About this episode

This week’s featured founder is Daniel Alarik, Founder of Grunt Style. Grunt Style is a brand for Patriots; a brand that has reached incredible heights at unbelievable speeds. For the month of November, we have been focusing on Founders who are Veterans. Daniel served in the United States Army for 8 years and left after a tour as a Drill Instructor.

Daniel started Grunt Style with a mere $1,200 and grew the company to one that is exceeding $200 million in revenue today. He shares practical and actionable wisdom about how he got from Point A to Point B in the process. Daniel also shared about the value that comes in building a business without investment capital; it forces you to make decisions based on cash flow and ensure the business is profitable as you scale.

Daniel brought us some tremendous entrepreneurial value. He even put me on the hot seat with a brief interview of his own! Before we go any further, as returning listeners know, his entrepreneurial journey really started a whole lot earlier...well before Grunt Style was an idea. This is Daniel Alarik’s startup story.

In this episode, you’ll hear

• His early childhood, his dad was an entrepreneur who had a few good years and a few bad years running the family business and how that left a lasting effect on Daniel


• What he wanted to do after high school; he knew he wanted to do something bigger than himself, but didn’t know what that was; until an Army recruiter called


• His time serving in the Army and Army Reserves (following 9/11), becoming a Drill Sergeant and what he learned from the experience


• After 10 years in the military, Daniel began to think about “what’s next?” He loved being in the military, but with a growing family, he needed to figure out what he could do to provide for his family but also keep his connection to the military


• His desire to create something that spread the military culture of pride and patriotism and how the concept of Grunt Style was born


• The beginnings of Grunt Style and determining his market, “My target market were people just like me. The first people I spoke with about Grunt Style were people just like me. The first products I made were for people just like me.”


• Starting out with $1,200 worth of goods and how he scaled from there, including attending a trade show obtaining $8,000 in revenue and almost a year later garnering $64,000 and continued to grow rapidly


• The shift he made in Grunt Style’s messaging when he realized that people will always care more about themselves so Grunt Styles messaging had to speak to that perspective


• His passionate plea to help us think through why we are even pursuing our business endeavors

“By not taking investment capital in the early days it forced me to focus on building the company the right way.”

—Daniel Alarik, Grunt Style

Resources from this episode

Our Sponsor, Vortic Watch Co.: https://vorticwatches.com/

Help Support Socks for Heroes: http://scmcsg.org/

Grunt Style’s website: https://www.gruntstyle.com/

Daniel Alarik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielalarik/

FUSE Workspace: https://www.fuseworkspace.com/

The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory/

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EPISODE CREDITS

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

Special Guest: Daniel Alarik.