StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Oct 2, 2021 · 18m · top-founders

Solar Power eCommerce Brand Hits $5m In Sales, 100,000 Customers, Software Next?

Patrick Sherwin · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

GoSun founder Patrick Sherwin joins Nathan Latka to discuss scaling an off-grid solar hardware brand past $5 million in revenue and 100,000 customers. The conversation details hardware engineering, manufacturing unit economics, gateway customer acquisition funnels, and potential expansion into companion software ecosystems.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 35.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.2 Guest teaching 3.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 1.8
05100:0010:000:47–5:46 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Patrick Sherwin's Return and GoSun Traction Recap Nathan openly admits he has no technical background when reading complex filtration materials from the website. Patrick educates him thoroughly on head pressure, water flow dynamics, and why competitor ceramic filters fail without frequent backflushing.5:46–8:21 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Hardware Manufacturing, COGS, and Logistics Operations Nathan drills into the unit economics, COGS, and freight forwarding logistics. Patrick explains their manufacturing partnership model in Asia and why GoSun maintains high gross margins due to lower volume compared to outdoor giants like Coleman.8:22–11:36 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Customer Acquisition via Gateway Products and Paid Ads The conversation covers GoSun's wallet-sized utensil gateway product and advertising metrics. Patrick details their $300k ad spend in 2020 achieving an approximate 3.3x ROAS.11:38–14:28 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Community Engagement and Operational Scaling Nathan demonstrates prep by reading a real-time post from GoSun's 8,000-member community group showing real-world utility during Hurricane Ida. Patrick confirms that customer resilience during emergencies validates the product vision.14:29–17:04 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Exploring Software Expansion and Strategic Partnerships Nathan brings his core SaaS knowledge to the table, urging Patrick to leverage his 250,000-subscriber email list to discover, clone, or acquire camping software with 80-90% margins. Patrick is receptive and agrees with the high-margin tech strategy.0:47–5:46 · Guest teaching 6/10 Patrick Sherwin's Return and GoSun Traction Recap Nathan openly admits he has no technical background when reading complex filtration materials from the website. Patrick educates him thoroughly on head pressure, water flow dynamics, and why competitor ceramic filters fail without frequent backflushing.5:46–8:21 · Guest teaching 4/10 Hardware Manufacturing, COGS, and Logistics Operations Nathan drills into the unit economics, COGS, and freight forwarding logistics. Patrick explains their manufacturing partnership model in Asia and why GoSun maintains high gross margins due to lower volume compared to outdoor giants like Coleman.8:22–11:36 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Acquisition via Gateway Products and Paid Ads The conversation covers GoSun's wallet-sized utensil gateway product and advertising metrics. Patrick details their $300k ad spend in 2020 achieving an approximate 3.3x ROAS.11:38–14:28 · Guest teaching 2/10 Community Engagement and Operational Scaling Nathan demonstrates prep by reading a real-time post from GoSun's 8,000-member community group showing real-world utility during Hurricane Ida. Patrick confirms that customer resilience during emergencies validates the product vision.14:29–17:04 · Guest teaching 2/10 Exploring Software Expansion and Strategic Partnerships Nathan brings his core SaaS knowledge to the table, urging Patrick to leverage his 250,000-subscriber email list to discover, clone, or acquire camping software with 80-90% margins. Patrick is receptive and agrees with the high-margin tech strategy.0:47–5:46 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Patrick Sherwin's Return and GoSun Traction Recap Nathan openly admits he has no technical background when reading complex filtration materials from the website. Patrick educates him thoroughly on head pressure, water flow dynamics, and why competitor ceramic filters fail without frequent backflushing.5:46–8:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Hardware Manufacturing, COGS, and Logistics Operations Nathan drills into the unit economics, COGS, and freight forwarding logistics. Patrick explains their manufacturing partnership model in Asia and why GoSun maintains high gross margins due to lower volume compared to outdoor giants like Coleman.8:22–11:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Acquisition via Gateway Products and Paid Ads The conversation covers GoSun's wallet-sized utensil gateway product and advertising metrics. Patrick details their $300k ad spend in 2020 achieving an approximate 3.3x ROAS.11:38–14:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Community Engagement and Operational Scaling Nathan demonstrates prep by reading a real-time post from GoSun's 8,000-member community group showing real-world utility during Hurricane Ida. Patrick confirms that customer resilience during emergencies validates the product vision.14:29–17:04 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Exploring Software Expansion and Strategic Partnerships Nathan brings his core SaaS knowledge to the table, urging Patrick to leverage his 250,000-subscriber email list to discover, clone, or acquire camping software with 80-90% margins. Patrick is receptive and agrees with the high-margin tech strategy.0:47–5:46 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Patrick Sherwin's Return and GoSun Traction Recap Nathan openly admits he has no technical background when reading complex filtration materials from the website. Patrick educates him thoroughly on head pressure, water flow dynamics, and why competitor ceramic filters fail without frequent backflushing.5:46–8:21 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Hardware Manufacturing, COGS, and Logistics Operations Nathan drills into the unit economics, COGS, and freight forwarding logistics. Patrick explains their manufacturing partnership model in Asia and why GoSun maintains high gross margins due to lower volume compared to outdoor giants like Coleman.8:22–11:36 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Customer Acquisition via Gateway Products and Paid Ads The conversation covers GoSun's wallet-sized utensil gateway product and advertising metrics. Patrick details their $300k ad spend in 2020 achieving an approximate 3.3x ROAS.11:38–14:28 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Community Engagement and Operational Scaling Nathan demonstrates prep by reading a real-time post from GoSun's 8,000-member community group showing real-world utility during Hurricane Ida. Patrick confirms that customer resilience during emergencies validates the product vision.14:29–17:04 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Exploring Software Expansion and Strategic Partnerships Nathan brings his core SaaS knowledge to the table, urging Patrick to leverage his 250,000-subscriber email list to discover, clone, or acquire camping software with 80-90% margins. Patrick is receptive and agrees with the high-margin tech strategy.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 62.9% · guest 37.1%0:00 · Nathan 62.9% · guest 37.1%3:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%3:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%6:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%6:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%9:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%9:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%12:00 · Nathan 31.4% · guest 68.6%12:00 · Nathan 31.4% · guest 68.6%15:00 · Nathan 37.6% · guest 62.4%15:00 · Nathan 37.6% · guest 62.4%18:00 · Nathan 76.7% · guest 23.3%18:00 · Nathan 76.7% · guest 23.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:28 Clarifying margin necessity against outdoor giants

Patrick gently pushes back on low-margin pricing models, pointing out that GoSun is not yet operating at Yeti or Coleman scale.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 16:01 Latka pushes SaaS monetization playbook

Nathan steers the hardware company discussion toward software distribution, challenging the founder to survey his email list and acquire higher-margin digital products.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:45 Sherwin explains filtration mechanics

After Nathan admits complete ignorance regarding filter composition, Patrick explains the engineering behind head pressure, pump power, and maintenance-free filtration.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 16:01 Latka details software acquisition strategy

Nathan demonstrates his domain expertise in software unit economics by proposing how an e-commerce brand can bolt on 80%+ margin software products to its email list.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Patrick Sherwin's Return and GoSun Traction Recap 3611 Nathan openly admits he has no technical background when reading complex filtration materials from the website. Patrick educates him thoroughly on head pressure, water flow dynamics, and why competitor ceramic filters fail without frequent backflushing.
Hardware Manufacturing, COGS, and Logistics Operations 5412 Nathan drills into the unit economics, COGS, and freight forwarding logistics. Patrick explains their manufacturing partnership model in Asia and why GoSun maintains high gross margins due to lower volume compared to outdoor giants like Coleman.
Customer Acquisition via Gateway Products and Paid Ads 5312 The conversation covers GoSun's wallet-sized utensil gateway product and advertising metrics. Patrick details their $300k ad spend in 2020 achieving an approximate 3.3x ROAS.
Community Engagement and Operational Scaling 6211 Nathan demonstrates prep by reading a real-time post from GoSun's 8,000-member community group showing real-world utility during Hurricane Ida. Patrick confirms that customer resilience during emergencies validates the product vision.
Exploring Software Expansion and Strategic Partnerships 7213 Nathan brings his core SaaS knowledge to the table, urging Patrick to leverage his 250,000-subscriber email list to discover, clone, or acquire camping software with 80-90% margins. Patrick is receptive and agrees with the high-margin tech strategy.

Statements from this episode (8)

Disclosure
GoSun Flow Hub achieves 60% gross margin on $223 retail price
“Well like off the top of my head, it's going to be somewhere around 80 bucks. And so we get, we try to push for margins, gross margins that are over 50%, somewhere around 60 on something like this.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 7:06
Prediction Not checkable as stated
GoSun projects passing 100,000 unique customers by end of 2021
“I think it's going to be over a hundred K.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 8:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
GoSun has shipped 40,000 wallet-sized portable utensil sets
“We shipped like, we shipped 40,000 of these.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 9:19
Assertion Not checkable as stated
GoSun achieves 70% gross margins on $15 portable flatware kits
“Actually it might be more like 70% because something like this, like we have such a volume on something like this tiny amount of plastic, amazing little, these are like four bucks and we charge like 15. So that's a healthy gross margin.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 9:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
GoSun achieved over 3x ROAS on $300K ad spend in 2020
“We spent around 300 K in 2020, and that generated about one million in revenue. So we get about a three, a little over three return on ad spend.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 11:00
Prediction Not checkable as stated
GoSun expects full-year 2021 revenue to exceed $5 million
“It'll be over five million.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 11:25
Assertion Partly supported
GoSun Facebook community kitchen reaches 8,000 active members
“We do have a Facebook community. It's called the Facebook community kitchen Facebook.com backslash groups backslash go sun. And there's like 8000 users in there that post on a regular basis how they're using our technology.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 11:58
Disclosure
GoSun team expands to approximately 15 employees
“We're up to about 15 now. We've had to hire another engineer. We've got a sourcing professional now.”
Patrick Sherwin Oct 2, 2021 ▶ 14:07
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more