Jonathan Hart is the founder of one of my favorite outdoor apparel companies, Sitka Gear. Jonathan is a very driven person who has a love for the outdoors and all activities that involve the outdoors. When asked, he said he created Sitka for one reason, comfortability and performance when out in the woods. Just like every other hunter who has had to deal with bad gear, Jonathan says that he was driven to make Sitka one time when he was out in the woods and the rain and cold was getting through his gear. He decided that he was going to cross the camouflage aspect of his hunting gear and the comfortability and protection of his climbing gear. And thus, Sitka was born. When he created Sitka, the hunting apparel world was very limited. Everyone wore Mossy Oak or Realtree and they all had the same camouflage pattern. All of the clothes were made with cotton and polyester, too, so it wasn’t like you could switch brands and get better protection from one over the other. Jonathan said his biggest challenge when creating his product was not understanding how clothing manufacturing went. His moment of realization came when he was at a vendor show and came across a table of multiple hunting brands, but they all looked the same. Once he understood that many brands purchased from the same clothing contractor, it helped him narrow down how he wanted his clothes to be made and who he wanted to manufacture them. One of the most inspiring things about Jonathan, however, is he feel he didn’t create a new side of hunting apparel; he simply reinvented it coming up with new fabrics and patterns to meet the standards and concerns of hunters all around the country and world.
David Portnoy is an internet and sports sensation. He grew up in Massachusetts and attended the University of Michigan. He had a minor job directly out of college at a small marketing firm in Boston but eventually left his job to start Barstool Sports in 2003. Barstool Sports started off as a sports newspaper that Portnoy himself would hand out in downtown Boston and in subway stations to people passing by. The newspaper had some trouble taking off at the beginning and the only sponsorships they had were with some small sports betting sites which were illegal in America. Believe it or not but Barstool Sports started to gain some traction in and around Boston once Portnoy started adding different things that would appeal to men on the covers of his newspapers. Portnoy eventually graduated from the newspaper and opened up his blog in 2007. Portnoy himself comes off as a ruthless type of person in his blogs and on the internet for his political incorrectness and has gained the name El Presidente amongst the fans of Barstool Sports. As of 2022, Portnoy still owns Barstool Sports and is in charge of the creative thought process for the blogs. In 2020, Penn National Gaming bought a 36% stake in Barstool which gave Portnoy $135 million in cash. Portnoy has retired his persona of the big ruthless “bro” as some would say and now has a series of going around the country reviewing pizza shops trying to find the perfect slice. When it comes to Dave Portnoy himself, he may not be the best person and there are many negative things that surround him, but all entrepreneurs should take his gritty push to become rich and famous and implement that into their work ethic. Not many people would go out and stand on subway stations for hours in consecutive days to try and make a name for themselves and their product.
