Flated Air Topper Review & Shark Tank Interview | Inflatable Truck Camper for Jeeps

**Interview with Ryan Guay – CEO & Co-Founder of Flated | Inflatable Truck Toppers, Jeep Campers & Shark Tank**

In this episode of the Jeep Talk Show, we sit down with Ryan Guay, CEO and co-founder of **Flated** — the company that introduced the world’s first inflatable truck topper!

From professional road racing across Europe and South America to building one of the most innovative overlanding and truck accessory brands, Ryan shares his journey, the wild story behind appearing on **Shark Tank**, and everything you need to know about their game-changing inflatable gear.

### What We Cover:
– Ryan’s pro cycling days and how it led to Flated
– The full Shark Tank experience (including the deal with Daymond John)
– How the Air Topper works on Jeeps, Gladiators, full-size trucks & more
– Air Carrier rooftop cargo box, Air Deck, inflatable furniture, and more
– Storage, durability, weight, driving with it inflated, and real-world use
– Mopar / JPP program, SEMA, Easter Jeep Safari, Overland Expo & upcoming events
– Why their drop-stitch technology is so strong (yes, you can stand on it!)

Whether you’re a Jeep Gladiator owner tired of permanent toppers, an overlander looking for packable cargo solutions, or just love clever adventure gear, this episode is packed with useful info and great stories.

**Flated Website:** [https://flated.com](https://flated.com)
**Shark Tank Episode:** [Watch here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzDA3GylmmI) (link also in pinned comment/cards)

—

**⏱ Timestamps:**
– 00:00 Introducing Ryan Guay and Name Pronunciation
– 00:29 Flathead Company and Inflatable Truck Topper
– 01:13 Packable Gear and Storage Benefits
– 02:23 Ryan’s Missoula Roots and Outdoor Background
– 03:06 Ryan’s Professional Cycling Career
– 07:07 Shark Tank Pitch Motivation and Application
– 09:29 Shark Tank Episode Highlights and Monique’s Story
– 11:23 Shark Tank Deal Negotiations and Experience
– 14:42 Team Decision on Shark Tank Deal
– 17:23 Post-Shark Tank Impact and Exposure
– 19:49 Shark Tank Advertising Value vs Cost
– 21:41 PR Inquiries and Jeep-Centric Branding
– 22:20 Introducing the Flated Product Line
– 23:38 Flated Product Suite Overview
– 24:42 Air Carrier for Jeep Storage
– 25:54 Air Deck Portable Bed Platform
– 26:51 Driving with Air Topper: Performance
– 28:01 Compact Storage of Inflatable Products
– 28:54 Drop-Stitch Technology History
– 30:18 Drop-Stitch in Water Sports
– 32:31 Inflatable Furniture Line and Events
– 38:43 Jeep-Specific Products and Mopar Partnership
– 40:37 Gladiator Topper Testing and Compatibility
– 43:09 Owner Innovations and New Accessories
– 43:45 Weatherproof Enclosed Carrier Design
– 44:22 Final Product Summary
– 44:37 Inflatable Furniture Use Cases
– 45:45 Wind Resistance and Safety
– 47:04 Color Options and Heat Impact
– 47:55 Windowless Topper and Custom Branding
– 49:16 Corporate Logo Integration on Topper
– 50:43 Flexible Branding for Real Estate
– 51:35 Closing Remarks
– 51:40 Flated Social Media Presence
– 53:49 Potential Inflatable Hail Protection
– 54:44 Final Thanks and Visibility Importance
– 55:50 Upcoming Events and Show Appearances
– 57:03 Sticker Merchandise and Distribution
– 57:25 Farewell and Friendship

—

If you enjoy conversations with passionate founders and innovative off-road gear, hit that 👍 **LIKE** button and **subscribe** for more Jeep Talk Show interviews!

**Follow Flated:**
– Instagram: [@flated](https://www.instagram.com/flated)
– TikTok: [@flated](https://www.tiktok.com/@flated)
– YouTube: [Flated](https://www.youtube.com/@flated)
– Facebook & Pinterest: Flated

**Jeep Talk Show Links:**
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– Website → [jeeptalkshow.com](https://jeeptalkshow.com)

**Watch/Listen on Spotify:** [jeeptalkshow.com/spotify](https://jeeptalkshow.com/spotify)
**Join our Discord:** [jeeptalkshow.com/discord](https://jeeptalkshow.com/discord)
**Newsletter:** [jeeptalkshow.com/newsletter](https://jeeptalkshow.com/newsletter)
**Support on Patreon:** [jeeptalkshow.com/patreon](https://jeeptalkshow.com/patreon)

Have you tried an inflatable topper yet? Would you run one on your Jeep or truck? Drop a comment below and let us know!

**#Flated #AirTopper #SharkTank #JeepGladiator #Overlanding #TruckTopper #EasterJeepSafari**

—

*Next up:* This week we chat with Jason Ake of Asfir 4×4! Find out why you need aluminum skids on your Jeep *before* you need repairs for your next off-road adventure.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00:00 – 00:00:03:10]
(Music)

[00:00:03:10 – 00:00:07:13]
Adios boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep Talk Show

[00:00:07:13 – 00:00:10:28]
(Music)

[00:00:10:28 – 00:00:40:28]
It’s been my whole life and it is pronounced gay and so… Really? That’s easy. You usually have to spell it for people if they don’t know the spelling because they always say guai or but yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and that’s French Canadian. Gotcha. So, you’ll fill a kinship here, my last name is Muckleroy and I had a lot of trouble with that because people would replace the M with another letter in school. Oh yeah.

[00:00:42:23 – 00:00:53:22]
So I should have beat more ass when I was a kid. Anyway, Ryan Gay is the CEO, co-founder and co-adventer of Flatted. It is flatted, right? Or is it? It is

[00:00:53:22 – 00:00:57:02]
(Music)

[00:00:57:02 – 00:02:51:16]
inflatable truck topper. Since launching in 2020, Ryan has been disrupting, I thought it was disputing when I first saw that, disrupting the truck and overland world with an innovative gear that’s lightweight, packable and built for genuine adventure. It’s not just sitting in the garage, which I think happens to a lot of campers either that or they’re just on the back of the truck and you never use them and I think it looks like shit driving around with a nice truck with a camper on the back. I love the idea of being able to use a camper when you want and not have to take up valuable real estate in the garage or your backyard for the camper that the kids are going to play under. Well, we like to think we’re helping to eliminate yard art. Yeah, exactly. I live in Montana and there’s a lot of old fiberglass toppers sitting on the side of houses on sawhorses or in the backyard or I’ve even seen one that is, was turned into a chicken coop. Perfect. Yeah, we like to think ours are somewhere stowed away in a garage or even in a closet. Right. And we’ll get more into the storage of this because I think the storage on these things are really, really neat. And the storage is actually, you can actually carry it with you if you want to carry it with you all the time. Like you have a tonneau cover, you know, keeping it out of sight of the thieves and then if you need it, you got it. But anyway, we’ll talk more about that in a second. Based in Missoula, is that right? Yep. Up here in Missoula, Montana. Missoula, Montana. And he’s a seasoned outdoor industry veteran, a proud father of three and an active explorer who spends his days chasing new ideas, rigorous testing products and getting outside with his kids and their and their loyal black lab. Is that no che? No che. No che. I’ve done amazingly well. Horrible.

[00:02:52:18 – 00:02:57:10]
I’m only eclipsed with my reading by my pronunciation of words or as I like to say, pronunciation.

[00:02:58:16 – 00:03:10:21]
All right. So Ryan, thank you very much for being on here. And I think one of the things that, well, actually I want to start with this. I did I read correctly? You were a professional bike.

[00:03:11:22 – 00:03:49:14]
I don’t know if that’s enthusiast, if you can say professional enthusiast. I guess it started with enthusiasm. Yeah. Yeah. I spent my early twenties as a professional road cyclist racing here in the US and abroad in Europe and South America. And it was a long time ago when I was skinnier and faster, but it was a really cool experience to see the globe and, you know, race against the best guys in the world. I mentioned the travel was really interesting and seeing all the girls in those various countries too. Yeah. I was able to live in Europe for a couple of years, spent a lot of time in South America, Chile, Argentina.

[00:03:50:14 – 00:04:22:01]
My favorite race I ever did was actually a 10 day race in Chile and yeah, just beautiful country, big mountains all the way from the coast to the Andes. It was an amazing time. I need to take some time and go back and visit one of these days. When you watched Forrest Gump and he was out doing that long run, did you kind of feel that that bring back memories of being on the bike? A little bit. It was, you know, I think back in those times and there was a lot of lonely, long hours training on the roads all around.

[00:04:23:10 – 00:05:29:04]
So how did you get started in that? Was it just something bicycling was something that you found fun and then you decided you want to spend five or $10,000 on bike and gear and everything else so you could be a professional? You know, I don’t exactly know how it started. I was a ski racer as a kid and it was like the cool thing to do in the off season to train for skiing. Oh, I keep being in shape. That’s right. And so started with freestyle bikes to mountain bikes. Then I got a road bike and I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, which is probably the endurance capital of North America. So there was a lot of local races and a local scene and just kept on going and raced mountain bikes in college. And then that turned into a year abroad, which turned into racing against better competitors. And then next thing I knew I was had a pro contract and was was doing it full time. So was this something I mean, did you have to go into competition? Was it a goal to actually be a professional biker or was it somebody to see what you were doing and approached you?

[00:05:30:06 – 00:05:32:29]
Yeah, I think at some point in high school, it definitely became a goal.

[00:05:34:07 – 00:07:04:05]
You know, like like any sport, you go through the local ranks, then you maybe do a regional race, then you do a national race. And then, you know, collegiate. And then, yeah, it was just sort of all kind of in a lot of the kids I raced with, they you know, they didn’t make it. They they were faster than me as a junior, but due to, you know, parental pressure or burnout or, you know, finding girls or something, they all dropped out. And it’s hard. There’s a lot of time. There’s a lot of time you had to put into this practice. I think the longest or the best year I had, I think I’ve put almost 30,000 months. I’m a mile on my bike. So how many tires did you go through a lot? Yeah, I could well imagine. I mean, 30,000 miles. I used to actually mode mode yards so I could buy a swim 10 speed. And oh, my God, it was amazing riding that that swim compared to some of the other bicycles at the time. It was so fast and it was so easy to pedal. I mean, the fun thing, and you probably did this too on whatever bike you had is riding without holding on to the steering wheel. You just sit up and you’re riding. Now competitive, you probably need to be down so that you can get the power to the pedals. But that was fun. And I even got, I remember I could do turns, not sharp ones, but I could actually turn down another street just by leaning. It was a lot more comfortable riding. Well, as a cyclist, you have to practice that for the first day that you win so you can raise your arm. Exactly. I didn’t think about that. I was by myself. I won every time.

[00:07:05:27 – 00:07:05:27]
All right.

[00:07:07:01 – 00:07:15:05]
All right. So this is the, and I went and checked your site because I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about this or not, but we got to talk about Shark Tank.

[00:07:16:21 – 00:07:29:19]
So the idea for going on Shark Tank was that to get money or to get excellent advertising? Because to me, the advertising is huge. It’s nationwide.

[00:07:30:28 – 00:07:40:00]
And you know, if you don’t lose, I mean, you either get some money to help the company out or you don’t, but you get that notoriety. You get the people watching it.

[00:07:41:10 – 00:08:01:18]
Well, we were always a fan of the show. I’ve watched it for forever and it was always inspiring and the entrepreneurial spirit to think about one day, you know, starting our own brand and doing something like that. And you know, we didn’t even actually really aggressively go apply. We got sort of recruited to apply. Oh, nice.

[00:08:02:20 – 00:08:32:01]
So somebody had seen an article about our product and they’re like, hey, you should talk to so-and-so. And that started the application process, which is very intensive. And it was kind of like coming off of COVID. So there was still a lot of Hollywood COVID rules about testing and everything we were auditioning with all Zoom links. But yeah, in the end, it was huge for the brand when it aired in March of 23.

[00:08:33:01 – 00:09:46:22]
We sold out of pretty much all of our whole warehouse and all of our product within about a week after airing on the show. So yeah, the marketing on it definitely helped. And it was just a good learning experience to, you know, one, put all that stuff together to get on the show, but then also just think more in that entrepreneurial spirit. And you know, I think everybody that ends up going on the show binge watches all the previous episodes to make sure they know how to act when they’re on the show. So you know, learning that, going through that process is a huge learning curve too. And yeah, even now, still it’ll just sort of randomly rerun. We don’t quite know when they’re going to play now, but we’ll just get on our analytics on our website. We have this big boost in traffic and I’m like, oh man, our Shark Tank episode must be re-airing right now. That’s interesting. So yeah, I mean, they are a big stick in the entertainment industry and they’re pretty, pretty funny too. So I think the critical question, and we’ll have a link up to the video of all that’s on YouTube. We’ll have a link up in the notes for this episode, but I believe it was, is it Monique? Was the young lady that was there on that episode and pregnant?

[00:09:47:26 – 00:10:01:09]
Yeah, Monique is one of our co-founders. She is our CFO. We like to say she’s our dead mother that keeps the rest of us boys in place on all things financial. But yeah, she was seven months pregnant when we filmed.

[00:10:02:28 – 00:12:04:28]
And so yeah, it was kind of nerve wracking. And actually, she ended up going into labor early, just a few weeks after we aired. So luckily all the timing worked out and she could be on there and she just nailed her questions when she got hammered on the financial aspects of the business. I thought all three of you did a good job. I didn’t see nervousness or anything going there, which I mean, you’re standing there in front of the bright lights and these multi-billionaires and you do want to appear well because you don’t want to screw up in front of live TV or not live TV, but TV that’s on nationwide because you’re trying to promote the product. Anyway, the most critical question I have for you today is, was the baby born okay? And what gender was it? The baby born was born okay. Her name is Tava and she was a little bit premature. So there was a little bit of time in the hospital, but the baby had her in the baby oven. Yeah. Yeah. But now she’s growing up and is doing great. Has she made it into any of the videos or anything for social media and storing the baby and the topper or? I don’t know if she’s actually made an appearance in anything. Oh, you got to do that. You need a dog and a baby. That’s it. Those two things. I guess she’s about three now. Yep. I’m right about three. And yeah, we’ve had, we’ve had my kids and some stuff. My wife’s been in a couple of photo shoots. And then the other funny thing about Shark Tank was Ken, our other partner that was on there, he was a weatherman in Vail, Colorado for over a decade. And so he was super comfortable on camera and it was a little bit more unnatural for money. Can I to get up there and you know, especially that opening bit is the hardest thing that is pretty much the only thing that’s actually, you know, rehearsed or recorded. And then after you get through that first 30 seconds, then it’s all just questions and answers. Yeah. I bet you can’t ask him what’s the weather going to be today without a long ordeal and he’s, he’s doing the hand to the, you know, where the green screen normally is. I think they did that bit on Groundhog Day.

[00:12:06:24 – 00:12:25:00]
So anyway, they still call him to do snow reports and he’s very, very well known in the Vail Valley for being that face of Vail TV in the mornings during ski season. Yeah, that’s really cool. All right. So the other question I have for you on any of these, if you want to say pass or it’s none of my damn business, that’s fine.

[00:12:26:04 – 00:13:06:04]
Whenever you went on Shark Tank, did they have you sign something of things you can and can’t talk about? I mean, obviously people are going to want to talk to you after being on Shark Tank. And I think you did several interviews or somebody from someone, you or somebody else from the company did interviews because that’s a good tie in. People want to know about the Shark Tank and how it was and what, what are the sharks really like and so on and so forth. But did they have you sign something or are you not able to legally talk about some things? There was definitely things signed and you know, we really just like the, some of the background stuff, you know, we just don’t talk about really, and there’s no need to,

[00:13:07:09 – 00:14:08:07]
you know, really the magic is getting on there and actually, you know, standing in front of the sharks for the very first time, you know, there’s no auditioning with them. They don’t know who, what brand they’re going to. That’s interesting. Yeah, that’s interesting. The very, very first time we see them is when you walk out that in that corridor. So they really have no idea what the product is or if it’s going to be useful or not. No. And then, you know, the only other bummer that year was I think a couple episodes that year they did a live studio audience. So they had changed the size of the studio. And so we weren’t able to actually get a full truck in there with our product on which other seasons people with automotive products have been able to get a full-size truck. So we kind of had to do a last minute, you know, we built like a wood box to actually put the top on and make a good display out of it. But I think it would have made a little bit better impact for people to understand if we actually would have been able to have, you know, a full vehicle in there. But the sharks were great. The conversation was really good.

[00:14:09:18 – 00:15:01:22]
And you know, even the follow-up with those guys has been great. And then also just meeting other shark tank companies has been really cool. We kind of have a way that we’re all connected and we all, you know, bounce ideas off of each other and learn about different systems and programs people are using, other small brands. It’s not like a PTSD group where you go get together and you talk about your pain on the shark tank, right? And make yourself feel better. Well, everybody does have a different experience on the show there. There are definitely some people in there that weren’t stoked about how it went. But luckily for our pitch, you know, they edit it in a way that I think it is. I thought it went very well. I mean, I thought you guys did a very good job. Like I said earlier, you didn’t seem nervous. It was a good sell of the product and you stood your ground on a few things. Now, I got to ask this. How surprised were you when Mr. Wonderful said he has an F-150?

[00:15:03:03 – 00:15:03:27]
I was surprised.

[00:15:05:00 – 00:15:24:16]
That was one other thing we tried to do some research on ahead of time is, you know, you’re always like, well, who do we want to make a deal with? And I was trying to research all those guys to see who had trucks and what trucks and all nice. Yeah. That was kind of hard to find. I didn’t know. I definitely didn’t know he had an F-150 and he could have been lying to who knows. But it was interesting.

[00:15:26:02 – 00:15:40:14]
You know, what we did learn about Damon John, who we, you know, we were doing a deal with was, you know, he’s a full outdoorsman. He’s he’s into being on the woods doing stuff. He’s a big fisherman, a bass fisherman. And that’s interesting. I had no idea. Yeah.

[00:15:41:15 – 00:17:13:05]
Yeah. So you guys made a deal with, I believe you said Damon. And so it was a it wasn’t the deal you were asking for, but it was something that he came up with. And I’ll just mention this before we go into this. I sat there and watched all the sharks talk you guys in to take in the deal. And it reminded me of the meeting that they had in Finding Nemo where fish are friends, not food. You had sharks talking you into getting into the mouth of another shark. So I’m hoping that deal worked out well for you. You know, again, the whole the whole process worked out great. And Damon and his team were great. And but yeah, it’s a nerve wracking moment when, you know, they make you a deal up there and you’re trying to do the math and you know, that’s 100% live. You know, there’s they take like you have to make that decision in front of them and you don’t have a notebook or a calculator or anything. We have to basically whisper back and forth and decide if we were going to take the deal. And so yeah, it was a great experience and and continues to be. So when you guys were having that discussion about whether or not to take the deal, was that a vote of like, I mean, there was three people making the decision. Was it like two out of three or was it three for three? Was it unanimous or was it like, I don’t like this, but whatever you want to do, you know, that type of thing. It was it was pretty unanimous between the three of us.

[00:17:14:05 – 00:17:44:14]
The hard part was that we have two other partners in the business that weren’t there. So well, it’s their fault. They should have been there. Yeah, we had that. You should then call a friend. That’s what you should have done. You have a lot of meetings ahead of time. Like, OK, what can we take? What are we not going to take? And yeah, so that was that was the nerve wracking part. It was like, I think this sounds good, but, you know, we can’t we couldn’t phone a friend or couldn’t actually call those guys verify it. But you can ask a shark. What do you think I should do?

[00:17:45:19 – 00:18:37:20]
Which I still think is I mean, they were nice. But I just kept thinking about it was what are these people doing? I mean, you’re talking to trying to talk you into doing the deal. And, you know, so anyway, the thing that got me was is that you went with the deal and you went with Damon and did that was Damon that not that it was his job, but did Damon try to help you guys out with things that maybe you weren’t familiar with, not having as much business experience as he had always. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, there’s there’s a little bit of time between when you film and obviously when it airs and there’s a lot of some good help from Damon’s team on preparing us for that moment when all of a sudden we’re going to be exposed to the nation worldwide

[00:18:38:25 – 00:18:47:18]
and super supportive. And, yeah, just again, the whole the whole shark tank team, the Sony team,

[00:18:48:27 – 00:19:13:10]
the producers, all of it was just a great experience. And I’m looking forward to they have some reunions every once in a while. And where some of the sharks show up and I’m looking forward to one day having the time to actually attend one of those and go see those guys again. Did Damon actually come out to your your site? Did he look around? Did you see how things were how the sausage was being made, so to speak, or was it all remote? There were some good meetings.

[00:19:15:00 – 00:19:38:03]
Good. Yeah. And I think it’s important. I mean, I don’t know how much business experience you guys have. You may not have wanted anybody meddling in it, but I would think that it’s not just a cash transaction between you and the shark. It’s like you get some help. I mean, it’s in their best interest, I think, to help you make more money to get your product out there. But doesn’t mean that that’s what happens. And that’s one of the reasons why I was asking about it.

[00:19:38:24 – 00:21:16:16]
All right. So overall, the whole shark experience was a pleasurable one. It sounds like it helped your business and it still helps it even today. Three years later, like you say, when reruns go, I mean, you can’t buy. I mean, you can buy advertisement like that. But good lord, it would cost a lot of money to have that kind of advertisement. Yeah, we like to think we have like a seven minute infomercial living out there on Hulu and obviously the reruns. And so, yeah, the exposure was it was out of control. And we had already been doing really well and we had already gone kind of viral on some social media before we aired. So things were projecting in the right direction. But the exposure of being on the show definitely sped that up and gave us a little bit more of a hockey stick growth that year than we probably would have had otherwise. So and I don’t know how I remember how business works, really. But were you did you ever get approached by any of the other sharks that maybe they wanted to invest, a retrospective of the show that they wanted to invest in your in your business? Not necessarily, but that exposure definitely opens up the door for all sorts of random inquiries coming in. I bet. And it’s hard to it’s hard to weed through it all. My LinkedIn account every day is just a mess of, you know, people reaching out and asking if we’re looking for investors or if we’re selling the company or it’s just like it’s kind of a nonstop dribble of of stuff that it’s hard to even weed through. I feel so bad for you one day. I’m going to be popular and I’ll understand.

[00:21:18:15 – 00:21:26:14]
But, you know, it’s it’s like you’re it’s like anybody’s inbox now. I’d say 80 percent, 80, 90 percent of it’s probably, you know, kind of scammy.

[00:21:27:23 – 00:21:45:16]
But, you know, some of it’s pretty worth looking into. It’s the it’s what you have to pay. I mean, really, you want the notoriety, you want the popularity, but then you have all this other half that goes along with it or three quarters of what goes along with it. We were starting to get PR firms contacting us about doing

[00:21:46:29 – 00:22:57:12]
guest interviews. And I have to come up with a nice way of saying I don’t see that there’s a jeep involved in this interview, which is really the only thing that we care about is the only rule that we have. It needs to be some jeep. And I don’t care if it was somebody’s grandpa that had a jeep that they wrote in, you know, in 1954, that’s a jeep part of the story. So I have to think of a nice way of telling them thanks so much because it’s a PR firm. They may run across somebody that has a jeep and want to be on our show. But it’s nice. It’s nice to be contacted for a change instead of us having to chase people down. All right. So we’ve talked a lot about Shark Tank. And I know people would be really excited about that, especially fans of the show. I’ve never seen much Shark Tank. Actually, I don’t watch much network TV, but I have seen clips, you know, TikTok and so on and so forth. I did enjoy I watched the entire segment for you guys. And that had to have been there was a possibility that nobody wanted to make a deal with you. And when you guys were walking out of there as a group, you had that somebody make a deal with us. I mean, it didn’t have to be the deal you wanted, but just it was a positive. Somebody liked your product enough, believed in it enough to make a deal with you.

[00:22:58:26 – 00:23:39:16]
Yeah, I know that was insane. And then, you know, there’s a there’s a little bit of a moment, like right before it comes out that you’re like, wow, I just hope that because again, you don’t get to see it at all. How’s it going to be received? Yeah. You don’t get to see it. And, you know, it’s edited to down from the amount of time that you’re on there. And, you know, about 24 hours before we were we knew we were going to air, I had this like panic attack. And man, I hope they don’t make us look like total jerks up there. But, you know, luckily, you know, the edit came out good and, you know, they beat us up like they do with pretty much all the brands up there. But yeah, again, it was it’s been great for us. OK, so let’s get to the product.

[00:23:40:16 – 00:23:52:08]
I mean, I assume the whole reason you’re here. And I appreciate you going along with these other questions that I had, because I mean, as soon as I saw the Shark Tank thing, I went, oh, this is going to be great. I can come up with all kinds of questions. I haven’t do a Shark Tank.

[00:23:53:09 – 00:24:26:06]
So the flated product. And I think you have several products, but I forget what it was at the time. The young lady said that the best seller, I think, was the camper that you guys are saying. I think that you guys really like the I think you call it the topper, which is just kind of like something you put on top of vehicles or jeeps or like where you would have a rack. And now you have something that you can carry things on top of your vehicle. And then when you’re done with it, you can deflate it and store it in a bag or something, right?

[00:24:27:08 – 00:25:53:19]
Yeah, so when we launched, we had three different products and one was the truck topper, the air topper, which we’re most known for now and is our best seller. Then we have the air carrier, which is an inflatable rooftop cargo box that’ll go on pretty much any vehicle that do great on jeeps because jeeps aren’t that famous for interior space. No, not at all. And then we have the air deck, which the air deck goes in the back of the truck bed, gets you above the wheel wells, still with storage underneath, but makes a platform for either sleeping organization or whatnot. But yeah, there was there was a big debate between us founders originally on if it was going to be the air carrier or the air topper that was going to be, you know, the most universal and half the group thought the air carrier, namely the people that didn’t have trucks. And then there was two of us that had trucks that were like, I think this topper is going to be, you know, a game changer. So, you know, the whole idea of the the flated air topper is, you know, I’d consider it more like a backpack for your truck than a camper shell. You know, that when you put a fiberglass shell on your truck, generally it’s one, it’s a kind of a pain. It’s heavy, requires a bunch of bolts and tools and some storage space. Hours can install in just a few minutes. It’s less than 60 pounds for any different size. So you can install it yourself.

[00:25:54:24 – 00:26:26:16]
And then if you need to get your truck bed back, you just unstrapped it from the truck, throw it in the yard. You can deflate it and roll it up or still leave it inflated. But really, you know, it’s the convenience of having a truck topper when you want it. But being able to take it off and get your truck bed back. Yeah, exactly. So was I correct earlier and as much as the now what’s the one that goes in the truck bed? What’s it what is that one called? That’s the air deck. OK, so the air deck, you can completely air it down and like put it in a backpack. Is that correct?

[00:26:27:17 – 00:27:17:03]
So I think that’s a wonderful idea because most of us don’t have a lot of things in our in our in our truck bed. I have a gladiator 2021 gladiator. So I think the cool idea I went to EJS back in 2023 and I bought one of those little tents that fit, you know, over on a five foot bed. I don’t fit in a five foot bed, but so but the tent goes all the way to the tailgate. So there was enough room for me to lay in the back of the back of the truck. So with with your device, I could have done the same thing. The nice thing about the tent was it was all rolled up and stored. And then I took it out and hooked it up to the the bed of the vehicle. So you could do the same thing with your your deal. Does it come with a some sort of air inflation device? Did I see a bicycle pump?

[00:27:18:06 – 00:27:20:29]
All of our products come with a manual hand pump.

[00:27:22:16 – 00:27:31:17]
And then we have different upgrade options. We have electric pumps that plug into the 12 volt. We have a battery lithium ion battery pump that you can

[00:27:32:21 – 00:27:36:09]
just inflate it there. We also have a compressor adapters.

[00:27:37:18 – 00:28:22:24]
You know, we inflate them sometimes here in our shop with just a shop back on blow mode that blows it up really fast and then you top it off with a hand pump to get it up to five to eight PSI. But you know, the those tents are super convenient. The nice thing about ours is you can put it on at home and put all your stuff and then, you know, drive out to Moab with it, you know, install. I was going to ask about that. So you can drive with it on there. Yeah. Yeah. And I’m sure you I was sure you could drive with it on. But there may be a max mile per hour that you could drive. But if you can put it on there and get on the highway and it does it stays on there and it does thing does what it needs to do. Is there any noise that you’ve noticed generated by it? You know, 70, 80 miles an hour. No noticeable extra noise.

[00:28:23:29 – 00:28:33:10]
You know, it’s very, very rigid on there. You can actually stand on the roof of it. There’s D rings up there so you can haul stuff on the on the on the roof. Like, oh, nice.

[00:28:35:06 – 00:29:53:19]
But yeah, there’s really, you know, no noticeable noise or drag. You know, the one thing like any topper, it just creates more surface areas. So in crosswinds, you can kind of feel it a little bit more, but you’d feel the same thing with a with an aluminum or fiberglass topper. Right. Yeah, it’s all about storage. Really. What do you do with this thing when you’re not using it? And I think a lot of trucks, you put the camper on it and it stays on there for the rest of its life simply because, you know, you don’t want to store it in the yard or take it off and put it in the garage. The nice thing about this is is that you can deflate it, put it away, and it doesn’t require a lot of square footage to store it, which which I think is the coolest thing. Now, I think everybody, unluckily, has been on an air mattress. And I’m not talking about anything that you guys may have, but everybody’s been on an air mattress. And if you’re a fat boy like me, you know that that air mattress is not going to make it more than a couple of hours and you’re going to wake up with your butt on the floor because it just doesn’t hold. But you guys have a different type of technology because I remember the first thing the shark shark saw was a little like pillow size thing and it showed. There you go. That’s it. It shows all those little nylon, I think it was strings that help give it rigidity.

[00:29:54:24 – 00:30:12:19]
Yeah. So drop stitch inflatable has been around since the 50s. So it was actually a good year, developed it and made an inflatable airplane out of it. You can actually Google the inflatable plane and find some really wild videos of them test piloting these inflatable winged planes.

[00:30:13:23 – 00:30:41:06]
But in the past, you know, 20 years has been most used in water sports. So in stand up paddle boards, whitewater kayaks, raft floors, other things like that. And you’ll also see it in a lot of the gym mats now. If you go to a gymnastics gym, you’re going to see like a 30 yard one that they’re doing the tumbling on. So it’s a technology that’s been out there where you’re just the first ones to be like, hey, I wonder if we could put it on the back of a truck and make it a topper.

[00:30:42:07 – 00:30:50:26]
So what are those things do? I know that it gives it rigidity when you, when the air expands it, but what does it do for compression?

[00:30:52:08 – 00:31:18:12]
So this one here only has about five PSI in it. And you know, you can stand on it, you can knock on it, there’s a little bit of a give, but really the drop stitch provides a stopping point for the material. So you know, we can do it in two inches, four inches, six inches, but those nylon threads keep it from basically turning into a balloon. So that’s how we can make the panels.

[00:31:20:14 – 00:31:49:01]
And so, you know, we did some new stuff with it as far as like putting bends in it and, and making, you know, some more shape out of it than you would see. And obviously just to sort of a flat paddleboard, but that’s the industry that my co-founders and I came from as the, as the water sports industry. So we were familiar with, with the material and paddleboards and kayaks and, and, you know, knew some of the suppliers. And so that’s kind of part of where the team came out of and how we developed the idea.

[00:31:50:02 – 00:32:30:07]
If I remember correctly on Shark Tank, you actually stated that the, the paddleboards and stuff are almost exclusively this drop stitch technology. Now they don’t have the big physical ones. They don’t, they have them, but they don’t sell as many of them as the inflatable. Yeah. It just makes so much more sense for the everyday or the, you know, I would say the recreational paddleboard user, because yeah, it can store way easier. It’s easier to, to travel with. And then it’s also a lot more durable than a, than a fiberglass board. So for lake houses, rivers, you know, these can bounce off of rocks really easily and don’t crack like a fiberglass paddleboard will when you slam it into the shore.

[00:32:31:18 – 00:33:34:13]
So you guys have, and I apologize. I don’t know the names of the products. What is the camper one? It’s the, is it the, you say air topper, air topper. So you got the air topper. What is the cargo one that goes on top? And, and I think the cargo one is brilliant because you don’t have to have a truck. All you have to do is have a vehicle with a flat surface on top. So that’s a much bigger market. Although there’s a lot of trucks, that’s a much bigger market. Yeah. The air carriers is super useful. And like I said, yeah, we we’ve done really well with it in the, in the overland Jeep space because of, you know, again, Jeep’s not having much storage space inside. But same exact idea, rather than putting a full time, you know, plastic or, you know, composite box on the roof, this you put on right before your trip, you know, use it. And then when you get home, you know, you can just deflate it and put it away. And what’s funny is we do a lot of in-person events. We do most all the overland expos. We are down in Easter Jeep week.

[00:33:35:24 – 00:34:00:00]
And a lot of events will actually just fly and we’ll check a topper in an air carrier on the plane. And we get there and we’ll rent a turbo rig and throw it on. And then we go and we have our show truck there. So we don’t have to drive our personal trucks across country all the time. And it does show that, you know, pretty, pretty confident that we’re the only ones that has a truck topper that you can check on the airplane. Yeah, exactly.

[00:34:01:01 – 00:34:05:07]
So so you got those two, those two products.

[00:34:06:21 – 00:34:43:06]
If I remember, it’s been a few days since I looked at it, but you guys have more than three main products, right? You have like an inflatable table, if I remember right. And a few other things. Mattress. We have a we have a couch, a loveseat chair. Yeah, that’s that was the amazing thing. It was these things that was like, what? This is this is nuts. This isn’t just a mattress. You know, this is this has got multiple shapes to it, which is the the stitching that you’re able to do that. Well, it’s funny because the furniture was all kind of an accident. We we exhibited at SEMA for the first time three years ago.

[00:34:44:09 – 00:36:28:03]
And, you know, as part of dealing with the SEMA show, you have to, you know, rent their carpet or flooring. Oh, good. So expensive. Always a racket. And so we had this idea that we were going to make our floor inflatable so we could truck park a truck on it, because again, like your comment earlier, everybody’s always like, Oh man, my Walmart air mattress pops. So we wanted to show that. I want to buy this. I’ve had an air mattress before. Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why I’m bringing it up is this is isn’t your standard air mattress. We wanted to show that you could park a, you know, a mid-sized truck or a full size truck on that material for the entire SEMA show. And then our designer, Dan, who’s also one of our co-founders, he started getting even more creative and he’s like, well, we need a meeting space. So he designed these chairs and a table. And then we designed the walls and then a sign and our entire booth was inflated out of, you know, our material. That’s brilliant. But it was, we weren’t even through setup day when all the other vendors around us were asking us about the furniture. Cause it was, they saw how easy it was for us to bring it in and inflate it. And so I was calling Monique, our CFO, and I’m like, you better add this to the price list. I think we’re actually going to make these things and sell them. So, um, you know, we didn’t come into this intentionally being a furniture company, but, uh, it’s a fun extension of the brand. And if you go to any of the overland shows, you’re going to see our couches and our chairs and a lot of the other brands booths now, because it just makes it super convenient to, you know, throw it all in the back of their rig and then get there and inflate it. And all of a sudden you have a whole living room. So, uh, if you’re going to, uh, SEMA again this year, I would request something that you make a porta potty and put the Jeep talk show logo on the door.

[00:36:30:19 – 00:36:33:03]
But the problem is cleanup would be the problem.

[00:36:35:12 – 00:36:56:25]
Yeah. We’ve had some, we’ve had so many crazy ideas come through since we launched. And that, that, that one’s come through a few times and I’m like, I don’t want to have, but maybe, maybe just the toilet. That way, if the toilets out on the open, nobody’s going to use it. Somebody will, but I’m saying, you know, it’s less likely that people actually go in there and use it. Uh, so that’d be pretty funny.

[00:36:59:04 – 00:37:21:16]
Um, all right. So anyway, we, we, we, we mentioned too, what’s the, the, the third you have three main products. What was the third main product? Uh, the air deck, the air carrier, and then the air topper. And then the biggest change since we’ve launched is we only have three sizes of air toppers when we first started. And now we’re up to like 37 different options, I think.

[00:37:22:20 – 00:37:53:16]
And we’ve had to get a lot more vehicle specific. So, you know, we have like a gladiator specific size. Um, and then we have two versions. We have one, which we call our cap, which is more of a cab level, um, topper. And then we have our mid rise, which kind of extends about six inches above cab and allows a little bit more headroom. Um, for the gladiator, we just have the cap, but, um, it’s, uh, yeah, it’s, it’s the hardest part is keeping up with all the different sizes and knowing what we can sell and what we shouldn’t waste our time on.

[00:37:54:22 – 00:38:05:04]
So every, every manufacturer makes them just a little bit different. And, uh, Oh yeah. And then you have to worry about the model year, because they always have to seem to have to tweak it occasionally.

[00:38:06:04 – 00:38:29:13]
Um, so the thing I, the thing I see is like for the gladiator, that’s, that’s pretty cut and dry, I think, I don’t think there’s been many changes. You can correct me on this. So, um, the nice thing, uh, is really for the other jeeps, the wranglers. And, and I don’t guess it has to be wranglers either, because I would assume, uh, you can put the topper on, um, on anything that has enough flat surface.

[00:38:30:20 – 00:42:35:25]
The air carrier will go on pretty much any of them. Um, we’ve definitely had some requests on the, on some other jeep stuff. So, um, there might be some stuff in the works there, but, um, or jeep specific things, and then the other thing that we’re excited about this year is, um, we’re actually in the Mopar affiliated accessory program. So, um, that every, you know, Jeep, Ram dealership in the country, uh, the parts department can actually order our stuff. You can bundle it into, you know, financing when you’re buying your rig. Yeah. JPB. And that was, you know, a big deal for us as, uh, as a small brand coming from, you know, the outdoor space and, you know, trying to figure out how to weed through the, you know, the big three in Detroit and how to get into those programs, which has been, which has been a lot to, to figure out, but, uh, but we’re excited to say that we’re now in the Mopar catalog. That’s very good. And that also, uh, incorrect me on this, but that also means that when you go to buy your Jeep, you can actually buy some of the JPP stuff, uh, to go along with the Jeep so you can actually get it when you get your Jeep. Uh, if you know you’re going to be camping or you know, you’re going to be carrying stuff on the, on top of the Jeep, uh, you can do that. Now, um, the, uh, the Wrangler and the gladiators, or as this goes, uh, can be hard top or soft top, uh, will the, the topper work on either. I mean, obviously not the truck one, but for the Wranglers to have soft tops, uh, and you want to put the topper on it, will it still, you, can you still tie it down? Yeah, you can. And we’ve seen some really cool setups with, you know, our traditional mounting system for the air carrier, it works best if you have some crossbars, but also the Jeep bars actually can work really well for that too. And then, um, we have a bunch of accessory D rings on there where you can kind of get a little bit more creative on how you tie that down. So, um, we have seen it work on the soft tops and the hard tops. And I think that’s important because some people are really big soft top people. Some people are big, no top people. And I would assume actually no top would probably make it easier to tie the topper down to it. Yeah. And what’s funny is our, uh, on the gladiator, one of our, my buddy is here in town in Missoula, he’s, was the first test, you know, Guinea pig when, when we were sampling the gladiator topper. And, you know, I put it on, it was looking pretty good. We made some tweaks and send, but then immediately it was summer here and he took his top off, but then the topper was still on the back and he wanted that because he has a lake house up at Flathead Lake. And so he’d drive up with the open, open top, but then all of his, you know, groceries and everything were in the back, you know, covered by the topper to, to get up to the lake for the weekend. Which is handy. I mean, you get the open air environment plus you get a little security for the other stuff. Now I mentioned earlier that, uh, I have a tent that I can put on the back of my gladiator and you have to put the tailgate down so that anybody that’s six foot or more really six foot is about the limit, um, can lay down, uh, straight in the gladiator and there’s always diagonal, but, um, what do you do if you want to use the, the, the five foot bed to sleep in, uh, with your, your camper, uh, that’s on there? You, I mean, do you have to have your feet hanging out? I mean, it just goes as far as the tailgate, right? Yeah, it only goes to the tailgate. Um, we’ve seen, we have a flated owners group on, on Facebook that is, you know, just a group for, you know, people that have bought our stuff and they’ve, we’ve seen some really creative stuff from that, from our owners out there using some of the existing tents, um, using some more, I would say DIYed, uh, tarp systems. Um, and then we’re exploring a few different accessories to actually make that a little bit quicker and easier and fitting a little bit better with our toppers. Um, we just launched a new back window, um, which previously our window and the window that comes with every topper is, is a, is a tinted vinyl. So you can just roll it up just like a soft top Jeep window.

[00:42:37:02 – 00:44:21:05]
Um, but now we actually have an inflatable frame back window. So it opens a little bit more rigid. Um, and that’s nice for people in colder climates, like up here in Montana. Um, but what we’ve also found is that allows you to, you can strap it with the D rings straight upright and it’s rigid enough where all of a sudden now you’re covering the tailgate. So now there’s just some things we need to cover the sides, but, um, definitely a work in progress and, uh, and like I said, we’ve seen so many creative ways that are our owners and have kind of figured it out how to do it. And surprisingly, a lot of people still do sleep at a five foot truck bed at an angle, like you were saying. You can always put your, uh, put your knees up if you have to, I guess. Um, so, uh, I think on shark tank, uh, the, um, and I apologize for not remembering the names of these things, but the, the, the, uh, a carrier that goes on top of vehicles and stuff, it had clear side panels. The clear was only for the show. Right. So that you could demonstrate what it was holding. Yeah. That was just for the display at the show. It actually has, you know, full fabric sides, zippers on both sides. So it completely closes it up. Yeah. Um, I don’t want people going and looking at the video that we’ll put up and go, I don’t want to see people see it on my stuff. I mean, men are going to know I can’t have this. My wife doesn’t want anybody to see how messy we are. Yeah. No, you can’t see anything in there and you know, the zippers have a, a, a water resistant cover on them. And so, um, it keeps your stuff dry and, and yeah, it’s, it’s super easy and fast and, and it has a lot of cargo space up there. Actually you can, we have three different sizes of them. Um, but in our large man, you can haul way more stuff than you would need for a weekend up in there.

[00:44:22:11 – 00:44:31:03]
Yeah. Well, that’s what you learn when you’re going out. You probably experienced this too. You take everything and your mama, and then you realize that 90% of that stuff you don’t need.

[00:44:33:03 – 00:45:02:04]
But that’s the fun. That’s the fun of learning. All right. So I think we’ve covered it. I think we’ve covered all the stuff that you have. Uh, I thought it was really cool that you had additional things like the couch and those other things, because, um, I think they’re, they’re, they’re useful, but also too, I think they’re a bit of a novelty because I could see. Going out someplace like EJS or someone like that and set up camp and people are looking at the, what the hell is that? Is that a couch? You know, and then the, the big guy gets on and goes, damn, this thing holds me.

[00:45:04:03 – 00:46:04:15]
We started taking them to the university, Montana football games last year for the tailgate parties. And immediately our tailgate was like, people were all like gathered around and they’re like, what are these things? And you know, halfway through the year, all of our neighboring tailgates all had them and, um, but yeah, it’s, it raises the bar of like, of comfort. And I would say bouginess if you actually, you know, welcome to camp. Um, but it’s, I’d say, you know, the best use case scenario for our furniture, honestly is, you know, seasonal outdoor, you know, either pool or patio or lake furniture, um, where you can put it up for the summer. And then, you know, winter comes around, you can deflate it, throw it in the shed and, and the, it’s protected for the winter. Now I have a very sad situation that came to my mind, especially with the campy spot that we, we chose in 2023 at EJS, it was right next to a major cliff and all these beautiful mountains, if you will, where we could see out on the thing. And, but I can see a situation where a breeze comes up. My couch.

[00:46:06:22 – 00:47:21:03]
These, these things are relatively light, right? I mean, if it’s a strong enough wind, it’s going the same way that the trampolines go, uh, during a storm. Yeah. I mean, they’re, we get the question a lot and I’ve definitely been in wind enough where it’ll like blow over, so to speak. Um, surprisingly, we had them out of King of the Hammers two years ago and they were out in the overland space and the wind came up in the rain and the way that they’re shaped, if you actually just turn them, so the air is going through them, um, they were actually staying upright just fine because the air was actually traveling through them. But we do offer some stick on D rings and some other things to, to tie them down, if you wanted to tie them down to your dock or if you wanted to to stake them into the ground. Well, you get to use 10, 10 stakes, right? Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting. You know, same as it, same as any camp chair, I’d say ours probably is a little bit heavier so that you’re probably actually better than, than some of them out there, um, but yeah, in the right wind, you know, well, I mean, it has a little weight to it because of the thickness of the material and all the, the, the threads that are in there, I’m sure give it a little bit of weight, but I, I could, I could see that as being a concern by this thing. And then it’s down in a canyon and I ain’t ever going to see it again. I mean, I could fly a drone over it, take pictures, but

[00:47:23:09 – 00:48:12:12]
all right. So, uh, this is, uh, the website is, uh, uh, flated.com. I want to say flat. It’s so bad flated.com. So flat ed.com over there and check it out. I think you’ll be really impressed with it. I was, and the biggest thing I like about this stuff is it’s not permanent. Um, I mean, I know the fiberglass tops aren’t permanent either, but they’re a nuisance as far as storing them and people seeing them and the wife asking you, I thought you were going to put that on Facebook marketplace. I’m tired of looking at it. All right. You don’t have that with this situation, you know, but you have something that’s nice and strong, uh, and reusable, uh, many, many times. Oh, uh, do you have different colors on these items or are they all the same color? You get gray, gray or gray? Yeah. It’s like the Henry Ford thing. Yeah.

[00:48:14:02 – 00:48:53:24]
We do, we do have a white version. Um, we have a co-lab with Chevy actually. And so we have a couple of sizes in a white topper that also have the Chevy, um, bow tie on it. And that might be extended out into some other sizes here in the future. Um, obviously not with the bow tie on it. Um, but yeah, the gray has just been so nice and universal that, you know, it really looks good and kind of rugged on almost any color. Um, once we go down the whole color route and color matching, that opens up a whole different can of worms. Oh God. The inventory alone. Yeah. Yeah. And so we, uh, and then also he, you know, we get asked for black toppers a lot and

[00:48:54:28 – 00:51:26:20]
black inflatables are generally a little bit questionable, um, just due to the heat and the expansion. And so, and then also just the, the usability of it. Um, we’ve measured the temperature inside and out with all the different colors. And it’s wild how much hotter, you know, black is on the inside versus gray. Yes, absolutely. So, um, so for right now we’re stuck with the, in staying with the, with the gray. Um, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future we had some, you know, some limited runs of some other fun stuff coming out. Sure. Uh, you guys don’t do anything or haven’t considered doing anything with, uh, like company logos and stuff, uh, on the, on the toppers, uh, have you? Well, we do have the Chevy Colab. So we have a, we have a Chevy logo on, on a couple of them. But I mean, like if somebody, some company, they wanted to buy several of them. They were going to EJS and they’d like to, you know, help advertise that. I don’t know if they’re, how much surface area is available. Uh, and I’m sure there’s a lot on top, but you know, unless you’re in a police chase, it’s probably not going to be seen. Well, I can break this news here. Um, we are launching a windowless version that should be available early June. Um, that’s not on the site yet. It’s been maybe seen by a couple of people in our, in our testing. But part of that is for the idea of fleets and logoing. Um, because then you have a bunch of space on there that you can logo it up. And we’ve had different people logo our furniture and even the toppers just with like really nice, good vinyl. We’ve actually even had some people wrap them, which is interesting. Oh, that is interesting. But the, uh, the windowless ones, I think are going to open up a really cool opportunity to actually do some customization and put your company logo on there. And again, what’s nice is if you do that, um, you know, you can take it off when you don’t want your company logo on your truck. No, my, my uncle was hitting me up. He’s a, he’s a realtor in town here. And he was like, Oh, I’d love to have, you know, my name on the side sometimes, but I don’t want it on there all the time. And so it’d be perfect if it was on your, on your topper and I could just throw that on my truck for showings and different events. And so, yeah, take a look for the, the windowless versions coming out, um, in limited sizes and starting in June. Very nice. And I think that’d be really handy. I can’t see it being a massive seller, but something I could see how people companies wouldn’t mind having. Also too, uh, I’ve always heard that you never want to make eye contact with a realtor, uh, have you found that to be true? Probably, probably. I have a lot of, I can’t believe he doesn’t want to advertise all the time.

[00:51:28:14 – 00:51:33:26]
I have a lot of family in real estate, so I got to be careful how I, how I answer that question. Yeah. Well, you know what I’m talking about.

[00:51:35:14 – 00:51:37:08]
Believe it. Including my wife. Yeah.

[00:51:38:10 – 00:55:53:11]
We’ll leave it like that then. All right. So, uh, you know how the kids love the social media. I warned you about this ahead of time. Where can we find a, uh, uh, flated on, uh, on, on the social media? I would imagine everywhere. I think pretty much everywhere now it’s just, you know, that flated. Um, if you just type flated, you’re going to see, um, a lot of fun videos on Instagram, uh, Tik TOK. Uh, it really shows the vibe of our company. You know, we like to have some fun with, you know, I would say the, the trolls and the haters online that are like, Hey, that thing is going to pop. So we’ll go out and do durability videos. And we’ve shot the toppers with slingshots and BB guns, and we’ve dropped asphalt on them and we’ve drug them through fields and just to show, you know, the durability for everybody to see. And then, uh, also our YouTube channel has a lot more, you know, in-depth, longer form, uh, content and a pretty cool series on there with my co-founder Ken, who he just travels nonstop and creates all of our content. And so, uh, there’s a whole series there of, of his road trip adventures, um, going around the country. And, um, one of the most interesting ones to watch was from last summer. We actually went up to the Alaska, um, fourth of July car launch. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen footage of that, but every fourth of July, they launched launching. You mean like in the air? Yes. I’ve seen some of those. And so we, uh, bought a $300 truck in Anchorage and we threw one of our toppers on it and you go to the top of the hill and unfortunately I couldn’t make it, but, uh, Hannah, our employee and Ken were there to document. And, uh, they empty the gas tank, they cut out the catalytic converter, they cut out all the windows and then they launch it off the cliff. And we did that with our topper on the back as a little bit of a marketing stunt. But, uh, so yeah, take a look at the YouTubes and the Facebooks and the Instagrams, TikToks, I think we, we pretty much have them all. And then we even have a Pinterest page, which is interesting. Cause we have, we’ve created a catalog there of all of the different fitments of every different truck color, everything on there. So people can go and like try to really visualize what one of our products would look like on their truck. Um, specifically model year and color and all those things. Do you guys get much, I’m sure you get some bad winter weather, but do you get anything like hail, uh, in your area? Yep. Yep. Have you guys thought about making a hail protector for your vehicle, a windshield and the sides and stuff? We’ve definitely talked about that. Um, there’s a few people doing some interesting stuff with inflatable hail protection, but we have seen, and we’ve gotten some videos and I’ve actually seen it with my truck right out in front with small hail. Um, it bouncing so high off the top. There’s definitely a little bit of a bounciness to the material. And so it’s, it’s crazy how high actually the big hail will bounce off the top of our material. So it would be a good protector. It would be horrible if somebody was injured from ricochet or your, your house took damage from a ricochet. There’s, it’s like, uh, no matter what you do, there’s always something you got to pay for. It’s something that, uh, unintended consequences. All right, Ryan. Well, I thank you very much. Uh, thank you for going through all the, uh, the shark tank stuff, but I’m sure that you’re used to that. I imagine people just talk to you about that. Just walk up and talk to you about the, the, the, because they see you and they aren’t you that guy, that type of thing. So appreciate you going through that with us. And again, we’ll have, uh, the, uh, the clip, uh, in our, our notes here for this episode, uh, Ryan continued. Good luck with it. Sounds like you guys are doing great. Uh, it sounds like the shark tank was a blessing for you guys to get on there. And I’m really glad you didn’t have to work hard to get on there that they, that was kind of like a mutual thing. Uh, if I remember what you said correctly, so I would, that, that’s the thing I was surprised about because I would think everybody that has a product, especially if it’s new, uh, you want to increase sales, you want to get more awareness, uh, being on a national show like that, this had to been a gold event. I know it was a, it could have gone either way, but, uh, yeah, I think, I think it really is a big help. And if you’re a podcaster, that’s one of the things you want is somebody to, you know, know about who you are. So, you know, you’re doing a great show, but unless the people know how to find you, it doesn’t matter. Same thing with products. Absolutely. All right. Yeah.

[00:55:54:13 – 00:57:16:00]
No, I just wanted to mention, you know, we do, I mentioned it earlier, but we do a lot of in-person events. Um, and we have an events pay, uh, tab on our website where you can see where we’re going to be next. We’re going to be in Austin, Texas this weekend for a power sports overland show. Um, we’ll be at overland expo and flagstaff next month, um, probably in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado. Um, but yeah, come see us. It’s going to be one of us. Um, you know, we are really behind our brand. We are one of us founders works every single show. So come up, say hi and, um, we’ll show you our stuff in person. So you’ll be at SEMA this year. We will be at SEMA again this year. And you were at EJS as the, is it in the plans to be EJS again next year? Yeah. That was the first time we had really gone officially. And, uh, we had a great show. I wasn’t able to make it, but Hannah and Ken were down there. And, um, the feedback I got was I should have been there and I shouldn’t miss it next year. Yeah. Oh, it’s, I don’t know if you’ve been to Moab before. It’s just, it’s like another planet. I mean, I know Montana is nice too, but, uh, to me, especially being down here on the Gulf coast. Uh, it was radically different. Uh, oh, and I didn’t ask, uh, Jeepers love stickers. Do you guys have stickers, uh, for your product? Absolutely. We got stickers and yep. All right. And does, does that come with the, the item whenever you purchase it?

[00:57:17:02 – 00:57:29:23]
You know, it doesn’t, we’re actually about to start adding those, but if anybody wants a sticker, just hit us with a message, we’ll put them in an envelope and send them out. Very cool. All right, Ryan, thanks very much. Have a great day and appreciate your time. I appreciate your

[00:57:31:20 – 00:57:33:17]
You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.