((L-R) Troy Lalonde, Tim Karpinski, Clara Machado (Spiral Wax) Ryan Holmes (Broke Supply) Kate Raber, Kai Nevers (Wanderhut Co) Dan Gummel, Adam Short (StoryBooth Experience) | Photo courtesy of Bend Outdoor Worx)
Bend Outdoor Worx (BOW), the first and most experienced outdoor industry accelerator in the U.S., hosted a sold-out audience at the Volcanic Theatre Pub for its eighth annual BreakOut Pitch Event and BootCamp on October 15.
The one-day doubleheader featured a morning of inspiration and insight at BOW’s BootCamp, followed by an evening of high-energy competition at the BreakOut event, where emerging outdoor brands pitched their companies to a live audience for $20,000 in no-strings-attached cash awards. Additionally, BOW awarded $275,000 in financing through its BOW Production Financing Fund. The BreakOut Pitch Event highlighted Oregon-based companies, the majority from Bend.
This year’s winners:
- BreakIn/Early Stage Winner: WanderHut (Bend) — A car camping solution that offers an alternative to rooftop tents, vans, and traditional setups. co
- BreakOut/Growth Stage Winner: StoryBooth Experience (Bend) — A pop-up podcast studio for events, designed to capture voices, stories, and memories that last a lifetime. com
The BOW Production Financing Fund Recipients:
- Broke Supply Co. (Bend) — Premium horseback riding bags and gear. com, received $200,000.
- Spiral Wax (Bend) — All-natural snowboard wax, handmade in Bend. com, received $75,000.
The day kicked off with the BootCamp event, featuring two expert-led sessions: “How to Get into Retail” and “How We Did It,” with panelists including outdoor industry buyers and founders from REI, evo, Tactics, Pine Mountain Sports, Orange Screw, Ryōken Instinct, MODL, and Giant Loop. Attendees walked away with practical tools, insider insights, and valuable connections to help grow their brands.
“This year’s event was incredibly exciting, and I believe it was our best one yet!” said Gary Bracelin, founder of Bend Outdoor Worx. “It was rewarding to see our community come together to support these companies — from two OSU students launching WanderHut to the storytelling and community connections fostered by StoryBooth. Seeing the production financing fund finally come to fruition after years of envisioning it was especially meaningful. It fills a gap in our community and will have a real impact on startups in the outdoor industry here!”
The events were made possible through the support of sponsors including White-Summers Law, Sorren, City of Bend, US Bank, Algofy Outdoors, Relativity Agency, Embark Co-Working Space, Tokyo Starfish, Focus on the 40, and 10 Barrel Brewing.
About BOW:
After assessing common needs from outdoor industry businesses, Bend Outdoor Worx (BOW) was initially conceived in 2013 by Gary Bracelin, a long-time Bend resident and outdoor industry expert. BOW was officially launched in April 2014 when additional industry experts Will Blount, Justin Rae, and Eric Meade joined Bracelin. The founders represent various skill sets and a multitude of experiences with successful organizations. BOW also has a deep pool of extended mentors who lend their expertise periodically, as well as partnerships with White-Summers Law, Sorren, the Relativity Agency, and Algofy Outdoors. BOW is additionally sponsored by Ruffwear, IMC, US Bank, Village Capital, Tokyo Starfish, and Focus on the 40.
BOW’s Manifesto:
We’re dreamers, radicals, achievers, believers, and vanguards with a shared belief and a common goal. We’re an independent organization with an independent spirit—and we love the outdoors. We embrace the unpredictable nature and the grit it takes to navigate the hurdles and obstacles in our industry. In fact, we enjoy it. We’re fearless, but we value vulnerability. We encourage risk, but we support solid strategy. We’re not even remotely interested in the status quo. We’re interested in lending our expertise, our stories, and our respect for the crazy-but-we-love-it volatility of the outdoor industry to help our companies adapt, adjust, and achieve.
