Bryan's Story

On April 15th, 2006 I was filming for Stevens Pass after 12” of freshies fell overnight. Despite being a fairly advanced skier, I took a bad turn trying to post up for a shot of my good friend Chris Rudolph (may he rest in peace). My right ski hit a hidden stump and flicked my leg open, where upon I smacked my inner thigh against an elderly pine. It won. I cracked my femur in half and lay in shock against another tree. The thing is, when you break your femur, the bone shards can hit your femoral artery and you can bleed to death internally within 10-15 minutes. I knew this because a friend did something similar a few years before.

I sat against a tree not knowing if I would live or die. As I contemplated death, I distinctly remember thinking two things. The first being I needed to marry my then girlfriend (and now wife of nine years) if I survived the accident. The second was if I died today what would people say about me at my funeral. This thought shocked me. People would certainly come as I was a funny guy/class clown (put a VW bug on our high school’s roof) but NOBODY would say I cared about the people around me or in my community. Certainly nobody would say I left a legacy or inspired anyone. This struck me because I had grown up admiring my grandparents and the legacy they were leaving through business and philanthropy. I committed at that tree to start leading a more generous life serving others over myself. I began to noodle on what it would look like to merge business and philanthropy.

In the summer of 2006 I started working at my mentor’s best friend’s new startup Little Hotties Warmers. I became Rick Wood’s (the founder) first employee and earned sweat equity. At 21 I was running supply chain and marketing for the brand. Most things in small business I learned from Rick. He is a world class strategist and salesman. Under his wing I learned first hand how to negotiate with vendors, suppliers and close the biggest accounts in the world from REI to Costco.

We had the unique opportunity to sell the business for a premium at the height of the recession. I knew this was my opportunity to start my own business.

In 2009 I was frustrated with the lack of a simple and functional water bottle. Sounds funny but I had two brands I also used. One was a giant plastic bottle with a wide mouth and lid attached with a strap. When I drank from the bottle I would normally spill water all over my face because the opening was too big. If I didn’t spill water, the lid was always hitting my face. If that wasn’t enough to drive you crazy, the width of the entire bottle was so large it never fit in cup holders which meant it rolled around in my back seat while driving. The other bottle I used was an aluminum bottle, apparently it used to be a camping stove fuel canister (yikes!). The lid took about 100 twists to unscrew and if the liner cracked (which it did) it exposed my water to the aluminum body, which happens to be toxic.

I thought, why not make a super simple bottle. One twist opening, fit in cup holders, perfect sized opening to chug but not drown your face. I’d also make it from a stainless steel, a safer/non-toxic material. After all, I had a stainless steel rod in my body.

Today, we design all our products from the ground up and most are patented or patent pending. We’ve made a commitment to never sell off-the-shelf product that is poorly designed and copied quickly.