Bryan Koontz

Bryan Koontz is founder and CEO of Guidefitter, an advocate for the pro guiding industry and marketing platform for 350+ brands in the outdoor industry. Bryan grew up on the east coast in rural Maryland and Pennsylvania in a family steeped in the hunting and fishing tradition, graduated from MIT with an engineering master's degree and has spent his career starting and building software and internet marketing companies.

After living in Austin, Texas for 20 years, Bryan recently moved to Bozeman, Montana when he established the headquarters for Guidefitter there, and enjoys hunting, fly fishing, photography, and spending time with his family and yellow lab, Pearl.

In this episode, we speak with Bryan Koontz, founder and CEO of Guidefitter, an advocate for the pro guiding industry and marketing platform for 350+ brands in the outdoor industry, including brands like Swarovski Optik, Leica, Zeiss, First Lite apparel, Mystery Ranch packs, Kenetrek boots, Polaris RANGER and Weatherby. Guidefitter is based in Bozeman, Montana.

Bryan talks briefly about how he came to start Guidefitter, the finer differences between Texas and Montana BBQ, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the outdoor industry, what it means to be a true "influencer," big tech's ongoing exclusionary position with respect to the hunting and fishing industry, and why pro purchase programs have historically been the "dirty little secret" in the outdoor industry and how they are now undergoing a major transformation.