Christian Schauf - Founder & CEO of Uncharted Supply Company | Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal

Welcome to success story, the most useful podcast in the world. I'm your host Scott D. Clary the success story Podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network and the blue wire podcast network the HubSpot podcast network has incredible Podcasts like my first million my first million is hosted by Sam par and Sean Perry. They feature famous guests They discuss how companies made their first million and then some they brainstorm new business ideas based on the hottest trends and opportunities in the marketplace Here are some of the topics I talked about if you like any of these you will love the show Three profitable business ideas that you should start in 2022 drunk business ideas that can make you millions asking the founder of Grammarley how he built a 13 billion dollar company or SAS companies that anybody can start if these topics are up your alley go check out my first million listen to it wherever you listen to your podcast Today my guest is Christian show if he is the founder and CEO of uncharted supply co Which is a survival tools and pack company now? He grew up on a farm in Wisconsin where he had clones a biodiesel plant and thousands of acres of crops He played in a band around the world for over a decade He traveled to Iraq more than 40 times. He had his 30th birthday party in sedan who say in his bedroom He started a few companies had some exits recorded with prints Scuba died with Richard Branson trained with some of the world's best athletes He climbed some of the world's tallest mountains completed ironmans spent weeks in the Yukon hunting the largest animals in North America He is the perfect personality to create a Survival product and a survival supplies company. So he built uncharted supply co with his own money He went all in he invested his nest egg into this company We spoke about some of the companies and successes that he's had previous and some of the lessons that he's learned But also mostly what he's done building out a Survival product company in a relatively new industry with not a lot of competition and how he's navigated that everything from Investing all of his money starting the company on indiegogo going on shark tank Hiring the best building a culture Scaling and marketing the company the lessons that he's learned across basically everything all the hats that he's worn as an entrepreneur So this is a pure entrepreneurship plan. He's incredibly motivating just as a person based on all the incredible stuff that he's done over his life Let's jump right into it. This is Christian Shof the founder and CEO of uncharted supply co My name is Christian Shof. I'm the founder of uncharted supply company and We're about five years old. I've been working on this for about seven years and the origin really have uncharted Kind of revolves around who I am in my life experiences. I I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. I From there went to college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison I have a couple degrees there from there. I started playing in a band and that that led me around the world but interestingly took me to Iraq 39 times where I Began as a musician with my band and my brother playing playing shows over there and it kind of ended as us Providing a lot of entertainment for the troops overseas We've figured out a way to get entertainment to the smaller bases the forward operating bases and joint security stations By kind of being smart and packaging things differently But that in turn also created a ton of uncertainty and danger going into smaller less protected places So for a big section of my life, you know, I grew up Farm farm upbringing where you're learning how to dress for the weather and get vehicles unstuck and you know deal with animals and crops and all that and then I went to You know Iraq and war zones where we would pack not knowing if we were coming home that night or three days later and You know when I was when I was home from Iraq would be we'd be Hunting and climbing and doing a lot of things outdoors and then I I As the military stuff wound down a few other projects. I was on living in Minneapolis. I took a job in Southern California Working at a tech company and found myself kind of in a white corner office Feeling pretty unfulfilled, you know after kind of literally putting your life on the line every day to bring smiles to people's faces And I I knew there'd to be more to life there to be a bigger purpose and I was always very interested in outdoor industry But I always look for kind of kind of market space not marketplaces as a mentor once told me find the find the gaps and I was struggling with finding that and then one day I was driving to Colorado to go skiing It's snowed two inches in the mountains behind Orange County and I sat for eight hours in traffic Because of two inches of snow which historically in my life wouldn't have even been an issue While my friends were sending me, you know powder photos from steamlots brings Colorado and It just put me in this mindset of if two inches of snow can cause this much disruption You know, what if something serious happens? What if there's an earthquake or or whatever and so when I got home from that trip I eventually did make it missed a few missed a few good turns um, but as as I've eventually got back and um Kind of started digging into this idea, you know around earthquakes and Overpopulation and and whatever else I realized that there was a what I felt a big opportunity to Create a product that was high quality that people could trust that would help them navigate Emergencies big and small so I kind of went headfirst into that Um, push my life savings into it after I felt you know, I've done enough research to to realize that Okay, I want to do this. I believe in it uh, I believe in it at this level and um, as I as I say a lot of times I burned the ships Kind of didn't look back and here we are five years later um building a chartered supply and and really working with a mission to make the world a safer place That's that's where we are today Yeah, that's the story um and so you know, you were not you were not like an entrepreneur You're not an entrepreneur. You didn't try like 25 things and you and you worked in one company and you felt Relatively unfulfilled, but um a lot of the stuff you probably learned first hand as you built it out. So um Well, I was the first version Well, just to back up from there. I you know, I skipped over certain things. I helped start christian citer which was acquired by Miller coors Joe here and actually started company, but I but I No, I was employee number one and you know, we started from day one together and up in his attic and we built that up You know, the military stuff that ended up being a company my brother and I ran for five or six years We worked directly to the Pentagon and you know, that was a little less consumer facing So it was kind of a different company, but definitely started a business there And then we were doing a lot of marketing projects for further brands I've done work for Harley Davidson for GoPro for for guys like that So I'd had kind of some entrepreneurial experience. I've done a lot of things on my own at a young age I would say uncharted is kind of the first one where it was really my idea my money from day one and really you know learning as we go the leveraging as much experience from And and how do you how do you understand that how do you figure out what people need in this market like how do you figure out for Survival tool kits Where the gap is because there's that seems so broad And that seems like you can find some stuff on Amazon that that serves this purpose right I'm assuming that there are some like pretty generic little kits You know hobbyists would go and purchase, but How do you create a company around that and what do you what's a differentiator? Yeah, that's that's a great question You know when I came back from that trip. I was like, okay. I'm gonna buy some stuff I'm gonna go out and see if that was somebody going to buy this stuff And really I ended up at a military surplus store in the back corner with a dusty backpack that had been sitting there forever And it was 50 bucks and about several of these I remember one heavy Had a blowdart gun with three darts in it and I'm just sitting you're going what is this one squirrels attack, you know Like we thought this through I went to REI, you know, they had an emergency kit and it was mostly some first aid in water and just a crappy flashlight and And so, you know, then I would talk to people I talked to friends. I'd talk to mentors. Hey, do you ever think about this? You know, is there a brand that comes to mind? What would you buy? And I think the response I always got from people was I'm definitely under prepared. I need something. I just Don't even know where to buy it. So you know, it wasn't this is I would say it's not like we're we're making blue jeans Something's been around forever and we have a new a new take on something where people are like yeah, I buy five pairs a year And get into my consideration pool This was a little bit more like wow, I can see that people are going to become Are going to come more face-to-face with emergencies like looking at statistically what was happening in our country And I'm also seeing that life skills are diminishing, you know people are living more urban life space on technology they just don't have those experiences and You know, I can't even remember now all the research I did and all the people I talked to and everything else But I I spent about a year designing a product that I thought would would work well and when I got to the point where Everybody's wanting to buy it from me and it felt complete I knew that I had to make an decision at that point to go all in or you know To get back to work doing something else and I decided to go all in You know to your point. There's a lot of generic stuff out there. Yeah, you can go on Amazon type in survival kit I think if you if you as a consumer honest with yourself and you look at those things and you go is this going to save my life? I don't I don't know if you'd trust that, you know I don't know if you'd really believe some of those $40 or $50 kits and ours, you know We when we started our first kit was $350 That was multiples more than any kid in the market at the time and people told me I was crazy, but at the same time I can understand why nobody was buying them a $50 because it looked like garbage and we used high quality Materials we worked with experts to not only design You know an organizer that protected everything that everything's color coordinated with instructions with high quality stuff And it was we called it a survival system instead of a survival kit because it was really designed to be You know pre-solving a lot of the emergencies you come face to face with and you know I always go back to a brand like yeti coolers nobody enjoyed buying a cooler 20 years ago. I mean it was it was a necessity you maybe bought one they broke a lot you hated it And now people wear yeti baseball caps around town with pride I mean it really comes down to if you build a product that's super quality It says something about who you are um you can disrupt an industry and that's that's what we've been working on ever since And and how did you first take it to market? So was it direct to consumer? Did you start approaching stores? Was it just What was your what was your strategy? We did an indiegogo campaign to start so um, you know I designed this product a bunch of friends of mine that are that are experts um You know, I remember I remember the day we turned it on I thought maybe I'd launch it another month or two And I was talking to the guy that I started a Christmas show and he's like how many of you sold? And I said well, we haven't started yet and he's like if you have no soul if you have no sales you have no business It's like go faster and You know, I had the indiegogo page roughly there. So about two days later. I just turned it on um Did everything I could to have all my friends share it get going and you know, we we set some records on indiegogo We sold yeah, I remember it was like a I think we turned the campaign on In early November I had ordered inventory a few months ahead of time Uh, and I told people hey, we will we will ship for the holidays I thought that'd be a really good compelling kind of gift for the guy that has everything as they say Um, and I thought we might sell a couple hundred enough to kind of get this started and we sold a couple thousand You know, a couple weeks, you know, it just it took off so now I had to get the inventory and build a couple thousand kids figured out a ship Then I think originally we sold to like almost 40 countries. I mean, I was Living at FedEx filling out these like international shipping forms and tax and tariff papers and I had no idea what I was doing But somehow we we made it through and it was we were off to the races amazing and okay, so You you you you used indiegogo to fund it and then you got a thousand orders now This is sort of like the inception of your business. Where do you take it from there? Because I think um Uh, like you sort of like a couple ways you could take it you could try and go direct a consumer Um, you could try and get investment you can try and scale it up that way You can just use the revenue to grow it you can go to a store So what's next for and I find interesting because again like it's still like It's still like blue ocean like it said like you said It's not like another pair of jeans that you're taking out So I feel like this is the like like the steps you took are Are a lot different than somebody that's just taking like another direct consumer or CPG brand to market It's very it's it's a little bit novel like the way that you first kicked it off I've never had somebody on here that started a brand on indiegogo yet. It's like you're the first oh really Yeah for real. Yeah, you know, it's probably some navity there You know, again, I actually ordered the inventory before I turned on the indiegogo So I didn't I didn't fund it with indiegogo. I used my like savings and I ordered it Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's all the yeah. Yeah, yeah Yeah, I ordered enough for a thousand units thinking we saw a third of that was right And we ended up selling like a couple thousand so immediately. I'm at a deficit And I had enough for a thousand units. I promise people By Christmas and then it's like well now. I've got double what I ordered and how do I catch up? So You know, we we just We sold as much as we could through that platform I think indiegogo is a thing where you can kind of extend and make it like I think they call it in demand or you can keep So use that as kind of a platform where we got our website set up in the shopping and I started running some little ads Shark Tank came calling we got a shark tank They called you Yeah, yeah, we reached out. I guess I shouldn't I shouldn't say that. I I'm trying to remember now. I think we submitted We sent it. I don't mean to call you. I didn't mean no, I'm just trying to think it's I thought that I guess I guess when I say they come calling it's like you you kind of apply for a lot of stuff when you're starting and then you get a response right and yeah Putting your name everywhere right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean that's One of my favorite quotes is how do you find needle in a haystack you you put more needles in the haystack? You know, you just kind of you kind of go hard so No, we you know, we kind of apply they called We went through that process we got on the show. We were an episode one of season nine and you know that that really took off for us We had some investors that were interested ended up reaching a deal with the private equity group and you know It's just kind of been iterative steps uh from the beginning to now just we just You just kind of have to keep solving problems until you reach some stability and and get there Have you and and when when do you get there though? That's the I don't think you ever really get there. I mean I actually never stops I actually had a podcast earlier today and um so a guy asked Oh, what was the question? He's he's like have you out you know When did you get there when was the last time? You were like okay, I know we're gonna make it or it was it was some questionable like I'm like I'm like I'm like I have those feelings, you know once a month, you know literally Yeah, and I think anybody that tells you otherwise is either lying or got extremely lucky um I think entrepreneurship is hard and y'all will see those you know You think it's gonna be this this line up into the right and it's actually super squiggly with loops and everything else And I think that's very much day to day here. You just you just stay alive another day You keep solving problems and and every every inch you gain is like a little bit makes a little bit tougher to kill you And I think you know that's yeah, that's the game you have to get comfortable Um with that and not not feel the burnout of not being there because to your point and you're exactly right um I don't know if you're ever there That's yeah, that's that's fun I'm scary. Yeah, well, I think that's I think that's I think that's but like like I was looking at your bio And like you are not you are not new to Putting yourself in like precarious situations that most people do not put themselves So I'm curious also do you think that some of the things that you've done like if I read you You you grossly undersell yourself by the way So you've gone to Iraq like you said 30 some upwards of 40 times. You spent your 30th birthday in sedams bedroom Yeah, she recorded the venue. It's quite the venue. Yeah, this is a pretty it's quite the venue You're recorded with prince you scuba dived with Richard Branson You've trained some of the best athletes in the world so like you are like you've done Mountain climbing ironmans Like you're an extreme like purse as an individual like you have an extreme personality Like most people do not do these things. So do you think that helped the navigate or does it not Translate at all Yeah, I mean first of all I think I think my problem is I have a massive case of phomo You know, I always want to be where the action is I I know I'm big on quotes, but like you know life is not address rehearsal every day Every day that goes by is a day you don't get back and I just Why would you do anything less than everything you can? I mean, I really I really believe that so you know a lot of times These crazy situations Happened because you're making those decisions day after day and before you know it you're quite a ways down a path You never thought you could get to um, you know, does that how does that apply to entrepreneurship? gosh, I mean If I can relate it back to emergency situations. You know a guy that's that's putting himself out there and maybe camping and climbing and Having injuries and figuring out how to get warm Man when when when they get stuck in a ditch in the snow They're going to be a lot more calm because they've been there before and they know what they're doing Versus somebody that's never stepped outside and suddenly finds himself in a very foreign environment. So Yes, I'd say while the whether or not completely You know the same like recording music versus starting a business I think when you learn to navigate stressful situations and you learn to problem solve and you learn To be okay like being under pressure and stressful situations It it becomes more Calm to you than if you've never done it before and that definitely applies to To entrepreneurship I just want to take a second and thank the sponsor of today's episode HubSpot now as a leader you're always on the lookout for more ways to arm yourself with knowledge The books the seminars and most importantly the podcast that help you make the best possible decision for you Your company your customers because when you know more you can apply more and you can grow With HubSpot CRM platform you can store Track manage and report on all the tasks and activities that make up your relationships with customers With the birds eye view over all your customer interactions HubSpot and powers your decision making like never before so you can give your business and your customers All the good you've got learn how to make your business grow better at HubSpot.com Give me give me an example of one of those times when when shit absolutely hit the fan like what was the the worst possible thing that has happened over the course of Building uncharted and how did you overcome that? I always like to know like the absolute low at the low because it definitely happens to everyone and people don't talk about it enough Um Gosh I don't know I mean there's there's a lot of tense moments You know, I think what I think back to you right now is um a couple Christmases ago q4 is always a big big time right um we are having We were two and a half years old, I think We were kind of growing fast but at the same time hadn't raised enough money Um hadn't completed any funding where we were able to kind of have the resources we need that comes from not only You know product but also employees and systems and everything else and um, you know a couple Christmases ago I remember You know like a survival kit is 40 pieces in it and Like we didn't have enough shovels and we didn't have enough flashlights and we were We were buying double A batteries from Walmarts in the surrounding area and like I had two employees that for different reasons left the company Um, you know, October, November time period and we had tons and tons of orders and I mean I This sounds this is embarrassing. I I flew my mom in and I spent like Wow day and night here like a kid who works for us here heard her dad came in it was just like Whatever we could do to build these kits and get them out the door I still have pictures of our our little office here, which I mean now our warehouse is in a different state and it's humongous and We had all the inventory and you read boxes to the ceiling like I couldn't even get to my desk and you know Trying to remember where everything was and build fast and get orders out people want their stuff for Christmas You know, it was I remember my fingers just hurting and I lost like 10 pounds in about three weeks because The distress and the building and everything else was I didn't know if we were gonna make it You know, I really didn't um we had to send some kits out without shovels and then follow up with shovels And of course they weren't the right shovels and then we had to buy extra boxes and pay extra shipping and overnight them and Where you know hardly making a profit on those orders and it just it's just survival So that's that's one moment that really sticks out is like insane It's like yeah, I remember it was like the day after Christmas and I was back in here building kits and There just wasn't an option, you know, somebody had to do it had to get done I promised people something and I was gonna deliver so I think that's when you really decide if you want to do it and not sure if you're gonna fold but um That's when it comes to mind And and how did you so so obviously like massive learning experience um you've Some what I'm sure you've sort of uh future proved yourself against that ever happening again So what are some of the the processes or or what have you done to to fix that what was the thing that you did You know q1 q2 of the next year Yeah, you know some of it's learning and some of it is like we knew we had to we just didn't have the money to do it um Yeah, you know like like having somebody that was in charge of supply chain and having a warehouse or or a group of people that could build kits At a consistent lot, you know consistent quality level and not miss something and gosh if we're moving fast How do we make sure we didn't forget you know we we figured out to have a scale and we knew to survival kit wait exactly This and if it was off by this much weight We knew which product was missing you know, so instead of getting all these hey There's 20 of them here where people didn't get sunscreen. We we would catch that. I mean, it's just It's just learning and um and and then you know getting the resources to to be able to allocate towards people that help I mean There's things that go on in this office on a day-to-day basis and I'm not even a part of and I I'm thankful for that because we've all got different things we're good at and different things we're managing And I I really try to be the dumbest person in the room, you know I want I want really smart people thinking about this and And that's the goal today Um and and okay, so let's let's let's chat about that quickly. That's another learning there So for staffing up how do you source talent? How do you find people you want to work with? How do you look or what do you look for you know historically? I haven't been created this. I've I've had Consistent failures. I think you know It's hard and you meet somebody and you look at the resume and they tell you something and you have to take them with face value And I I think at the end of the day what I've tried to do here is have a blend of um Young smart ambitious and experienced um, you know steady hands so we have a nice blend of of different age groups here We've got we've got people that have I've seen it before and that can can guide and we have people that are Are learning and eager and and grinding and I think there's kind of a blend there that has to happen I mean when it comes to hiring You know, I've made some great hires and I've made some terrible hires and I think you just have to continue to Check your work on that and make sure you've got the right people And man if it's if it's not working um, you know, I'm never one to Cut the head off right away, but You have to try to fix it and if it's not going to fix you have to move on quickly And I think that's something that I'm continually learning because I'm a bit of a pansy when it comes to Having those hard conversations with somebody that hey, you know, this isn't working. We're going a different direction Yeah, it is tough. Yeah, no, it's one of the it's one of the most difficult things you can do But I mean, it's it's one of the things that you have to figure out how to do because no one's gonna about it You know, no one's gonna about a hundred every time they hire that's a trouble maker break your business. Yeah Absolutely, um, absolutely So obviously some ups and downs now You you mentioned that you're always learning as an entrepreneur and you're always trying to you know Sort of upskill yourself So what is what is your process for upskilling yourself like outside of like dealing with the actual situations that you're living through every single day Do you have things that you do do you have resources that you go to you mentioned a mentor as well How does that person plan to your life? How did you find that person? Where did you find them? What's your sort of your your personal development advice Yeah, I think I think it's a little bit of a blend. I mean when you say that I I think you're talking from a business standpoint You know, but a part a big part of my job is is also brand building and product development so there's a lot of times I am I'm Seeing what other brands are doing. I mean maybe brands that don't exactly fit But I'll watch the product launch for Harley Davidson as an example, you know, like how are they presenting themselves? How are they thinking about their consumer? I'll also spend a lot of time just out in in nature putting myself in Tough situations and seeing man. What what am I missing here? You know like I'm gonna test your own product still you're you're going out and you're and you're trying to figure out What you would need in like whatever circumstance? I mean absolutely last fall I was I was in the the Brooks range in the Arctic Circle for two weeks You know with with one other guy, but just what's on our back? You know, we were charged by grizzlies and living intents and it was 15 below and Those are those are things you learn that you can't learn in a lab A friend of mine once you know, I will say hey you mess with the bull you get the horns and my friends like you really mess with the bull a lot But like that's my job, you know, I need to go out and see what works and what doesn't and and you know We just had a new hit pack that launched and you know, I sent it to world champion mountain bikers And Navy seal guys and ironman champions and across the board men and women I'm like tell me what doesn't work. I don't want you to tell me it's great because we can't get better if we tell me it's great So from a product side from a brand side. I'm always challenging everything and testing You know from from a company side I'm lucky to have some people in the house here that that have a lot of experience that Our brains are very different so we can have a lot of conversation or on solving problems We've got a really great board of directors with guys who are very successful I've got guys that consult with a company and in different positions You know guys like Todd Ballard who's a CMO at GoPro, you know, like he's he's a consultant for us and a good friend And you get guys like that in here and and they've seen it they've been through it and they can they can kind of help you avoid the pitfalls So I'm always looking for Better answers. I'm always looking for what I can do better and you know, that's Again, I feel like that's my job is to challenge what I know and to continue improve and thus the brand will improve Um and and what has been as you as you scaled this out now now you're direct to consumer obviously You're in stores as well Um in terms of like your sales and your and your growth and your marketing strategy What is what is work well for you? What hasn't? Um You know I think everything works well and everything has a I think it's just different times in different periods like the first thing that comes to mind That's a smart lesson though. That's a smart lesson. That's a really smart lesson. I don't think anything is constant You know what what the next the next meeting I have right now is with our ad buying team and anybody that's in the D to C channels knows about face bricks Attribution changes and the iOS updates and um, you know, it's it's creating Chaos. I mean we can't target as well as we used to our numbers don't look as good as they used to so You know, how do we think about tiktok in youtube and other channels that historically we we haven't advertised in you know at scale We've been building products that are lower price points because there are audiences and other social networks That are younger and they're probably not going to spend as much on a survival kit, but they might buy our new hip pack right so Down to the you know how we think about a product and where it fits in an audience and where we can advertise like we're always considering all that stuff and continually testing I wouldn't I wouldn't say we've got anything figured out. I mean, I think some days are great and some days It's like what just happened yesterday was awesome and everything's the same and I think you just have to keep Problem solving um, you know open-afe stores has been great If there's a hurricane hitting Miami in 24 hours, you're not gonna order a kit that's gonna show up in three days You want it now knowing that we have products in a in a fast pro shops, you know An hour away somebody can go get it. That's great. That's great for a consumer People can touch and feel it and get a hand on it. So, you know, we're constantly testing and challenging You know on the retail side we we got in and we had our bags hanging on a hanger with a with a big hang tag And they just they weren't moving and so we built this big shiny box with tons of education and That really made a change, you know, so it's again. It's just It's just figuring things out if you think it's gonna work and it doesn't okay. What's What's the problem? Why isn't it working and let's try some things and you just keep chipping away I'm just curious and this is not even a business question I'm more just curious because I know you're very passionate about it um, so Because we ask a lot of business stuff and there's some great learnings from there So you actually want to sort of like switch gears a little bit um the actual core product like the the survival The the concept of like I guess like a 72 hour survival kit um Let's talk about like survival and and how unprepared people are and how they should be better prepared like the Things that maybe people aren't considering if they're listening to this like the average person I'm sure there's some people that are are very much over the past two years hyper vigilant about Their own protection and and and if shit hits the fan what happens But what is this what is this trying to achieve? What are the realities? What are the things that you're trying to solve for in somebody's life? That they may have not thought of before You know, so Our mission really is to make the world a safer place My belief is that every human on earth is going to face at least one emergency in their lifetime where they're going to need more than probably what they just have day to day I don't think that's anything anybody would disagree with right I mean, and we're seeing it more and more whether it's covert or the Canadian truckers or the Ukraine or whatever. I mean, I really think that that Emergency situations are drastically rising. I don't even say I think that I can statistically see it At the same time, I believe the life skills are diminishing and we we have lived a very comfortable existence for generations We can depend on first responders. We can depend on technology and 99.99% of the time things work out But things are are changing and you know our first product we called it the 72 statistically Like 95% of survival situations are resolved within 72 hours meaning from September 11th to going in the ditch with your car Calvary shows up in 72 hours But gosh if it's 15 below zero or if it's 110 degrees you have no food or water or whatever You could die in 72 hours so My whole thesis was can we create an affordable lightweight small thing that Anybody hopefully could afford that would change the 72 hours and make them self-sufficient to get through anything And that's that's where we started and I still think that's a very powerful proposition um You know, we we now build products for everything We have a little 130 gram first aid and and deere pair kit designed for mountain biking and running because So many of those people they don't want to carry a heavy first aid kit They want to go ride their mountain bike and feel lightweight and free But man, those are the same people that are going fast and crashing and having a big gash or whatever And so how do you create products that they have on them that they can change the situation in that in that moment of need You know my dog almost died last year skiing at a skier hit his leg and he was hemorrhaging blood And I had one of those little kits and saved his life and and now we're building a pet collar with the first aid kit built into it um, you know, it's just it's just those use cases and And The thing is is people go, you know, I do this every day and nothing happens. I'm fine Well, my dog and I ski Every day there's no underground and it didn't happen for a thousand days and then one day he almost died And and that's kind of the nature of of being alive, right? Like you just never know when when that day is going to come and if you're going to be prepared or not So, you know, I really believe that Um, you know, I used to live in when I started this company. I lived in Venice in California And gosh, you think about something happening and how long it would take Emergency response teams to take care of everybody in that area That's a highly congested area with a few major major fairways in and out next to an ocean. I mean If I was there with my family, I would want to be sure that I could take care of them for an extended amount of time And then hopefully if I can take care of my family, I can take care of my neighbor and then maybe that person can help somebody else There's no way like a couple thousand first responders are going to save a couple million people in a really tough situation But if we can also take care of ourselves and become from a place of abundance and be able to help help our neighbors Now we're talking about Large scale change that can really make a difference in society and and maybe even bring people together a little more and be a little less fearful So, you know, you get big picture That's kind of where my head's at as like how can we create products that make people feel empowered We always joke it's like the superheroes cape in the back of your car right like you want to be the friend That's like I got this guys. I'm going to save the day and that's that's really cool like be the hero So that's kind of kind of how we think about this and how do you solve for the fact that you made a good point like life skills are diminishing So now you have the tools how do you solve for the fact that people have no idea what the hell to do with the tools or is there like an education piece too Yeah, so I mean listen I would love for people to get out and and create experiences and to test themselves and to take classes The reality is that's just not going to happen at scale. I mean people just aren't interested or some people That's why with our kids. I mean if you open up one of our 72's there's a bunch of pockets inside everything's organized The first aid pocket is bright red Let's say you need for state you can quickly eliminate 80% of the rest of that kit open up the red pocket and And then there's there's instructions in red right next to it that tells you Broken bone feasting concussion shock, you know all these different things step one two three four five You open up that red thing you read the instructions You're just taking the recipe at that point And even if you're freaking out if you can file instructions You can start making a bad situation better And when you do that adrenaline goes down You think clear and you're going to make better decisions as a whole so that is a challenge right like I would say We need our products to work for somebody that's never been outside before So if somebody goes outside for the first time and an emergency hits and we throw them one of our products They've got to be able to open it up and make it work in a way that's going to change their situation And so that's almost the goal of what we're doing And I guess this is the last question on on this particular topic or this theme like what have you What have you changed your opinion on over the last two years? You know, I I don't know if I've changed my opinion. I've just I've just learned how people Um interpret what we are doing You know, I think I think prepping is a stigma in a lot of ways people think of these guys with a bunker that think aliens are going to attack We're tinfoil hats, you know, that's that's definitely not what we're doing. We're just saying hey if you're driving to the mountains this weekend with your buddies Because there's a snowstorm that's no storm ends up, you know, taking a different path and now you're stuck Are you prepared for that? So for me, it's like it's very obvious because I'm in and living in the space But communicating that educating people on that convincing them I would say it's it's been more of a challenge to convince people than I thought On on on purchasing and and I'm being prepared to me it seems And maybe it's the life I lead, but it's It seems like second nature to be like my truck's full stuff. I'm ready to go um You know, one of the challenges we see a lot of times is Our products are super high quality Um, we're working on a repeat customer Data right now and and just getting people to come back and buy more because they buy one of these kits It's got everything they need it. It works. It works for a long time Uh, that's great like as a product and for the consumer but for a business that has a certain cost associated with acquiring customers How do you get them to come back and buy something else? So we start thinking about what are the other products that That maybe weren't part of this but that can help solve over here. And um, yeah I think that's what we've been thinking about more and more is like I said that lightweight kit for mountain biking and running And we just launched a hit pack. It's really cool because You know people kept going well. Should I carry my survival kit hiking through yellow stone? It's like no, that's not we designed it for but Interesting if everybody is asking that question and like what is the right thing and let's build that so You know, I don't I don't know if we got anything wrong I think we're just evolving and growing and trying to understand our consumer better and kind of what they perceive and and kind of translate Very smart. Okay, um, I want to do a couple rapid fire to close it up Before I pivot Any any final any final thoughts or Just comments like where do you where do you want this company to go if you know at the at the end of the day What do you want people to say about the company about what you've achieved? Yeah, you know my favorite companies become verbs, right? And I I don't know if you can uncharted something but I I would love to be the I would love to be the the brand that almost you know becomes the product because It's just the trusted high quality thing that everybody knows. I mean My goal like I said when I started this is like I want to leave a legacy. I want to make the world a safer place. I wanted to Figure out a way that you get you know, the I group in Wisconsin, right? If if there was a snowstorm or hurry or a hurricane Snowstorm or tornado, you know, we'd go help our neighbors. We take chainsaws and we take plows and then when I live in California People would lock their doors and there's every man for themselves Well, the only way through anything is is unity and working together and I don't have to tell people that we're getting more More divisive all the time And if if we can come from a place where like we can be the hero and we can save our families day or save our friends day And we can we can look out for our neighbors. I mean that's that's where I really want to go with this I would I that'd be an amazing legacy to You know have created a family of products or or even inspired of an industry which we've we've done There's a lot of copycats out there of products that are now getting into people's hands and saving lives So that's the goal. I mean, it's it's audacious. Sure, but I think you have to be and we're still small But I gotta have a baby cool. Yeah, yeah, for sure for sure very good Very good um, and then uh most importantly um where are people uh where are people going to connect with you? What's the website social for a company for you if they want to reach out? Yeah, unchartedsupplyco.com Instagram is at unchartedsupplyco Minds at Christian Shoff. I mean, man, we spent a lot of advertising online You should be able to type in the 72 uncharted. My name it better show up. We're not doing a very good job. So It shouldn't be it shouldn't be too hard. I hope you type in best survival kit and it comes up. I mean it should so I've got the keywords down to you that you didn't want to optimize Those are just reviews man. I'm not buying. I'm so sorry All right All right, um, I was doing a couple of rapid fire. I just look like insights from your life So biggest challenge personal or professional. What was that challenge had you overcome it? Oh gosh um I don't know man. There's so many big challenges all the time I think yeah, I mean your life seems to have an exceptional amount of challenges Yeah, the big one. I'm a challenge to the visual and I think um yeah I think you should be challenging yourself every day. I I'm trying to think of of one you know, one moment that stands out This isn't even a challenge, but it was maybe a personal challenge was the day You know, I wrote a check from of most of my life savings to start this company I I mean, I think a lot of people like to sit around and talk about it And they like to maybe you know have a business plan and maybe they start building a website but it's extremely challenging Actually, you know, as I say burn the ships and actually go all in and be like I'm gonna do this sink or swim and you have to really be bold and you have to really be convicted and what you're doing and You know, I remember that day I remember how stressful that was because I had I had done really well And I had built a really nice nest egg at a young age And that was a lot of nice cushion that I was just kind of pushing in pushing in all the chips So You know, that's the first thing it comes to mind. I don't know if that's a great answer But I do think you know, there's a lot of people like to sit man and it is a good answer I appreciate it. You know, I just there's a lot of people I meet that say they're entrepreneurs and You know, they don't they don't have a sale yet and they haven't they haven't really fully committed And I think that's probably a big challenge for a lot of people is taking that final step and saying this is who I am and this is what I'm doing I appreciate that I think that's smart. Um, that's good advice Uh, obviously there's been many people who've had an incredible impact on your life But if you had to pick one who was that person and what did they teach you? Oh gosh so many You know, I would just have to say my parents We live in this big dairy farm. We used to have My parents called them trainees. I would I would call them interns for anybody listening But guys would come from Japan or Germany or England to come to live and learn from my parents They'd stay for many were from like three months to a couple of years These were my big brothers working on the farm and learning from my dad and I remember This guy Nick Chandler from from England told me once he said, you know Your dad is the hardest working person. I know except for your mom And um, you know, I think they just They are grinders and they were smart grinders. You know, they they were really thoughtful about You know growing up on a dairy farm. You wouldn't think about marketing and that kind of stuff And they were always creating print ads and building a website and And they were still in the barn at 415 in the morning You know washing tails on our cows You know in case people came over to look I mean, it just it was a combination of hard work and and smart work and Gosh, that's just something sticks with you I if I sleep past you know 5 30 in the morning to this day I had this little bit of guilt when I wake up that Hopefully dad didn't see me sleeping in you know, it's just there's that drive It's been built into me since I was since I can remember Um, if you had to pick a book or podcast or some resource that has had an huge impact on your life What was that resource and what did you learn from it? You know this may sound silly on the surface, but I'm gonna say shark tank And and here's why I've watched hundreds of episodes of shark tank And when I was building my business shark tank was on in the background And while it's a very watered down you know entrepreneurial tv show If you don't have an answer for the questions those guys are asking with your company you better figure it out And I don't know if I necessarily learned a ton from it But having those questions going on in the background For that year that I was building the company Really helped me solidify what I was doing what was important If I was if I had a blind spot because I didn't really want to pay attention to it You know um, I just always envisioned that we would be on that show And I would have an amazing answer for anything you threw my way I mean, it was it was like a test I was studying for and I Yeah, there's a lot of books I've read that have taught me little parts and I love the book shoot dog The film night story that you know, he started Nike. I love those stories of just hardship and grinding and figuring it out And those things taught me a lot, but man When I was really getting ready to do this that was It was like a really good little quiz every day that I took that really helped inform how I thought about this So I'll throw that one out there for this time Amazing um, if you could tell your 20-year-old self one thing what would it be? Oh, wow You know, I struggle with this because I have friends that started businesses Um a lot at a lot younger in there they're further ahead now than I am And I sometimes go gosh I I wish I would have started this 10 years sooner, but at the same time I never could have done it the same way without the experiences um You know, I was I was pretty darn motivated at 20. I was always into something I think You know, I think seeking out mentors at a earlier age would probably be the thing that I would tell my 20-year-old self because I think at 20 we all We all uh think we know more than we do right and I was working hard and I definitely thought I had more answers And I did at that point and I think if I would have You know, maybe found some more lifelong Mentors to help guide my thinking and help me maybe With the opportunities I had then make them even bigger. I mean who knows what would have happened But you know, I would say don't be the smartest person in the room find mentors ask a lot of questions stay really curious And and use that information I think that's really powerful and it's something that comes with With experience and being humbled, but it's not something you know when your new teens are 20 Um, and then last question what does success mean to you? Oh, man um You know, the I think success is is Well, it's obviously achieving goals. It's it's um it's not just about money, right? It's it's about a legacy. It's about You know my goal would be to be the guy that when you walk out of a room people are Saying positive things about you as you left and and you know You may not be the richest guy in the room, but man that guy did something Really hard or a really compelling or like I really made a difference um You know, I look at my grandpa passed away this year and um he kind of died with nothing But he he gave all his money away and he You know at the funeral people would come up to me that I didn't even know that would tell me stories of his kindness and how he would Go out of the way the other guy came back from war and was missing his dog and You know, it was in the canine unit and he said by the time he got home He had had a phone call in his answering machine from my grandpa's friend who bred German shepherds with a dog forum, you know I mean just just being a human that can affect lives and and and and make a difference in people's lives I think would be About the highest level of success you could achieve in my opinion