“5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Founded my Company” with Matt Hyder of Recoup

I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Hyder barely graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA. After barely graduating Matt found my path in entrepreneurship. Recoup bridges the gap between professional training rooms and at home muscle recovery through innovative hot and cold therapy tools. Matt grew Recoup from an $8 prototype in my parent’s basement into a brand trusted by professional athletes.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was born to be an entrepreneur. Looking back at my life, I always solved problems my own. I did not fully understand entrepreneurship until I was about 19. My journey started after an internship for the former Lt. Gov of Colorado. We were running her school board campaign and I saw a lot of inefficiencies that I could improve on. I tried and failed miserably. But I fell in love with the process of creating. I started three other businesses that once again failed. But this never brought me down as I made it further and further with each business until I created Recoup. All of those failures and lessons I learned brought me to the spot I am in today.

Can you share your story of Grit and Success? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

I almost lost Recoup before it even began. The quality of the Cryosphere cold roller was awful when we first started. I had no clue what I was doing with manufacturing. On our second run of Cryospheres that balls were too big the handle. I sat there and thought, this is going to end Recoup because I could not afford another run. It brought me to tears. I gave up everything, moving back home with my parents, turning down job offers and dropped out of school, what felt like for nothing. After giving up all of this, I could not let my company die because of this. I tested to see if I could sell the balls by themselves for Plantar Fasciitis relief. Luckily, people bought, selling over 5000 units. I went from losing my business to finding a new market, increasing revenue.

One story comes to mind about Grit and Success. I started working full time on Recoup for about 3 months in 2016. But I was running out of cash quickly just placing an order. At the time Recoup had $5000 in the bank entering holiday season. I knew if I didn’t grow sales, Recoup would once again be gone. I took all the money in the bank and placed it into marketing. With no money in the bank and no investors in sight, I was risking everything to keep going. I was able to turn that $5000 into $35,000 in just one month. This pivotal moment of endangering the entire business put Recoup on the path that we are on today. It is crazy looking back and remembering how that feeling was and at the time how significant that number was. What we did in one month is what we were doing on a single day during the 2018 holiday season.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

My drive was proving every person wrong that doubted me. It was easy to doubt me. I barely graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA, I ran 4 businesses into the ground. But I would rather die than have to tell those people they were right. I wrote down the things people said about me as a daily reminder. When I wanted to quit, I would read those things with fiery and get right back to work to overcome those obstacles. I had a big chip on my shoulder. As I have matured, that chip is still there, but it is different. The chip now is to prove all those people right who are betting on me. I burned the note with those terrible things, replacing it with the what people have said who took a chance on me. I still read it with the same fiery passion as before.

So, how are things going today? How did Grit lead to your eventual success?

Today things are crazier than ever. Recoup has grown from me to a team 4. Last holiday we did over $500k in just 19 days. This momentum has kept up into 2019 as we are on track to do $4m in sales. The thing I am most excited about is the release of our Cryosleeve in April. All of this would not have happened without Grit. My team is full of Grit, making me the luckiest founder in the world. I would not be here without my team. Together we can overcome any obstacle and have the proven track record to do so. When things get tough, we work harder and come out on the other side better than ever.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake I made was trying to create FOMO while raising money. I was pinning two possible investors together to see who would write a check first. Well, an email I sent went to the wrong investor of the two. I was so worried, but the investor I sent the wrong email to thought it was funny and ended up investing because he liked the way I negotiated the deal and how I handled it after. The lesson I learned from this was to pay attention to detail. Small details can lead to the biggest mistakes and become a massive headache. PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Recoup stands out because we are users of the product. We are all former athletes and want to create products that we would use. If we wouldn’t use it, then we do not make it. This allows us to use our background and push innovation at a price point everyone can afford. We want to be known as a company where customers come first at any cost. During our growth, some people in Colorado would not get their order in time for a gifting party. I drove to three different houses and hand delivered the product, making sure they would get it on time. Instead of telling customers how much we care about them, we would instead show it.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

-My best piece of advice for anyone starting or growing company is slow down when you can to take care of yourself. During my journey, I stopped going to the gym, only eating fast food because it was the quickest option, worked 100+ hours week and just slept 4 hours a night if I was lucky. I became really overweight. At the time, I needed to do all of this because I thought it was required. In turn, these unhealthy habits lowered my productivity, mood and overall health. Once I started taking care of myself by eating healthy, going to the gym and sleeping my performance dramatically changed for the best. Learn from me, do not let your health go by the wayside. Your company and team need you at your best.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I am grateful for many people that helped me get to where I am at today. I am most thankful for my team though. What these three women have done for me, I cannot even describe. No matter what they have my back and pick me up when I need it. Their work ethic inspires my work ethic. We use to hand assemble the Cryosphere part by part and ship ourselves. When we had lots of orders to get out my team would be the first to start assembling the product and would go to the post office each day to drop it off. This was hundreds of orders at a time and we were on the second floor with no elevator. There is no way I could have kept up with the demand without them. They are hands down the reason why I at this spot today.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I go back to my old high school and talk to kids about my journey. My old teacher who lets me do this told me that she saw students turn their act around in school after listening to me. Also, students want to start their own business. My old teacher is now starting a program within the school, teaching them how to run a company that I am involved with. I am fortunate and if my story and help others, that means more to me than any amount of money.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1) If money is your motivation, you’re in the wrong game. I was never driven by money, I am inspired by creation. Money comes and goes so quickly in this game. If you’re driven by it, it will break you. When your bank account is low, you will be low. If you start making a lot of money, greed will happen. Money is only fuel, creation is the car.

2) Be ready to lose. Losses do not always come in the form of monetary or items. The real loss is friends, old life and relationships. I have lost lots of friends, I gave up my entire 20’s for this and lost a girlfriend I saw a future with. So be ready to lose and keep moving forward.

3) Entrepreneurship is not glamours: Media glamourizes entrepreneurship. They are the new rockstars. But no one sees what goes on behind closed doors. Behind the doors are sleepless nights, hard work and unparallel stress. If one wants all the fame and success, be ready to work harder than you ever have.

4) Focus- Focus is hard to do when you’re juggling 20 things at once. But it is a must. I would drop balls all the time because I was not focused. Once I slowed down and focused on one thing at a time, I became much better at things accomplishing them faster. A simple trick is to create a list and put priorities highest first. Knockout one at a time then move on.

5) Get a life coach or therapist- Very few people will truly understand what it is like to be a founder. Everything going on with work and life will get overwhelming. Entrepreneurs have one of higher suicide rates in the US. That is why it is critical to find someone you can let everything out with. I go to my life coach Dr. Terri Finney 2 times a month to let everything out and she gets me balanced. When I was going through my darkest time in life, she helped me get back to normal. Go see someone and let it all out. You will feel better.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would push to start my own school for entrepreneurship. It would be from 6th grade to 12th grade. Kids would learn how to do taxes, money management, loans, how to use a credit card, insurance everything that it takes to be an adult. This would be the groundwork. Once kids get to 9th grade they will pick a track of Computer Science, CPG, Engineering, CFO, CEO, COO, Marketing, etc… once they select a track, they have to start building a team from the other categories to form a business. Then they would start the business. This impact would begin shaping the world around us right away and the future leaving a lasting effect to make real change.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

@mattyhyder

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!