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Apr 1, 2016 · 18m · top-founders

His Action Marketing Agency did $2.5m Last Year with Fritz Heffinger of OutCold.com EP 217

Fritz Heffinger · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Fritz Heffinger, founder of experiential agency OutCold, exploring how the firm achieved $2.5 million in revenue through custom container activations, lean contractor staffing, and in-house fabrication. Heffinger breaks down OutCold's enterprise campaigns for clients like Nordstrom, his roadmap to scale the business to $15 million, and his candid entrepreneurial philosophy.

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 44.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 0.5 Nathan pushing back 1.8
05100:0010:001:05–6:32 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Introducing Fritz Heffinger and the OutCold Agency Origin Nathan inquires into OutCold's origin, business model, and project economics with major brands like Nordstrom. When Fritz initial refuses to disclose exact campaign numbers, Nathan pushes him for a general price range.6:34–9:05 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Agency Revenue Metrics and Nationwide Distributed Staffing Model Nathan breaks down OutCold's $2.5M revenue run rate across client counts and questions the operational mechanics of managing 400 part-time contractors across the country.9:05–12:27 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Brainstorming Mobile Living Containers for Public or Bust Nathan pitches his mobile living container concept for his Public or Bust project and references modular housing company Kasita. Fritz explains how brand marketing budgets are shifting from leftover PR spend to dedicated experiential budgets.12:28–17:18 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Spotlight: HostGator Hosting Deals and Contest Reminders Nathan delivers a mid-roll HostGator promotion before walking Fritz through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire, where Fritz candidly admits to not reading business books.1:05–6:32 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Fritz Heffinger and the OutCold Agency Origin Nathan inquires into OutCold's origin, business model, and project economics with major brands like Nordstrom. When Fritz initial refuses to disclose exact campaign numbers, Nathan pushes him for a general price range.6:34–9:05 · Guest teaching 3/10 Agency Revenue Metrics and Nationwide Distributed Staffing Model Nathan breaks down OutCold's $2.5M revenue run rate across client counts and questions the operational mechanics of managing 400 part-time contractors across the country.9:05–12:27 · Guest teaching 4/10 Brainstorming Mobile Living Containers for Public or Bust Nathan pitches his mobile living container concept for his Public or Bust project and references modular housing company Kasita. Fritz explains how brand marketing budgets are shifting from leftover PR spend to dedicated experiential budgets.12:28–17:18 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Spotlight: HostGator Hosting Deals and Contest Reminders Nathan delivers a mid-roll HostGator promotion before walking Fritz through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire, where Fritz candidly admits to not reading business books.1:05–6:32 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Fritz Heffinger and the OutCold Agency Origin Nathan inquires into OutCold's origin, business model, and project economics with major brands like Nordstrom. When Fritz initial refuses to disclose exact campaign numbers, Nathan pushes him for a general price range.6:34–9:05 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Agency Revenue Metrics and Nationwide Distributed Staffing Model Nathan breaks down OutCold's $2.5M revenue run rate across client counts and questions the operational mechanics of managing 400 part-time contractors across the country.9:05–12:27 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Brainstorming Mobile Living Containers for Public or Bust Nathan pitches his mobile living container concept for his Public or Bust project and references modular housing company Kasita. Fritz explains how brand marketing budgets are shifting from leftover PR spend to dedicated experiential budgets.12:28–17:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Spotlight: HostGator Hosting Deals and Contest Reminders Nathan delivers a mid-roll HostGator promotion before walking Fritz through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire, where Fritz candidly admits to not reading business books.1:05–6:32 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Fritz Heffinger and the OutCold Agency Origin Nathan inquires into OutCold's origin, business model, and project economics with major brands like Nordstrom. When Fritz initial refuses to disclose exact campaign numbers, Nathan pushes him for a general price range.6:34–9:05 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Agency Revenue Metrics and Nationwide Distributed Staffing Model Nathan breaks down OutCold's $2.5M revenue run rate across client counts and questions the operational mechanics of managing 400 part-time contractors across the country.9:05–12:27 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Brainstorming Mobile Living Containers for Public or Bust Nathan pitches his mobile living container concept for his Public or Bust project and references modular housing company Kasita. Fritz explains how brand marketing budgets are shifting from leftover PR spend to dedicated experiential budgets.12:28–17:18 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Sponsor Spotlight: HostGator Hosting Deals and Contest Reminders Nathan delivers a mid-roll HostGator promotion before walking Fritz through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire, where Fritz candidly admits to not reading business books.

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

0:00 · Nathan 60% · guest 40%0:00 · Nathan 60% · guest 40%3:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%3:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%6:00 · Nathan 17.3% · guest 82.7%6:00 · Nathan 17.3% · guest 82.7%9:00 · Nathan 40.4% · guest 59.6%9:00 · Nathan 40.4% · guest 59.6%12:00 · Nathan 72.1% · guest 27.9%12:00 · Nathan 72.1% · guest 27.9%15:00 · Nathan 47.5% · guest 52.5%15:00 · Nathan 47.5% · guest 52.5%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:16 Refusing to disclose client contract value

Fritz flatly shuts down Nathan's request for exact Nordstrom billing, calling it an undisclosed amount he cannot share.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:18 Demanding a campaign revenue range

Nathan refuses to accept Fritz's non-disclosure deflection and immediately insists on getting a pricing bracket.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:11 Explaining the shift in experiential marketing budgets

Fritz provides deep industry insight on how experiential agency revenue is maturing from leftover media-buy scraps into dedicated corporate budget allocations.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:37 Connecting container concepts to upcoming Kasita interview

Nathan demonstrates high-level network awareness by instantly naming Kasita and offering to make an executive introduction for Fritz.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Fritz Heffinger and the OutCold Agency Origin 3213 Nathan inquires into OutCold's origin, business model, and project economics with major brands like Nordstrom. When Fritz initial refuses to disclose exact campaign numbers, Nathan pushes him for a general price range.
Agency Revenue Metrics and Nationwide Distributed Staffing Model 4302 Nathan breaks down OutCold's $2.5M revenue run rate across client counts and questions the operational mechanics of managing 400 part-time contractors across the country.
Brainstorming Mobile Living Containers for Public or Bust 4401 Nathan pitches his mobile living container concept for his Public or Bust project and references modular housing company Kasita. Fritz explains how brand marketing budgets are shifting from leftover PR spend to dedicated experiential budgets.
Sponsor Spotlight: HostGator Hosting Deals and Contest Reminders 2111 Nathan delivers a mid-roll HostGator promotion before walking Fritz through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire, where Fritz candidly admits to not reading business books.

Statements from this episode (8)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fabricating a mobile cargo marketing unit costs $100K to $200K
“From the bare cargo container out to the road, depending on what needs to be in it, it's about a hundred to 200,000 dollars.”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 3:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
A one-to-two-month experiential mobile brand campaign costs $300K to $600K
“To put something on the road for a month or two from a large vehicle to a small shipping container is somewhere in the three to 600,000 dollar range depending upon what it needs to be done, but that's totally, fully inclusive of giveaways. All the software tha…”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 5:23
Disclosure
OutCold manages fabrication, logistics, and custom software entirely in-house
“We do everything from the vehicle shipping to the container building, to the container shipping, to the logistics, to the software building. Everything is done here in house. We have a couple of very key partners that help us put a few pieces together, but eve…”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 5:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
OutCold generated approximately $2.5M in total revenue in 2015
“My total revenue was just about two and a half million.”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 6:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
OutCold runs on 11 full-time employees and over 400 part-time contractors
“We've got 11 full-time, and I've got just over 400 part-time all over the US.”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 7:31
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Nathan Latka plans to build and IPO a startup within three years
“I just sold my last company and now I want to basically film and be totally transparent about me building a company from scratch and taking it public within three years.”
Nathan Latka Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 9:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nathan Latka claims The Top podcast receives one million monthly downloads
“The podcast has a million downloads a month, so there's tons, millions of eyeballs per month.”
Nathan Latka Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 9:40
Prediction Not checkable as stated
OutCold expects to reach $10M to $15M in revenue within three years
“I fully expect Outcold to be in the 10 to fifteen million in the next two to three years.”
Fritz Heffinger Apr 1, 2016 ▶ 12:09
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