138. Paddle North Co-Founders/Owners Peter Mogck and Matt Frakes

Peter Mogck and Matt Frakes turned their love of Minnesota lake life, and their desire to start something of their own into Paddle North, a water gear manufacturer best known for its inflatable paddle boards. The company marks its 10th anniversary this year, now with a team of 25 employees, and a line of products that has expanded to include kayaks, utility docks, and apparel The founders share keys to their successful partnership—Frakes is a mechanical engineer; Mogck runs marketing and branding, and both say they have “short memories” when disagreements occur, keeping in mind that they always know they both want the same thing: to continue scaling this company. They each put in $15,000 to start it, and have grown without outside investors, utilizing pre-orders to pay for manufacturing, outsourcing some production to keep their overhead low, and through grassroots marketing, from popup shops to social media. Even on the most challenging, demanding days, Frakes says the two never lose site of how lucky they are: “Our day to day business is making toys for the water.” Following the conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Seth Ketron is an assistant marketing professor. He talks about the importance of crafting a brand story. “How do you come up with a message that resonates with people, that they’re willing to spread, and how do you make it easy for them to spread, and make sure it’s something that really matters to people.”