$20
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Stout Beer, Desk Lamps, and Bullstrap's Future
Become a member of the BS Society: https://bullstrap.co/products/b-s-society-membership
MOST EPIC VIDEOS:
Mason -
https://www.facebook.com/OnewheelOfficial/videos/406391707063545
Claudio -
https://bullstrap.co/products/b-s-society-membership
Listen on other platforms:
Spotify - Apple Podcasts - PocketCasts - Anchor - Breaker
View more at Bullstrap.co
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
TERRAPIN "Wake-n-Bake"
A coffee oatmeal imperial stout designed to be equally as good with breakfast as it is on a night out. Check it out here!
WHAT'S IN YOUR LINEUP?
MASON - The RMC Petrol Blue Mottled Handkerchief
It doesn't have to be this one, but having a handkerchief to put your small items on (specifically ones that you don't want scratched) at the end of the day is "A1."
CLAUDIO - AUKEY Desk Lamp
There's just something about this desk lamp, idk, I just use it every day and think it's the best...
CLAUDIO - Bullstrap Classic Sienna iPhone Case. Check it out here!
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Mason Hoza: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Founders Podcast. A podcast where Claudio a and I talk accessories, EDC, men's lifestyle, whiskey, beer adventures, and anything else that excites either one of us or the other, or both of us, I guess. A lot of it is probably both of us and yeah, episode two, here we are. I am Mason. I am the co-host and co-founder of Bullstrap.
Claudio Conte: And I am Claudio co-founder Bullstrap, co-host of The Founders' Podcast by Bullstrap. And we're here. We're live. If you are watching us on YouTube, what's up? You're seeing me right now. Hit the subscribe button, just so you guys are up to date. If you don't like to watch us, number one, you should be watching us. Number two, we're also available on every other podcast platform. So, you can subscribe to us there.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: With that being said...
Mason Hoza: Spotify, Apple podcasts. And there's a bunch of others.
Claudio Conte: Stitcher, everywhere else. With that being said, moving right along.
Mason Hoza: Moving right along.
Claudio Conte: What are we drinking?
Mason Hoza: Today, we are drinking Wake n Bake by Terrapin. This is a coffee, oatmeal, imperial stout. I really like stout beer and I know that you really like Terrapin. And so, I saw this one, I was like, "I've got to try it." And that's what we're drinking. I really like it.
Claudio Conte: So, you try to mix a great brewery with a half inspired beer?
Mason Hoza: Yes. And you get this, which is a high-class drink.
Claudio Conte: I will say, I'm not, I never choose stout. I'm never going to a brewery and saying, "Let me have your stout." This is good. It's passable.
Mason Hoza: Cool.
Claudio Conte: It's passable for The Founders Podcast.
Mason Hoza: Stouts are tricky because they're kind of like coffee. You either like coffee or you don't like coffee.
Claudio Conte: I love coffee.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. And I feel like you would like these as well.
Caudio: I like it. I like it for The Founders Podcast.
Mason Hoza: Cool.
Claudio Conte: I will say next week we're drinking my beer.
Mason Hoza: Okay. Fair point.
Claudio Conte: For this week, it's good enough.
Mason Hoza: It's my beer. Yep. Cool.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. No, it's a good beer. Terrapin actually does make my favorite beer right now. My current favorite beer. Actually, it's probably my second favorite beer, the Luau.
Mason Hoza: Oh yeah.
Claudio Conte: It's very... It's an IPA, but it's very like..., it's got a lot of those like fruity notes. It's really, it's really good.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. Yeah. Great brewery out of Athens, Georgia. Shameless applaud for them.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: By the way. We're not sponsored at all.
Mason Hoza: No. Yeah, no.
Claudio Conte: These are all things that we truly love...
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: And enjoy and want to share freely with the world, Terrapin brewing.
Together: Cheers
Mason Hoza: Boom.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. It's got like a chocolatey coffee.
Mason Hoza: Yup.
Claudio Conte: Type taste.
Mason Hoza: It's dessert-y. Definitely. It is dessert-y.
[Music]
Claudio Conte: So, what is fresh with Bullstrap?
Mason Hoza: What is fresh with Bullstrap? So last time we talked, we were talking about our Kickstarter campaign for the Elite case. If you haven't seen an update already..., you probably did. We were sending a lot of texts, emails, et cetera but we moved from Kickstarter to our website where we had a Pre-order.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: And you guys crushed it. You were able to transfer a lot of the funding we had on Kickstarter over to Pre-orders on our website and we are moving forward.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: We're moving forward with the Elite case.
Claudio Conte: By the time you guys are seeing this... So there's like a few days left in what we're doing on our website. By the time you guys are seeing this, we're probably done with the funding, if you will.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: For the Kickstarter, sorry for our...
Mason Hoza: Elite case.
Claudio Conte: For the Elite case on our website, but we're feeling the love. And we're glad and we are actually super thankful that we were able to transfer a lot of that over or else it would have just been this, not a wasted project.
Mason Hoza: It just would have felt a little more like a fail, I think, to both of us.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: Because so many of you guys just like, "Hey, you guys didn't hit the goal, but like, I still want it." Though we maybe didn't do what we thought we were going to do, we're still super optimistic and very thankful to be like where we are right now.
Claudio Conte: Absolutely. And by the way, as Bullstrap continues, and as the iPhone cases roll on, this is actually going to be a staple case for Bullstrap. This is something that we're going to produce and create and make into the future, regardless of iPhone, size iPhone, type iPhone, et cetera.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. This was just to get the manufacturing created, that way we could continue to make the Elite case for all the iPhone models from here on out
Claudio Conte: Yes. For generations to come. Generations upon generations.
Mason Hoza: Tell your grandkids.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. But Bullstrap. What else is new with Bullstrap? I will say that this last week was very busy.
Mason Hoza: Oh my goodness.
Claudio Conte: For us.
Mason Hoza: I would say, probably one of the busiest weeks we've had in the last six months maybe.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. We shipped out pallets on pallets worth of inventory because we're trying to send all of our stuff to a fulfillment center. For those of you guys that don't know, Bullstrap exists on a Peninsula called Florida, South Florida, specifically. We're all the way down at the bottom and to get our products to everywhere else in the United States, ends up costing a lot in shipping and it takes a long time. Because we're literally, probably in the worst place to ship from.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: In the entire US.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: We're not central. We're all the way down in this little corner. I love living in South Florida. I will say that. But it's not ideal in terms of shipping our stuff. So everything has been out of our warehouse, even the space that we're in is a little bit industrial.
Mason Hoza: Sure.
Claudio Conte: Basically, we're switching that up. We wanted to make sure that people are getting their stuff in a better timeframe.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: Anything that they're ordering from us, that it's getting to you guys in a better timeframe, and we're doing it at a cheaper price, at better quality. Everything to enhance the experience of the Bullstrap brand. So that being said it was a super busy week.
Mason Hoza: Yeah, that was crazy.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: That was a logistical nightmare. Shout out to Tessa. She did a killer job. But yeah, that was wild,
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: But that's so exciting.
Claudio Conte: I will say, Tessa and Sophia.
Mason Hoza: Oh, and Sophia.
Claudio Conte: Organizing a lot of people....
Mason Hoza: They killed it.
Claudio Conte: Yep, they absolutely killed it. And there's a whole, lot of other people that helped with that.
Mason Hoza: Yes.
Claudio Conte: Yes.
Mason Hoza: The whole Bullstrap team was lights out, last week.
Claudio Conte: Yep.
[Music]
Mason Hoza: Okay. What is in your lineup? So last podcast we titled this "What's in your pockets." But we realized pretty quickly that though, what we carry in our pockets does change, it's not changing that dramatically all the time. And so now it's, What's in your lineup?" What are things that Claudio and I are using on a weekly basis, or what's some gear that we are excited about right now or found ourselves using?
Claudio Conte: Totally. And also, our pockets are only so big.
Mason Hoza: That's true.
Claudio Conte: Can only carry so much in your pocket at once. And there's a lot of things that we want to be showing. I think the point of this section is like, "Hey, here are things that we’re excited about that we love of that we use that we think are cool." Basically, all the gear that the Bullstrap founders are into.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: So, that's it.
Mason Hoza: All not sponsored by the way.
Claudio Conte: Exactly. I think we need to make that really clear.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: These are things that we genuinely enjoy, and this is just for the world to know. So that being said, I will start with number one. Again, this isn't something I carry in my pocket, but for the sake of the podcast, I am carrying it in my pocket. This is on my desk usually. And what this is, is a pen. A brass pen. And I'm just going to untwist this super slowly, so you guys get the full experience, but that's it. I use this usually, either signing checks or writing notes. I keep my to-do list on a, basically my pad. I transfer a lot of stuff from what we call our "Issues List" onto my personal to-do list on my phone. And then a lot of times from my phone, it ends up on a daily pad where I'm writing out my personal to-do list. So I use this pen, sits on my desk and I love it. It's actually..., the brass is super cool because it kind of...
Mason Hoza: Yeah, that looks has it's way different than when you first got it.
Claudio Conte: Yeah, it kind of has its own patina that it ends up developing it, like rusts a little bit. Which makes it super vibey.
Mason Hoza: Yep. Very unique.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. Speaking of things that actually patina, another thing that I'm always carrying and I don't know that I like properly mentioned last week, but my Bullstrap iPhone case. I think this is like a year in the making and the cool thing about premium, top grain leather, is that it just looks so good, given time. And I'll let you guys has experienced that for a second. This is the Sienna Bullstrap iPhone case, I still have the 10, I'm upgrading soon in time. I'm upgrading entirely because we're launching our Elite case and I want to be able to use it along with all the accessories that we're launching with it. So, there you have it, Bullstrap Sienna iPhone case. I will say something else that's really cool that is also on my desk, not my pocket. I think specifically, because I can't fit this in my pocket. It sits on my desk.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: That's why we're kind of...
Mason Hoza: This one doesn't go in the pocket.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. This one doesn't.
Mason Hoza: Even if you want it to.
Claudio Conte: This is kind of like, maybe a little bit of a random one, but, I think you got this first and then we all started using these in the office. And this is literal in every room.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. You ended up ordering them for every room here.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. So usually we're using it, something like this, where it's just white gives us light at a desk.
Mason Hoza: This is by, who is this by?
Claudio Conte: Oh yeah. This is a Aukey.
Mason Hoza: Aukey.
Claudio Conte: And you can literally get them off of Amazon. A-U-K-E-Y.
Mason Hoza: They are cheap.
Claudio Conte: Dirt cheap.
Mason Hoza: I remember when I bought it.
Claudio Conte: Yeah, you were really fired up about it.
Mason Hoza: I love it.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: I loved it. Because as with most people in this office, we hate the fluorescent lights in here.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: And so, we want like softer light. And so yeah, those are now in every room.
Claudio Conte: These are just perfect. I'm going to shut this off. Actually, one thing cool that you can do with it, is you hold it down for three seconds, it changes colors. And then if you want it to stay on a particular color, you just tap it and it stays there and you get that color forever, for as long as you want it. And then you can tap it again, and I think it starts back.
Mason Hoza: Starts cycling.
Claudio Conte: Should it start cycling?
Mason Hoza: I have no idea.
Claudio Conte: There's a way to get it to search cycling. I can shut it off by just holding for three seconds. But if I tap it once, I get the lights, this is what I usually use.
Mason Hoza: The bomb, always white.
Claudio Conte: It's a softer light. I actually enjoy working with the lights off and then just this on. Again, it's Aukey, super cheap on Amazon, but it's what I use on my desk. Just cool little tidbit there.
Mason Hoza: Also, total side thing, product...
Claudio Conte: I'm going to put this here.
Mason Hoza: Product photography, people like my EDC people, I know who you are, yeah. That light is a great light for like very specific for small product photography. Because it's like super diffused for whatever reason. I don't know, that said, that's a total side thing, but I actually ended up using that light pretty often for a certain product photo.
Claudio Conte: Sweet. What's in your pockets?
Mason Hoza: Oh, what's in my wallet? What's in my lineup?
Claudio Conte: Yes. What's your lineup?
Mason Hoza: We've got to change in the segment. First, I got a Zippo lighter. Use this to light our candles here in the office. I actually have a butane insert by Zippo, usually it's like flint and gas. But I found myself just always running out of fuel. So, I got a Zippo. My iPhone case.
Claudio Conte: Those are sweet, by the way.
Mason Hoza: Oh yeah.
Claudio Conte: Super lighters.
Mason Hoza: Yup.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. Almost as sweet as what you were going to talk about.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. Almost, almost as sweet as our Bourbon portfolio iPhone case. So no wallet, just my license and card.
Claudio Conte: You switched that out?
Mason Hoza: I do. Yeah. So, I have my Ocean one that I use, it's classic when I carry a wallet. Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: And then I have my Bourbon portfolio for when I just, I need two cards.
Claudio Conte: Nice.
Mason Hoza: Bingo. Other than that, I've got two things. I got my AirPods in Terra case available on our website. That's a plug and a BS Society coin. I was actually filming something for the BS Society and was using this as an accent in the video frame. You can't get these, these were for the first a hundred members of the society, but I also have that. And then my one thing that I want to show that is not in my pockets, although this could go in my pockets. This is a handkerchief and this is by my buddy who runs Real Man Carrier or RMC. He sent this over to me. Thank you. And though this one is awesome and like, I would recommend this one. I recently started putting this next to my bed and when I get home at night, I put my phone and my ring and my watch and just everything goes on this spot and it's like a designated place. And I don't know for the last week I've been doing it and I wake up and everything is right there. And it's literally a piece of cloth, like just a piece of cloth, but I think it's cool.
Claudio Conte: Love it.
Mason Hoza: That's my extra.
Claudio Conte: Next week, you ought to talk about that ring.
Mason Hoza: Okay. I'll talk about the ring. Alright, in two weeks.
Claudio Conte: In two weeks. Yeah. Yeah.
Mason Hoza: Fine.
Claudio Conte: Cool.
[Music]
Claudio Conte: Okay. So most Epic video that we saw this week. Mason hit him with it.
Mason Hoza: Dude. For me, it was actually an advertisement for One Wheel.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: I saw it. I sent it to you almost immediately. I'll link it down below. It's hard to describe. It's got like voiceover, it's kind of just a montage but it was really well done. Like it made me want their product. One Wheel, if anyone that's connected to One Wheel, if you're listening to this, I'd love to use your product and your ad excited me to try your product. But it was epic. It was just really well done. Yeah, that was mine.
Claudio Conte: I will say you sent that to me and immediately it just, it made me feel a certain way.
Mason Hoza: Yeah, it excites you. It excites you for what? Yeah.
Claudio Conte: Yeah. We'll link it below. I think what was so cool about it from a marketing perspective and just kind of thinking in terms of business and even what we do here. It does what a lot of brands and a lot of products want to do, which is get you at that gut heart level. You know what I mean?
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: And it hit me right in the fields. It was cool and in a really awesome marketing way. And it did everything that it's supposed to. And I will say for Bullstrap specifically, like quick segue here and transition and just random thought about Bullstrap. We're a small, but growing company and brand. I think that's clear, maybe it's not. We have a decent Instagram following and our website looks good and everything else, but we're not huge. Right? What we're growing, but we're not huge. And this is two years in the making. January, 2019 basically, this, this was the brand. We're two years in the making. And while, we've built a really good foundation for everything that we have right now, our straps, our iPhone cases. Everything that we've done is really good, but there's so much that we're excited about. We've built a solid foundation to build off of and move into the future.
And I think what's really clear for us is the vision of Bullstrap and where Bullstrap is going. And what's cool about it is that you guys are getting a front row seat, kind of at the beginning of this. We're at the start, we're figuring out e-commerce as we go. You're marketing by background, I'm a CPA by background and this is something that we've built from basically nothing and are now trying to chart a course and get to a destination. And I think the vision for what we're doing is so clear, and we're excited, not only about the products that we're launching this year, but the marketing and the messaging and everything that we're infusing into this brand. This is sort of what feels like. It's kind of cool because we're starting the podcast and it almost feels like we're starting the brand at the same time. You guys get to be a part of the very start of that. And I'm just excited about it. Like it's cool that you guys get to be a part of this journey with us.
Mason Hoza: Dude, that was crazy.
Claudio Conte: Okay.
Mason Hoza: No, that was great.
Claudio Conte: Cool
Mason Hoza: Like you could... we need to cut that and put ad spend behind it because that. Wow! If you can't tell, we're really excited about what we're doing this year.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: Not just this year, but as a brand and as a company that...
Mason Hoza: Dude, you've got me excited. That was weird. I was just listening to you and I'm like, "Dude I'm buying into that."
Claudio Conte: Well...
Mason Hoza: But yeah, we are.
Claudio Conte: I will say the heart behind what we're doing is, we love our lives individually and we love what we do.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: I will personally say I love my family and I love my friends and I love my wife and my new son, just to get a little bit personal there. But like Bullstrap is an extension of that.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: And I think for us, this is all about inspiring other people to enjoy their life's journey. Our slogan is "Built for your journey" and as much as we can, we really want to, we want to embolize that, we want to basically bring that out of people, not just through our products, but with everything that we do. And more and more our brand, I want that to be representative of our brand. You guys are at the start of seeing this and I just could not be, I could not be more excited about where Bullstrap is going and having you guys along for the journey.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. This is sweet. It's cool to think like one benefit, at least on kind of a personal level, and I almost say, what’d you call it? What do you call something that's like attached to...? Sympathetic.
Claudio Conte: Ying and Yang?
Mason Hoza: Not sympathetic.
Claudio Conte: I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Mason Hoza: When you are materialistic, like you're attached to items materialistic.
Claudio Conte: Materialistic?
Mason Hoza: No, no.
Claudio Conte: When two things are attached?
Mason Hoza: No, no. I'm thinking of sentimental. A sentimental thing for you and I (that's the word.)
Claudio Conte: Okay.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: Got you, got you.
Mason Hoza: So, a sentimental thing, I feel like for this podcast between you and I, is we are essentially documenting what we're doing. As we update this podcast, we're also documenting this company's journey. And like, I know for a fact that come February 2022, this is going to look so different. And I'm really excited to be able to look back on this and be like, "Whoa, that was our mindset there. And now this is where we are."
Claudio Conte: Yeah. Yeah.
Mason Hoza: This is cool. That's sentimental right there. But should we move on to the BS society?
Claudio Conte: Well, I will say I actually, we spent a long time talking about the most Epic video of the week.
Mason Hoza: Yeah, we did.
Claudio Conte: And it's segwayed into a thing about Bullstrap. I actually have a most epic video of the week that I don't know that I fully want to share. It actually kind of relates to something that's near and dear to my heart on a certain level. I'm actually, I'm probably going to share it on the BS Society portion as something that's maybe connected to something more personal. Yeah, I guess that's it.
Mason Hoza: Cool.
Claudio Conte: Yeah, it's a cool video. It's cool videos. It's a series of videos.
Mason Hoza: Oh, this was when you were watching all those videos from like few years ago.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I know it is.
Claudio Conte: Yeah.
Mason Hoza: Cool.
Claudio Conte: So, it's cool for me. It probably means nothing to most of you, but anyway, I'll share more about it on the BS Society part of this podcast.
Mason Hoza: With that being said, I'm going to pull this down. If you want to grab that box there.
Claudio Conte: Yes, please.
Mason Hoza: So, this podcast is getting ready to end, but it is just the beginning for the BS Society podcast. If you are a BS Society member, there's a lot of benefits other than just longer podcasts. What would some of those benefits be?
Claudio Conte: So, when you sign up, you get a free, free, F-R-E-E, free inaugural gift. We send you a candle, one of our BS Society.
Mason Hoza: It's behind you.
Claudio Conte: Yeah, there it is. One of our first impression candle...
Mason Hoza: They might not be able to see that. We should probably pull that down and show it to them.
Claudio Conte: Ah, okay. It's on our wall.
Mason Hoza: It's on our wall.
Claudio Conte: But you get our first impression candle entirely for free comes in a box that looks something like this with a letter signed by yours truly. There you go. So you get a free inaugural gift. You get a quarterly gift box with gear that we're excited about, stuff that we use. And it comes to your door quarterly.
Mason Hoza: Every quarter free box of gear. This is actually one of them. This is the first one. This is gear that is made exclusively for the BS Society.
Claudio Conte: Exactly.
Mason Hoza: This is not available to you guys, only to society members.
Claudio Conte: Exactly. Perk number three, you're getting a lifetime 20% discount, basically Black Friday, Cyber Monday pricing annually. Year round, you get it whenever you want to purchase something from our site. You're getting that 20% year-round, no questions asked. Also you're getting a lifetime warranty on any product you buy from our store.
There's a lot of products in our lineup specifically this year that we're launching. Did we talk about that last week? I think we talked.
Mason Hoza: Yeah.
Claudio Conte: I think we talked about that on the BS Society podcasts, maybe.
Mason Hoza: Yeah, yeah.
Claudio Conte: Maybe not.
Mason Hoza: Oh, wait. Yeah, we went in depth in the society, briefly on the public podcast.
Claudio Conte: Yeah, briefly. Well, anyway, we have a lineup. You're going to get 20% off all of it, if you sign up for the BS Society. Another perk is you obviously get VIP access to the podcast that we're about to go into. A little bit more behind the scenes. Maybe a little bit more personal, a little bit more about Bullstrap. There's just more meat on the bone. More there. You can ask those questions.
Mason Hoza: Yep.
Claudio Conte: We can talk to you. It's actually pretty epic. Beyond that you're getting first dibs on any product that we launch and you're getting it at a discounted price. You get to see the products that we're launching first before anybody else.
Mason; Yep.
Claudio Conte: It's pretty cool. Pretty cool.
Mason Hoza: Pretty freaking cool. Did you talk about lifetime warranties?
Claudio Conte: I did talk about lifetime warranties.
Mason Hoza: Okay, cool. I was just making sure that was covered because that's a big one, life lifetime.
Claudio Conte: The last thing that you get that I should mention is you get an annual $100 gift card. At the end of the year, you got a $100 gift card for anything you want to buy in our store. So really, why not?
Mason Hoza: Seriously? Like why not? Why not?
Claudio Conte: Yeah. What are you doing?
Mason Hoza: You're missing out.
Claudio Conte: You're missing.
Mason Hoza: You're missing out.
Claudio Conte: Especially since we're going to cut right now and go to the BS Society podcast.
Mason Hoza: This podcast is over.
Claudio Conte: Peace. Later.