We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
As the founders of OME Gear, we (Stace and Jules) faced insurmountable obstacles in 2020. Our manufacturing partner went silent on us during Covid after sending 500+ units that could not be used and, as a result, we lost out on $17,000 they owed us which never got recovered. We had to research, find, and secure a new manufacturer. We could not travel to the new manufacturer. We also could not secure any funding in 2020 so we ran out of money. Then, as if those obstacles were not enough, we found out our product was hidden in a warehouse in Utah and would not be released until we paid the manufacturer.
It was then, on Christmas Eve 2020 when we looked at each other and asked the hardest question, “How much do you believe in this?”. Without hesitation, we both said “100%”. We knew the only thing we had left of significant value was our home. So we sold our house in Charleston we loved to use the equity to buy our product from our manufacturer.
So what was next after selling our home in 4 days for the full asking price? We realized the only affordable option we had was to finance an RV, wrap it in our branding, and travel for 2 1/2 years building our business and building our business one Wanderr sale at a time.
Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
OME Gear is, actually, a 25-year story in the making. In 1998, Jules’ parents, Paul and Jerie Weldon, invented a 2-in-1 concept that transformed from a lounger to a cart, after sitting on the boardwalk in Bethany Beach, DE, and seeing a single mom struggling to come off the beach with her 3 kids. They patented it, tried to take it to market, and after giving it their best shot, ran out of money and know-how.
Fast forward to 2010, 12 years after that day in Bethany Beach, Jules was at a place in her life where she needed a change. Having worked at PwC in business management consulting for a number of years, she wanted to try her hand at starting her own company. So she called up her Dad, who is one of her heroes, one morning and asked him if she could take his product to market. Through tears, he said, “Honey, that would be a dream come true.”
After partnering with a dear friend and colleague, and then the two of them selling a majority percentage of the company to a manufacturing partner, they redesigned the product, got new patents, and introduced it at trade shows where they won innovation awards at both the Surf Expo and National Hardware Show trade shows. In May 2014, Jules came to the difficult conclusion, based on a myriad of factors, and misaligned values, to resign from her own company. And, in that moment, she “lost everything” regarding her career.
She and her then partner, now wife, Stace Pierce decided Jules needed to take a break. Stace made enough income to support the family so Jules’ next step was to give her soul time to heal. Jules went to work on the creek at a Shrimp Shack, slinging shrimp. It was just what she needed to grieve not only the loss of her dream but also her mom and dad’s dream. It didn’t take long before Jules was ready to get back in the world of entrepreneurship so joined forces with Stace and started A Salty Rim, a business coaching/consulting firm, where they focused on helping small businesses grow. Jules bringing in the consulting expertise and Stace bringing her expertise in business start-ups.
In 2016, Jules and Stace decided the idea was not dead yet, and started thinking about creating something that spoke to everything they had learned. In 2018, they named their company OME Gear (Ocean + Mountains = Earth) and started to redesign the product. They raised investment money from friends and family, successfully funded on Kickstarter, and launched their flagship product, The Wanderr, in July 2021.
The Wanderr is a durable and innovative 5 in 1 transforming product that easily converts from a cart that hauls up to 150 lbs. of gear, to a low-to-the-ground beach chair, a higher field/camping chair, a fully reclinable lounger, and a camping cot/bench. It can also carry kayaks, surfboards, paddle boards, or if you are a hunter, a deer. Besides being 5 quality products in 1, The Wanderr has the ONLY wheels that roll easily on any terrain – including soft sand – and don’t require air.
The Wanderr is great for tailgating, fishing, beach, festivals, picnics, outdoor sporting events, camping, boating, and any other outdoor recreational activities where you need to haul stuff and then have comfortable seating once there.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Being women in the outdoor gear space creates quite the challenge on many fronts. One front is finding funding to support our company. The data is staggering on how many women do not receive funding for their businesses compared to their male counterparts, and if they do it is mostly in tech. We have done countless pitches, to an audience of 98% men, in the past 5 years. To date, we have raised $2M from Friends and Family. This may sound like a lot, but when you consider just the design of our product cost $350k, you realize that money goes quickly. The lesson we continue to learn is not all investors are created equal. Be careful who you receive money from. The best investors understand a startup takes time so they are patient and strive to be your biggest cheerleaders along the way.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In all actuality, the whole story of OME Gear has been one of resilience. From manufacturing, to funding, to taking a complex product to market, to educating the consumer, to building an A+ team, we have had to learn many lessons the hard way. One story that illustrates our resilience is what we talked about earlier of having to sell our home to invest the equity to buy our product back. Another story is getting on the road in a wrapped RV. We gave away, sold, or donated 95% of our “stuff” and hit the road – two 50 year old women – in a 300 sq ft. box with one small closet. Neither of us had ever ridden in an RV, let alone driven one. But for two and a half years, we traveled all across the US growing our company, building beautiful relationships, and making forever memories.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://omegear.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ome_gear/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/omegearco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieweldon123/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@omegear5632