Outdoor Element Founder Mike Mojica | Beyond the Trailhead Podcast Ep. 42

In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Mike Mojica, founder of Outdoor Element, a family-run outdoor gear company making adventure survival tools, fire-starting carabiners, knives, camp accessories, and small pieces of gear built to help people feel more prepared outside.Mike’s story started after moving from Texas to Colorado while working in aerospace. After hiking Mount Yale, helping an injured hiker with a rolled ankle, and having what he described as a peaceful “revelation” moment on the summit, Mike realized he wanted to build a company around two ideas: be prepared when something goes wrong and get outside more often.That eventually became Outdoor Element.We also dive into:• How Mike went from aerospace to outdoor entrepreneurship• Why Outdoor Element started as a side hustle• The story behind the Firebiner fire-starting carabiner• How Kickstarter helped prove people understood the idea• Why his boss encouraged him to chase the business full time• What it was like leaving a stable job with a wife and four daughters• Why partnerships can be tricky if you do not have clear agreements• The importance of standard operating procedures in a small business• Why selling knives and fire-starting tools creates advertising headaches• How international shipping laws can get complicated fast• Why California Prop 65 cost him thousands of dollars• What he learned from working with retailers like Ace Hardware and REI• Why packaging, QR codes, and in-store education matter• How Outdoor Element keeps trying to build useful, eco-conscious gearOne of the funniest parts of this conversation is Mike explaining how platforms like Google, Meta, Amazon, and others can treat outdoor knives like weapons, even when the product is designed as cutlery or survival gear. He also shares the painful lesson of having products rejected, confiscated, or restricted because different countries have different knife laws.This episode is packed with small business lessons, survival gear talk, Kickstarter stories, product design headaches, retail lessons, and plenty of laughs.If you’ve ever packed a tiny knife, a fire starter, or one of those “just in case” tools before heading outside, this one is for you.Connect with Outdoor ElementWebsite:https://outdoorelement.comInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/outdoor.element/YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@OutdoorElementListen to Beyond the TrailheadYouTube: https://youtube.com/@BeyondthetrailheadApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-the-trailhead/id1860050826Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11g9jx9Oyd2YSHipi0mmDy?si=72d97f11c5f64ea6Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/beyondthetrailheadpodcastWebsite: https://obristimagery.comFor those asking about safety gear we use outdoors you can get 15% off Overwatch x Rescue with code BEYOND15.