GORUCK
Jason McCarthy
Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
Toward the end of his time in the military -- after serving in Iraq, Africa, and Europe and earning his Green Beret -- Jason McCarthy began to think about how much he was going to miss his high-quality, nearly indestructible backpack. So in 2008 he founded GORUCK, a company that manufactures military-grade backpacks in the U.S. for sale in the mainstream market.
The first step was to bring on his friend Jack Barley, an actor in New York City, to head the creative design. The two of them put together a framework for the business. In late 2009, McCarthy took that framework to Georgetown, where he enrolled in the MBA program.
The Georgetown entrepreneurship program has taught McCarthy about the importance of branding, working closely with Marketing Professor Prashant Malaviya. McCarthy approached Malaviya early in the class about GORUCK, and they used a Harley-Davidson case study to guide marketing strategy. Malaviya "highlighted the idea that any brand that can get its fans to tattoo its logo on their body is doing something right," McCarthy says. Malaviya advised McCarthy to guard the GORUCK brand above all else. "I took those words to heart and have done my best to do just that at every turn," he says.
McCarthy saved enough money from Army deployments and prior savings from his year as an investment banker to get GORUCK through product design and website creation. When he needed to raise capital for inventory, he turned to family and friends for convertible debt.
GORUCK began selling backpacks in May and expects to earn $90,000 in revenue by next year. McCarthy is hoping for profitability in the second quarter of 2011 after increasing retail-store presence. They're off to a good start: Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's only bike shop in Austin, recently started carrying the full line.
The three-employee operation is determined to stay focused on targeting outlets and stores that share its vision. Says McCarthy: "We will succeed in our ability to communicate the idea that it's worth paying more for products that can withstand any adventure." -- Sommer Saadi, posted Oct. 18, 2010
