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Would you live in a 39-inch trailer?
After seeing and hearing from Gil and Geoff over at The Hitch Hotel, I want one!
In March of 2014 while driving down the road, Geoff had an idea and immediately called Gil. How could they build a collapsible (but stable), lightweight (but sturdy), trailer for camping and mountain biking?
They had four things they need to do to get the first Hitch Hotel created:
- Develop prototypes
- Establish funding
- Patent their invention
- Find a manufacturer
This process has taken seven years, but the amount of time and capital it’s taken hasn’t slowed Gil and Geoff down. Like everyone, they have bad days, but every morning they wake up excited to finally bring this product to market.
What Heath and the guys cover in this episode:
- How Gil analyzed the opportunity in the 60-billion-dollar camping industry
- How Geoff built the first prototype on his own (and fixed it when he learned that he did wrong)
- When they finally could introduce the product to consumers
- Funding their development on Kickstarter
- How many years it took to find a manufacturer
One thing I loved about listening to Geoff and Gil was how they’ve tried to maintain transparency and honesty as their business has slowly moved forward. Because they funded with Kickstarter, they constantly would get messages from backers wondering where the product was.
But the product was slow coming. Engineering was going to take three months, then four, then six, then a year.
As their timeline increased and money dwindled, Gil found StartEngine, a platform for micro-investments. They couldn’t wait to launch…
On March 11, 2020 — days before everything in the country shut down, halting their fundraising in an instant.
Slowly as the stock market stabilized, the team over at Start Engine helped Gil and Geoff start building on funding.
Now—seven years later—the Hitch Hotel is being manufactured in China (hear why in the show).
Gil and Geoff are hesitant to say a specific date for when you can pick up a Hitch Hotel, but they will be available in the States in 2021.
You can listen to the complete interview with Gil and Geoff here:
Connect with the Hitch Hotel on Start Engine.
