Going for it is key to success - Grant McCrabb - S6 - E18

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👤 Connect with Today’s Guest – Grant McCrabb

Website: https://www.geotrekvans.com

LinkedIn (Grant): https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-mccrabb-51b0242b5/

LinkedIn (GeoTrek Vans): https://www.linkedin.com/company/geotrek-vans

What does it take to turn a side hustle into one of the fastest-growing camper van manufacturers in the country?

In this episode, Grant McCrabb shares how he and his cousin started flipping used camper vans during the post-pandemic outdoor boom before launching GeoTrek Vans, a direct-to-consumer manufacturer disrupting the RV industry through better quality, smarter engineering, and a customer-first approach.

Grant also shares the lessons he’s learned from scaling rapidly, competing in ultra-endurance races, and overcoming one of the most pivotal moments of his life after his father’s skiing accident.

This conversation is about resilience, calculated risk, leadership, endurance, and why sometimes the best advice is simply to go for it.

What you’ll learn:

• How GeoTrek Vans grew from a side hustle into a manufacturing company

• Why endurance sports mirror entrepreneurship

• The importance of hiring people smarter than yourself

• How resilience shapes long-term success

• Why aspiring entrepreneurs should stop waiting and start building

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to A Founder's Life. I'm your host, Leo Gestetner. On this show, we dive into the real stories behind the highs and lows of entrepreneurship and how we pursue a more balanced and meaningful life along the way. This podcast is sponsored by THANKZ, helping founders like us scale with reliable remote talent. I'm joined today by Grant McCrabb. Grant, thank you for joining us. Would you like to introduce yourself to the audience? Sure thing. Thanks Leo. Yeah, my name is Grant. I am an avid adventurer, entrepreneur, endurance athlete. I like doing hard things and I think I've been fortunate to find a passion that merges a lot of those and I run a RV manufacturing business in Boulder, Colorado and we started with this kind of drive to change the RV industry, which we thought was really just bloated and kind of antiquated in its ways. Pretty inefficient in manufacturing and dealerships. And just saw a lot of opportunity to disrupt that. And yeah, in 2021, we started GeoTrek Vans, which is a direct to consumer camper van manufacturer in Boulder. Well, thank you. And one request to the audience, if you're enjoying these conversations, please do click Subscribe. Now, Grant, talk to us a little bit about, I mean, your journey is limited, because to be honest, you're quite young, but talk to us a little bit about the journey that brought you to your current business. Of course. So in 2021, we saw a pretty interesting economy. We had kind of post-COVID outdoor boom. So we saw a lot of industries that actually benefited from the pandemic. And one of those was the outdoor industry. So bikes and outdoor gear and RVs saw this huge boom in demand as consumers were you know, just kind of almost reinvigorated by life and reminded that maybe things are, that life is limited. So we saw this huge boom and during that time, my cousin Mark and I were living in Boulder. He went to CU and I had actually just moved to Denver So I've always been into hiking and hunting and fishing and I found myself in the outdoor industry with a marketing job in Denver. And Mark and I really based on just personal interest started building camper vans and flipping them as a bit of a side hustle. So we would literally find like a 2013 or 2015 used Mercedes Sprinter for 25,000 bucks, throw our money into it. go to Home Depot, buy cabinets and build the thing out. And then we would list it back, back on Facebook or back on a van listing site and we would flip vans. And, you know, I think we, we benefited from that post, pandemic demand where honestly it was not hard to, to sell these things. and I think that gave us a lot of support and early reps early on. where we were able to just get a sense for what customers wanted with the support of a hot market. And from there, think we really just obsessed over how can we refine a product. And it probably took us 15 or 20 vans to even start heading in the right direction there. To start, I think it's... As similar to many businesses, it was a lot of saying yes to requests. And in the van industry, that can mean some very custom things. So we did a lot of different layouts and materials and colors and finishes. And eventually we just started to see a pattern of what kind of our core customer really wanted, which was this much more value-based and premium offering. than what lot of what the quote unquote big RV manufacturers were making. And, you know, I remember early on being a little bit baffled by the quality, the poor quality and a lot of those manufacturers for the price they were selling them at. And it just seemed like such an obvious like green pasture opportunity to make something that was, you know, actually high quality and at a reasonable price. From there, we wisen up and began to hire engineers and van technicians and even salespeople that were far more talented than Mark and I at their respective fields. I think that took the van builds to a whole other level. Obviously took our sales to a whole other level. the next two to three years after that, we just really continued to refine. that product. As of 2025, we delivered 500 vans. And then this year and 2026, we're actually on track to deliver another 500. So by the end of the year, we're expecting to have a thousand vans on the road. And that's been some really fast growth for us, which is awesome. it's, you know, I was telling Leah, you learn. so many things every day at that growth rate. But it certainly comes with challenges as well. And I think from the GeoTrek side, that means how do we sell and service at scale nationwide? So we want to maintain this really amazing direct-to-consumer. GeoTrek owns the whole customer relationship. We want to maintain a really excellent experience. you know, as things grow, want to be able to support that nationwide. So I think that's going to be one of our big hurdles or problems to solve as we grow. and then I think just as a personal, growth at that rate, think, you know, the cliche saying of what, got you here won't get you there. learning so much every day about, just how to continue to grow. And oftentimes the constraint is Marker Eye and our knowledge of how to get to the next step. So it's an exciting time. I think we are super early on benefited a ton from committing and we have really great resilience. We're not going to give up. We said yes a lot. And now a lot of that is shifting towards people management and recruiting and making the right decisions. That's great. It sounds like you definitely made some right moves. You'll be doing pretty much two vans a day this year, that's a nice increase. Talk a little bit about how family looks for you. Yeah, I have an amazing support system in my family and actually a couple of entrepreneurs. My parents have always been super supportive of chasing your dreams. I think, you know, my two younger brothers and I have really bought into that. the two of them are entrepreneurs as well. think there's something to having. a support system where you don't feel like you have to live up to certain expectations. And I think I've noticed friends, maybe even other family fall into that constraint, which is I don't feel like I can do exactly what I want because I have to be something for somebody else. So I'm really grateful for my family to just support what I want to do. That's great. think it's important. And you actually work with family because you said your cousin is your business partner. I do, yeah, which many people advise against that, but I think for us it's been nothing but amazing, honestly. He and I have pretty complimentary skill sets. think, you know, Mark is this really amazing creative leader. He's almost an engineer without being trained as being one. He's got a really great eye for product. Whereas I think a lot of my... Core competencies are in sales and marketing and strategy and the details and numbers. I'm often the one that would say no to an idea, whereas Mark is often the one that would gas a new product line or idea or change. And I think that mix is actually very effective for us to co-lead this company. Perfect, that's what you need. You want to be complimentary rather than conflicting. That's always better. Talk to us a little bit about how health looks for you. think you've, at least you've moved out of the office now because you were staying in the office, so I think that's healthy. But whether that be mental health, physical health, sleep, I know you're a big runner. How does that health journey look for you? Of course. Yeah, I guess I left that out of my story, but Mark and I lived in our manufacturing facilities for the last three or four years and have recently split off into apartments that are separate from the business. So that's certainly been a mental health improvement. I think, you know, I've always been super health conscious. We talked about family. My mom in particular has been a really great mentoring guide for that. you know, really instilled healthy eating and active lifestyle in us. And I think I, you know, even more recently have noticed the importance of really great sleep and exercise. I personally am a huge runner. I have to be doing something active. really just helps me kind of clear my head and, you know, decompress for the day. I've found a lot of correlations actually between endurance events or ultra running is what I'm super into right now and business. think there's so much to... resilience and the kind of highs and lows that you experience in both things and I find myself cross-correlating them a lot. And what does an Ultra-endurance event look like for you? I in two weeks I'm doing the Great Divide 100 in Colorado and then on October I'm doing Moab 240. So totally different pace races. A 100 is kind of a 24 hour thing overnight whereas Moab is a three to four day thing depending on how it goes. I think the cool things about ultras that I've learned is there's this There's this kind of almost never ending cycle, at least as far as I can tell, of highs and lows. And the further you get into the race, the more extreme those get. I relate that often to a quote from Ben Horowitz. He talks about euphoria and terror and entrepreneurship being the only two feelings you ever get. And the key is to never let either of them get the best of you. And I feel that 100 % in ultras as well, which is, know, if it's three in the morning and you're at mile 70 of a hundred mile race, that can honestly be some of the lowest, um, mental points you face. Um, but then, you know, two hours later, three hours later, the sun peaks up. It can be some of the highest highs and feelings of euphoria ever. I relate that to business a lot. think, or entrepreneurship specifically, I think oftentimes, you know, there are so many issues and problems and hard things to push through. But I think that's what makes the euphoria times come. I think just understanding that's part of the game and that the high will come back around and the low will come back around. And really the success is just staying in it. Yeah, think yeah running can be I mean for me marathons, but I Ain't doing a hundred plus miles. I'll leave that for you Maybe if I was as fit as I am now, but I was your age. I'll be doing those but I don't think my body wants me to a hundred miles, but but you know I I think you know the same idea with a marathon when you know I've got to that point where I'm ready to say you know I've had a couple of marathons recently where I could easily have stopped you know, my body did not want to be doing it. You know, I've just been ill, you know, but you're like, yeah, I'm gonna finish this. I'm gonna get through it in whatever way it takes. And yes, I think that's a good story for a good parallel for entrepreneurialism, which is the highs and the lows. You know, sometimes it's, you're on those highs and sometimes you're on the lows and either way you've got to get through things. Yeah, I think part of it's a mental framework for what the race is or what the entrepreneurial journey is. So, you know, the way I would approach a marathon would be way different than a hundred miler. And in many ways, I think a marathon is harder than a hundred miler. It's way more intense. You know, your heart rate's going to be through the roof the whole time. You have this pressure to hit a certain time. Um, so I think a lot of it is kind of this framework and even the 100 to the 240 is a totally different mindset. It's more of a, it's really more of a survive and in advance on the 240. um, yeah, I think I'd, I have gained a lot of confidence actually out of, out of the endurance races by just shooting big and almost being somewhat delusional, like just signing up for the a hundred mile or signing up for the 240. and I think, yeah, that's just given me confidence in other areas, which is, you know, let's just, let's just commit to a super goal or super big goal at GeoTrek. Let's commit to building 500 bands in 2026. and I think that, that shifts your brain for how you're going to approach a problem. Yeah, I think you're 100 % right. And it's interesting, if you talk about ultra-marathons, I've got a few friends who do ultra-marathons, and I've never really thought about the comparison of being... I could actually understand why a marathon, in some ways, if you're pushing, can be harder, and 100 miles is hard, I'm not saying it's not, but as in, a marathon you are aiming for time. And I guess often with these ultras, it's not really about the time. I mean, it's about finishing. And yes, you may want to improve your own time, but it really is about finishing because there's a lot of people who just won't be able to finish it. Whereas if you're a runner with a marathon, no, you do want to beat your own time. You do want to get better and you do have a time you want to beat. Like, you know, how much with an ultra do you actually go into it with a real time goal that you 100 % want to hit versus saying You know, I want to do this. I want to finish it. I want to, yeah. Yeah, it depends who you are. You know, there's super talented ultra runners that are for sure going for a time. For me, I think it's more about, you know, the experience of those highs and lows and finishing the thing strong and feeling like I put everything into it. But yeah, to your point, think like to me in many ways, a marathon actually, or I did a Ironman last summer are far more intense and Difficult and different in different ways than a 100 or 240 There's just a full level of intensity. I think mentally like just the endurance of Moving your body for that long on a 100 Is a different hard than you know the 12 hours of an Iron Man? But those specific 12 hours definitely hurt worse than the than a any set of the of the 100. Well, I guess you are, again, for the Ironman, for those 12 hours, you aren't slowing down. mean, the whole point is you are non-stop. Whereas with most altruists, from what I understand, most are sort of off-road or the equivalent. So you are going up at some point where you're probably slowing down. You're going down. You've got your ups and downs. You've got to stop to eat. may only be for two or three minutes at a time, but at some point you have to stop. Maybe to change your shoes, whatever, like you are, you do have some kind of stop. You're channeling your inner David Goggins whilst you're out there on the hundreds. That's right. Yeah, David's an inspiration on the ultra running for sure. And maybe I'll see him at Moab. I know he did it this year. Yeah, not personally, I don't want to run on broken legs, but he is an inspiration. And beyond running, anything else you like to do for fun? Man, I am really into just being outside and traveling. And it might be obvious with the field that I'm in, but I think, you know, it's just really amazing to be able to see the country or the world and be outside and meet the people that live in different cultures and understand that the world is so much bigger than just you and your little bubble. You're your own van? Are you out there doing van life when you're out and about? Yeah, I have a van. I think that, you know, aside from just personal interest in that being fun, I think that's been super eye-opening for just continuing to refine that product. If I don't fully understand the, you know, great things and or things that need improvement within our product, then just missing out significantly on... growth and customer experience. yeah, big believer in using your product. Nice. And for you, what I mean, you certainly didn't have balance. I think you seem to have some more balance now. How would you describe your sort of your finding some form of balance now? Yeah, I think balance for me now relates a little bit to what we're talking about with the pacing of the ultras. So right now my life compared to a lot of folks is honestly not very balanced at all. I am very committed to this business. I work 70, 80 hours a week. But I think I've learned a lot about pacing and you know, if you try to attack a 240 at marathon pace, you have no shot. and I think I've had periods of my life and in business where I've tried to do that, where I've tried to go full bore sprint, um, for a long time and it just doesn't work. Um, so I think I've, I've found kind of this balance between when is it time to go and how can I decompress to get off of that and get my mind right to be able to stay in the race. And I think the times that I felt super overwhelmed or stressed or sad have been because I wasn't pacing right. and what has been for you a pivotal moment in your life? Man, a very pivotal moment in my life was my dad hit a tree while skiing on our spring break of 2017, and he was paralyzed from the waist down. He, before that, was a super, super active marathon runner and triathlete. To see him... have a lot of that taken from him, at least initially, showed me kind of the limited or finite nature of life. I think it made me much more just willing to take risk and go for it. I give that a lot of credit for just diving headfirst into GeoTrek. But then in recent years, it's been cool to see him. overcome a lot of that. He's actually done the Boston Marathon as a paraplegic and a racing chair. He's back into triathlons. He's really my biggest inspiration and to see him overcome that has been a true showing of resilience. So that was a just very, very pivotal moment of my life that happened right before I went to college out of state. So was just really quite a lot of change in a short time for me. Inspirational though that he's still back into endurance sports. And yeah, I love that. And what's one piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring entrepreneur? I think I have found a lot of success in just going for it. And I think that's a lot of what has gotten our business to this point. As I said, there's a ton for me to learn to be able to grow a medium sized business into a large one. But I think going from zero to 500 vans a year has been mainly a function of. going for it and saying yes and leaning on really great people. I think, you know, there now is more reason to say no to opportunities, which is, you know, focus can be a constraint. But I think many entrepreneurs that are starting off, the main thing that kills their journey is just, you know, not going for it. and sitting in idle and not doing anything. Yep, and one of those things that definitely comes with experience is learning to say no to things as well as you sort of just said and you know Turning down the customers. It'll be more work than you'll actually get money for it's like, you know It doesn't mean you'll lose money, but there'll be more, you know mental work more. Yeah at some point it's That's important. You know, it's working with people that you want to work with doesn't mean you have to like everyone but not working with people you don't like Things like that, yeah. So how can people find you? You can find GeoTrek at GeoTrekvans.com or GeoTrekvans on socials I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn. It's Grant McCrabb And yeah, this is this is kind of my journey and what I'm committed to for the next 30 40 years I love this stuff. I love manufacturing. I love You know building an amazing customer journey building a community and I see myself building GeoTrek for for the long term. I that. Maybe it will be flying vans at some point towards the end of that. Well, thank you for joining us. Thank you, Leo. And if you enjoyed the conversation, don't forget to subscribe.