KORE Outdoors Podcast

The KORE Outdoors podcast was created for outdoor founders like Brent Firkser. He's been the audience, and now he's the guest for episode 50. Brent built GOSO Cookware, a carbon steel pan with a fully removable handle, and turned it into a $166K Kickstarter and a growing business he runs solo from his home in Nelson, BC. He breaks down how the KORE Network shaped GOSO from idea to launch, why finding a manufacturer willing to work with a solo founder was harder than designing the product, and how he wrestled with pricing a premium product. It's a candid look at building a physical-product business alone and defining success on your own terms.

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Topics covered:
  • Grief as the catalyst — regret minimization as the real reason he started GOSO
  • The KORE Network as a zero-to-one engine — mentorship, manufacturer intros, community over silo
  • Winning over a manufacturer as a small, unproven customer
  • Kickstarter mechanics — the $1 pre-sale filter, the accidental early launch, hitting funding goal in hours
  • Pricing psychology — second-guessing your own value, "buy once, cry once"
  • Brand as vehicle for community, not the product itself — GOSO's ethos and the Backcountry Table event
  • Defining entrepreneurial success — control of time, enjoying the process, decoupling self-worth from the business cycle
  • Solo-founder resilience — patience, perseverance, self-compassion, "weathering the storms"
Links
GOSO website
Backcountry Table event page
Chuk Outdoors
RUX
Wildelore
Launchboom
Barebones
Pete Day of Mosko Moto

The KORE Podcast is a production of the Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise. Learn more about KORE and the podcast: https://koreoutdoors.org/podcast  #koreoutdoors #craftgearfromhere




What is KORE Outdoors Podcast?

Dive into insightful conversations with entrepreneurs and leaders shaping the outdoor industry.

Each episode explores practical strategies and inspiring stories to help you navigate your career in the outdoor industry.

Your host, Christian Rawles, brings 15 years of experience as the former owner of Ambler Mountain Works and his current role as KORE Business Advisor.

This podcast is a production of KORE - the Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise. KORE is a non-profit organization based in the Kootenay region of interior British Columbia. KORE’s mission is to support the growing network of gear and apparel makers, designers and entrepreneurs within the Kootenays.