Solving Real Problems: How Peak Design’s Pete Dering Redefines Innovation

Sure, well first off man, great to be here with you. It's been a while, miss hanging out with you in Chicago. Those were some good days. Innovation is an interesting thing. Any company like this, innovation is really an evolution. The story of Peak Design and how it unfolded – there wasn't that much that was premeditated and predictive at the beginning. But there are a couple of invention ideas I point to. Number one: I just wanted to work for myself, be in control of my own time. That was the actual goal that drove the whole thing. The easiest way to get there was an entrepreneurial venture. The Capture camera clip solved a very specific problem for me as a photographer: a way to carry a camera on the outside of your body totally hands-free, rigidly supported, not swinging around. You want to talk about innovation – when it really matters, when it can move the ball down the field, is when you find that niche, when the problem is real enough and not currently addressed well enough. That's when you have the opportunity to carve out a real little corner of the market. That's what happened with that first product. From there it set in line a series of principles that has governed how we design products for quite some time. I think it would be fun to take you on the evolution. There was Capture, which said get rid of your camera strap. But after thinking about it and getting customer feedback, we looked at camera straps and saw the actual problem: they were a pain to take on and off, no good system for quick attach and deploy. So we invented a really good one, that's utility patent number two. We've sold over five million camera straps, made 25 million of those little black and red anchors in 12 years. Those things led us to enough prominence in the photography space that we had an influential photographer, Trey Ratliff, back in the day before influencing was a thing – it was organic influencing. Photography is one of those niches where people are incredibly passionate. They may have a job and a family, but they describe themselves first and foremost as a photographer. I was driven to that because I also enjoyed photography, adventure travel, taking pictures, writing stories. So you combine this fun industry where people can throw their passions, and it allows you to pour extraordinary thought and effort into the products. They're not just there to change a tire; they deeply care. So you got to find the real problems and solve them in a new way.