Every company in the world should, as table stakes, measure and offset their carbon footprint. Reduce what you can, but in manufacturing that's limited, so offset the rest. The idea was to pump up the offset market so more money leads to higher quality offsets and greenlit technologies. I put a lot of chips in that voluntary carbon offset market.
I'm Meg Carney, an outdoor environmental journalist, and this is the Outdoor Minimalist podcast. Thank you for joining us so that together we can create a better outdoor space as we recreate.
If you're into outdoor adventure, photography, or well-designed gear, chances are you've heard of Peak Design. I've been a fan for years, not just for their camera bags and travel gear, but because of the company itself. Peak Design is about rethinking how a business can operate responsibly, sustainably, and equitably. In episode 171, Meg is joined by Pete Dering, CEO and founder, to talk about employee ownership, how it influences product development and sustainability, and why this model is the future of ethical business. Pete Dering started Peak Design in 2010, raised $40 million through 13 Kickstarter campaigns, and co-founded Climate Neutral.
So thank you for joining me on the Outdoor Minimalist podcast today, Peter. I am excited to finally talk to Peak Design. Many listeners have been requesting it. So we'll start with my classic introductory questions: how you got interested in outdoor recreation and how it fits into your life now.
Okay, sounds good. I'm ready. Pleased to be here.
So how did you become interested in outdoor recreation and how does it fit into your life now?
That was the question. It wasn't for my conversational abilities that I got into outdoor recreation; it was the lack thereof — you can be in silence. I grew up in suburban Minneapolis with summer camping and fishing. I loved it. When I studied abroad in Europe and got a Eurail pass, I saw the Alps for the first time as a young adult. That blew me away and made me pursue life out west. Moving to California and taking trips to the Sierra with friends, experiencing the backcountry for the first time — there's nothing more fun to me than backcountry camping, solo or with friends or a partner. It beats everything for joy, solitude, and wonderment. That's how I found the outdoors and still experience it.
It is a great way to get outside. As a fellow Minnesotan who moved west, I can definitely agree.
That didn't even cover that. I know we're both from Minnesota. I'm from a very rural farming community in the southwest corner. Pretty much the only way to get outside there is hunting or fishing. Now I'm in the mountains. My family was a fishing family, not hunting. I was totally naive to skiing, backcountry skiing, surfing, and all these California sports. I was a little behind the curve when I moved out here, but I've been chipping away.
Amazing. It is a whole different environment and experience. So how does Peak Design fit into all of that? When did it come about? What's a short and sweet origin story?
I'll do my best. I was a construction engineer. I took a leave of absence after my first project, bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, and spent four months traveling through Southeast Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand. Along the way, I realized I was much happier not working for a large company. I wanted to work for myself. I had ideas, one of which was a regenerative braking mechanism for electric trains. It was daunting. Then I went backcountry skiing with my girlfriend and told her about another idea: while traveling in Asia, I had a big DSLR on a neck strap that banged against my stomach. I thought of putting a tripod plate on the camera and clamping it to a backpack strap for a hands-free camera. She said that sounds easier than the trains. So I started working on that — the Capture camera clip. 15 months later I launched it on Kickstarter. It became the second most funded project in Kickstarter history at the time. That was the start of Peak Design and the principles that would drive the company for the next 14 years.
That is so interesting, the two separate ideas and how you decided on the one to use. I'm glad you brought up Kickstarter because we're going to talk a lot about your funding model. So if we talk about your Kickstarter program and how it has evolved with funding for other aspects of your business, I think it might be best if you explain the funding model from a high level and then compare it to how it would be different for other companies of a similar scale.
The easiest way to explain Kickstarter is as a pre-sales mechanism. The original idea: a musician needs $5,000 to press a CD, so they put a song on Kickstarter and if 200 people back it for $15 each, the money comes in and the CD gets made. For the Capture clip, the retail price was $75, but on Kickstarter people could pledge $50 and get it first. I was planning to make 1,000, but by the third day I had already sold a thousand, so I increased the order to 10,000. That put me in business. Today, Peak Design is a decent-sized company with reach. When we launched our outdoor line on Kickstarter, we predicted $3 million and got $3.35 million. So it's similar but scaled. Not many larger companies use Kickstarter; Peak Design has permission because we started there. It's an advantageous position to have an audience there.
It is a piece of your story and something your customers expect moving forward. How has that unique crowdfunding approach lent to your ability to make more sustainable choices as a business?
The ability to be a sustainable company comes from two things: the ability to afford it and the choice to do it. Affordability: being a responsible sustainability company creates an elevated brand, so people are willing to pay more. We make products in Fair Trade factories, which costs extra. We join 1% for the Planet, which is 1% of sales. So affordability is critical. Then there's willingness. As the sole business owner, I'm in a much better position to make those choices than a CEO who answers to a board. Companies with a financial mandate over values are harder pressed to stick to their laurels.
That makes a lot of sense. You don't have to get things approved by a board or have shareholders hold that budget over your head. So how does the Kickstarter funding model lead to being an employee-owned company? You are still the CEO, but would you consider Peak Design employee-owned then?
