From a small warehouse and four computers to building our own outdoor brand — a founder's story about product development, learning, and listening to customers.
BSCOBBER didn't start with a marketing plan.
We didn't start with a large team, a beautiful office, or a ready-made consumer brand.
We started by making products.
And for the first few years, that was almost everything we knew how to do.
From a Small Warehouse
BSCOBBER is still a relatively small team.
We've been building products together for only about four to five years, and our beginning was much simpler than the finished products and images you may see today.
Our first office was essentially a warehouse.
Before the space was finished, we worked around a very small table with four computers.
It wasn't much.
But it was where we started.
The team came together through a shared interest in outdoor products and engineering.
I had a background in product management, and together with an engineering friend, we started asking a simple question:
How can outdoor products be made simpler, lighter, and more practical?
At the time, we weren't thinking about building a consumer brand.
We were thinking about products.
We Started With What We Knew
Our early work focused on what we understood best:
Product development, engineering, testing, and OEM/ODM manufacturing.
We spent years working behind the scenes.
Designing.
Prototyping.
Testing.
Improving.
Manufacturing.
And making sure that products actually worked.
That experience gave us something valuable.
We learned how products move from an idea into a physical product.
We learned how small details can affect real-world usability.
We learned that a specification on paper doesn't always tell the whole story.
And most importantly, we learned that products have to work outside the meeting room — in the hands of real people.
We had spent years helping develop and manufacture products for other brands.
But eventually, we started asking ourselves a different question:
What if we built something of our own?
We Knew How to Make Products. We Didn't Know Enough About Building a Brand.
Moving from product development and manufacturing into a consumer brand is a very different journey.
Making a product and building a brand require different skills.
We were comfortable with product requirements, engineering discussions, testing, manufacturing, and quality control.
Marketing was a very different world.
So was direct customer communication.
And so was learning how people discover, evaluate, compare, and ultimately decide whether they trust a new brand.
This became one of the biggest learning curves for BSCOBBER.
Our earlier experience with Kickstarter also reinforced something important for us:
Making a good product is only part of building a responsible brand.
If we don't speak directly with the people who use our products, how can we really understand what they need?
If someone else always speaks to customers for us, how can we build a long-term relationship with them?
That's when we decided that if BSCOBBER was going to become a real consumer brand, we needed to learn how to do more ourselves.
From Product Manager to Brand Builder
I'm a product manager by background.
I'm comfortable thinking about product requirements, user needs, testing, iteration, and the details that make a product work.
But marketing, Kickstarter, and direct customer communication were new territory for me.
So I decided to learn them myself.
I've spent my own time and money studying Kickstarter, cross-border e-commerce, and digital marketing.
I've attended industry events, including the Kickstarter annual event in 2024 and AliExpress events.
I've taken notes.
I've studied campaigns.
I've talked with people in the industry.
I've tried different approaches.
And when I felt that I didn't understand something well enough, I also invested in professional courses and campaign support.
I'm sharing this not because we've figured everything out.
Actually, quite the opposite.
I'm sharing it because we're still learning.
Product First. Then Customer.
Some of our earliest product work looked much more ordinary than the polished product images you see today.
There were prototypes.
There were tests.
There were adjustments.
And there were plenty of moments when something didn't work as expected.
That's still how we think about products today.
But building our own brand has taught us that understanding a product isn't enough.
We also need to understand the person using it.
What do they actually need?
What frustrates them?
What would they change?
What did we misunderstand?
These are questions that a spreadsheet, a product specification, or a marketing report can't always answer.
Sometimes the most useful product feedback comes from a simple conversation with someone who actually uses the product.
What We Learned From Building OmniPump-1
One example is our work on BSCOBBER OmniPump-1, our compact multi-use outdoor inflator.
OmniPump-1 Is Officially Funded on Kickstarter
When we first started developing the product, the idea sounded simple:
Make a compact pump that could handle more situations without requiring people to carry several different inflators.
But real-world testing quickly showed us that "one pump for everything" was too simple a way to describe the problem.
Different inflatable products have different pressure, airflow, valve, and volume requirements.
So instead of trying to claim that one pump could literally replace every inflator, we started looking at the problem differently.
What are the real situations people encounter outdoors, on the road, or while traveling?
That led us toward a more practical idea:
One compact pump, designed for multiple real-world inflation needs.
OmniPump-1 is designed around multiple use cases, including cycling, sports balls, camping gear, inflatable accessories, and selected vehicle applications.
Our earlier article, “Why We're Taking Our Time,” documented some of this development process — including the trade-offs between airflow, pressure, size, power consumption, and real-world use.
The product continues to evolve through testing and feedback.
And that is something we want to keep doing.
Maybe the Most Important Lesson Isn't in a Course
The more we learn about marketing and building a consumer brand, the more we realize something surprisingly simple:
Platforms change.
Algorithms change.
Strategies change.
But a real conversation with another person doesn't go out of date.
A course can teach us a framework.
A campaign can teach us what worked.
Analytics can show us what people clicked.
But a customer can tell us why something matters.
And sometimes, that "why" is much more valuable than another spreadsheet.
That's something we want to take seriously as BSCOBBER grows.
We Want to Build With Customers, Not Just Sell to Them
This is probably one of the biggest changes in the way we think about BSCOBBER.
When you work primarily as a manufacturer, success can feel like:
Did we make the product correctly?
When you build a consumer brand, the question becomes bigger:
Did we make something that actually makes someone's experience better?
And that requires listening.
So if you've used BSCOBBER products, supported OmniPump-1, or simply have an opinion about portable outdoor inflators, we'd genuinely like to hear from you.
What would you change?
What's the one inflation problem you still find frustrating outdoors or on the road?
What should we be doing better?
You don't have to be polite.
We'd rather hear the honest answer.
You can Contact Us or BSCOBBER Community / Discord / Facebook Community] to share your experience.
We'll read it.
And when we learn something useful, we'll take it seriously.
You can also watch our testing video on YouTube Channel
We're Still Building
BSCOBBER started with a small team, a small space, and a simple idea:
Make outdoor tools simpler, lighter, and more practical.
We started with manufacturing because that's what we knew.
We learned by making products for others.
We learned through prototypes, testing, mistakes, and improvements.
And now we're learning what it really means to build a brand that can speak directly with the people who use its products.
We don't have everything figured out.
We're still learning.
And perhaps that's not a bad thing.
Because building a better product has never been about getting everything right on the first try.
It's about listening, testing, learning, and trying again.
That's how we built products.
And that's how we want to build BSCOBBER.
One product. One conversation. One improvement at a time.
About BSCOBBER
BSCOBBER is an outdoor product brand focused on developing practical, portable tools for cycling, camping, and everyday outdoor activities.
The company combines product development, engineering, testing, and manufacturing experience with a direct-to-consumer approach.
BSCOBBER was founded by Jasmine, a product manager, together with an engineering partner. The company began as a small product development and manufacturing team before developing its own consumer brand.
Today, BSCOBBER focuses on creating outdoor tools that are simpler, lighter, practical, and designed around real-world use and customer feedback.
— Jasmine
Founder, BSCOBBER
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