Community Plans 2025, your input please

Hi everyone,

This is a bit different from our usual timing and email, but I’ve been reflecting on some key feedback I’ve received following our weekly newsletters. It’s become clear that there’s a significant gap in our industry that needs addressing.

This gap revolves around the lack of a dedicated forum or community for professionals in the 'outdoors' sector—whether they're just starting out or already established. While there are plenty of trade shows and events focused on sales (which certainly have their place), there isn’t a platform for us to come together and discuss strategy, build networks, and focus on growing our businesses. In other words, we’re often caught up working in the business, but there’s little opportunity to work on the business.

With that in mind, I’ve put together two initial proposals that I believe would offer real value to our community. There’s potential to expand these further down the line as well.

1. In-Person Strategy Day (USA venue)
   This would be a full-day event, centered around roundtable discussions on key topics in our industry, along with panel discussions and valuable networking opportunities. Attendees would also gain access to a dedicated Circle Community group, allowing continued conversation and collaboration. To keep the event focused and meaningful, attendance would be limited. The event is tentatively planned for March 2025, at a location that is easily accessible by both air and land. To ensure it remains sponsor-free and focused on value, there will be a reasonable fee for attendance.

2. Product-Market Fit - Course
   I’m passionate about the importance of product-market fit, especially after having raised around $5M across various product launches. I’ve seen firsthand that if you get this wrong, everything else falls apart (and I’ve got the scars to prove it!). I’m considering creating an interactive, collaborative course specifically aimed at helping outdoor businesses—new and growing—navigate this crucial area. The course would include written and video materials, workbooks, webinars, and real-world data from our past experiences. Like the strategy day, participants would also have access to a Circle Community group, and numbers would be capped to ensure high-quality engagement. And fees would be significantly discounted for this initial Beta Group.

I want to be clear: While there are already several associations, groups, and networks in our industry, my personal experiences with many of them haven’t been entirely positive. What I’m proposing here is a business-first, value-driven approach—focused on tangible outcomes, not just talk. No offense to existing groups, but I believe it’s important to set that expectation upfront.

With that in mind, I’d love your feedback on these proposals before moving forward with detailed planning. Below, you’ll find three questions to help gauge interest. I’ve also included space for additional thoughts and comments in Question 3. (Note: You’ll have to come back to the email to answer each of the three - BeeHiiv is a little clunky with polls.)

Thanks in advance. Your input is crucial for the community to succeed as a value add.

Thanks for your input, and for reading. We’re maintaining a 52% average open rate, which is huge a newsletter like this. And we now have 5,500 subscribers. Please spread the word. Here is our sign-up page again.

In the meantime, enjoy the autumn colors, wherever you can. Also feel free to reach out directly with any thoughts or feedback at [email protected]

Go n-éirí leat.

Derek.