. You know, some other manufacturers, you know, Mystery

561
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 2: Ranch at one point to tried it way back when,

562
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 2: and I think it did perform well. But I'm honestly Jason,

563
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,400
Speaker 2: as you know, I mean, you've been around carbon fiber,

564
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 2: and I think about just the technology advancements that happened

565
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,400
Speaker 2: within that space. And you know, the point in time

566
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 2: with which we were testing. Had we tried to do

567
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 2: what we did three or four years earlier, the materials

568
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 2: didn't exist right in the form and fashion that we

569
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 2: ended up using. So a lot of things just aligned up,

570
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 2: you know, for the right reason at the right time

571
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 2: for us to be able to kind of develop a

572
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 2: frame that really hadn't been created, you know, a frame

573
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: that allowed you to carry just excessively heavy loads more comfortably.

574
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And you know, like you say, it's

575
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 1: an evolution of the materials, and I've got a material

576
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 1: science background, and you know, it's like all of these things,

577
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: the acceleration over the last ten to fifteen years, and

578
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 1: materials is is you know, it's I don't even know

579
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: what number you put on, a thousand times more than

580
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 1: the history behind it, right, it's just the acceleration of materials.

581
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: And so you know, hitting it right there, and then

582
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,959
Speaker 1: like I say, I did finally get a chance I

583
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 1: finally put one of your guys' packs on. I think

584
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: it was twenty twenty three at Lamper's Western Hunt. My

585
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: competitive side got the best of me, and me and

586
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: Brad Hunt were trying to beat each other's time back

587
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 1: and forth. And I remember telling Lampers, I said this,

588
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: this Joe and Dennis guy. They're lying to me. There's

589
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: not fifty pounds in this pack. They've only put thirty

590
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: on here, so it makes their you know, pack look good.

591
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: It's the old Ata trick. You know, you always all

592
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: these sample bows you always shot a thousand grain arrow

593
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: out of because it makes them quieter, makes them deader

594
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: in the hand. I'm like, oh, this is the greatest

595
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: trick of all time. They put twenty five pounds in

596
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: this pack. Tell me to run up the mountain. I'm like, yeah, no,

597
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 1: but I knew. I told Dirk from then. I'm like, man,

598
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: whether we're using those or not, like regardless, like these

599
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: things carry weight pretty good. And I didn't even have

600
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: it fit right, you know. I remember, you know, I'm

601
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 1: all torso, no no legs, big guy, And I remember

602
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: I just like, heck with it. I'm gonna just start

603
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: strapping straps and clicking straps and I'm just going for it.

604
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 1: And I'm like, even that, you know, worked pretty good,

605
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: and so you know the design it does hold weight

606
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: really well, and I you know, I am excited to

607
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 1: maybe get one set up a little more for my

608
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: my long torso and seeing if you know, how well

609
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: it can really do. And it's it's it's set up right,

610
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 1: So initial Cent. So you guys, you got a product

611
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: you ready to go. You did your field testing the

612
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,360
Speaker 1: name and logo, so initial Ascent. You put the two

613
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: words together, it's the beginning and you're you're you're climbing, right.

614
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 1: Is that? Is that what you guys were going for?

615
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: What is there anything more behind that name or where

616
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:39,520
Speaker 1: where did that come from?

617
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I think you know. So there was

618
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 2: kind of an evolution with the logo, right. You know,

619
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 2: Dennis and I had started, we had, you know, wrote

620
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 2: out a couple of different designs. You know, we're not artists.

621
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 2: Dennis is more autistic than I am by far. But

622
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 2: then we ended up working with a lady that Dennis

623
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 2: had a relationship with from She had done some design

624
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 2: work for you on some other logo stuff, and we

625
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 2: just sent her different ideas and just said, hey, build

626
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 2: off of this like you would. And we did like

627
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 2: the idea that I mean, initial ascent. We were pretty

628
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 2: set on that for kind of similar reasons to what

629
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 2: you talked about. But the actual what we ended up

630
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 2: being our Mountain Dude, which is trademark, you know. So

631
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 2: she she started sending us different samples back and we

632
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 2: got a bunch of varieties on things, and I think

633
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 2: one of them came back that we kind of goofed

634
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 2: or you know, laugh about, is the Mountain Dude actually

635
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,200
Speaker 2: looked like the Burger king Man, I mean just giant.

636
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 2: You know, We're like, that ain't gonna work. You know,

637
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 2: we had some good chuckles around that. But what what

638
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 2: came out of it though, was for both Dennis and

639
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: I when we got the samples back that kind of

640
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 2: had a pretty close resemblance to what you see today.

641
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 2: It was kind of like, man, that is such a

642
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 2: unique design. At first, you're kind of like, what is that?

643
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 2: But we both overnight, you know, kind of slept on it,

644
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 2: and we kept thinking about it throughout the night. It

645
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 2: just kept popping up, popping up, and we had a

646
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 2: similar response the next day and we're talking is like, man,

647
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 2: I can't get that mountain dude, and that's what we

648
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 2: probably just I can't get that mountain dude out of

649
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 2: my mind. And we got similar feedback from other friends

650
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 2: and family as well to where we were kind of like,

651
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 2: you know what, it really it fits all of us,

652
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 2: and we get people asking us all the time, who

653
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 2: is the mountain dude, right, And we firmly believe it's

654
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 2: all of us, you know, because we all aspire to

655
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 2: be that guy right that you know is a true

656
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 2: mountain man. I think at some point or another, we've

657
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 2: all had that desire within our lives, you know, to

658
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 2: be that person and to live that lifestyle. So we

659
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 2: felt like, you know what, that's very fitting to who

660
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 2: our customers are, and the logo fits well for what

661
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 2: we're trying to accomplish.

662
00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always back to the mountain man. I always

663
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 1: feel like I was born like two hundred years later.

664
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 1: I don't know if I was tough enough to actually

665
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 1: be a mountain man, but in my head it seems

666
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 1: like I like doing that stuff more. But I I

667
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: probably like modern medicine and all the amenities a little better.

668
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 1: But it's like, man, I love trapping there were no

669
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 1: regular you know, just do what you want. It was

670
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: a wild West and uh yeah, no, no cool And

671
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 1: uh so, so you guys are you're coming out with

672
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: a pack, like what's your you know, you're looking at

673
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: different fabrics, hardware. You know, I I get to shop

674
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 1: hard where every once in a while, and there's all

675
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: these different grades. It's like, you know, for three cents

676
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: more per buckle, you can buy a better grade, you know. Like,

677
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: so you guys, you guys are going through all of this.

678
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 1: You know, one of the most difficult things I do

679
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: you know any of our sowing goods or any of

680
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 1: our our you know, our our stuff that requires tooling,

681
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 1: you know, to build carbon fiber, you know, you have

682
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: to try to find the sourcing. And then you're like,

683
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: well is this going to be one thousand dollars a framer?

684
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:50,960
Speaker 1: It's gonna be two hundred dollars, you know, like you're

685
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 1: trying to do all this, Like how did was were

686
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 1: you guys? Were you learning as you went? Did you

687
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: guys already have a good base where those engineering firms

688
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:00,680
Speaker 1: that helped you, Like how do you guys bring a

689
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: product to market? You know, for it's easy to build

690
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,040
Speaker 1: one or two and maybe overspend. But when you've got

691
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: to you know, hit margins and do all this in

692
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 1: a way like how'd that process go? You know, finding

693
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: so shops, finding you know, uh, a carbon fiber manufacturer

694
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: with with the tooling and everything to do that.

695
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean back to what didnis It said, we

696
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: kind of divide into conquered, right. We got to a

697
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 2: point within the growth of the company where we had

698
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,640
Speaker 2: to step back and say, okay, because originally when we

699
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,359
Speaker 2: first started, we were both we were both shipping out

700
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,359
Speaker 2: of our houses. Dennis had half the inventory, I had

701
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 2: half of it. And then it got to the points like,

702
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 2: you know, we're gonna have to divide this up, and

703
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 2: we had we had troubles with manufacturers that you know,

704
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 2: where we would get them to a point and then

705
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 2: they would, like our main manufacturer that we started with,

706
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 2: basically fired us in the parking lot. And this was

707
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,680
Speaker 2: in December and we had the Expo coming up, right,

708
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 2: so it's kind of like, oh my gosh moment, and

709
00:34:57,239 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 2: so at that point that's when we said, Okay, Dennis,

710
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 2: you're going to be consumer for Joe. I'm gonna do

711
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 2: all back end business aspects. So I took over the

712
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 2: manufacturing side of things, and at that point we did

713
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,560
Speaker 2: not have a supply chain model in place. We were

714
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 2: not sourcing our own goods. Then we were running it

715
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 2: all through our manufacturer. Grou just fired us in the

716
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 2: parking lot. So over the course of probably sixty to

717
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 2: ninety days, we ended up, you know, working and establishing

718
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 2: relationships with over forty different supply shops that would supply

719
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 2: us the goods right from Brookwood on down. I mean, John,

720
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:37,720
Speaker 2: I mean just there was just so many different places

721
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 2: that we had to go figure out where do we

722
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,400
Speaker 2: even get these materials right? And then getting the credit application,

723
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,399
Speaker 2: I mean, all of those things, getting the customer number

724
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 2: set up. So that took a good sixty to ninety days,

725
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 2: and a lot of those folks it was you know,

726
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 2: sometimes they didn't want to open you yep, right because

727
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,919
Speaker 2: who are you? You guys are nobody. So we worked

728
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 2: through that and then I started really working hard on

729
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out the manufacturing side of it.

730
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,359
Speaker 2: You know. It was literally, as you know, Jason, there

731
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 2: are no secret sauce. It's just like sometimes you just

732
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 2: got to just head down and just go yep, and

733
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 2: I can Remember I had a list over one hundred

734
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:21,280
Speaker 2: different manufacturers that specialized in you know, like a commercial

735
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 2: SoC shop. Knew nothing about him other than I just

736
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 2: done Google search, Google search, trying to get this information.

737
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 2: And you get good at at learning the right questions

738
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,240
Speaker 2: to ask to see if your model will fit into theirs.

739
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 2: But we ended up signing up or partnering with five

740
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 2: different manufacturers during that time period. That got us through

741
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 2: kind of you know a point where man, it was like,

742
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 2: are we going to make it through this or not?

743
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: Right?

744
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:56,200
Speaker 2: Fortunately, we had enough inventory and we were tiny that

745
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 2: there really weren't a lot of disruptions with our manufacturing.

746
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 2: But you know, over that year, the amount of it

747
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 2: stuff that we learned about manufacturing, about supply chain, about

748
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 2: sourcing goods, about forecasting. Yeah, I think it just made

749
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 2: us so much better for long term, made us so

750
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 2: much better. But it's painful, it is.

751
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I knew nothing. I was just a

752
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,720
Speaker 1: dumb engineer, right. I designed bridges and I design roads,

753
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 1: you know, fish passage culverts, and it's like, oh, you're

754
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:27,759
Speaker 1: going to start a business and build out calls. Well,

755
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: it's easy when you're just building a little wood barreled

756
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: calls because I got to just find wood and be

757
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 1: able to turn on a lathe and stop a mouthpiece.

758
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 1: Well then you're designing diaphragms. Well, now I've got to

759
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,319
Speaker 1: find somebody that can stamp out the frame, and I

760
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 1: got to buy the latex, and I got to find

761
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 1: somebody that can print my logo on the tape. Like

762
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 1: and it seems like, just like you guys, the story

763
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: almost mimics it everything we've did, the suppliers have because

764
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:49,960
Speaker 1: we are just a game call company, right and then

765
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 1: in the mass manufacturing world where a nobody our moqs

766
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: are you know the beginning, Yeah, you know, we're just

767
00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:58,719
Speaker 1: barely trying to get to an MOQ where like you know,

768
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,200
Speaker 1: three M Duct is you know, the same company ordering,

769
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:03,920
Speaker 1: Like we don't even want to deal with your stuff,

770
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 1: Like we're just gonna build duct tape for three M.

771
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 1: You know, we're not gonna re And so, like everything

772
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 1: we've did, there's been turnover, and every time I get

773
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 1: bit by not having like a secondary manufacture already on

774
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 1: and so it's like all right, let's pause, let's go

775
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 1: just it's it's real frustrating. But now I think you

776
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 1: guys could maybe say the same thing once you've been

777
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,239
Speaker 1: through it, Like, man, if I could just do this

778
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: all over again, like I would have this dial like

779
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 1: there would have been you know, we still successful, but

780
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:28,880
Speaker 1: like you could have did this in a in a

781
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 1: way that avoided all of the heartache and the you know,

782
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,399
Speaker 1: going to beds at one o'clock in the morning because

783
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: you're trying to, you know, solve all these problems and

784
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 1: manufacturing issues. And no, no, that's that's cool. So actual testing,

785
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: you know, we we go through and I don't know

786
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: what the right terms are, and it's probably not the

787
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: right engineering terms, but like normal use and then like

788
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,360
Speaker 1: where's this thing going to break? Right? And so I imagine

789
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 1: for a pack company, you're like, well, you know, one

790
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,839
Speaker 1: hundred pounds might be normal for somebody. You know, one

791
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,120
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty pounds might be normal for somebody you know,

792
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 1: or crazy buddy Baronio, he might decide to try to

793
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 1: put more than that on it and hang stuff over

794
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 1: the front of him and stay balanced out like so

795
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 1: so on a pack like I feel and I don't

796
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: know if this is gonna come out right, but like

797
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 1: on a game call, it's not the end of the world, Right,

798
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: if if a call fails, you just put another one

799
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 1: in your mouth. So, like, I still do extreme testing.

800
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: I want to know that that thing's durable. But like

801
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,399
Speaker 1: a pack, now, all of a sudden, you're like, all right,

802
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,160
Speaker 1: we probably got a you know, two x a normal load,

803
00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: or we got a three x normal load, but maybe

804
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 1: not you know, jump up and down, you know, So like,

805
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 1: how do you guys torture test these things? And did

806
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: you guys have like a set number or were you

807
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 1: guys just like that should be the max abusest single ever?

808
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: Like what was that process like to make sure that

809
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: your pack frame wasn't going to break in torsion or

810
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 1: you know, obviously in compression carbon fiber is never gonna

811
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:48,920
Speaker 1: have an issue, but you know, the torsion things are

812
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,799
Speaker 1: people tightening down the wings too tight, Like what does

813
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 1: that look like so that you two are confident enough

814
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: to be like, all right, we're gonna sell this to

815
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,399
Speaker 1: to whoever and they're not gonna be able to break

816
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:57,759
Speaker 1: this thing.

817
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of for us, it was kind of

818
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,800
Speaker 3: a trial by fire. We had a bunch of folks

819
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:08,399
Speaker 3: out there that were using the pack that we we

820
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 3: asked you that that got.

821
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,319
Speaker 4: Out a bunch more than we did.

822
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 3: And you know, especially like folks like Dave and you

823
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,439
Speaker 3: know he's hauling thirty to forty elk off the Hill

824
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 3: of Year, you know, for his in its guidance business.

825
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,479
Speaker 1: And it was.

826
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 4: It was one of those deals where we would we would.

827
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,040
Speaker 3: Have a breakage, or we would have a couple you

828
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 3: know that would that would break or or fail in

829
00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 3: one particular spot, and then we go right to our

830
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 3: engineer and say, hey, here's here's the picture, here's what

831
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,799
Speaker 3: it did. What can we do, And so then we

832
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:54,880
Speaker 3: would either add another layer of something there, or we

833
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 3: would change the direction of the carbon fiber.

834
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 2: And so over time.

835
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 3: Of testing and use, they would they would kind of

836
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 3: present themselves and having enough time on the mountain, with

837
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:15,719
Speaker 3: enough people doing different things, it would all just kind

838
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 3: of work out.

839
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,239
Speaker 4: And but the thing was.

840
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 3: Is we were since we were small, we were fair

841
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:25,759
Speaker 3: to nimble, and we were basically having these these frames.

842
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 4: Made to order.

843
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 3: So we would we would call up, you know, hey,

844
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 3: we need another load of frames, and he would send

845
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 3: us eighteen frames at a time, and so we could

846
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:46,480
Speaker 3: make changes through CAD or through the layout process. Because

847
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:48,359
Speaker 3: what we have now as far as the lay up

848
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:54,239
Speaker 3: process is completely different than what we started with. And

849
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 3: it was like we knew what the cake needed to

850
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 3: taste like, but we didn't know the recipe. And so

851
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:05,360
Speaker 3: we had to through our engineer and through our rigorous

852
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,839
Speaker 3: tests and we had to we had to figure that out.

853
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,920
Speaker 3: What we're going to try to do, and we just

854
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,319
Speaker 3: had a meeting this last week is we're actually creating

855
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 3: some tests, some failure type tests where we can actually

856
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:34,440
Speaker 3: put some numbers to this and and be able to

857
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:38,959
Speaker 3: you know, have statistics and all that get get real

858
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 3: scientific with it.

859
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:42,880
Speaker 4: But but also.

860
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 3: When we make changes or when you know, if we

861
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 3: want to try some other technologies, we'll have some numbers

862
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,399
Speaker 3: to back that up. Because we know the frame as

863
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:58,160
Speaker 3: it sits right now is dialed. It works very well.

864
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,880
Speaker 3: But you know, if you go and and we're always

865
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 3: trying to raise the bar on what we're doing and

866
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 3: introducing new technologies here and there, so we want to

867
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 3: have some numbers and definitive numbers that we can use

868
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 3: in testing. But you know, as far as like the

869
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,319
Speaker 3: the amount of weight that it can carry, man, we've

870
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,160
Speaker 3: we've really yet to find out what that is. I mean,

871
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:27,400
Speaker 3: you know, there's been guys that are that have carried

872
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 3: over three hundred pounds with with our pack without failure,

873
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,799
Speaker 3: and that's not going to be most most guys out there,

874
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:38,959
Speaker 3: I mean most guys, you know, most guys I would say,

875
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,760
Speaker 3: probably aren't going to carry over one hundred and twenty

876
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 3: pounds at any point.

877
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 4: So we feel like that if we.

878
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:52,200
Speaker 3: Can take that that you know type of use where

879
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,320
Speaker 3: you're carrying two to three hundred pounds, that's going to

880
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,319
Speaker 3: be you know, great for the average use.

881
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:00,600
Speaker 1: Ye And then I I mean you, I'm sure you

882
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:02,600
Speaker 1: guys look at this like I've always felt like most

883
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,799
Speaker 1: packs do fine with the weight like vertical weight. It's

884
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:08,279
Speaker 1: when the breakage is gonna come when I go to

885
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: take my pack off and set on the ground, or

886
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: I go to like roll my pack off of like

887
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 1: a weird torsion, or it's gonna try to snap something.

888
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,320
Speaker 1: And that's where it's like, man, you just hope we

889
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: either got to design for that and try to like

890
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,280
Speaker 1: take in the most extremes or just hope that people

891
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:24,000
Speaker 1: like take care of their stuff and can realize like,

892
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:27,279
Speaker 1: don't you know you guys have I'm gonna I'm gonna

893
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,280
Speaker 1: use all the wrong terms and you guys are gonna cringe.

894
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 1: But like the way that you guys' pack attaches are

895
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,800
Speaker 1: through wings or fingers, right that come out from the

896
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: stern the central vertical. You know, it's like if somebody

897
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,480
Speaker 1: was to tip the pack and only put it down

898
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:43,759
Speaker 1: on that wing, and you did have one hundred and

899
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 1: twenty five hundred and thirty pounds, You're like, ah, is it?

900
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: You know I probably designed it. You guys have probably

901
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:49,399
Speaker 1: looked at that, but that where I start I start

902
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,320
Speaker 1: to get worried. It is like if you if somebody's

903
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,120
Speaker 1: not paying attention, he goes it, throws it down or

904
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,600
Speaker 1: on a rock or something. But you guys obviously probably

905
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: tested that. But that's one of those things that like

906
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 1: always is a structural engineer, it's like, ah, like I can,

907
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:02,759
Speaker 1: I don't because then you're like, well, I don't want

908
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:05,960
Speaker 1: to make the frame itself ten pounds to account for that.

909
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 1: You know, you need the user to have some input.

910
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 1: But you know, how did you guys handle that? Like

911
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:13,799
Speaker 1: all of these I would call them extreme cases, right,

912
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:16,359
Speaker 1: and that you don't want to have to deal with that,

913
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,640
Speaker 1: but yeah, or or I mean, how what's a track record.

914
00:45:20,719 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know that the packs are solid, like you,

915
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 1: guys just aren't having issues with them or.

916
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:28,640
Speaker 2: So we I mean back to your point, I mean

917
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 2: we had fourteen generations of design changes before we ever

918
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:38,359
Speaker 2: launched right now, that wasn't a perfect frame, but it

919
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,959
Speaker 2: was dang good, right, So since then we've made some change.

920
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:46,680
Speaker 2: I think we're on generation nineteen now, but as we learn,

921
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 2: and I think this is one of the Jason, I

922
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:51,440
Speaker 2: know you you'll appreciate this because you've kind of know,

923
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,360
Speaker 2: you've grown your business, You've been at different phases. You

924
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 2: know where we are now, and being a smaller company,

925
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 2: you can respond so much quicker, right, there's not all

926
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 2: the politics in Bold, and so every time something happened,

927
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 2: we responded right away. To Dennis's point, it wasn't like

928
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:12,399
Speaker 2: it took us ninety days one hundred and twenty days

929
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 2: to respond. We could respond immediately and change our manufacturing

930
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 2: process almost on the spot. And I think that was

931
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 2: the one thing that we did from day one and

932
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 2: we still.

933
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 1: Do to this day.

934
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 2: If we have an issue, we're going to address it

935
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 2: with the customer. Do we have a perfect track record,

936
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:29,560
Speaker 2: zero failures? No, We've had some failures, yep. But do

937
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 2: we have a perfect record when something fails to replace it?

938
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 4: Absolutely?

939
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,360
Speaker 2: Will, you know, because we do a lifetime unconditional warranty

940
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,880
Speaker 2: on the frame, and you know, some of the people

941
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:40,879
Speaker 2: that were some of the toughest on the frame were

942
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,840
Speaker 2: shedhunters because they put so much pressure on those upper

943
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,759
Speaker 2: limbs as well as the load lifters. And you know

944
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:50,399
Speaker 2: it made our pack better though, right, So every time

945
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 2: we had a failure, we addressed it, We fixed it

946
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,000
Speaker 2: to where I mean we feel now. I mean we're

947
00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 2: just with Brian Cole last week talking to him about

948
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:00,880
Speaker 2: some stuff and he said they are driving on a

949
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 2: hunt and all of a sudden his pack goes out

950
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,240
Speaker 2: the back of the truck. It's sixty miles an hour

951
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 2: and it's rolling and tumbling and doing all this and

952
00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:11,439
Speaker 2: there but frames fine, no issues, right, you know, It's

953
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 2: just one of those things where now we feel like, yeah,

954
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:17,280
Speaker 2: you know, we're not going to say it's it's indestructible,

955
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,560
Speaker 2: but it's pretty dangos appropriate approaches.

956
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, gotcha, that's that's awesome. Now do you on this

957
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 1: pack where there you know, the innovations, were there any

958
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:30,040
Speaker 1: first any patent or did you guys just design the

959
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:31,879
Speaker 1: best pack you could, Like, how did that go through

960
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:33,880
Speaker 1: that process? You know, are there any patents? Are there

961
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:34,400
Speaker 1: any first?

962
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:37,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we went through that whole process. We had

963
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:41,920
Speaker 2: lots of discussions with different legal advisors on it, you know,

964
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:45,440
Speaker 2: patent attorneys, et cetera, et cetera. Ultimately we felt like,

965
00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:48,719
Speaker 2: you know what, there wasn't a need to go out

966
00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:52,040
Speaker 2: and do that. Really, there's so much that's involved in

967
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:55,760
Speaker 2: the process that is unique, it would be very difficult

968
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:59,040
Speaker 2: for somebody to go copy it. Jennis made a good

969
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:02,400
Speaker 2: comment earlier when we started down this journey, it was

970
00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:05,920
Speaker 2: literally like baking a cake without a recipe, and we

971
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 2: know that secret sauce nobody else does. Nobody else is

972
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 2: using some of the materials that we're using in the industry,

973
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,759
Speaker 2: and you know, we just opted you know, based on

974
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,879
Speaker 2: that feedback from from from Council that we didn't really

975
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:20,239
Speaker 2: need to go down that path with it.

976
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've, I mean we've we've been on all sides.

977
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:25,680
Speaker 1: We you know, I own a couple of patents or

978
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:27,960
Speaker 1: I'm the designer own a couple of patents and you've

979
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:30,359
Speaker 1: had people violate them, and then you realize once again,

980
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: we're only in the game call world, and for us

981
00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:34,000
Speaker 1: to go and force it's going to cost a whole

982
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,600
Speaker 1: lot more money than we may even make off of it.

983
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:38,280
Speaker 1: So let's just out market them. You know, we've protected

984
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:42,280
Speaker 1: ourselves with some other patents and it's worked well. But yeah,

985
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:45,759
Speaker 1: it's not like we're Ford Motor Company designing something that

986
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,080
Speaker 1: all cars in the future, you know, are you know

987
00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:50,880
Speaker 1: what I mean like a market or a segment of

988
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:53,360
Speaker 1: business that's way bigger than than what we're dealing with.

989
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,320
Speaker 1: And we kind of made the same decision moving forward.

990
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:58,400
Speaker 1: If I don't design something that that's gonna you know,

991
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:00,839
Speaker 1: be be groundbreaking, then we're not even going to mess

992
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:02,880
Speaker 1: with it. It's too expensive, it's too expensive to defend.

993
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:06,120
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah it just build the best pack you can,

994
00:49:06,239 --> 00:49:08,840
Speaker 1: market it, be a good person, get the right people

995
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:11,799
Speaker 1: using it, and like should take care of itself. Yep, yep.

996
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:16,040
Speaker 1: So where I mean the initial cent, you guys have

997
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 1: got the three K, the five K, the eight K

998
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:20,840
Speaker 1: is correct, the three, five and eight and then you

999
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:25,120
Speaker 1: guys have a day pack two different frames like things

1000
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:27,319
Speaker 1: are things are? You know from my seat you know

1001
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: outside looking in, you know, just paying attention to socials,

1002
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 1: which isn't always the best indicator, but like things are

1003
00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:35,040
Speaker 1: cranking themes, things seem to be going better, you know,

1004
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:38,560
Speaker 1: new products, new accessories. Where does the business go, Where

1005
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 1: does the growth go? Like, what what's your guys's focus?

1006
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:43,160
Speaker 1: You guys just driving deep on packs? You know, like

1007
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 1: a lot of other pack companies, Are you guys going

1008
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:47,360
Speaker 1: to expand into different categories? Like where's the future of

1009
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:49,759
Speaker 1: initial scent and how you guys looking at that?

1010
00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we will always be a primary pack manufacturer,

1011
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 2: right that, that is our primary, but there's a lot

1012
00:49:57,640 --> 00:49:59,879
Speaker 2: adjacencies that we feel like, hey, we can go bring

1013
00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:03,480
Speaker 2: in innovation into that space. You know, our goal is

1014
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:06,160
Speaker 2: never to be you know, quote a me too company.

1015
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 2: You know, we always want to bring innovation. That's what

1016
00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 2: that's what excites us. I mean from day one, you know,

1017
00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 2: innovation around the frame is what got us excited to

1018
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:17,440
Speaker 2: bring something new to market that betters the hunting community.

1019
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:20,799
Speaker 2: So you'll see us continue to expand. I mean I

1020
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:22,680
Speaker 2: shared with you earlier, Jason, you know some of the

1021
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,600
Speaker 2: newer products that we're working on, right, you know that

1022
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:29,120
Speaker 2: that fit within the portfolio of a backpack manufacturer. But hey,

1023
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,680
Speaker 2: do we see ourselves going on developing you know, sleeping

1024
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:35,359
Speaker 2: bags and tepees and tents. No, that that probably doesn't fit.

1025
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:39,080
Speaker 2: There's a lot of opportunity. It's you know, it's a

1026
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:42,440
Speaker 2: huge market, you know, the backpack space and kind of

1027
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:47,279
Speaker 2: those adjacent categories. In the same breath, we we want

1028
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:50,400
Speaker 2: to make sure what we're producing is of the highest

1029
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 2: quality and standards, right. You know, at one point I

1030
00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:55,600
Speaker 2: worked for a company di Woult that you know, just

1031
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:59,239
Speaker 2: about everybody knows. I could have had de Wault underwear

1032
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 2: at one point and I would have hit my number

1033
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 2: every year just on that because it was such a big,

1034
00:51:04,239 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 2: powerful brand. We don't want to lose sight to what

1035
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:09,440
Speaker 2: we stand for and what we're trying to, you know,

1036
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:13,840
Speaker 2: build and produce every single year. As far as innovated products.

1037
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, it's it is. It's stuff you kind

1038
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:18,040
Speaker 1: of get stuck in the rat race of you know,

1039
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:20,239
Speaker 1: how do you sell more? How do you sell more calls?

1040
00:51:20,239 --> 00:51:23,319
Speaker 1: How do I grow this? And with that some of

1041
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:27,960
Speaker 1: the quick nimbleness, the ability to design the best regardless

1042
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,479
Speaker 1: of price, regardless of margins can come in and uh yeah,

1043
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:36,759
Speaker 1: I like that. You know that that model and and

1044
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: uh being able to be quick to make changes and

1045
00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:43,320
Speaker 1: and you know, innovate and improvise and uh so it

1046
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:45,319
Speaker 1: sounds like you guys are staying pretty vertical in the pact,

1047
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:46,880
Speaker 1: at least for the foreseeable future.

1048
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:49,160
Speaker 2: We are, but I think you know, from a distribution

1049
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:51,719
Speaker 2: we've always been D two C up until about a

1050
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:55,760
Speaker 2: year and a half ago. And you know, we've changed

1051
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:58,080
Speaker 2: our model right to where now we're working with a

1052
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 2: couple of companies like go hunt and black o US.

1053
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 2: But then we got into the retail space for shields,

1054
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,440
Speaker 2: I mean, and we feel like, you know, that's a

1055
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,560
Speaker 2: whole channel of opportunity for us. I think it makes

1056
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:10,879
Speaker 2: us better too as a brand, right, It makes us

1057
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 2: think about more further down the path, right, because when

1058
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,400
Speaker 2: you design a product, now you know you have to

1059
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:18,920
Speaker 2: pay Okay, how are we gonna do packaging?

1060
00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:19,279
Speaker 1: Right?

1061
00:52:19,719 --> 00:52:21,200
Speaker 2: How are we gonna you know, you got a U,

1062
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:23,040
Speaker 2: B C codes, You gotta all these things that you

1063
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 2: don't have to do on a on A on a

1064
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,239
Speaker 2: D two C you know. Business model that just makes

1065
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:33,200
Speaker 2: us better. And so we're super excited about those opportunities

1066
00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:35,840
Speaker 2: to work with those partners.

1067
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:39,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Shields is as great as good at a

1068
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:41,319
Speaker 1: partner as we can get. You know, not that the

1069
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:43,399
Speaker 1: others are bad, but Shields has been awesome to work

1070
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:46,440
Speaker 1: with and and not to not to use this as

1071
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:49,000
Speaker 1: an opportunity, but one thing being a D two C company,

1072
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:50,880
Speaker 1: if we can't meet up with you guys at Western

1073
00:52:50,920 --> 00:52:53,359
Speaker 1: Hunter out a trade show like testing these things out,

1074
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:55,440
Speaker 1: so Shields will be a that is a great option

1075
00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:57,200
Speaker 1: right now for people that may want to may not

1076
00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:58,600
Speaker 1: want to travel to a show, or may not have

1077
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:00,839
Speaker 1: the ability. There's going to be some select Shields where

1078
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:03,239
Speaker 1: people can actually go, you know, put one on, try

1079
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:12,040
Speaker 1: one on, and how they fit that that that's that's good. So, uh,

1080
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,200
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about new product We've talked about

1081
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:18,640
Speaker 1: the you know, the business and growth, like what's the

1082
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:21,400
Speaker 1: road ahead? Like where do you guys see initial assent

1083
00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:24,000
Speaker 1: in five or ten years? You know, some of that

1084
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:25,520
Speaker 1: does have to do with that product line, but like

1085
00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 1: where are you guys going, what do you hope to

1086
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 1: see out of this? What's that future look like? If

1087
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 1: you could plan it?

1088
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'll go I'm curious. We can kind

1089
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:36,440
Speaker 2: of both speak to them, but you know, for me,

1090
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 2: I think it's evolved honestly, Jason. You know, when you

1091
00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:44,400
Speaker 2: first get into the the business or start a business

1092
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:48,200
Speaker 2: up that's consumer driven, product driven. Yeah, I think there's

1093
00:53:48,239 --> 00:53:51,160
Speaker 2: this dream as to home, man, is this going to work?

1094
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:51,719
Speaker 1: Right?

1095
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:53,880
Speaker 2: Are we actually going to be successful with it?

1096
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 5: And you know, with with everything that was going on,

1097
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:01,440
Speaker 5: including COVID, yeah, there was a lot of years there

1098
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:03,360
Speaker 5: where we were like, I don't know, I don't know

1099
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:04,240
Speaker 5: if it's going to work.

1100
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:06,239
Speaker 2: Long term or not. And you know, we've always grown

1101
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:10,319
Speaker 2: a year over year, but here over the last two

1102
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,839
Speaker 2: and a half years, it's been hyper hyper growth right

1103
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:16,239
Speaker 2: to where now it's no longer a question as to hey,

1104
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 2: is this business going to make it? Now it's like

1105
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:20,640
Speaker 2: what do we want to make of the business?

1106
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:21,000
Speaker 1: Right?

1107
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:24,360
Speaker 2: Which is a different, different conversation, And you know, I

1108
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,000
Speaker 2: think that continues to evolve for us. But what we

1109
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 2: do feel confident is is we're going to continue to

1110
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,520
Speaker 2: bring the best product to the market and we feel

1111
00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:35,640
Speaker 2: like there is a ton of opportunity of growth. You know,

1112
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:39,120
Speaker 2: if you think about it, how big the backpack market is. Right,

1113
00:54:39,480 --> 00:54:41,680
Speaker 2: we are just a spec on the backside of an

1114
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,280
Speaker 2: elephant right now. You know, as far as the size

1115
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,360
Speaker 2: of company, So we feel like there's a ton of

1116
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:50,520
Speaker 2: growth opportunities as we continue to bring on more products

1117
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 2: as well, continue to expand our relationship, you know, into

1118
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:58,719
Speaker 2: more retail spaces with shields this things. We feel like

1119
00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 2: it's going to get pretty pretty big.

1120
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:04,040
Speaker 1: Hurry. Yeah. I just I just love how the competition

1121
00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:06,279
Speaker 1: within the pack space and the technology of change. I

1122
00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,160
Speaker 1: can remember, you know, when I learned a backpack hunt.

1123
00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:10,960
Speaker 1: I was a poor college kid that was like, all right,

1124
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:13,839
Speaker 1: I can do a Cabella's Alaskan Extreme with a five

1125
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:16,160
Speaker 1: thousand cupakinch bag on it. And then you hunt for

1126
00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:17,640
Speaker 1: a couple of years and you realize like, this isn't

1127
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:19,880
Speaker 1: the best pack. So then you go to a data

1128
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:22,799
Speaker 1: designs like terror Frame, right, and that's that was a

1129
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:25,239
Speaker 1: real good pack, but external and more of a hiker pack,

1130
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:27,759
Speaker 1: not necessarily hunting pack, but it worked great. And then

1131
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:30,239
Speaker 1: you know your roll and the and and so I

1132
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:33,600
Speaker 1: just love that technologies moved to a point you got

1133
00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:37,360
Speaker 1: you know, companies like yourself, guys that are passionate and

1134
00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:40,000
Speaker 1: got great product out there. And I just like to see.

1135
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:42,680
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm a you know, an engineering nerd. I'm

1136
00:55:42,719 --> 00:55:46,560
Speaker 1: a materials nerd, and so to like see see the change,

1137
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,279
Speaker 1: you know, from where I started, even in my own

1138
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 1: hunting you know, my own hunting adventures to where where

1139
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:54,759
Speaker 1: I'm at, and I'm excited to be able to get

1140
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 1: to hopefully strap big old bulls down on that pack

1141
00:55:57,640 --> 00:55:59,799
Speaker 1: or a big you know, pack out and entire boned

1142
00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:02,839
Speaker 1: out deer or whatever it may be, and be able

1143
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 1: to kind of relate to that story of you know,

1144
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:08,959
Speaker 1: really similar to my own story, you know, maybe maybe

1145
00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:10,560
Speaker 1: a few years ahead, because we did start back in

1146
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:12,200
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, and we caught our big break

1147
00:56:12,239 --> 00:56:15,080
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, and then I was fortunate to ride

1148
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 1: like the beginning of that COVID bubble which shot every

1149
00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:20,680
Speaker 1: company through the through the moon and then created a

1150
00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:22,960
Speaker 1: lot of issues on the backside with how do you

1151
00:56:23,040 --> 00:56:25,879
Speaker 1: keep up with those numbers? But uh no, I'm I'm

1152
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:28,080
Speaker 1: excited to get to know you guys better, excited to

1153
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:30,719
Speaker 1: get to work with you guys. And uh that's not

1154
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:32,120
Speaker 1: why I had you on here. I wanted you guys

1155
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:34,720
Speaker 1: to talk about your story, you know, talk about your product.

1156
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:36,920
Speaker 1: Why you guys you know, are passionate about it, and

1157
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:38,560
Speaker 1: you know what hunters can get out of that, and

1158
00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:41,920
Speaker 1: like I said, I would be lying to say that

1159
00:56:41,960 --> 00:56:43,600
Speaker 1: I've I've went up on the mountain and you know,

1160
00:56:43,719 --> 00:56:45,960
Speaker 1: packed my camp and an elk out yet, but the

1161
00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:48,800
Speaker 1: little bit I have got to run it. Been very impressed,

1162
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:50,880
Speaker 1: you know, me and Dirk what I think this is

1163
00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:53,200
Speaker 1: where these guys probably fibbed to us again where they

1164
00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:54,759
Speaker 1: said they had one hundred and fifty pounds on our

1165
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:57,680
Speaker 1: back at the show, but I'm thinking it was seventy five.

1166
00:56:57,680 --> 00:56:59,479
Speaker 1: But I know, you know, Dirk was able to stand

1167
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:02,759
Speaker 1: straight up, and I'm excited to get out and test

1168
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:05,160
Speaker 1: these things we got spring Bear, you know, shoot right

1169
00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:07,279
Speaker 1: around the corner. I think I'm twenty two, twenty three

1170
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:11,280
Speaker 1: days away from from hopefully giving a big old BlackBerry

1171
00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:11,759
Speaker 1: right out of the.

1172
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:14,840
Speaker 2: Mountains in one thank Yeah, that's awesome.

1173
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:17,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else, you know, how do how do our

1174
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:19,560
Speaker 1: listeners find you? How do they find out more about

1175
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 1: Initial Ascent, what you guys got going on the adventures?

1176
00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:24,800
Speaker 1: Everybody wear an Initial Ascent all of that.

1177
00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:28,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they can find us course at our website

1178
00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:33,880
Speaker 3: initial ascent dot com, all the social platforms we're on.

1179
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:39,040
Speaker 3: Our YouTube channel is pretty special because anything.

1180
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:40,520
Speaker 4: You want to know about our gear.

1181
00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:45,200
Speaker 3: How to use it, just tips and tricks is on

1182
00:57:45,240 --> 00:57:50,360
Speaker 3: that YouTube channel initial Cent. So yeah, it's we're pretty

1183
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:51,280
Speaker 3: easy to get a hold of.

1184
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:56,480
Speaker 1: Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, really appreciate having you guys on. Look

1185
00:57:56,520 --> 00:57:58,240
Speaker 1: forward to getting to know you guys better as we

1186
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:00,840
Speaker 1: work together moving forward. And uh, I can't thank you

1187
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:03,600
Speaker 1: guys enough. If you're interested in a you know, a pack,

1188
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,280
Speaker 1: you know, looking into something, definitely go check these guys out.

1189
00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:09,320
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for joining Joe and Dennis, and uh yeah,

1190
00:58:09,360 --> 00:58:11,360
Speaker 1: I can't wait to start. Like I say, share some

1191
00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:13,480
Speaker 1: pictures hopefully with you guys or some video with some

1192
00:58:13,480 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: some critters in them.

1193
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:15,560
Speaker 4: Were excited.

1194
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:24,480
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. M m.

1195
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:34,280
Speaker 2: M m m

1196
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:36,800
Speaker 3: M