Thor Tingey, CEO of Alpacka Raft, discusses what it takes to establish a new category in the outdoor industry and to build an independent, family-owned company. Twenty-five years after pioneering modern packrafting, Thor shares hard-won wisdom about balancing innovation with customer feedback, navigating explosive COVID-era growth, and why maintaining in-house production is critical to his long-term strategy. Thor explains how thoughtful, sustained growth and deep customer relationships define market leadership in the outdoor industry. Episode Highlights Domestic manufacturing philosophy : Why in-house USA production preserves critical manufacturing knowledge that offshore production erodes. Establishing a new sport : The unique challenges and responsibilities of pioneering packrafting as a recreational activity and building a market category from scratch over 25 years. Customer-driven success metrics : Defining business achievement through authentic superfan stories rather than revenue numbers—when customers evangelize your brand unprompted, you've won Innovation vs. feedback balance : Weighing when to push design boundaries versus listening to what experienced customers actually need in the field Market leadership responsibility : Grappling with the ethical dimensions of being the category creator—from social media restraint to thoughtful product positioning Links: KORE Outdoors Alpacka Rafts Sheri - a documentary about Thor's mom who was Alpacka's original founder & CEO Abundance - book Thor mentions For more about the KORE Outdoors Podcast, visit https://koreoutdoors.org/podcast/ The KORE Outdoors Podcast is supported by the Province of British Columbia.
