OME Gear with Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce feature 44 of Together Talks
- KLS
- Jul 20, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 14
"Together Talks" feature 44: OME Gear presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on OME Gear
For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the privilege of interviewing OME Gear with Founders Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce. They are a female-founded and led outdoor gear company that is innovating solutions to make your outdoor experience more enjoyable. What if there was an innovative product for fishing, camping, outdoor sporting events, the beach, tailgating, etc. where you could haul all your stuff and then have it easily transform into a comfy chair? Well… look no further! Their flagship product, the award-winning Wanderr, is a 5-in-1 innovation that converts from a cart that hauls up to 150 lbs. to a lower beach chair, a higher camping chair, a fully reclinable lounger, and a camping cot. They are changing the game in the outdoor space.
20 years from concept to reality
The company was incorporated in 2018 by Jules and Stacey. But the original idea started almost over 20 years prior! In 1998, Jules parents were on a boardwalk and watched a single mom with 3 kids, struggling to pick everything up and carry everything. Jules' parents who were not innovators of any sort went back home and drew up the sketch. Soon thereafter they had the idea patented. However, nothing ever materialized and the idea sat on the shelf for over 20 years until one morning as Jules told us, "It was 12 years after it was patented, I remember I woke up one morning at 1:30 AM thinking about my parent's invention. I was in a place professionally where I needed a change. I called my Dad at 8:30 the next morning to ask if he remembered their idea. He started crying and told me 'Hunnie you can have it'. I remember thinking I'm just smart enough to think I can do this, but just dumb enough to think I could".
Ultimately Jules and Stacey improved on the initial idea evolving it from 2 functions to 5 which became the award-winning Wanderr.
OME Gear has the benefit of organic advertising, usually through word of mouth. As Jules and Stacey told us, "Our customers love and hate our product. They love it because it does exactly what we preach it will do and they hate it because when they are using it everyone comes up to ask them about it!" The product is found at True Value, Tractor Supply, Home Depot, Camping World, QVC, Amazon, and specialty retail stores. The initial design process took $350,000 for the prototype which then allowed the company to find a manufacturing partner in 2019 before taking the product to market in 2021. As Jules told us, "Our whole mission is to make things easier for people outdoors and be the multipurpose 'swiss army', 1 product that satisfies several needs plus accessories". But one moment almost sunk the company before they had a chance to reach their full potential.
All In
With Kickstarter orders to fulfill, Jules and Stacey faced an insurmountable obstacle in 2020. Their manufacturing partner went silent on them during Covid. They found out their products were hidden in the warehouse and ultimately orders were not being fulfilled. This caused the founders of OME Gear to look each other in the eyes and ask the hardest question, "How much do you believe in this?". Jules and Stacey looked at each other and pondered their belief in their relatively new company. Jules shared with us, "I turned to Stace and asked her and she said 100%. We agreed we had to push all the chips in. We sold our house to get the equity to buy our products out from the current manufacturer and continue our operations. We bet on ourselves." An unbelievable pivot, beyond courageous.
This moment would prove to be critical in the journey of OME Gear. As they shared with us they are strong in their faith and believe they possess just enough mana to get through each day. They were tested early to see what they were made of, but their grit is one of their greatest strengths. Their grit has allowed them to be on the road for the last 2 years in their RV. That determination and commitment is what makes their story so easy to admire.
Vision
2 years on the road creates challenges for OME Gear, but Jules and Stacey praised their team (all remote by the way!) for their buy in and collaboration. Both commend that 'their story' isn't just the two of them, but their entire team that makes up OME Gear. As Jules explained, "Our whole team hung in there and as a result we grew together. We have overcome so many hurdles and have been forced to be uber scrappy. There are times where we feel like we are going to break, but we keep believing. And the support we have from our team believing in our mission and vision provides us such confidence that we are on the right path". The all remote team, the founders described as amazing. A culture of trust and encouraging responsibility to handle tasks without micro-managing. They are committed to never being a 9-5 company, instead they view their team members as humans first and employees second. They care about each and every family and extended family and what they do outside of work. Without surprise this embracing culture has resulted in extreme buy in from employees, where everyone has a voice.
Jules and Stacey are prepared to change the game, not just with their products, but with the makeup of the outdoor industry. They shared these incredible numbers with us when discussing one of their biggest challenges, funding...
2.7% of funding from VC goes towards women
1.7% of that is women in tech
1% of all funding to women outside of tech
Being women-owned in a space dominated by men-owned businesses, is an immense challenge, but barriers both are compelled to break down. They want to be for up and coming founders what they didn't have, female presence.
The duo plans to do this by giving back to female entrepreneurs through their motto of 'filing in the potholes with rocks so the road isn't so treacherous'. They credited having many mentors throughout their journey, but majority have been male which is the incentive to create an avenue to reach up and coming female creators. One way they currently do this is running a coaching/consulting firm working with female entrepreneurs.
Adapting
Starting a company is difficult enough, but imagine being over 50 and trying to get acclimated with social media. Stacey described this unique challenge, but opportunity to us, "Technology is always going to change and upgrade, we have to be willing to make tweaks to our approach. One aspect has been the two of us getting on TikTok and producing content. Trying to learn social media has been an event, but we've learned to enjoy the process". As evident, the hard work pays off, look at this LinkedIn Post from Jules in June!
The fearlessness demonstrated here translated as well when they participated on Big Idea pitching their product and WINNING the competition. But that isn't all, they also pitched on America's Big Deal which was live on USA Network, and they won that as well earning 3 offers to select from: Macy's Lowes, QVC. Ultimately they decided on QVC which they recently appeared on!
Stacey elaborated on the path they didn't expect to travel, but glad they did as she shared, "We thought we would grow a lot faster, Covid had a big impact on that, but as a result there has been a lot of learning. Every day we joke we are in a greenhouse of learning. But what we didn't realize is all the obstacles we've overcome and adversity we've endured has molded us into the leaders we need to be to take this to the place we want it to go."
The Bright and Right Future
OME Gear is positioning themselves for explosive growth to round out 2023. They are on the verge of obtaining funding that will empower them to ramp up and scale up. They shared they have been building the foundation for a while, and are ready to really enter into aggressive but sustainable growth. Jules and Stacey plan to continue developing strategic partnerships on the retail side while enhancing the community they are helping curate. The goal for their community is to change the way people do outdoor activities, no longer being a drudgery being a pack mule.
We asked the founders of OME Gear what is their favorite part about their career and both answered, "creating and doing this journey with my wife".
That is right, not only are these two breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry, but they are doing it while married. They are so proud of their story because they know their story is not only unique, but authentic to them. Julie told us, "The pride I feel completing the initial vision of my parents, and 25 years later we were taking it to market and then seeing consumers reactions when we demo the product". And Stacey shared, "Being together 24/7/365 and loving every minute. Jules is the leader and our captain which has allowed me to push my ego to the side and support my wife and partner as we honor and build Jules' family's legacy".
We tasked Jules and Stacey to think of one moment that meant the most to them as they've built OME Gear and Jules started, "It makes me emotional, but when we pitched on America's Big Idea. We rehearsed so many times, then finally we did it live with Stace by my side and had almost my entire family in the audience and we crushed it and won. And what is interesting about the design of this show was that 7 days prior to the show we could sell up to $15,000 of product. We sold out 2 days prior. After the show where every contestant had pitched, you could sell another $15,000 in product. We were the last to pitch, we sold out our 2nd allotment before we even pitched".
And what is even more remarkable is the show initially rejected their pitch. Jules told us, "We received the rejection and we emailed them back stating we respectfully accept your decision, but this is why we truthfully feel you are wrong. We provided them the reasons we believe we belonged and deserved the opportunity. They reached back out and said we were in, and then we won it."
Grit. Adversity. Perseverance.
To end our chat, we were curious as to if there was a destination the married partners were chasing and both agreed there is a future they both envision. Stacey started, "We have a vision for how far we plan to take this and when we get to that point we will have accomplished everything we set out to. At that time we will work on finding the right partner, which is critical for the next phase of OME Gear". Jules continued, "We are building the company to ultimately sell it, but not until we have got it to the right point. It isn't time or metrics, but a feeling, we will know when the time is right, the partner is right, and we are ready to move on to our next calling."
Use Coupon Code below with your purchase of a Wanderr KLS10 for 10% off
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce of OME Gear for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with OME Gear by following their blog on their website, check it out here. Follow along for the OME Gear journey with their social handles below!
TikTok / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram / LinkedIn / Jules LinkedIn / Stacey LinkedIn / Their Podcast!
OME Gear was featured in the following as well!
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