Founder Journeys: Ethan Todd
Ethan is the founder of Backlanz. He’s a hunting, fishing, rugby kind of guy who combined his passions with his skills as an engineer to create a lightweight detachable bipod.
Tell us a little bit about Backlanz and your journey.
Backlanz originated early in 2018. I really liked the idea of designing my own product that was hunting and shooting related as it was one of my passions, so I came up with the idea of a detachable bipod. Virtually every hunter and shooter I knew used a bipod and they all had a common complaint and it was “they make your rifle too heavy and they are too fiddly to put on and take off”. I did my research and discovered there were no well suited detachable bipod for hunters, they either were designed for military styled rifles or they were designed so that they couldn’t be left on the rifle and only attached when you were ready to shoot and they required a permanent modification of your rifle – which really is an inconvenience.
With over a year of design and prototype I finally had something worth selling. In August 2019 I launched the product online and for a start sales were slow, we probably sold four within the first month – it was a bit gutting to be honest. I was expecting a lot more. The following month we travelled to the Sika Show in Taupo which in other words is like the NZ hunting trade show and we sold out! I was shocked, I wasn’t really expecting it. This really boosted my confidence in my idea so I went on to design and release our new detachable Carbon Bipod and so far it has been a huge success. The bipod still incorporates our patent pending latching mechanism but it’s manufactured from Titanium and Carbon Fibre which makes it incredibly light. We also manufacture the bipod right here in New Zealand which makes it the only bipod to be officially made in New Zealand!
What channels are you using to sell your product and are there any surprises with ones that are working better than others?
We currently mainly use social media. We find the most success we have had is from using an influencer to endorse the product or by running a competition to win one of our products. We are currently looking into other ways to sell our products and we should hopefully start appearing on hunting TV shows next year.
What are your two most important lessons that you have learnt so far.
Test the product properly! Don’t be scared to break it. I was at a point where I thought I had our first bipod finished, spent $2000 on parts for them to be wasted, as the parts would break in some situations.
Don’t overestimate how many you will initially sell. Things will most likely be slow for a start.
Where do you see Backlanz in five years time?
As a full time business with a larger product range. Have found a manufacture in the USA to make our products under licence to sell to the American market.
Do you have any advice for other startups or people with a clever idea like yours?
Get your idea on paper, draw it out and get it 3D modelled. From a 3D model this will allow you to test the functionality of your idea and it will also allow prototypes to be made using processes like 3D printing and CNC machining.
Don’t get caught up refining your product too much. Get honest feedback from multiple people, this will give you clarity of what does and doesn’t matter.
When you have the idea at a sellable point get a professional photo shoot and promotional video done.
How have you had to adapt your business during this time?
We knew that Covid was going to be a time where people had a lot more time for social media so we decided to run a lock down photo competition. This was a huge boost and it gave us a lot more of a following and a lot of hype over our products. The main issue we have had is we are out of stock due to suppliers being closed. So we gave people the option of pre-ordering our products which surprisingly a lot of people are prepared to do! Being an online store during this time definitely was an advantage for us so we haven’t had to adapt too much. The time was well spent to get ahead on things I wouldn’t usually have time for and design a new product!
