Turning an Idea Into a Successful Product | Chris Fuentes & Evan Kesten, Ranger Ready Repellent

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:12] Mike Koelzer, Host: Well, hello, Chris and Evan. Thanks for joining us guys. 

[00:00:15] Chris Fuentes: Hey, good morning. Thanks for having fun. Introduce 

[00:00:17] Mike Koelzer, Host: yourself. Tell us your positions and tell us where you're from. Good 

[00:00:21] Evan Kesten: morning, Mike. Uh, and, uh, my name's Evan Keston and, uh, thanks very much for having us. I'm I'm sales director for range ready repellent.

Uh, and I'm originally from 

[00:00:31] Mike Koelzer, Host: New York, New York and Chris, um, tell us, tell us your position at ranger. I'm 

[00:00:36] Chris Fuentes: the founder and CEO of ranger ready repellants and, uh, uniquely grew up in Germany, which is one of the reasons why we used the active ingredient pein because it comes from Germany. So that's how I have my first exposure to, uh, learning about ticks was way over in Europe.

Very interesting. It's one of the things that drives our branding is the European sense of. Of branding and, uh, uh, reusability and, and, uh, being able to sustain our, our model as opposed to, you know, putting stuff in landfill and things like that. So it's part of our mentality. Yeah. 

[00:01:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: Pretty amazing. Well, welcome guys.

Um, tell me, start off by talking about, I know a big part of the company is the chemical, not the de tell us about the chemical. What, what are we looking at here that I think is the major difference from everything we're seeing. On the shelves? 

[00:01:26] Chris Fuentes: Well, I mean, I think, uh, the first piece is, is, uh, the reason why we brought it to this market and why we're bringing it to the forefront because so many people didn't want to use it.

And we talked, we talked to thousands of people and we said, we did a bunch of research and people are reluctant users of D we, we used the term satisfying, you know, they're satisfying, satisfying themselves. They're not gonna be Ben by tick and mosquitoes, but they're sacrificing because it's a neurotoxin and it's ruining their equipment, et cetera.

So it created this space for a better bug spray. And we went out looking around the world for a better bug spray. And we looked in Asia, we looked in Europe, we looked in Africa, we looked at the world health organization. We looked at health, Canada. We looked everywhere. We could find, uh, people who had a big need for bug spray.

And we learned that the, the, uh, active ingredient PE Carin was developed in 1990 in Europe. Pein was developed by the world health organization or for the world health, a organization by Bayer, because they were looking to eradicate, um, malaria, because mosquitoes had had a huge jump in malaria, uh, infections around the world.

And so they developed pein, which is a safe and effective alternative to de and what it is is a synthetic compound and it mimics pepper. And it's actually piperine and many chemists will know the term piperine and it as a synthetic compound. And I was just reading an article by a doctor.

Who'd written that Karen is, is not only safer. It's more effective. It doesn't ruin your closing. You can use it every day. It doesn't stain. It smells great because we can add, uh, good fragrances to it. It's not greasy. It's not oily. It absorbs in the big, the main difference is that it absorbs at 6%.

Into your skin, as opposed to the which absorbs it 18%. So it takes three full applications of de to cover you for 24 hours and only two of the Carin because of the length of the efficacy. And so has a lot of good properties that make it a really good, uh, product to bring, to start fighting vector-borne diseases, which is what we're about.

Um, 

[00:03:18] Mike Koelzer, Host: Chris go back in. Go back in time. And, and the reason I'm, I'm really interested, I always bring guests on that. I just think I'd, I'd love to just sit and talk to you guys if we were, you know, driving through the driving on the highway and so on. And, and what, what gets me interested is like, all right, that product now is sitting on our shelf and somehow.

Somehow, there's a story behind that, you know, somehow it got here. And, um, and with your guys, when, with your guys' website, a wonderful website, wonderful looking product, if you could, if you'd buy a book by its cover, I'd be buying your, your repellent because everything about your, your marketing and, um, display looks wonderful.

And I would look at that and I would say. That took a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of thought, getting that to this position. And so. Chris or Evan, what, when did that start and what did you, and I guess to Chris, what did this come from? What year was that? That you said I'm gonna leave this, that I'm doing and I've got the idea.

For this, what year was that? And what are, gimme a little history on that? Well, I 

[00:04:32] Chris Fuentes: I mean, I think that, uh, the journey for my partner, Ted Keston and myself, started probably 10 years ago, and we didn't even know each other at that point. And we were trying to figure out how to do something better, leave a better legacy, make a better product, make something that was meaningful to the next generations.

And we didn't know what it was gonna be. And we were both seeking out something that would do that. And I. The difference here is, is that when we came and, and, and, and what were you, 

[00:04:56] Mike Koelzer, Host: what were you at the 

[00:04:57] Chris Fuentes: time I was working in, in a big corporation, I was working for VF corporation. I was a chief marketing officer of two oh, okay.

Of a $2 billion, you know, sportswear group, including Nica and big brands, was running big marketing groups and had been doing acquisitions for the company for the past decade. And, you know, really a marketing professional and where the two of us came together, uh, was, uh, Ted is a chemist and he's, he's truly a.

Really understands chemistry and understands how chemistry affects, uh, what people wear and how spent and how that, um, is very important, uh, in how we bring products into the market. And the two of us came together with this kind of common goal. And what we originally, uh, got together about was to figure out if we could figure out how to do a better citronella candle.

If we could make a better, a better, where did 

[00:05:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: you guys where'd you guys come together from? We had, 

[00:05:47] Chris Fuentes: uh, we had done previous business. I worked on an acquisition that I helped sell and, uh, then we invested in another company together and then this was our, we'd done some work together on another company.

And then kind of, we, we started kinda working together and we realized that, you know, we, we, we had this unique, uh, background, which was, um, his chemistry and his ability to have a chemistry background was unique and, and really amazing. Right. And then I had this brand background and we brought these two together and surprisingly, we're not even three years old.

We started this journey, uh, just over 30 months ago. Um, we got our EPA registration last January, so it took us about a year to develop it. And there's a bit of a story behind developing the product and ranger ready. And then, 

[00:06:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: uh, and I'm sorry, you started with the citronella idea. 

[00:06:32] Chris Fuentes: You, you thought we thought we were gonna do the citronella idea, but what we realized is we couldn't really make a better citronella because we.

But it would affect the B population and we didn't wanna affect the B population. So that was not a good, good mix for us. And as we learned along the way, there was a much bigger demand for which is partly why we're doing this for people to be protected from Lyme disease. And from tick borne diseases.

We are at the epicenter of Lyme disease that, you know, it's 50 miles up the road, my entire family, many of Ted's family, our dogs, our neighbors, you know, our, our kids athletes. Are being affected by Lyme disease, infected, born diseases. And we just thought, why, why are so many people being bitten? And we then realized, of course, that it was people who are reluctant to wear repellent and they're reluctant to wear it specifically.

And it's really the only remedy we have in this market, except in Europe, they don't have that problem. And we went to look and the number one active ingredient in Europe is the caravan. And that's why we're here today. And we, and that took us about two and a half years. We did a test in 2018, we had our first concept, you know, actually building a concept and Evan is our, I think fourth employee in the company.

We're now growing up to 15. So things have moved quite quickly, but, and this year we, you know, we've, we've passed our thousands of thousand retailers and our 15,000 wow. Consumer order. And. We're getting a lot of feedback and, you know, we're, we're, we're helping the main state wardens and the Massachusetts wardens and the Connecticut game wardens.

And we're shipping the military units and police units and utility companies. So now we're getting that true experience of people using our product every day and going, wow, this is great stuff. So it's a great journey. 

[00:08:09] Mike Koelzer, Host: All right. So it's 20 years since bear invented this and why, why the 20 year delay in.

Us seeing it on the shelves. Is it, are competitors already using this sum or, or is, or, or why the 20 year delay? 

[00:08:33] Evan Kesten: Well, you know, I think, uh, It wasn't so much a 20 year delay, just, uh, the conversation has changed. Um, the PECARN is, uh, EPA registered in 2005. So it's actually been available in the US market, uh, for nearly 15 years.

And, um, there are competitors who are, who are using PECARN. The reality is, uh, is vector borne illnesses. Haven't. Become a national conversation topic. Oh, right. Uh, really I guess 2015, 2016 was when it really sort of jumped to the forefront of, you know, Zika was on 

[00:09:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: everyone's mind. Yeah. Gotcha. But not just 

[00:09:13] Evan Kesten: Zika, you know, you know, obviously Lyme disease is, is, uh, kind of.

Originated as a New England conversation. Um, right. But, um, the, uh, the reality is, people have contracted Lyme disease in all 50 states now. Um, and, uh, I, um, you know, I think that helped kind of accelerate the. You know, inquiry into what products out there are available. What are doctors recommending in terms of protecting yourself?

Um, you know, people were afraid to go outside in some places and, and, you know, the, the conversation is, well, how do we get them back outside? And, you know, you speak to nurses, you speak to, uh, primary care physicians. The number one thing everyone recommends is repellent. And you look on your shelves in 2016, the majority of repellent and what people, uh, are familiar with.

Are products that contain deep and there's a, there's a real kind of conversation about deep, you know, some people, you know, have no problem wearing it and, and, and some people are looking for something different. So I think that's sort of, what's allowed this, this conversation to kind of 

[00:10:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: amplify a little bit is, is, yeah, that's true about that 2015, cuz I that's when the scares came out and you thought, boy is this, um, is this Zika gonna, you know, they have those movies from Hollywood, like these.

Things that take over the world, you know, infections and, um, poison and stuff like that. Maybe, maybe I don't like to watch some from my pharmacy. I want something like a tidal wave or earthquakes or something. I don't need something more exciting than, uh, You know, and a Germer infection, but yeah, that's certainly when it came up, a friend of mine's, um, mother passed away a couple years ago from it.

So yeah, that makes a lot of sense why it's really why it's really coming along now. 

[00:11:07] Chris Fuentes: I think, and Mike, I would add to that conversation, what, uh, what Evan has said, the third element, which is really important to hear is that many, uh, consumers, especially moms gravitate towards the natural solution, you know, The Ney oils and the, the Cedar oils and the things, the essential oils and things like that.

And, you know, we spend a lot of time as experts talking to the CDC and we're talking to the health authorities and we're talking to experts around the country who are pretty clear in the message, which is, um, Naturals don't deter ticks. They're really great for backyard barbecues for about 90 minutes.

If you want to kind of stay safe from not getting bitten by a tick, but if you're gonna wear a natural, uh, uh, agent and expect the ticks, they don't care. They'll crawl right to it and crawl right over it. It's a little slimy form, so they have to get around it. But other than that, it's really not. And I think that's one of the key notes that experts like us are trying to get out, which.

You need to wear a repellent. That's actually CDC recommended and the, the, the CDC does recommend diet and they do recommend the carrot and they do recommend oil of lemon eucalyptus as the three main ingredients you can use. And they're all effective against ticks. The carrot is the one that gives you the longest lasting and safest, but we recommend you don't turn to naturals . Well, I think I was wearing repellent because it gives you what we call a false sense of security.

You really are not, you're not secure from vector porn. . 

[00:12:30] Evan Kesten: Yeah, I think the other thing that's happened, unfortunately is the, is the number of con cases of, of, uh, people who are contracting Lyme disease right now has, has grown significantly in the past five years. You know, kind of interesting perspective would be, uh, to know that there will be more people this year who will contract Lyme disease, who will be diagnosed with it, um, then will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

And if you can kind of think about it, um, you know, People kind of understand the conversation about breast cancer. They probably know someone who's, who's dealt with it and yeah. Right. The same can be said now about Mime's disease. And I think when you kind of look at the numbers from that perspective, you can see that it's, it's part of the conversation 

[00:13:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: now.

Right? Right. So, um, so guys is, is the launch and the, um, You know, this, this, this period, is that going as expected? Is, is it, are, are your numbers what you want them to be? Are you getting any pushback or is it kind of flowing as you thought it would be flowing? 

[00:13:34] Chris Fuentes: Well, it's actually, we're, we're launching, according to plan.

We've had a very deliberate plan as we launched. And one of the things we wanted to do was connect with consumers. And what we have done is better than I expected. Actually, if you take a look at Facebook and you take a look at Instagram, you take a look at, um, the consumer reviews and you, you look at on Amazon, wherever it may be.

People are talking about our brand and they're talking about repellants for the first time. So we, that area, were really very excited about the other area that made a big difference for us. We wanted to, um, Present the brand in a place where we could do consultative selling. And that's why we've been so successful in independent pharmacies because the independent pharmacist, who's writing a do cyclin script this summer of which, by the way, 600,000 DOYs scripts are gonna get written this summer.

Not all of them are for Lyme disease, but many of them are. And I think part of that is being able to have pharmacists recommended, but really have pharmacists speak, uh, to it properly. We're very excited to have, uh, a new relationship with passport health, for example, which is, you know, the largest travel health organization and the nurses and the doctors there are explaining the difference between when you travel abroad and how you travel abroad, et cetera.

What we call consultative selling in the outdoor channel or the golf pro somebody who can explain this to you has been one of our big steps. We've also been very strong, uh, getting to summer. Because, uh, oh yeah, we have this summer. We'll, we'll just be short of a hundred summer camps, but we'll SP we'll spray upwards of 30,000 kids this summer with ranger ready and it's to teach the next generation that you have to wear.

Repellants you can't be really afraid of repellent. You have to actually wear it. And so that's part of our strategy. So we actually, Mike, we've been right on plan. We're very excited not to be growing too quickly. We have been given, um, the green light by some great folks like Cardinal. And other pharmacies, our pharma channel has been outstanding.

Um, and we don't anticipate going into, um, Walmart pharmacies or CVS pharmacies or Rite aid or Walgreens, or the larger change, because we believe that establishing this brand at the community level with the pharmacist recommended level is where it belongs. And that's where we're gonna stay for a while.

[00:15:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: What, um, what hurdles have you, because I wanna, I, I promise the listeners of this show that I. That I'll ask the questions that I would ask if we're sitting together in a car driving somewhere, um, and. So here's the questions I would ask. And one of them would be what hurdle, what hurdle or setback have you faced, if any, was there something that you thought would happen that didn't happen or didn't go, didn't go to plan.

[00:16:19] Chris Fuentes: I, I, I think, um, Evan can talk a little bit on the, on the sales side about, you know, some of the hurdles of growing from, you know, tenfold, we've grown tenfold this year. And so we've had some, some, some growth. That's great. Some. Pains, but we've delivered every order, which I'm very excited about. That's fantastic.

On the contrary to the hurdles, I think we, we really have, we've had more opportunities than hurdles and that's been the exciting part and all right, but 

[00:16:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: What hurdles have you had? 

[00:16:44] Chris Fuentes: There's three 

[00:16:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: letters. What, what, what, what's something, what's something that you're like, oh, this didn't go. but maybe now it, maybe now it goes, what?

What's something that like, well, the biggest 

[00:16:54] Chris Fuentes: issue Mike, is that we've never launched a bug spray before, so that's a big hurdle in the first place and it's three letters it's called EPA and yeah, we had to learn the ropes and they're actually very nice people that it works well, but we didn't who anticipated the government shutdown.

right. And you anticipate that, you know, these, you know, the, the, the talk studies that we're doing have to go through special, special processing and think, you know, it's all, it's all part of the process. Those are, that's a big hurdle. . 

[00:17:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah, that's that's, you know, we obviously in the pharmacy, we're facing red tape from the government all the time.

Mm-hmm so that's, that's a pain. Evan, what hurdles do you have? What, I mean, what, what do you come across that you thought might be, might be smoother and maybe it's not as smooth as you thought. And what have you learned from that? Well, I, I 

[00:17:43] Evan Kesten: Think of one thing we were expecting. To be there, uh, was the need for education.

So, um, on, on the one hand, I don't want to consider that a hurdle because we knew we were going to, we needed to have a conversation about what pickin is, why Karden, um, anticipate that there would be. I guess some defensive reactions, you know, people sort of defending de versus Pekar and we, we don't look at it like that at all.

It's not a, it's not a, a PECARN versus do you know, that's not our perspective. Sure. We're very much a pro repellent use company. So, you know, it was important for us to, uh, quickly distinguish ourselves as you. You know, making sure that our message was clear. We want people to use, uh, as Chris said, CDC recommended repellents that are efficacious and have been proven safe and, you know, have a track record, you know, worldwide, frankly.

Um, so, so a lot of, I think, uh, of the defensive nature. Um, and the converse conversations, but again, we were kind of expecting that, uh, to, to go along, do people get, 

[00:18:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: do people get defensive of saying, do they get defensive saying like, well, Dee's, deed's doing a good job and, and you shouldn't be like trying to change it.

It's like, well, we're not trying to change everything. You know, we wanna, we want to repel bugs and this is another, another. Option or something. What, what did they get upset about when you like the de lovers? 

[00:19:12] Evan Kesten: I mean, I, I think it's, it's, it's. They are, you know, I can't get into their head, you know, that's, that's one 

[00:19:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: thing that's for certain, they just say it, they just think it's a good product.

And, and why should we, why should we test our bodies on something else? Well, I mean, 

[00:19:28] Chris Fuentes: I think they're speaking out and saying, Hey, look, I've been using this product for decades and it hasn't caused them any issues. Yeah. So what the heck and one of the, one of the things that, you know, you know, on the flip side of what is big.

There's some huge opportunities out there. So for example, the department of defense, the DOD and the military us military last month approved the Carin for field use as a safe and effective alternative to de and it's because, you know, when you have a $7,000 scope on top of a weapon, or you've got a, a really expensive watcher geo finder or something, and you spray yourself every day with deep one day, you're gonna spray the finder and it's.

And so they've learned that. And it's also if you wear it every day and especially in heated conflict that, um, deed is when it's mixed with sweat, it's very hard on your eyes and it goes in your mouth. And it's horrible. 

[00:20:13] Mike Koelzer, Host: Say that again, Chris, you, you, you spray the finder. What does that mean? Well, they have, 

[00:20:17] Chris Fuentes: They have a GPS finder.

They'll have a, they'll have a scope. They have something. And, and if you spray, if you spray, it's a plasticizer, DE's a plasticizer. So if you spray it on your iPhone, spray it on your, on your watch, you spray it on your sunglasses, you spray it on anything that's plastic. It will eat that plastic away.

Really absolutely. And it, and it's unfortunate because the military, you know, they're in conflict zones where there's a lot of bugs. We had just recently we had 18 airborne, um, security officers out of Peterson, air force, baked, uh, base take their canines with 400 bottles of ranger, ready to Africa for four months because they, they, they know they need to protect their gear and their animals and themselves.

So it's, there's a transition going on. boy, I should use D and, and I think that the biggest hurdle, I think that it's not really our hurdle. Uh, Mike, I think the biggest hurdle we have in this entire journey is we would like to see less mosquito tick and vector-borne diseases in this country. It's rising rapidly.

Yeah. And the biggest hurdle, right? Oh yeah. The biggest hurdle is by far. That your repellent is in your glove compartment. It's in the back of your car, it's in your golf bag, it's in the bottom of your shelf. It's not being used. And we realize that people aren't using it because they don't want to use it.

And what we found with our product is people are starting to use their repellent regularly, and they're using it every day and they're, they're not getting bitten and they're going, wow. This is great. It's an alternative. And what that's, what we're saying. We don't have to be bidden. You don't have to stay inside and you don't have to use deep.

And that's been our journey, but people gotta take it outta a 

[00:21:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: bag. Here's here, here. Here's my complaint. I, I, we have a, we have a cottage on a, on a small lake, a half hour from here, and I've got a rule, a family rule that says nobody. Nobody's allowed to put bug spray on, on the deck because it comes into my, um, my air-conditioned uh, room where I'm sitting while everybody else is outside. And, uh, because the, the, uh, the stink of the, of the spray comes in. And even if they spray themselves, they come in and it's got that. Perfume spray. And let me throw this out at you. I'm no expert, let me just guess this. Do, do they make a deodorant free de and the reason why this smells so much is because they have a hard time masking it.

And so they have to put all this perfume or whatever into it. And, and do you guys, do you guys have non smelling stuff? Because I, I, I, I wanna get rid of that smell so that I can enjoy my time in the wilderness in my air-conditioned enclosed room. No, I 

[00:22:57] Evan Kesten: think then the scent zero is the perfect scent for you, Mike and you're, there are many, uh, many who agree with you.

It's, uh, it's our latest scent. Uh, it was introduced in June of 2019, where I was really excited about it. Um, we now have four SCS available, uh, ranger, orange, uh, Amber Wood, which has a nice Cedar note to it and night sky. Um, You know, all of our, our, our 4 cents are only 1% of the actual product. Really what you're putting on your skin is repellent, you know, 20% Ardin, which is the CDC recommended, uh, uh, level.

Um, you know, I, I, I think the one thing I like also about our product is that our spray nozzles are quite controlled. So you should be able to spray it directly on your body. It's not like that. Sun an aerosol, there are no propellants in the product. It's not gonna shoot all over the place you're gonna, 

[00:23:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: you're gonna, yeah, there are ways I'm seeing 98% of that stuff flying through the air somehow I'm paying for it.

I know, you know, right. When they go to the, um, is, is that just an, is that just packaging? I mean, could deep companies do that too? Or is there a reason why they need the propelling? And so. 

[00:24:03] Chris Fuentes: Well, I mean, I think what they do, Mike is, um, it's a choice. You're either gonna buy a cheap can if you will.

And those cans are fairly cheap and you throw 'em end up throwing 'em in a landfill. And in every one of those cans, there's aerosol, which is Butane isobutane and that's what you spray on your skin. And that's about 20% of the can. And because of the design of the, can you throw 10% in the garbage? So about a third of everything that's in those.

Is not useful to you as the consumer. And then the other part of that about our product is we developed a product that can spray 360 degrees and upside down. So you can spray the back of your legs without aerosol. Oh, oh, 

[00:24:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: interesting. Now, do you, do you guys have an aerosol product or is it or not? Why do the deep, why do the deep companies.

Do they have to use 

[00:24:48] Chris Fuentes: aerosol or no, they have both. They have both and they choose to, because consumers are lazy, frankly. It's, you know, it's, they, you know, they can buy cheap food from China. They can be bought cheap, put it in the, you know, and sell it for $6.99 and you can push the button and you can spray it in all the air conditioners you want.

[00:25:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: You, you, you can, you can spray it and, and, and you, you, you kind of feel like you're kinda walking through the, uh, the, the mist of it. So if I've got, um, if I've got a deep, um, non smelling one, if there is such a thing and, and the ranger is ready to pre procure in one that's non smelling, do, do, do, do. Does the PECARN have a, a benefit is one of 'em like a stronger one that has to be masked at all.

Or. 

[00:25:35] Chris Fuentes: Go ahead, Evan. That's a good question. Yeah, I'm, 

[00:25:37] Evan Kesten: I've never tried to mask the scent of deep personally and, you know, um, you know, I, my, my background is, uh, is, is from the fragrance and flavors world. You know, I, I worked closely with Ted who's, uh, who's my father, and, you know, our family has been in the fragrance generation, uh, in the fragrance business, excuse me, for four generations.

Um, we've never tried. To commingle scent with, with, uh, with, with DET. Um, we know that, um, you know, we're very pro we, we, we know that there are a lot of, um, desirable, you know, aspects of introducing fragrance to the product. Uh, you know, for us, it was an experiential decision, right. We really wanted to make sure that, uh, people enjoyed wearing insect repellent every day.

And I think Chris really made a great point in terms of, you know, really changing the mindset in terms. How important daily use now is in this. All right. But 

[00:26:30] Mike Koelzer, Host: back back. But, back to that question though, which one, if, if I'm wearing a nonsense one. Sure. Am I gonna, am I gonna be yelling if I buy your product?

non-ED am I still gonna be yelling at my kids? to tell him to move over, cuz I can still it's really strong still. Or do you guys think you have something better than that, than that perfume me. We do. 

[00:26:54] Chris Fuentes: We do. Mike, do you think you have something? What we know we do. We, what we've done is what we do and what we'll be done is, is Pacar is odorless anyway and deep does have enough.

Oh, it is. It is. So Permethrin itself is odorless. And deep does have a smell to it. De does have a smell to it and then gotcha. The fragrance that we've injected into our, into our formula and, and developed for our formula has been around, um, using premium since, and we've been very, very selective in how we.

Bring these scents to market and the scent-zero product that has no scent at all. It's designed to have really, it has no sense at all. You can smell your arm and then spray it on and you have to wait about, I don't know, a minute or so afterward. And you, you smell, it smells like your arm and what we've done is we, we now, now I, I, 

[00:27:34] Mike Koelzer, Host: I'm not trying to get you guys to bash deep.

No, but if deep, is there a way to spray that on and does that smell, is that why they're using so much. Perfume possibly to do that, or it 

[00:27:47] Chris Fuentes: deep does have an underlying odor, but they've, you know, they've been using, you know, kind of relatively cheap sense and they put it in a big butane can and they, you know, they spray it out the door as quickly as they can.

And what we're doing is bringing a premium experience, you know, and I think it's the difference between, you know, driving a, a, a, a kind of a car that's, you know, not as good as we'd like it to be and a car that's kind of the next generation, which. The bells and whistles like an upside down spray or good scent and not greasy.

And, and, and in fact, it's what is driving consumers in Europe to where they are repelling. And that's why we know we can change the experience. 

[00:28:23] Mike Koelzer, Host: Why do you guys think, like, like I know that the bug spray sits in the bottom of the, the golf bag for. A lot of different reasons, not really any having to do in my mind for me like whatever deep problems might have, you know, with sinking into your skin and all that.

For me, it's like the smell. I don't want to maybe get it into my eyes. I don't like that perfume and all that kind of stuff. And so. So those are all the things you're, you're working around, like you say, with your different canisters and smells and all that stuff. 

[00:29:03] Chris Fuentes: So, well, we, I mean, we, our goal Mike is to have, um, to be the brand of choice for park Rangers, for military, for, um, anybody who has to be a first responder, a landscaper, people who work in utility companies, people who wear our product, we have a hundred PGA caddies wearing our product right now on the.

[00:29:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah, I saw that was a nice connection on your website. I really like that. How did you guys do that? Well, it's people 

[00:29:25] Chris Fuentes: who have these guys go in, off in, in the tall grass, looking for balls all day, and you're gonna get bitten by ticks and mosquitoes. And one of the things we try to explain to people is that you have to put it on in the morning and wear it all day.

And I think one of the, to your point, biggest obstacles, I just forget about, I didn't do it. I didn't think about it. And oh yeah. And I think there's also a very large contingent of people. Just like people who want to use nature, we call it the adolescent attitude. It's just, it's never gonna happen.

it's just not gonna happen to me. Why would I wear a seatbelt? You know, it's not gonna, I'm not gonna have an accident, you know, and people don't realize that, you know, over time that it is gonna happen to you because the numbers aren't in your favor, the number of ticks and migrating birds and rabbits and deer and raccoons and squirrels and mice, they all carry ticks.

So you're, you're more likely to get Lyme disease within a mile of your home, walking to your mailbox, for example. Or having your dog come into your house, then you are, and going on a 10 mile hike or experiencing something up at the cabin. 

[00:30:23] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah, that's interesting. That's interesting. Um, how do you guys, as a company, communicate through wi with each other as you're growing your company?

Do you guys, um, do you guys use, um, A certain computer, um, program to work on your projects and so on. Or are you, um, or are you on your phones or emails a lot, or how are you, with such rapid growth? How do you guys keep in touch? Or is it phone meetings or what? 

[00:30:54] Evan Kesten: A lot of zoom. A lot of face, a lot of zoom.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean a lot of, uh, yeah, you gotta check in, you know, and, and we've, we've, we've all the technology, you know, that you're kind of accessing, we're accessing and you know, we have to. Yeah. And, uh, uh, we're, we're having conversations in all different parts of the country right now, you know, trying to.

[00:31:14] Chris Fuentes: You know, educate people. I mean, I think one of the things that makes a big distinguishing difference for us is, um, Hey, we have a really good facility and, and in a second, I'll when we're done, I'll give you a little tour of the facility, uh, visually, cause it's pretty fun. Um, the other part is, is that, um, we, we leverage technology.

The suite, the technology suite that we use is world class. And I've worked at world class companies. 15 billion companies. Yeah. Right. And we rent the technology, which used to cost millions of dollars in the past. And you used to have to have it guys and blah, blah, blah, and lots of, lots of infrastructure.

We spend about $3,000 a month, $35,000 a year, renting suites of technology to connect our internet, to connect our E R P system to connect our shipping, to connect with ship station, connect to the post office, to QuickBooks, it's all done through an E R P system, frankly, that comes from New Zealand. You know, it's a couple of guys in New Zealand who have figured out how to make a better operating system.

And it's a good thing, you know? And, and I think what we've been able to do is make a small company and we actually don't have outside sales reps at this point. We just have a small inside sales team. We're still just 10 people growing to 15 and we're we're yeah. We're making phone calls and going to trade shows and that's how we do 

[00:32:23] Mike Koelzer, Host: it.

Yeah. It's amazing how much, you know, how much you can. Yeah. It's just amazing, you know, how you can stay in touch and really cover the world with, you know, 10 guys and, and, and some equipment. So that's, that's, um, that's really something. What are your guys? Um, if, if you could. If you could both eliminate something from your day, what's the part of the day where you say now, Evan, you can't talk to customers.

I know. So that's, I know you can't, especially in front of Chris and in front of listeners, but what part of the day do both of you in your business day say, ah, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. You know? Is it meetings, emails, you know, travel? What, what, what, what part do you personally, each of you personally don't don't care for.

I'll let you go first, Chris and, and Evan, don't say dealing with Chris, cuz you can't say you can't meet with Chris. Well, I mean, 

[00:33:19] Chris Fuentes: we, we're fortunate, we're having a really good run together as a team and it it's really fun to have exponential growth like this and, and have customers are happy and people calling on the phone and saying, I wanna buy your stuff.

And I think that, yeah, that's cool. I'd say the biggest error for me is really at the end of the day, we finish shipping around four. I really want to go ride my bike and make sure I can exercise. And there's, you know, it's. Kind of gets left at the end of the day. And sometimes I don't get out to do it and sometimes we still have work to do so.

That's the thing that's missing and that it gets kind of short ended. And I think as a team, we've found that if we all exercise and keep healthy, and while we go through this run, this kind of, it's a big gross spur. And as we go from shipping, you know, 10 packages a day to hundreds of the packages a day, you, you it's a stretch.

And so I think that for me, I wish I had more time to exercise and do that part just to stay fit. That's 

[00:34:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: neat. That's a neat answer. How about you, Evan? What, what, um, what, what's a headache in your day? 

[00:34:17] Evan Kesten: That's a great question, Mike. Um, you know, I, I think we are, we have a really good strategy and we're on strategy and we're, we're moving down the line.

So I think, you know, sometimes. We want to get there quicker than we do. Yeah. And you know, so we have to be impatient and we have to remind ourselves that we gotta, you know, sit back and, and, and, and make sure we do all the little details. All of our data and our information is, yeah. Right.

Is, is, uh, is synced up. And, um, you know, I think. Just, you know, make, make sure we're organized and, and, uh, and that right, that takes discipline. So, you know, as with any sort of job, the daily discipline and, and not just job it's, you know, uh, any routine, you know. Yeah. Right. You gotta just, you gotta do the, do the, do the.

[00:35:08] Mike Koelzer, Host: Not so fun. Yeah. You gotta, you, yeah, you gotta get, well, just like, just like my little project here with the podcast is this, this part's fun. But the part about, you know, organizing this or putting this in the right folder, you don't really feel like doing it right then, but if, if you don't, you give yourself a little bit of a headache later the next day or whatever.

Yeah. And 

[00:35:27] Evan Kesten: I don't mean to sound like a salesman here, you know, but like talking to customers as you are joking, you know, that's, that's the fun part, you know? That's yeah. Right. It's actually, it's, it's very. Everyone has been bit by a mosquito, you know, it's a very easy conversation 

[00:35:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: to have. Yeah. It's an easy conversation.

That's right. You were saying well, and I, I mean, I think 

[00:35:46] Chris Fuentes: That one thing we're, we're really dedicated to, uh, to having is satisfied customers. And so we're trying to grow at a pace where all of our customers are satisfied. And if you talk to our retailers, you know, I don't think we've, we have one. Upset because they didn't get a package or something didn't arrive.

And if there's something that some blip that happens, we take care of. And I think that's been my biggest part of growth is as we grow tenfold and we're probably likely to do similar this year, we want to be, we want to be mindful that happy customers are much better than ones than adding more customers.

And, yeah. Right. And that's the return. Well, you know, 

[00:36:21] Mike Koelzer, Host: The I, I was just saying, I was just, uh, lamenting the, the situation in a lot of, um, uh, community pharmacy now is, is it's been just a, and, and Evan, you had, you had brought up before, we were talking here about your guys is, is one of the things to bring, you know, customers, um, back in and so on with, with cash sales and that, but we've, we've either been for the last.

You know, 10, 11 years kind of on the defensive. And your the, the happy moments seem to be times when you, you didn't, you know, lose as much money or didn't have as much red tape as the day before or something like that. So we're, we've been missing. Um, And, and, and personally, and that's why I'm always looking at changes in my life because we've been, I personally have been missing a lot of the, the wins that, that you guys experience and my win is still.

You know, enjoying the customers, my team, putting food on the table, that kind of stuff, but not having those bigger wins in the company, which when, when I talk to you guys and, and I hear that, it's like, oh yeah, that, that is a part of business. Isn't it? You know, you know, growing and things like that. We just haven't, we just haven't seen it in a while.

So, so you are a breath of, um, if, if that can rub off on customers a little bit, uh, Evan, as you were saying, Of, um, you know, giving them tiny wins along the way. I'm sure that's appreciated. 

[00:37:59] Evan Kesten: You know, I, I really think community pharmacists are as trusted now as they've always been. And I, what, you know, I've, I've been exhibiting and speaking with, with, uh, independent pharmacies for over, you know, a year now.

And, uh, I, what I can now talk about, you know, I can have a conversation about DIRs and PBMs with the best of them I'd think. Um, and, but to 

[00:38:19] Mike Koelzer, Host: you probably have an ear, you're probably an expert on that, but, but what I know, I mean, 

[00:38:24] Evan Kesten: It's true, it's a real challenge that's being faced right now. But, but I also think that you, you, as a, uh, you know, as, as a storefront are really well positioned to introduce new and innovative products, um, especially front of store and over, you know, over the counter products that, um, Are resonating with, with the communities.

And, and I think, you know, once, once we start to, you know, get into the nuts and bolts of, of what our product can do for you, a lot of pharmacists are saying, yeah, this makes sense for our front restore. Just like, you know, CBD oils are taking off mm-hmm and a lot of community pharmacies, but it's, it's that sort of innovative.

Thinking, and, and, and not from a business standpoint only, but just from a health and wellness standpoint, you know, what's out there for our community that we can get into their hands. And, and, and, you know, the, the, the pharmacist is just perfectly positioned to have these conversations, you know, with, with its, its clientele.

And, and I think, you know, those, those pharmacies that are, that are really embracing that role in the community. I, I think they're still enjoying a lot of success or reinventing themselves, you know 

[00:39:23] Mike Koelzer, Host: what I mean? Or reinventing. Yeah, exactly. You had mentioned, um, Chris, about, about the shipping and Evan, what, um, and I know this is probably changing, of course, as you start getting into, you know, Cardinal and stuff, what percent are you shipping?

Like out of a hundred out of, let's say a hundred percent, you know, some's gonna go to Amazon. Some's gonna go. Individual stores. I imagine summer's gonna go to the wholesaler. I, I don't think you maybe do much to individual customers. What percent do you like when you're shipping out? What percent? Goes out to whom and so on.

[00:39:58] Chris Fuentes: That's a good question. We're probably different from most brands. So most brands and typical brands that you would see, you know, they ship probably 85 or 90, or even 95% of their product to a distribution center or a wholesaler or, yeah. Um, they sell it to a big customer, like a Walmart or a Lowe's or something like that.

And we're completely different. So we sell about 50% of our products, uh, directly to consumers. So we have about half of our revenue comes from consumers and we have a very robust Amazon business and a robust range ready.com business. And that's part of our, and, 

[00:40:30] Mike Koelzer, Host: and Chris are, when you say individuals, so.

So a lot of the packages going out are going to Mrs. Smith on main street that that's 

[00:40:39] Chris Fuentes: where it's hundreds and hundreds of them. Yeah, absolutely. It's really, wow. It's all over the country. And, and it's, it's because, you know, folks in Michigan, for example, Michigan and Wisconsin are a hot bit of Lyme disease.

And so we, they light up on our maps, like, you know, big green and red Christmas trees with, uh, heat maps. Yeah. And I think, and then the other part of our business is, um, is with premium wholesale. So we sell directly to pharmacies. We sell directly to golf shops. We have 20 resorts, for example, that use our product, uh, sea island and Georgia Killington and Vermont, you know, Greenbrier and, and yeah, and then we have a business that's growing and we're very excited about it.

That's growing, which is directly to businesses. So we sell to utility companies. We sell to camps. We sell to military units. We sell to, um, golf courses who are using it. For their, uh, for their landscapers landscaping businesses. It's people who cool have realized that if you run a utility company and you have, you know, call it a hundred linemen, yeah.

Three of them are gonna be bitten this year and are gonna be out for most of summer because they were bitten by ticks. Yeah. But why not wear repellent? And that's what they're kind of getting to at this point. Yeah. 

[00:41:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: Do you see that? Um, I don't, I don't, I don't know anything about this. Do you see yourself as.

Continuing that distribution or at some point. Do you, do you see yourself saying we want to get better at this, invest in this and so on or at some point does a, a shipping, uh, uh, a distribution company take over and do all those, all those things you mentioned, or is that something that you guys like grow in your own building?

[00:42:15] Chris Fuentes: And so on? We are a distribution company and we are an internet company and we are a brand company and we are. Gotcha. So these things, and one of the reasons that we do what we do, um, and probably our system is different than many others, which is whatever we do. We do it ourselves. Our product is produced 300 yards down the road.

We buy all the raw materials. Oh, wow. It's all bottled by, uh, a manufacturer who we are contracted with. And, and then we ship every single bottle from our distribution center ourselves. We inspect every piece of product because it's part of building a brand that's premium. And every package that goes out of here has a special note in it.

It gives you instructions on how to apply the repellant, et cetera. So it's about kinda stepping it up a little bit, making sure that if you talk to your pharmacist, he'll tell you, or she'll tell you, or you get in a PA box, right? We'll tell you it's about helping consumers get it to the point. So that's, what's different about our company is that we're really pulling in.

We. I don't know, maybe a dozen, how to videos and what to do for tick bites in the summer, how to apply, how to travel with, anything you can do to get better, better at understanding how to protect yourself. 

[00:43:19] Mike Koelzer, Host: What what's the, um, like I imagine like you don't make your own, you don't make your own plastic bottle.

Right? And, and like the, does the product come in already completed by somebody you're having that maiden mass 

[00:43:34] Chris Fuentes: somewhere? No, we make it ourselves. So what we, we, we purchased the bottles. We purchased the labels. We purchased the sprayers. We purchased everything from the United States. Most of it comes from Connecticut.

[00:43:44] Mike Koelzer, Host: And then what about the, the 

[00:43:46] Chris Fuentes: solution? Yeah. Well, the active ingredient is made in Germany. It's, uh, comes directly from a plant in Germany and it's. And we purchase it in big metric tons. They're big totes. They look, oh, really? They look like, is that powder? No, it's in a liquid form. It comes in either drums.

It it, and 

[00:44:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: then you, and then you put the correct combination together and we bottle filler or 

[00:44:05] Chris Fuentes: whatever. We bottle hundreds of thousands of bottles of it. That's what we do. We, we, we mix it together. We put the labels on, we inspect it and it's all EPA registered. Everything is, uh, you know, regulated by the EPA.

Wow. So we develop all that and make sure that we're compliant. 

[00:44:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: So you're mixing it. You've got the main product coming in is liquid, but you're mixing it then with either solution or, or the SC or the different stuff like that. Absolutely. 

[00:44:28] Chris Fuentes: We big, uh, 5,000 liter drums. They're big barrels and wow. Uh, steel VAs and stainless steel VAs.

And then we bottle it here and then we distribute it, we pick it up and we distribute it all over the country. We do not sell internationally cuz we require separate registrations, but everything comes from this small warehouse, which is, uh, it's remarkable. Uh, it's a small business and only.

5,000 square feet. We ship a lot of products out the door. You're you're 

[00:44:52] Mike Koelzer, Host: you're 5,000 square feet. Yeah. That's, that's not, that's not real big, 

[00:44:56] Chris Fuentes: pretty tall ceilings as well. You know, so we have, it's a warehouse, but I gotcha. You know, we ship very efficiently. We don't, we waste nothing. We're very efficient in how we maneuver our product and put it on the floor so that we can ship that with just two, uh, two people, you know, it's part of our strategy.

[00:45:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: Wow. That's something. Um, Evan, as, as we start to wind down here, tell the listeners how let's say it's, you know, pharmacists or people related to pharmacy. What's going to be their next step? To, to, to, to get something on their shelf. How, where do they start? What's the best way for them to start that process?

[00:45:33] Evan Kesten: Yeah, I think the best way is to, uh, to reach out, you know, you start, uh, at our, at our website@rangeready.com. Uh, you can email us directly and. it'll end up, uh, if it, if it's a pharmacy, it ultimately will, will end up, uh, you know, uh, on my desk. And, and then, uh, you know, I think it's helpful to have a conversation and we have these great, uh, point of purchase displays that, uh, you hold, uh, you know, 18 units and a variety of our senses.

And it's, uh, there's a lot of. Marketing on the display that helps kind of tell the story of, of the Carin and what we're protecting against and, and you know, what diseases we're, we're preventing. And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's really simple and, and, you know, our minimums are, are just that, you know, a small.

Pre, uh, preloaded case like that, or, or even a smaller 12 pack. 

[00:46:24] Mike Koelzer, Host: That's cool. All right. So, um, Evan, I'll start with you. If, if you're, if you're not allowed to work for a year there and you and, and Chris demands that you take a paid sabbatical, what do you do for a year right now in your life? But it can't be anything to do with this company 

[00:46:41] Evan Kesten: a month ago.

I would've had a great answer, but my wife and I, and our two little girls just moved into a house and, uh, ah, and, uh, it requires a lot of, um, uh, of work right now. So, uh, yeah, we're getting a lot of, so you're a lot of water you're home on your honey do list. Yeah. Yeah. We, we're getting a lot of water in the basement and, and uh, oh, I would, I would spend a, a lot of time making sure that I, my, my two little girls have a, uh, a fun, 

[00:47:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: fun place to grow off.

That's what I would do. Yeah. Good for. How about you, Chris? You can't touch the business for a year. What are you gonna be doing? 

[00:47:12] Chris Fuentes: You know, it's funny the, the, the success of ranger ready has given, I think both, uh, Ted, my partner and myself, um, hanking to invent more products and, and, and find new things that are different.

And my, my, um, you know, as the inventors of ranger ready, and it's our first kind of little success, it feels right. Gee, we'd love to do this again. We're not quite sure what that looks like, but we have enough tinker and curiosity. Interesting projects in the works to, to kind of do that. So if I could get ranger ready, I might be able to take a year off and do something similar to this.

So that's one of the pieces. 

[00:47:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: Wow. That's really cool to feel that win and to do that. Do you. W would, would you, do you think you would do something like liquid based again, like application based again or, or are you sick of that? And you would try a whole nother thing. 

[00:48:04] Chris Fuentes: It's interesting , it's trying to solve another problem.

And you know, we see, we see problems with loaders. We see problems with applications. We see problems with usability of safety devices. We see problems in bacteria on hand. There's so much pain. Of people passing germs and, you know, our formula is we can make a better bug spray. We can make it better by something else.

And that's what we're kind of, that's what our mindset is, is how can we eliminate these pain points of people that have been having this for a long time? And it's, it's kind of, you know, P and G figured out how to do swiffer. It's just, it it's, it's kind of it, it's there, it's our model as well, which is how do we find something that maybe just people could solve?

[00:48:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: And that's what we're working on. Yeah. And, and there's so much, and there's so much that, you know, like, you know, the things you mentioned, you're probably gonna have to cross the EPA again. You're gonna have to, you know, do packaging. You're gonna have to, you know, do that. So, so the, the next one will be a cinch.

Well, the, the. They won't even need you. Evan. Chris will go on the sales road. It'll be so easy. Well, I'll tell you the down, try. This is already 

[00:49:04] Evan Kesten: on the road with me. Let me tell you briefly. it's that's 

[00:49:07] Chris Fuentes: we're we're all out 

[00:49:08] Evan Kesten: there talking, talking ranger. Ready 

[00:49:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: repellent, 

[00:49:11] Chris Fuentes: for sure. Yeah. And I'll tell you the one thing that it does require capital Mike, and you know, we're out raising money now.

Oh yeah. And we're talking to investors and we're even talking and possibly raising money on an open market. It does take capital and these ideas are wonderful until somebody says, how much does it cost to actually become number one and really enter the market. So we're in this for the long haul, we're building a five year company that will get it to number one.

And it is, it is really capital that partly gets in the way of, of, of building a bigger 

[00:49:36] Mike Koelzer, Host: business. Oh yeah. What, what are the biggest, um, What are the biggest needs of capital like to grow from where you are now, Chris, what's the biggest need of capital. It's human 

[00:49:51] Chris Fuentes: capital. It's getting oh human to get more people.

Well, and we have to pay their salaries and get the right people on board. So there's the investment in people. Gotcha. And then we invest almost a hundred percent of our margin in marketing. So we take every dollar we make, we reinvest in marketing. So it's really about deploying those resources as we grow.

And as we have more sales, we're deploying more resources and that's really where our resources are going. It's around building the, 

[00:50:17] Mike Koelzer, Host: oh, thank you for, thank you for filling me in on that, because I was thinking like, Lot of people. Lot of us on the outside are thinking, well, let's see. You've once you turn the, the liquid and the plastic into a sale, that's only, you know, two or three weeks apart or the same, you know, but, but yeah, it's the people, it's the it's, it's that the marketing, it's the marketing, the new 

[00:50:38] Chris Fuentes: registration with the EPA.

It's, you know, it's, it's building that, uh, true proper leadership in the repellent business and it takes. . Yeah. 

[00:50:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah. That's really interesting. And then, and then the, um, the, the capital would, would that be a, this is probably too, too private Chris, but just let me gimme some direction. Would that be where you're, where you're getting.

An investor in paying that back to them or do they become part of the owner of the 

[00:51:10] Chris Fuentes: company? It can be either. Um, we're actually looking at, um, folks who are interested in loaning us money to invest. Inventory and building and that type of stuff. We also have folks who are looking at, uh, making equity investments in us, both as small investors and as more substantial investors as we grow.

And, um, right now we're a family company. We've remained a family investment company. So we have no outside large investors. And it's really about people coming on board and believing in our product. And frankly, pharmacies like who, folks who listened to your, uh, podcast. They're investing in us every day by taking our product and growing with us every day.

And that's the investment? Yeah. Like Cardinal health is making with us in epic pharmacies and thrifty and anybody else who's out there. 

[00:51:50] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah, right. Being part of it. Yeah. Well, that's really cool. Well, thanks so much, guys. It was a pleasure talking with you. Uh, Chris and Evan. I really appreciate it. And, uh, the listeners, uh, I know appreciate you letting me dig a little bit into your, uh, into your stuff there.

And so I'm going to stop the recording here in a second, and I wanted to. Take our tour and maybe someday we'll, um, the podcast will be a podcast, I guess they call it or a video cast and, and we'll, we'll bring others along for that too. But for now we have to leave the listeners behind. So thank you all for listening and thank you again, guys.

Thanks. Thanks very much. And, uh, we'll, we'll hope to talk to you, talk to you again and best wishes on everything. Thank you. Likewise. Thank 

[00:52:30] Evan Kesten: you.