Smith Rock Setup And Purpose

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Recorded on February 16th, 2026 at Smith Rock State Park, Story Booth presents a conversation with Oregon Outdoor Alliance founders Vince Losler and Gary Bracelet. This session preserves and showcases the origin and mission of the OOA to foster connection, innovation, and growth within Oregon's outdoor sector.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Alrighty, boys. Here we go. Take some layers off. Get comfortable. It's like a little spaceship in here.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

It is cool. So beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Well, we're we're demonstrating our ability to produce outside. So yes, you are. This is uh this is this is why we're part of Oregon Outdoor Alliance right here.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

That's it. What we're doing. Yeah, we're doing in the outdoors. We're uh Yeah.

What OOA Means For Connection

SPEAKER_03 1:29

I mean, what 14 years ago? I bet you guys never pictured we'd be sitting at Smith Rock. I mean, think about what you guys have started, you know, Oregon Outdoor Alliance. This has been a really fun project to prepare for because I've learned a lot. So, you know, who's the audience for this? It's it's people in the outdoor industry, it's fellow Oregonians, it's it's you know, fellow Americans, other states. I mean, the ripple effect that you guys have had in terms of uh community inside the outdoor industry has been really remarkable. So I wanted to start by saying bravo. Like, you know, uh, we're here today to kind of share the story of OOA, and every story has a beginning. But I thought for context, we're gonna start with a little audio from Susan Streibel, just to let our listeners get a little sense of what OOA is.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

OOA just became this like resource for people to get to know each other, to get into the outdoor industry, to find jobs, um, look for candidates, um, get help with a particular challenge they were having in their business. And so that's really what Van and Gary and others um started with with Oregon Outdoor Alliance. Every affinity group needs a group to coalesce around that is um driving the community aspect and places for people to gather and share ideas and support each other. That's what OOA was really born around. And I think it's just a model and inspiration for anybody in any industry that wants to feel more connected. And I think we all want that now. When we talked about COVID, then it's sort of like I think during that time we really realized what we were missing, and that's that human connection and that in-person experience and those serendipitous moments where you find yourself talking to somebody that you just met and you realize they hold the solution to the problem you've been trying to solve. I mean, the universe just works in those amazing ways. I think that's the bigger theme is like people who are seeking like inspiration around human connection and community could turn to this podcast and hopefully be inspired to start something or join something like this.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Cool. Gentlemen, well done. You know what I love about what Susan highlights there is the value and and w really any professional organization is not necessarily the industry that the organization is built around, but it's the people with the shared passion within the industry that become a community. And that like when I listen to that audio, that's what I hear. So yeah, I mean it's it's been a lot of fun to kind of learn, uh, like I said, this ripple effect. So um, you two. You two were at the beginning of this story, so I thought, you know, for listeners, like like I've told Gary before, I I'm convinced that anything new, whether it's a brand or an organization, is is kind of an extension of the people that start it. Uh, and you two both have fascinating careers in the outdoor industry. So many people listening to this will know your guys' story, and and hopefully many people won't, and they're learning about this for the first time. And so I thought I would let you guys kind of introduce yourselves, talk a little bit about, you know, kind of some of the highlights of your career in the outdoor industry that positioned you well to kind of pivot into this kind of early leadership role of of forming this organization back and or or being chosen to start investigating this organization back in 2011. So, Van, my friend, we'll start with you.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

Thanks, Adam. Uh, thanks for pulling this together. It's really fun to tell this story, and I think I think it's important to tell it because you know, we're here in 2026, you know, with uh a great organization. It's fun to look back on it and how it started. And and uh I think it's really important to understand where it came from. So yeah, I I have an outdoor industry background. I was with uh Eddie Bauer for a number of years, so I have a retail background, was the gear guy at Eddie Bauer, got to do all the fun stuff developing uh backpacks and gadgets and watches and sunglasses and all that stuff at Eddie Bauer. Super fun job. Uh was with them about 10 years, and one of my vendors was uh was Stanley, uh Thermos Bottles. So I uh had an opportunity to go over to Stanley and uh be the product manager. And this is a hundred-year-old brand that, you know, at that time, to be honest with you, is kind of running out of gas. And the company that bought Stanley hired me to kind of come in and say, you know, here van, what what are you gonna do with this brand? And I sure didn't want to screw it up. And so we worked on uh a point of view that was outdoors. You know, let's take salie the outdoors, camping, um, you know, really enjoying the social part of the outdoors. And uh that's what the brand really became. Um super fun ride as a product manager, but then I really enjoyed sales. So I mean that's me just being out front, even as a product manager, working at the trade shows, working with the buyers, really enjoyed going out with the reps, you know, uh talking about the line and stuff. So pretty easy transition into sales, became the sales manager and um uh had uh about 35 reps across the country that you know I was kind of I call it cat herding. Gary knows, Gary knows about that. He's got all of that in his background, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Yeah, the sales process and well, really in any industry, but especially the outdoor industry is is a wild ride, man. The cast of characters that make up the crew. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and so uh as a sales manager, I could really base just about anywhere. This uh Stanley's based in Seattle, but they were okay with me moving to Bend, Oregon. And uh so I uh transitioned to Bend, still, you know, traveled out of out of Bend for my territory and went up to what year was it you moved to Bend? 2010. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Hard to believe that 16 years ago. I know, man.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

It's gone fast. It's gone so fast. Yeah. And so uh, you know, had you know, when I when I landed, I guess I expected to see a lot of Gary bracels around and and pee where's my peeps, you know, and and it was a little hard to connect, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

And by that you mean people like uh fellow outdoor industry veterans, like people who have have uh made a career of kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Our tribe, you know, where's the tribe? Yeah. And uh I think that at that time, 2010, you think about that's a recession. And and it's funny, my wife and I were pulling into town with a moving truck, and we saw moving trucks go in the other direction. Like, where's everybody going? And I think a lot of it was obviously uh, you know, Ben was Ben was on a downturn.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Yeah, that was an interesting time for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Yeah. So um keep going with that story because uh uh well, you know, before before, because that'll be a nice spot for where because I'm imagining that's around when you guys met each other, yeah, was was kind of some of that early 2011 community gathering with this focus in mind. So yeah, very cool. Were you with Stanley like with their whole kind of rebrand to all the colors and like this new? I've been really impressed. Great question.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Yeah, probably became one of the hottest brands on the planet. No, um, and part of me's uh sad that I missed that, and part of me's happy. So uh I left in 2018. Okay. I left Stanley, yeah. And so they really geared up in 2020 and uh brought in this whole idea of color selling to females, uh, the younger the better. You know, just that brand got hot across the planet. Uh social media came into it, influtters, all that kind of stuff. Uh someone nailed it. Very different brand.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Someone nailed it. Very good. All right. Well, thank you. All right, Mr. Braceland, Professor Braceland. I've learned so much from you in the last 18 months, buddy. But uh tell a little bit people who don't know you about yourself.

SPEAKER_06 10:16

Yeah, let's see. I mean, I guess I have a similar story to, you know, Van is uh I worked in the outdoor industry, you know, first as a rep and then uh later had a rep group and then as a sales director and consultant in the industry building brands on a national global level. Um moved to Bend in I don't know, 34 years ago, 9192. Yeah. And um, you know, really moved here because I wanted to be closer to the outdoors and participate in the sports that I was promoting and selling.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Which was primarily snowboarding.

SPEAKER_06 10:56

At the time, yeah, it was primarily action sports and snowboarding. And um, you know, really thought, as Van said, that there'd be more outdoor people here. I mean, that's I was living in Portland, and uh, you know, the wife said, let's move to Bend. I'm like, that's a great idea. In those days, the uh WWSRA demo days was here, and there was a lot of uh accounts in town. Bachelor was a big account, and it's like, yeah, I'll actually get to spend two extra weeks a year at home and uh by living there, and really thought there'd be more outdoor community here, and it was really kind of um, you know, small and and disconnected back then, and you'd see people at school and and you know, see them at the trade show, it's see you back home, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:48

It's interesting, dude. I I've I was thinking about this time, like this point in time and why there wasn't this a more established community that you guys observed. And when you start looking at kind of the timeline of the transition from Central Oregon from a timber industry to a recreational industry, you know that the you know, guys like Bob Woodward in the 70s, 80s, 90s were establishing these newer sports, but they were the exception, not the norm. It was a small town, so there wasn't that many people to, you know, participate in these things. But by the time the 90s rolled around, those sports had been established big enough that where businesses were being built around them in urban areas, but the best place to do them was often not where the businesses were headquartered.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

No, exactly. I mean, even when I moved here, you know, it's like people were like, Well, what are you gonna do? I'm like, uh, same thing I do now. Um, you know, but the the thought process back then is you had to be in a major urban area: Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, uh, Portland. And um, I wanted to move here to where I just rode my mountain bike out the driveway and went to the mountain. Yeah. Um I was 20 minutes from the mountain. Um, and uh yeah, it was it seemed like a huge disconnect back then, but uh the community's definitely grown since then.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Yeah, man. I mean, some of the infrastructure is to the point now where some of those hang-ups for, you know, businesses 25 years ago have softened a little bit, you know, in some ways, but in other ways they've gotten more challenging too.

SPEAKER_06 13:29

So yeah, I mean, when I first moved here, you couldn't fly anywhere besides Portland.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 13:34

Um, you know, that Seattle nonstop went in and it changed my life. I could fly to Seattle and see REI Zoomies, you know, Mr. Rags, uh whoever else, Nordstroms, and fly home in the same day, you know. Um so yeah, it's changed.

Recruiting Companies Versus Growing Locals

SPEAKER_03 13:53

I love it. So you guys both have the like phenomenal backgrounds that we could do a a podcast in and of itself on your own industry background, but you guys kind of your your paths kind of converge around 2011 when there's some um interest from kind of the the kind of civic leaders of Bend and trying to kind of um spark some growth within the economy and new industries trying to branch out from you know, construction and hospitality and tourism and healthcare and you know, I mean outdoor seems pretty obvious. Gary, you shared a list of I think there were five in like areas of industry that were identified, you know, kind of tech, outdoor, food um, I can't recall the other ones, but you guys somehow got either volunteered or elected to kind of lead the charge on trying to grow that outdoor industry sector in Bend. So talk a little bit about it. I mean, where did where'd you guys first meet?

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Right I was actually part of an organization called uh in fact it's still around, Bend Economic Development Advisory Board. So B Dab, when I first got to town, um I somehow got tapped for that. I think it was because I had an outdoor background, and as Gary said, that was uh, you know, maybe a focus for the you know the area to grow that. So I got to know a few people um and got elected to to BDAB and was on that. And I think um, you know, at at some point we got Edco uh in involved in, you know, interested in obviously what a you know divers that diversify the economy here. So it kind of started with these uh we call them round tables, but basically, you know, uh getting some some people together in the industry to talk about, you know, what you know, what are some things we could do to grow to grow the uh uh the outdoor you know community here. I mean obviously it's a great place to start a company. Uh why are why isn't there more happening?

SPEAKER_03 15:58

And you guys were focusing on trying to recruit people in at one point, correct? Correct.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

That was the starting point.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

And uh they were, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:05

Yeah. Yeah, I think I think they're you know, let's uh let's think about why would why would they do that? It was an easy way to um, you know, uh at that time there were other cities doing that. Now if you if you look at that time frame, uh Ogden, Utah was big on recruiting. Um I think Boulder was was growing in that vein, Salt Lake City, and what these cities were doing, they were giving uh incentives, business incentives, tax incentives, whatever you want to call it, at a state level, maybe even local level to do that. And we looked at that and went, wow, that's a fat that's a good way to grow quickly. Let's try that. And uh so that was kind of where I think EDCO started. We were honestly a long floor. We just wanted help it grow, whatever, and they were more the leaders in that thought process. And we said, okay, how can we help?

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Yeah. And I mean, talk a little bit about some of those uh first attempts of you know getting people to to consider that.

SPEAKER_06 17:02

Well, and you to add on to you know what uh Van was saying, I mean, it was coming out of the recession. Yeah, as you know, they were trying to diversify from some of the industries that you were talking about. And the both Edco and the City Abandoned another group called Looking Forward had kind of identified outdoor, food and bev, bioscience, tech, and believe it or not, UAV. Yeah. Um drones. Right. And those were the businesses or the industries they felt were already somewhat here and um that they could grow upon to diversify the economy. And I believe it was Edco started doing the outdoor roundtables and um, you know, hitting up some of us old timers uh in the industry to, you know, come and uh they'd ply us with pizza and beer and ask us for uh, you know, names of uh CEOs or decision makers at companies, and they were gonna go to OR and and recruit people to move here. Um but you know, getting a big company like Marmot from Santa Rosa or something to move here with 200 employees was unrealistic. And you'd go to OR and you know, those people come in a day late and they leave a day early and they're booked the whole time we're here. And you can't just show up and shake their hand and go, hey, Ben's a great place, you should move there. And so, you know, we kind of were part of that group that was uh invited to these outdoor roundtables. And, you know, after a while, people quit coming because um, you know, food and and pizza and beer only goes so far to get people to show up. And um we kind of started talking that what we needed to do was kind of turn the tables on the round table and make it a value for the companies that were coming and showing up. And that instead of trying to recruit companies here, what we really needed to do was support the companies that were already here and grow them and make something go on here in central Oregon to create the synergy and to create this, you know, flame that made everybody go, What the hell is going on in Bend? Yeah. And that's when I think things started to change.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

I think I think what we realized too, the feedback we were getting at these uh Gary refers to OR, it's the outdoor retailer trade show, it's the big national trade show. And so you think about the Edco guys going down, great guys, you know, they're economic development guys, they're not outdoor guys. And even we'd even tell them how to dress. Don't show up in and we called them shiny shoes, and you gotta look the look and look the part. And they did as good a job as they could to sell to sell Ben. I mean, they did. I I give them credit for for the effort. But at the same time, the pushback was A, it's a recession, we're we're hunkered down. B, uh, where's Ben? Oh, and and tell me about your uh your infrastructure, your transportation, all the things that would, you know, make a vibrant headquarters for a company to move here. And tell me about your workers and and and by the way, if uh if we hired people and they didn't like Ben, is there other companies they could go to? All that our answer was no, no, no, tough, tough, tough. And so some of that was like I think that's when Gary and I also with that feedback, we looked at each other and said, Oh man, these guys don't get it. We we have it here, let's just build it. Yeah, and then that it's likely to, like you said, light the match and it's gotta go from there.

SPEAKER_06 20:36

Yeah, you build it and they will come.

Bob Woodward And Early Gatherings

SPEAKER_03 20:39

Well, I mean, sixteen, seventeen years later, you know, like I said, what you guys built, like like this my business story booth is a direct product, you know, where we're at today is a is a result of, you know, because I know Bend Outdoor Works and OOA kind of develop kind of in a parallel timeline with a similar mission but a a different focus, if you will. Um, but yeah, I mean there's there's been many, many businesses now, not just from Ben, but across a whole state that have benefited from this. Like it was really fun to spend like really learning about um like just the network that you guys have created. And so so yeah, so you you you guys you saw the writing on the wall. I mean, yeah, I think Gary, at one point you had talked to me a little bit about um your old buddy Bob Woodward and kind of his uh RIP, his uh um life experience and his kind of development of things and involvement of different other outdoor organizations like Coda and um you know, so he had he was he influential and kind of you guys in the early formation of OOA? Pretty pretty big time, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_06 21:53

Yeah, I mean for sure. I mean I I consider Bob to be the OG outdoor guy here. And um when we decided, you know, we we went to Edco and said, hey, we'd like to kind of take this thing and run with it. And they were the spark that started it, and we turned it into a flame, so to speak. But um, with their blessing, we took off and you know, took the outdoor round table to OOA, Oregon Outdoor Alliance. And it just wouldn't seem right um to do it without Bob and to include his wisdom and vision in that when he was, you know, one of the original guys we all looked up to. And I mean, I still remember as a young guy in the industry, and once I moved from, you know, I was in Portland in the industry and then moved to Bend, and everybody was like, What are you gonna do there? you know, like I said. And um one of the first questions when you'd be at a trade show or something and you'd be, you know, I'm from Bend, it's like, Oh, do you know Bob Woodward? Sure, yeah. And it's like, uh, well Yeah. You know, he's the mayor right now.

unknown 22:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:59

He's on TV with how get outdoors with Bob. Right. And so um yeah, you know, I was a a young rep and I was like, Well, I'm gonna get to know Bob then, you know, because everybody that's the first thing anybody in the outdoor industry thought of when you said Ben Dorgan. Yeah. Um was Bob.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Yeah, he was way ahead of the curve.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Yeah, my yeah, was uh before I met Gary, um same thing. I'm moving into my house and flip on the TV and I see this show Outdoors with Bob. I'm like, this is this is Bob Wood. I knew him for the industry, and he had a he had an industry newsletter called Snooze, and he was, you know, we'd read that every week, and he was up on that's he published that and he was up on everything going on in the outdoor industry. And like, I gotta reach out to this guy.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

So yeah, that guy was fascinating, brilliant dude. Fantastic, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:47

Well, what I loved is, you know, you'd go sit down with the guy and you'd just start talking story, you know, and he'd come up with some story about Franz Klomer or Alberta Tomba, you know, that you know, he'd been at the Olympics with them covering the Olympics, and he drank all they drank all night long and then still showed up and won the gold medal the next day, you know. I mean, just the stories that came out of that guy. He was the original OG, as you said, you know.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Yeah. But he had but he had he had the same, in a way, you know, Gary and I, maybe in our own minds, had had a dream, and he he had a similar dream. And I think he felt that approach to um, you know, to go to the outdoor retailer show that was probably wasn't gonna work, but he was willing. He did a lot of introductions. He he was he kind of he he played along with us, and when that didn't pan out, and we we kind of pulled back and said, let's do it here, he was all about it. Yeah, he was all in and really helped us pull together people, got the word out that we're gonna we're gonna get together.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

So you guys organized your first um first event at Pine Mountain. Keep that mic nice and close, Van. Yeah, I just want to make sure that's it.

SPEAKER_06 25:33

And even before that, you know, we reached out to Bob and some others and assembled that group. Yeah. And and we met at picnic tables for many, many weeks. That's right. You know, weeks and and that trying to figure out what we what this would look like. And uh, you know, whether it was just a central Oregon thing or statewide thing, you know, there's OIA, uh Outdoor Industries of America, but come to find out there wasn't anything in Oregon um that was a state chapter of that or anything. And um, I remember reaching out to Prosper Portland because they had kind of an outdoor thing going on in Portland and said, hey, we're getting this thing going on in central Oregon and would maybe like to collaborate with you. And and they were, you know, um our main focus is in Portland. And so, you know, I think it was Bob that said, you know, think bigger, right? And let's let's take this statewide. Um I think uh Van's got some good stories about that.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Yeah. Yeah, no, I think uh yeah, some of this was a bounce out of that first meeting that we had. And and again, I I'm thinking back 2000 was it eleven we had the for the Pine Mountain, maybe 2012, that first meeting. And and I'm not I'm not just trying to think how would the word have gotten out. I guess you call I guess we had you know cell phones and all that. But anyway, you spread the word, hey, show up at Pine Mountain six o'clock after Dan shuts down the store. We're gonna we're gonna get together, we've got some beer. Oh, beer? Oh, really? Yeah, free beer. Come on. So uh 75 people had showed up at that first meeting. And uh it was uh uh amazing. Uh just the energy in the room, people that would say, I didn't know you were here, look at look who's here, and and just introductions, went around the room.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

The spark, man.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

Uh the spark was spark was lit.

SPEAKER_06 27:28

And uh yeah. And yeah, I mean, I think at that meeting we definitely realized that there was enough interest and uh momentum in this idea that there was something behind it. Um really, you know, for me, it was that next meeting that we had at Hydro Flask and had a group of people show up upstairs in the old Hydro Flask building. And you start looking around, and like Senator Wyden's representative showed up, and there was politicians in the room, and it's like, oh wow, you know, this could really be something because we are the voice of the outdoor industry, which is a big industry in the state, man.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

I mean, yeah, I didn't I had no idea it was an eight billion over an eight billion dollar a year rent like industry and in just the state of Oregon. Yeah, and and that doesn't include kind of the the second third order kind of industries that are affected through the outdoor, like tourism, you know, like that's just it's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

It's huge, it's absolutely huge, and that's it's kind of a well-kept secret. We wanna we wanna get that secret out there for sure. Yeah, but uh yeah, back to back to that. I would just I want to reflect back and uh embellish a little bit that first meeting because a lot of things came out of that. Um I for some reason I was leading it, I guess. And uh I remember Gary, you spoke at the meeting, uh, and uh and uh Will uh from Roughware, uh Roughware, you know, locally based company. So you want to share your story why they're there. Uh people in the audience were were listening closely about you know what's going on. And um I think uh Steve Curley from SBDC stood up and and we could start to see is and Edco was in the room in a big way, a lot of their staff. So you kind of see that all of a sudden there was support there. There was you you could also almost imagine partnerships that could come together. And um I think um at one point uh Woody spoke, he he wasn't big on public speaking. He was kind of a you know, wanted to be a low-key guy. We did say to him, Woody, you helped start Coda and uh and the uh OIA, you were part of that. So what do you think? And um he said, Yeah, we should get something together. So we kind of, you know, there was kind of a, you know, at the end of the speakers and stuff, I said, Hey, what do you guys think about getting together, you know, as an industry more often? Everybody's like, hell yeah, let's do this. You know, everybody in the room was just all about it, and you could just feel the energy and stuff, and it was so great. And I think uh I just asked for volunteers to do a steering committee. I said, Well, yeah, if we're gonna do this, we've got to plan some meetings. So, and then uh some hands shot up. Gary was in, um Pam Stevenson, Renee uh Patrick, Rob Little, of course, Woody was there, guy named Nick Hill from drink tanks, and that became our kind of our core uh, you know, as a steering committee that that just you know would plan future meetings, like Gary said, Hydro Flask, and we'd you know, we'd we kind of go from there.

Naming OOA Then Building BAO

SPEAKER_03 30:32

But yeah, I love it, man. I love it. I mean it's um yeah, it it's it's it it seems to me like the growth early on was pretty rapid. I mean it went it seemed pretty quickly you guys were starting to like Gary was starting to allude to like um like people were starting to take notice, um like you know, decision makers around the state and thought leaders were starting to see, you know, maybe recognize this industry that's starting to uh form a community and starting to do stuff uh in Central Oregon. Um I mean w at what point did you guys, you know, and and I guess for people not listening, Gary, talk a little bit about this same time you started Bao, which is you know a little bit more of a focused um outdoor industry specific startup accelerator brand accelerator program that um I guess my impression of Bao compared to OOA would be OOA creates a network of people in an industry uh where you can learn from each other. Bow is, you know, it's it's like a crash course MBA in the outdoor industry, you know, where it when it comes um you know to to brand development and all the way to I mean everything, marketing, sales, you name it. So but you know, you guys just started your what co you just started your what cohort is this? Good God. I was part of like the oh, that's bad because I was just part of the last one.

SPEAKER_06 32:07

I can't keep track of how many there, so I just say it's a 2026 cohort. I think it's like 14 or something like that. That's amazing. We've worked with over 40 companies now, had half a dozen exits or or whatever, but that's you know, not necessarily what it's all about. But yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, there's nothing wrong with a a company that's a 10, 20 year overnight success story that uh, you know, provides living wage jobs and um all of that. But yeah, um, you know, both of them were born out of kind of the outdoor round table. Um, you know, as I said first, you know, Van and I kind of went to Edco and said, hey, you know, these things are, you know, starting to falter out a little bit. And what we'd like to do is make them um, you know, a value for the companies here in Central Oregon and and help give them a platform to share resources and get to know each other. Because, you know, back in those days, there was nowhere that, you know, all these outdoor people could come together and get to know each other better and to help each other and to share resources and provide peer-to-peer support. Um, so yeah, we went to Edco and and kind of said, Hey, we'd like to take this. And and with their blessing, we did. And and we saw that uh, you know, quickly there was an interest in um more support for the outdoor industry, and people wanted to connect and get together. And as Van said, that first meeting was 75 people, and quickly, you know, the the next few meetings got to over 100, almost 200 people showing up.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

That's what I mean, this quick momentum. Yeah, to the point where all of a sudden you guys were filing as a to be a property.

SPEAKER_04 33:56

Well, we knew we had 501c, exactly. We did we knew we had something, and we weren't quite sure what it was. We we we and to Gary's point, we had you know legislators showing up, and we're like, man, what what does all this mean? And I think one of the things we um uh just you know thinking about how we kind of uh wrapped our arms around that is what what are we gonna call ourselves? Who who are we? You know, and I think we spent some time early on just trying to figure out well, if we're gonna name ourselves, what is it exactly? Well, who are we to begin with? And then maybe you could come up with a name and and uh we wrestled with that for a while.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

Yeah. And as you said, I think it was Woody that said, think bigger. You know, don't be Central Oregon Outdoor Alliance, be the Oregon outdoor.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Central Oregon. Well, first we're thinking Ben. Well, we're bent, yeah, but what about Central Oregon? And then it went from there. And then Woody just stopped everybody and said, Hold on, you guys aren't thinking big enough. He said, call it Oregon. He goes, Claim it. And he said, This thing's gonna be statewide eventually anyway. It's gonna affect the whole state. And it has.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

I mean he was he was right on the money because now you guys have expanded into the five chapters now. Yeah. So talk which which kind of regions are have their own chapter?

SPEAKER_04 35:08

Uh well, in addition to Ben Portland, uh Hood River, Southern Oregon, and uh also Willamette Valley now.

SPEAKER_06 35:16

And and then kind of you know, back to your question, Adam. You know, we quickly saw what OOA could be. You know, it's a platform for you know outdoor companies to come together, connect, share resources, um, you know, peer-to-peer support. Um and you know, that was kind of the macro. It was wider, but maybe not as deep. And so I think shortly after that we saw a need. And and at that time, you know, the tech industry was really big. There was a lot of um tech refugees, as I call them, from uh, you know, San Francisco, Seattle that were coming here. And most of the support in the startup was the uh, you know, the tech world. And so, you know, I kind of saw that we needed to give outdoor companies the same support. So where OOA was macro and helped provide and connect resources on a much broader level, that there was still a need in helping uh good companies survive that desert of death of good companies that didn't have good resources, right? So I looked at that kind of and said, you know, maybe what we need to do is take this tech accelerator incubator model and apply it to outdoor products. And um, where, you know, OOA was the macro and the connecting point for all of these companies, but couldn't really maybe go deep with the companies that Bao would fill that gap.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:56

And that we couldn't help everybody, but we could take a few companies and go deep with them and provide the resources that they needed. Um so yeah, Bao was born shortly after, uh, at that same time out of the same spark.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, we looked at, you know, um we started thinking about membership, you know, what would what could that look like? Uh, you know, what would be the benefits of being a member? And uh you think about, well, let's see, you got you got Bao uh as a partner, you've got you know, Edco if you need space, uh SBDC for coaching, uh Business Oregon, maybe funding. So we we had all these partners that we thought, well, you know, if you know, looking at as a you know, somebody might want to join, that those are all resources for a company or a you know an individual. So um, and we you know we landed on our kind of our byline is connecting and cultivating the outdoor industry. And that's what we still do today.

From Meetups To Policy Influence

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah, you guys do a really good job of it, really good job of it. And it's crazy that you know, you think about like passing app for beer money to like membership, you know, registered with the state, like uh influence legislation uh and involved in legislation around, you know, stuff that has that has direct impact on the outdoor industry, correct? I mean, like you you guys have what that weren't you in what what house bill was it? Like uh I had it memorized and I can't remember. It's like 3350. 3350. Yeah. Um were you involved with that, man?

SPEAKER_04 38:27

Is that I would I have definitely had a piece in it. Um I uh I would say on the bill side, but not as much. Uh I wasn't in Salem, but I helped recruit the guy who ended up getting the job. And I was part of that um uh Road to the Outdoors, which really that group kind of led to uh they led uh um the effort to get that bill passed as well. And then Gary was part of that as well, though. 3350, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:52

Yeah. Wallenfells and I both spent a lot of time in Salem crafting that bill for a couple different years, um, that eventually turned into bill, House Bill 3450 or whatever it was.

Practical Advice For Founders

SPEAKER_03 39:06

Yeah, man. I would have liked to see you over in the Capitol doing that. You're going back on Wednesday, come with me. Yeah, man. Jerry looks great in a suit and tie. I don't think I've ever seen that look. But I mean it is pretty impressive. You know, you go from like 2011, you know, 11, like cold calling CEOs uh to come to bend, you know, to like 2017. Um, you know, you've that's kind of when that all that legislation was starting, you know, like there's it's a lot of growth in a quick amount of time, in my opinion. Like it's I've as having started a business, nothing good happens quick. It takes time, you know. Um but to see the the impact and the reach that you guys have done in a pretty short amount of time is is pretty phenomenal and it's inspired other states. I mean, there's I was reading there's like 17 other states have kind of developed an uh outdoor kind of industry alliances around that's you know, inspired by Central Oregon. And there's like a national organization, and I don't know when that that you know, the state outdoor business association. Um I don't know when that that was developed, but you know, this this having worked and grown up in the outdoor industry and then you know being passionate about outdoor uh activity, um, it's it's good to to really learn about how this stuff works because you take it for granted, you know. So I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it a lot. Um do you guys have any advice for kind of the the like people either new entrepreneurs or people, you know, kind of developing brands that that have some degree of um take up some space in outdoor industry other than then the obvious just get involved?

SPEAKER_04 40:55

I mean, yeah, I'll just uh chime in and I know Gary's got a little deeper knowledge, but when I rolled off of uh Stanley um in 2018, I started a little company called Basecamp Oregon. So just uh, you know, helping uh small uh outdoor companies uh grow their sales. And that's my lane. I love doing that. And so what I see in working with uh founders is you know, they um they start a company and they've got um limited resources, right? And and so um, you know, they maybe are good at uh product or they're good at um sales or marketing. They're they're good at one one or two things, but there's so many other things to make a successful business happen. And I guess what I see right away is just you gotta you gotta round it out. Uh you can't do everything. First of all, focus, pick your lane, and and that'll help you decide um, you know, or help you uh monitor your resources and then get people to help you. You can't hire probably right away, but get get contractors to help you, have a vision, and and get some help to, you know, to to move your business forward.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

Yeah, I mean when you say you gotta round it out, like what what I'm what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_04 42:07

So I'm thinking sales, marketing, uh supply chain, finance, um all the different buckets to make a business run. Exactly, to make it run successfully. And and you know, it's frustrating. I know as a founder, you can't you try to do it all, you can't, probably don't either have the expertise or the time, and you start to burn out and uh you know, or drop the balls or or or or so it's uh you know, and it's not always, you know, financially it's not easy to you know to make those things happen either to get people to come in and help you, but usually um that's the way you're gonna grow. And um, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

Yeah, and as Van said, you know, usually entrepreneurs aren't good at everything. Um so you have to find, you know, fortify your weaknesses and and um play on to your strengths. And in the outdoor industry, very often um entrepreneurs are cobblers, they're product people. They want to make something better, faster, stronger, warmer, drier. Um and um they don't always know all the other phases of business. And um, yeah, that's something I think you know we focus on in BAO a lot is finding those weaknesses and fortifying those weaknesses. Um and um, you know, it's a it's a lonely vacuum being an entrepreneur. You don't know who to listen to, which direction to go. And to um Dan's point, you know, reach out, get help, um, ask questions, um, find people who are willing to help. And in Bend, we've been really lucky because there's a lot of those people. It's a very unique community. It's 1.5 degrees of separation. And you know, if you need to get to somebody, they're willing to give you the time to help you get to where you need to go.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

It's so true, and so unique. And and the this the the talent pool is just phenotyp like mind blowing.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

Well, that's one of the uh one of the great things about coming to the beer 30s. I mean, that's where you meet up with people. I mean, that's that's what I forgot.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

And and I I know I know Tin Barrel was an old sponsor. Oh, yeah. I thought I don't drink anymore, so I got an athletic. But uh I thought uh, you know.

SPEAKER_04 44:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

You know, so product placement. You don't have to drink it. But uh yeah. Um yeah, cheers, boys. Cheers. Cheers, yeah, it was fun. Boom.

SPEAKER_04 44:38

I'm gonna drink mine. You should. So uh but anyway, I just to tie that up a little bit. I think those meetings, it's you it's it's amazing who you'll meet in a meeting. You know, you're in uh, you know, maybe you're looking for a graphic designer or something for your business, and you come to a beer 30 and there'll be two or three of them there. You know, it's I gotta talk to those guys, and things can happen. Like Gary said, this uh this this uh whole ecosystem in Benn is is great for that. Just meet people quickly and people ready to jump in and help you.

Serendipity Stories And Hiring Wins

SPEAKER_06 45:10

And that's what OOA is all about. And I mean, I think that's you know, one of its biggest strengths is I used to always make the joke you go to a coffee shop and build a company in this town by just oh, there's my product person, there's my salesperson, my marketing person. Um, you know, but that's if you knew who those people were in the Coffee shop, right? And and with OOA, it created a platform to where we could all connect and share resources. And you know, a couple of my favorite stories about that is um at one OOA meeting, I think it was a Christmas meeting or uh event, and um I'm sitting at a table with my wife, and somebody comes up and says, you know, is this space available? And sure, have a seat and sits down and starts talking about how they're new to town and they'd worked for this big outdoor company, didn't want to mention it, you know. I'm like, uh, oh, you worked for Patagonia, huh? You know, because I pegged them about that quick from what they were saying and what they were wearing. But um uh, you know, and then somebody else came and sat down on the other side of us and ended up hiring that person for a gig. Um, and we've seen that at OOA meetings several times. People show up, you meet the right person, and and you know, you're working with them. Um, or another one of my favorite stories is you know, Tosh Roy um had free range backpacks and was, you know, looking to make a differentiation of his product and was looking for a sublimation machine to be able to sublimate um graphics onto his bags and connected him with a local company here that had a sublimation machine and all of a sudden a whole new product line's launched for him.

SPEAKER_03 46:58

Another local outdoor company.

SPEAKER_06 47:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

No, it's the the the the community.

SPEAKER_06 47:04

Just connecting the dots. Yeah.

unknown 47:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

I I uh everybody I spoke to, whether it was and I, you know, I didn't end it up using all the audio of all the different people I spoke to, but whether it was um uh you know, Susan or Deanne, or I mean uh I I talked to um uh yeah Renee, Dan uh at Pine Mountain. I mean they all just had like um very fond memories of kind of like the the the relationships with the people that they formed. That was the kind of the common denominator, right? It's the people which is what I why opened with that audio from Susan is because it it really is about the people that you meet within the industry, right? Like I you know, it's all about finding common bonds with people, and most people that are drawn to the outdoor industry, you can maybe disagree about a lot, but you can you know, the but like the shared passion of the being outdoors, you know, is is uh a really good common interest to have.

SPEAKER_06 48:13

Yeah, more alike than different. Yes. And there's some great people in the industry that have the passion for what they do.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Some of my I mean m most of my best friends in my life, you know, I met in through the outdoor industry. I could easily say that. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_06 48:29

Well, I love seeing that shirt you're wearing there, by the way. Uh yeah. Court Alane, something or other. I remember some uh Grom in a snowboard shop back in the day in Court d'Alene.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Did you know that van? The first time I ever met Gary, I was uh probably 13, working probably illegally in North Idaho in the snowboard shop, and he was our Moro rep. And I was I tuned boards in the back. Yeah, man. It was great. Yeah. And here we are today. Here we are today, buddy. I I tell you that often, I'm lucky. Um, well, I uh this is great. I mean, I I I wanted to play kind of a testimonial for you guys, but also just for listeners, um, as we as we kind of wrap up here. And and I think this is the exact person you were just sharing the story about. Uh so that's that's uh good timing here.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

So the outdoor industry used to have the big trade shows where everyone would gather, and those don't exist. Outdoor retailer is being reimagined, so there is like this understanding that people need to gather, and so one thing that OOA has done that's great is it offers this chance for people to come together, creating this ecosystem that's pretty unique. As entrepreneurs in Bend, there is a really nice ecosystem that exists. I see OOA as being the kind of the anchor for the outdoor industry. Really, it's just this incredible network of individuals who are very excited to both share what they know and be welcoming. Really understanding as an organization what your value proposition is is important, and OOA has a lot of value propositions. One of them for us was we want to be engaging with local talent and knowing who's here. A lot of times you don't know, and we're a national organization, like we sell around the world, and we have people who work for us around the world as well, but we also really want to invest in Bend and we want to be situated in Bend. And so going to an OOA, like we met our bankers, US Bank, and so we transitioned all of our banking here to Bend. And then we were needing some design help. I was at a um a Christmas event and met this woman, Emma, who had worked at Patagonia. It was a really easy way for me to like meet her. We did a project together, and then another woman, Nicole, who had worked at REI and had worked at Nike, had so much experience on inventory. There's so much talent here in Bend. And it's hard sometimes to know who's here and who's not here and who's available. And so OFOA is great for that. So I would say, like, if you're a person who's a professional who's either looking for some work, or if you're a company who's needing some projects, or even needing a full-time employee, OFOA is a great place for that. I'm Deanne Buck. I am the CEO of Brandwin, and we make performance interwear designed here in Bend, Oregon. And I would say my last thoughts on OOA are it's just such a great organization, a great connection, and great people. And probably two of my favorites are who you're talking to, Van and Gary. Asking how his jump roping is going. Get the biggest kick out of it.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

Ah, DM. Yeah, so how is your jump roping? Did you hear that? I did. I heard you're I heard you guys have some jump roping challenges.

What OOA Changed In Bend

SPEAKER_04 52:49

I can do I I can do 21. Yeah. And DM does probably 121. Yeah, yeah. She's a great one.

SPEAKER_06 52:58

Yeah, you know, I mean, the really cool thing about, you know, hearing all that is um, you know, a lot of times you'll be talking to somebody and they'll say, Wow, you know, Ben's really a hub of the outdoor industry. And it's like, oh wow, you know, that's kind of cool to hear, you know, you get a little kind of smile on your face or whatever. And it wasn't always that way, you know, as as she said, it you know, there was it was um you know, fractured, disconnected, there was a lot of people here, you know, but there wasn't a platform for us to all get together before OOA. And um, you know, I think um yeah, twelve or fourteen years ago people, you know, weren't saying that as much. And uh to hear it now, it's it's pretty cool. It's really cool, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:55

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

Well, fellas, I mean, is there anything that I we didn't talk about that we should? I I feel like we we we gave people a pretty good first pass kind of story of of where OOA came from, why it uh developed and who developed it. So I I guess I would just, you know, I'm a member, I would encourage any uh business in Oregon or in any other state where they have this type of uh professional industry alliance and community to uh lean into it, man, because it's um yeah, there's there's uh the dividends, it's it's amazing. Like there this the value there is uh you can't really put a price tag on it, really. You know? So well thanks, fellas. This was fun. I mean, that's not a bad view for a podcast studio.

SPEAKER_06 54:48

No, this is pretty crazy. First club. Good for you and for capturing this and what a beautiful place this is.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Well, it's a privilege to be able to um get to do our first kind of video production that was based on what we learned through Bao with you and you uh outside in the industry. I mean, we're sitting somewhere. Smith Rock in the 80s was a one of the massive kind of sectors of outdoor sport that you know created part of the buzz around Central Oregon.

SPEAKER_06 55:22

Drew a lot of people here to start.

SPEAKER_03 55:25

You know, I mean, this is the like the birthplace of freestyle climbing. Yeah, you know, so like it's and I I would venture to say there's probably never been a podcast produced out here like this. You're probably right. Um thanks for uh participating, fellas. This was fun. Thanks for having us. All right, right on, cool. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

To learn more and get involved, visit Oregon Outdoor Alliance.org.

unknown 55:58

Story booth.