Where Emerging Outdoor Brands Come to Connect & Grow.

Building a company can be challenging and isolating, requiring you to juggle many roles and deal with constant uncertainty. We created this community to help you feel supported, connected, and informed on your founder journey. And it’s free to join!

Join 600+ outdoor business owners from across North America.

Our Community by the Numbers

650+

Outdoor business owners from across North America

80+

Industry mentors in the network

Community events a year, including workshops, office hours, fireside chats, and in-person events

20+

Community, Guidance, and Support

Our Slack group has over 600+ outdoor business owners from across the country. It's a place to share knowledge and resources with other folks taking the outdoor founder path.

Slack Group

On a quarterly basis, we bring in investors, buyers, or other domain experts to answer our community members specific questions.

Office Hours

We host ongoing workshops on Zoom on important business-building topics. Our past workshops have included everything from sourcing and manufacturing to financing.

Workshops

In peer groups, our members share current challenges or areas where they feel stuck for the group to problem solve together.

Peer Groups

Our Slack group has over 600+ outdoor business owners from across the country. It's a place to share knowledge and resources with other folks taking the outdoor founder path.

Fireside Chats

We gather the community in person as often as possible, including at happy hours during industry trade shows and at local community-member-led meetups.

Networking Events

  • “Founded Outdoors has been a game-changer for the outdoor industry. Prior to starting Bewilder, I spent over a decade working in digital journalism. I had zero connections in the outdoor industry. I’m now on the board of Together Outdoors, and I have an incredible community of outdoor founders.”

    Yvonne Leow, Founder of Bewilder

  • “Founded Outdoors has enabled me to connect with like-minded small business founders so we can easily work together on solving common problems. And it’s done in a very convenient way that values my limited time. I wish I’d had this when we were starting up years ago.”

    Niki Singlaub, Founder of Hydaway

  • Being part of Founded Outdoors impacts the way I run my business every day. From the Slack channel that provides guidance from other founders are anywhere from a few steps in front of me to founders with years of experience, the conversations are always helpful. My favorite part of this group is the online events. Hearing from industry experts prevents me from trying to reinvent the wheel, and conversations with other founders reminds me that I'm not alone, we are all experiencing set-backs in different ways and this group is full of amazing adventurers and go-getters.

    Suzi Zook, Founder Alta Reina

  • "The virtual events Founded Outdoors hosts have been incredibly beneficial to me and our brand. Being able to listen to strong leaders in the industry and understand their needs in order to build a strong relationship has been fundamental in our building strategy."

    Jada Dooling, All Roads Taken

  • "The FO community has been instrumental in the growth of my business. I have made so many connections who have supported my business, been incredible sounding boards and emotional support, and helped give actionable direction to support my business's growth. The webinars have also been some of the best webinars I've ever attended. I always learn something useful and actionable, and look forward to each one."

    Jenny Phillips, Founder PUPPACKR

  • "Between the events and slack, I've found some really genuine connections. Everyone in this group is looking for collaborations or sharing knowledge. Honestly, it's one of the best communities you could join!"

    PJ Relkin, Founder Nature's Playbook

  • " It seems there is someone in the FO community that has been there, done and it willing to help you!"

    Virginia Lynn Peterson, Founder SWOOP

  • "The Ascent series has been genuinely invaluable. as someone new to the outdoor industry, having structured guidance made a real difference. Beyond the programming, just chatting with other founders, bouncing ideas, venting about the hard weeks, has been equally impactful. It's a rare community where conversations actually turn into something: feedback that sharpened our product positioning, connections that turned into sales, and a few people I'd now consider real friends."

    Lacramioara "Q" Schulte auf'm Erley, Founder WildBatch

  • "Founded Outdoors has been amazing with connecting to other founders, especially women owned small businesses."

    Audrey Costa, Deep Rooted Wellness and Creatives

Criteria to Join

You founded and/or currently own and operate an outdoor recreation business.

1. You’re the founder or owner

2. One of the business's core customers is the outdoor consumer

Your business sells or is building a product or service that equips people in their lives outdoors, increases access to nature, or inspires more people to get outside. 

We aren’t currently accepting freelancers providing services to outdoor businesses. 
We do not accept businesses primarily focused on alcohol or drug-related outdoor products.

3. You’re currently building the business

You're beyond the “thinking about it stage” and are working on your business for at least 5 hours a month.

Apply