Tom Dempsey, Outdoor Industry Leadership, and SylvanSport's Innovative Approach [EP 426]

Outdoor Biz Podcast

Hey everyone, welcome to Episode 426 with Tom Dempsey, founder and CEO of SylvanSport and a highly regarded national leader in the outdoor industry for several decades. SylvanSport designs and manufactures innovative recreation vehicles and outdoor gear. In addition to SylvanSport, Dempsey has founded and led several other companies in the outdoor recreation industry and is the founding chairperson of the North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Coalition, a non-profit group that directs and supports the state's Outdoor Recreation Industry Office.

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Show Notes Questions we Discussed

• Tell us about your first outdoor experience?
• How many times do you get out to camp, hike, etc, these days?
• Where does your love for industrial design come from?
• And what was your job at Coleman? It was your first outdoor job, right?
• You got into the kayak space when it was still relatively new. Are you a kayaker?
• What was it about adventure sports that inspired SlyvanSport?
• Tell us about the early days of Sylvan, is your first product still in the line?
• How do you find time to run the company and maintain the role of chief product designer?
• Sylvan also has a great company culture, can you share some of the things you do to maintain that?
• What is the Sylvan distribution network like, how many RV dealers are you in?
• Mountain Bridge Wilderness
• Are all your products sold in the US or are there any international distributors?
• Do you have a favorite place camp?
• How about a spot to get away for an hour or so and get some outdoor time during the week?
• Do you have any suggestions and/or advice for folks with a product idea to get it into production?
• What is your favorite outdoor gear purchase under $100? Sylvan Sport WayLight
• How about some of your favorite books? Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
• And Tom has a special offer for our listeners . . . 20% off on gear (excludes their trailers). The code is: outdoorbiz20
• Is there anything else you want to say or ask of our listeners?
• Where can people find you if they’d like to follow up (email, Twitter, Instagram, etc)? [e-mail]

Learn More

To learn more about Tom and SylvanSport, visit their website at: https://www.sylvansport.com/

You can also visit SylvanSport on these social sites:

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Pinterest

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Next Steps

If you enjoy interviews devoted to the outdoor industry, find us online at ricksaez.com/listen. We welcome likes and comments, and if you know someone who is also an outdoor enthusiast, go ahead and share our site with them, too.

Keywords

#camping, #outdoor activities, #industrial designer, #product production, #outdoor gear, #simplicity, #Sylvan Sport, #mountain bridge wilderness, #trade show, #Boy Scouts, #paddling. #product designer, #Auburn University, #RV industry, e3ntry-level RV, #company culture, #leadership

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