EP 674 Founding a New Tech Company

Yeah, you heard that right. THREE YEARS. And we haven’t said much about it until now because, honestly, once you go long enough without saying anything, it’s like… where do you even start?

So today, we’re talking about the backstory of Bridger—how we went from a frustrating Turkey hunt where I kept pulling out my phone to check maps, to building an entirely new smartwatch company from the ground up. This is the full origin story: the late nights, the engineering challenges, the AI-generated designs, the battles over battery life, and why we decided to build our own operating system instead of taking the easy route.

I’m joined by David, our product genius who’s lived overseas building IoT devices and somehow ended up designing watches with a bunch of rednecks in Montana. And Travis, our CFO/COO who ran FP&A for public companies and decided a hunting watch startup sounded like a great idea.

This episode is raw, real, and honestly, we almost didn’t release it. But we figured, you know what? You’ve been with us on this podcast journey for years—you deserve to know what we’ve been building.

Let’s get into it.

Upcoming Dates: 

Maven Optics – Today’s show is also proudly supported by Maven Optics—direct-to-you, world-class glass with zero middleman markup. Binoculars, riflescopes, spotting scopes—they build it all in Wyoming with premium components at unreal prices. Host has rocked Maven for years and stands behind the quality and the people. Need new optics? Head to mavenbuilt.com, check out with code TRO, and score a free gift at checkout. Tell ‘em TRO sent you. www.mavenoptics.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Tricer Tripods – Fast, light, and simple—that’s what Tricer is all about. From amazing tripods to bino mounts and their new bipods, Tricer makes gear that just works. I’ve been using the heck out of their bipod and it’s helped me kill a lot of critters. Head over to triceroutdoor.com and use code TRO to save 10% at checkout.

How does mapping work on the Bridger Reckon?

We built Reckon and the Bridger OS to run any map as well as our own proprietary wearable-optimized mapping system. We have not officially signed with onX to integrate, but that has been the goal from the beginning and we are hopeful that technology is very close.

With that said, we knew if we wanted to be the best watch for hunters, that meant creating a wearable-native mapping experience that worked whether you use onX or anyone else. What we knew we had to have is the ability to bring in your waypoints, markups, routes, and saved information—because without your waypoints, your maps are pretty useless.

This is mapping built by hunters, for hunters. Not an afterthought, but the entire reason this watch exists.