This is the full transcript for Episode #226 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Justin Kittredge – Sandal Man, Founder of ISlide. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Justin Kittredge 0:00
Don’t be the person that that ever looks back on their life and never did it take that first step
Max Branstetter 0:04
Hello, Hello Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode 226 and today’s guest is Justin Kittredge. He is the President, CEO, and Janitor at ISlide, who creates super customizable, just awesome looking comfortable slides or sandals or flip flops, whatever you want to call them. He has a crazy cool story. And in this episode, we talk mass customization, setting Guinness World Records, and his partnership with DJ Khaled who lit up Snapchat with the ISlides. It is JK JK. Enjooooooy the shooooooow!
Aaaaaaalrightyyyyyy we are here with Justin Kittredge, the Founder, CEO, and Janitor – that’s a new title – of ISlide. Really, really cool, custom super creative journey. Justin, super excited to speak with you today. Thanks so much for joining in how you doing?
Justin Kittredge 1:46
I’m good. I’m good. Good to be here. Of course, of course. And
Max Branstetter 1:50
I know, it’s really just a true bummer to be here. So appreciate you, you know, feigning it for everybody but really excited to get into your entrepreneurship story. And everything in like the world of sports and business and beyond. And slides or sandals is flip flops, as some kids say or used to say. But before that, you at one point had some Guinness World Records for free throws, how in the world?
Justin Kittredge 2:19
A lot of time on my hands, I think more than anything was was the reason for that. So I was at Reebok at the time, we had a basketball court there and always been a big basketball guy, but randomly just kind of was looking, I think I think it was that like the NBA All-Star game. I saw a couple of guys attempt some blindfolded free throws, and I was like, well, I could definitely beat that. And then I realized it took me a little bit of extra time to do it. Every day, mostly after work, a couple of guys and me at work, were just do it. And then we eventually I broke it with out the camera on I shut it off by accident. So we had to use the Reebok security footage. We had to go to the security area and ask them for the footage for it and submit it and and we got it.
Max Branstetter 3:11
What was that actual record like the first one you said?
Justin Kittredge 3:14
So the first one was most blindfolded free throws in one minute. And then it was most blindfolded free throws in two minutes. And then it was just most free throws made in one minute. I had it I don’t know if a probably a few months before some guy came up with a contraption to be able to like get I think more shots up and just like blew it out of the water.
Max Branstetter 3:41
I mean, I’m just exhausted and like my whole the whole body sore from thinking of that many free throws in one minute. I mean, that’s impressive. That’s like, you know, you could have in another life you could have been like a halftime performer at somewhere like NBA games. They’re just doing boop, boop, boop, boop, boop,
Justin Kittredge 3:57
definitely belong in a circus somewhere. I’m not sure.
Max Branstetter 4:01
That’s a good place to be. And then basketball actually had a huge part in you getting your foot in the door, pun intended at Reebok in the first place. Can you share that crazy story?
Justin Kittredge 4:12
I mean, I just did landscaping my whole life. And then I kind of got into the restaurant world a little bit and became a part bartender barback. And then I eventually became like, I guess a junior in college. And I was like, Well, I gotta get some sort of business under my belt right now. There was a I don’t I was looking at in an internship book just around Boston and what was what was around and for some reason, fidelity was I got connected with them and had an interview there. And then I read about Reebok where you could actually play hoops at lunch every day. And I loved that. I was like, No, I didn’t know much about the footwear industry. But I said that sounds fun. And and so I got an interview with them. And I was talking with more of like the marketing guy, but I wasn’t even I never had any. I never did anything with marketing. And so I was, I was talking with the head of kind of the US marketing team. And he was asking me all these questions then finally, he basically just said, he was like, why would I ever hire you, if you are a hotel, restaurant management major, you have no marketing. And I kind of give gave the whole, like, I’ll be the first one in the office, I’ll be the last one to leave, I’ll be hard working whatever you need. And like, he just was shaking his head. He really didn’t want to hire me. And then like, I think he just kind of ran out of steam and just said, Well, I see that you played hoops a little bit. We have an intramural game tomorrow morning at 6am. And we’re down a guy like, do you want to come and play in it? And I was like, Sure. And so I went and played I pretty much had the game of my life. After the intramural game that we won, he offered me the internship that was my foot in the door for for that summer.
Max Branstetter 6:00
That is out of this world. That is something from like, the movie Gladiator. It’s like you get you’re gonna fight for your life. He’s gonna fight for your foot in the door. I can’t believe that that happened. But also, I mean, it makes sense that it’s, you know, like a sports, you know, apparel focus company that that did happen. But good thing you had the game your life there. Did you feel any sort of pressure while you’re playing that game?
Justin Kittredge 6:19
Oh, no, I guess not really. I mean, I felt that I had a good chance to have a good game, most everybody was about 20 years older than me. And I was like, probably in my prime, which isn’t even that good. But at least in my prime, so I don’t know how to get a little bit of pressure. But it was it was just, it was just fun to kind of be out there. And I think I got along with almost everybody. There was one guy on our team who I guess I didn’t pass to that much. And I think he took offense to it for the next 20 years. But other than that, I got along with everybody else on the court. And I think that was mostly what this guy was looking for. He was looking for someone that would come in work hard, and that like he just wanted to be around and not somebody who would get annoyed with too often. So I think that was a big part of it as well.
Max Branstetter 7:07
And I am that guy who you didn’t pass the ball to so surprise, this is like an episode of pumped now. I’m just gonna. In fast forward, you had you end up getting full time offer at Reebok had, you know, great experience there a couple different stints, obviously, some ups and downs with any role. But what was the most important thing you learned at Reebok that looking forward to your entrepreneurship journey, you think, you know, helped you out?
Justin Kittredge 7:33
I mean, it had to be just getting laid off was like the most important thing, if it was something that I learned, I mean, it was something that, you know, you kind of heard my background a little bit where it was, you know, landscaping and bartending and barbacking. And in that whole world, there was not really laid off that ever happened. So without really ever being in business, I didn’t really know anything about even what layoffs were or, or downsizing or. And so as I kind of started my journey over the first few years at Reebok, I kind of moved up pretty quickly, just within a few promotions. And we just worked really hard, just like, you know, I think I was I was a very, very hard worker from the beginning. And so the thought of a company not wanting me for someone who worked so hard just wasn’t even ever, you know, in my brain. And so in oh four, there was downsizing happening, there was all these kind of talks about and rumors happening. And I never really thought twice about it. The only point that I’ve kind of thought about was that he just did get moved to a new area with a new team. And, you know, there was two of us that got moved over. And you know, the other guy that got moved over was a veteran, you know, he was at Reebok for a long time and kind of, you know, really knew everybody, I was more of like the new kid. And so I still didn’t really think too much of it. And when it happened, I was just like completely, like, just blown out of the water like angry and sad and like, frustrated. And it was just like every emotion and it was kind of at that time when I just I fully realized that like, at a company like Reebok you have no control and your destiny like it can it’s going to be based off of somebody else. And I never I knew that one day I I never wanted to do that. I never want to be able to have that type of power in other people’s hands. You know, and I got to offer it was funny. I got offered a job back at Reebok a week later in a different area of the business which but I wasn’t in close to ready to go back. So I said no. I mean I pretty much went to Vegas the next day after I got laid off for like almost a week just to enjoy myself. And then I ended up having four months of severance and on the day that my severance came up, I actually got an offer to go back to Reebok again, but as a promotion, again, which was very strange, or to go to a smaller company of about 50 people in the footwear world, and I still wasn’t ready to go back to Reebok. So I chose, I chose a smaller company.
Max Branstetter 10:19
So let’s slide our way to ISlide. Let’s actually ISlide our way to ISlide. And you mentioned that, you know, like, so many entrepreneurs, it was really appealing for you to, you know, control your own destiny, and, you know, be your own boss and not be part of like a huge, huge, huge kind of corporate system. And, you know, that’s one of the parts that has always appealed to me so much about starting a company as well. But with ISlide, so you had some background in the sports space, you had some background in, you know, the apparel and footwear space. But what was it about slides or Sandals, flip flops, whatever you want to call them, that kind of culture name is, oh, this, this would be a fun business to get into?
Justin Kittredge 11:02
You know, I was I was at the point where I was ready to kind of go start something because Reebok kind of downgraded it focus on basketball. And so if I was, I was director of basketball all the time. And so if that wasn’t gonna be the future of the brand, it was time to like, I knew it was time to kind of move on. And so I just started doing research and slide was something I was always interested in and custom, it was something I was always interested in. And so I started doing research on what’s out there for custom slides. And there really wasn’t much the big companies didn’t do it. They didn’t want to do it. I just knew that for being at a big company. And then the other slides that were customer there were just super cheap, high minimums long lead times. And I was like, Oh, well, there’s something here. And then with slides in general, they were growing 25% every year for the last three years. So there was definitely an opportunity that I saw right then. And as I’m kind of made my way out of leaving Reebok and, and starting iSlide, there was, I had, I think that was the vision that was the kind of the time when I realized, alright, if I’m going to try something, now’s the time. And more importantly, I think this is the idea, I think I always felt custom was going to be the future. And I just felt like this was a really nice niche that nobody was really doing.
Max Branstetter 12:33
And there’s multiple components here. I mean, there’s the, there’s the actual slides. And then there’s the whole, there’s the whole customizable aspect of it, which is, you know, huge part in differentiator for your business. Let’s talk slides first, how did you what went into getting those actual slides like the actual material and a product that you were happy with?
Justin Kittredge 12:50
I mean, luckily, I had relationships overseas in Asia. And so I immediately just called them and started off. So luckily, a slide isn’t a running shoe or basketball shoe, where it’s, you know, very complex, it’s actually very, very simple.
Max Branstetter 13:08
I was planning to run the New York Marathon in slides actually, I think that would be entertaining. No, probably not recommended.
Justin Kittredge 13:16
I would give you a free pair, if you want to run the New York Marathon. thank
Max Branstetter 13:19
you. Thank you, that’s very selfless.
Justin Kittredge 13:23
You know, I just I kind of knew at that time where like, slides were simple, but obviously they are footwear. So it is complex, because you do need to open molds you need to open size, and in that part can be expensive. But luckily, I just had those relationships. And I knew that I wanted to make this slide like kind of somewhat generic looking, I didn’t want to have it be like crazy looking, because I wanted it to be, you know, fairly commercial. But I knew I wanted to be very comfortable. And I think so that that the footbed was super important to me having adjustable strap was super important. And then obviously, the key component for us was going to be custom. And so you know, if you can combine super comfortable with custom, then we were gonna have something kind of pretty special. And, you know, by going into having those relations, we were able to move very quickly. Because of my background and kind of development and marketing and the relationships overseas. We were able to move very quickly because of that.
Max Branstetter 14:24
In the custom aspect. This is just great. Like anybody who is learning anything about making products it’s like it’s all about what you can do at scale I can do to have the products like as similar as possible to each other where can you find efficiencies? And you’re in a business where yes, like there are some logos and things that you are like you know, have licenses for or license out. I always max that up. There are some logos and designs that you do do a lot of them sorry to say due to I’m like a three year old, but there’s also a totally custom aspects to What you do in a customer is one thing but like customer at scale as a whole, really interesting problems last challenge last differentiator for you. How did you start to get into this customizing space?
Justin Kittredge 15:15
Well, that was probably like me being insanely naive, because I felt that I had the good idea. But I really had no and I didn’t hit me that I should figure out how to customize before I left. My old job. That was stupid. But I think at the end of the day, like really, all right, we just got to figure it out. And we got to talk to people, and we got to go visit places, and we just need to figure it out. And the first way we did, it wasn’t good, but at least got us off the ground. And so that was probably the biggest part about it was like, at that point, it was either do I go back to the corporate world, because I can’t figure this out, or we figure it out. And I think that was that’s probably the biggest defining moment was like, listen, there’s, there’s no turning back at this time. I’ve kind of shared with friends and family and everyone that I’m going off in this venture and marketing like three months later, just so you know, it didn’t work out. So we’re just figuring it out. To be honest with you. It was like I mean, mass customization on an individual scale was a key kind of driving strategy for us, we knew it was going to be difficult, but we also knew that, because it was going to be difficult, because it was gonna be labor intensive. It was good, it was going to be a great barrier for others to want to enter our space. And so that’s that’s what our driving force was, was just to kind of be as efficient as possible with every day, every week, just trying to get better and better and better with it and not share any of those secrets with anybody. Because let’s let’s let them kind of come in and do it on their own.
Max Branstetter 16:56
You mentioned Mass Customization at scale. Is that a play on words? Is that a reference to Massachusetts?
Justin Kittredge 17:02
not as a play on words. Some investor just was talking about, like, you know, he felt that was like the future, just in general of a lot of different things. And so I kind of just copied it. And and he said this is and this is exactly what we’re doing. And this is, it was nice to hear somebody else kind of just say in a much more sophisticated way than I did.
Max Branstetter 17:24
How did I know you have a proprietary technology, your system, whatever you want to call it to provide this mass customization at scale, you don’t have to reveal all your tricks we’ll get we’ll keep it a little secret, but I’m someone who my first ever job like summer job in high school was as a t-shirt printer, and you know, like the screen printers? I’m curious, is that anything close to that? Like ink transfer, like screen printing like that? Or you have something totally different?
Justin Kittredge 17:48
Totally different?
Max Branstetter 17:51
I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you. Yeah. How about like, so once you started getting established? How did you start to get the attention to some of these bigger names, you know, like celebrities, like rappers, singers, athletes, like you have some incredible, you know, if you want to call them influencers, but you know, it’s kind of overuse it, you have some incredible people in like, the public space that you partner with? How has it been, you know, getting their attention and partnering with them,
Justin Kittredge 18:16
you know, a couple I knew just from past working was with them. But a lot just came from, you know, kind of what we do there. The the customization element of what we do just allows us to be able to work with a lot of different people, because we’re focusing on them, and we’re not focusing on us. And I think we realize that at a very early stage that it is about them, not about us. And some people would think that’s kind of a backwards way of thinking, and sometimes it does backfire on us because nobody knows who we are. But I think the more that people see our silhouette with various athletes and celebs, the more that they will know. Oh, that’s a nice slide. And I think that was really the thinking behind all of it as we continue to grow over time. And some of it just came in different elements. But the the biggest one was probably working with Khaled that was probably the biggest way that we got out there because he just got on fire. And then when he did, he bought slides for all of his friends. And luckily for us, all of his friends were very, very influential people in the world.
Max Branstetter 19:31
Yeah, I remember that. I mean, when Snapchat started getting really big, you know, he was like the like the biggest person not until follow on Snapchat and quite quite the character very entertaining and obviously hugely successful person. But he, you know, literally he would do that thing every morning. He’d like walk downstairs to his house or take his elevator, whatever. And it’d be like the view of his feet walking and his slides going left and right. And he’s like, let’s see, let’s see. Let’s see what food we got today. And it was like literally looking at his slides on the ground. So that’s, it’s awesome that you had such a big part of that. I mean, because he commanded so I mean, he still does, but especially at the time when it was like the only one doing it. Like, he committed so much attention on Snapchat at the time that he’s a good guy to partner with there.
Justin Kittredge 20:14
Yeah, I mean, I like to tell you, it was like on strategy, but you know, it was it, it was just kind of lucky. Honestly, it was just kind of lucky. I mean, we, we had a friend of ours who kind of just said, Hey, there’s a like a buddy down in Miami, who loves slides and wears slides all the time. Or you should send him a pair. And so we did. And he was like, Hey, he loves them. He wants to put them on a store. And he’s about to like launch this online store in a couple of weeks. And they’re like, yeah, cool, like, sounds good. Because we do that with a lot of different people. And it’s very easy to do to to have somebody kind of create their own slide, and now sock, almost brand, we create a link, and then there’s nothing they got to do, all they got to do is push it out. And then we fulfill every orders shipped directly to the customer. So it’s a super easy concept. They love that we were going to launch with him in a couple of weeks. And then about a week goes by, and he gets lost on his jetski in the middle of the night, puts it all on Snapchat goes viral. And then all he was going to sell on his site was going to be t shirts and slides. That’s all it was going to be. And so he just posted organically about his T shirts and slides every single moment of every day. And mostly it was about the slides. It wasn’t even mostly about the T shirts. And like it was so organic and authentic, that like you could never pay anybody to do what he did, because it was it was just who he was as a person. It was incredible. Like it was just something that, you know, he just went crazy over the next week he launches the store, we still only thought he was only going to sell five or 10 of these things in the first few weeks. And we ended up getting 800 On the first day. And then averaged about five to 700 a day for like three months. You know, our printers that just we went to we went 24/7 Like we literally just couldn’t stop. Like printing, it was insane. It was literally like the most out of my entire, like 23 year footwear career, it was the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of.
Max Branstetter 22:34
It’s a very fun thing to be a part of, you know, if you would have reached out to me, I would have found a jetski and got lost and you know, tried to go viral? And so no, I wish we did. Yeah, we really missed the opportunity that you could have had double that success. No, but that’s a really, really cool partnership. When you look at the isolette journey overall, so far, what would you say has been the biggest challenge with the company that you’ve had overcome?
Justin Kittredge 22:57
Honestly, I think growing the business through COVID. growing the business, like the strategy, the maneuvering, you know, the pivots, everything throughout COVID was really hard. I mean, I think in the first year in 2020, we had an incredible year, but it was mainly because of one of our partners fanatics, they poured, you know, so many millions of dollars into their marketing, because everybody was home, everybody was buying from home. And you know, they had a record year because of that we had a record year. But most of other businesses didn’t do great email, our own website did well. But, you know, one of our biggest businesses selling directly to teams, so like pro teams, college teams, and youth teams of all sports, and no one was playing. So it was like that business went to zero. And so just trying to maneuver like the strategy of where we were going and you know, kind of just dealing with employees, we had to furlough a couple people. I think it was like, five people. Luckily, we brought them all back maybe like a month later. So that was like a very proud moment that we had, that we it wasn’t like a permanent layoff or anything like that. We had, in my opinion, a great culture. We were in the office all the time, we had great energy, great brainstorming great, you know, kind of great dialogues and then we weren’t and we had to learn like that. And I think being a small company being I think that hurt us a lot. And I don’t know if I think that was a very hard thing to to know if we did it right or not. But I think we did a lot of things right. But I think we also did a lot of things that you know, I think we could have done a better job with as well.
Max Branstetter 24:56
So let’s switch gears a little bit but kind of stay in the same gear as well. On thrown all sorts of things that you’ve been, let’s get to inspiration, creativity. So this is more about you on the personal side. And as like the business leader side, first of all, where did the title janitor come from?
Justin Kittredge 25:12
It started off like it was on day one that was like my, I guess I honestly just came up with it because it was going to be the, like a little bit of the ethos of iSlide was like, I am no better than anybody else. It was me. And I had an intern Co-op at Reebok. And he, I asked him after that was over, I’m going to start a new company, do you want to come with me? And do your, your next coop with me? And he was like, Yep, sure, let’s do it. That was a big part, I’m no better bigger, you know, better than anybody else, I’ll take the trash out, you know, I’ll mop I’ll do whatever we got to do, just to like, we’re gonna do this thing together from the beginning, it was the way that we started. And it was a way that we can get everybody to buy in, if they didn’t buy into that culture. They didn’t fit and they didn’t belong. And I think one of the best advice I ever got was hire slowly, fire quickly. And so if someone didn’t belong to our culture with that mentality, we didn’t care how smart they were, or MBAs or any of that, we had to get rid of them immediately. And luckily, like, we didn’t have to, for a long time, like, it wasn’t just me, but it was everybody in the company at that time, they had the same exact mentality. And because of that, if anybody came in with a different one, they got even more upset than I did, which was the greatest feeling in the world when you can have that. And I think that was a huge part of us getting just great people, right from the start
Max Branstetter 26:46
in that culture. I mean, it’s one thing to I mean, it’s, it’s hard as hell to even create that in the first place. But once you have that establish, how do you how do you continue to, you know, build on and instill a great culture year after year.
Justin Kittredge 27:01
I think it’s something that I like have really struggled with over COVID was probably like that, that piece that I was just talking about a little bit, but like, where it has gone from the beginning, it has been, we have to be much more of an accountability type of company. And that’s like, our culture comes from goal setting. And just like kind of proper accountability, like let’s celebrate wins. And let’s, you know, talk about and discuss losses, and try to get better from those losses. And we got away from that over the last couple of years, and we’re now very much is a priority to get back into the accountability side of things. And I think, if you have a very accountable type of culture, that’s going to lead to wins, it’s going to lead to successes. And that’s going to lead to overall like a great company. Because you are keeping people very accountable. And I think, you know, by doing that, you’re doing it not only for yourself, but you’re doing it for the greater good of the company. And that goes a very long way into like the growth of our company as well.
Max Branstetter 28:12
And outside your company, what do you do, you know, if you can ever carve out, slide out any free time, what is your favorite way to, you know, unplug unwind a little bit?
Justin Kittredge 28:22
Well, I try to work out almost every morning. So I do that around 5:30, 5:45 every morning. That’s a big part of just getting my head right. Like I think like non family stuff, I love to golf. I’m not like obsessive with it, I lay enjoy it, I’m okay at it. But I do enjoy it a lot. It’s a nice, four to six hour, little just get away with, with the guys. But mostly, it’s like, I’m kind of all family all the time. Other than that is just, you know, for the most part, it’s, it’s great. It’s my, my wife and my two girls, so it’s an emotional household. They’re 10 and 14. But I love it. Like I think it’s a great time and in our lives right now to be able to go to go to sports games and you know, just, you know, see him grow up and so I really enjoy like going on trips with them and just spending as much time as possible and just knowing that you know, and not not too long, you know that you know that whole kind of spending a lot of time with them will be gone.
Max Branstetter 29:31
So those are more normal questions. I’m gonna start throwing the weird questions at you. So if you want to hop off right away, I don’t blame you. But let’s get to the unusual so you know, pet peeves? quirks weird talons quirks with something a little quirky that you know the girls in your house your wife your kids, somebody calls you out for but it’s who you are.
Justin Kittredge 29:47
I’m very loud. I don’t know if that’s quirky or not but like they’re always telling you Oh,
Max Branstetter 29:52
just gonna say we you know for those listening right now we’ve turned down his volume severely and that’s just you know, saviors but no, I cuz
Justin Kittredge 30:01
I don’t know, I guess quirky? I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, definitely I have like, I think a little bit of the Larry David syndrome, whatever. You know, there are various weird things that either bother me or or like, I just bring it up in everyday life but without thinking about each one and what we know what they are. They’re just kind of like everyday life things.
Max Branstetter 30:22
Oh my god. Yeah, totally the same way. Huge curb fan and Larry fan as well. Does anything come to mind? Like just a random thing that you’ve seen around the house or in public that like, just you’re just like, I gotta fix this?
Justin Kittredge 30:33
Well, I don’t really fix your body things. I’m not very handy. As far as like, you notice things? I noticed a lot of things. Yeah. You know, we have way too many lights on in the house all the time. And I think that really bothers me. It’s literally like Christmas vacation, but inside of our house all the time.
Max Branstetter 30:52
That’s fixable. At least it just, you know, takes a lot of time and effort. And yeah, definitely knowing how about pet peeves. Besides, I mean, that really segues right into pet peeves. But, you know, besides like, the little things around the house, is there anything in general that in maybe it’s like in work relationship or something else that you see often that just like kind of ticks you off a little bit?
Justin Kittredge 31:11
It’s kind of a it’s such a random things. I’m not like, Go American all the time, even though like I’m American, and I love it, but it’s a very strange, I hate when people don’t don’t take the hat off during the national anthem. I noticed this last night, I was at a game my daughter’s hoop game. And it bothers me is to just like, take your hat off, like, you know, Have a little respect for it.
Max Branstetter 31:34
I was so close to doing this interview and a hat today. Good thing I did. And then we have talents. So what is something you’re really really good at? It could be anything. I won’t let you say free throw shooting, but something that you’re really really good at, but it has no impact on your business,
Justin Kittredge 31:47
man, you know, blindfolded free throws was gonna be my answer.
Max Branstetter 31:51
Too easy. I mean, it’s difficult but too easy.
Justin Kittredge 31:54
Like juggling, but that’s stupid. Like I think most people are a lot of people can juggle. No, that’s
Max Branstetter 31:59
pretty you what kind of juggling? Do you do?
Justin Kittredge 32:02
Whatever’s around, but if I see three of anything I’ll just
Max Branstetter 32:05
chainsaws, flame throwers, you know?
Justin Kittredge 32:07
Yeah, any of that. I’m very unflexible it’s not really a talent, but it’s like, you know, it’s gonna give me issues as I get older. I don’t know. I love cigars. I like to fight more than the Unwind question. But yeah, I don’t really have any hidden talents. To be honest with you. I got nothing. I got nothing going on.
Max Branstetter 32:26
You just rattled off a bunch of I won’t give you credit for all of them. And I’m totally with you on the unflexible part. I’ve tried to get more flexible over the years, but it’s man, you know, it’s like, if you can touch the toes. It’s a big one. But you know, holding it for a millisecond. So. All right, let’s wrap up with some rapid fire q&a. Are you ready for it? Sure. All right, let’s get wild. What time you wake up in the morning. 515. And how do you do that? Alarm. Perfect. What is your best advice for getting better at free throws besides just spending like an ungodly amount of hours in the gym?
Justin Kittredge 33:03
Focus, repeat. Repetition, which is the same word in belief.
Max Branstetter 33:10
It’s really ironic that you repeated repetition. That’s great. What is your favorite cocktail to make as a bartender?
Justin Kittredge 33:19
Probably a tequila and Diet Pepsi.
Max Branstetter 33:23
Oh, what’s that called?
Justin Kittredge 33:24
The JK
Max Branstetter 33:26
JK, Justin Kittredge. Perfect. And then what is your advice for anyone who wants to get into a business that has any sort of mass customization in it?
Justin Kittredge 33:39
Find your unique reason for being you and find the way long- term how you’re going to scale
Max Branstetter 33:48
that noise you made before that sound exactly like a tuba. So we’re gonna have to keep that in just a little sound effect. And then last thing besides DJ Khaled, who is a an athlete or celebrity or just someone that you’ve you know, partnered with for ISlide that was kind of like a pinch me moment for you.
Justin Kittredge 34:06
Someone that we actually partnered with was probably Isaiah Thomas. So probably IT. Former Celtic and he’s just a guy that just kind of epitomizes never giving up. hard work, dedication.
Max Branstetter 34:30
It Yeah. It wasn’t sure which it you’re going with the first which Isaiah Thomas at first, but that Yeah, makes sense with the Boston. I’m from Cleveland, a huge. Yeah, exactly. I’m from Cleveland, a huge Cavs fan and it had a stint on the Cavs as well. And yeah, I mean, one of the most powerful stories and I still remember him on the Celtics, when they were those T shirts that said, No superstars, but that’s yeah, so that’s pretty cool. Cool and a partner with Well, Justin, thank you so much. This has been just awesome, as you might say, and I’m totally guessing here wicked Awesome and you could just you know, yell at me for saying that. But love the ISlide story and everything from you know, basketball, blindfolded basketball and beyond. Thanks so much for coming on. And where’s the best place for people to try ISlide and connect with you online?
Justin Kittredge 35:15
ISlideUSA.com is great. I’m on LinkedIn. I’m @ISlideJanitor on Instagram, whatever you want.
Max Branstetter 35:24
Perfect. And last thing, final thoughts. It could be a quote, a line. A Yogi Berra-ism – no I’m just kidding. I wouldn’t wish that on you. Whatever you want, send us home here final thoughts just kind of some words to live by.
Justin Kittredge 35:36
I think that if you’re if anybody is out there, ever thinking about starting their own business. The hardest part is that first step. And once you kind of feel like you have the right move. Don’t be the person that that ever looks back on their life and never did it. take that first step.
Max Branstetter 35:58
Take it or leave it, but definitely take it. Thank you so much, Justin, for coming on the podcast, sharing the ISlide story, which is slide-tacular. And thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app and tell a friend about the podcast and then try out ISlides with them. And then you could trade them you can do like one foot of one and one foot of a another design and vice versa. You can also find us on Goodpods where there are plenty of podcast recommendations and really cool podcast people. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That’s at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
