The Last Time Someone Reinvented Camping Was 1962
And how he went from "The Moneyball of Publishing" to re-envision the outdoor experience...
Starting Line
Ramble was a BPC entry from Mel Strong a few months back, and if you know anything about this podcast, you know that we are her biggest fans and will follow any and all of her recommendations. So it was only a matter of time before we got the founder of Ramble, Matt Oesterle, on the podcast with us to learn more about his business. And not only how it’s going today - but how he got here, from choosing the idea and his thoughtful approach to the experience.
The Last Time Someone Reinvented Camping Was 1962
Matt Oesterle built his first company, Callisto Media, from zero to $85 million in revenue by using data to disrupt the book publishing industry. Then he sold it to Penguin Random House and asked himself: what's the next industry that hasn't been forced to evolve? The answer was camping — an industry whose biggest brands were founded in the 1960s and haven't changed much since.
In this conversation, Matt walks through the framework he uses to pick businesses, how he designed the Ramble campground experience from scratch, and what it takes to build a hospitality brand that maintains a 4.98-star review score while scaling to 100+ locations. He also gets into the role of data versus instinct in entrepreneurship, why type two fun is a hiring requirement for his team, and why you don't have to be a sociopath to build something great.
If you've ever looked at an industry and thought "someone should fix this" — this is the episode for you.
Here To Help
The most common refrain we hear from friends working at brands is “we need to find content creators, but we are strapped on time”. This is the exact problem that Popfly has solved. If you’re working at a brand that needs this kind of help, you need to check this out (and tell them we sent you), it’ll be worth it. And…if you’re an athlete or creator, you should definitely get on this platform - there are brands, ready to support you and looking for your talent. We’re using it outside of the podcast and having a lot of success with it - and this is exactly why we wanted to partner with Popfly in the first place. Highly recommended!
Article Of The Week
Jonathan Levitt worked with Michael Rueckert from Centium AI (check out Michael’s episode on Second Nature here) put together this giant study about running brands and AI. How are people finding the best running shoes, the best races, and everything else? That’s exactly what this study is all about. They went deep, have a look!
Show Notes
BPC - Brand, Product, Content
BPC is our closing segment where we share Brands we’ve discovered, Products we’re using and Content that we love.
🏔️ RAB: This mountaineering gear looks legit! Matt Oesterle shared this as his brand, one that he relies on for all of his adventures in the mountains.
📈 The Algorithm (Book): The ex-President of Tesla Motors shares the framework(s) that Elon Musk instilled in him as they ran and developed the company.
🚀 MFM Pod - The Algorithm Author: If you don’t want to read an entire book, but you still want access to the frameworks and ideas, this episode of MFM covers pretty much everything (also, MFM is one of our favorite podcasts).
🤖 New Yorker Profile - Sam Altman: “Can He Be Trusted” is the byline of this article. AI has made a dramatic impact on our world already, and this guy has a lot to do with that (for better or worse).
Thank You
A big thank you to Mel Strong for making the introduction to Matt and the team at Ramble. Stay tuned for next week, Steve Holmberg and Matt Trappe return to the podcast to talk about emerging trends in the outdoor industry.
Love MFM! Cant wait to tune into this one. Thanks for featuring the study!!