Latest / Beyond The Trailhead / Overwatch X Rescue CEO & Creator Greg Pearson | Beyond the Trailhead Podcast Ep. 35
Transcript
- speaker-0: Alright everyone, welcome back to Beyond the Trailhead. We've got an incredible guest this week. We have Greg Pearson with Overwatch and Rescue here and ⁓ he's got an amazing company. ⁓ I've been using them for a few years and thought it would be a great kind of a different ⁓ vibe to kind of go over a service, more as more so a product on the pod. And so without further ado, Greg, thank you so much for being on. I really appreciate it. speaker-1: Thanks, Craig. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. speaker-0: W we just want to kind of start rolling into kind of what Overwatch is for those who don't know. you know, a lot of people that listen ⁓ own their own business, but a lot of people also are interested in Overwatch or have heard of Overwatch before. ⁓ so I guess kind of go into what Overwatch is, your background, and how you kind of began ⁓ and how you started Overwatch Russian. speaker-1: Sure, happy to do that. So Overwatch and Rescue. ⁓ what is it? in probably the most simplest of of terms, Overwatch and Rescue is a lifeline for anybody that lives, works, or plays on the fringe of cellular connectivity. Right. So think about being outdoors on the move, ⁓ doing something, right? Working, playing. living ⁓ and the the need for emergency assistance arises, we are the what now to to that situation, right? We are a 247 emergency assistance subscription service that really does two things. Yeah. We coordinate emergency assistance, right? And so ⁓ with the ⁓ with the The increases in technology ⁓ advancement, right? More and more people are connected off-grid. ⁓ So as technology is opening the outdoors to more people today than ever before, the need for emergency assistance is also increasing. And so with that connectivity ⁓ and the nexus between connectivity and an emergency occurring in the outdoors, we felt That a solution was needed to sort of bridge the gap between those two and create this sort of service. Yeah. And so Overwatch and Rescue is the product that responds to the I need help, what now? ⁓ and we coordinate that rescue. So we said I said it does two things, right? We will coordinate your rescue, get somebody to you to provide you that emergency assistance. And if there's financial exposure tied to those efforts, think about. you know, a medical emergency occurring in the backcountry, ⁓ a hiker that, you know, sprains an ankle really bad, can't continue moving, ⁓ or something worse than that, where you need to get from the point of incident to maybe a nearby medical facility. That transportation ⁓ typically will incur some type of financial exposure, right? A helicopter evacu or even a local search and rescue team that maybe gets you from that point of incident. in the backcountry to a trailhead where you're then met by a ground ambulance. It's that ground ambulance ride from that trailhead to ⁓ to the nearest medical facility that creates that financial exposure. And so what we wanted to do is solve for that, right? So overwatch and rescue again, 247, an emergency assistance subscription that will coordinate your rescue and pay for the costs associated with rescuing you should those financial should that financial exposure arise. speaker-0: Okay. Awesome. And it it's funny 'cause when you're saying like the I think I feel like that's the most typical ⁓ injury is sprained ankles because I sprained my ankle on the Colorado Trail and then I just didn't want to disappoint the guys I was with. And so I hiked and then I ended up hiking out. And but when I was laying there in pain and I I torn a little bit of ligament and stuff, I was like, ⁓ my gosh, maybe I need to push this button. And I had overwatch and rescue. But I was like, ⁓ I should have used it. But it's great that you can and so I guess my question and what we always talk about here on this pod is ⁓ what is how did you start the business? Like what's your background? How did you come up with the idea? You know, because it's not, it's not your typical ⁓ kind of business to start. speaker-1: Not really. ⁓ and so ⁓ background, ⁓ I've spent most of my career working at the intersection of risk, crisis response, and human resilience. ⁓ I've got a military background, spent a number of years in the US Army, ⁓ sort of natural progression out of the army into law enforcement, law enforcement into the sort of private security sector, really focused on ⁓ crisis response for multinational organizations operating in a hotbed of geopolitical activity, right? Where things go bump in the night. So think of, you know, large multinational companies ⁓ having sort of international assignees and expats assigned to locations that can get kind of spicy. ⁓ and then there's, you know, a need that would pop up to say, you know, hey, ⁓ a little too spicy here now. We want to get our people back home. ⁓ and so I sort of cut my teeth in the private sector. working with organizations that were ⁓ contractually obligated to respond to those types of emergencies, right? So did it in the military, ⁓ did it in law enforcement, ⁓ did it in the private sector, ⁓ worked for an organization for about 12 years, six of those years as our chief operating officer, scaled that organization. ⁓ and as we were scaling, we found ourselves in the same position as some of our customers, right? ⁓ we were a global company. Yeah. And with that growth, ⁓ we started to see our expat population increase. ⁓ we had more and more international assignees and business travelers traveling around the world and operating in some pretty interesting places. and so I became a consumer of the same sort of products that ⁓ we were behind. and what I realized along the way, I had a bit of an aha moment. ⁓ when you think about sort of, you know, the Type of risk management and tools you can put in place to protect an organization, sort of help meet that duty of care, if you will, as a company. ⁓ you think about insurance, right? And so whether it's a business travel accident policy or travel, the traditional travel insurance, ⁓ there's a number of sort of insurance vehicles available to ⁓ organizations and individuals that they can procure. ⁓ and so what I did is I went out and I bought just about everything I could to try to manage my risk exposure. My aha moment was when I realized that, well, we can sort of put protections in place that would help us with sort of, you know, loss damage or stolen bags, ⁓ missed flights, ⁓ you know, property damage. ⁓ when it came to the individual, right? If there was sort of a medical mishap occurring during a period of travel, injury or illness, That resulted in hospitalization abroad. There weren't any products at the time that would really sort of extend the benefit to the point of not just getting you to a medical facility, but bringing you home. Right. Most insurance products will sort of get you to the nearest appropriate medical facility. ⁓ but then you're sort of stuck overseas, right? Incurring medical goals. ⁓ so that was one thing that I wanted to try to solve for. The second piece to that, was the fact that if there was some type of security event, right, if something would bump in the night, riot strikes, civil commotion, terrorism, natural disasters, those were all exclusions in a traditional insurance product, right? And so again, we found ourselves looking at sort of gaps in our own risk management ⁓ strategy. and so what I realized is internally we had the wherewithal to sort of respond to some of those things, but there was no sort of financial backstop to it. It's balance sheet risk, right? So if I had a hundred people in a location that needed to evacuate, well, I'm on the hook now financially to go charter a jet or try to arrange the complex logistics to get them from where they were back home and then pay for it. ⁓ and so I thought that was an opportunity. That was an opportunity from a business standpoint to address sort of travel risk management. ⁓ and so I decided to cut my teeth as an entrepreneur, leave a very comfortable chief operating officer position of a company that had 57 offices and 8,500 employees. And I thought I'm gonna go start a company and solve this problem. ⁓ so I started with trying to solve the travel insurance gap issue. I did that by creating a product called Cap Trip Side Assistance. ⁓ that we put in the pro we put that product in market. ⁓ sort of circa 2011, 2012. ⁓ originally kind of going after sort of corporate customers and then eventually sort of we went direct to consumer and sold it directly to consumers as well. Going swimmingly well. ⁓ and then COVID happened and nobody traveled. Right. Everything shut down. Yeah. And so we took a step back and we said, okay, we need to pivot a little bit here. ⁓ People were still getting outdoors, but they weren't traveling overseas. And what we noticed at that time, sort of circa 2020, 2019 to 2020, the the national parks were still open. ⁓ people were getting outdoors, social distancing, but getting outdoors. And we saw this were this sort of spike in outdoor activity. And some of the same things were occurring locally. That we used to see occur overseas, right? You go overseas, something happens, you need emergency assistance. We had a product for that. What we really didn't have was a product that would address something occurring maybe down the street from your home at the local trail. Right. Our product had a radius trigger, right? You had to be at least a hundred, hundred and fifty miles away from your home of record to qualify for benefit. So we saw an opportunity to really tackle. The things that were occurring with outdoor enthusiasts in the backcountry on the water, ⁓ people that were sort of getting outdoors, ⁓ trying, you know, they had cabin fever from COVID, getting outdoors and getting after it. And they were still having these sort of medical mishaps or they were getting lost, or maybe they weren't a ⁓ experienced outdoor, you know. Enthusiast. They weren't really experienced at hiking, but they thought, you know what? It's one of the only things I can do right now. So I'm going to go try it. Yeah. And they get lost. They get hurt. You know, they'd be, you know, dehydrated and exhausted. and yeah, what I found was there wasn't really anything that was solving that issue. ⁓ and then we got approached by a satellite company, ⁓ Global Star, at right about the same time as I was coming to this realization that. I think this underlying travel risk management product that we have is something we could adopt for the outdoors and for, you know, responding to sort of these local emergencies. Right about the same time, Global Star reached out to us and said, Hey, ⁓ we're a satellite operator. We have these, you know, satellites ⁓ in the air, ⁓ but we also have a rugged device with an SOS button on it. Got about a hundred well At that point, I think they had about four hundred, five hundred thousand of these devices deployed globally that were active. ⁓ and that's called the spot device, right? Sort of rugged satellite communicator with an SOS feature. and we are very familiar with your travel risk management product and your mobile app and and the functionality that you have there. Could you respond to a satellite emergency? An emergency occurring, ⁓ then being communicated over a satellite device. ⁓ That is where, you know, sort of opportunity and this realization that we had a great product that could be adapted for an outdoor use case sort of collided. Yeah. Those two things occurring at the same time ⁓ gave birth to Overwatch and Rescue circa twenty twenty. speaker-0: Okay. ⁓ that's awesome. So I I know before we got on, I told you I'm actually doing some ⁓ some pictures and stuff for them and they're a great company. So I I I I think it's great that you're able to to match those things 'cause I'm I'm sure that logistically, even technology wise, it's not an easy feat to do all these things. And most people we have on on here, you know, they have a product. that they, you know, go and manufacture and everything else. But you have this service that ⁓ there's been many times that, you know, even you were saying like when it gets dicey out there, I was in Haiti just after the earthquake, ⁓ doing photo and video ⁓ with the Marines and a and a few other people. And the group I was with, in order to get out from there, instead of like having a a backup company or something I could go with, they gave me $30,000 in cash and I had it literally duct tape to my body in different places. So if I needed to escape to the Dominican Republic, I'd be able to pay my way out. And I was like, this is crazy. Yeah. And so I was like, okay, I I don't know where else to put it. So in and I I've had many times and and I've heard of many stories and people have used your service and loved it. And I guess now that you're now that you're in the thick of it, you know, and you're you're you've been rolling for a while ⁓ having overwatch and rescue, what ⁓ you know, what are the what are the I guess the the benefits, but then the the pitfalls? Because I know overwatch and rescue is probably kind of risky when you were doing it. I'm sure it's a pretty big risk because it's it's I and you correct me if I'm wrong, but you like in I know with insurance it's very similar that like if you have more people being rescued than what you're actually coming in, then you're actually going to be in a in a deficit, right? So how does that work or what what kind of hills did you have to climb in order to get it to where it is today. speaker-1: Great, great, great question. ⁓ so ⁓ let me unpack that. I'll start with ⁓ something you'd you'd raised. ⁓ so technology. ⁓ you said most people come on here, they manufacture product, right? Or they got some technology. Yeah. The nice thing about ⁓ you know, when we got started with Overwatch and Rescue, ⁓ we had an underlying technology already, right? That had to be sort of adapted to ingest ⁓ a distress signal. coming from a satellite communicator. So there was a little bit of work that had to be had to be done. ⁓ but we were able to sort of do that very quickly. The good news is, ⁓ is we were very experienced in responding to emergencies. So when many people come up with sort of a new idea for a product, right? And they create that GUI and they say, Hey, here's my here's my MPV. This is my minimum, you know, ⁓ here, here's my product. Let's get it to market. Let's do some testing. Yeah. ⁓ well, what we did is we adapted something that was very successful. ⁓ and we just adapted it really for a new use case and a new persona. ⁓ with, you know, devices that were slightly different than what we were used to. So we're not getting things from sort of a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. It's now coming over satellite. ⁓ but you know, when I when I thought about that early on, ⁓ and you think about the technology component, we realized that we really have kind of a full stack solution here. From the underlying technology, the experience with the humans, ⁓ which is probably the most important piece, ⁓ and the network and connectivity into the response apparatus that is ultimately responsible for getting to you and providing you service, right? ⁓ and so knowing that all those sort of pieces were in place or existed, we just sort of, you know, aggregated them together, came up with this really cool kind of product, took it to market. ⁓ and you know, unlike a lot of sort of new things in the market, we had the advantage of the fact that satellite communicators, rugged devices, had been in market for a while, right? So it wasn't like we were introducing some new concept, right? so the technology had existed, albeit in rugged format. ⁓ but technology doesn't replace people, right? Devices send signals, humans make decisions. And so what we were able to bring was that human element, that sort of rescue layer. Okay. That essential human in the loop component to this sort of issue. ⁓ and so by doing so, ⁓ we created this perfect mix of technology, humans, resources. ⁓ and then what we needed to secure sort of last was the risk finance piece that you bring up, right? So you know, you start with selling one or two. If both of those sort of early adopters ⁓ have a forty thousand dollar helicopter ride, you know, that you end up upside down pretty quickly, right? So having that mature product and market for so long that was also a fully funded, fully indemnified sort of service offering, ⁓ we had scale, right? So we're on risk daily for over 15 million souls. So because of that scale, we had some purchasing power. And the ability to kind of go to our underwriting relationships ⁓ that ha happen to sit out of the UK. ⁓ our products, Overwatch and Rescue, is 100% reinsured in the Lloyd's of London market, ⁓ with certain underwriters at Lloyd's, ⁓ where we've had decades long relationships. ⁓ and so we were able to go to them and say, Hey, we've got this crazy idea. ⁓ we want to take this product and you know. shake it up a little bit and respond to things like you know helliskiing and you know crazy outdoor activities. And of course the initial response was absolutely not. Are you crazy? ⁓ and so it took a little convincing, but you know we got them there. We got their mind kind of wrapped around the commercial idea. And really our advantage at that point was we chose specific underwriting relationships with the people in within those organizations were outdoor enthusiasts themselves. But they could see themselves using the product and they saw the value. So because of that, we were able to combine technology, experienced responders, and this sort of rich risk finance vehicle, ⁓ throw that all together, take it to market at a very affordable price point to make it available to everybody. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ and we get the ground rent because of it. speaker-0: Yeah. No, I think that's a great point that you made too, just business wise about it it's not necessarily you know, in business sometimes it's who you know, but it's making it relatable. I just came back from a ⁓ conference where it's a lot of ⁓ retired veterans that are creating a business or wanting to get ⁓ business with the government and everything. And the government brought in people and it's it's a lot of just us everybody just meeting each other, telling stories and then finding that like me too moment where you both relate. And then you go, hey, I like this person. I want to do business with this person. I trust this person now, versus just it's a numbers game. Of course, there's still numbers, you know, and they're still that risk, but they they understand it. They understand the product as opposed to not understanding it. I think even when you watch things like, you know, Shark Tank and stuff like that, and sometimes none of the sharks understand the product. And but yet it is a good product, and other times it's not. But sometimes it is a really good product or a service, and you're like, ⁓ my gosh, but just none of them. get it because they're not connected to it. So I think, you know, for people who are listening who are, you know, starting a business or whatever, are looking for either financial backers or investors and stuff like that, not just pitching this little elevator pitch, but taking that elevator pitch and turning it around or or tweaking it for that person. You know, finding that connecting point that makes that person want to want to do it. Yeah. So yeah. I think that that's I mean, it's a it's incredible service to me. It always blows my mind when I hear people that have used it and trusted it. I mean, I there's so many times that I'm like, I should just push the button. And I think that's what's great about your service is ⁓ is compared to other services, is you're I'm not getting a bill and then having to send it to you to ⁓ pay it. It's you are doing everything ahead. So you don't have that. Should I push this button? I don't know because it's gonna cost me a fortune. You know, you kind of know what you what you're gonna get versus the other ones. So am I right in saying that? You are. speaker-1: ⁓ and so most products in the market follow the traditional insurance delivery model. What does that mean? ⁓ if you have a loss, bodily harm, bodily injury, ⁓ some type of financial loss, ⁓ you will have to come out of pocket either to pay a deductible ⁓ or the expense itself, and then you file a claim. And go through a claims process to be reimbursed for whatever that financial exposure was. And so we took more of a roadside assistance approach, right? Think of AAA or sort of triple A for people. Yeah. Right. Instead of your vehicle for people, where you pay up front, you pay one time, ⁓ and then you don't pay for utilization. So if you are out and something happens, ⁓ and when we say something happening, right, we're not talking about, you know, some crazy activity. I mean, it could be, as I mentioned earlier, something as simple as I'm lost. I'm broke down on the side of the road. or, you know, I'm, you know, I I s I had a really good ⁓ I got a really good deal on a trip to the Caribbean. ⁓ and you got a good deal, probably because it's hurricane season. ⁓ and so you're now in, you know, the Caribbean in October. Yeah. ⁓ And there's a cat five storm heading your way, it's gonna make landfall in two days. You're supposed to be there for five days, and you'd realize, hey, if I stay here, I could suffer from bodily harm, bodily injury, property damage, one of those things. ⁓ and so we wanted to create a vehicle where you could before running into serious issues, hit the button, get engaged with us and say, Hey, cat five storm's coming. Could you get me out of here, please? ⁓ we confirmed that. And now we're paying for you to be transported while there's still options, transport it back home so you can kind of watch the the unfolding of the storm on the television with everybody else. And so yeah, so we are what we refer to as a first payer product, meaning that we have removed all of the sort of messiness that comes with an insurance delivery. ⁓ and instead Yeah. ⁓ what you do is you pay for it one time. ⁓ and then if you are out there and you have some type of emergency and there's financial exposure tied to it, that ground ambulance, that air ambulance getting you out of an area that's going to be hit by a hurricane, we will pay that up front. ⁓ so you don't have to. In the in the circumstance, this is what happens a lot, right? When we think about your audience, ⁓ who I suspect spent a lot of time, you know, on the trails. people hesitate, right? To to call for help. Yes. And when we ask people why did you hesitate, the number one reason is always I didn't want a bill. I was worried that it was gonna cost. Right. And I don't know what that cost is. Right. And so we solve for that, right? We remove any thought of, you know, I know I'm injured, but maybe I can make it out on my own. No. Just hit the button. Help is on the way. Yeah. ⁓ we're gonna get you to a medical facility. And if there's a if there's a bill six months later, just send it to us and we'll pay you directly. Yeah. That's what we solved for. speaker-0: That's I I don't know. I can't tell you how many times I've told people that same kind of story and said, you just need to get it. You know, it's I'm about to go on a big trip with my buddy. And I was like, hey, you need to get this now. I was like, use my discount code, even I don't care. Just go. It's like not, it's it's it's so affordable. I think that's what's the great pri ⁓ part is, and and I don't think people believe it sometimes, is the price and how affordable it is because when you look at the other options that are out there, you're paying for you got to go out there and say, hey, I'm going on a five day trip. You're paying a five day trip insurance that is, I don't know, like $300 for just five days and I've still gotta pay the bills and then you've they've still gotta do all this back and forth and everything. You know, and so for everybody who's listening, this is a real service that is real and it works and people have Used it many, many, many times. speaker-1: Put that put that in perspective, Craig. we respond to about two hundred emer emergencies a day. Like so just to kind of put that in perspective. That's now that's globally. That's not just the US. that's globally. ⁓ and so again, I mean, we're on risk for over fifteen million souls, so two hundred a day is is reasonable. but it's a lot, right? This isn't just something that occurs occasionally. ⁓ we're seeing this happen every single day. ⁓ the good news is is in many of those interactions, take out the the serious medical conditions. ⁓ but in in a lot of those interactions, because our centers are staffed with medically trained professionals, we're able to engage with you back and forth and resolve a lot of the things that are occurring while out on the trail, right? That sprained yankle. Yeah. That, you know, ⁓ I'm getting lightheaded. ⁓ maybe I'm experiencing altitude sickness. I'm not sure. And so now we're able to provide some advice, not just to you, but in the event we feel, yeah, we should probably get you out of there. We're able to, with medically trained professionals, also pass that life-saving information on to emergency response agencies, right? Who are then engaging with you and they know exactly what they're walking themselves into. Right. And so Yeah. We wanted to make it affordable. We wanted to make it available to everybody, right? The last thing we want when you're gonna go outdoors is for you to start making decisions on whether you should have a lifeline, right? You you spent the money on your on your pack, you spent the money on your shoes and your poles and all your gear. Don't leave this behind, right? This may be the most critical piece of gear you will ever take with you. And it's that lifeline overwatch and rescue. Yeah. speaker-0: I was down in the Grand Canyon doing ⁓ rim to rim with my wife one time. And that day we saw ⁓ maybe seven times we saw a helicopter come in and find it was really, really hot day, and they were rescuing people like crazy. And I went by somebody and they were telling me how much it was gonna cost. And I'm thinking, ⁓ well, I have my my coverage. And ⁓ I'm walking by a lady and I see her and I'm like, she's like literally dying. And I'm like, hey, take this bottle of water. I have extra water and my water filter too. ⁓ but she would just impact properly. Right. And she's like, no, no, I'm good. I'm like, no, please take it because you know, you I know you don't have any way to get out of here, and it's gonna cost you a fortune if you if you don't. ⁓ so I I guess my my next question for you is like your relationship with the outdoors, what's ⁓ You know, now that you have this business and stuff like that, I'm sure you're super busy all the time. How do you still stay connected to the outdoor space? speaker-1: Well, I have the advantage, Craig, of ⁓ I was born and raised in Northern California, ⁓ here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Okay. ⁓ I still live here. And ⁓ so I have access to, you know, with in within a three hour radius, right? I could be, you know, in the Sierra Nevada, ⁓ I can be, you know, on the Santa Cruz Beach, I can be in great mountains, the ocean. ⁓ and so my exposure and access to the outdoors is, you know, I'm I'm about An hour 20 minutes from Yosemite. ⁓ and so I've always enjoyed spending time in the outdoors. and ⁓ and now, you know, with this product that we have in market and have had in market now for a number of years, ⁓ my relationship with the outdoors and the outdoors community is is just is stronger than ever before. Right. And so and I'm even more passionate about. kind of what we're doing, right? A sort of purpose over profit, if you will. ⁓ where we're we're sort of enabling people, empowering people to go further, do more, explore more. Yeah. ⁓ I'm exploring ⁓ with greater confidence, right? Where it's like, hey, you know what? I'll push a little further. ⁓ not because I'm being reckless, right? Let's let's let's be be fair here. I'm not doing anything, you know, outrageous, but I still make time to get outdoors. I still make time to connect with that community. even more so now with this product. And and it's great to be able to to to have something in in the market that that really kind of encourages people, right? Who were thinking about, you know, I've always wanted to to summit this this this mountain, but I've never really had the confidence and right. And so We're helping them with one more tool in the tool bag, right? Not everything. You still have to prepare, you still have to have the right year. ⁓ but you know, making it available, you know, we're seeing more and more people that have made that summit not need us and then reach out and say, you know, one of the things that gave me the confidence to push further was knowing that I had to. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a great statement. I I had another person on the pod and we were talking about their sleeping bags and sleeping quilts. And we were joking how like ⁓ you know, he creates this quilt to keep you from dying, right? Like to keep you warm. And he the better stories that you get are hey, I didn't have to use your service, but I had the confidence that in your product that I could go and do the things I needed to do. Cause there's a lot of products and services out there that claim one thing. And then, you know, I mean, you can go on Amazon a hundred times over and see products that claim that they're rated for 15 degrees when they're really rated for 40 or sleeping pads and all these different products. And when you create something that's you're confident in, ⁓ and I guess my question would be for that is, you know, for people, you know, for people that are creating a business. And they're trying to fill a niche, you know, what's one piece of advice you could give them ⁓ in trying to fill that niche? speaker-1: Well I think the the best piece of advice I could give anybody looking to create something new or put a product to market is ⁓ Don't believe in yourself. Ensure others believe in your product. Right. You know, people say you got to believe in yourself. You can do it. Anything's possible. Go for it. And, you know, I can get behind that to a certain extent. Absolutely. Right. If I didn't believe in myself, none of this would have happened. ⁓ but yeah, you have to have that sort of cold shower reality at some point ⁓ to ensure that you've got product market fit, right? Not every product is gonna make it. ⁓ and so if you think you've got a great idea, ask people to tear it apart. Ask people for their, you know, for their honest feedback, right? Brutal, brutal honest feedback. and you have to be able to take a step back ⁓ and listen and really listen to what to what people are saying, to what the market is saying, 'cause the market will tell you whether something will succeed or not. ⁓ The market always wins, right? The market's always right. And so my advice is listen to the market. This is a game of adjustments. If you think you've got something that is solving a problem, go for it. Go for it. ⁓ listen to the market. Listen early. fail fast, as they say, right? fail fast, make the adjustments and then and then keep pushing. ⁓ it's definitely not for the faint of heart. ⁓ Any business, any business idea, right? You starting a podcast, right? It's like, hey, you know, I mean, think about the barriers to entry there. It wasn't like you came along and said, I got this great idea. It's called a podcast. ⁓ right. It's a mature space. ⁓ yet here we are, we're connected. so make the adjustments, take in the brutal feedback, right? If if somebody's tell if somebody's just parroting back to you what you think is great about your product. Turn that off. Go find, go find a detractor, right? Go find somebody that can poke holes in what you're trying to do. and really listen to that. And then listen to the market, make the adjustments and go, go, go. speaker-0: Yeah. I think that might that's ⁓ that's always good. It's sometimes hard too with a with a product in the so I'm just thinking from a social media aspect of it and not so much a service maybe as a product, because a lot of companies this is just out of the blue, but you know, a lot of companies will send a product to you as a as a social media influencer and everything else and ask you for your feedback, but then you'll if you Don't give them the right feedback, they'll never send you product again. And and everything, right? So it's it's like really hard. I'm a pretty honest person when it comes to like people sending me a product. I'm like, hey, this is this is great about it. This is the not so great things. Maybe you have too many SKUs because you just, you know, there's too much product and just focus on this one thing. But you seem to have focused on the right thing. And so moving forward, you know, for overwatch and rescue, what what's the future look like? speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: look like for you guys now. speaker-1: ⁓ so I'll tell you and and if I could go back real quick, ⁓ when it comes to advice, right? One of the things I didn't anticipate was how well received this would be, right? We thought it was a great idea. We we did the focus groups, right? We asked for the honest feedback. Yeah. ⁓ we had the advantage of a very large satellite company with a lot of devices in market saying, Hey, you know, we want you to Respond to these emergencies for these devices and we like to sell this new product that you have. ⁓ so that would certainly help. But even then, what I didn't anticipate was how well it would go and how fast it would scale. Right. And so not being prepared to scale could tank a product, right? So, or you'll just miss the opportunity. ⁓ and oftentimes that window closes fast, right? Especially when speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: It's the word starts to get out. ⁓ because then what you see, right, is look alike products, new entrants, and all of a sudden your competitive advantage that you had, that first Uber advantage, yeah, is filled very quickly by people sort of copying what you're doing. ⁓ there was also a couple of other products that did similar things, not exactly what we were doing. And so while we were solving some some problems, what we were really doing was sort of making things more accessible, bringing the price down. ⁓ expanding the benefits. ⁓ right. So it wasn't a completely new sort of product, right? It was sort of a filling the gaps, disrupting ⁓ sort of this little market that was out there. and and then, you know, sort of capitalizing on that on that initial market reaction to scale. Yeah. What's happening now is, you know, ⁓ I would say within the next eighteen to twenty-four months, maybe maybe a little bit further out, ⁓ I think it will be rare to see somebody walking around with a smartphone that does not have satellite connectivity. Right. And so one of the things we're doing is we are working very diligently to ensure that we're positioning ourselves correctly in the market, not just to only to capture that opportunity, but to ensure that as more and more people Have that level of signal that we're ensuring that our message is very clear, that signal alone doesn't, doesn't get you rescued, right? It sends up the flare. You still need the other pieces, and that's where Overwatch and Rescue comes in. ⁓ we are the rest of that scenario, right? ⁓ we're that essential human in the loop. And so what we're doing now is focused on that next phase of growth to ensure that as more and more people get connected, we're able to ensure that they also have our subscription in their back pocket. So as they live, work and play, they always know that if something goes wrong, they can count on us. And that's what we're focused on. speaker-0: ⁓ That's great. That's that's awesome. I think that rolls right into I guess if people are looking for Overwatch and Rescue, how how would people find you? How do they get their subscription? Where would they go? speaker-1: Absolutely. So the easiest way ⁓ is to go to Overwatch X Rescue dot com. ⁓ you can buy it from us directly. speaker-0: Sorry to interrupt everybody, but a quick shout out to the Overwatch and Rescue team. They were kind enough to hook us up with a discount code for their service. So you can save fifteen percent a checkout by using the code beyond fifteen. So if you're looking into the service, definitely use the code beyond fifteen and get fifteen percent off. Now back to the pod. speaker-1: and as long as you have the ability to connect with us through Cell and and SAT, right, which again, many of these smartphones today are satellite enabled. We're seeing more and more of them come online and just about every ⁓ or if you have a rugget device that has ⁓ that sort of ⁓ SMS capability, messaging capability, ⁓ there's a long list of them. You can find them on our website. ⁓ And so you can see, you know, whether or not you know you have the connectivity or device compatible. ⁓ but yeah, that's the easiest way to get to us. It's www.overwatchxrescue dot com. ⁓ you can also find us through certain ⁓ industry partners, ⁓ where we also position product ⁓ in their sort of buy flow, if you will. Globalstar, who you had mentioned is probably one of the most well known ones that we're connected with. We're contractually obligated to respond to their devices. And so When you go buy your spot device and you sign up for your data plan, you'll find Overwatch and Rescue in that ecosystem as well. So a few different places to find us, but I number one place and the easiest place is Overwatch X Rescue.com. speaker-0: Awesome. Well, thank you, Gary. I mean, that was a ton of info. And I learned so much more. I think explaining it like that is great because it just ⁓ you know, for people who are starting a business, it's great to just hear your process. But also for people who are, you know, curious about Overwatch and Rescue, it's it's great to hear it because once you hear it, you kind of go, Okay, I'm on board now. Like, I mean, I've been on board. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I can literally just send this to people and be like, listen to this, you know, listen to this clip. ⁓ Okay, so before we go, just gonna go into a quick rapid fire round. It's just a couple of questions just to get to know you. ⁓ and then we'll just say thank you and let you get on to your day. So ⁓ I guess first question, ⁓ without further ado, my favorite one is your favorite national park? speaker-1: You seven. speaker-0: Awesome. My favorite too. Second f well, that's my first favorite and then Grand Canyon. speaker-1: Yeah, I'd say Grand Caney's definitely my top three. speaker-0: Awesome. All right. ⁓ next thing is coffee or electrolyte drinks on the trophy. speaker-1: Now. ⁓ keep in mind that coffee dehydrates you. So a disclaimer, right? Yeah. Coffee is my preference, but I say hydrate it. So I just wanna throw that out there. Don't want people going out with just coffee speaker-0: Coffee in the morning. Yeah. ⁓ all right, solo hike or crew mission? speaker-1: ⁓ it's a good one. ⁓ you know, for me, as busy as I am, I'd say solo, a light time alone. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's good to get out there and by yourself. ⁓ if you could collab with any brand, who would it be and why? speaker-1: REI. Yeah. REI. You know, ⁓ I've noticed that REI has this sort of new mission to really try to engage members. obviously, if you shop at REI, you're a customer of ours, right? Or you should be. and so what I think about, you know, here in the US, right? And I'm talking specifically kind of US centric, but yeah, their reach, ⁓ why people walk into an REI. ⁓ they're typically getting something 'cause they're getting ready to go outdoors. ⁓ and so I think it's a perfect, you know, when you think about product positioning, ⁓ they would be a great partner for us, ⁓ you know, to sort of collab with, if you will. Cause we have the same mission, right? speaker-0: Awesome. Yeah. No, I love it. I think that's the that's probably the most obvious perfect collab that you could have. ⁓ all right, two more questions. one app you can't live without for for work. speaker-1: You came in kind of broken there, Craig. So I think the first question was one app speaker-0: ⁓ no it's okay. One app one app you can't live without for ⁓ li can't live without for work. speaker-1: Ooh. Well, not necessarily an app, but a piece of technology, and I'd say at this point, Claude. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. That seems to be the the go to for a lot. It's some sort of AI that you can Yeah. You can use on a daily. all right. And then last question, this is the fun one. What's your go to trail snack and the worst trail snack you've ever tried? speaker-1: Go to trail snack. Yeah. So ⁓ I've lately I've been on this kick. I like to I like to fuel up kind of, you know, before I'm gonna go out, right? And so, ⁓ you know, I like any sort of gel that's gonna give me a quick shot of, you know, ⁓ carbs and electrolytes and you know, get the energy going, right? And so there's a number of brands out there. ⁓ and so gotta take those in the pack, right? A lol of water, right? ⁓ and so that's probably a a a good one for me. and then what was the second part of that? speaker-0: The worst trail snack you've speaker-1: Worst snail track I've ever tried. ⁓ you know, I was out recently ⁓ with a a friend and actually ⁓ another sort of hiking influencer, and he had this beef jerky that ⁓ he swore by. ⁓ and so yeah, you know, I thought, you know, why not? I was, you know, pretty hungry. We still had probably four thousand feet of climb ahead of us. ⁓ tried it, one tasted horrible. It was like chewing cardboard and it dehydrated me. Right. It was like sodium in that thing. ⁓ immediately, you know, I was like, ⁓ man, I need water. ⁓ and so that was probably not the best choice, right? Is to take something that would immediately dehydrate. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. That's hilarious. Usually beef jerky's a go to, but I guess it can be especially after watching that Apex movie with ⁓ Right. I can't rem Right? And then I ended up like, ⁓ human jerky. I like, I I I look at beef jerky a completely different way now when I go to a speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. speaker-0: If it's homemade. But ⁓ well, awesome. Well, Gary, thank you so much for being on. Everybody, thank you so much for listening. ⁓ we hope to see everybody on the trail. And Gary, I really I I hope everybody kind of picks up Overwatch and Rescue ⁓ and runs with it ⁓ on the trail, no matter what you're doing, if you're on vacation or whatever. And thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it. speaker-1: Thanks for having