I am a huge Yeti fan, and always kind of wondered how the brand started and grew so prosperously. Turns out, it’s been around longer than I expected. In 2006, two brothers were completely over dealing with low quality coolers. Roy and Ryan Seiders crafted an indestructible cooler from their father’s garage, and then launched the business from the same location. Yeti’s popularity grew quickly due to its actually well-made nature, the right social media testimonials, and classic word of mouth. Their cooler is now an outdoor staple, coveted by many and sometimes sold at wildly high prices. In 2014, ten years ago, they launched a new line of Rambler Tumblers and the Hopper soft cooler line. The Seiders just kept expanding, and now their company is worth 3.8 billion dollars.
The concepts of Yeti’s creation apply beautifully to classic entrepreneurship principles. The Seiders simply had a problem that they began with: cheep, breakable coolers. They got so tired of this inconvenience that pouring out hard work and countless time seemed worth it.
(not sure why the link is CRAZY long; it’s just to their home page!)
These boys used their interest to carry them to success. Passion, time and time again, proves its usefulness in the creation of 0-1 ideas. This is also an example of exaptation as they took a cooler and condensed it into something handheld.
I also love my Yeti – it’s so cool to see how this company started! This is a great example of taking pains, which they and other people have faced, and turning them into great businesses that serve a lot of people!
Yetis are great ( I own a Stanley) But this convinced me to get a Yeti! It is so interesting how this company started, and what it has turned into. It shows true innovation, and how prevalent exaptation is! Cool Post