Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 26: Scott Wilday of Lid Rig

Transcript

S6, Ep 26: Scott Wilday of Lid Rig · The Articulate Fly

0:03
Intro: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.
0:08
Intro: On this episode, I'm joined by Scott Wilday of LidRig.
0:12
Intro: Scott shares his LidRig story, a deep affinity for Coors Light,
0:15
Intro: and some cool new products.
0:17
Intro: I think you're really going to enjoy this one. But before we get to the interview,
0:21
Intro: just a couple of housekeeping items.
0:23
Intro: If you like the podcast, please tell a friend, and please subscribe and leave
0:28
Intro: us a rating review in the podcatcher of your choice. It really helps us out.
0:33
Intro: And don't forget to check out our Patreon community. It's a great way to support
0:37
Intro: the show and our partners.
0:38
Intro: We have everything from discounts on tying materials and guide trips to small group classes.
0:44
Intro: And a quick public service announcement. If you'll be in East Tennessee this
0:48
Intro: weekend on March 9th, I want to give you a heads up about the Tailwater Roundup.
0:52
Intro: It's a cleanup event on the South Holston and the Watauga from from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
0:56
Intro: If you want to help on the South Holston, meet at the Bluff City Boat Ramp.
1:00
Intro: And if you want to help on the Watauga, meet at the Ingalls and Elizabethton.
1:05
Intro: There will be an after-cleanup celebration at the Watauga River Lodge.
1:08
Intro: If you have any questions, reach out to at Flying Soho on Instagram.
1:14
Intro: And now, a shout-out to this episode's sponsor. This episode's brought to you
1:19
Intro: by our friends at Artisan Angler.
1:20
Intro: If you're looking for a better way to organize your flies, tippet,
1:24
Intro: and tools, you should check out the Flytrap at artisananglerllc.com.
1:29
Intro: I've dropped a link in the show notes. They sell direct through Amazon,
1:33
Intro: so you get prime shipping and free returns.
1:35
Intro: It doesn't get any easier than that. Make your time on the water more productive
1:39
Intro: and check out the Flytrap today.
1:42
Intro: Now, on to our interview.
1:45
Marvin: Well, Scott, welcome to the Articulate Fly.
1:48
Scott: Hey, thanks for having me, Marvin.
1:50
Marvin: Yeah, I've been looking forward to it, and I appreciate your flexibility on
1:53
Marvin: the reschedule. I think you understand
1:55
Marvin: sometimes they're just kid logistic issues you have to deal with.
1:59
Scott: Hey, anything for you, Marvin, you know?
2:03
Marvin: I appreciate that. So we have a tradition on the Articulate Fly.
2:09
Marvin: We like to ask all of our guests to share their earliest fishing memory.
2:14
Scott: Earliest fishing memory well uh
2:19
Scott: you know son i i mean i grew up on a
2:21
Scott: lake out here i live in denver uh littleton
2:25
Scott: but um so i grew up fishing for
2:28
Scott: bass pike catfish that kind of thing um and
2:32
Scott: i'm the oldest i've got two brothers so we
2:35
Scott: were out there every just about every
2:38
Scott: day in the summer and uh there was
2:41
Scott: this bass we called it we called it the one-eyed bass
2:44
Scott: and i'm pretty sure i we've
2:47
Scott: caught between me and my brother we probably caught this thing at
2:50
Scott: least 100 times every summer and uh
2:53
Scott: it just lived under this bridge and uh
2:56
Scott: yeah it just had the one eye and and that's
3:00
Scott: just how we spent our summers so and you
3:03
Scott: know that was coming from an early age and didn't really
3:06
Scott: get into fly fishing until later in life um i've probably been heavy until probably
3:13
Scott: six or seven years now so um but yes i'll i'll do it all i'm an equal opportunity
3:20
Scott: uh angler so been fishing is is okay in my book yeah.
3:26
Marvin: Well there you go so what was the impetus for you to come to the dark side of fly fishing.
3:31
Scott: Yeah. So, you know, man, where to start?
3:35
Scott: You know, my background, I guess, is, you know, sales and I started a health care tech company and,
3:43
Scott: you know, it's just a grind and health care tech is not very fun.
3:51
Scott: I'll put it that way and and it's
3:55
Scott: software so it's it's not a tangible physical
3:58
Scott: product but um you know learned a lot after you know selling that it was just
4:05
Scott: thinking you know what do I want to do next what can I be passionate about and
4:10
Scott: um that was about the time my uh my brother had been and just dragging me along, sly fishing.
4:17
Scott: I actually hated sly fishing starting out.
4:20
Scott: And I just didn't get it. Mainly because I stunk at it.
4:24
Scott: So, you know, getting stuck and tangled and it just, yeah, it didn't resonate with me.
4:31
Scott: But I equate it to golf, right? It just takes one good fish,
4:36
Scott: one good golf shot, then you're a golfer.
4:38
Scott: It's your life, right? So it was a shame. Same for me, one big brown trout.
4:43
Scott: And uh the rest is history.
4:46
Marvin: Yeah well i would say i never had the golf shot so i never never got,
4:52
Marvin: don't save yourself save some money yeah so uh my my junior clubs are in the
4:57
Marvin: garage and i probably haven't touched a golf club in 35 years so yeah.
5:02
Scott: Good for you yeah.
5:03
Marvin: Yeah so so you you got serious curious about fly fishing six or so years ago?
5:10
Marvin: Are there some kind of fly fishing mentors that kind of stick out in your mind?
5:14
Marvin: And, you know, if so, what did they teach you?
5:17
Scott: Yeah, so mainly my brother, who he's the true angler in the family, I would say.
5:25
Scott: He had the most passion for it, and he just kind of got one of those contagious
5:31
Scott: personalities and rubbed off on me.
5:35
Scott: But, you know, through him, I learned pretty much everything I needed to know
5:43
Scott: and the basics, you know, as far as knots and depths and that kind of thing.
5:48
Scott: And then, you know, littering, it's been a whirlwind, but fun.
5:57
Scott: But I've been traveling all over the place, fishing, you know,
6:00
Scott: down in Belize and Mexico, Louisiana, up north.
6:05
Scott: So a little bit of everything. And so it's an interesting question,
6:11
Scott: but everywhere fish is different. Everybody fish is different.
6:17
Scott: And I think that's kind of reflected in what I'm trying to do with LidRig and the products.
6:25
Scott: So it's a long answer for simple questions. I apologize.
6:30
Marvin: No, no, no, it's all good. And I mean, talking about LidRig,
6:33
Marvin: I mean, tell us a little bit about, you know, the story behind kind of the genesis of the company.
6:40
Scott: You want the real one? Yeah, I'll take the real one and the fake one.
6:45
Marvin: You can do it all.
6:48
Scott: Well, speaking of golf, we were at my youngest brother's bachelor party.
6:55
Scott: We did it up in the mountains. It was like a weekend deal.
6:59
Scott: It was a little gift. He got us golf ball markers.
7:05
Scott: It's a magnetic clip you wear on your hat. It was customized and all that.
7:10
Scott: Um next day we went fishing and as
7:15
Scott: i mentioned i'm horrible at fishing so i was
7:18
Scott: stuck in the tree couldn't reach my brand new expensive nippers uh as i'm dangling
7:26
Scott: out of the tree so i ended up using my golf ball marker to uh get my fly back
7:32
Scott: so then you throw six cores lights in there and uh,
7:38
Scott: And I've got a company with multiple products.
7:43
Marvin: So it was a drunk fishing, climbing experience, is what you're saying.
7:48
Scott: Yeah. Yeah. I owe a lot to Coors Light, I think.
7:52
Marvin: Oh, well, yeah. I was going to say you owe a lot to some IPA,
7:57
Marvin: but we'll just stick with the Coors Light.
8:00
Scott: I'm not a big IPA guy. Don't judge
8:03
Scott: me. But, you know, and if I'm being honest, I'm more of a scotch guy.
8:09
Marvin: Yeah, I was going to say. Yeah, my recollection was you were drinking bourbon in Edison.
8:14
Scott: It was a good memory.
8:16
Marvin: Yeah.
8:18
Scott: I'm sure I was totally coherent, right?
8:21
Marvin: 100%. Yeah, good. And so you've got kind of the bachelor party genesis,
8:28
Marvin: but, you know, how much did your kind of prior professional non-fishing life
8:32
Marvin: kind of feed into the LIDREG idea? Yeah.
8:36
Scott: Oh man. So yeah, I've always kind of had the inventor's bug, I guess you could say.
8:42
Scott: So I should, I remember back to like third grade invention convention,
8:47
Scott: uh, creating these things, swarps, I call them.
8:51
Scott: It's like sweats that turn into shorts.
8:53
Scott: Um, you know, I made these, these gloves for surfers being in Colorado makes sense. Right.
9:00
Scott: But it was like webbing in between your fingers.
9:04
Scott: Fingers as a glove so you could paddle better and
9:08
Scott: you know later on in life I just
9:11
Scott: kind of carried on to the healthcare tech
9:15
Scott: side I've been involved with startup companies and then
9:17
Scott: broke off did my own and um just
9:21
Scott: kind of making the process better between and
9:25
Scott: the communication better between physicians and patients
9:28
Scott: to so it's kind of 3D body parts that Docs
9:32
Scott: could interact with and explain what the heck's going on and uh so yeah i i
9:38
Scott: just it's in my blood i guess to uh kind of see a problem and try to come up
9:45
Scott: with a solution but one thing to have an idea a whole nother beast to uh,
9:51
Scott: make it a reality and and bring it bring it to market so yeah.
9:55
Marvin: 100 and so but you know why did Did you not just go start another tech company
10:00
Marvin: after you sold the last one?
10:03
Scott: Yeah, so tech is, I think I wanted to take a stab at something tangible,
10:12
Scott: like a physical product.
10:15
Scott: So in the tech game, that gets lost, right?
10:19
Scott: So you're selling, in the healthcare tech situation, I was selling to hospital
10:26
Scott: systems. And, you know, it was a long sales cycle.
10:30
Scott: Once you sell it, you got to come in and implement it.
10:34
Scott: You know, there was just a lot more to it.
10:38
Scott: And I don't know,
10:41
Scott: I think just on a personal level, it was, you know, what can I,
10:48
Scott: and at the time I was going through some pretty heavy stuff on a personal level as well.
10:53
Scott: So, you know, I think I wanted the cell grind itself.
10:59
Scott: I was kind of over that and I'm just looking for something I could really enjoy
11:05
Scott: doing and be passionate about.
11:08
Scott: So, yeah, fly fishing fit the bill.
11:12
Marvin: Yeah, there you go. And so, you know, your magnetic nippers are your flagship
11:16
Marvin: product. you know, what opportunity did you see kind of in Nippers and kind
11:20
Marvin: of what was the problem that kind of your entrepreneur and vendor eyes saw that needed to be solved?
11:27
Scott: So I probably have a unique take on fly fishing, just being newer to the sport,
11:36
Scott: if you want to call it a sport.
11:38
Scott: But, you know, I just didn't understand why guys were carrying so much gear.
11:47
Scott: And that really stuck out to me. and
11:50
Scott: then uh you know as i progressed and nippers
11:55
Scott: kind of grow with your fishing game it seems
11:58
Scott: like right you start out with the the fingernail clippers
12:01
Scott: and and you know shoot i've
12:04
Scott: seen some lid rig knockoffs being sold
12:07
Scott: for for like 200 to 400
12:10
Scott: bucks so um that that
12:15
Scott: was jaw-dropping to me um that people
12:18
Scott: would spend that amount of money on such a
12:21
Scott: small simple tool so when i
12:25
Scott: kind of dug in on it from a
12:28
Scott: business perspective you know there
12:30
Scott: was only a handful of players and and um
12:34
Scott: yeah i just felt like i could
12:36
Scott: i could make a play and went out
12:39
Scott: and made some prototypes to uh to experiment with
12:43
Scott: so and i think i had what was
12:46
Scott: it 50 prototypes made and the
12:50
Scott: first two shops i walked into bottom all so at at that point i kind of figured
12:58
Scott: uh i might be on to something here and and those were horrible i mean they were
13:05
Scott: they had springs and ball bearings and uh i mean I mean,
13:09
Scott: they were ugly and I mean, it was pretty rough.
13:14
Scott: But the fact that I could sell my prototypes told me what I needed to know.
13:20
Scott: And, um, you know, from, from that version to what it is today is,
13:25
Scott: is basically a whole new product and in a good way.
13:31
Marvin: Yeah. And I guess you got a little bit of a design refresh relatively recently, right? Yeah.
13:37
Scott: Yeah. Um, so lid rigs probably three years, maybe three and a half years now, uh, I've been at it.
13:47
Scott: So it's grown relatively quickly. Um, and that's just how I tend to work is,
13:54
Scott: is quick, but, uh, with intention.
13:57
Scott: So the lid rig itself, um, you know, out now is version 2.0.
14:04
Scott: Uh, in reality, It's probably like version 27, you know, with all the modifications that I made.
14:14
Scott: And I'm pretty pumped. I just signed off on the LidRig 3.0 design,
14:21
Scott: which I think is going to be the end-all be-all as far as nippers go.
14:27
Scott: I'm pretty excited about it.
14:29
Marvin: Yeah, the one ring to rule them all?
14:31
Scott: Yeah, hopefully. That's the idea. Yeah.
14:34
Marvin: So, you know, for folks that haven't had a chance to kind of put their hands
14:38
Marvin: on a set or to see you at a show or see them in a shop, you know,
14:42
Marvin: let folks know kind of what makes your nipper design unique.
14:47
Scott: Sure. So the most prominent feature is the fact that it's got opposing magnets
14:54
Scott: on either side of the nipper. nipper. So there's no springs in the middle.
15:00
Scott: So it's the magnets, the reverse polarity that that keeps them open and provides that spring action.
15:07
Scott: And took that and just kind of built on it, created it.
15:14
Scott: So starting out, my initial thought was just to have the nippers
15:19
Scott: on the hat so created a clip that
15:23
Scott: goes on the the brim or bill of your hat or lid
15:27
Scott: i should say and um yeah it's
15:30
Scott: kind of the golf ball marker version uh
15:34
Scott: for fly fishing so easy access but now uh we've added in like a bottle opener
15:41
Scott: a hook sharpener eyelet poker you can't actually wear the lanyard or wear the
15:47
Scott: nippers on a lanyard if you if you want um so it's just kind of a,
15:53
Scott: a good all-access tool so depending on how you fish and where you are and they'll
16:00
Scott: uh get the job done for you yeah.
16:02
Marvin: It's neat i mean i uh i like the sharpener and everybody needs a bottle opener right.
16:06
Scott: That's you know that's what i'm saying although although.
16:11
Marvin: My recollection is Coors Light bottles or twist tops, so you wouldn't need the
16:14
Marvin: bottle opener, but I know for the IPAs, you would.
16:18
Scott: No glass on the rivers, right?
16:20
Marvin: Yeah, exactly. So, you know, you were talking about kind of a little bit earlier
16:24
Marvin: about kind of the challenges of the startup.
16:26
Marvin: You know, what were some of the biggest challenges and surprises as you were
16:30
Marvin: working to bring the nippers to market?
16:34
Scott: Yeah, the biggest surprise was the fact that people liked the idea.
16:39
Scott: You know, and everybody's got an opinion.
16:43
Scott: So, you know, there's a few people that said this is the dumbest idea I've ever
16:48
Scott: heard. No fly fisherman's going to buy this.
16:52
Scott: And to me, I'm the wrong guy to say that to.
16:57
Scott: So challenge accepted. but yeah challenges
17:02
Scott: now that it's more established so
17:07
Scott: I guess out of the gate I was
17:11
Scott: thinking I could license the product which I've done
17:14
Scott: and the companies
17:17
Scott: I worked with they started getting emails from folks
17:21
Scott: saying hey screw you guys you're stealing Blitter Egg's idea
17:24
Scott: and you know
17:27
Scott: it's like no we're all in the same team here but to.
17:30
Scott: Me that indicated that i might be
17:33
Scott: i might have a brand um that
17:37
Scott: i can build on with uh obviously people
17:40
Scott: wild enough to go out of their way and send emails
17:44
Scott: like that so um you know
17:48
Scott: then i met with another large company and because
17:53
Scott: i was just one product we couldn't really do
17:56
Scott: much so you know
17:59
Scott: coming out with uh product
18:02
Scott: number two was it's kind
18:06
Scott: of a flyer to be honest and and today that's
18:09
Scott: it's one of the most successful products that
18:13
Scott: i've launched um and it's it's simple
18:16
Scott: but effective and um but
18:20
Scott: getting getting out into the market it
18:23
Scott: um you know i'm pretty heavy on the
18:26
Scott: social media space but getting
18:29
Scott: into shops and whatnot um it's harder
18:33
Scott: than than you would think so you
18:37
Scott: know and a lot of that's because guys are out fishing and guiding and you know
18:42
Scott: you gotta and i was new to the retail game so figuring out you know sales cycles
18:48
Scott: and and all that so um yeah but now i've got shoot i don't know probably.
18:58
Scott: 20 or so different products all with the magnetic vein and that's a hurdle in itself because,
19:05
Scott: you know anything coming in revenue-wise is going to new products new innovations
19:11
Scott: and so it's just trying to it's a delicate balancing act you know as far as
19:18
Scott: scaling bringing bringing new stuff out and uh trying to grow so.
19:23
Marvin: Yeah interesting and does anything kind of stand out in your mind in terms of
19:28
Marvin: like the differences with lid rig and like your your healthcare tech startup.
19:33
Scott: Yeah well actually what stood out to me i was listening to some of your um last podcast,
19:42
Scott: would be uh waiter guys i don't know if we should drop names or not but yeah the grunman's guys,
19:48
Scott: there you go um and and i
19:51
Scott: thought that was pretty interesting their their approach to getting into shops
19:58
Scott: and whatnot i mean there's direct competition right where there's a there's
20:04
Scott: what two other main players so that a fly shop could sell so yeah they're.
20:11
Scott: They're directly competing so from a literate standpoint um i just do it a little
20:19
Scott: different i guess right like i don't have i i can walk in and and they can sell
20:26
Scott: my products pretty much without any issues, right?
20:31
Scott: And even if they do sell some other companies or similar products,
20:37
Scott: you know, side-by-side, they'll end up going with GlidRig.
20:44
Scott: So I just thought that was pretty interesting. Their approach is kind of slow
20:48
Scott: rolling to get into shops where I'm more of a shotgun approach, I guess.
20:53
Scott: And, you know, I can walk in and walk out with a check to
20:56
Scott: a fly shop so um yeah it's and a lot of it i'm i'm learning as i go too so then
21:05
Scott: shoot now i've got distributors overseas and we're in my japan canada europe
21:12
Scott: um just signed south africa,
21:16
Scott: so you know just trying to to keep up at this point yeah.
21:21
Marvin: It's interesting though i mean it's It's been a while since I've like really
21:24
Marvin: kind of drilled into kind of the nipper space, but I would think you kind of
21:27
Marvin: sit at a really nice kind of price point and feature benefit point to kind of
21:32
Marvin: the spectrum of nippers that are in the market, right?
21:36
Scott: Yeah, on purpose too, because there are, and that's another big hurdle I've come up against,
21:47
Scott: you know, by and large, the space is friendly and everybody enjoys.
21:52
Scott: It's long and seems trustworthy, but I've had some larger companies come in
22:00
Scott: and knock off some stuff.
22:02
Scott: I've only been at it three and a half years, so people are watching what I'm
22:09
Scott: doing, which I guess is a good thing.
22:14
Scott: Uh, is something you, you gotta be cognizant of and, you know,
22:21
Scott: you can spend a bunch of money on a patent and all this.
22:24
Scott: And, uh, you know, I've had interesting legal conversations.
22:31
Scott: I'll put it that way, but, um, yeah, I digress.
22:35
Scott: I, sorry, I got sidetracked. What was the, the question?
22:40
Marvin: Really the price points. I mean, and I think the patent thing is an interesting
22:43
Marvin: thing too. I mean, because it's like, you know, it's a patent plus the money to go sue somebody.
22:48
Marvin: So it's kind of a different game. But, you know, my recollection is,
22:51
Marvin: you know, I would say, I don't know, the, let's just say the air quote high
22:55
Marvin: end of the nipper market is like 200 plus, right?
22:59
Marvin: Yeah. And then I don't really think of, you know, and then I,
23:03
Marvin: you know, you're at 75 and then, you know, everything else to me is,
23:07
Marvin: you know, and I'm not trying to offend anybody who's got some stellar or nipper
23:11
Marvin: that I haven't seen because I don't purport to see them all.
23:13
Marvin: But, you know, the rest of it's sort of that kind of utilitarian stuff that's,
23:17
Marvin: you know, with zingers, right?
23:20
Marvin: And at a different price point. So, yeah, it's an interesting thing about being kind of copied.
23:25
Marvin: Like, I mean, you know, back to kind of talking about the Grundon's guys,
23:28
Marvin: like, you notice how this year now everybody's got to, like,
23:31
Marvin: tweak their suspension system on their waders?
23:33
Scott: Yeah, yeah.
23:34
Marvin: Right?
23:35
Scott: Exactly.
23:35
Marvin: It's the exact same thing. And, you know, you know this, right,
23:38
Marvin: from being in the tech company background and making stuff, you know,
23:41
Marvin: not everything is patentable.
23:43
Marvin: So that's an interesting thing, too. And, you know, the only way you win is
23:46
Marvin: you got to outrun people and also be nicer, right?
23:51
Scott: Yeah, exactly. Or you can try and outpay them.
23:55
Scott: But, you know, as a startup, that's hard to do when you're going up against the big guys.
24:02
Marvin: Yeah. Yeah.
24:04
Scott: But yeah, I mean, but that's to me, and part of where the idea came from,
24:10
Scott: I guess, is, you know, I watched a guy in a river with expensive nippers that doled out on him, right?
24:19
Scott: So they were pretty much useless as he's standing in the middle of the river in May. Yeah.
24:27
Scott: Air quotes have replacement blades but they're
24:30
Scott: going to charge you for them so that didn't make sense to me
24:33
Scott: um at all so you
24:37
Scott: know and so they get you twice and you
24:41
Scott: know it just wasn't doing my job so um you
24:45
Scott: know 75 bucks i i
24:48
Scott: get is it's not the cheapest but um
24:52
Scott: you know the lid rig is is
24:56
Scott: a multi-tool and it does
24:58
Scott: a lot so um you know
25:01
Scott: that helps and it does not have replacement blades so
25:05
Scott: you can just sharpen them and uh kind of
25:08
Scott: like a knife right with with the uh the clip
25:11
Scott: itself so you know long lasting
25:14
Scott: it's not the prettiest but it's a
25:17
Scott: tool it's made to be used it doesn't have have the pretty
25:21
Scott: trout patterns on it or anything like that but
25:24
Scott: uh and i think that resonates with with
25:27
Scott: people so and i i
25:31
Scott: don't know from an outsider's perspective still consider
25:34
Scott: myself kind of an outsider but um you
25:37
Scott: know it seems like the industry is changing a little
25:40
Scott: bit too um you know getting
25:44
Scott: it's getting younger right and and more accessible
25:47
Scott: so um people have.
25:50
Scott: Different tastes different needs and and like i said earlier everybody fish
25:54
Scott: is different so i want to make tools that uh work for how you fish and and that's
26:02
Scott: the fun part for me i you know i just make stuff and guys like you tell me how they use it.
26:09
Scott: So, and usually post about it on Instagram, which is fun.
26:14
Marvin: Yeah. And my use case is, you know, unless you lose your hat,
26:18
Marvin: you're not going to lose your nippers.
26:19
Marvin: Cause I mean, I would, I would be seriously crying if I had lost a pair of $200 nippers in the river.
26:26
Scott: Yeah. Well, and actually, cause, uh, so I was down in, uh, fishing at the X
26:32
Scott: flats and there was a doctor down there fishing as well.
26:37
Scott: Uh, so, you know, gave him the lid rig to use. And that was,
26:42
Scott: it was just kind of a negative Nancy maybe.
26:47
Scott: And, uh, he's like, well, you know, what if I lose my hat?
26:50
Scott: And I'm like, well, that'd be impressive. So, of course, he ends up losing his
26:54
Scott: hat, sinks to the bottom, but they were able to get his hat back.
27:01
Scott: So they stuck the metal rod down to get his hat back via the lid rig and magnetic connection.
27:10
Scott: So, you know, there's two ways to look at it, I guess.
27:14
Marvin: Yeah, well, it's also easier to find your hat on the bottom of a river than
27:17
Marvin: it is to find a pair of nippers.
27:20
Scott: Yeah, that's true.
27:21
Marvin: So, you know, do you, you know, at this point, Scott, have you kind of,
27:25
Marvin: you know, you've got multiple products and we'll talk about the rest of them
27:27
Marvin: in a minute, but do you kind of have an overarching design philosophy at LidRig?
27:34
Scott: Yes well so i guess the i like magnets and that's kind of been.
27:41
Scott: Um my mo so to
27:44
Scott: speak with any new product that i'm
27:47
Scott: coming out with but um more so
27:50
Scott: um use cases so you
27:54
Scott: know i've got a i've built a pretty substantial i'd say
27:57
Scott: over 100 professional anglers
28:01
Scott: that i'm in contact with anglers and tires
28:04
Scott: i'm in contact with almost daily
28:07
Scott: and uh you know
28:10
Scott: i i'm i'm good at knowing what i don't know and uh listening to what people
28:18
Scott: need and and and want and if i can solve that problem with magnets i'll do it
28:25
Scott: and so like i live on a lake down here in Denver.
28:30
Scott: So, you know, I've got all my bass stuff that I'm fishing with.
28:34
Scott: I just got back from the X Flats fishing down there with the salt flies.
28:39
Scott: And then I'll be up in the mountains, you know, fishing for trout.
28:43
Scott: So to me, it's just, I can have 20 different fly boxes or I can have one that's
28:51
Scott: interchangeable magnetically.
28:54
Scott: And so, you know, less is more.
28:58
Scott: I guess in a nutshell and, and I accomplished that with magnets.
29:04
Marvin: Yeah. Which is, uh, as we've joked is awesome. If you don't have a pacemaker.
29:09
Scott: Yeah, exactly.
29:13
Marvin: So you, you want to kind of walk, uh, our listeners through,
29:16
Marvin: you know, some of the other products that are in the lid rig universe.
29:22
Scott: Sure. Um,
29:27
Scott: I think the most interesting one, or funny, I'll say, but you remember the slap bracelets?
29:33
Scott: I think I showed it to you at the show, the toy show.
29:38
Scott: Picture that, but it's like a magnetic watch.
29:42
Scott: So I made it originally to slap around a boat frame, but now I've seen guys using it.
29:51
Scott: They'll stick it to the side of their car and all your rides up
29:54
Scott: for you i saw a guy he lost a streamer
29:58
Scott: uh tied on the mag band
30:00
Scott: threw it out got a streamer back so you know it's just a lot of different cool
30:08
Scott: creative ways um that that that's used and a lot of the tires seem to like it
30:16
Scott: they'll They'll wrap it around their, basically their vice.
30:19
Scott: And then, shoot, what else?
30:23
Scott: Just came out with the Stash Tray. So, which is a magnetic plate, hat clip.
30:29
Scott: It'll also have a linear detachment.
30:33
Scott: Just launched those a couple weeks ago. Seem to be pretty popular.
30:39
Scott: Another one's called the Flywheel. It's just a heavy-duty magnet, 56-pound.
30:46
Scott: Pull force, literally it'll hold a shotgun if you need it to,
30:50
Scott: but you can put that on your waders, your straps, it'll hold forceps, flies,
30:56
Scott: actually works with some of our other products as well. So, yeah.
31:03
Scott: Everything kind of works together in the Wittrig universe.
31:12
Scott: I won't make something if it can't be used with something else, if that makes sense.
31:17
Marvin: Yeah, got it. How big is the stash box? I assume it fits on the brim of your hat, right?
31:23
Scott: Yeah, it's pretty small. Think of it as it's similar in size to the existing clip.
31:33
Scott: A little bit bigger and uh with the magnets inside of it so your i mean the magnets on the existing,
31:43
Scott: lid rig are super strong but uh yeah with this mag tray um i mean you could
31:51
Scott: take a branch to the face and and that literate's not going anywhere so um and
31:58
Scott: if you're not using it for For, to hold your wood rig,
32:00
Scott: I typically use it to hold real small flies if I'm trout fishing.
32:08
Scott: So it'll hold, shoot up, you know, 10, 15, probably even 20,
32:12
Scott: you know, smaller flies.
32:15
Marvin: Yeah. All kinds of good stuff for like Cheeseman and 11 mile,
32:18
Marvin: right? All midges and stuff like that.
32:20
Scott: There you go. Yeah.
32:20
Marvin: Look at you.
32:21
Scott: Oh yeah.
32:22
Marvin: So I also saw, I think it was on Instagram that I guess you,
32:26
Marvin: you know, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, But I guess the modular Flybox
32:29
Marvin: is a relatively new release for you, too, because I saw the video on your Instagram page.
32:35
Scott: Yeah. So I'm super pumped on them.
32:40
Scott: And it's just a new concept. So how do I describe it?
32:47
Scott: So instead of a foam, typical foam insert, I have these magnetic rubber pads,
32:54
Scott: stronger than anything else on the market.
32:57
Scott: That's a guarantee. um and then so you can actually just throw your flies right
33:03
Scott: in there and they'll stick,
33:05
Scott: which is what i'll do or we also
33:08
Scott: have these um foam insert with
33:12
Scott: a metal bottom that stick to it so you can just swap them
33:16
Scott: in and out of uh out of boxes so and then we also have what's called a mag dad
33:22
Scott: so it's just that same magnetic rubber material but you can stick that you know
33:28
Scott: to the the side of your boat um if your time flies basically your vice wherever you need it dashboard.
33:35
Scott: And uh yeah so you can just pull pull
33:39
Scott: that set out put it right next to you where you
33:42
Scott: actually need it so you're not digging through 20 different boxes trying to
33:46
Scott: to find the next fly so just a little more efficient and like i said you can
33:54
Scott: everything works together so you can also wear Wear those inserts,
33:59
Scott: you know, on the flywheel or the mag band if you need to.
34:04
Scott: So it's, it's cool. I'm, I'm excited for it.
34:07
Scott: And, uh, yeah, a lot of the shops have been picking them up.
34:10
Scott: So I'm thinking you'll, uh, start to see them in the market a little bit more here.
34:15
Marvin: Yeah. And is the box, I mean, I know the one on the Instagram feed was relatively
34:19
Marvin: large. Does the box come in multiple sizes? Yeah.
34:23
Scott: Yes we have a small medium and large um type box so like the streamer streamer size box down to,
34:32
Scott: uh you know as a smaller day day
34:36
Scott: box so we and then we have not quite the streamer size box but it's a little
34:46
Scott: bit thinner we call it the mag book and i freaking love these things i mean
34:52
Scott: And they're waterproof,
34:54
Scott: indestructible, super versatile.
34:57
Scott: And that's been my go-to is the MagBook.
35:03
Scott: So it's got the see-through top, thick plastic, and the magnetic concept as well.
35:10
Marvin: Got it. Yeah. So it's kind of like a magnetic Oompa box, right?
35:14
Scott: Yeah. There you go.
35:15
Marvin: Yeah. Yeah. So that's super cool. Cool. And so, you know, as you kind of look
35:20
Marvin: in your perpetual motion entrepreneur startup eye, you know,
35:25
Marvin: what's your vision for LidRig in the next five years?
35:31
Scott: So you know who knows at this rate i'm going day by day but you know i think um,
35:40
Scott: i've got the the product suite kind of where where it needs to be um so now
35:51
Scott: it's more expansion mode so getting into more shock uh different parts of the world and yeah,
36:00
Scott: kind of stabilizing on the business side and kind of take it from there.
36:06
Scott: You know, I've been approached by a few people about acquisition and stuff like that. So yeah,
36:16
Scott: You know, who knows, but it's cool to see the, the started as one product and,
36:25
Scott: and I feel like now it's a company, you know, a brand.
36:30
Scott: So it's just cool to see that grow. And so I think, I think I can make it larger
36:37
Scott: and, and, uh, yeah, who knows five years is a long time for a startup.
36:44
Marvin: Up so yeah i could scale it back to three if that helps there you go i mean.
36:50
Scott: I'll talk to anybody put it that way but right now i'm having fun growing.
36:55
Marvin: Yeah i mean it's interesting because you can clearly see the community because
36:59
Marvin: you know if you go uh to your website into your store i mean you have you can
37:03
Marvin: tell there's a lot of community because you have an unusually,
37:06
Marvin: large number of kind of apparel type things right hats shirts and that doesn't
37:12
Marvin: happen you know There are two choices, and I know you wouldn't make one of them,
37:15
Marvin: which is to make a lot of shit and not sell it.
37:18
Marvin: Or you have an active community that wants to wear your hats and hoodies and
37:23
Marvin: stuff and let people spread the word for you.
37:28
Scott: Yeah, that's what littering is. And I think that's what I'm most proud of,
37:36
Scott: actually, is the community surrounding it.
37:39
Scott: So it's kind of by the people for the people. and and
37:43
Scott: like i said i'm i'm not joking when i'm when
37:46
Scott: i say i'm not a i'm not an ex-guide and
37:49
Scott: i'm horrible at fishing so um you know
37:52
Scott: i but i i learn from people right i
37:55
Scott: don't tie flies but i appreciate the heck out of it
37:58
Scott: so um but the the community
38:01
Scott: is just phenomenal so you know
38:05
Scott: and going one of these like fly fishing shows it's amazing
38:09
Scott: guys will come up and you know
38:12
Scott: professional tires they'll just post up start tying flies and
38:16
Scott: you know i've got people coming into
38:18
Scott: the booth just to hang out and they'll people will
38:22
Scott: walk up wearing a lid rig and they'll sell to people staying in there and i
38:28
Scott: just kind of sit back and you know drink a beer so it's uh and luckily it's
38:34
Scott: It's kind of one of those products where once you use it or touch it and feel
38:39
Scott: it, it kind of solves itself.
38:41
Scott: So, and you can tell by my rambling, that's exactly what I need.
38:46
Marvin: Yeah, but I mean, it's cool, right? I mean, particularly like you're lucky because
38:50
Marvin: I think that, you know, where you are in the Denver area is probably like the
38:56
Marvin: highest concentration of fishiness in the country, right?
38:59
Marvin: Right, for Trout, you know, in terms of shops and, you know,
39:02
Marvin: resource and guides and people.
39:05
Marvin: But, you know, to be able to, for example, like, I mean, you were mobbed in
39:08
Marvin: Edison. I walked past your table a bunch, right?
39:12
Marvin: That's got to be super cool, right? Yeah.
39:15
Scott: Yeah, it's humbling, for sure.
39:18
Scott: You know, and you're right. I mean, Denver or Colorado is kind of Mecca, I guess you could say.
39:27
Scott: But again, it's me being green to the industry.
39:31
Scott: And, you know, shoot, I've walked into some pretty big shops.
39:38
Scott: Just like Fly Fish Food is a good example. I walked in there with an earlier
39:44
Scott: version of the Lidrig, you know, not knowing who Cheetor was and all that and
39:50
Scott: how big they were and influential.
39:52
Scott: But, you know, they brought in Lidrig, right?
39:56
Scott: And they're willing to help and kind of provide feedback and help me grow.
40:03
Scott: And so just, yeah, it's humbling, man.
40:07
Scott: And I've made some tremendous friends through this process.
40:12
Scott: And, uh, now it's cool to see other people connect.
40:16
Scott: Like I wasn't down in the, the Texas show, but there was a bunch of,
40:20
Scott: uh, you know, people wearing the lid rig and pictures and shirts and whatnot.
40:25
Scott: And, uh, you know, I'm sitting at home with my six-year-old looking to myself
40:31
Scott: like, Hey, that's pretty cool.
40:34
Scott: I wish I was there, but, um, yeah, just getting it out there,
40:38
Scott: you know, making stuff people, people like and, and, uh, hopefully I can keep the train rolling here.
40:45
Marvin: I mean, I think, you know, we, we have a very, very special community in fly
40:49
Marvin: fishing in terms of, you know, openness and generosity.
40:52
Marvin: And, um, you know, I always, you know, say that I think the,
40:56
Marvin: you know, fly anglers are some of the most generous people you'll ever meet.
41:01
Scott: I would very much agree with that. Yeah.
41:09
Scott: Until, from a company perspective, I'm much more cautious now versus,
41:18
Scott: you know, when I was getting up and off the ground.
41:22
Scott: But, you know, I know people are paying attention now just by products that they'll come out with.
41:32
Scott: And but, you know, that's life. It's competition.
41:38
Scott: It's a capitalist country. So competition is good.
41:42
Scott: And, you know, in very few communities outside of fly fishing could a single
41:50
Scott: dad with an idea, you know, get it literate to where it is today.
41:56
Scott: And if the only reason I, it is where it is, is based on that community and people helping out.
42:04
Scott: So it's, I'm very thankful for the whole experience.
42:10
Marvin: It's very, very neat. Pete, before I let you go this evening,
42:13
Marvin: is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?
42:16
Scott: No, just keep an eye out for 3.0. Pretty, pretty pumped on it.
42:23
Scott: Probably in the next couple of months here.
42:25
Scott: So, and I should, you know, speaking of community, give us a follow on Instagram.
42:35
Scott: It's just me. I just repost everybody else's cool fishing trips and whatnot.
42:40
Marvin: Not so but it's a fun follow and.
42:43
Scott: Uh and and you'll learn how to uh pick up a new couple new tricks on how to use lead rig gear.
42:49
Marvin: Yeah there you go and so you know you if you want to let folks know like the
42:53
Marvin: best place obviously you're on instagram that's your your social media flavor
42:56
Marvin: of ice cream but you want to let folks know website uh instagram handle and
43:00
Marvin: all that kind of good stuff.
43:02
Scott: Yeah just lead rig leadrig.com pretty pretty simple.
43:07
Marvin: That is pretty simple uh well listen Listen, Scott, I appreciate you spending
43:10
Marvin: some time with me this evening.
43:13
Scott: Yeah, thank you, Marvin. We'll have to get out and fish, eh?
43:16
Marvin: Yeah, absolutely. I'll be in your neck of the woods this summer for sure.
43:20
Scott: All right. Bring that lid, Rick.
43:22
Marvin: I'll do it. Take care.
43:24
Scott: Cheers.
43:26
Intro: Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed that as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you.
43:30
Intro: Again, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend and please subscribe and
43:34
Intro: leave us a rating and review in the podcatcher of your choice.
43:36
Intro: And don't forget to check out the fly trap from our friends at Artisan Angler.
43:41
Intro: Tight lines, everybody.