Podcasts about parlor skis

Parlor makes custom skis and snowboards that are hand-built in New England by skiers and are 100% American made. Parlor has been featured in Ski Magazine, Bloomberg, and the Boston Herald. Founder Mark Wallace got his MBA from Babson in 2014, and was a BETA Challenge finalist. Hear how Parlor became the largest ski manufacturer in New England without sacrificing an unmatched focus on the customer.Learn More: https://parlorskis.com/?utm_campaign=babsonbuiltpodcast

There are 782 minutes of combined insights and inspiring journeys we had to edit down to arrive at this 32-minute special, which hones in on 5 key areas:Brands challenging the normThe importance of people – Your tribe and your cultureInvestors' viewpoints on brand thinkingBrand DNA - your brand in one wordAnd to finish it off, not-to-be-missed brand advice from these successful entrepreneurs and investors that we needed to bring back up front and center.Show your support for Hitting The Mark, and if you have been listening and have not rated the show yet, please do so wherever you listen to podcasts.Thank you, and enjoy!_______________________________________________Here is who you will be hearing from on this episode:BRANDS CHALLENGING THE NORM:3:15 - 5:35 = Liquid Death (Mike Cessario)5:35 - 7:13 = Wilkmazz (Sam Mazzeo)7:13 - 8:59 = Antis Roofing (Charles Antis)8:59 - 10:21 = &Pizza (Michael Lastoria)10:21 - 13:02 = Charity Water (Scott Harrison)THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE – YOUR TRIBE AND YOUR CULTURE:13:37 - 14:11 = The Futur (Chris Do)14:11 - 14:30 = Double Dutch (Raissa & Joyce de Hass)14:30 - 14:36 = Journey Meditation (Stephen Sokoler)14:36 - 15:36 = Parlor Skis (Mark Wallace)15:36 - 15:49 = Journey Meditation (Stephen Sokoler)15:49 - 18:18 = &Pizza (Michael Lastoria)INVESTOR'S VIEWPOINT ON BRANDING:18:47 - 19:35 = Angel Investor (Frank Demmler)19:35 - 21:18 = Dormitus Brands (Mark Thomann)21:18 - 22:26 = New Crop Capital (Chris Kerr)BRAND DNA – YOUR BRAND IN A SINGLE WORD:23:23 - 23:29 = The Futur (Chris Do)23:29 - 23:31 = Rogue Brands (Raaja Nemani)23:31 - 23:32 = 4th & Heart (Raquel Tavares)23:32 - 23:34 = Bureo (Ben Kneppers)23:34 -23:35 = Journey Meditation (Stephen Sokoler)23:35 - 23:37 = Antis Roofing (Charles Antis)23:37 - 23:38 = Beboe (Clement Kwan)23:38 - 23:39 = Idagio (Till Janczukowicz)23:38 - 23:39 = Charity Water (Scott Harrison)23:39 - 23:40 = Liquid Death (Mike Cessario)23:40 - 23:43 = &Pizza (Michael Lastoria)23:43 - 24:04 = Bureo (Ben Kneppers)24:04 - 24:35 = Charity Water (Scott Harrison)24:35 - 25:01 = Idagio (Till Janczukowicz)25:01 - 25:28 = Beboe (Clement Kwan)25:28 - 25:53 = Rogue Brands (Raaja Nemani)NOT-TO-BE-MISSED BRAND ADVICE:26:26 - 26:46 = Rogue Brands (Raaja Nemani)26:46 - 27:02 = The Futur (Chris Do)27:02 - 27:20 = Barrel Bourbon Foods (Matt Jamie)27:20 - 28:10 = Cameo (Devon Townsend)28:10 - 28:22 = Tiny Beans (Eddie Geller)28:23 - 29:23 = Double Dutch (Raissa & Joyce de Hass) 

It is not an easy task to stand out amongst the many mindfulness apps – from Headspace to Calm (which is valued at $1 billion) – while creating a brand that does so in an authentic manner. But Founder and CEO Stephen Sokoler and his team at Journey Meditation did just that, and mainly through the use of imagery (cleverly branded by use of color) featuring members of their tribe, from staff to teachers, shown in everyday life poses rather than sitting with their eyes closed, meditating. The Journey LIVE meditation app is an experiment in community creation, which is at the heart of branding. Stephen shares with us how he crafted a brand around human connection and why a brand's meaningful foundation is essential for any successful launch. Now, close your eyes, take a breath, and hit that play button. Once you are done, and you realize that you'd like to meditate to an actual class, hit the app store and search for Journey LIVE to get on the path of finding your inner zen. ____Full Transcript: F Geyrhalter: Welcome to Hitting the Mark, a show known for the charismatic and wise founders and investors that provide us with behind the scenes insights into their intriguing brand stories. From companies as diverse as Liquid Death, Beyond Meat, and Parlor Skis. Today I invite you to take a breather and let your mind wander, away from the Donald Trump and Boris Johnson world on the outside, to start looking within, because here's a thing you don't see mixed very often: meditation and branding. I'm thrilled to welcome the founder and CEO of Journey Meditation to Hitting the Mark. Stephen Sokoler runs a company on a mission: to help all people live happier, healthier, less stressed lives. Founded in 2015, Journey is building the world's largest, most supportive meditation community both online and off. The company recently released a first of its kind mediation app, Journey LIVE, which offers users daily live-streamed group meditations led by experienced and diverse teachers along with a supportive and engaged community base. TechCrunch coined it the Peloton of meditation. Journey also operates corporate programs with organizations ranging from Facebook, Disney, and Nike, to charter schools, hospitals, and non-profits. Prior to Journey, Stephen was the co-founder and CEO of Altrum Honors, which helped organizations celebrate and inspire their employees. Stephen built Altrum into the global industry leader, and sold the company in 2014. I, myself, started using Stephen's new app, recently, just in case you're wondering why I sound so very calm today. Stephen, thank you for being here and welcome to the show. S Sokoler: Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Really a pleasure. F Geyrhalter: So, on my way in this morning, on my commute, I listened to another podcast you have been featured on, just to prep for this show, as any good host would do, and next thing I know, it's that the host of the podcast I listened to actually asked you lead them into a full-on meditation. So, here I am, in L.A. traffic, being asked to close my eyes and let my mind wander off. It was pretty funny. But, I survived, because I'm a smart guy who knows when to follow orders and when to refrain from it. So, Stephen, tell us a little bit about ... no pun intended ... your journey from running meditation programs at companies like WeWork and Spotify, to launching the app, and why you wanted to enter this seemingly-competitive digital landscape, with apps like Headspace and Calm, at this point in time. S Sokoler: Okay. Well, I'm glad that you didn't take my advice and close your eyes. I think, maybe, I should issue a warning beforehand, so that people know you don't need to close your eyes while driving. F Geyrhalter: Well, it's definitely a good thing for both of us, and for my listeners, because otherwise this would not happen right now. S Sokoler: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, to your question, we've worked with a really wide variety of organizations. Big Fortune 500 companies, law firms, start-ups, non-profits, and what we saw was there was real magic when people came together. Came together to meditate, to connect, to learn, to listen, and so we said, "How can we scale this?" And first, that meant opening new cities. So, we moved from New York to L.A., San Francisco, Miami, et cetera. We're now in 20 cities all over the world. But then we said, "How can we use technology?" And when we looked at all of the existing apps, you mentioned a few, but really all of the existing meditation apps, they were all exactly the same in two key ways. The first is they're all single player, so you're doing them by yourself. And the second is you're listening to a recording from some time in the past. Could be a year ago, could be five years ago. But, it's something that took place in the past. S Sokoler: And for thousands of years, meditation's been practiced in communities. It's something that we've done together, with teachers, with fellow meditators, with community members, and for the last five years, it's something we in the west have done by ourselves on our phone. And so, we thought there was a really interesting opportunity to bring meditation to people in the way that it had historically been practiced, but to leverage technology. And so, that's why we set out to build Journey LIVE, the first live group meditation app. You can ask a question, you can connect with the teacher, you can meditate with your friend, or your family, someone across the country, across the world. Just a much different, a much stickier experience. F Geyrhalter: I think it's a fascinating concept, because in the beginning it sounds like why would we need another meditation app, but it is, actually ... That is a huge pivot, and just a little bit about my background with meditation. So, back when I was studying at ArtCenter College of Design here in Pasadena, strangely enough for the times, they actually had a meditation class, and it's also strange for a design college. And, it was the very first time I meditated altogether, and it was such an amazing experience, because I actually felt that levitating sensation. Like, I actually truly believe that my entire body was off the ground for a few minutes, and I have not once felt it ever since. So, I tried plenty of other classes, and then a plethora of apps, and I don't know what it was that day, but I never got back to that state again. And it was absolutely sensational. Definitely one of the more memorable moments of my life. So, I am big believer in the power of mediation, of yoga, and breathing, just simply breathing, to get us through times of stress and anxiety, and to make life simply better. I'm actually not sure how I could do another key note speech in front of a large audience without using the simple power of breathing, to prepare myself in the hours and minutes before I hit the stage for that unusual rush of adrenaline. Now, back to meditation itself, and the actual app, one of the issues I personally have with a lot of mindfulness apps is that meditation, to me, is very personal. I could be meditating to an app together with my wife, which we do occasionally, including last night. And afterwards, she may tell me that she absolutely loved it or she may have even happily dozed off, and I had the exact opposite experience because it is very much about human connection. Does that instructor's voice, does his or her tonality, does the speed, does the style, speak to me or not, right? So, with Journey, you're really honing in, as you mentioned, on that idea of individuality. So, you've got various teachers with various backgrounds at various times throughout the day. How important is individuality for the Journey brand, and a brand that also has quite the opposite, which is community, at its core? S Sokoler: Well, you touched on a lot of really, really interesting things there. So, I want to go back to the beginning when you started ... when you first started meditating in college. Happy to hear that you didn't levitate while you were meditating in the car. There's a book called Altered Traits, and obviously the name is a play on the idea of altered states. And I think that meditation is often associated with things like the experience you had, or you meditate and you feel really blissed out, and everything is calm. Or you feel connected to something. And while that can happen, that doesn't necessarily need to happen. You know, and I think a comparison that can resonate with some people is the idea of runner's high. You run, and oftentimes you're running and you're thinking about things, work, family, et cetera, but then sometimes you reach this point and your mind just goes blank and you just have this really beautiful zen-type experience, like being in the zone. And while, again, that can happen, that's actually not the point of meditation. The point of meditation is to experience the mind to learn how to better work with this really fascinating thing that drives us. That drives our lives. And so, when you mentioned the individual experience that you have and your wife has. While experiencing the same class, you touched on a number of things. The teacher's voice, their style… All of those external things are very, very important. But the other thing that I would add to that is the internal experience. I might sit down, and you might sit down to meditate, and I might be agitated. Or my mind might be restless, or I might be sleepy, and you might have some totally different experience. So, I think that's one thing that's really interesting about meditation is we often associate it, like society views it as this way to calm down. This way to chill. This zen-type experience. It may be that. But it may not be. It may be very awakening. It may put you to sleep. It may make you agitated. And what's beautiful about it is the practice is one where you start to embrace the fullness of life. The whole human experience, because while we, of course, want to be happy, and happiness is very, very important, that isn't always the case. And so, how do we work with our mind? How do we work with our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings when we are triggered? Or when we are angry? Or when we are sleepy? And so, meditation can really help with that. And so, coming to your actual question, the part about the individuality, when we think of Journey, we think of Journey as a supportive, inclusive community. Both online and off, actually. You know, the offline part being everything we've done over the last four years, and the online part being Journey LIVE, which we just launched. And the idea there is that people are there for you, both the teacher and your community of meditators, with whatever the experience is that you're having. And that's why the interacting is really important. You don't get that with a lot of the other apps, where you might meditate and have some experience and not know what it means, or want to share it, or be confused, or be sad, or angry, or happy. Really, a whole range of emotions. And so, having the community allows you to have your individual experience while being a part of a group that can support you and hold you when needed. And share in your victories as well. F Geyrhalter: A lot of what you said was really meaningful to me, and talking about the idea of this array of teachers, who I heard you say in the same podcast, I believe, that I didn't doze off to, which was good, that they're all unscripted by the company. So, you actually don't tell teachers on the app what to say, how to say it, et cetera. But, all of them, because of that, bring their own personality into play, which is great, right? Because I feel there is a real connection if you do connect, but there's also real danger in there. When I, for instance, download the app and I try it out, because that's what people do, right? They give it a try. And the first person I have to chance to meditate with since this is not on-demand and you usually only have one or two session that you have access to at any given point of time, which is very different from all the other apps, right? I, literally, go into Journey and I have the quick fix right now with one person, and it always varies, and then there might be a 9:00 a.m. class or 10:00 a.m. class, so basically I usually have two people that I can choose from. What if that one person does not resonate with me, and I say, "Oh, Journey LIVE? That app is not for me." S Sokoler: Yeah. That is definitely a risk. That is one of the things that live can cut both ways. You touched on two things there. One is the teacher not resonating with you. The other is the fact that it's unscripted. So, even if the teacher may resonate with you, perhaps today they're talking about something that doesn't resonate. F Geyrhalter: Correct. Yeah. S Sokoler: Right? Perhaps you came in and wanted to meditate on one thing, and they offered you something else. Now, I'll tell you a couple things. So, for one, we were really fortunate. We pay our meditation teachers very, very well. Especially by industry standards. The second thing is we work really hard to make it a community, a teacher community, so the teachers can connect, and feel supported. And so, we were able to recruit some of the best, most interesting, experienced, skilled mediation teachers in the world and have them as part of our founding teacher community. So, we have these people who have done this type of work for many, many years. All right. So, that's the first thing. So, we've been very selective in who can represent the Journey brand. The second thing is giving them a basic framework to be able to work with it. So, not a script, not a ... this day you're going to talk about stress, and this day you're going to talk about balance, but really a framework to say simple approachable, secular, non-esoteric ... Keep it in a way where people ... You're meeting people where they are. Meet them where they are, so don't start speaking in overly scientific language, or overly spiritual. Certainly not religious. So, there's this really basic framework so that, hopefully, 99.9% of the time, if you go on there, and you happen to go on at noon and sit with Miriam, or 10:00 p.m. and sit with Hector, you find a teacher that you say, "Wow. That was great. That was a great experience. I really enjoyed that." The other thing that we have is we have teacher bios. We're now adding videos, so that you could see the teacher beforehand, so that you get a little bit more information, so you're not just going into the class blindly, but you say, "Ah. I see John has a background where he worked with executives." Or, "I see Cesar was a veteran." Or, "I see Amanda studied at UCLA in this particular style." And you can engage with them beforehand. So, it's not quite as much just picking and going from there. F Geyrhalter: Right. Right. No, absolutely. And I actually spent some time on Journey's Instagram the other day, and I read the beautiful Antoine de Saint-Exupery quote, and I think it’s Cheryl, one of your teachers. She posted it. And it says, "All that is essentially is invisible to the eye." Which, again, made me realize that meditation at its core is as far removed from branding as anything ever could. So, it must be difficult to, quote unquote, brand a business like yours. And one thing I noticed, and you just hinted at that when you talked about individualities of the teachers, of the bios, but I noticed an absolutely love ... and must give you tons of credit for this, you are actually only showing real people that are from your tribe, so may that be your instructors, teach members like yourself, or participants on your website, and in a manner that is just as authentic as it is professional, so you really pulled this off. And, in a way, I would it's actually branded. The way that you use the colors, and the way that you make this very much about the personalities within the app, which is such a huge differentiator to all the other brands out there. How did you go about the visual, but also the verbal, brand building for this meditation venture? S Sokoler: Yeah. That's a great question. I think all credit really goes to our head of marketing, Jen, who's just been such a dynamo when it comes to bringing the brand to life. We worked for four years prior ... or three and half years prior to Jen starting, and the mission was always really clear, right? Help people live happier, healthier, less-stressed lives. Build the supportive, inclusive community where people can connect. People can grow. But how do you show that, right? That's a real interesting branding challenging. I'm sure you can appreciate that. If you show people sitting with their eyes closed meditating, that's the same thing that everyone else is doing. And it's boring. And the truth is, that's not what we're about. We're not about sitting there and calming down, we're about waking you up to what life can be. It's about how do you savor the ordinary and extraordinary moments. How do you live a life filled with emotion, where you're walking down the street and you notice things, and you're talking to someone, and you're really listening, and you're really present. We've all had those experiences where we're sitting and eating food, and we take one bit, and it tastes so good, and then the next thing you know you look down, all the food is gone. You don't even remember eating it, because your mind was somewhere else and you just went through the motions. F Geyrhalter: Yeah. S Sokoler: How do we capture more of every day life, and so branding that becomes a challenge to say, "How do you show the vividness and beauty of every day life, and have people understand it's mediation?" Right? If you just show people, two people eating ice cream, that's great. But is it a Van Leeuwen ad, is it a Häagen-Dazs ad, or is it a Journey Mediation ad? You know? Who knows? So, I think our head of marketing really deserves all the credit of walking this really fine line of showing the vividness and excitement of life, but also tying it back to Journey, to meditation and to the idea of community. F Geyrhalter: I absolutely agree, and hat's off for that move, because once it is done, then you look at your website, and you just kind of take it in, it appears to be so easy. But it's not. It's not, to actually go deep into brand and to actually understand what the brand is about, which you so perfect explained right now, and then to visually walk that fine line. And just because we already talked about individuality. For a little now, we talked about community, I will ask you a brand question that my regular listeners I won't let any guest get away without answering, so if you did any prep at all, you might know that this is coming up, because I always do this. If you can sum up all the parts and pieces of the Journey brand in one single word, or a two word phrase, what would it be? And I'm so thrilled to hear your answer for that, because I ... especially with your app, it is all about ... Well, you tell us. S Sokoler: Yeah. I would say it's human connection. I think that's what the brand is about. I think that's the essence and the core of this, and it's connecting with others, but it's also connecting to yourself, right? People, again, often think of meditation as this thing to calm down, and it can help with that. But, my favorite definition of meditation ... And now that you mentioned you listened to the other podcast, now I have to think back what did I say there? I want to make sure I say something new and interesting here, but ... F Geyrhalter: It's okay. I hope there are more listeners than myself today. S Sokoler: Well, I don't think I said this, but my favorite definition of meditation is the Tibetan word gom, G-O-M, which means to become familiar, right? And it's a practice where you become more familiar with yourself, more familiar with your thoughts, and you habits, and your patters. And so, when you think about Journey and the brand, the one word, or I'll take your generous of having two words, it's human connection. It's connecting to yourself, and connecting to others. F Geyrhalter: That's wonderful. And I think your marketing did a great job of actually using that as that brand DNA that she then so successfully, with the team, kind of ran through the entire journey of the Journey brand. So, that's what mediation means to you. What does branding mean to you? Maybe outside of Journey, I know you've been a successful entrepreneur for a while. This is not your first rodeo. What does branding mean to you? S Sokoler: Yeah, I think, to me, branding is all about how we make a person feel, how we show up to serve our mission, how we live out our values through every touch point with both the customer and the internal team. I think when it comes to brand, it's very easy to look at things externally, you know the advertising, but I think it's also important to look at the internal stuff. How are you running your organization? Is the brand seen and felt, deeply felt, internally? So, for us, that's how I think of it. How we make someone feel, how we're serving the mission, and how we're really living out the values that are so important to us through every touch point. F Geyrhalter: Absolutely. I like that a lot. It works, really, for any company actually, and it should work that way for a lot more bigger brands. Talking about your clients, your customer, but also talking about data, because I know that at the heart, data is important to you. I know that there ... when you work with companies directly, like we work Nike and such, you actually have data comparisons where you talk about this is how people felt before this started, doing our mindfulness exercises, our meditations, and this is how your employees actually feel later on. Did you ever go against your early customer data, with that app, which I know you've got about 3000 people ... just these beta users, before you even officially launched. Did you ever go against the data and did a gutsy move solely based on instinct? So, for instance, your offering for your classes. Most are not on-demand. The app comes at a higher price point than most competitors. I feel it is a genius move, as it actually creates scarcity, and accountability. And accountability, I think, is really important. I would go back to your app because I know that I have to be there at six o'clock, or at eight o'clock, today, right? Because that's how my mind works. If it's always there, I just forget about it, because I can do it any time. But, I know because you're big into data, I wonder how much of some of these decisions was data and research driven, and how much came from just an educated gut instinct from you or your team, or maybe you have another example where you went by instinct, then created an important aspect of your brand that users now can't live without, even though they didn't know they wanted it in the first pace. S Sokoler: That's a great question, and I think the answer is Journey LIVE. That was a big instinctual move for us, so I had, and I'll say we had, this gut feeling that this made sense. But we had no data to support it. So, every other app was, and still is, a bunch of recordings and they're all audio, and they're recordings from two years ago, five years ago, et cetera. And now we're coming in and saying, we're going to do video. We're going to have a really diverse group of teachers, so instead of Headspace, which has one teacher, Calm, which has one teacher. They have some other stuff, actually, but there's one main teacher, who's wonderful. F Geyrhalter: Right. S Sokoler: We're going to have a community of teachers, and since we're committed to representation, over 50% of our teacher will be teachers of color. We want our teachers to serve, to look like the community we're serving. So, when it came to the actual idea, we said, okay, we're going to do video, right? That's different. Nobody's doing video. We're going to do live. Nobody's doing live. We're going to do group. We're going to have people be able to interact with the teacher. We're now adding on the ability for students to interact with each other in class. So, currently, students can interact with each other before class, and they can interact through the teacher during the class. Now we're adding ... F Geyrhalter: How can they do that? How can they do that? Sorry to interrupt, but that's an intriguing part of your app. How do student actually interact with teachers? S Sokoler: So, before the class starts, there's a waiting room. So, think of it similar to how you go to any class, whether a yoga class, a meditation class, a fitness class. So, before you go in, there's an initial prompt. So it says ... Well, actually, the first thing it says, it says you've entered the room. So it'll say, "John has entered the room." Or "Rebecca has entered the room." And other people see that and can wave and greet you, give you a little hand emoji to say, "Hi, I see you." Then there's a prompt, what's one thing you're grateful for today? So you might say, "The rain here in L.A." Or I might say, "Sunshine here in New York," or you might say your friend, your family, your baby, et cetera. Coffee is a nice popular one in the morning. And other people can acknowledge that. They can send you a little heart emoji. And then after that, people can chat. So people can say ... One person said, and this is on the heavier side, but somebody said, "I'm really grateful for this community, because I just lost my mother." That's obviously not the day to day experience, but people can then say, "I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm here for you." Or somebody could say, "I just got a promotion at work," and somebody else will piggyback on that and say, X, or Y, or Z. So, giving people the ability to communicate before class. And then, once class starts, people do not have the ability to message each other, but they have the ability to message the teacher. So, that's the part that we are changing. So, as of now, people can message the teacher to ask a question, or to make a comment, and the teacher, of course, sees who's in the class and can recognize them. Michael, three days in a row. Thanks for showing up. Keep up the great work. Jonathan, I know this is your first time. It's so nice to have you here. Things like that. And you could also speak to the comments, but now we're allowing students to see each other's comments. So, adding another layer where people can be social and connect. Yeah, so that's currently how students are able to connect, and then of course, off the platform we have the private Facebook community. The teachers also give out their email address, so that students can ask a question one-on-one, which you'd actually be surprised. People ask quite a few questions. But we said, "How can we make it a whole universe, a whole community, where people can interact with both students and teachers in whatever way speaks to them at that time?" F Geyrhalter: Huge brand differentiator, and I also believe that since a lot of that came after my question about how much of that was gut instinct, I think a lot of that seemed to have come from gut instinct, and now you're utilizing data to actually, most probably, make it better. But, it seems like a lot of it was just based on you feeling like this is something that the world needs again. Community in meditation. S Sokoler: Yeah. I think that it was a big bet by some of our early investors to say, "Hey, we believe in this. This makes sense to us. I could see how this is a better way of doing things." Because it wasn't necessarily obvious to all. My hope is that we're able to build Journey to the place where people look back and say, "Ah. It's so obvious. Of course that would work." The same way people look at Peloton now and they're like, "Makes perfect sense." But when John Foley, the CEO, was out raising money, nobody was interested. They said, "Oh, you can't compete with Soul Cycle for this reason. Nobody's going to buy an expensive bike. Nobody's going to do this," and he and his really capable team proved them wrong, and now it looks so obvious. F Geyrhalter: Right. S Sokoler: And I'm hoping that we can do the same. That people will look back and say, "Why would I listen to a recording from five years ago by myself when I can join a class and actually interact with people?" The same way people look at group fitness now. Instead of going to the gym and exercising by myself, I can do something with other people, with friends, with a live teacher. They see me. They can acknowledge me. Much more engaging. Much stickier. Just a better experience. F Geyrhalter: Right. And that idea that you can ask the teacher a question, I think that's really, really huge, because, like you said, someone just lost a loved one, and they feel the need ... they need someone to get through it, and maybe just a couple of words from not only the community, but also the teacher. A one-on-one, where you can just quickly chime in, I think that's really, really powerful. And, I am ... S Sokoler: And it doesn't have to be that heavy. F Geyrhalter: Of course. S Sokoler: It could be when's the best time that they can meditate, and I might say, "For me, I do it in the morning. It's really beautiful." And somebody else might say the evening. F Geyrhalter: Exactly. S Sokoler: Or somebody might just have a question, "Why aren't I levitating anymore? How do I get my levitation skills back?" People could ask really light questions just because meditation's one of those things that can be confusing. It's a thing that can be tricky. F Geyrhalter: And I will ask that question, because I need my levitation back. S Sokoler: Yeah. F Geyrhalter: So, I'm sure raising funds for this type of startup must have felt a little bit like a lot of female founders talk about how they have a really hard time trying to get investment for products that have more of a female audience, that cater to female needs. So, not only is it the entire problem of a female founder and all the cache that comes with that, right? But it's also catering to a very different target audience. I'm sure if you walk into an investor room and you say, "Look, we're talking about meditation. We're talking about an app. This is ... this needs to be about community," that 99% of those investors, it just goes right over their head, because they have not experienced that. Is that assumption correct? S Sokoler: Well, I think the assumption is correct that investors don't always relate to meditation, and they often think someone who's started a meditation company just wants to relax all day, and wear tie dye shirts, and all the other things that ... the stereotypes that go along with somebody who's meditating. They're so laid-back, they're not driven, et cetera. Now, fortunately for us, there are several meditation apps that have achieve tremendous success. Calm has just valued at a billion dollars. I mean, that's incredible. F Geyrhalter: Unbelievable. Yeah. S Sokoler: Headspace has had great ... It's unbelievable. Headspace has had great success, so when investors see that, they say, "Ah. Businesses can be built here." Now, I will go back to the original statement, or part of the question. I feel like female founders have ... The environment with which they're attempting to raise money is really challenging, and I think as a male founder, I have tremendous privilege, regardless of what type of product I'm actually pitching. So, I don't know if the comparison actually works. I have a lot of empathy for my colleagues and peers who are female founders, just because the environment is ... can be challenging to raise money from largely male investors. That being said, it's beautiful that the community is taking notice, and by this I mean the investor community, is starting to take notice, and take active steps to change that. But, I do think that even for me as a male with a meditation company, I still have significant unfair advantage over a female founder when having those meetings. Unfortunately, actually. F Geyrhalter: I absolutely agree. Absolutely agree, and fingers-crossed, it is changing right now. It seems like this is the time, it is the place, where all of this is shifting. I, for instance, have a really hard time getting female ... successful female founders on this show, which to me, make me believe that not only, sadly, it's a scarcity, but mainly they're just so darned busy, because everyone wants them, right? So I think things are changing, and it's for ... S Sokoler: I have a few great ones for you. So, after this I'll send over a couple names [crosstalk 00:33:29] F Geyrhalter: Oh, please do so. Please do so. Yeah, I started looking at my podcast with very critical eyes. It's like, "Oh, here's a white male founder. Oh, here's another white male founder." And, that's not the world out there. So, I want to make sure that I'm walking that walk, too. F Geyrhalter: We started going into a lot of different directions. One last big question for you that is always important for me to share with my audience. Your app has launched fairly recently. It's already very successful, but for Journey maybe as a brand, not necessarily Journey LIVE the app, but Journey, what was that one big breakthrough moment, or Journey LIVE, right? It depends on you. What was that one big breakthrough moment that propelled that startup into a brand? This may be anything from PR to getting first social proof to major investment coming in, scoring a particular teacher. What was that time when you just turned around to your girlfriend, you said ... or to whoever, and said, "You know what? This is it. It just happened."? S Sokoler: Well, I'll tell you the moment that it felt real to me. Which was when we did the photo shoot to launch the brand, the one that you mentioned. Those photos on the website. That was a time, to me, that I said, "Wow. Something is really happening here." And I think it was because I had, to be honest, I had some fear or trepidation, that I wasn't even really aware of, around going out to recruit the best teachers in the meditation space. I think I said to myself, "They're really busy. They have other things going on." But what started to happen is I started to talk to different teachers. I spoke to my longtime friend, the amazing meditation teacher Jackie Stewart, and I shared this and she said, "Wow, this is so exciting." Or I spoke to Cheryl Brause, who you mentioned before, and she said, "Wow, this is unbelievable. This is such an interesting idea." And I was having these conversations, I started to realize maybe we're on to something. There might be something here. And you mentioned my girlfriend. I have told my girlfriend this story. The time that it really happened, because this is actually right when we first started dating, was when we came together for this big photo shoot. So, we had our head of marketing there, of course, we had to photographers, lighting people, makeup, et cetera, but we had all of these amazing teachers, super diverse, from different backgrounds, different lineages, different walks of life. We had my partner in the business, David Nichtern, who's been teaching for, I want to say, 40 years but maybe he's ... maybe it's more, maybe it's less. But, around that time. I mean, almost as long as I've been alive. And everyone came together and it felt like the brand was really alive, and you could see the excitement in people's eyes. So, that was not the time that propelled us to startup success. Not that I'd say we have startup success. Not that that's how I would ... I think of it anyway. But, that was really a breakthrough moment for me, in seeing the brand really alive in such a beautiful and powerful way. F Geyrhalter: Literally coming to life, right? I mean, that's ... Yeah. S Sokoler: Yeah, literally. F Geyrhalter: That's fantastic. S Sokoler: And to take it one step further, it seemed to me like this is how meditation will be practiced in the 21st century. There's all these great studios, you could go to Mindful, which is a great studio here in New York, or you could go to Unplugged in L.A. It's nice for me to give shout outs to all these communities that have helped me, personally, so much. And could sit with people. And that's great, and there's a time and place for that. But, perhaps you don't have time. Or, perhaps you live in the middle of the country, or any other reason. Perhaps you don't have the economic means to be able to go and afford it. Having something like Journey LIVE, where you could sit every day with a great teacher and be able to connect, I think that's really, really powerful, and could be quite exciting for what this society and ... needs right now, in terms of coming together. F Geyrhalter: Indeed. Indeed. One last piece of brand advice. So, not self-care advice, which is what you usually get asked to do. But, brand advice for founders that are building their own companies right now that are listening. Anything that comes to mind where you say, "This is something that I learned, and I would love for people to take that to heart."? S Sokoler: To quote my friend, Simon Sinek, it starts with why. Getting really clear, upfront, about what it is that you are looking to do in this world? What is the mission? What is the vision? What are your values? What resonates with you, deeply? Making money is fine. That's important. A business has to survive. It has to thrive. It needs to make money, but what is it that at the end of the day is going to say, "This is what makes us unique. This is what's going to get somebody to come in and dedicate their time and their energy and their life to this mission, and this project." And to get investors to say, "Yes, I'm willing to put our dollar, or investor's money, to you." So, for me, it's all about how to find that mission vision and values upfront and then continuing to lift that. Continuing to make sure that that staying relevant and really keeping that top of mind. F Geyrhalter: Absolutely. That is exactly what it is really all about, because if you don't have that answer to that why, you can scratch everything else. As we build brands here with my consultancy, if I don't derive that why from my client in a really, really meaningful and deep enough manner, then everything else thereafter will just be so what type of branding. Like, it will be a so what type of product offering from a so what type of company. So, I totally, totally agree with you. Listeners who need to breathe deeper more often, and with an expert by their side, where can they learn more about Journey LIVE? S Sokoler: They can go to the website, which is JourneyMeditation.com, or they can go to the Apple App Store and download it. It's Journey LIVE. Everyone gets a free seven-day trial, so they could check it out. They can meditate live, they can listen to the recordings, they can connect with the community. So, go to the website, or go to the app store. JourneyMeditation.com or Journey LIVE in the app store, and yeah. We'd love to connect with you, and if you've heard ... If you're listening now and you come through, let us know. Let us know in the class. We'd love to hear it. So, it would be great to connect with all of you. F Geyrhalter: Excellent. Stephen, thank you so much for having been on Hitting the Mark. It actually did exactly that, and I'm exciting to catch a few classes in the upcoming days, and hopefully make it into a healthy habit for myself. S Sokoler: Thank you. I really enjoyed this. This was a pleasure. Thank you so much. F Geyrhalter: And thank you all for listening. Please give the show a rating, wherever you listen to it. It really helps this still young podcast to be discovered by other founders, creatives, and investors. While talking about online classes, and while talking about the big why, moving away from meditation for a few seconds, I'm actually thrilled to finally announce the brand strategy E-course I just launched. I distilled my full-day workshop, which I host one-on-one with my clients around the world that cost, usually, eight grand, into an online course at a fraction of the cost. So, if you need to define your company, your culture, and your story while drawing your audience into your offering, head on over to Resonaid.com That is A-I-D, as in aiding to resonate. Resonaid.com. I hope to see you there and to guide you to a strong and meaningful brand foundation. The Hitting the Mark theme music was written and produced by Happiness Won. I will see you next time, when we, once again, will be hitting the mark.

Fabian talks with Mark Wallace for whom skiing has always been the driving force in his life. It took him from Saddleback to Park City and then all over the world as he lived the dream as a semi-pro ski racer. Mark learned the nuances of ski building during a job at a Boston construction firm, dedicating countless hours during nights and weekends. He started Parlor with two friends in an abandoned funeral parlor in Cambridge, honing the science and art of ski building. We discuss his company's focus and dedication to the sport and its tribe, how far the brand is able to take the important brand traits of customization and personalization and how Parlor leads with authenticity. If you are, just like me, into skiing or snowboarding, this episode is a must. If you like to learn more about connecting with your tribe or honing in the art of customization, this is a must-listen for you as well. You can learn more about Parlor via parlorskis.com, or as Mark showcased his approachability, you can just call him up, "anytime" at 413-884-4747. ________________Full Transcript: F Geyrhalter:               Welcome to Hitting The Mark, which is now a regular show coming to you every second Friday, so be on the lookout. Today is all about personalization, so much so that this episode is catered to one of my favorite things to do when I am not busy running my brand consultancy: And that is snowboarding. In fact, I just came back from beautiful Mammoth Mountain here in California where they - as of February 25th - received a whopping 562 inches of snow (that's more than 46 feet or, for our many international listeners, it is over 14 meters of snow). But I am just as happy to be back at the office since today I am joined by Mark Wallace, Co-Founder of Parlor, a custom ski brand from New England. From the first time his mother carried him down the bunny slope, skiing has been the driving force in Mark's life. It took him from Saddleback to Park City and then all over the world as he lived the dream as a semi-pro ski racer. Mark learned the nuances of ski building during a job at a Boston construction firm, dedicating countless hours during nights and weekends. He started Parlor with two friends in an abandoned funeral parlor in Cambridge, hence the name! Over years and many late nights honing the science and art of ski building, fueled by desire, beverages, and the most delicious pizza in all of Boston, Parlor Skis was born. Welcome to the show, Mark! M Wallace:                   Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. F Geyrhalter:                 Absolutely, it just occurred to me that even though we are only 11 episodes into Hitting the Mark, you're the second Mark I'm having on the show. I totally don't believe that this is by accident. Just like there's an unusual amount of dentists called Denis, women named Louise that are more likely to move to Louisiana and running my consultancy FINIEN with a name like Fabian. It seems like naming has a bigger subliminal impact than we thought. But sorry about my detour, I'm very happy to have another Mark on Hitting the Mark. Tell us a little bit about Parlor Skis, how it started, why you love what you do, and more importantly, why do your customers love what you do? M Wallace:                   Absolutely. You hit on something in the bio, but we started building skis in 2009, and we incorporated the business in 2013. We really saw that there was an unmet need, especially in New England, for both a brand that focused on a high-quality laminate construction, so a race style ski, but with a little bit more of an all mountain flair. That's how we started building and designing skis. We very quickly realized that personalization was core to delivering the best product for people. So, in order to, you need to understand the skier in order to build them the correct ski and be able to personalize it with graphics. So really the only way to do that is to build all the skis in house. M Wallace:                   So we set out with the goal of delivering the best ski and the best product to people possible, and we built a factory and a system around building custom skis in order to meet that need. F Geyrhalter:                 So, last year, I published a book titled Bigger Than This, in which I lay out eight traits that I saw startups embody in the way to turn into brands that people love. One of those traits is individuality. I talk about how customization is the best way to make a brand personable and to deeply connect with your audience. And even further, I discuss the idea of blending personalization and customization to create limited and often complete one-off products, and how it works magic for any brand. Your brand's tagline is custom to the core. In what ways do you customize your clients' skis? I mean, how far do you actually go? M Wallace:                   Well, it depends a little bit on the level, right? So we have three main product lines. We have our limited edition skis, which are sort of off the rack, ready to go, and you get all the sort of quality and design that goes into a Parlor, but without the personalization. Then we have two levels of custom ski. Our most popular ski is a custom graphics ski, which it allows you to change the outline, camber, construction and graphics of the ski sort of within a set parameters designs that we use a lot that we know work well. Then we also offer our raven series of black label, which is a full custom experience. With that, you get to control every detail of the ski. Outline, camber profile, construction, side cut, length, graphics, materials, sort of the whole nine yards. So it depends a lot on the needs of the skier and what they're looking for, but all of our skis are done through a personalized fit, so myself or my partner talks to the [inaudible 00:04:51] of our clients to make sure that they have a ski that's both personalizing and customized for their style and aesthetic. F Geyrhalter:                 So really, each ski is built to order at Parlor. How do you keep prices to a still affordable manner while growing your brand? M Wallace:                   I mean, it's been really ... there's a lot of pricing pressure in the hard goods market, especially retail. We felt that there are some custom builders that are much more expensive than we are. We've really worked hard to stay direct to consumer to provide that level of personalization and to keep our skis as affordable as possible. I mean, they're not inexpensive, right, but we feel we build with a higher quality and certainly more attention to detail. We provide a really good value on our skis. F Geyrhalter:                 For sure. I mean, it's truly amazing, because you let people like me come in for two straight to actually build my dream skis that are exactly to my very own specs, where I will build the basis, and cores, and all the way to printing my custom designed top sheets to sanding and then finishing the sidewalls. It's actually rather affordable, right, that entire experience is around the 1,500 bucks, where most top tier off the mill skis will run you around a grand. It's really the same price plus 500 for the two day of schooling, which to me sounds a such unique experience building your own skis hands on. When did you have that epiphany to push customization so far to actually let your customers take over the shop? Is that one of your biggest differentiators from other boutique ski makers? It seems very different. M Wallace:                   Yeah. I mean, we have the largest ski building class, if you will, in the country by quite a bit. It was a, like a lot of things here, one of the key elements to Parlor is the community that exists around it, which is largely based off our clients, but also just sort of people who have a passion about the sport, who're involved in ... we took a page out of Grain Surfboards playbook, we know the owners up there pretty well, it's a handmade wooden surfboard company in Maine where they offer class. They kind of urged into it, and we resisted for a while, because we didn't know how we do it. Then we had a group, a small group of people who really hounded us and wanted to come build skis. M Wallace:                   So we let them do it, and came up with a system and a program, and they had such an amazing experience that we decided to roll it out as a product. So it was really driven by our clients' and communities' desire to delve deeper into understand how skis go together, and create that sense of ownership and pride in that. It did allowed us to develop that product. F Geyrhalter:                 You hit in something super important, community, it seems to me with your events, you have one event called shop night, and you actually invite people over just to watch you build skis. And they can sip whiskey, and have a beer. Is it that community that you built over the years that spread the word organically with Parlor, like through those events? Or was it actually with the help of a PR agency? What was that big breakthrough moment? Was it all organic or was it like a big article or something that really pushed Parlor? M Wallace:                   No, it comes ... we love skiing here, we love talking about skiing- F Geyrhalter:                 You better. M Wallace:                   ... right. We do, and I think that a lot of that sort of grassroots and organic growth came from being very open and inviting to people and sharing that love and passion for the sport. We sort of, we act as a resource for a lot of our clients, we also provide a little bit of ski culture in Boston, you can come here and it smells like wax, and there are ski videos on, you can drink beer and tell lies about skiing. That's a big piece that draws that community together. It's a huge amount of our business is repeat and referral right now, and we're very grateful for that, but I think it really comes from just wanting to really focusing on providing good client service, building relationships with people and providing them with something that's different. Nobody wants to go back and buy a pair of Volkls after they've been to the shop, it's just not ... there's no reason to do that. So, that message has gotten out there, and it's slow and it's hard work, but we believe that if you care about what you're doing and you talk about that honestly the word is going to spread. F Geyrhalter:                 It's about authenticity. You guys do it for the love of doing it, and you have that background, so people can sense that and they can shoot the shit with you and just share that stoke and be the real ... hanging with buddies basically, that happen to build your skis. That's pretty cool for anyone who's a real dedicated skier. M Wallace:                   Right. F Geyrhalter:                 So, from a branding perspective, obviously with skiing and snowboarding, brand recognition is huge. You want everyone in the slopes to know what you're riding. Parlor is a little bit different, it's obviously extremely unique, but you want it to be a talking point when you're in the chairlift, right. From a branding design perspective, which elements actually stay unchanged on Parlor Skis so that I immediately recognize that those are a pair of Parlors, even though you let people completely customize the skis. Is there some consistency from one pair to another? M Wallace:                   All of our skis have a red base inlay that says Parlor on them, black bases, which are the highest quality base with the red inlay, it's sort of one of our signatures. We don't require that our logo is on top of all the skis, we really rely on the sort of word of mouth, again and the people wanting to talk about their product. And answering the, "What are those? Where did you get those?" And having that sense of pride I think, from the imagery standpoint, certainly the word Parlor in our logo font is our most recognizable mark, that's what's on all of our hats and merchandise and stuff like that. That's what lives on the base of the ski as well. M Wallace:                   Those are the things that we use. We also, for people who are into the details, all of our skis have a hardwood sidewall, which is pretty unique in the market, we use a maple sidewall. If you see a unique pair of skis, we also have a pretty standard design aesthetic in regards to the shape and the line of the tip and tails of the ski, although they change a little bit. So people who are familiar with the brand will recognize this short of shape and feel of a Parlor ski certainly if they're close by it. F Geyrhalter:                 It's very cool. How hard is it, how difficult is it for you to keep owning those details and those shapes? Isn't like every season the big guys are coming out with something that might look similar? Or do you pretty much own this kind of style? M Wallace:                   I mean, I think yeah, I mean, the big guys, they move around a lot with shapes and designs. A lot of that is just there's a lot of pressure to move new products, and introduce new products and a lot of that is just marketing stuff. We really believe that if you use the highest quality materials and you customize the fit, you don't need a lot of [inaudible 00:12:47] to sell good skis and to make really high-quality skis. We just have a different sort of set of priorities. I would argue that most of the big retail machine does not have the end consumers' best interest always in mind. Not that they're anti-consumer, but the pressures that are on them to control their material cost, and to move more units, and to refresh their product line, don't necessarily serve the need of providing the best, most consistent product to the customer. F Geyrhalter:                 For sure. For sure. With Parlor, is actually you and the co-founder, are you guys still hands-on creating skis? Do you still, are you still going to the shop on a daily basis? M Wallace:                   I'm in the factory every day. I fill in when I need to. I think it surprises some of the guys sometimes that I actually know how to do all the stuff. But I teach a lot, Tyler, my partner, and I teach all the classes. So one of us is always around for the class. It's hands-on for that. I certainly fill in when there's help. I do most of my role now is sales, and marketing related, as well as sort of the day-to-day operations. Tyler runs the shop, we've got a couple of people that help in the office, graphic design, PR, digital, et cetera. So, most of my work is doing that, but oftentimes I'm down in the shop grinding skis or making sure process is working right or fixing a machine. We're very involved in the business. It's a hands on company. F Geyrhalter:                 Multitasking. Yeah. For sure. You have only been around for seven years, I believe, right? M Wallace:                   It seems like a long time, but when you say it that way I guess it's only seven. F Geyrhalter:                 So what are your growth goals if any? Will you expand, or will you even franchise in the future? How far will Parlor as a brand go? How far do you guys actually want to go? Because bigger does not necessarily always mean better as we know. M Wallace:                   Yeah. We're very opportunity focused. But our goal, we've been growing about 30% to 40% year over year for most of those seven years. F Geyrhalter:                 It's great. Yeah. M Wallace:                   We started small. We've cash flow finance the whole business, so that's a very intentional decision on our part. We want to continue to grow to the scale where we can provide the quality and the service that we currently do to our clientele, and maintain the community. So we are building this business to run it, we love what we're doing. We're not sort of ... there are a lot of things we could do to sell more skis, and that's not necessarily our focus, we want to sell to the right people and we want to provide the right product. We are going to continue to grow. We'd like to continue to scale, but we don't have plans for bringing any huge amount of investment and making sure there are Parlors everywhere. The world doesn't need another Volkl, or Rossignol, or K2 in our opinion, but they do need more specialized, personalized companies like Parlor. F Geyrhalter:                 Amen. On your website it says, "Our skis enable you to go beyond your own expectations. We craft confidence, confidence to go a little faster, and a little further." You really use language to bond and to create that stoke to talk skiers language, which for you comes completely organic. Do you write all of the copy? Because you said that you're kind of like put on more the marketing hat these days, and do you have a set of rules? Is it really just you guys changing it up whenever you feel like it needs a little pizzazz? M Wallace:                   Yeah. I do some of the copywriting, we've been really lucky to work with some good consultants over the years. Some of our digital marketing guys are very talented in that front. So, again, you work ... a lot of that is just authenticity. I would say we don't have like ... I mean, we do have brand guidelines, but not in the way that a lot of companies do. We sit down as a group a couple of times a year, and we talk about who we are as a brand right now, are all of our [inaudible 00:17:20] supporting that? What do we want to be doing? What do we care about? What's refreshing? A lot of times, you know, this esteems a passion for this work and quality engineering and delivering a better product and experience to our client sort of always come up. So when you look at language like crafting confidence, or pushing people to go further. If you have the right product, you will have a better day on the snow. It's like, it's the difference between pants that fit and pants that don't fit. If your pants are too tight, you're going to have a bad day. You might not necessarily know that's why you're having a bad day, but you are. So what we do is we sort of sit at that intersection between design and delivery of the product, which gives us a huge advantage. Because the people we're designing skis for the big companies are not connected to their consumers the same way we are, they get a design brief and they have to design a ski for this condition and this market segment, or this person. Every ski we build is tailored for that individual, which just kind of puts our priorities in a totally different alignment. F Geyrhalter:                 Well, it's impossible for any company to be closer to its audience than you are, because you literally create every ski customized, in one way or the other, or to order. So absolutely. I'm actually very positively surprised that a brand like yours, that is trying to stay small, and is trying to really focus on that one product, that you guys meet every year, every two years, and actually talk about what your brand stands for, and really the values of the brand. I think that's really refreshing. Because I keep using the word organic, right, like all of this is just kind of falling into place. But it isn't. And I love that you kind of stop at times and go back to like what's the big Simon Sinek's why? What's the why behind this company? I think it's really refreshing to see you guys do that. What does branding mean to you? We're kind of in midst of that conversation now, but what does it mean to you? M Wallace:                   I mean, branding is sort of the ... it's the way that people view what you're doing. It's the way that your activities and your products are sort of viewed by the world. I think that's an important distinction and something to think about especially for marketers or younger marketers out there. You have an image of what, or most founders right, or people who're deeply involved in a company, an image of what they're doing and what it looks like. It's very difficult sometimes to flip that around and say, "Okay, what are people actually seeing? How is this perceived?" You know, those two things align. I think that there are two challenges, one is sort of finding your vision, and being true to that, and also being able to adapt that based on what people want to see and how they want to perceive a brand. I think that's how I would define it. F Geyrhalter:                 No. It's great. It's the idea of also stepping outside and looking back in, that's really, really the difficult part and you hit that nicely. I've got a question that is a little bit about brand expansion, but it's actually more of a personal question because of my fascination with the sport. I started snowboarding a long, long, long, long, long time ago. I actually built my own snowboard at the time because I couldn't afford buying one because they had maybe 100 of them in Austria. It was like a long, long time ago, I was like six years old or something. So in the first 10 years, there was this friction, skiers versus snowboarders. Snowboarders are kind of like the young punks and the skateboarders in the slopes, and they're just not good for the mountain. They're the bad guys on the mountain. The troublemakers. Now, Parlor just recently, I guess, empowered one of your guys to like start building snowboards. I think you guys are doing that now pretty officially. So, do you see any friction in your community? Because you guys, your community is hardcore skiers. A lot of them, I'm sure, at the price point, are not like 20-year-old somethings and a lot of them most probably have been around when snowboarding and skiing was kind of like very separated. Did you find any of that when you started introducing snowboards? Or is that so long gone and we're all kind of like getting along these days? M Wallace:                   No, I mean there's still a tension. You got to remember, the thing that unites Parlor customers is their love for sliding on snow, and also being outdoors, and being with their friends and family. Those things are sort of universal. I mean, there is a little bit of tension still between the communities, but I think it's become very sort of lighthearted at this point, certainly within our shop there's some banter about it. But I really view Parlor in a lot of ways as a carving company. We make long boards, we make skis, we make snowboards, we've certainly play around with surfboards, kiteboarding is sort of exploding right now. Anything where we can add value and create a better product, I think sort of falls under the Parlor umbrella. As we're sort of expanding the brand, and we were always looking at these different options and opportunities, I mean, snowboarding was the obvious next step, and we've been really successful. Again, we don't build park skis, and we don't build park snowboards. Our snowboard design is very inspired by surfing, it's sort of a throwback in the earlier day in the sport, it's about how you interact with the mountain and creating tools that allow you to do that more efficiently and in more creative ways. Again, there are lots of companies that make great park skis, and great park boards, but that's not really where we sit in the market. Also, I mean, there are a lot of jerks who are skiers too. F Geyrhalter:                 Oh yeah. M Wallace:                   Not anymore than the jerk snowboarders. Again, we felt that those people don't really gravitate towards our brand, so we don't have to worry about it. F Geyrhalter:                 Yeah. Yeah. It's on the mountain, off the mountain, there are jerks and there are others. You build the community around the others. So, I have a lot of investors and a lot of entrepreneurs listening to this, especially a lot of like young entrepreneurs, meaning not age, but the age of the company. They're just getting into it. They're playing the startup game, which you and I both played at some point. Do you have a piece of brand advice for any founders as a takeaway of like how they should create their brand and what should be important for them in the first maybe couple months or year? M Wallace:                   I think this applies to all business ventures, and I talk about it a lot, especially I'm doing mentoring or anything like that. You do not be paralyzed by not having all the pieces. My sort of word of advice is just always be doing something. And don't over-commit until you know it's going to work. So, my favorite example of this is there was an executive at TripAdvisor several years ago who if somebody came and wanted to develop them a product for their website, he would give them the button but not the product. If they got enough clicks on the button, he'd allowed them to build the product. I think that is just like I remember learning that in business school and being like, "That makes total sense." Who cares if you piss off 25 people who click on your button and you tell them they got to wait? It's a much bigger deal to build a ski, or build a product line, or develop a whole company around something that nobody cares about without ... you know, you can put up a website right now in like two days for 100 bucks. If you have an idea, put it out there, put a buy button on it, and just tell people you're sold out after they click on it. If a bunch of people click on it, you got an idea, and go run with it. You don't have to raise 10 million bucks to figure out if you have a good idea or not. Just start doing stuff. Don't quit your job, learn, fail fast, and then be able to be fluid enough to make adaptations along the way. F Geyrhalter:                 Yeah. That's really great advice. It's interesting because I'm sure that you guys do the same thing with just shaping your skis and trying different things and just like putting it out in the slopes and seeing if sticks. If it sticks with enough people, maybe it's a new line. So, listeners who like the idea of owning a pair of Parlor skis, and really who wouldn't, where should they head to learn more? M Wallace:                   The website, ParlorSkis.com. We're also on Instagram and Facebook, we're @parlorskis, and anybody is welcome to call me at 413-884-4747, anytime or put an inquiry into the website. Those are definitely the best places, but I'm happy to talk to anyone any time about skiing, obviously. F Geyrhalter:                 That's awesome. M Wallace:                   We're very accessible here, so reach out. F Geyrhalter:                 Yes, you are. Because ... thank you for accepting my call to outreach via LinkedIn to be on my show. It was such a guilty pleasure to have you here. I think I might have to book a weekend to build my own board in New England with you soon. You also do boards during those hands-on sessions, right? M Wallace:                   That's correct. We're offering build your own boards and split boards this year. So, we've got a couple slots left. The classes are pretty full. We have been sold out with the class for the last three years. So we have a couple slots open in August, and if you're around, reach out and we're happy to slot you in. F Geyrhalter:                 Awesome. Very cool. Thanks everyone for listening. I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed the Parlor story and got some inspiration out of it. I sure have and I'm thanking you, Mark, for being here, really appreciate it. M Wallace:                   Thanks for having me, it was a pleasure. F Geyrhalter:                 Cool. If you guys enjoyed this show, please hit the subscribe button and give this show a quick rating. This podcast was brought to you by PocketNote, a new site that helps founders and entrepreneurs find thoughtful, succinct answers to their startup questions. You can learn more, read through the topics, or submit your own question at PocketNote.co, the Hitting the Mark theme music was written and produced by the one and only Happiness Won. I will see you in two weeks, when we'll once again will be hitting the mark.

Josh sits down with Parlor co-founder Mark Wallace. Parlor is the largest ski manufacturer in New England. Parlor is New England's largest ski manufacturer, building high quality, custom laminate construction skis (essentially a race skis) with an all mountain feel. Wallace has always been a long time skier, having raced in high school, college, and beyond, however, it wasn't after he hung up his racing career to go down a path of construction (restaurant construction, that is) that he would find himself being pulled back into the ski world. After talks with his co-founders Pete Endres and Jason Epstein it wasn't long until he was convinced to jump in and they got to work. Interestingly enough, they chose Boston to set up shop. At first glance, you'd think being close to a mountain would be the optimal locale however, by being based in the city they have access to a lot of the customer base. Customers, who are looking for that piece of ski culture and don't have the luxury of a mountain in their backyard. Being Boston based also offers a lot of resources that they wouldn't have if they moved away from the city. Parlor proves that the love for skiing stays even after you travel away from the mountains.

Hi everyone! In this episode we chat with Mark Wallace of Parlor skis. Parlor is a Boston- based fully custom ski brand. We chat the city, skiing, and why he decided that custom was the... The post E36 – Mark Wallace – Parlor Skis appeared first on Out of Bounds Podcast.

Hi everyone! In this episode we chat with Mark Wallace of Parlor skis. Parlor is a Boston- based fully custom ski brand. We chat the city, skiing, and why he decided that custom was the... The post E36 – Mark Wallace – Parlor Skis appeared first on Out of Bounds Podcast.

We talk to Boston-based Parlor Custom Skis co-founder, Mark Wallace, about the origins story of Parlor; the very successful “Build Your Own Skis” class they offer; the new models in their 18/19 lineup — including Parlor snowboards and splitboards; and several trends on the East Coast ski scene.And if you’d like to hear Mark talk more about custom ski building, check out our Round Table on Custom Skis, which is episode #33 of the Blister Podcast.TOPICS & TIMES:Brief history of Parlor Skis (2:50)On Parlor's "Build Your Own Skis" class (8:21)18/19 Parlor Skis Lineup (19:58)"Project Warbird" (21:20)Naming skis (22:53)Working with titanal (24:47)The Cardinal Pro (26:59)The "Dad Skinner"?? (29:24)Parlor's New Snowboards (31:39)Trends in East Coast Skiing: backcountry skiing (34:15)East Coast Ski Width (36:54)EC Snowmaking (43:55)What's the best question I haven't asked you? (48:38)PRESENTING SPONSOR:750 Miles of Trail in Gunnison/Crested Butte, CO See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The bums are back and this week they have a special guest interview, Mark Wallace from Parlor Skis.

Mark Wallace shares his vision for Parlor Skis to be New England's custom ski builder.