Founder Q+A: Robert Gillingham
Karmik’s decals help outdoor adventurers find their lost gear. Photo courtesy Karmik Outdoors.
Four years ago, Robert Gillingham was fly fishing in the Owyhee River when he came across a rod that had been left by its owner. After posting on social media and Craigslist he wasn’t able to find the owner, but he did find many people who had also lost their rods. He knew there had to be a better solution to find a home for lost gear, so he created the scannable decals available at Karmik Outdoors.
While pursuing his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership at Boise State he heard about the university’s Venture College. He then participated in the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge hosted by the Venture College. After winning, he was invited to participate in Boise Startup Week where he pitched Karmik’s solution to the millions of outdoor items that are lost every year.
We caught up with Robert on how he’s built Karmik and has been able to create a polished product line in such a short amount of time:
What are some things that have helped you grow as such a young company?
“Karmik is one of those things that people slap their forehead and say “Oh yeah, I can’t believe that doesn’t exist already”. We’ve gotten really great feedback from the outdoor industry. We’ve got a couple of manufacturer partnerships that we’re working with right now to have our product on there during the point of manufacturing. So it’s an upsell, but it also helps a product stand out in the marketplace as an additional feature.”
Karmik’s decals. Photo courtesy Karmik Outdoors.
Will you be putting a lot of investment into product development?
“I have a lot of ideas to make our service and website better, but those are in terms of software and community. I have one other decal design coming up. After listening to our consumers I've decided to launch a smaller decal that will fit on small or round items. It will be perfect for fishing rods, trekking and skiing poles, GoPros, Key FOBs etc.
How did you land on Connections, Community, Conservation as your values?
“Connections because I’m a very social and outgoing person, I love meeting new people. I hoped that by creating a way for people to connect with each other, who likely share the same passions, I might create a friendship or at least give people the opportunity to do the right thing which most of us want to do. I just like connecting with people. I have a degree in wildlife ecology and conservation biology, it’s one of my passions in life. Community, as a whole, there’s just something about the gathering of like minds and sharing that same feeling and love for the outdoors. Rock climbers getting together and helping each other or people road bike together and form a group. I just think that’s magical. I feel like our decals are a way to connect people together and connect them to the outdoors.”
Any funny or interesting stories about people who have gotten connected from the product?
Photo courtesy Karmik Outdoors.
“One guy was hiking and lost his GoPro. Somebody got it back to him, it was back in his hands 8 days after he lost it. We tried to reward the finder as we promised but the guy refused our reward. We have a built-in reward system because we want to say thank you and encourage finder to return items. In both cases the finders just wanted to get the gear back to the owner, which I think is pretty powerful. We try to say that we’re restoring peoples’ faith in humanity one lost-and-found at a time.”
Are you in the bootstrapping camp or are you looking to raise capital?
“We’re currently bootstrapping but I am quickly realizing that that’s harder to do. I’m definitely interested in raising capital. We’re in the process of making a change right now so I want to let the dust clear first. We’re getting rid of the annual subscription; I feel like it’s a barrier that’s hindering people from adopting us. It’s just one more thing that people aren’t so sure about. I want to get people on board, I want to get the Karmik name out there. I want to get growth, and in order to do that, I’m quickly realizing that I’m going to need capital to do that, I can’t just keep sustaining on my bootstrapping abilities and my profit margins.“
What resources have helped you grow in the last year?
“The Venture College has been a great resource for me. Even though I’ve graduated and I’m not a Boise State student anymore, I’ve joined their incubator program and will start next month. They’ve been very willing to help me along and answer questions. Boise Startup Week was a great resource for me, it provided a venue for great for networking opportunities. I was able to connect with people. I thought that was a really great resource that connected like-minded people, people who were wanting to help and I thought that was really incredible.”
Photo courtesy Karmik Outdoors.