This is how you build a business. Make an amazing product. Shake your customers hand. Charge what its worth. Let’s get into it!

Josh Smith started making knives when he was 11 years old. By 12 he joined the American Bladesmith Society.

When Josh was 19 he undertook the test to become a Master Bladesmith (didn’t know that was a thing!). It included crafting a knife that could cut through a one-inch rope, chop through a 2x4, shave hair and bend 90 degrees without breaking (wtf?).

He passed and became the youngest Master Bladesmith in the world.

The next period in Josh’s life was anything but certain. It never seemed time to start the knife making company he dreamed of. The years passed. He did custom knives, took a job as a lineman, got divorced and raised four kids as a single dad.

But the dream stayed alive and he took a few prototype knives to an event in South Carolina where he met Brandon Horoho.

At first Brandon just worked on the website and marketing materials, but Josh quickly realized Brandon was an asset and offered him a partnership.

In the fall of 2020 the Montana Knife Company was officially launched. Boom!

Here you have one of approximately 120 master bladesmiths in the entire world leading a knife company. Not a suit with an excel spreadsheet. And what comes out of the factory?

The first knife was the Blackfoot 2.0. A fixed knife that would be a work horse for hunters. They decided to launch them as weekly drops and the first one sold out in 14 minutes.

The business quickly grew and with the pandemic shutting down supply chains they struggled to get enough of the high quality 52-100 ball bearing steel they used to make the knives. But they kept at it and continued to grow.

They didn’t use ads. Instead they travelled to hunting expos and archery events. The thought was that the quality was so high that if someone held it they would buy it. It worked.

Side note: in a world where product companies pride themselves on throwing money at Meta I find this refreshing. If you have an amazing product it can become the marketing (or at least a major part of it).

Within three years they reached over $10 million in sales.

They’ve expanded into 12-13 skus that are sold in the same six colors and recently started making chef’s knives.

This is super interesting. Did Josh just launch his own chef’s knife? I mean he’s a Master Bladesmith… Nope. He worked with Mareko Maumasi, one of the country’s best culinary knife makers.

How’s it going? Based on the website, where every culinary knife is sold out… I’d say it’s going pretty well. Oh and they cost $300-500 each.

Other Interesting notes from the DTC Podcast with Brandon Horoho

• They drop knives every week now and are scheduled out for 18 months

• The day they launched their “in stock” knives they had the largest increase in customers ever, some customers don’t want to participate in the “drop” model

• “Branding is more about saying no to things than saying yes to things”

• Want to have a knife from first blood to last bite

• They’re seeing less teens hunt

• Collaborations have worked well

• First chef knife drop sold out in three minutes

• Weekly vlog that covers what is going on with the company and in the shop is doing really well

• They’re expanding into folding knives (which account for 90% of sales for other knife companies)

• Look to brands like Rolex that make products to pass down to your kids

• Want to grow to $50-100 million, but not in the next 2-3 years

Check out the DTC pod here:

Business Ideas of the Week

• Not really a biz, but if you upload a 30-second track to Spotify and then program your phone to listen to it on repeat for 24 hours per day you would receive $1,200 per month in royalties. Although Spotify says it doesn’t work

• Doomsday prep is a thing, there’s a firm selling $1 million/day… I think this is a great niche for content and a good affiliate play

• Interesting post on how to build a remote call center that will generate $2 million in ARR

• Nearly 4/5 companies have seen a rise in guest on associate violence, less than 2/3 of lower level employees have received de-escalation training. 8 million U.S. retail employees… Need I say more? (Bloomberg Sept. 8, 2023)

• Pet cremation machines cost $300k and can cremate 20 dogs/day. At $100 per cremation it pays itself off after 150 days at full capacity

• $1000/month gyms are a thing

• Flavored ice for beer

• Alex Lieberman (sold Morning Brew for $75 million) is looking for co-founders, I think #3 Toastmasters 2.0 has legs (combine it with a Hamptons private group feel for max effect)

• Nicotine packs are flying, any other way you could distribute nicotine? Drinks?

Business Success stories of the Week

• Dr. Squatch passes $200 million in sales per year

• Hey Dude sells an ugly, comfortable shoe and then the company for $2.5 billion

• A 19 year old made $100 million off a Roblox mini game, no details on what game though

Favorite Quote of the Week:

"Looking back now, it’s like, whoops, I made a tactical mistake: I just told everyone about this amazing niche that we’re in, and now we have all these competitors."

Rich Fulop, co-founder of Brooklinen, on sharing their revenue numbers.