Opinion
Founder Travis Rosbach claims Hydro Flask degraded its product quality post-exit
“They changed the quality. They changed the price. They've changed some of the manufacturing techniques. I don't even really drink out of the bottles anymore.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Klean Kanteen's inferior vacuum technique gave Hydro Flask extended market runway
“Yeah, I think Clean Canteen was the first, and when I found out that they were doing vacuum insulation, I thought, oh man, it's over, you know, we're out of business, because they're selling the single wall so well, I'm sure they're going to sell the double wa…”
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Investor Jim Collis arrived minutes before Rosbach announced Hydro Flask's shutdown
“I call everybody into the office to tell him that we're closing down and the phone rings and the lady at the front desk says, there's this guy here who wants to see you. And he says, Travis, I'm here to talk to you. And I said, I'm sorry, I'm not hiring and I'…”
Disclosure
Founder Travis Rosbach initially hated the name Hydro Flask
“My brother came up with the name hydro flask and I hated it. I thought it was a terrible idea. I didn't like the word flask, but we had to have something printed on the bottles. So we went with it”
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Rosbach tested early Hydro Flask prototypes on surfers at Waikiki Beach
“We got two. There was a red one and a blue one, 18 and 21 ounces. And went down to Waikiki Beach and put ice cubes in it and started just handing them to people. And they would get out of the water from surfing and they would see the ice and they'd say, wow, y…”
Disclosure
Rosbach and his girlfriend sold personal belongings to fund commercial inventory
“Sold everything we had. We sold all of our clothes and furniture, and that's-”
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Hydro Flask's early landed production and shipping cost was $5.25 per bottle
“Yeah, yeah, about five, 25, five-fifty, yes.”
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Rosbach leveraged a single Whole Foods location order to expand locally
“We had about six colors. And he says, fine, I'll take a case of each. And so once we got the whole foods order, just for that one binned location, I basically used that all across town.”
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Rosbach used prominent design patent labels to deter competitors for months
“What we did was we design patented the design, the shapes, and the sizes of the bottles, and made sure that it was on the packaging front and center patent pending or patented. And what I found was that a lot of people who Maybe would have been competitors saw…”
Disclosure
Rosbach's grandparents took a second mortgage to finance early Hydro Flask inventory
“My grandparents took out a second mortgage on their house and we borrowed and sold everything that we could just to keep buying more bottles.”
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Rosbach secured a $250,000 local bank loan to fund replacement bottles
“I called the list and finally I found a local banker who was a big Hydro Flask fan and he really believed in it. And he said, all right, yeah, I'll lend you the 250 to get the second 40,000.”
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Rosbach: Hydro Flask parted with early sales rep over REI ambitions
“Unfortunately, what happened was he said that we were not going to be able to get into REI within a year, and I knew that we probably could, and he was adamant that he wasn't even going to try, and so we had to let him go and replace him with a larger firm, bu…”
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Hydro Flask ran out of cash and prepared to shut down
“Well, so after she left and I started hiring new employees, that second, 40,000 bottles came in and we ran out of money. We had about 10 employees at that point and had no more money in the bank on a Wednesday night, I remember. And so I write this letter that…”
Disclosure
Rosbach: Investor Reached 51% Majority Control in Hydro Flask Buyout
“And then when the investor bought out my partner, Cindy, right? Yeah. It put him to 51%. I was at 49 and he brought in the corporate playbook and said, here's what we're going to do. And this is what it's going to look like. And I took a look at it and I said,…”
Disclosure
Rosbach sold his surfboard and moped to fund 2007 China sourcing trip
“So I sold a surfboard, I sold a moped, and I took off to Shanghai in May of 2007”
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Rosbach found a Japanese milk bottle factory to manufacture early Hydro Flasks
“So finally on the very second to last day, we find a factory that had a vacuum and it wasn't very big. It was kind of the size of a motorcycle, which isn't huge for the vacuum world. And they were doing these little vacuum insulated Japanese milk bottles.”
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Rosbach's initial prototype design for Hydro Flask resembled a scuba tank
“I drew it all out, and I'm kind of embarrassed to say, but about five years ago, somebody pointed out that I'd basically just drawn a scuba tank, and It was the first ones just look like a scuba tank.”
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Rosbach: Hydro Flask initial samples cost approximately $10,000
“It was about 10,000.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Hydro Flask launched with $19.99 18-oz and $24.99 21-oz bottles
“We had an 18 ounce that was 1999, and we had a 21 ounce that was 2499.”
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Hydro Flask sold 20 to 50 bottles daily at early market stalls
“So we're selling anywhere from 20 to 50 bottles a day at that point for the two days.”
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Rosbach: Hydro Flask's first sales rep converted 22 of 24 retail doors
“I said, I'll give you a 24. And then you tell me how you did with the 24. And he sold 22 of the 24 doors and opened them up.”
