The O.H.I.O. Fund Report

Remote Vans: Building The Best Adventure Vans in America With Tony Alexander & Daryn Hillhouse

The O.H.I.O. Fund Report's second episode features Tony Alexander and Daryn Hillhouse, co-founders of Remote Vans — a Cincinnati-based company redefining the premium adventure van category by blending high-quality craftsmanship with the technology and design required for the modern lifestyle — and Jeffrey Stern, Principal at The O.H.I.O. Fund. 

Their journey captures a classic entrepreneurial arc—from piecing together their first custom van in a brewery garage at the height of the pandemic to scaling operations at their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Cincinnati, where Remote Vans is now producing meticulously designed, technologically advanced camper vans at scale, and is also where our conversation took place. 

Through it, we explore their entrepreneurial lessons, transitioning from custom builds to dealer-focused manufacturing at scale, the commitment to innovation and quality that permeates their brand, the power of community, the nuances of building an automotive company in Ohio and leading in an industry shaped by evolving consumer preferences, and the enduring appeal of adventure. 

Tony and Daryn give an awesome account and reflection of Remote Vans and provide a compelling example of Ohio’s entrepreneurial spirit, manufacturing might, and the adventure lifestyle.

https://remotevans.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-alexander-676785118/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynhillhouse/

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For more on The O.H.I.O. Fund: check out & subscribe to future content @ www.theohiofund.com
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Chapters
00:00:00 – Remote Vans
00:00:58 – Episode Intro & Remote Vans Origin Story
00:03:18 – The Classic Startup Journey
00:04:48 – How Tony & Daryn Met
00:08:07 – Pandemic Pivot to Van Building
00:11:43 – Navigating the Entrepreneurial Journey
00:14:07 – Evolving the Business Model
00:16:28 – Defining the North Star
00:18:22 – The Adventure Van Market
00:22:10 – Remote Vans’ Brand & Lifestyle
00:25:28 – Scaling Craftsmanship
00:30:38 – Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned
00:34:41 – Future Chapters
00:40:30 – Measuring Success
00:41:39 – Building Industry in Ohio
00:46:51 – Ambitious Manufacturing
00:47:10 – Ohio Adventures: Hidden Gems
00:48:31 – Closing & How to Connect

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Creators and Guests

Host
Jeffrey Stern
Principal @ The O.H.I.O. Fund
Guest
Daryn Hillhouse
COO and Co-Founder at Remote Vans
Guest
Tony Alexander
CEO at Remote Vans

What is The O.H.I.O. Fund Report?

The O.H.I.O. Fund Report℠ — a podcast dedicated to elevating Ohio’s collective ambition by highlighting the most compelling stories of innovation and growth throughout the state. Each episode carries the industrious DNA of Ohio, exploring the state’s economic renaissance across advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, biotech, healthcare, energy, data centers & AI, consumer goods, and logistics advancements.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:00:00]:
People are seeing that we're taking market share. We're an exciting new company. They're seeing a company that is making waves, doing things differently, doing things properly. You know, we're being recognized for building exciting adventure vans, quality adventure vans. And I would say that we are like getting people from other companies coming to us looking for opportunities.

Tony Alexander [00:00:25]:
Absolutely.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:00:26]:
Yeah. And, you know, I think that's something we've prided ourselves on from an entrepreneurship perspective. It's, it's a warm feeling because you feel like you're doing something and it's, it's, it's working and this is what we set out to do, you know, so it's, it's pretty cool.

Jeffrey Stern [00:00:58]:
Foreign hello everyone. I am Jeffrey Stern, your host of today's Ohio Fund Report with Tony Alexander and Darren Hillhouse, co founders of Remote Vans. Remote Vans is redefining the premium adventure van category by blending high quality craftsmanship with the technology and design required for the modern lifestyle. Tony and Darren's journey captures a classic entrepreneurial arc from piecing together their first custom van in a brewery at the height of the pandemic to scaling operations at their state of the art manufacturing facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Remote Vans is now producing meticulously designed, technologically advanced camper vans at scale. And it is also where our conversation took place today. Through it, we will explore Tony and Darren's entrepreneurial lessons transitioning from custom builds to dealer focused manufacturing at scale, the commitment to innovation and to quality that permeates Remote Vans brand, the power of community, the nuances of building an automotive company in Ohio and leading in an industry shaped by evolving consumer preferences and ultimately the enduring appeal of adventure. Tony and Darren here gave an awesome account and reflection of Remote Vans and provide a compelling example of Ohio's entrepreneurial spirit, many manufacturing might and an adventure lifestyle. So please enjoy this conversation with Tony and Darren.

Disclaimer [00:02:24]:
Hello everyone and welcome to the Ohio Fund Report, a show dedicated to raising the collective ambition of Ohio. Before we dive in, just a quick note, this podcast is for informational purposes only. Nothing you hear today should be taken as investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Today's guests are the founders of one of the Ohio Fund's portfolio companies, meaning there is a financial interest in the company being discussed. As always, views expressed by our guest are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of the Ohio Fund or its affiliates. Any forward looking statements you hear today are based on current expectations and may change. Please do your own research and and consult with your advisors before making any investment decisions.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:18]:
So I'm always thinking about where the best place to start these conversations is. And I feel like when most people think about the startup journey, they will envision two kind of founders working in a garage, kind of scrappily piecing together an mvp, hoping that one day they aspirationally get to an actual facility where things are streamlined and they're producing at scale. And in a lot of ways, that kind of is the journey. Yeah.

Tony Alexander [00:03:45]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:45]:
And so I'm very excited here today to unpack, you know, the evolution of remote vans from, you know, you two scrappily piecing together this, this, this van out of a brewery in Cincinnati to taking it to where we are here today. So thank you for, for, for joining.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:04:01]:
Appreciate it.

Tony Alexander [00:04:02]:
Yeah. I mean, thanks for having us. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it really, you described, I mean, I think the, the stereotypical journey that you describe for entrepreneurs is like, oh, I started in a garage. And that's true sometimes, but for Darren and I, it's, it's, it's literal. It was one van and one table started at the height of COVID when this, this van life industry was kind of taking off and seeing a new, kind of a new horizon. And yeah, it, you know, we joke that it, it happened very slowly to us over time.

Tony Alexander [00:04:36]:
It took multiple years to get to this point, but in a lot of ways, looking back on it, it feels like it kind of happened all at once. And it has been a very interesting journey, to say the least.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:04:47]:
Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:48]:
So by way of introduction here, Tony, you have this kind of eclectic background in startups and accelerators and kind of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. And Darren, you've been in the British army, you've organized these vast tours of vans in Africa and ultimately have crossed paths here in Cincinnati. Tell us a little bit about the story of how it is that you two came together to ultimately start remote vans.

Tony Alexander [00:05:16]:
Yeah, Darren. I mean, the short version that Darren can expand on is there was an organization I was involved with in Cincinnati called the Brandry, which was a startup accelerator. Darren ultimately had a company that went through that where we got closer. But even before that, he was looking to replicate his road rally experience in the US And I'll let him kind of tell that, that story, that journey.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:05:39]:
Yeah, I'm trying to think when it was, it was, I think, the very first 2013. 2013, I came over. So Road Trippers was going through Brandary at the time, became a very successful app based here in Cincinnati. I had been thinking about coming to America it's always been a dream of mine since I was very, very young, since about nine. And I was invited over just to come and have a look to see if this would be something that I'd enjoy. And coming from South Africa at the time in 2013, it's quite a pivotal moment in South African history. It's when Nelson Mandela had just passed away and I arrived in Cincinnati. Really liked everything that I was seeing and it was all coming together.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:06:24]:
And I went for a walk at about 5am in the morning. And I remember walking between vine and Main Street.

Tony Alexander [00:06:32]:
It was on Walnut, just south of Liberty.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:06:34]:
Walnut. I turned around the corner and walked down the street in Walnut, and there was this massive mural of Nelson Mandela that had just popped up overnight, freshly painted and everything. And it was this big, big mural. And I was like, oh, there's. There's my sign.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:50]:
There's a sign.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:06:50]:
And I just went with it from there. So, yeah, I mean, you know, committed to it and then moved over and, you know, and then went through the brand re. And I guess, yeah, we'll talk through how everything else evolved from there. But, yeah, it's a pretty. Pretty straightforward, you know, entrepreneurial journey. It's like, here's an opportunity, lifelong ambition. And then went for it, you know, source had a sign and then went for it, you know, at the time.

Tony Alexander [00:07:16]:
Even for multiple years after that. So Darren went through the Brandry with an events company similar, but like a tangent off of what he had done before, but continued to run the road rally.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:07:28]:
From here.

Tony Alexander [00:07:29]:
Yeah, from here. Traveling back, you know, during. So we had five to seven years to develop a friendship, just being buddies when he's here in town most of the time. So when Covid hit, it was. It was obviously very impactful to someone trying to run a road rally through multiple countries in, you know, sub Saharan Africa. And at the time, I wasn't doing as much with Main Street Ventures and Brander anymore. So we both found ourselves with kind of skill sets that complemented each other very well. And just through a series of events outside of our control in a lot of ways, not really having anything to do.

Tony Alexander [00:08:07]:
So, you know, when you have two entrepreneurs that, like, are in a room.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:08:10]:
I think also, like, we were at a point in our lives where we had been used to working, doing, you know, running our businesses off laptops anywhere in the world. And I know Tony's told me one of the most inspirational stories that. That he. That he shared with me was he. Was it. You traveled on a shipping container, not.

Tony Alexander [00:08:31]:
In the shipping container. I was, I did a trip around the world without using an airplane. So I just kept going west. Wow. So it was all boats and trains in the Pacific portion was a ship. I was a guest on a ship.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:08:41]:
He went on his own, which is like, I mean, that's, that's an adventure. You know what I mean? And you know, I had a deep passion for, for taking other people on adventures and showing them Africa. And so we sitting in, in Covid and having lockdowns and not being able to do that was, I think, a pivotal moment. And you know, Tony came up with the idea of building a sprinter van, an adventure van. And I so distinctly remember we were talking the one night over dinner saying, let's place an order for one. And at the time we phoned Mercedes and they said, oh man, it's going to be an eight month waiting list to get one. And you could literally see the light bulb going off. It's just like, oh, why? And then from there you just start unraveling the layers of the onion.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:09:28]:
You're just like, oh, because these are really popular. Why? They're really popular because people are building adventure vans in them. What are adventure vans? And then we went down and down and down. Eventually, you know, we were like, hey, well, it would be far easier just to buy one. One that is, you know, capable of work on the road and fulfilling our passion of travel. And I remember you saying, there just isn't one there. And wouldn't it be cool to build one that had the communications capabilities? And I mean, from there it's just brainstorming, you know, oh, we, we could do this.

Tony Alexander [00:10:03]:
And yeah, it's funny you bring up that first van because I just traded emails with our. That very first van that we bought, sold it to a gentleman who lives in Boston. He's coming back to get some upgrades. So I think like next week or the week after van one, like that van with that Darren, I have a picture of us in masks at this height of COVID picking up the van. We'll actually be back in the factory in a week or two, which is kind of cool. And we number all of our builds. So even 120 plus vans later, Tom will pull into this factory with 001 on his door.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:10:35]:
He's very proud of it. So it's awesome.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:38]:
Not to relive the pandemic, but I really love that you've captured. As people were either getting into Sourdough or starting a podcast, there was the spirit of adventure that you guys actually.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:10:50]:
Ran with, yeah, absolutely. And then, just like you said, to take it back to starting in a garage. We really were. We were fortunate enough to be able to have access to a large building. We were in a dark corner. It was damp, it was raining. It was dark. And we put our van there, and then we went shopping, and we bought a toolbox and some power tools.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:11:15]:
And there's some awesome photographs that we have of the very first table that we bought plywood and built the first table. And that was just the catalyst for all of it from there. And, I mean, I'm sure we'll talk about these things, but just trying to put together a van company. If there ever were two people who just about tried every single possible way of building a van, that's how we started. There wasn't a playbook on how to do it. There wasn't a recipe book on how to build a van.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:43]:
Well, if you think about it in the context of a book, and you were to outline the chapters of remote vans as it is today, we were talking before about how perhaps the first chapter is figuring out how to build a van and then figuring out how to build a van. Well, and then ultimately scaling it, and then we can talk about the future chapters. But I think there are really interesting themes in each of those buckets, and I'd love for you to just kind of take us through those chapters.

Tony Alexander [00:12:10]:
Well, there's a whole other bucket, I think, that you're not mentioning, which is you can learn how to build a great van. The. The other bucket is learn how to sell it and learn, like, what. What this industry is. And there's lots of examples of. Especially during COVID of companies that were created and they built great vans, but they either priced it wrong or they didn't get into the right dealers, or they, you know, tried to sell direct to consumers. So it's. To Darren's.

Tony Alexander [00:12:36]:
It's been a learning process the whole way. You know, we are very. Both of us have very deep experience in general, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurism in our. Our own niches, but neither of us came with specific, you know, knowledge when it came to building an assembly line or selling through a network of dealerships. So we've had to learn everything on.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:12:59]:
The fly or even manufacturing.

Tony Alexander [00:13:02]:
Manufacturing in general.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:13:03]:
As we go into, like, this chapter that requires, like, an acute knowledge on how to build and scale this type of business. We're learning, but we're learning at such a rapid rate, and that I think that's what keeps this interesting, you know.

Tony Alexander [00:13:19]:
Sorry, I was just say there's that old adage in entrepreneurism and startups where it's like, if you're not embarrassed by what you shipped a year ago, you waited too long to ship it. And if there's been one thing true, I mean, we build amazing vans, but they always get better. So so much f. Like, the stuff we're building today, we're just getting exponentially better at this every year. And so it's cool to see that all kind of come to fruition.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:13:45]:
Yeah, yeah, it's. I would say we have pretty deep conversations around it. You know, the 2000s hindsight. You know, the hindsight is 20 20. You look back at like, oh, well, if we started a van company today, we'd do it like this. And, you know, there's. And that's. I mean, it would be entirely different, I guess, but there's no harm in doing the way that we did it.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:14:07]:
We wouldn't have the knowledge and I guess the passion to make the changes and do the things that we're doing now if we hadn't done those difficult things in the early days.

Jeffrey Stern [00:14:16]:
It's the earned wisdom along the way. Did you know at the time that you wanted to start a van company or were you just solving this own desire you had to find?

Tony Alexander [00:14:26]:
No, I think pretty. I mean, within the first. I mean, from the very early days, it was we wanted a van company. Now when I say that it's not the company, it's not the what we're sitting in right now and what we are. That was not the original plan. And if we'd known more, it might have been the original plan. But because we went into this not knowing, you know, we wanted to be a custom builder. I think we had an original goal, like 52 a year, like in the next, like three or four years, one a week.

Tony Alexander [00:14:54]:
We can get to that. But I think, you know, again, you don't know what you don't know. We learned pretty quickly that that was not a business that we necessarily wanted to be in. So it took us a little bit to figure that out. And along the way, we're learning how to build great vans. Yeah, it's just the type of industry, where to get where we wanted to go, you have to be building at scale. In order to build at scale, you got to tick certain boxes and do certain things. And that set us on the journey of where we're at today.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:15:20]:
I think the other really, really important thing is that we kept it nimble early. And so as this market was changing in Those early days, like, there was a massive rush in, you know, the COVID times. Everything grew really, really quickly. But it also meant that once that calmed down, things are also going to change dramatically. And so we've. We've been lucky to not get ahead of ourselves and just adapt all along the way, whether it's our product, whether it's building custom vans or deciding to go down the route of doing production vans, all of those things, it was just a growth experience. As you did this, you realized, okay, I think we're gonna have to go in this direction. And so the route to the success that we've achieved thus far has been kind of unveiled to us as we've gone along.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:16:12]:
So it's, in a way, I think we've. We've kind of set an end goal where we want to get to and how we get there's definitely not been clear the whole time, but you just, you develop and you iterate and you go. And it reveals itself as you go.

Jeffrey Stern [00:16:28]:
What is this North Star that has revealed itself through the opacity that is now clear to you guys?

Tony Alexander [00:16:34]:
Well, I think in general, it's just, it's scale. I mean, we have ambitions to get this to a certain size of company. That would be hard to do if you're selling limited volumes. You'd have to sell them at such a, you know, the high, high cost. There's the universe of people to buy that, isn't there? So in order to get to scale, you've got to work with. With dealerships. And so all these, These things have to happen that we have spent the last, probably two years of our journey building up to. To where we're at now.

Tony Alexander [00:17:03]:
So, yeah, it all kind of works backwards from, you know, we, we know where we kind of want to go.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:17:08]:
Yeah.

Tony Alexander [00:17:09]:
In order to get there, we. We have to execute this playbook.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:17:11]:
Yeah. I think, I think also when we started out, we looked at the state of the market and we looked at what the pain points were, and unequivocally, the, the major thing that every single person in this industry was talking about was the, the lack of quality. So as people were struggling to find labor, the. I'm talking about the major players in the industry, they can find the people to build the vans quick enough with the demand. And so naturally, quality starts dropping. And there in itself is a massive opportunity for folks like us to come in and go, okay, the founding principles of our business are going to be quality above all else. And so now, having committed to that four years ago, we're now what, four, five years ago, we're now in our fifth year and it's now starting to pay dividends because we've established the brand and our credibility is based off of building really high end quality vans. So yeah, I think we've always kept that as a North Star.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:18:14]:
It's just like do not compromise on quality for anything. And so we still hold true to that today.

Jeffrey Stern [00:18:22]:
How would you describe the market that you're operating in? Who are the people that are involved in this space? Who are the people that are drawn to adventure vans and what is kind of the context and history of how it has evolved over time and with that the role that you'd like for remote vans to play within it?

Tony Alexander [00:18:41]:
Well, I think if you're talking like on the customer side, what we're seeing is kind of a generational change in what people are into. So you know, in kind of the older generation was attracted to, you know, the dream was always like a big class A bus, drive it around open road.

Jeffrey Stern [00:19:00]:
I think that's what a lot of people think of when they think of that.

Tony Alexander [00:19:02]:
Yeah, that is kind of dying. And even with, you know, the 60 plus crowd, they're drawn now more and more each year to class B and maybe some smaller Class C type products which just to give the listeners a little bit of context. So there's basically four types of motorhomes. Class A's are the big buses. Class C's are anything over 30ish feet basically most of the time they'll have a bed over the cab. It's kind of a distinctive feature of a class C. And then you've got towables and fifth wheels which are kind of their own thing. And then class B is basically, basically a van.

Tony Alexander [00:19:32]:
Anything in the van footprint and I think, you know, people are gravitating for, towards it, especially the younger generation. They're easier to drive, they can fit in a driveway. You know, people potentially don't have as big houses or a lot of space. They can fit in a normal parking spot. So they're just easier to get around and go off on a weekend adventure. So it's kind of the way in which people use these types of vans has changed or use motorhomes over the, the past years have changed. So the type of vehicle, I think that they gravitate. So we're kind of riding that wave.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:20:07]:
Yeah. And then also you have this, I sort of would term it van, hashtag Van Life 2.0. It's like there's this entirely new person that is coming into the, into van life. And I would say that's your working professionals. These are your, your nomads, you know, your digital nomads. They're, they're, they're, you know, they're your real estate agents, it's your accountants, it's investment bankers. So talking about one of our early customers was an investment banker and he would put screens, hang the screens in his van and he would sit there trading inside the van. It's amazing.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:20:46]:
And so pitching ourselves as a technology focused van company, having the latest of tech, it appeals to whole new demographic of people that are now getting into, you know, what is a traditional American fabric of, you know, our culture is, is road tripping. And so, man, you just got these two great worlds of experienced RV users with decades of experience who are now all moving into, you know, smaller units and more nimble and getting into places they couldn't go with the big vehicles. A younger crowd that is, you know, off the back of COVID being stuck indoors are going, I'll never let that happen again. And value the outdoors far more with, you know, taking their K and the family with. So it is, I would say a like a growing industry for sure. You know, certainly the van space every day, it's just more and more people are looking for this lifestyle, you know.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:43]:
Which is great pulling on the lifestyle thread. And I think as important as quality and craftsmanship is to the product itself, I know that you and the company cares a lot about the brand and the kind of narrative and the story that goes with going on adventures. How would you describe what the brand is and what it stands for?

Tony Alexander [00:22:10]:
Well, I think it starts with the name. Obviously it's kind of like a double meaning remote. When we first started it, we wanted to build the ultimate van for the work remote lifestyle that has since expanded. I think we still have the best van for somebody who at least for part of their journey, can work remotely. But the remote also means like you're going someplace and you're taking your lifestyle and you can go someplace and put it as remote as you want to get it. But as Darren kind of mentioned, what that has since come to represent is far broader than just those. It's the quality that we put into it.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:22:52]:
And yeah, we talk about the workplace, travel, lifestyle and really so, you know, you're appealing to folks who are looking for a certain lifestyle. Like traditionally the van space was, let's say, occupied 80% by companies who are marketing their vans as these great big, like off road, it can go Anywhere because it's got the best suspension, all these things, you know, and it's got all these accessories. And I don't. And that appeals to, I would say, a segment of the market for sure. We just wanted to give a voice or a product that is for everybody else. You know, that's not to say that we didn't throw on the best and most capable suspension system that you can get on a van. Our vans can match any off road focused van company. But what else can it do? Well, it's got the latest technology in it, it's got the latest communications on it.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:23:53]:
So you can go anywhere and work from anywhere, whether it's like the top of the highest mountain range in Colorado, whether you're at the beach in San Diego, whether you're deep in a forest, whether you're, you know, it can go anywhere. So I think to Tony's point, like remote means a lot of different things from a lifestyle perspective. I think, you know, whether, whether you're grandparents and you're just wanted to take the grandkids for an ice cream at the beach, we made sure that like the seats that we had could achieve that, that, that the different components in you could achieve that. Whether you're a young family and you're taking kids camping for your first camping trip, you know, making sure that, you know, there was enough sleeping space for parents and for kiddies, and whether you're a solo traveler, whether you are a YouTuber wanting to run a podcast for, from, from the van. This van can do all of that. So we just choose to focus on, on the, on the lifestyle. This van can do all these things. And if you do get the customer who says, well, what, what about going off road? Yeah, well, let me tell you about the suspension.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:24:55]:
It can do everything, you know, so yeah, it's, we've really gone for the lifestyle van, you know, which I think is again, hashtag vanlife2.0. That is the new, I would say, group of folks. We have a group on Facebook called the Rolling Nomads. And that's where we brought all our customers and aspiring customers in one place where they can ask each other questions about like, hey, I want to live this type of lifestyle. How are you finding a remote van so far? You know, so it's pretty cool.

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:23]:
Yeah. Very community oriented.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:25:25]:
It's very community orientated. Yeah, for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:28]:
So I would be remiss, I think, to not acknowledge the space that we are, you know, literally in, as we talked about, the north Star of scale.

Tony Alexander [00:25:37]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:38]:
How have you Two thought about that specifically the craftsmanship, you know, quality being the goal that goes into, you know, a process and a facility that can. That can handle, you know, the aspiration that you guys have for the company.

Tony Alexander [00:25:52]:
Well, it was a big shift for us. Starting where we did, we would, you know, to simplify it, we would build to the van. So we would pull the van into, like, a little bay, and then we would bring all the parts to it and spend months and months and months building it. And that's what we knew how to do. That's how we started the company, and that's how we learned to build vans. So coming into this space, which was a former steel processing plant that, you know, we had to clean it out, we had to renovate it, and we put a lot of resources into building this into a great foundation for assembly line production, which was a whole another adventure in how to figure out. Now. Now we are what you call building to the shelf.

Tony Alexander [00:26:30]:
So we build all the materials for the van, put it on the shelf, and then we have to learn how to efficiently roll these vans down the line and get them through as quickly as possible while maintaining that level of quality that we've talked so much about. So that was. That was. Darren spearheaded that whole process. So you could probably speak more into how incredibly hard it was.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:26:50]:
I mean, it's fun. Like, it genuinely is fun. So when we started off, you know, we're not a traditional RV company in that we're based in Elcott, you know, sort of the Mecca for RV building. Right. So starting out, we didn't have this deep pool of RV builders that we could recruit from. So every single person, and I would even say, even to this day, we have not recruited anybody who has come from the RV industry. So right from employee number one who came in, he was a sous chef. And we were like, hey, Mitch, you're gonna have to learn how to do upholstery.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:27:27]:
And he was like, well, fine, YouTube. And he sat and he learned how to do upholstery. And he practiced and he practiced, and for. For the best part of three years, he was our lead upholsterer. And we would hire folks and he would train them. And that's true for pretty much every single thing here. Yes, we've tried to find mechanics, but we've never found somebody who's. Who's been a mechanic from the RV industry.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:27:49]:
And I think that's a hallmark of. Of building a company here in Cincinnati in Ohio. And a hallmark of this business is that we've not done it the easy way. You take folks in, you spend the time and you invest the time and train the folks and give them like real skills. And you know, where we are today, that's pretty much how we have operated the entire time. Today. We're fortunate to be in a position where we can now start cross training people. So, you know, if we've taken somebody and trained them to be a plumber, we now have the capacity to cross train them in upholstery or into cabinetry because we've fundamentally, like Tony is saying, we've fundamentally changed the way that we build vans today.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:28:33]:
And that allows us to get somebody to go and do mechanical work underneath the van for a week and then in the following week they can go and do the upholstery or finishing, whatever it is. And that's, it's rewarding because it keeps people interested and they feel like, I think they feel valued because we're investing in them and we care about keeping them here, you know, and we've certainly.

Tony Alexander [00:28:59]:
All that's true from the production side. As we've gotten more cachet and recognized in the industry, we are now starting to pull specific executive level roles from other. So we've had people moving from Texas, from Utah, from Alabama, moving up to Cincinnati or working here primarily a lot of the time.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:29:19]:
You know, I think that we've grown to a point where people are seeing that we're taking market share. We're an exciting new company. They're seeing a company that is making waves, doing things differently, doing things properly. You know, we've been recognized for building exciting adventure vans, quality adventure vans. And I would say that we are, we are like getting people from other companies coming to us looking for opportunities.

Tony Alexander [00:29:50]:
Absolutely. Yeah.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:29:51]:
And you know, I think that's something we've prided ourselves on. From an entrepreneurship perspective. It's, it's a warm feeling because you feel like you're doing something and it's, it's, it's working and this is what we set out to do, you know.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:04]:
So it's, it's pretty cool in the gravity of talent really only comes from the compounding of the reputation of the company and your commitment to quality.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:30:14]:
Yeah. And people, and I think sometimes people underestimate, you know, you, for instance, like some, some skill sets. It's difficult to find in Ohio. But when you do find somebody who's really talented and who wants to move and they're prepared to uproot their entire family and move to Ohio, that speaks volumes. Absolutely. They believe in the vision, believe in what you're doing. So, yeah, it's rewarding in that sense. Yeah, for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:38]:
You mentioned the entrepreneurial journey and really the evolution of remote vans over time, perhaps from custom to mass manufacturing, from the brewery to a facility. And had you known what you know now, you may not have done a lot of the things the same way.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:30:57]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:58]:
And so I want to ask about some of the entrepreneurial lessons that you've learned along the way, especially both having been entrepreneurs and gone through this process before. What are the new learnings that you've taken with you from this journey?

Tony Alexander [00:31:11]:
Well, I mean, to your point, I mean, I'll say ahead of time that I don't think we would be where we are today if we hadn't learned the hard lessons that we did along the way.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:22]:
Right.

Tony Alexander [00:31:23]:
You know, it's. It's easy to look back and lament, you know, some of the hard times that, that you went through. But I think that every single step of this journey has kind of taught us in many different ways. Yeah, but, yeah, I mean, just from a general standpoint, I'll speak for myself. Like, my experience had nothing ever to do with manufacturing. Very limited on physical products. I was in tech and, you know, online stuff and venture. So just dealing with, I guess two things struck me that I had to learn.

Tony Alexander [00:31:56]:
And don't want to speak for Darren, but I think it was both of us. When it comes to a business like this, the cash flow swings are massive. Physical products like this, especially in the RV industry, an auto company is capital intensive. That's just a hallmark of it. As we've grown bigger and bigger, managing that cash flow has been a very big learning experience. Just so many dollars in inventory and to build these things and it's expensive, and then also just the workforce that we've built up was. I've never had to manage mechanics or welders and stuff like that. So there was certainly some learning experience there that came with that.

Tony Alexander [00:32:40]:
And it just came over time. You know, we've kind of earned the experience and where we're at today.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:32:46]:
Yeah, I think. I think it's sort of a running joke that we've had for the last year is, you know, knowing what we know now, it would be far easier just to buy. Buy any adventure van and take it apart and figure out how it's all done and then put our own spin on it. And the reality is we didn't because we were setting out to be a customer van company. And so we, we watched a lot of diy, you know, van builders. And we're like, okay, cool. That's how you do that. And we would do it and then just naturally over time through going, oh, well, that's not a smart way to do things.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:33:22]:
Let's try this. Okay, that works. But it's not efficient to scale. And. And so we progressed through all these different. You just. I mean, it's. It's true in any startup.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:33:33]:
Speed, speed, speed, speed. And so, like, I'm often on the floor, just. Just speed. It doesn't matter if it's wrong. You know, that older Winston Churchill called the quote of, like, you know, no action is worse than a bad action. You know, so. Or inaction. You know, just do it and figure it out along the way.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:33:52]:
And so the early days very much were, you know, you take a piece of plywood and hold it up and then trace it and then cut it by hand and then put it together, and eventually you progress and you have a CNC machine that cuts it perfectly for you. So, yeah, I mean, rapid iteration has probably been a hallmark of our business. And even today we were talking about it earlier is just saying, you know, we took delivery of our first 3D printer this week, and. And that is part of that spirit that we've nurtured here is just like, if you can't. Can't do it this way, find a way. And if it means getting a 3D printer, print it, test it, works, cool in go. And being flexible and nimble to just do things like that is. Is.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:34:31]:
Is, I think, a.

Tony Alexander [00:34:33]:
That's a.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:34:34]:
It's a nod to the type of people we have who have bought into that philosophy of the way we do things. For sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:34:41]:
Well, with that philosophy and a nod towards the future and maybe the chapters to come, what are you two most excited about? How do you think about what success means?

Tony Alexander [00:34:52]:
I think success is. I mean, obviously you can measure the success on profits and revenue and number of vans sold, but I mean, that's not really what does it for me. I really get a kick out of seeing every single van that we build just. It just gets better. Like, I'm just. It excites me to, you know, to be able to look back on where we were and where we. Where we've come to. And, you know, the team that we've built as well is, you know, I know it's cliche to say it's like a family, but, like, you know, we've really, you know, have a core team in this company that I'm really, really Proud of.

Tony Alexander [00:35:27]:
So, you know, I think we have high aspirations for where we want to take the company, but I'm proud and feel kind of fulfilled just based on the journey that we've taken thus far. And not that we're going to stop, you know, but even where we are.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:35:44]:
Today, the reason why we're having this, you know, we're at this juncture in our business. Not even a juncture. It's like a growth point.

Jeffrey Stern [00:35:52]:
Yeah.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:35:52]:
You know, we are embarking upon something new for the rest of this year. And today is the beginning of that. The introduction of a new, you know, our 20, 26 models. And comparing the two, the jump between 25s and 26s and you look at the amount of innovation that has gone into this new lineup that we are now launching is, I would say, monumental compared to where we started. So year one of production vans, which we're now at the end of year one, I think we've achieved incredible things, you know, but we were learning on how to build good vans, and now it's almost like, well, we graduated that. Now we're turning pro and says, okay, let's. Let's look at every single part. And that's what we've done over the last two months, three months, looked at every single component in this van and go, how do you take this thing to the next level? And so, you know, in just.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:36:54]:
I think we were talking about it earlier, just nearly 100 changes, both big, small, visual or behind the panels, things you can see and can't see. It's just, it is such a monumental change in how we used to do business to what we are going to be doing going forward. And I think we are now getting the buy in from everywhere. People are seeing our vision, seeing where we want to go. And that is what we set out from the very beginning. We had this conversation where we put. When we were starting out to build that first van, it was a promise to build the best class B adventure van in America. And I think now it is a warm feeling when you start hearing dealers and when you hear potential customers coming to shows and meeting our sales team and meeting us at shows, and they're saying, yeah, that is the best quality van in America today.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:37:48]:
So it's awesome because we take that and we share it with the people who work for us. I get everybody around. We talk to them in a monthly team meeting. We say, do you guys realize what the feedback is out on the ground? You guys should feel proud of what you. What you're doing. You Know what, what we are doing as a group. So it's, It's. It's a great testament to what we've achieved so far.

Jeffrey Stern [00:38:11]:
I mean, that's the. The same energy that feeds the gravity for talent on the, you know, on the customer side of the business. Yeah, I mean, that, that, that conversation right there just pulled a very strange memory. But that I feel is relevant. One of my favorite books is the Arden Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance. And quality is really, like, at the heart of that book, but the examination of every single part and the importance of a single screw or module, and that is the commitment to quality.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:38:39]:
Yeah. I think it was quite reassuring to hear. We've had a number of our dealer partners flying to Cincinnati and spending some time with us this week. And something that really stood out at dinner last night is they were saying through all the innovation, through all the tour that we gave them and explaining on why we changed this, what we changed, and all these different things, not once did we. And this is inadvertent, not once did we say, oh, we changed that in order to save cost. Which I think is maybe we don't often see it from the dealer perspective, our dealer partners, but to just get an insight like that, because they probably hear that over and over whenever they tour other manufacturer facilities. And I think, like, the core of what we've done is just the aspiration to put out a better product every time. And sometimes, you know, we probably look at it in hindsight and go, oh, man, we didn't realize that we spent a bit more there.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:39:39]:
But overall, I think what drives us is to stick to. To that North Star of, like, we want to have the best van in this industry, and a lot of people want to own the best van in the industry. And that's.

Tony Alexander [00:39:51]:
Yeah. And you talked, you talked about what it means, success, and I think you articulated it well. Like, you know, if somebody came to Darren and I and said, look, you're not going to make as much money as you thought you were going to work you thought you were going to do, but at the end of the day, you will be recognized as building the best adventure van in America. And you have a team that is talented and has great jobs and are really excited to come to work every day. I mean, I think we would both consider that success.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:40:15]:
Yeah.

Tony Alexander [00:40:16]:
But I think that if we can do those things, then the revenue and the sales and the profits, those will come. So if you do it the right way and you achieve success in that manner, all the other stuff just kind of Comes with it.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:40:30]:
Yeah. I mean, we set out. I remember talking about, who do we want to be compared to? And we said, okay, we'd like to be known as the Aston Martin of the van industry. We don't want to be known as this massive volume producer, set number of vans a year. We want our customers to have vans that hold their value. So we're like, okay, cool. That's what we want to do. That's what we've set out to achieve.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:41:00]:
And when we achieve that, we're good, you know, and there's. There's something in that, I think. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:41:05]:
So when the next James Bond is riding a remote van, you'll have made it.

Tony Alexander [00:41:10]:
I think Cube has a lot more room in an adventure van to put all the toys, you know, all the. You know. Yeah, all the stuff. So, yeah, I'd welcome it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:41:19]:
Yeah. No, that's awesome. Well, but as we work to bookend the conversation here, I'll ask kind of a blank, you know, question of when you reflect on the journey, do you feel there's what's left unsaid? What do you think is particularly important that comes to mind that we haven't really talked about in this journey?

Tony Alexander [00:41:39]:
That's a great question. You've probably used that question before and got some good answers out of it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:41:44]:
Yeah, I have.

Tony Alexander [00:41:46]:
Well, I noticed. I think your previous question got me thinking. I had never really kind of articulated in my mind the way that Darren and I just articulated what success kind of meant to us. That was the first time I kind of put all those pieces together, was like, no, it really is just building the best van. So, you know, that would have been a really good answer to that question had we not just used that in the previous question. But, no, I think, you know, maybe what's left unsaid is that we are trying to, in a lot of ways, build an industry here in Cincinnati in Southern Ohio that. I mean, we have our friends at Airstream up the road at Jackson center, but it's basically just. Just them and us.

Tony Alexander [00:42:26]:
There's other custom builders in Ohio. So trying to build a whole industry of motorhome manufacturing in southwest Ohio has been a big lift. So having partners like the Ohio Fund with the resources you guys can bring to bear has just been enormously helpful. And, you know, it's. That is the whole next step. I mean, we took five years to learn how to build an amazing, singular motorhome company. But if we could look back 20 years from now and we have, you know, other companies sprout up in the area and we have a whole little industry of motorhome manufacturing in our corner of Ohio. I think that would be kind of another level of success.

Jeffrey Stern [00:43:08]:
So two closing questions then. Part of the spirit of what we're hoping to accomplish with these kinds of conversation is how to raise the collective ambition of Ohio. And you've talked about just there creating an entire new industry in this place also. What do you feel if you had the magic wand to change something across the state related to remote vans or otherwise? What would you kind of ascribe to what Ohio should be thinking about to raise the bar for ambition?

Tony Alexander [00:43:40]:
I mean, I have a very specific example and I feel I can speak to this because I come from that world, at least in Cincinnati we have set up a lot of both public and private resources and organizations to help foster the startup community. They are very much focused on tech and bio, biotech for good reason. I mean those, those on the investment side have, you know, some of the highest multiples if you can, you know, get a lucky strike and strike gold. There is not a lot of organizations out there that are geared towards helping manufacturing and light industrial and those type of things. And I really think that that is a key component to the future job market for the economy of the state of Ohio. So you know, if anybody is listening to this that is in a position, whether it's a city government position or nonprofit or venture position, I would say to like broaden your horizons and start looking at manufacturing. You know, the, the manufacturing might not be the 100 or a thousand X type of return that you could get from a, you know, a web company or a new drug. But it, if the more types of these type of factories that we have out there, especially doing high tech type of manufacturing, I think the, the, the more resilient the, the economy in the state will be and the ultimately they'll be better off as a state.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:45:08]:
Yeah, I would echo that. I think we are fortunate that we do have huge companies like GE here. So the talent, the talent exists here. We have to give that talent a reason to stay here. And, and so more support for small companies as they grow in manufacturing will certainly do that. And I mean, we're fortunate. Like, you know, you can take folks who don't have a previous history in this line of work and you can train them.

Jeffrey Stern [00:45:39]:
Yeah.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:45:39]:
So, you know, if we had the resources to do that and we'll just continue doing it, we're already doing it, but it would be a lot easier to be able to bring more and More folks in. And, you know, there's career progression. Maybe. Maybe you do, you know, electrical engineering in a van company for a couple of years, and then you go on to go and work at Georgia, you know, so. Yeah, I completely echo that. We've got the beginnings of something great here, you know, certainly in Cincinnati. And I know Columbus. There's huge investment going in Columbus, in manufacturing already, and we don't want to lose all that talent to Columbus either.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:46:17]:
So, yeah, I do think that we're in the heart of something and at the beginning of something really special. Yeah.

Tony Alexander [00:46:24]:
And thank. I mean, thanks to the Ohio Fund. Like, it's a testament to the thesis that you guys have put together to, you know, be doing investments in our, you know, in our wheelhouse. It's been just a tremendous success. And I think it's the. I mean, I'm a little bit biased, but I think it's the right way to go. I mean, I think you guys have the right idea for how to help foster a resilient and diverse economy for the future of the state.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:46:51]:
Yeah. Couldn't agree more.

Jeffrey Stern [00:46:53]:
Certainly appreciate those kind words.

Tony Alexander [00:46:55]:
Well, you gave us money to build our company, so, you know, with that.

Jeffrey Stern [00:46:59]:
I'll ask a very softball closing question, which would be if you could take a remote van anywhere in the state of Ohio for a week, where's your hidden gem? Where are you going?

Tony Alexander [00:47:10]:
Oh, man, that's. Well, I may have an answer to that, which is. So I grew up outside of Mansfield.

Jeffrey Stern [00:47:18]:
Yeah.

Tony Alexander [00:47:19]:
And I don't even. I'd have to look it up on a map. But there was a place we used to go called Camp Glenn Taylor, which I have very fond memories of. Every once in a while, I'll look it up on Google Maps and there's a lake there where I, like, learned how to canoe. And I would assume it's still there. It's probably been 35 years, maybe 40 years since I've been there, but if I could just drive a van to that lake and hang out for a bit with a canoe and, you know, some candy from the 80s and some garbage pail kids like, you know, that would make me happy.

Jeffrey Stern [00:47:50]:
That sounds pretty good.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:47:54]:
Yeah. I think I've always wanted to go to Hocking Hills, so I want. That intrigues me, getting down there and seeing the caves and. But just. Just generally just to get out of the city at any opportunity is. Is what I'd love to do. Go with my wife and, you know, just get. Get some much, really much needed relief from.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:48:14]:
From this all the time, it can be a bit much, but. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. There's so much to see actually around here.

Jeffrey Stern [00:48:21]:
Yeah. Well, those are both awesome answers. Darren, Tony, I just want to thank you for taking the time, sharing your story and hosting us and your awesome facility here.

Tony Alexander [00:48:31]:
Thank you very much. Yeah, we loved having you guys here. Appreciate it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:48:35]:
If people had anything they wanted to follow up with you about or where would you direct them?

Tony Alexander [00:48:39]:
Yeah, probably just to the website. Remotevans.com R E M O T E V A N S.com there's all sorts.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:48:45]:
Of information, all the socials that.

Tony Alexander [00:48:48]:
Facebook group.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:48:48]:
Yeah, Facebook group, yeah. I mean we've got the Rolling Nomads on Facebook. You know, that's.

Tony Alexander [00:48:53]:
It's.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:48:53]:
It's an awesome resource. You know, if you're ever interested in exploring Van life, that I would say is a one stop shop. You go in there and just start talking to people who are currently riding around the country in vans, in our vans. It's awesome, you know, awesome.

Jeffrey Stern [00:49:07]:
Well, thank you.

Tony Alexander [00:49:08]:
Thanks, Jeffrey.

Daryn Hillhouse [00:49:08]:
Appreciate it so much. Thank you, sir.

Disclaimer [00:49:10]:
Thank you for tuning in to the Ohio Fund Report. If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd love for you to leave a review on your favorite platform and subscribe to stay updated on all future episodes. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or directly on our website at TheOhioFund.com the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The views and opinions expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the Ohio Fund. A guest's participation in this podcast does not imply an endorsement or an investment recommendation by the Ohio Fund. This podcast may include conversations with leadership of a company in which the Ohio Fund or its affiliation funds have an investment and as such, financial interest in the success of this company and there may be a conflict of interest in presenting information about the company and its performance. Any forward looking statements or projections discussed during this episode are based on current expectations, assumptions and estimates.

Disclaimer [00:50:23]:
Actual outcomes may differ materially due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Listeners should consult their own legal, tax and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. For more information about the Ohio Fund, including our Form 80V, other regulatory filings and additional conversations, please visit TheOhioFund.com.