The Archery Project

Building Ultraview: Innovation, Dealers & the Future of the Archery Industry

• Zakk Plocica • Season 1 • Episode 27

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When Kolby Hanley started 3D printing archery accessories in his Georgia Tech dorm room, he never imagined he was building what would become one of the industry's most innovative brands. In this candid conversation, the 28-year-old UltraView Archery founder shares the remarkable journey from selling water bottles at tournaments to fund his first equipment to partnering with industry giant Mathews in just five years.

Behind UltraView's polished exterior is a story of bootstrapped growth, relentless innovation, and deep industry relationships built long before the company existed. "Most people think we're backed by private equity or daddy's money," Hanley reveals, "when actually we're just a couple dozen freakishly passionate young guys trying to make something cool." This transparency extends to his business philosophy "If your product sucks, your marketing is a lie" and his approach to dealer partnerships, which he considers critical to the company's success.

Particularly valuable for archery retailers is Hanley's insight into what makes dealers successful in today's market. He identifies key factors including inventory management, community building, and effective e-commerce strategies. "Our best dealers are able to draw people to them," he explains, noting that shops must extend beyond physical retail to thrive. The conversation also explores product development, balancing direct sales with dealer support, and the entrepreneurial mindset required to build something meaningful in a niche industry.

Whether you're a dealer looking to strengthen your business, an industry professional curious about UltraView's meteoric rise, or an archer interested in the stories behind your favorite gear, this episode offers rare insight into the realities of building a successful archery brand. Follow Kolby's personal journey on Instagram @kolby_hanley for behind-the-scenes glimpses of what's coming next.

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Zakk Plocica:

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome back to another episode of the Archery Project. I'm your host, zach Plosika, and I have the owner, ceo, founder, ultraview Archery, mr Colby Hanley, not Handley Hanley. Thank you, fellas Dude, appreciate you coming down. I know it's that time of year we were just talking about it, the beach. You know, every year, it seems, around labor day time, you're here with the wife and you guys are vacationing, right sort of sort of yeah, every labor day.

Kolby Hanley:

I guess you know this is the third or fourth year, maybe fifth, in a row we come out here. So her family kind of grew up on the coast of north carolina, um, which is it's like a 30 minute drive to get here.

Zakk Plocica:

Today it was not bad which is surprising, because I figured it would have been jam-packed.

Kolby Hanley:

It can sometimes get like bad up to an hour, but it was super close to the shop here I don't know. I think like I had been UltraView had been a thing and I was looking wherever I travel somewhere I'm like who carries UltraView stuff? So I look at our system and I saw an address Ooh, this is five years ago now. Probably my extreme outfitters, let's go check them out and cause. We were in town with the family and I walked in and said, hey guys, what's up? And you were literally just saying like, yeah, every year it seems like Colby pops in around September ish for labor day. So here we are.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, it's, that's cool man, because, uh you, like you said, it's been about five years since the first time you came to our shop, which was kind of very shocking for us. We're like what's this dude doing here?

Kolby Hanley:

Out of nowhere, out of nowhere.

Zakk Plocica:

Why is he in Jacksonville, North Carolina?

Kolby Hanley:

A dealer audit.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, no doubt man.

Kolby Hanley:

Your dealer listen to this. Keep your head on a swivel.

Zakk Plocica:

That's right, man. But super cool though that you're, you know, know you're willing to do that and take the time and come check out the shops. I know it means a lot to us and all the other shops that you pop into. I mean because you know you're standing up there and I can see the guys they're like.

Kolby Hanley:

I recognize that dude, you know, just in the shop it makes more of a bombshell when uh when I got chris with me oh yeah people start to fanboy out.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, yeah, he is uh pretty well known.

Kolby Hanley:

I would say yeah yeah, he takes the shock and awe away from the owner of Ultraview when you got the crispy figure next to him.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, no, that's interesting, it's funny I talked to, so I did an interview with Chris whenever we were at Total Archery Challenge in Pennsylvania and I mean he's always been super cool and polite to us, man and willing to do whatever. And we did an interview, man, and it was funny just the people that gather around and fanboy over him.

Kolby Hanley:

It's a. I mean so, chris. I feel like every podcast I'm on, chris comes up too.

Kolby Hanley:

Chris and I are like yin and yang, bonnie and Clyde because like, we both like started our things at the same time in this industry and it is so I've been able to see it kind of from a third person view grow over time and it's like, uh, it's a, it's this thing now like he can't even go to the gas station in iowa. Now it's so different. You know, we used to grow up shooting together and we'd go to the vegas shoot and we'd be able to walk around and participate at the shoot and, like, do our thing. And now it's like, you know, if you're just going down and walking through the hallway, it's like, ok, I got to, I got to prepare for this and it's going to take it's a 10 minute walk, but it's going to be 45 minutes. You know, because you know, we, we, chris. When you're in situations like that, it's like, oh, there's Chris, he's such a personality, you know.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, you're in situations like that. It's like, oh, there's chris, he's such a personality you know, yeah, yeah, he is too. And so you guys grew up together.

Kolby Hanley:

Is that what it was? You guys went to college together, like how do you, how did that relationship form? So, let's see, um got to rejog the brain. Well, we, we, we met each other on the competitive side of the sport, okay. And so both chris and I grew up, uh, competing. It was the they called them usats.

Kolby Hanley:

At the time there was the united united states I don't even know what that stood for. The tournaments you shot a bow to qualify for the usa team. Uh, there was a whole circuit and it kind of changes year over year and I've been out of it long enough now I don't even know what it looks like. But you went to like I don't know half a dozen shoots a year to qualify to make the USA team. And then, once you made the team, you could go to it was like different world championships or world cups or what have you. And so Chris was competing very heavily on that circuit, and I was too, and so we always I mean, mean, we were like fierce competitors before we were friends and it was like who is who's this crispy kid? Like I gotta go meet him, and you know. So we competed very heavily and then, like we both had such a strong like just deep rooted passion for the sport.

Kolby Hanley:

We just kept getting more and more and more involved with the sport and participating within it and then eventually doing business within the industry and so we were like you know, we kind of knew of each other and we were competitors at first through the USA archery team, and then we both, you know, went to college. And while we were both in college is when Chris's YouTube channel became a thing, and that's also kind of when UltraView became a thing, and so his talents were storytelling, video making, helping with like the the such a broad topic, right like the brand side of things, right. And then you know my skill set being an engineer, product development, product, like all of that. When I started to make my own archery equipment and chris kind of had his youtube video really kicking up and gaining steam, there was a lot of great like collaboration, synergies, and so the very first you know it was embarrassing, like 3d printed product I had at the time, but like it was like hey, ch, you want to help me out and do some videos and help me market this widget that I made, and he was like, yeah, sure man, that sounds like fun.

Kolby Hanley:

So, like we were, I would literally fly them into town, to Atlanta, and we would jam. I mean this is like, oh my gosh, this is, it was a blast. Like you would jam all three day long weekend like Friday to to to Monday morning, cause then we had to go to like back to college and back to class and we would just work lights out like two and a half days straight, no sleep, jamming on everything from the website, pictures, video, like story marketing, to like what this product is actually going to do and help you and so like. From the very beginning we started collaborating like that. So, uh, you know, what's interesting to me is how'd you get him to buy in what you were creating.

Zakk Plocica:

I mean, there really was no, that wasn't like was there? It was just like hey, I've got this thing.

Kolby Hanley:

And he saw it and he's like that's cool, I like the concept. Yeah, yeah, let's do this together. There wasn't really that stage of it, right, because I mean, we were real good buds and I think we both just really love what we do, right, and when you have that much passion and the core of both of our passions is the same thing, like it's archery, and so I had a ton of respect for what he was doing, and you know likewise. And so when we started making archery equipment that just served our needs and our wants, you know, it was just a very natural thing, you know. And then, so when, when it became, you know, business, more business, more business, more business, like, yeah, our business relationship evolved and matured, right, but early on it was just like two geeks that were just freaking out about archery and just having the best time of our lives.

Zakk Plocica:

That's cool. I mean that's. I think that's the start of like. From what I've seen, most companies is like it's either in a garage, it's in a bedroom, it's something like that, because that's how extremefitters was started. It was started in a garage and the evolution over time I mean it didn't happen quite as fast as UltraView UltraView has. How long have you guys been doing this Like? When did you stay in the company?

Kolby Hanley:

I mean, 2018 is technically the year I think I'm going to put on the timeline as we started, but it was in college for two years. So 2020 was our first full year where, like, I also wasn't a college student. So, depending on how you kind of want to look at that, five or seven years.

Zakk Plocica:

Right. So you guys, I mean, have absolutely exploded onto the scene too. I mean taken over it's. It's wild to watch. As somebody who also operates a company, I'm like infatuated with how you've done it. I mean your network is incredible the marketing, the design, the products, the way you release stuff. I mean I talked to guys from other manufacturers, the big, the big manufacturers, so like Easton and stuff, and they're they're like we're watching Ultraview on their product launches because their product launches are untouchable. I mean, how have you, I mean, are you the brains behind all of this?

Kolby Hanley:

Uh well, absolutely not. No, like I've. I've been lucky enough to surround myself Uh, you know, my job is to surround myself around people that are smarter than me and better at what they do than what I could do Right, and so, uh, the answer to that is definitely no. However, I have very much prioritized since the beginning of the business. Um, what I would say is just strong fundamentals in a lot of key areas that I think are important for a company like UltraView, whether it is the product and the design of the product itself, which, in my opinion, is core at first and always, you know, design a fantastic product.

Kolby Hanley:

The order I say this all the time in the office it goes product marketing, sales. If your product sucks, your marketing is a lie. If your product sucks and your marketing is a lie, then you have a whole bunch of sneaky salesmen. And so, from day one at Ultraview, the goal has been, you know, and even before the product, it was the customer. And so hyper fixate and focus on the customer and their needs. And thankfully, you know, we are also the customer right.

Kolby Hanley:

Like Chris, me, everybody at Ultra V, we're all like passionate freaks about what we do, so we have a really really, really close tie on those customer needs. And so those customer needs trickle down into developing a fantastic product that's designed well, with just core, good product design. And then the same exact thing in the marketing like how are we going to, if we're going to do great product design and have great, fantastic, best-in-class products, how are we having fantastic, great, amazing, best-in-class marketing? And you know how we get creative and think about that and the strong fundamental of me kind of staking the flag like this is what we're going to do here, this is what we're going to accomplish, and then we just figure out how. And then that trickles down, you know, to to the whole supply chain.

Kolby Hanley:

Um, and so, from a very early stage it's been you know, we want to have fantastic products, we want to have the most illustrious marketing, um, because we believe our products are good, and I think we've. You know, our fast growth rate just, I think, proves like we do have good products, you know. And so I don't think we would have gotten us. There's no way we would have gotten where we have gotten today if we didn't have good products, good products that serve customer needs, right.

Zakk Plocica:

So yeah, I would I would say there wouldn't be any. I mean there wouldn't be continued growth. And that's what's happened with you guys. I mean it seems like year after year there's always something new and it's it's become a bigger and bigger thing. I mean just. I mean the partnership with Matthews.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, that was crazy.

Zakk Plocica:

Insane man. I mean that, that early to know that you guys, realistically, you put a hard deadline on 2018. And that you partnered with Matthews, the biggest archery manufacturer, bow manufacturer in the world, and you did that in what? Five or six?

Kolby Hanley:

years. Yeah, I mean, we've been drinking water from a fire hose man. But to your point on, like you know, y'all's like network how you do things like I. I got an engineering degree from Georgia Tech. There's a Georgia.

Kolby Hanley:

One of the great things about Georgia Tech is their entrepreneurial startup ecosystem programs and they support a lot of entrepreneurial spirit on campus. So I was strongly supported and had a lot of like faculty mentorship early on from Georgia Tech that I, you know, I had to go out and proactively, you know, initiate a lot of those relationships. But I had been in this industry for a decade before I and starting the business wasn't even like an idea. It wasn't. Oh, I want to make a gadget and put a business model behind it and start selling archery equipment. That never happened. It was I just started 3d printing my own gizmos and gadgets at Georgia tech to serve my own needs as a high level archer. And then it just so happened to be that people on the range wanted to buy those gizmo and gadgets off of me to help them with their archery. And you know, looking back on my life, I do have entrepreneurial tendencies and so it kind of makes sense now. But then it just rapidly grew from there.

Kolby Hanley:

And the thing is, though, is I, I had been building the relationships in this industry for 10 years, before UltraView was even a thing, and so, when you do look at just the current timeline of UltraView, oh, you know, they couldn't. They couldn't even have employees until 2020. And now you know, five years later, like they've partnered with Matthews. That doesn't like logically make sense, like what's going on there? Well, me, bruce, our head of product design, chris, everybody core and UltraView knew everybody core at Matthews, before UltraView was even a thing, we would go to the Vegas shoot. You know, our first year at the ATA show, we would, we would break away from the UltraView booth and go over and hang out at the Matthews booth just to say hey to the guys and hang out there, and so we had already built a lot of those relationships, and then so, when UltraView just kind of happened to become a thing, we already had those built.

Kolby Hanley:

Now, there's's no way like to that. You know, matthews, they have a brand to uphold. They have like I don't know how many thousands of dealers across the world that are relying on Matthews to make good decisions and offer them good products to sell. You're not going to get in these positions, just relationships alone, right, like you also have to have everything else to back it up. Good product, all of that. But looking back it's like all of the time competing, making those teams traveling, you know the world, all these tournaments and networking with you know, even like Hoyt guys, like everybody at Hoyt, I know personally everybody at Matthews, I know personally everybody at insert company here before Ultra V was even a thing and I think that's just because we were archery freaks.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, I think that's a good point. It is fascinating because when you see a lot of these companies come into the spotlight, it's like, man, how did they do it overnight? And most of the times it's not like that. There's a backstory to it, there's years in the making in order to get to that position and clearly that's what it was. It started with you guys, you know, with just a passion for the sport, being involved in it and then growing from there, which I think is a story for I think most companies you see, because everyone's always questioning it's like how did they get there so fast? And you look at anybody. I mean there's history that it takes in order to develop, in order to get to that position.

Kolby Hanley:

I'm a. I'm a huge. You know archery is a huge passion for me, but then just business and entrepreneurship is a is a huge passion as well, and it's funny uh, there's a Steve jobs quote where he's like I'm going to butcher it, but the point of it is it's surprising how long overnight successes actually take. If you go and look, it takes decades sometime for companies to have overnight successes.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, and I mean there's a lot of late nights, sleepless nights and a lot of questioning your decisions. That comes along with this, I think, for anybody that's tried to build something or do something great, and you often find yourself questioning what am I even doing?

Kolby Hanley:

You know, I find myself I mean to this day like what the heck am I doing? Actually, a lot.

Zakk Plocica:

That's me, man. Story of my life. It's like man. Is this worth it? You know, that's me, man. Story of my life. It's like man. Is this worth it? You know. And then you look back and you reflect and you're like man. We're building something that you have to honestly believe in and be passionate about and see that it serves the people and provide something for somebody.

Kolby Hanley:

It's cool to reflect on and see how far you've really come and you're not gonna do, nobody is gonna. Even if you watch like shark tank, I love shark tank just because it's so, anything entrepreneur, like entrepreneurial, I love, and they're like one of the things they look for is like passion behind the entrepreneur or business owner and like you're not going to put in what is necessary for success if you don't absolutely love what you do. And to the, you know, I, I drive myself into the ground to when I pretty much just crash and burn because I just I love what I do so much. I don't have any self-control to like take my foot off the gas and I will just work myself into the ground. You know, if I'm not, I'm not careful and I have to like step back and go Ooh, I love what I do so much. I'm just like constantly just like in it at that level.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, that's funny. I was just talking to Joey about that this morning. I'm like dude, I'm, I'm running on fumes right now, man, and you know, obviously you guys are a different level. You guys are a nationally recognized, worldwide recognized brand that builds a fantastic product, works with some of the biggest manufacturers there are, and we're at a smaller level with my company. But I mean, it's the same concept, man, I, you know, I absolutely love what I do, but you know, sometimes you end up, you know, burning, burning yourself out, man, and just I find.

Kolby Hanley:

Scale, though, is like, not a, not part of the equation. Like you can, you know a lot of where I draw inspiration from, for Ultraview are giant, billion, trillion-dollar companies. I'll read a million books a year on other successful entrepreneurs that built billion-dollar company name here. The scale is irrespective of what's going on on, and so even like, uh, there's a, we can maybe get into a story where we were selling water bottles for a dollar at a tournament. Um, we, we'll get into that in a second.

Kolby Hanley:

But like, for me, business and entrepreneurship is like set up and set up a lemonade. Stand on the side of the road and just go sell some lemonade. Like that, for me, is exciting, right, anything, anything. Starting a business and selling a product or anything. Starting a business and selling a product or anything, a service, like driving around town I'm like you know, I'm thinking like carwash service businesses, and like it, it doesn't matter, and so long as you just love what you do and you can like pour your heart into it, cause your work takes up so much of your life, like your work is the majority of your life as a human on earth, if you do not absolutely love what you do every day, you should, like, you should think about that long and hard, and, and, and you should, you should.

Kolby Hanley:

It's not going to be easy if you don't love what you do every day and you're just now realizing, ooh crap, I don't love what I do every day. If you, if you realize that and actually come to terms that step one of getting your life somewhere, to where you do want it to be. And, yeah, it may be a long road, it may take 10, 15 years, but, like I don't know man, I'm not going to be on earth for very long, right, and it's like I don't, I don't want to spend any longer than I have to doing something that just doesn't jazz me up.

Zakk Plocica:

I am a hundred percent on board with that. You know, you look around and you see a lot of people who are struggling to get by. I mean just in life, and it's very easy to make a tactical mistake or tactical error and end up in a position where you're just miserable and unhappy. I mean you see it all the time and being able to look at where you're at, reflect and figure out a way to get out of that situation I mean is, um, it's tough. I mean life is hard.

Kolby Hanley:

It is hard, man. Yeah, so water bottles. That's cause, it's just cause it's a great story. So have you heard this?

Zakk Plocica:

I think I've spoken to it on a couple of podcasts I have not. No, okay.

Kolby Hanley:

So, and this is why I'm telling you, man, like entrepreneurial spirits, it's just, it's, it's somewhere inside of me deep. We were at, um, where were we Indoor nationals? Uh, nfaa indoor nationals. It was in like Louisville, kentucky, big, big tournament, and I was, uh was a broke college kid, like I didn't come from much either. We were, we were speaking beforehand about like I was on the MFJJ podcast and part of that podcast was like people apparently think I come from a lot of daddy's money.

Zakk Plocica:

It's like it's interesting how the internet just assumes that based off of an interview or an image or whatnot for like lack of better.

Kolby Hanley:

Like you know, painting a full picture Like I pretty much came from nothing and and you know I've built what I've had just from bootstrapping the business from. You know, I always say a $500 3d printer. But even before that, at indoor nationals in Louisville, kentucky, I was such a broke college kid I couldn't afford the registration fee to shoot the tournament at this time I was just like rubbing. I couldn't rub two nickels together. And what tournaments I could afford to shoot, just oh, I happen to be able to afford this one, so I'm shooting it. But I could afford to just jump in George Riles, his car, one of my buddies in Georgia, big life mentor, archery coach, because he was taking him and his team up. I could afford to jump in his car for free and sleep on the floor of his hotel room for free. And he was gracious enough to let me sleep on the floor of his hotel room for free. And so I get to the shoot and I'm there just to be there, just to be in the thick of it. And I get there, and I'm there just to be there, just to be in the thick of it. And I get there and I hear everybody in the entire arena complaining water is $4 a bottle and this was like in 2017. So this was almost a decade ago. Water is $4 a bottle. It's probably $6 or $7 nowadays. And I'm like geez, I'm crow.

Kolby Hanley:

There was a Walgreens on the corner so I literally grabbed. It was funny, I think I grabbed. Chris was there too. I think I grabbed his car or something, took his car down to the Walgreens, loaded it up with flats of water and then, like, smuggled them into the arena without being seen and I took a Sharpie pen on a piece of cardboard and wrote $1 bottles of water and walked around the whole every shooting line holding that cardboard thing out in front and everybody water boy, water, boy, water. I'll take three.

Kolby Hanley:

And I went, I don't know, a couple hours before they shut me down like not being a licensed vendor in the arena, but it was like I made a couple I think it was like $400 or $500 in selling $1 bottles of water at that event, in selling $1 bottles of water at that event. And then and then I went out and used most of that money to buy my first 3d printer, which then started making grips and release accessories, and our first scopes at ultra view, which I then bought that 3d printer with the sole intentions of hey, I'm going to buy this 3d printer because I'm into 3d printing and I think I could sell enough of these gadgets just to pay for the 3d printer. And that was my. You know, that was my justification of the purchase. You know how you buy things and you got to justify buying things.

Zakk Plocica:

Dude, you don't have to, you don't have to tell me anything. We were just talking about this this morning.

Kolby Hanley:

And so my justification of buying a 3D printer cause I just personally wanted a 3d printer was I'll sell enough of these grips, gizmos and gadgets off of it at the archery range to pay for the damn thing. And now here I am, eight years later, with like 50 employees, 20,000 square foot facility that's just cranking out archery equipment every day.

Zakk Plocica:

What a good story.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, there's some deep rooted like I don't know autism or something inside of me. There's something wrong, oh my gosh.

Zakk Plocica:

So I mean it seems like I mean obviously you love archery and you have a passion for it, but I mean, is the bigger passion business and entrepreneurship?

Kolby Hanley:

and it has been lately, yeah, um dude.

Zakk Plocica:

so I'm super fascinated people that think like that and approach things that way and can look at things from a different perspective and turn it into a business. Because that's that's me, that's kind of my my world that I live in. It's just always been fascinating to watch people just how their minds work in order to to approach things that way.

Kolby Hanley:

It takes practice. It takes a lot of practice and you'll realize you know I've made a lot of mistakes too, but like you, you take practice. It takes getting burnt, it takes scar tissue, and then you know only after doing it. For you know, I haven't even been doing this for a decade yet, but I imagine you know a couple of decades in for making a lot of mistakes and you learn a lot and you can get real good.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, I mean resilience, I think that's one of the biggest traits that you gain from it is willing to stand back up after you've constantly been knocked down or you know you. You know the struggles that it creates, and being able to okay you know, pull back, re-engage, refocus and then re-attack. Whatever you're doing with a, you know, with the same eager and passion that you've had.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, it takes cause, I think think one of the things it's easy when everything is going well, right, right, like when everything's a home run, when everything is going to plan, and it's just like win after win after win. It's like easy and you can't come in super motivated. But you know, if you've been in business long enough, you know if you've been in business long enough, you know it goes through cycles, ups and downs, right, and I think it's. It's not the, you know, it's not the ups where you really learn, it's the, the troughs of what I would I actually call them the troughs of desperation and despair, of staring into the unknown.

Kolby Hanley:

And like story of my life when, like, you don't know if, like whether you you know whether you own an archery shop. Like anybody listening this that has an archery shop, what I consider the depths of despair, of unknown, is when you're sitting at the register and you're wondering if someone's going to walk in those doors today and you got to have someone walk in that door today to meet payroll next week. That is the depths of despair and unknown. And not a lot of people know what that feels like, right, but that's where you learn. That's where, if you can figure that out, get through that you like, just get stronger, for when you do have your next period of success and growth and you know, your next prosperous season, you'll be so much stronger and it will be even more prosperous than it was had you not gone through that season.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, no, absolutely I agree. I think that's where um, yeah, I mean you, you said it, you said it, great You're. You don't learn from all of those winnings and all you know being on top. It's the failures that really mold you and hone you and teach you the most. I mean I think that's for most things in life.

Zakk Plocica:

I mean, if it's always good man, I mean it's easy but I mean you really, when you're really tested, that's where you, you know you can take a step back and assess and be like, okay, you know, let's, let's, let's try this again, you also have to have it's a balance too, cause you also have to be delusionally optimistic. Yes, you do all the time. It's dude. It's hard to maintain that mindset because it's it's draining at times.

Kolby Hanley:

You can see it and so, like I, the um, the startup entrepreneurial ecosystem at Georgia tech I'm still pretty involved in and you can see, like a lot of the you know, I say young kids now gosh college kids, which you know maybe are almost 10 years younger than me now.

Zakk Plocica:

Um. So how old are?

Kolby Hanley:

you, I'm 28. You're 28.

Zakk Plocica:

I asked my wife on the way up here.

Kolby Hanley:

I said, babe, how old are we? I'm like am I 27? She's like no, we're 28.

Zakk Plocica:

I'm like ugh. It only gets worse. Don't worry, it only gets worse.

Kolby Hanley:

But you can see these college kids that are pursuing their passions or dreams or their startup idea, Like they are. So, and it's good because you got to be at that stage, you know, delusionally optimistic of the future and everything. It's like you haven't been punched in the mouth yet.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, it's coming, buddy and stand by you know, you can see it, I can see it in a lot of my great mentors. You know when I am that way and I can just tell when they know. But it's like when you do get to the point of your career where you really have that sage wisdom and experience, like you, just, you just know like life goes through its seasons and accepts and its downs and you know, oh they're, you know they're driving pretty fast towards a cliff over there, but I think they're okay and they'll figure it out and I'll advise them this. But some lessons they have to learn, you know, their own way, and so I try to do my best to stay ahead of the curve. And you know I read a lot because I think I like give me, you know, give me wisdom.

Kolby Hanley:

Like where can I go get wisdom to make good decisions? For, you know, not even just like my employees, but like the businesses, like Extreme Outfitters that now rely on my products to do well, like you guys invest in our products. You make an investment in our inventory to sit on your shelf because you expect it's going to be a good product that will sell and will make a customer happy and then ultimately come back to your store, right, and so it does not. You know, it does not slip my mind that not just you, but every dealer that we work with is investing in UltraView and I have a responsibility to not just look after, you know, within the four walls of UltraView, but also every single you know value stakeholder. Every single dealer that we have, every single person that's stocking one of our products is really expecting UltraView, ultimately me, to make good business decisions on behalf of everybody that has a stake in the game.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, so that's obviously very near and dear to me. Right, the dealer side of things, the network, the community support that comes along with it. Dealer side of things, the network, the community support that comes along with it, and I mean in talking with you it seems like Ultraview sees the dealers as partners.

Zakk Plocica:

I would assume Mm-hmm. So how do you guys balance direct to consumer sales with dealer partnerships? How do you keep from cutting our throat, like, because that's what we see in a lot? Now, right, things have really changed since COVID. I'll say you know, as dealers we're a lot of us are battling manufacturers at this point because they go direct to consumer sales. Right, they're running sales, they're cutting the margin out from under us, and then you know we're setting on inventory. You know, how do you guys balance? That and take care of your dealers.

Kolby Hanley:

Right, it's actually a great question and I was going to. I wanted to talk to you about this today, but we'll talk about it on the podcast because I'm I told you when we started I'm a pretty open guy. So, um, there's a lot here on, make sure I cover it all and I'll start from the beginning. So ultra views started in a dorm room and selling 3d printed gizmos and gadgets which I think my, I don't think I know. Our first ever dealer was lancaster, and, and they that's crazy.

Kolby Hanley:

That's such a big they do such a good job and actually shout out to the person is like steve yoder, like a guy. He's at their vp purchasing. He does such a good job of staying in the know of what's there, what's not. And I think one of Lancaster's whether it's intentional or not, I don't know One of their strategic delimiters is they want to carry everything and so they want to carry everything, and if something gets hot, they want to make sure it's there and then they'll stay on it. But that aside, there's absolutely no way, 0% chance UltraView would ever be a thing had I not had the ability to sell really what they were were my ideas online, out of my dorm room with a 3D printer, and so the very, very early business model that made UltraView become a thing was have an idea, print it with a 3D printer, and it was generally grips for any type of bow release accessories. The first product was actually a light kit which used ultraviolet light to help you see better hence the name UltraView and put it on Facebook or Instagram and then link it to a website and sell it, and so that's what put us on the map, and very, very early on in the business it was, you know, idea, idea, idea, print, iterate, improve and every you know quarter we just kept growing with more products and eventually we started machining. You know our first machine product was a scope housing. We started machining.

Kolby Hanley:

You know our first machine product was a scope housing and, you know, eventually we became an enough of a buzz word in the industry where some dealers started to reach out and then it became just a very natural shift of Hmm, okay, like how am I gonna? This dealer reached out and they want to stock our stuff. Like how, how am I gonna make this happen? And you know, we I remember like I drafted our first ever like dealer program, like bronze, silver, gold and our margins and all of that. I was still probably in a college dorm room at the time and so it was like sure, you want to buy this, here's your margin, you can buy it. And when I started business I didn't come from a business background either, I didn't know what terms were Like seriously, yeah, I understand all that, me neither.

Kolby Hanley:

And so when our first dealer wanted to pay with net 30 terms, like didn't even know what that was, I said sure, and then I'm like where? Like I'm like I shipped them their stuff, like where's the check? Because, like I waited weeks and weeks and weeks. I'm like, uh are they gonna they're gonna pay me. And it finally got to the point where I was gonna reach out and the check showed up in the mail and I'm like, oh, that's when it clicked so this is pre-chat and all that too.

Zakk Plocica:

You can't just search it as easy.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah and so you know dealers wanting in on it. Uh, and this was relatively early still probably college dorm room front was pretty pretty early on, and so from the very beginning we tried to work them in. But I think it's important to at least at ultra view certainly myself have you know that value train that I walked you through early on where it's like customer product marketing, sales. The very genesis of this is actually solving customer problems, providing a product that's better, serves them, gives them value. And for us, very early on, but even it's still core to how we operate now is having that direct relationship with customers, getting that immediate feedback and having that really no intermediary between us communicating with them, whether it's social media, sales, customer service, what have you? We love to have at least a portion of just direct. We're plugged into the customer because that's what really matters at the end of the day, and so it provides us a benefit to really make good products through that way. But to your point earlier, we care personally, like I say we cause, we do, but if it means more to anybody listening like I, personally care a lot about our dealer base, and especially to the point of when you know we looked at our slider to launch the dealer support was unbelievable, like something like we had never seen before, type of unbelievable. And to my point earlier that, like, dealers are investing in UltraView to provide a good product, to give them customers something of value, so that they enjoy the sport and ultimately come back Right. And so the the the, the landscape of really what we're discussing is e-commerce. Right, the landscape of e-commerce is, whether it's the manufacturer or you know, you guys are on the East coast or a dealer on the West coast, anybody, anybody can have a website, and so, whether it's the manufacturer or another dealer or not, it's, it levels all of the playing fields. And so we are.

Kolby Hanley:

Every time we come out with a new product or hit a new, new life cycle with our dealer year, we're always trying to bolster dealer margins. You know, we know that's, that's every. You know, we know if we ask dealers what they want, the top of the list is always more margin, right, and so we always know that we're always trying to get that as best we can. We're also trying to support them best we can. So when we launch a product, we really try to work in everybody first. So before we even publicly launch, we let our whole dealer base know or like hey everybody, we got this new product coming out and then you know we have our dealer portal, you can log in, get your orders placed and with slider two, we were able to ship. I mean, pretty dang.

Kolby Hanley:

Almost every dealer had slider to inventory before or within a couple weeks of launch, and so the longer history you've had with us, you know, the more business you do with us, the you know the kind of the higher on the dealer tier you are.

Kolby Hanley:

But most of our dealer base had slider to inventory when we launched, which was huge for the dealer because they can go look, we have slider to inventory in stock. Huge for the dealer because they can go look, we have slider to inventory in stock. And so I would recommend that every single dealer actually has a website with their products for sale and I would invite them to crank that website as hard as they can and maybe you become, you know, a national brand because of it, and we are more. You know a national brand because of it and we are more. You know we support a lot of our dealers that actually wanted to chat with you about this today, like we. I can get you linked with you know our marketing manager, so you guys can get all new website imagery copy. We can get, like all your, all the products set up right for your website.

Zakk Plocica:

I'm in a massive e-commerce transition right now so we're transitioning out to Shopify. Yeah great, finally Great, but it has been an undertaking.

Kolby Hanley:

Is that live yet? No, but it's still in the works.

Zakk Plocica:

We're still hammering this project.

Kolby Hanley:

Okay.

Zakk Plocica:

Consuming me.

Kolby Hanley:

So one of the things I wanted to chat with you about today was, just like I'll connect you via email, but like I'll connect you with our marketing team and we can get you all the website you know, even hero imagery for landing pages or everything you need, we'll get to you. But we support all of our dealers in their e-commerce place too, and I think a lot of not a lot of but there are a portion of people out there who don't have a local dealer or what have you, and so you know we understand the the the landscape of e-commerce, no-transcript, but you could have a website and it's not even like let's just take Ultraview out of the equation. Like your competitor down the street could have a website, but also a dealer in California could have a website, and you could would recommend every dealer to crank it as hard as you can, and when we look at our list of dealers, the dealers that perform the best with our products do have a website and they do sell it online.

Zakk Plocica:

I think so. For me, when I came into archery it still seems to me kind of old school, right. A lot of the shops that I've kind of ventured into or observed from the outside, um, I look at some of them. I mean COVID was the big transition point for for when shops were like, oh shit, e-commerce, that's a thing I need, that I can't rely low just on local because we're shut down. Um, and it seemed like archery industry is kind of still operates, kind of old school. In some places that I've been to and I would agree, I think e-commerce is critical, for I don't care what business you have for for a business in general, but I do like whenever the, the brands that we work to look at, look out for their dealers, right, so they enforce map policies because it does level the paying field and then you know they're able to, like I said, the big thing is like the dealer launches right, like you guys did, which is incredible because we've had launches where you, you can't get any inventory ever and that's fair.

Kolby Hanley:

Right, and I say that that would be. A fair point of concern would be if a manufacturer is launching a product but then embargoing inventory to their website and preventing shipping from any other partner Because archery still, people still want to go into a shop and put hands on it, feel it, grab it and buy it.

Zakk Plocica:

They're still.

Kolby Hanley:

I mean that's massive in this industry and that's why I think shops are critical for the archery industry, and so we, you know, when we launched a product, we let our entire dealer base know that, hey, new product coming out. You may want to get this on order, because our best dealers also buy in, buy in, get the inventory. We get them the inventory. So when we do launch, that dealer can go hey, ultra viewers came out with a new site and we have them here, by the way, so you can walk in this weekend and pick one up or just look at it If you're curious. Um, those dealers do the best, but it would not be it would certainly not be okay If manufacturers were launching a product, building all that hype, getting dealer orders in on that product beforehand and then having inventory and not shipping. I think one of the things we do, though, is it's also a.

Kolby Hanley:

It kind of works both ways, though, too, because you, you, you will have accounts where we open it up a month you know, sometimes it's 30 days. Sometimes we try to keep it closer to our chest, so maybe it's a couple of weeks. We open it up, we allow all accounts to place their orders Most accounts place orders and get in ahead of time and do do it, and then you'll launch the product and, you know, a couple of weeks after the fact, you, you'll have your, your shop. That was like, hey, like we, we just placed our order and, like you know, we're, you're shipping online, but we don't have our order. It's like, well, yeah, we're on a huge backlog now, like we, you know, we took our whole dealer base order in first. Our, our website does have product in stock, but, like, we gave you 40, this was 45 days ago, and so it is a balance and it's, you know, if we don't and I will say it's core to us generating demand. I will say it's core to us generating demand Because what I think a lot of dealers like about the best brands that they work with is they're able to generate a strong enough demand to bring foot traffic into the retail store.

Kolby Hanley:

Right, and I think one of the good things dealers can leverage which manufacturers can't is they can have that inventory, which this is probably a little too nerdy and geeky to talk about on the podcast. So I'm curious to hear how you're managing your inventory for online sales versus retail after this. But like, they can have their inventory on in store but then they can also offer that for sale online and if there's enough of a demand, you want that customer coming into your store, building that personal relationship, maybe grabbing something else while they're in the store. Right, and that is something a dealer should really leverage is that you can have this one product. You could have one product in stock on a shelf in your retail store. If there's enough demand from that manufacturer, a customer may walk in and want to look at it. Maybe they buy something else. You can also have that online for sale in the entire worldwide web of e-commerce, and if somebody in Minnesota happens to just look for one that's in stock anywhere and it happens to be yours, they can grab it, and so it's certainly a balance. It's certainly a balance that I think we try to be to be very um, you know intentional about. We very much support our dealer base.

Kolby Hanley:

When it comes to map. Uh, we're very persnickety about map, and not just map, but where our products are sold right, like so. You're not going to find an ultra-reproduct on Amazon or eBay or any of those third-party marketplaces, and we're're very we're sticklers about that. We're sticklers about map. We are um very up front with our deal. I'm working on our 2026 dealer like program and so this is all just front of mind. But there's four map holidays on the ultra view brand. There's four days of map holiday on the ultra view brand and it's four days of map holiday on the ultra rebrand.

Kolby Hanley:

And it's historic to like our core stories of business. And it's black Friday to cyber Monday four days a year. It's like the wild West and it's it's cause, it's fun, the customers love it very early on in the business. It's a whole other story of I. You know I had placed all my orders for our scope housings and stuff wasn't selling. I was selling one or two scope housings a week. This was when I was in the corner of George's Archery Shop in a room probably not much bigger than this, and I had placed my order for scopes from the local machinist. And when you're machining products, you got to buy in bulk to get your economies of scale and pricing right. And well, I was selling one or two scopes a week and this is one of those moments of, you know, of unknown despair.

Kolby Hanley:

Right, you're just staring into the abyss of the unknown it was like, oh, this sucks, because every two weeks I had to go to the machinist and write a check for more scopes that I was just stacking up in a pile. And that year it wasn't like as intentional as you would think. But it's oh, it's black Friday, time to run a sale. So we put on a sale and we were a brand new company. At the time Nobody knew really what we were, what we were about or what the product was. And, holy crap, did it rip on Black Friday? It was like really a gift from God type of level of a phenomenon. It was like the floodgates opened. It seemed like that entire pile of scopes went to nothing and we shipped an insane amount of product into the marketplace. And then what happened is people got it in their hands and they went holy crap, this is awesome. And then they told five of their buddies and then, ever since then, that was like 20, that was probably 2018 or 2019. It was the UltraView 2 scope housing. Ever since then it was lights out for like five years straight. Because people got it, they went holy crap, this is awesome. And they told their friends through word of mouth, Like that's what put us on the map.

Kolby Hanley:

And so, like, core to business origin story was like Black Friday, so every year, we've tried to just like pay homage to that and it's like, hey, black Friday, it's crazy time of year to just like pay homage to that and it's like, hey, black Friday, it's crazy time of year to get your hands on some ultra big year Cause.

Kolby Hanley:

If you've been on the fence and you maybe you're thinking about it, maybe not, our stuff is expensive. Yes, it's, it's top of the pyramid premium, like there's a there's, it's best in class, bar none. It's a lot to spend on a widget. If you're on the fence, now's a great time to get in, and so a lot of people jump over the fence and we don't get a lot of returns and a lot of the people that get it go holy crap, this is kind of awesome, and they tell their buddy and it's just that flywheel. And so, four days a year, wild West, everybody can participate on every website, every retail location, anywhere, and that's like the only four days a year, maps broken, and that's kind of the like. That's the kind of the why behind it, though, too.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, I understand. I think most I mean the good companies that we dealt with. They have a similar, they operate in a similar fashion, right? So the companies that, like as a dealer, you want to work with, you've nailed it right. They generate interest within the product, like they're good at driving foot traffic to the dealer and getting people in the door, because when you have a product that I've got to market and I've got to sale and I've got to push and there's no marketing from the manufacturer side, it's a difficult, yeah, it's a difficult.

Zakk Plocica:

It's very challenging, very challenging and not very rewarding because you know, I mean I'm putting in the money for whether it's imagery or videos and we're doing all the legwork. It just it's tough. So it is it's incredible to work with brands that realize how important quality marketing really is in order to get people in the door, cause, at the end of the day, for us, I'm trying to get people in the door, I want people to walk in and we want to carry the product that people want and want to put their hands on. Um, and you know that's refreshing because there's some out there that are still missing the mark. You know it's 2025, you know, missing the mark on the marketing.

Zakk Plocica:

How critical it is. Media is important to a brand.

Zakk Plocica:

Right, yeah, and that's why we, we and I mean I know our a lot of our best dealers personally, you know, like I mean no different than than like coming out here and which I say is super cool, man, again, that you take the time to come out and you've gone on these different podcasts and you put yourself out there, right, because this is completely different, right? So going off track, sorry, willing to put yourself out there and have open and honest conversations and, like you've said, you're very transparent, which is refreshing to see, because there's some that we have no idea who the face of the company is. So I commend you on that, man. That's pretty awesome.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, I mean as core to who you know, I've been sucked in by the business growing so fast, like I haven't been out as much as I would prefer, but as much as I can I try to be in.

Kolby Hanley:

You know, when we open up the gates early on to dealers and go, hey, something new is coming, our best dealers always are just on their toes, they pay attention, they get their orders in and man, I'll tell you, one of the things we've done early on that has been a strategic delimiter from us to everybody else in the industry is like we ship.

Kolby Hanley:

You know, a lot of people in the industry like don't ship, which seems amazingly confusing to me because, like you don't, you don't make any money on a product that doesn't ship both manufacturing and the dealer, right. And so we open up pre-ordering for new products. Our best dealers always get in early so that when you do have that demand, when UltraView opens up the, you know, when we pull the curtain off and a dealer can go, they can post something as simple as they can post on their Instagram story or wherever they communicate to their you know dealer base, whether it's email, or their customer base, whether it's email or what they can go. Hey, new UV slider to in stock in the store. Like come check it out. Like that brings people into the shop.

Zakk Plocica:

Critical. Yeah, like that's as a shop, that's what we need People walking in the door, it's tough. I mean archery is a pretty small niche when you compare it to any other industry. Um, and one thing I have noticed is it seems like there are less and less good shops from you know we we go to the total archery events as you guys do. We run into Billy and the crew there all the time Shout out Billy.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, no doubt man, Good dude he represents you guys really, really well and, um, you know, you guys just do a good job at these events, interacting with the public. Um, some good personalities out there, yeah, uh, but I lost my train of thought. What were we talking about? The shops? It's important getting people in the shops in the shops.

Kolby Hanley:

But I don't know. I was thinking, as you're saying, that like I think you guys do a really good job. I know we were on the phone probably a couple months ago now and I was was like hey, man, also I just kind of want to let you know like your stuff is like looking great, whether it's you know.

Zakk Plocica:

Shout out, Joey.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, like I follow you guys Really, any dealer that has a social media platform I try to follow that carries UltraView stuff and it's like your stuff looks. We came in back here. I'm like you guys really your, your. Your media looks great, whether it's your podcast, youtube instructionals or Instagram reels, and it's like it takes time.

Kolby Hanley:

You know you can't just turn that on and expect your entire business to change overnight, but I think where at least I'm, I get a unique perspective in the industry because I get to see you know, we work with several hundred dealers now and I can kind of get to see who is actually doing the best and then why Right.

Kolby Hanley:

And so I can very clearly see that our best dealers are ones that are able to have the online presence. They are able to build a, a sub community kind of underneath their brand name and have a following and offer. You know whether it's just great entertaining content or great informational content, and they're doing the full instructional how to breakdowns or the in the field. This is how you do it to just making funny videos or just like controversial videos, like talking, talking about stuff right, like that's good, and our best dealers are doing that and I think you guys have done a great job to set yourself up for success there. And then it's like you get the e-commerce in place, you get the, which it's a broad term, but your social media, it's really just media Now. Social media, get rid of the media, it's really just media now.

Zakk Plocica:

Social media.

Kolby Hanley:

Get rid of the social. It's really just media. You put that out there and then you just keep hammering on it and you just make good stuff. The thing I recommend to anybody is, like don't just do a good job, make good quality things and like people will learn, people will come and it will grow over time. And then you fast forward five, 10 years and like you could have an entire national brand behind the thing now, right, so that's what's interesting for us, right?

Zakk Plocica:

We're a small shop in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and we go to these total archery events or anywhere, and uh, we're net, we're recognized outside of our community, which is super cool, and they recognize you by name and it's odd right. If you've never been in that, because people are like hey Zach, or hey JR or hey Colby, whoever, and you're like man, I've never even been here.

Zakk Plocica:

We're at a Walmart in Tennessee and someone's flagging you down and it's cool to see that impact and it's hard when you look at social media and I look at our stuff there's a lot of.

Kolby Hanley:

You gotta have thick skin, dude. I know you know better than anybody. The trolls like oh my gosh, I can't even the Facebook group chats, dude, or the Facebook, what are they called? The Facebook groups? I think that's what they are. Oh my God, I can't even I groups. I think that's what they are.

Zakk Plocica:

Oh my God, I can't even, I can't, even, I just don't even anymore. It's hard because you feel like you're trying to do something honest and and good to the best of your ability, right? I'm by no means saying I am an expert in any of this, but I do have a lot of experience and experience that I can share. You know not, I don't I'm not telling you how to do it. This is just my experience with things and I try to be, or we try to be, as unbiased as we can with things and man there are some people that it's like man. This is just my experience.

Kolby Hanley:

It's not the end, all be all. Why are you angry?

Zakk Plocica:

Why are you?

Kolby Hanley:

angry. Yeah, there's a lot. I don't know why. It's just like a lot of our whole separate podcast in itself, but it's like, yeah, I don't know it's, but I don't know it's. It's good, I guess, cause people are talking and people care, right? You?

Kolby Hanley:

know and I think we, you know, I try to be aware of it as much as possible. I think what? What does bother me is when a lot of stuff, there's opinions, there's thoughts of like, oh, you know, a lot, of, a lot of it can be product related, oh, maybe there's an issue, and, like I, actually we care a lot about that. We fix our products fast, we stand behind everything that we make and so we're able to catch it. But it's just like part of our slider to brand film. There's a, there's a launch film, there's a section where it's like you know, there's a lot of noise out there and, you know, when you're building a business any type of business it's you have to filter out the noise from the actual, real feedback. And that's why I talk about being directly linked with our customers, right, and it's like what, what is just internet noise versus what is actually real feedback that we should take and implement. And I think the trolls, the trolls.

Zakk Plocica:

I hate saying the word man.

Kolby Hanley:

I know, I don't know, they're fun, I love them. Shout out trolls.

Zakk Plocica:

I mean it's going to be in, no matter what, it's just you look at some of them.

Kolby Hanley:

But it's so easy, man. You know how easy it would be to just to fabricate Instagram real. That you know would just go rocket ship viral just by like, just stoking the stoking the controversy. You could do it so intentionally and it's just like. And when you see what is it called? Like satire media or something like that it's like you see that on Instagram so much nowadays and like, oh, this is clearly like fabricated and fake.

Zakk Plocica:

But, like everybody in the comments, is just like losing their mind and it's hilarious, heating it up man, yeah, man, I and that's, I mean it's, it's cool to see you out and doing that and willing to to put yourself out there for that, because I mean, anybody can criticize literally anything for anything and everything. Um, but it is refreshing and I think this is a cool. This is why I really wanted to have this conversation with you. Was so that one for me? I just like talking, I like your mindset, and the more I've talked to you about the entrepreneurial side of things business, it's, it's intrigued me. Um, but your willingness to be direct with everything and be open and honest about it, because I think there's a lot that people want to know, like what is the mission behind, what does the actual owner have?

Kolby Hanley:

to say about this.

Zakk Plocica:

And there's a lot of companies that don't do that. I just did a podcast with the CEO of PSE now and he was the same man. It's cool to see these companies coming on board and being willing to be open and honest and have a real conversation.

Kolby Hanley:

Right. I mean I think we one of the things that I've seen happen now the ultra he's been around long enough to go through many different life cycles. It's like early on everybody knew who we were, what we were about, our story, and I think our very early success just became so much to like, just, you know, drinking water from a fire hose you know we had. What happened to me is I got sucked into the business, right, I got sucked into the business to when you're ripping off that fast, I mean it's, it's a million issues and problems a day that need to be solved, like this, right. And so you got sucked in and I think we did lose some of the face of the company for lack of a better term, and not just the face, but like the story, like what is UltraView? How did they get here? Because we started in target archery too. You know we started making like target archery equipment and really catering and focusing on that subset of the archery market. And then, you know we, as we started to grow, expand and go oh wait, this is like actually a real business now. Uh, what you know in regard, we make products and sell products in the archery world. If we're going to make products and sell products in the archery world and we're a business and we want to be a great business. What are we going to sell? And it's like, well, uh, you're going to sell bow hunting equipment. Now, I don't come from a like freakishly bow hunting background, like Chris and a lot of people at Ultra V do. I come from the target archery freak side background and so, uh, you know, we we are able to lean on a lot of institutional like knowledge internally.

Kolby Hanley:

But when we made that shift to and it was really the slider, I think it was this button button was like our first half step into bow hunting Cause it's like it's really a bow hunting, you can use it for target archery. It's like a best in class thumb button, but like it was really designed with the bow hunter in mind. But slider one was really like oh, this is a bow hunting sliding site through and through. There's zero or very little application target archery here. Lighting site through and through. There's zero or very little application target archery here.

Kolby Hanley:

It's like, uh, this brand new, awesome site which is way better than everything else, uh, just hit the market from a name brand of ultra view and bowhunting and a lot of people in the industry didn't know, like where we came from, what we were about. They don't know me or anything. And it's like oh, this random name, ultra view we present as a big company. Like if you go to our website, if you see our marketing materials, our videos, how we present is like a mature, well-funded, like company, like we're really actually the opposite of that and it's like you know, the business has been bootstrapped from a broke college kids 3d printer to what we are today and it's just like we present that way because we try to come out with quality stuff, not just from a product, from a marketing standpoint.

Kolby Hanley:

But it doesn't really show the scrappy side of the business. And I think we've worked really hard lately and I think we've done a good job where we're continuing to push on it hard but like really open the curtain and show. And so the Slider 2 launch film it has like almost a quarter million views on YouTube now it really it was our first big step but like showing like what we're all about I mean we're everybody at the business is, I don't know, probably 80% of our staff. It's less than 30.

Kolby Hanley:

Like we're young company so I'm I'm 28, our head of ops is 27. Uh, craig uh who, who runs brandon marketing like he's in his 30s. His whole team is really young, davis's whole team is really young and it's like we are all. I will say that we're all insanely talented and you know I have, I have pretty high standards and everybody on the team is just like so freakishly good at what they do, whether it's ops, product design, brand and marketing, like everything is we do present as a very large company, but we don't really show the inner workings of actually we're really just a you know couple dozen uh freakishly passionate young guys that are trying to like really make something cool and awesome here and I think over the years we'll we'll kind of clean the air up on that.

Kolby Hanley:

But a lot of people like, Ooh, this, you know, they thought we were like I don't know, backed by like private equity or daddy's money deep pockets and they're think we're like a Chinese like brand and it's just like we're not really any of that actually. Actually, we are really core to the sport in a level that most people have no idea. I like it. I like it, man.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, that's cool to hear. We have a lot.

Kolby Hanley:

we have a lot going on this as a dealer. Stay tuned. Lots of things coming. I mean, we still have a lot more in our pockets for the back half of the year here and I think we're going to even open up that curtain, like at a level I don't think, by January 1st. I don't think anybody is going to have a question on who we are, what we're about. Cool, I'm excited for it. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica:

So let me ask you this we're getting up there in time. You know, archery is every year. It's about trying to innovate something new right, or at least present something new. I mean, that's, that's the market. We see it in the comments from all the people. It's like it's another bow. It does the same thing. There's a slight change. How do you guys keep up with the innovation side? Like, do you? I know we talked about a little bit, but do you like feel forced? Like oh my gosh, it's overwhelming. It's another year. We gotta got to drop something new to stay relevant. How do you battle?

Kolby Hanley:

that that's a great question. There's a lot to it. Like I said, I'm a I'm a transparent guy, so I'm gonna probably give you an answer that most people wouldn't Right the good. Where do I want to start with this Um Ultra view are we're? We're we're really clear about, like, what our product mission is. A lot of people ask what's next? What's next? And it's like well, you know, our goal is to make the best product in each category for the passionate archer period, and so the lucky thing we have is we're in many categories, we're in sites, we're in releases, we're now in arrows with our partnership with Victory. You know we have a whole accessory lineup of grips and stabilizers and all that, and so we are able to.

Kolby Hanley:

When it comes to how we think about innovation with product development is, we don't start with the business needs, we start with the customer first, like that's always the winning recipe. And we start with the customer needs first and we look where are there opportunities for improvement and, ultimately, innovation. Because when, when, when, when, when businesses innovate and then take that innovation and try to put it into a product and sell the product, that's not the recipe for success. That will burn you. Your innovation has to be fueled by your customer's needs and you have to find your customer's problems and then maybe it doesn't require much innovation to solve those problems. But it's Start with customer problems, solve those problems, sell a valuable solution to the customer. And so we're able to look at the whole landscape of archery accessories and go where's the most opportunity right now?

Kolby Hanley:

And that was really the core of UV Slider 1. It was like dude, there was a gargantuan amount of opportunity in sliding sites. As a company that made scopes, like we knew there was a huge opportunity to improve that there. And I mean you can look now like every site manufacturer is like trying to sprint to keep up, like dead serious and like we move the needle hard and fast in that category and so we don't have to go. Oh, we have to come out with a new bow every year because we make bows or insert name, category here, release site. What have you? We're able to go. Where is there the most opportunity to innovate? Where are the most problems to solve?

Kolby Hanley:

On occasion it's on a product line that we sell. Like, if we have a product line, oh, we have all these things we want to clean up and make better. We'll do that. And so that's what like if we have a needle like a compass of what category or where we're going next, like that's how we follow that. And then this is the side that a lot of manufacturers or people in my position won't tell you is most of the innovation, at least for a young, fast-growing, highly category after new category after new category company. Most of that work and innovation is really the like how the heck are we even going to make this dang thing and not just make it but like make it economically so that we can sell this at scale through distribution and dealers and all of that? Right Cause, if we gave you, if we said, hey, this new product is awesome and everybody in your region is going to want it, but your dealer margin is 20%, are you stocking that?

Zakk Plocica:

Dude, we've gone away from a lot this year because of that.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, and so like that's. I think a side of things that the customer doesn't realize or maybe forgets about is like look, go support your local dealer. You know they sell that product for you know they have to follow map policies. They sell you a $300 product. Yes, they have margin in it because they're providing you a valuable service and if you bust your strings or need something set up or don't know how to do it, like you're going to, you're going to need that dealer there. That's how they stay in business and that's why I say dealers invest in our product and so when we're designing a product and this is actually most of the the work product design engineers do yes, it's a sexy, cool job, but I think we get a lot of applications. Hey, I want to come work as a product design engineer and they lot of applications. Hey, I want to come work as a product design engineer and they think they're going to be working in all these like research labs doing product testing and doing all the cool sexy, like curve sure, like doing all the cool products, like I actually know a lot of the work is how are you going to make this awesome product that we designed manufacturable at scale so we can get everybody's margin line to work out into the supply chain and really the design for manufacturing, making it as economical as possible so that the price point is you know most of our products. This was the thing with UV1K, which is another podcast in itself. But, like, the entire project for designing that product was like how are we even going to make this material like at all, even close to being in an arrow? That's not like a thousand dollars, a six-pack like, and so most of that work was that we made a lot of headway on it and we we are continuing to make a lot of headway in that regards across our category so that we can introduce products at a at a price point that works, where consumers will buy it, because if it's too expensive, the consumer picks yeah, that's just too expensive, I'm not going to buy it. And they're the ultimate decision maker. It's got to be valuable, it's got to provide enough value to the customer where they're like yes, we're going to buy that. The dealer has to go oh, I'm going to invest in that because there's enough margin in there for me to like actually be a business and sell this product and set it up and help a customer base and then like, actually, funny enough, we also have to stay in business. So, like business is business Right, and it's like people think that we're, like you know, lining our pockets and like everybody drives to Ultra View in a fancy sports car, and that's the furthest from the truth and it's like that's the whole.

Kolby Hanley:

Like all of the product design work and innovation. Most of that people won't talk about Right, but all of that work is what goes into developing a product. And I think, when you look at, when we talk about these products ripping off and being successful, it's because we're aware of that. We're aware it has to work for you, it has to work for the customer, it has to work for you, it has to work for a distributor If you're buying from a distributor, it has to work for us. Like everybody, you know we, everybody, you know we design a product for like 12 different people, right, you know? And like the ultimate winner is like whoever's watching this right now is the ultimate decision maker on is this widget a thing or not. And like, dude, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. We do like decades of work in like probably a couple years.

Zakk Plocica:

So let me ask you this. I mean, because you guys are a young company, you guys are a bunch of young dudes. I mean, is there a lot? Do you feel a lot of pressure with that, with the industry, with the fast paced industry, that it's constantly not enough, or the constant need for innovation to stay relevant, to stay at the top, because you guys are the pinnacle right now you're at the top and in order to stay there, I mean that's tough.

Kolby Hanley:

That's a lot. It is tough. I think you know this is a very I say this a lot Ultraview is a very small niche market, but it's also a lot larger than most people realize. But in the grand scheme of business as a whole it's a small market and I don't know why this market is so innovative and so entrepreneurial. And so there's enough of a subset of a customer base out there willing to try a new widget, gizmo or gadget that if they see something on Facebook or Instagram or what have you, they will go out and buy it and try it, and if it's not good, it's not going to last very long.

Kolby Hanley:

That's archers, that's archery tinkerers and like and and so I don't know God put me in the industry Cause, like it really does scratch every single one of my itches, like I'm a very mechanical guy, Like I'm not a software guy, mechanical guy. So like mechanical products, tinkering, testing, entrepreneurial, and it's like all of that is like archery, is like a soup of all of that together. And you know there is if you're too slow or you sit around for too long, you will get passed, and so that's a gift and a curse of us saying, hey, we're going to have the best product in each category period end, all be all is. When we come out with a product in a category, it has to be good enough to where we can go. All right, this product's good enough and it doesn't need to be touched for a couple years. Look at UV button. We haven't touched UV button for three years and that thing is still lights out.

Kolby Hanley:

And other categories where maybe there's more competition or or or what have you, or maybe there's just we come out with our first version. Like sites, there's there's two to three times more parts in a site than there is a bow. It's insane. Like the, the, the supply chain chain, the manufacturing, the assembly, like everything, there's two to three times more parts in a site than there are in a boat, and all of the tolerances are much tighter on a site than they are a boat, and so it's a lot of work to design that with all of the variables and customers that I just spoke to.

Kolby Hanley:

It's a lot of work to design that to where it works, and so a lot of the work isn't in that category for us, cause it's just a gargantuan like it takes a lot, um, but it's uh, exhausting, uh, but I don't know, I was uh like I said I love it, like I really do love it and I'll just, I, I, I just like drive myself into the ground and then I have to eventually like pick my head up and go Whoa, like actually, when I think about this here, I love what I do so much that, like I just will like wake up in exhaustion and like, oh, like, how did I end up here? And it's like oh, yeah, cause, like your work on a day to day, it's like a drug and you're an addict and it's just like you're in it. So I don't know, that's UltraView.

Zakk Plocica:

I like it. That's it, man, that's. I mean that's, that's the thing I mean. In order to do that, I mean you've got to have it. Comes down to it, I mean you've got to have a passion for what you're doing. If there's no passion behind what you're doing, if you don't feel like you're, you know you're fulfilling that thing, or or you know, providing a service or a thing for somebody. I mean, guys start something all the time and they just quit.

Kolby Hanley:

I mean, it's tough, I don't know Like and like I said I I'm probably overly transparent, but like I'm not. Even Craig, like our our brand and marketing guy, he's a pretty like, transparent, like tell you as it is type of guy and I think it's like, that's just, it is what it is Like. It's a very interesting market. You know we are this. This industry is lucky to have as much dealers as it has like the heart of this industry. I wrote a dealer letter once and the core of that dealer letter was like listen up, dealer, you're the like, you're the heart of this industry. Like your, your beat is the industry's beat and it's dude.

Kolby Hanley:

I was a range rat growing up. I lived in a pro shop just like this as a kid for for a decade, just in here, all the time. Like they would close the shop and I would, they would lock me in it at night so I could shoot, and then I would like sneak out a back door and like I lived in an archery shop and so like I get it. And like this this industry is is such a unique industry. It's so relational, everybody knows everybody. There's so much like gossip and controversy and innovation and entrepreneurship. It's just like welcome to archery, it's fun man, I love it.

Zakk Plocica:

So, I love it, man. Yeah, there's so much opportunity and there's so many cool people you get to meet, man, I mean, and again, the fact that you know the constant innovation that happens, I mean it's unique, man, it's, it's it's definitely an interesting industry as a whole and, like I said I do, I can't get enough of it. I love it. Everything we do, man, my whole life revolves around it.

Kolby Hanley:

It's a rabbit hole too right, you can see you can see guys getting into it like for the first time and they can spend like years just getting deeper and deeper and deeper in the rabbit hole and then they wake up and they realize they have an entire box of ultra view releases Cause just bought three of each kind because they just kept wanting to like get one more, get one more, get one more, get one. We see pictures of guys that take out. I don't, I don't know why, I don't know what the heck these people are doing, but they'll take, they'll tag us on instagram with a handful of releases and they have like six different like material setups or whatever it's like. What are you doing with six releases, bro? It's like you are.

Zakk Plocica:

You're too deep in the rabbit hole you need to pull out now. Pull back, buddy, Pull out. See, I'm the worst. Like when I get something that works, I'm like all right, don't touch it. See, that's how I am now.

Kolby Hanley:

That's how I am now, like I just did my whole like road to 30 X, like little cameo thing Did you? See that and it's like I I got to the point where I finally shot the 30 X game in the YouTube series and then I started like tinkering to try to make it better. But I'm at the point now I'm like, just don't touch it, don't don't even breathe on it, man Don't move it and it's just like cause. The time of tinkering takes away time from like actually doing.

Zakk Plocica:

I agree so, and I think that's especially like I see a lot of new archers who are guilty of that, who shouldn't be there yet. Right Like there's so many foundational things you've got to understand and processes you've got to become good at before you really need to dive in the rabbit hole of tink arrow weight.

Kolby Hanley:

Oh my God, I don't even. I've never, I've never subscribed to the like the. I've never gone down that arrow rabbit hole, as some people do.

Zakk Plocica:

So I'm, I'm a very similar right. I'm, I'm a firm believer in you. Don't got to overthink a lot of this stuff, man.

Kolby Hanley:

There's a lot of voodoo magic out there, like people float. Have you heard of people like floating arrows in the bathtub to see, to see like there's so many weird things that you'll hear people do and I'm like bro just take a little break.

Zakk Plocica:

You ain't going to shoot that. Yeah, no, it's funny man, but you know I'm the worst salesman, right? I own an archery shop and I'm the first person to say you don't need that. So don't come to me. Like, if we're looking for sales, I'm like.

Kolby Hanley:

I got to step back, but these guys are pulling me out, but I sales. I'm like I got to step back. Yeah, these guys are on me out, pull me out. I also I'm I'm self-aware enough to where, like at least in my 30 X series, I would find myself wanting to tinker or play with something. But it was fun, like I mean that's to the like, the tinkering and the mechanical side of it that is, and I and I do think there's an there's, there's a part to it where I'm like, oh okay, like I just I'm just in a tinkering mood right now and this is fun for me and maybe I find something that works.

Kolby Hanley:

Maybe not, maybe I revert back to where I was, but like I'm shooting like crap today and I kind of just want to like creep tune all day long and like to see what, uh, what's going on, or arrows, like I'll you know, it took me forever to set up a pair. Like I, my wife, I was like hey, babe, want to watch a movie while I fletch arrows Like every night. For like two weeks I was trying to set up a set of 27s that worked for me, but like I don't know, that's the fun, that's the fun. And I think that's why I said, like it's really a gift from God, at least from my seat, like I was plopped in this industry because it does scratch every itch, like the tinkering, mechanical, entrepreneurial business, like it's, it's, it's a lot of fun for me.

Zakk Plocica:

It is. It is for me too, man. I think that's why I enjoy. It's easy for me to come to work every day, even though sometimes I'm like, oh God, I feel like I'm, you know, beating my say, my face against the ground. But you know, at the end of the day I look back, I'm like, man, this is, this is I enjoy this. I enjoy the people, I enjoy the relationships that we built, and then I, ultimately, I enjoy bow hunting.

Zakk Plocica:

I enjoy being out in nature and it it for me same thing. It scratches all those things I can do. The media side, which is interesting to me I like hanging out with Joey learning about cameras, building stuff like this, talking to people. Man, I mean for me, this industry, it does it all for me.

Zakk Plocica:

So, but let me ask you this, so you know we're getting ready to close this thing out. You know, as far as dealers go, what do you see for the dealers that really do? Well, I think we hit on it a little bit, but what do you see your best performing dealers? What's a commonality that you see amongst them?

Kolby Hanley:

Let's see, I'll narrow, I'll, I'll pull a few KPIs on this. Um, it's probably three, three or four things. I think step one, which I know for a lot of dealers can be very, very tricky, um, and then it's kind of like a chicken and egg game. Our best dealers are able to stock a healthy amount of inventory at all times and then when they, when we come out with a new product, they're able to place a very healthy stocking order. But that may be that may be a chicken and not the egg. Actually, that is the chicken and not the egg, cause what builds on that is our, our best dealers also, um, they have a broader, they have a more broad presence than just in-person retail. They have, um, they're able to draw people to them, whether it's through media like this or whatever. Or you know, we have a great shop Now. They have social media too, but I don't see them doing like podcasts and like reels like you guys do. But it's a great shop in New Mexico, Hit or Miss.

Zakk Plocica:

Oh, dude, I follow Hit or Miss. That's an awesome shop.

Kolby Hanley:

But what they have that that is more broad than just like foot traffic retail is they have probably one of the most insane indoor archery ranges in the country.

Zakk Plocica:

So that's why I followed them. I found them on social media and I was looking. I actually had a guy who's here. His name's Adam Adam. He used to be, he used to work down there, he was stationed down there and he's the one that told me about their shop and I pulled it up and looked at their range. Man, and if there's one thing I'm jealous of man, they have one. Their operation looks awesome and then their range is like second to none man it is incredible.

Kolby Hanley:

And so they host events. But they're able to draw in a lot of people to that range. They host events and it's fun. If you go to their shop, it's like 95% range, 5% retail, right, and so you're able to just draw in um and and be a little bit bigger than just like, uh, I have a retail store and archery equipment hanging on the walls. Why is nobody here? Um, I guess maybe those are kind of two separate things the online and then um, being able to like, draw in, continue what it is as a community. That's it they're able to build. They're able to build a local community of people that are relationally just hanging out, just hanging out at the archery shop. They have a much larger presence than just just that locally. They're able to drive online eyeballs they nine times out of 10,.

Kolby Hanley:

They have a pretty well set up e-commerce platform, um, and then because of that, you know, and I think as running a business to be able to do that, especially in a retail side of things, you got to have a good back end of your business, your accounting, your, your cashflow, you know your receivables, your payables, your working capital which is the side of business that nobody ever talks about, like all that has to be lined up and turning right and then, only then, are you able to put yourself in a position to where I think what you're, what this allows you to do, is significantly grow, in a position to where I think what you're, what this allows you to do, is significantly grow, and then, when new products come out, you're able to place you're able to place healthy enough and this is true to our best dealers You're able to place healthy enough stocking orders to where you're. You're. What you're doing is you're grabbing market share because if you have the, the good backend of the business set up, you got your working capital under control, you have a strong local community and you have a larger presence on the internet and you're able to get that lined up to place larger stock orders. You take market share and then you, what you do is you're growing your business into being much larger than just brick and mortar retail, right, and then fast forward. You know, year over year, decade after decade, fast forward. I mean that's what Lancaster has done for 30, 40 years now. I mean they just were the first pro shop to have an online store and they've just.

Kolby Hanley:

You know, rob Koffel has very high standards too. He cares about good stuff, great customer service, Like they're just good people and they do good stuff. Great customer service Like they're just good people and they do good stuff. Right, and like do that for 30, 40 years in a row and look up where, look up where you go, and so like that's kind of the recipe for success, I think, for a lot of our best dealers. Um and to what we said when we started the podcast, it's like it's crazy how long overnight successes seem to take, right, like you guys will probably be doing this for several years and then, and you know, five or six years, a guy will stop you and he'll be talking to you and it'll seem like you have been a thing forever, right?

Kolby Hanley:

and it's like wow like yeah and it's like actually no, we've been working our butts off and you guys were working your butts off before this was a thing right right, right and so like it's all that, that goes into it.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, I agree, man, time it just takes time. Yeah, there's a lot of mistakes that's got to be made, um, but there's so much great information now too. I mean, even with stuff like this. Being able to talk to somebody who's so successful in scaling a brand and become a nationally recognized brand with incredible partnerships, being able to sit down and pull that from you, is awesome, man, and I'm hopeful that this podcast is helpful to some of the dealers too and kind of open their eyes and where the priorities should lie.

Kolby Hanley:

That's great. Like cause the dealer I don't know you said you're, you guys are really like in on the dealer community, like that's. I've never even considered like ideas, like there could be a whole channel or a whole valuable resource out there for archery dealers, or it's just media and content.

Zakk Plocica:

So that's my goal behind the archery project.

Kolby Hanley:

Really.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, so the archery project is not about me just selling my brand, the archery, this podcast is about me being able to sit down with people in all walks of life in in archery, right. So I have other dealers that come on here. I have massive business and company owners, ceos, and that's that's the whole point of this. This is that, that network to provide value not just to the end user but to the dealer as well, because there's a lot of dealers who have not seen the value in the media side of things yet, and my goal with this is to help them expand on what they're doing. I had John Winker on from first flight.

Kolby Hanley:

Incredible. Yeah, I know John.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, just lots of good people who are able to provide information from their stories, right their successes and failure and put them out there.

Kolby Hanley:

That's a great idea. So was that like from? Was that like the Genesis idea, or did you kind of realize that after doing it a couple cycles, it's?

Zakk Plocica:

come. When I started doing this, I just wanted to sit down with my friends and talk hunting stuff, and then it started to evolve and I think on it and building on it, and it's evolving into that.

Kolby Hanley:

That's great Cause when.

Zakk Plocica:

I started this, it didn't have it. The name of it was the show and it turned into the archery project because I wanted it to be bigger than just my brand. I wanted it to be all things archery and for me what was important was dealers and relationships and community and media, and all those things are my favorite things to talk about. So that's what the Archery Project is. It's building on that.

Kolby Hanley:

That's great. So if you're able to really hammer in and develop and grab a lot of dealers to be like dude, I'm excited to see where this goes, and I think of dealers to be like that dude, I'm excited to see where this goes. And I think that you you were able to find that natural thread like your customers or whoever you're providing value to, will pull you in that direction right, and you kind of had to have a sixth sense to know the direction you're being pulled and then like let it happen right, and so I'm very interested. That would be because there's a need there, like just from what I know, like in the industry, like there's a need and so I'm very interested. That would be there Cause there's a need there, like just from what I know, like in the industry, like there's a need there. So like that's awesome, man, I'm excited to see where this goes.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, I am too, man.

Kolby Hanley:

It's interesting, it's fun Um maybe we can do like see, this is me getting ahead the internet here, like even to like we care about our dealer base to the point where it's like maybe I send like once a month, dealer letters out to like our dealer, like maybe I can even link this podcast to like in that note and go hey guys, I sat down with one of our great dealers, north Carolina extreme outfitters. We did a podcast. It was like super heavily focused on dealer and manufacturer relationships. It has some ultra view stories, some of extreme story. Like check it out. Like we're more than happy to do that.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, no, that's fantastic, man. I mean, uh, to me it's, it's important, because everyone talks about everything else, but not everyone talks about what's keeping the archery industry alive.

Kolby Hanley:

And that's the dealers.

Zakk Plocica:

The dealers are critical to archery, good shops, and you know, the more I've talked to people, I see a lot of shops going away that have really struggled. And my goal is yeah, right, it's competition, right, but competition is important, it's healthy.

Zakk Plocica:

You need it. You know we got dealers down the road that I'm friends with and I think that there's plenty of market share for everybody. And you know, I think it's important that you know. I think it's important that you know there's good dealers, that these guys can go to Cause. We've seen it more each year that it seems like man, I had a dealer, they just they weren't. They didn't survive. Covid crushed them. Covid was hard for a lot of people and if we can do a little bit to help dealers out, that's my goal with this.

Kolby Hanley:

Yeah, and I think even clearing up like we care a lot, like UltraV cares a lot about the dealer, and we're structuring ourselves to where dealers that want to be super successful with us can be right, and so we're get set up. We're super easy to get set up. Become a dealer. We have a very easy to use online portal. We open up new products ahead of time. We ship. You know we have a great dealer support team internally to take care of guys Like we.

Kolby Hanley:

We're more than happy to do like whatever, and, and as we grow, we continue to see even more and more, and I think it takes time because once dealers go oh yeah, ultra, you did actually like we. We think we're positioning our dealers to be successful right, but at the end of the day, it's like are we or not? And it takes time for dealers to see. And so if dealers have been Ooh, wait, this, this was a successful recipe for me, I'm going to continue to invest in UltraView. We've seen, with Slider 2 launch, like I said, it's been baffling, like the dealer numbers were wild, and so we've seen dealers now go through enough cycles without how we operate our dealer program where they're like holy crap, this was successful. Ultraview did get orders in pre-launch, ultraview did ship pre-launch. I had inventory on launch day. People came in for the site that weekend Like I'm going to continue on this pattern here, and so it takes time and I think we are just now seeing like a lot of that reward with like just crazy dealer support.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, so that's awesome, that's. I mean, that's refreshing to hear, man. I like it, it makes me excited and you know it was important to me to. I was able to sit down with you and talk a little bit. I know we'd talked briefly, but I wanted to talk a little bit more in depth, man, and it's really again, I can't say it's refreshing, it's, it's cool to hear. I like the support. I'm excited for my future with you. Uh, the future of ultra view. It's exciting to watch something.

Zakk Plocica:

A bunch of young dudes trying to figure it out, just figuring it out but have done such a good job, man, and I just want to say thanks for you know, taking the time to sit down with me today and be open and honest. It's awesome.

Kolby Hanley:

I'm glad I could be here. I'll. I guess I'll be up next labor day, but, like you know, one a year. I know we, like I said, if, if this is definite, if this is gonna, if dealers are listening to this, should I speak to the owner and operator of UltraView? I personally care a lot about you and your success, but also everybody at UltraView cares about you and your success with our products at your store and every single year we're trying to get better to work with how we work with dealers.

Kolby Hanley:

You know we've been working with Extreme Outfitters for several years now. I care so much that if you want to work with us, if you have an issue with us, if anything ever comes up, you can get to me very easily just by sending dealers an email. Ask for me. I am more than happy to get connected with you. Like I text you right and so like I don't want to text several hundred dealers, but like I will, if, if, if it needs to be done, I'll, you know, get on the phone and talk to you. Max that runs our dealer support program, his's a co-owner of an archery shop with his dad. He understands all the pain points of a dealer and so we are trying to structure ourselves for wild success for you and our partnership, and so stay tuned. Slider 2 was a huge success, strong step in the right direction. We have a lot more coming this year.

Zakk Plocica:

Super excited man. So obviously everybody can follow AltraView on your website, all of your social media platforms, but you also have a personal social media that you post on. What's your social media people can follow?

Kolby Hanley:

That's a good question. I think it's Colby underscore Hanley Actually. I'm pretty sure that's what it is, if you just go to Instagram and go to Colby underscore Hanley. That's kind of a behind-the-scenes look. It's a silly page. Most of the content is straight from my phone. It's not quality, but it is real and it is raw.

Zakk Plocica:

Behind the scenes is important. People love to see it.

Kolby Hanley:

So I keep my story relatively up-to-date with what I'm doing around the office. I'm having like some shoulder issues that I'm working through, but hopefully this fall I'm going to get kind of back on that 30 X program that I was doing. I did a whole YouTube series on road to 30 X and so, yeah, behind the scenes and then you can find ultra view. If you're listening to this podcast, you probably know how to find ultra view. So easy.

Zakk Plocica:

Yeah, colby, my friend, thank you for taking the time out of your busy vacation schedule.

Kolby Hanley:

No, we got it, we got. I'd love to come out every time.

Zakk Plocica:

Good deal, man. Well, that's it, guys. That's another episode of the archery project. Drop some comments. Give us some feedback. Dealers. If you've got questions for Colby, drop them in the comments. And, as always, we appreciate you guys and we will see you guys in the next episode of the archery project.