How I Built This with Guy Raz - Advice Line with Scott Tannen of Boll & Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring (2025)

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

CEO and co-founder of Boll & Branch, Scott Tannen joins Ring founder Jamie Siminoff and Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage entrepreneurs. Plus, Jamie and Guy talk about how creating repeat customers often comes from creating social good.  First, we hear from Melita in Toronto who's wondering whether to continue bootstrapping her organic clothing business. Then Eric in the Sunshine State asks which direction to take to grow his sunscreen apparel lines. And Chris in Alpine Meadows, California, is trying to figure out how to get his sleek binoculars into the hands of more people.Thank you to the founders of Q for Quinn, L Cubed Lifestyle, and Nocs Provisions. If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [e-mail] or call 1-800-433-1298.And be sure to listen to the story of how Jamie founded Ring from our episode back in 2020, as well as his appearance on the Advice Line in 2024.. And how Scott and his wife Missy started Boll & Branch, a story they told on the show in 2024.This episode was produced by J.C. Howard with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.Follow How I Built This:Instagram → @howibuiltthisX → @HowIBuiltThisFacebook → How I Built ThisFollow Guy Raz:Instagram → @guy.razYoutube → guy_razX → @guyrazSubstack → guyraz.substack.comWebsite → guyraz.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone. So this week we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes of the Advice Line. It's the episode with the founder of Bowling Branch, Scott Tannen, and the founder of Ring, Jamie Siminoff, who actually both went to high school together. And actually, next week, Jamie will also be joining me on a very special 10th anniversary episode of how I built. This has been 10 years. And we've got a really, really cool look back to celebrate a decade of the show and the hundreds of stories we've had a chance to share with you. look out for that. But for now, this episode with Jamie and Scott is a really fun one at first ran in December of 2025, and I hope you enjoy it. Hello and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week, I'm joined by a legendary founder,

a former guest on this show who will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you like help with. All right, let's get to it. This week, I'm joined by two founders, Scott Tannen of Bull and Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring back on the advice line. Scott, Jamie, it's great to have both of you back on the show. Thanks for having us. Great to be here.

So, Jamie, you were first on how I built this back in 2020. You've already been on an advice line. So you are a double alum. And Scott, you were on the show in 2024. And as always, if you guys haven't heard those episodes, we will put a link to them in the show notes, really great episodes. Jamie, you built the incredible ring doorbell, which is now an entire home security system that you sold to Amazon. And now you are back running it. We'll get to that in a sec. And Scott, you and your wife, Missy, founded the bedding and linens brand, Bull and Branch. It's such an awesome brand. And the reason why we have both of you on the show together, because people are like, why are you having these two? to guys, it's weird, like, spitting sheets and ring systems? Like, what is up with that? Well, it's because both of these guys went to high school together. They asked if they could come back on together to do an advice line, right? You guys met in high school. We did. And Jamie, Jamie actually drove me to school, so I've been riding his coattails ever since. Wow. And not like that, I mean, the class was like 60 kids. So it's just like wild that like this tiny

little school in New Jersey and one of the people comes out and is a hugely successful sheets guy. It's incredible. And neither of you guys had, like, you wouldn't have put your money on either of you guys in high school. You'd be like, these are the horses that are going to win the race. We were the least two you would have bet on. I'd say myself, but definitely at the bottom. I think Scott was maybe in the middle, but yeah, we were definitely low on the list. Your teachers, Jamie, were like, all right, there he is, like taking apart a radio again and like not paying attention.

And Scott, they were like, I don't know how this kid's getting into Vanderbilt. There was no reason I got into Vanderbilt. I got rejected, waitlisted, and then they're like, nobody else will come. And you remember the story. You begs. You like rode and rode and wrote. It's unbelievable. There's like a really smart Scott Tannett out there that applied to Vanderbilt and they just like missed like they like it.

It was like a switch to birth thing. But you guys still keep in touch, right? We do. Yeah. And you just had like a reunion, like a high school reunion? It was like the 30th, right? 30th. We're that old.

Wow. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Every time we get together, we go to this hole in the wall. steak place called Sammy is in Meddham, New Jersey. And it is a hole in the wall. Yeah. And every time they end up kicking us out at the end of the night, they're like,

all right, you guys, we're done. We're done with you. Yeah, we're done. But it's still the same place, like prime ribs and whatever and steaks and shops. And like beef, fat fries. Oh, nice. Oh, it is so good. Before we get to our callers, Jamie, brief update from you.

You are back in the driver seat ring, right? Yeah. So you're back running this now bigger organization that it was when you're you stepped aside, right? I mean, it's more people and bigger operation. It's about the same as when I, I mean, it was still pretty big when I stepped aside. So it's about, I'd say about the same. But we're, I mean, we're doing more now. It's just, it's incredible kind of what the business is doing. And especially with AI, what we can impact now is, is like really unbelievable. Yeah. And tell me what some of the, the ideas or plans or initiatives are. I mean, obviously, this is a competitive space. There are lots of

people in this business ring is probably at the top of that list in terms of its market share. But how do you sort of acquire more customers? Is it about price at the end of the day? Is it about technology? What is it about? I think you do it by earning trust with your customers. They reward us when they buy a product. So if you show people that you are better for them, better for their neighborhood, I do think they'll reward us with buying more products, putting more products in, more people will get it. I think you win by inventing, by leading, by truly sort of changing the world, not by looking in the rearview mirror and trying to, you know, see what a competitor is doing. Scott, give us an update when you're last in the show. You and Missy your wife were still running the brand, a Boland branch. I'm assuming you're, to tell me what's going on.

Yeah, so Missy's kept me around. Good. We're still married. We're still married and running the business. The order probably depends on the day. But yeah, we've opened seven stores this year. We're going to open another seven next year. So, yeah, the business just continues to grow. We feel very fortunate. And where are you opening stores right now? Is it mostly East Coast? It's all over the country. We just opened Bethesda, Maryland, but the store before that was in Edina, Minnesota. So we tend to be on the eastern half of the country just from an operational logistics standpoint.

But as we look at 2027, we're going to hit the West Coast. Awesome. Well, we guys ready to take the first call? Let's do it. All right. Hello, you are on advice line with Scott Tannen and Jamie Simenoff. Tell us your name, where you're calling from. Just one line about your business, please.

Sure. Hi, Guy. Hi, Scott. Hi, Jamie. I'm so excited to be here today. My name is Melita Cyril. I'm calling from Toronto, Ontario, and Canada. My business is Q for Quinn.

We make high-quality socks and underwear made from organic cotton and marina wool so that they're gentle on our skin and our planet. Awesome. Well, thanks for calling in, Malita. So, okay, Q for Quinn. Tell me a little bit about this business. How did you, when did you start it? and what were you doing at the time?

Sure. I started the business about eight years ago. My first bond, I have three kids now. He was 10 months at the time, and he suffered from eczema. I was not working. I had a stressful corporate jobs as a derivatives trader and a management consultant, and it was really taking time off and being a mom. And so when he had eczema, I researched different fabrics.

I found organic cotton onesies, but I couldn't find organic cotton socks. And that's when I had the idea to make my own organic cotton socks. So we started with kid's socks, but as we sort of grew, we added adult socks and underwear. And we've been growing pretty nicely, especially in the last few years. Amazing. And tell me, where are you making the clothing, for example? Sure. The socks are made in Portugal.

Okay. And the underwear is made in India. And you, I mean, I understand your son's situation, but, like, it's, why did you decide to get into socks and underwear? So socks was because I couldn't find organic cotton socks. But once I started doing a lot more research on the textile industry and fabrics, I really learned how dirty the textile industry is. There's a lot of chemicals in our clothing, especially those made from synthetic fibers. And from the beginning, our customers were those with allergies and sensitive skin.

But as there's more and more research coming out, we're seeing a lot more people switching to natural fibers and seeing a lot more market demand. I think Scott might be seeing this too. And give us a sense of your sales. What are you guys doing right now? Sure. So this year, we hope to close in mid-7 figures in revenue. Nice.

You don't need our help. Maybe you should give us advice. I'm going to send you my resume. All right. And before I forget, tell us your question for us. Sure. So we've been growing pretty nicely. We've reached mid-seven figures.

we've been profitable and we've been bootstrapping this business. My husband joined me full time this year, so we're also a husband and wife team. But we have three kids and this is our family's income. So going forward, I want to do a lot of things. I want to grow faster. I want to really build our market share in a very fast growing market here. So should we continue to bootstrap our business or should we think about bringing on strategic investors who can help us really provide the money as well as the advice

to grow even faster and take more market share. Awesome. Okay, I want to bring in Jamie and Scott. Guys, first of all, thoughts, ideas, questions for Melita. Scott, you're going to start it off because you might know something about organic cotton. Yeah, I am such a fan, Melita, of what you're doing. Thank you. Bootstrapping is always going to be the way that it's best to protect that vision.

That doesn't necessarily mean that it's the way you're going to grow fastest and those sorts of things. So I think that there is, look, your story is my story. And in fact, I will tell you that I called the Jamie Simeonoff advice line when I was like right at the same place in the business where we bootstrapped. We felt like we needed cash because we wanted to grow faster. And I remember the advice Jamie gave me, which was take the cash and take as little as you possibly need so you can maintain the control. Because at the end of the day, as soon as you take money from an investor, your number one goal moves from whatever. whatever it is today to providing a shareholder return. And there's an expectation from those shareholders that you're going to pick up the phone, you're going to talk to them. And you really don't want someone to

say to you, you know, if we switch to conventional cotton, could we expand our margins a little bit? Because the answer is yes, but it's not something you really want to do. And it is your choice still when it's your own business. Yeah. And that makes a lot of sense. I mean, we are going in the direction of completely like biodegradable compostable gum. And so everything from, you know, we just started sourcing and launch a new collection with rubber, cotton elastic. So we're doing all the innovation. And it's expensive. But I think that's how we're different to your point. And that's something I want to maintain as I build this brand. Yeah. And I would just, I would just, I mean, I think it's taking one dollar, taking a million dollars, taking 10 million. It's kind of,

once you do that, you are crossing like a line. Like it is like sort of breaking a barrier. And so I would be very considerate about that. And Scott and I would have long talks about it of like, if you're going to take a dollar, you're taking, like, it's going to change the business. And so you have to realize that, like, that first dollar you take is a big step, no matter how many dollars it is. And to Scott's point, whatever the amount is, times it by five or 10, because that's what they want back. So that's really what you're taking. If you take a million dollars, you're really taking 10 million because you've got to give 10 million back. That's what their, their expectation is. And that's, they are aligned with you. So it's not that all investors are bad. They, like, you're going to also be

successful if they're successful. But it is a different pressure. And there is no right answer here. So it's like I'd just be very considerate about like, would you rather go slower and have 100% control? Would you rather sort of breach the barrier and have like less control? But again, a little bit less stress because trust me, I think both Scott and I can tell you we totally understand that. I know what it's like to have sort of everything in the business and nothing in the tank left over. Melita, I have a question for you. What categories would you want to expand out into?

Right now you're underwear and socks. Where would you want to go? So our next more obvious one that we're working on is at leisure, because when you sweat, you are more likely to absorb some of these chemicals. We actually just launched our sports bra, and it's been quite successful. So that's given us some signals of, you know, where can we have that intersection between undergarments as well as athletic wear? I like love everything you're doing from my, like, hearing it because

you are going after these big categories where, by the way, there's not one winner. This is not a winner takes all. Look at Allo. Allo is this massive multi-billion dollar company, I think. Yeah. Like there's Lula Lemon. And it's just sort of just sitting there also. And it's just like all you can grow so big with and stick to your guns and what you're doing is your mission.

I love it. Is there any scenario or any, any kind of time that it might make sense to bring someone on or? I mean, you took it a little later in the, right? Yeah, I did. I mean, I took it at a point where I continue to fund with debt. And so it just got to the point where Missy went to Target and she got approved for a $20 credit limit. I was like, okay, it's probably time to think about this. So we did it from the standpoint of getting ourselves personally out of debt.

I mean, three kids. I mean, I'm serious. Your story is my story. And honestly, we took some off the table at that point, too, to help us de-risk. So we felt like, all right, now we're at a spot where we can. with clear heads align with these investors and really go for it because we were worrying about, you know, servicing debt and doing those sorts of things, even though we were profitable. Right.

Yeah, I would say, I mean, I think there's consensus here that maybe now is not the exact right time, but when you can point to sort of the clearest growth channel, right, that's working, that's predictable. I mean, I have to imagine the margin on socks are, the margins are pretty good. Yes. And your customers are willing to pay a premium because they're people who are sort of of conscious and aware of natural materials. And that's a category, I think, that is just ripe for an explosion because at leisure wear is

still largely made up of plastic, right? I mean, it is petroleum-based. And increasingly people are like, you know, I do want to just, I want to go back to, I want to have cotton or merino wool. And it's just harder to find those things. You would find them in the 70s. But today, performance wear is not made from natural material. So I think there is an opportunity.

very few people are making good stuff yet. It's still early days. It's like trying to make sweet stuff without using sugar. It's still a little challenging. Yeah, that's why it just feels so like I just want to go, go, go, because it's such, it feels like such a right market for disruption. You are a founder and an entrepreneur. We all have the same, we're all wired the same,

which is like we just, but sometimes it is like, you know, just taking a little bit of a pause and like letting it happen. From the outside, you can always, it's easier to look as like a coach. Yeah. But trust me, I did the same thing. I mean, I couldn't leave a single sale to not. I had to move as fast as I could. I couldn't help it.

Yeah. Thank you. Melita, thank you so much for calling in. The brand is called Q for Quinn. By the way, I didn't ask you. Who's Quinn? So Quinn is my son's middle name. He was named after my grandmother, Queenie, who passed away sadly just before he was born.

So it's a special name. Awesome. Awesome. I love it. Cue for Quinn, good luck. Thanks for calling in. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know if you guys, I don't know if you guys have looked around, but I've gotten into like, I wear, you know, I'll wear the viories and lulu lemons and aloes. I wear them all, I'm obviously.

But I do, increasingly, I'm looking for like all natural stuff. I totally agree with you. I think there's a big hole in the market. And so every instinct I had said, yeah, just go. just go for it. But, you know, I worry about what's going to happen in that vision if she, if she does too fast. Yeah. Yeah. And it's early. It is early. Very. Yeah. All right. Well, I say natural. I say like I'm into natural fibers, me who just replaced my, my grass with a fake grass. So there you go. That's the most California thing I think I've ever heard.

Out here in New Jersey, we don't do that. Right. You go. You got all the water you need. Yeah, you don't have to. We're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, another caller, another question. and another round of advice. I'm Guy Raz. Stick around. You're listening to the device line on how I built this lab.

Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. And today I'm taking your calls with Jamie Siminoff, the founder of Ring and Scott Tannen, co-founder of Bull and Branch.

And we are ready to take the next call. Let's go. Let's go. All right, welcome to the advice line. You are on with Scott Tannen and Jamie Simenoff. Tell us your name

where you're calling from and just a little bit about your business. Hi Guy. Hi, Scott. Hi, hi Jamie. My name is Eric Alexson. I'm the president and one of three co-founders of L-Cube lifestyle,

where the ethos is laugh, learn, and longevity. Where a Florida-based UV lifestyle brand built around one simple goal to be the brand people play life in. Our edges in the fabric, 100% polyamide for comfort, performance, and true UV protection. Awesome. Thanks for calling in. Now we're going to be talking about this material.

we're talking about natural materials, but this is really where it's at, right? We're talking about performance wear. You guys are making it, and it's correct you from wrong, Eric. What you guys are focused on is UV protection, leisure wear or sports clothing that protects you from the sun. Yeah, ideally from head to toe, we've started with T-shirts, long-sleeved shirts, hoodies, and hats. and we're currently looking to a couple manufacturers to bring in shorts, leggings, and skirts. So our customers can be protected mechanically instead of with sunscreen and chemicals from head to toe. And this is interesting because a lot of people, I myself included in this group, are worried about putting on sun.

I do. I use it. I use sunscreen. I use sunblock. But sometimes I'm like, is this getting into my skin? And I've changed a mineral sunscreen. But if you have something on your body that, is protecting you, you don't have to put sunblock on. Yeah, and we actually are backed by a Moe surgeon and a certified dermatologist here in Florida, where she's gone on podcasts with us on other podcasts, backing mechanical sun protection over the chemicals is always the first choice. Mechanical meaning clothing. Yeah, or hats, yeah, through the fabric. Yeah.

And then, yeah. All right, so tell me a little bit about how you guys started this business. Yeah, so I'm a racket sports person background. I grew up in Florida as a competitive tennis player, played college, played kind of division AAA baseball level professional team tennis in Europe. But I actively sought out opportunities to teach tennis indoor because mom and dad are Norwegian heritage. I have the wrong skin type to teach tennis full time outside. Had a rare opportunity to work with the 100% polymide with another company that ended up going under. and my two co-founders made me an offer that I couldn't turn down. So we're bootstrapping, we're funded internally, and we're trying to get into several markets at the same time. And you guys are selling through your website? Both the website and we most recently have launched on Amazon for the retail aspect, which leads me to my question to you. We're also offering wholesale and co-branded options for pickleball tournaments, for half marathons.

surfing companies, paddleboarding, tennis. Is it wise to try to scale both the retail arm and the wholesale co-branded arm at the same time? Or would you recommend focusing on one of them and maybe why? Interesting. Okay. Co-branded or wholesale retail, let's bring these guys in. Scott Tannen, any thoughts or questions first for Eric? Yeah, I mean, my first question is, how are your margins? Yeah. So, yeah, we're currently manufactured out of Brazil. So recent tariffs, we're looking into some other manufacturing options. They're pretty tight and even more so on the co-branded manufacturing side. Yeah, because I think margins are going to be really important here. And I say that because education is critical. You've got to educate the customer on why. I mean, I go outside and close. all the time and I don't expect them getting sunburn, right? So you're going to have education eats margins, right? That is like as clear as day. Education eats Martians. And when you're the first one to do it,

you've got to bear the cost of that in terms of building a brand. And so I just think like protect those margins and then get after trying to unlock with the customer, the fact that the best way for me to protect against the sun is this apparel when I'm when I'm active in those sorts of things. It's not easy to do. really, really hard to do. But I think that's the challenge in front of you. So we could get some more endorsements, like I said before, from, you know, dermatologists and Mo surgeon. And to answer your question, a cotton shirt or a T.J. Max, like a polymite or a dual blend has a default UPF factor of like 18 to 22. And so ours is certified UV50. So it's over double. I don't currently have that on the website or on the Amazon storefront, but I can hear you.

you with the education component, maybe that's something that we need to add. The problem you're looking at, and I've seen a lot of companies do this sort of, it's like a vicious cycle, is if you could sit down with every customer and explain it like this to me, I would buy your product. The problem is the cost to do that is so high. And so there's a million great products that have gone bankrupt and gone out of business and not made it because it's too hard to explain. Like Scott made sheets that were a little better.

I'm not diminishing it, but like, but like it was like organic cotton sheets. It was like, you know, so I knew what sheets were. I know what they did. I knew how to use them. I knew everything about it. Ring, we did a Wi-Fi video camera in a doorbell. Everyone understood what a doorbell was, where it was supposed to be, what like what it did, how it worked.

I just made it on your phone with a video camera. So the pre-awareness of the doorbell gave me billions of dollars of marketing and a hundred years of knowledge. And so for you, I'm sitting here thinking about it. I didn't realize there was this problem. I didn't even realize like I would just put on a shirt. I don't know. And I was thinking about like the pre-awareness.

And I'm like, you know what? How I'd be selling this? I'd be making sunscreen bottles with the shirt inside of it and selling it where sunscreen is. Ooh, I love that. Like pack it into the sunscreen bottle. And sell it in the sunscreen aisle. I'd be selling the whole thing, 50 SPF, whatever, in the sunscreen aisle. In the bottle.

Go right in there. I'd be, that's what I'd do. Because you want that pre-awareness. Because if it's in the sunscreen aisle, I'd be like, I understand what the shirt does now because I'm in the sunscreen aisle. He just figured it out for you. How do you drop one of these mics, guys? Drop it, baby.

Because he's competing with sunscreen and sunblock essentially. Yes, it's not clothing. It's not clothing. I like it. We're not really competing against other fabrics or other wearables. We're actually competing against sunscreen. So that's brilliant. But the other factor and a way to differentiate ourselves in a very competitive

of athleisure wear with UPF factor is most companies spray on the UV protection after production with a chemical. And ours is actually in the tightness or how open the weed is woven into it. Eric, you're going like, it's like I put you on like, it's like I put the little train on the track and you just like blew it right off again. It's like you have to explain all of that. And you might be right. Like it's not that you're wrong.

It's just like you're in the weeds again. Like, I'm replacing sunscreen. By the way, people know that sunscreen now is toxic. Like, that's, I'd say. Don't want to say that because we've had some sunscreen brands on the advice line. Not all of them are toxic. So, but so as a consumer, as a consumer, I believe that sunscreen is not good for you. Fair enough.

That's my belief now. That's what I've been told. That's what I've been told. That's what you believe. That's what I believe. Okay. And when I talk to people, they sort of have that belief, but we also don't know how to not to put sunscreen on because I also know that burning my skin off is bad as well.

Yeah. And so I do think it's like positioning yourself directly, the mechanical sunscreen in the bottle. I see it on the thing, know exactly what to do with it. Pre-awareness, boom. And yes, sunscreen is great. It just turns out that I think it's not. I don't know.

I think what that sets you up to do also is it lets you think about products in a really different way. Like, how do I create real devices that protect from the sun that are made from this material that you have? I mean, I get it. Trust me. Like, our products, even though Jamie thinks we only make one thing, one small thing different. He's actually dead right. If, you know, Missy can go deep with him on how she made a

downproof fabric without chemicals. But at the end of the day, it's like, I don't know, is the down comfort or comfortable? You know, and so people just want sun protection from you. Give it to him. Yes. And it's convenient. Your opportunity, I think, is clear here. It's not, it's not competing with the at leisure wear market necessarily. It's going after the people using sunblock and sunscreen. That's brilliant. I appreciate. it guys. And I think to your question around like what channels should you think about, you now have an enemy, right? Your enemy is sunscreen. Go chase them in every channel that they play. My God, all my sunscreen founders are going to kill me. And you know what retail loves?

Retail loves something new in an aisle that brings in more money to that aisle. They love change. They love this. So if you go to them and say, in your sunscreen aisle, I want to do this, they will love this. It's higher margin, higher per square foot sales. It's like, this is catnip. Yeah, CVS, Walgreens, like surf shops. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Eric Alexson, co-founder of L-Cubed Lifestyle.

Good luck, man. Thanks for calling in. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Good luck. How much do you guys charge an hour? Jamie, what's your hourly consulting? Brilliant.

Yeah, I charge like a steak dinner. So like I expect Eric when he's like a billionaire from this to at least take me out for like a steak dinner. Wagyu? I still owe you one. A5 Miyazaki. Yeah. You know, I'm actually like more just like a regular. Regular USDA choice.

Steak and friend. eyes, you know. Like, I'm not, yeah, I don't need the, I mean, I'll take a waggoo. I don't remember what I owed Jamie a steak dinner for something. And then I got vertigo that day. I'm like in bed and he's like, you're so full of it. I'm like, no, dude, I can't get up. Would you do a steak and eggs at Denny's? Does that count? That's fine. Or I hop. I'm aggressive. I'm a Denny's guy. I'm a Denny's. I've never been to a Denny's. They're great. I mean, I eat horrible things, so I think I would like it. Denny's right up your alley, Scott. You'd love a Denny's. You should be going to Denny's.

After the break, another caller with another business challenge. I'm Guy Raz, and we're answering your business questions right here on the advice line on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz, and my guest today are Bull and Branch co-founder Scott Tannin and Ring founder Jamie Siminoff. Scott Jamie, you guys ready for another call? Let's go. Let's do it. Welcome to the advice line.

You're on with Scott and Jamie. Tell us your name where you're calling from. and a little bit about your business. Hey, guy, hey, Jamie. Hey, Scott. My name's Chris McElroy. I'm the CEO and founder of Knox Provisions, and I'm calling from Alpine Meadows, California.

Knox is short for binoculars, which is short for binoculars. And we make award-winning, beautifully designed binoculars, monoculars, and scopes with a modern brand that celebrates accessibility, inclusivity, and presence in the outdoors. All right, awesome. Chris, thanks for calling in. Describe, so these are binoculars and monoculars. Monoculars. Is that right? And tell me what makes them, I mean, what makes them different or stand out or unique? You know, when we got the company going, the idea of having binoculars at a football

game, a music festival, going out to the beach, was really appealing. And when I looked at the market, the industrial design was really just dominated by kind of a homogenous black or green binocular brands that were kind of saying the same thing. And ultimately what we did is we built high-quality, compact binoculars that are well designed, colorful, and wrapped up in a brand that really celebrates getting people in the outdoors. Yeah, I have a pair of binoculars, and they're really clunky. You put them around your neck, and it feels like the same way it felt like when I was a kid in the 80s.

It hasn't changed much. Obviously, there are different kinds. So these are just, they're sleeker, right? I mean, I guess it's got a grippy outer coating, too. Yeah, that's right. And we got started by basically making a compact, waterproof binocular, high quality, 100 bucks. That was the initial thesis. How long have you been doing this? We've been doing this for six years now. Got it. And what were you doing before?

Before that, after school, I had co-founded a Bluetooth speaker business in 2010 when Bluetooth was still new. And when the market was just all black little capsule speakers, we made a colorful speaker collection, built a really cool brand around it and ultimately raised a VC money and really, aimed for the moon and hit the atmosphere and blew up. He blew up, meaning the company went bankrupt? Yeah, it was sold for parts, but it was a great run. It was kind of like getting an MBA. Learned a ton, went to China probably 20 times.

And after that went belly up, I built a 3D printer and was kind of set on building the next thing. And a buddy came back from the Outsidelands Music Festival and said, man, if only we had some stylish, cool binoculars, those would be great. And so I took a look at the market. market and really as a product person was confused. You spend 500 bucks, 750, like, what are these brands? It seemed like a great opportunity and kind of ran the same similar playbook back. So brought color, brought an active brand to that space. Awesome. So you've been doing this for six years now. And did you also raise outside capital like you did with your last business or did you do, did you take a different route? We took a different route. It was a great learning experience, great mentorship.

It was a good run, but again, that type of return on a lifestyle brand, I don't think fits the VC sort of paradigm. And so with Knox, it's been bootstrapped this whole time. Nice. And give us a sense of, and these are mainly sold online or in shops, where are they sold? We sell in core outdoor retailers across the United States. We sell in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Europe. We're in REI nationwide, as well as Dick's board. sporting goods nationwide. And then of course, we have our own Amazon and direct-to-consumer

channel. And what are you guys doing in sales right now? Last year, we crested 10 million. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah, and this year, we've hit that again in some pretty intense headwinds in the outdoor industry and given tariffs. So we've got a great team. Congrats. And what's your question for us? We've seen this growth initially in the core outdoor channels. It's been great. But we know our optics have utility beyond this. How do we drive awareness that people should use binoculars outside of traditional outdoor channels such as birding or hunting. Yeah, Jamie Siminoff sounds like you in the early days, building stuff, trying tinkering, trying to come up with a new invention, that not working. But actually having a failure is a hugely advantageous experience.

So by the way, kudos to you also, Chris, for coming right back to it after that, you know, that first thing did work out. Yeah. It's always good to see someone recover like that. I mean, it's, it's always easy afterwards to, like, say how easy. I have built another business, but like going through that trough is, it's really tough. So, so, yeah, kudos for being able to get through it and build an incredibly successful business so far. Thank you. Yeah.

So what do you think here? I mean, how do you, how would you start either of you guys in sort of tackling the question or any questions that you might have for Chris? I mean, for me, I'm looking at it saying, okay, if you want to expand in different things, how do you attach this to the phone? I'm thinking about like TikTok, Instagram, and like, is there a, is there a way to integrate something into like a case or something, you know, something with the phones? You're getting more of that digital and then using that as a way to sort of efficiently get this out there because obviously any like top of the funnel advertising is going to be very expensive. Yeah.

I think it's really interesting. Like a lot of brands have this challenge of developing their own positioning. You have to actually deposition the rest of the category. And I don't even know if I just made up that word. I probably did. Jamie will kind of point that out later. It's good. But I think that like if you think about what you are, right,

you are the same thing that exists in the category. But you're also completely not, at least in terms of what you look like and how you show up and all of those things. So I think your instincts are right to figure out how do I make this some sort of lifestyle accessory that exists in a world where you wouldn't want to bring? Like you know the guy that shows up at a football game

when it's cold and he's wearing his fluorescent orange hunting? gear. Like, you don't want to be that guy in the stadium with your camouflage binoculars. You want to have Knox. And so how do we deliver on that? How do we? And I think Jamie's right. Like figuring out the right way to integrate with social media so that it starts being like the places you show up. It makes sense that Knox is the brand that you're going to have if that's your lifestyle. Like I'm an indoor cat, but I occasionally go outside to like sporting events and stuff. I don't farm and do stuff like Jamie does. And so my needs are for less camo and more bright colors. Like I saw it and I'm like, I'm in.

Cool. Yeah. And Scott, I know you're a big football fan or we're. And my experience with binoculars growing up was going to 49er games. That was it. It was an easy first step or not an easy, but an obvious first step to pursue the outdoor channel. And we're at a point now where it's like, do we go all in and go into music festivals? Do we pursue like an NFL license?

I just think I just would look at like, as you keep talking, and it's Scott was talking, it's like, but people don't go to these things anymore, most of them, and this is very sad, I think, but they go to capture the photo not to see it themselves. Binoculars are for you. And so I think it is trying to figure out how to get the binocular to show that. And by the way, ring, you know, we watermarked every video. So when you see a ring, you know, something happens and that it's on the news, it says ring on the side. Like, can you figure out how to like somehow get towards that?

because the reality is what I really want to do when I'm at the football game is take a picture to show my friends that I was there. And that's where the knocks kind of can you get that, I guess. Because kids, I mean, everywhere I go now, all they do is these selfies and these, like it's, again, I don't love it personally, but I think from a business side, you have to lean into it. I think that's really, really interesting. I'm going to take a slightly different tech. I think Jamie's probably right. Like if you want to make money, follow Jamie's advice. If you don't want to make money, follow the advice I'm about to give you, which is I, I actually think your biggest competition is distraction, right? And I'm really interested in this whole movement of people who are interested in analog experiences, putting their phones. I've got this thing called a brick. It's on my fridge. I scan my phone and it locks it up. And I got to go back physically to that thing and it unlocks. It's very analog, but it's great. I think that maybe you might want to think about creating some kind of campaign around like a daily ritual. Like put away the phone, no phone, you know, take a walk, go outside, look up. I just think that there's an opportunity to lean into this kind of screen-free, like, sort of decompressed kind of thing that's happening.

Because a lot of people are interested in it. Their brains are overloaded with junk that they're getting from their devices. And I wonder whether you might want to kind of lean into that. Yeah, that's a great point. binoculars, monoculars, there are a little portal into presence. Yeah, I mean, you could build a whole campaign around just the idea of like, notice the world again. Like, look, I'm not saying that's going to be the panacea, but it's a, it's a,

you can, if you think about it that way, it's an opportunity to, to sort of expand how people use the device, to use the binoculars. Anyway, there's my thoughts. Don't follow my device. If you want to make money, turn into social media thing and let people post. I just think after selling to the 10 people guys talking about, then you got to go to my market. Exactly. That's all.

That's all I'm saying. But like, yes, he's totally right. There are 10 people out there that want to do this. And it's super, you know, we should supply them binoculars. You want to make an app on the iPhone that you can connect with a monocular and there you go. Scott, any thoughts? Yeah. I mean, I was going to say something maybe friendlier than Jamie put it.

But, but I tend to agree with it. I think that there's, I don't know, there is something like, I, I have college age girls. And what I'm noticing when I go visit them at school and tailgates, people have regular digital cameras now. And I'm like, what the hell? I have the iPhone 17 pro. Isn't that better?

But there's something about detaching from the phone that maybe is existing. And I think, I don't know why people carry these digital cameras. I've never gotten a clear answer on that. However, if you can figure out why and attach this to sort of that idea, then, you know, maybe there's 20 people guy that I like that Scott took like the guy and Jamie and like like mashed it together to make like a good sort of outcome from both. Yeah, I'm a peacekeeper. Yeah, but I mean it's it, you know, even if you go to your website here, Chris, I mean, it's good, but you're definitely clearly it looks like, you know, it's for stargazing or for

camping, adventure, it's adventure. You know, it's sort of like it's like the person who drives a Rivian, right, is going to want these in their car, which is great. I mean, there's a lot of people like that. And I would definitely keep doing that. You want to lean into that. But for example, like, I think about something like skiing. Nobody has a, these could just slip into your ski, be a pocket of your ski pants. And, you know, while you're skiing, like, maybe you'd want to look at the chairlifts from a distance. I don't know. Maybe there's, there are other, you know, use cases. But I think that just make it into a ritual or routine or just something that's always around. Can we just see Guy and Aspen on the, on the ski left with us with the monocular?

Capture those moments. That's all. And then I'll post it to my TikTok. Perfect. Yeah. It's an awesome product. Well, congrats on all your success, Chris.

Good luck. The brand is called Knox Provision. Thanks for calling in, man. Yeah. Thank you. And I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks.

Yeah, I mean, every time I have binoculars, I'm like, I don't want to have these around more. Like, they're really useful. That's why I like the phone case thing, And it's like, it sort of like puts it with the system that you have. Yeah. Like you would have a phone case like a binocular case? Yeah.

Like maybe the thing just like clicks up to the camera, but it also is like integrated. So it's like one piece. Maybe people can embrace their inner creepy, you know? That's great. Don't be a creeper. I like that. I know. I was like maybe, maybe there's a big market of creepy people that could buy this stuff.

Revenue is revenue. Yeah. Exactly. There we go. Guys, before I let you go, Jamie, I've asked you this question. so I'm not going to ask you again, but Scott, if you were to go back to the Scott of, you know, early days of Bowling Branch when you guys were starting it, and you could give yourself some advice that would have been helpful to have known then that you now know, you know, all these years later,

what would have been helpful for you to know? Keep it simple. Your approach to the problems you run into, the challenge is try to simple it down and slim it down to something really clear, really addressable and knock it out and move on. None of our businesses, as complex as our businesses are, at their core, what makes them successful or not is not that complicated. It's about, you know, how well you're serving a customer, how well your customer loves the product and those sorts of things. So I think the less you stray away from the simplicity of that, the better. Fair enough. All right. Scott Tannen, Jamie Siminoff,

thanks so much for coming on the show, guys. Thanks for having us, Scott. Thanks for having us. That's great. And by the way, if you haven't heard Scott and Jamie's original How I Built This episodes, please go back and check them out. We'll put a link to them in the show notes. And here's one of my favorite moments from my interview first with Scott. You took a line of credit against your house to spend $2 million on an ad campaign on Howard Stern. Yeah, I took the most amount of debt I've ever had on anything in my life. Wow. Just to advertise on Howard's turn.

You're putting all your eggs in that basket. Yeah, without a plan for what I was going to do if it worked. But I believe so strongly that somebody like Howard was going to put us on the map, I believed it was possible. Sounds kind of nuts. It does, actually, now that you say it. And here is one of my favorite moments for my interview with Jamie. We start hearing, it's like the week before Christmas. People are contacting me and saying it's not working.

And their video was coming through like an old TV like tuner. Like it was like all like lines through it and just you couldn't see the picture. So most of our units are now in the field with customers that not only do they not work, but we can't change that software on them. So they're basically bricks. You cannot fix the ones that people have. Yeah, you can't rewrite the software on this chip. And so this was like the end of the world.

Like this really was. Basically, the business is over. Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for free at gairoes.com. Each week, it's packed with tons of insights from entrepreneurs and my own observations and experiences interviewing some of the greatest entrepreneurs ever. And if you're working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business, the issues or questions you'd like help with, and hopefully we can help you with them.

And make sure to tell us how to reach you. You can send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wondery.com or call us at 1-800-433-1298 and leave a message there. and we'll put all this in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by J.C. Howard with music composed by Rumpina Ablewe. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our production staff also includes John Isabella, Casey Herman, Catherine Seifer, Alex Chung, Chris Messini, Carla Estevez, Sam Paulson, Elaine Coates, and Niba Grant. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to The Advice Line on How I Built This.