Ryan Duey - Plunge & Advancements In Cold Water Exposure

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It's great to be here, man. Looking forward to this.

Pleasure to have you. Uh the I'm I've been really looking forward to talking about what you guys are doing and just the immense popularity and growth of this particular, I guess, discipline. You know, I don't know what we can call it of cold water immersion. And uh, you know, it just seems like a meteoric rise. So you and I got to meet at Ursa uh earlier this year, and it was it was great just chatting with you. And man, your your booth area was buzzing. Like people were really keen on checking out, experiencing it. Uh every time I walked by, there was someone in your cold plunge unit. And uh it was, yeah, it just seemed to be a really good buzz about it. And and everybody I talked to, I guess within my circles loves cold plunging, right? And uh obviously it's big in the podcast world. So anyway, I'm gonna stop talking. I want to hear your backstory. How did you get to be the founder, CEO of Plunge, and what's that journey been like for you?

Yeah, I mean, I I mean, was great connecting with you. So that was a fun event. It's always uh we have a unique booth where it's very experiential and people are getting into cold plunge and coming out feeling feeling incredible after, you know, just two to three minutes. So it's always a it's a good vibe over at the booth. But um yeah, my my start health and wellness background, um, kind of cut my teeth as an entrepreneur, opening brick and mortar, focused in float tanks, very niche world, and that's where my co-founder was, Mike. Um, we had separate businesses and we really connected through that. So we we were first and foremost like into like meditation and and you know, um, you know, health and wellness, I guess is like a holistic term. We were into coal plunging. I got into it through around 2015, him around the same time as well. And so just was really into it and was do doing it uh whether in in lakes and rivers and you know learned of it through Wim. Wim Hof was kind of the the pioneer of it. That was the one that kind of sparked it in my world of this man that was like, who is this guy that is is is demonstrating the impact of cold? Um, you know, just this eccentric, charismatic guy. So that was the start of it for me getting into it. So it was more of a passion. It wasn't a business at all. It was I found my American River here in Sacramento, California, was doing that. And um, you know, it was very like fringe, like you know, it was very crazy to you get in cold water intentionally. Why, why would you do that? Um, and then the and then the business really came through from a COVID situation. Um, you know, both of our businesses 2020, we were brick and mortars here in California, shut down. And so it was this unique window into like, wow, this is the first time, like we really have some time in our life. Um and Mike, you know, he started the journey. He was the one, I'm gonna, I'm gonna build one of these in my garage. Like there, it was kind of blowing our minds that there wasn't really a product out there that we thought was at a price point that uh, you know, which we thought was like a good, accessible price point and like kind of a sleek tub. At that time, you know, this is back in 2020. It was like you you either had a chest freezer or you had a trough and you filled it up with ice and water. And that was that was really the stuff on the market. Um, so he started building in the garage, he he talked to me, hey, what do you think about doing this as a company? And we knew there was like a there was we felt there was like a real opportunity to what was coming. We knew this worked. Like we knew through and through coal plunging changed our lives. Like, how do we share this with the world? So it started from there. And then it was like, let's just let's email our customer base. He had reboot, float and cryo. I had Capital Floats in Sacramento, we had an email list and we said, hey, let's we had some time. Hey, this is what we've been working on in the pandemic. We're gonna build 20 of these. Who would like one? And we'll come and hand deliver to your house here in Northern California. And that was really the start of it. You know, I think we made some good calls from like a domain SEO standpoint early. Um, but it really just blossomed and it was more of like a really good product market fit right out of the gate. Um, and so then it was just, you know, how do we execute on this? How do we grow the company um meeting this demand? And demand just grew month after month after month, and here we are almost three years in um sitting where we are. So it's been uh, you know, I'd like to say we we've we've executed decently well, and you know, there's nothing better than than when something just hits and and the market wants it.

Yeah. I mean, there's always a little bit of uh, if not a lot of timing that comes into success stories, right? And generally before that one thing hits, there's generally like five to twenty things that didn't hit in someone's career. Uh I'm really curious about the the product development. When you guys were great story, by the way. When you guys were starting those first 20 units, like what what was the goal of the product design? You know, was it um that it could be you know steady temperature? Was it that it could moderate? Was it that it had to you know be self-cleansing? Like what what were the goals that you're hitting for in that first iteration?

Yeah, I think first and foremost was the chilling factor. Like, can this can this maintain the temperature we want this to maintain at with a warm body inside of it? So that was how cold can this thing get and can it maintain there? Uh first and foremost, you know, we had some background. Um, and I say we might Mike's much more the engineering side of it, but we had background in float tanks and kind of there's similar engineering to that. You know, we knew the circular flow for just maintaining more from a cleanliness standpoint, and it's very vital. So those were factors. Um, but we really wanted it to look good. We wanted it to be a unit that was um didn't have to be hidden in the garage. This could be, you know, if you're gonna spend this $5,000, like you want this to be out in the open. This is, well, it's an individual experience, we wanted this to be a community piece. Like people could gather around it, it looked good, it looked sleek, men and women liked it. Those were like key, key things to us. And I think the genius of the product early on was we didn't really go, especially to get to market. Like we didn't go remake the wheel. There were a lot of things that were already out there that we just combined to create a unit. Um, you know, there's a lot of engineering we've done now, and then even moving forward, which we're excited, I'm sure we'll get into in this this combo of the of the product and what we're adding to it. But out of the gate, it was like, let's just we don't have to go zero to a hundred. Let's get like zero to ten. And that would be just a game changer into the cold market. So I think that's how we started, and we moved really, really quick to we got out, we got to market really quick with a product that was that was good, you know, and it's evolved and gotten a lot better over time. However, we were able to get like so much feedback really, really quick in how to improve the engineering, the design, just small, subtle things to it. Um so yeah, I think for us the the key things were you know, filtration, can it maintain the chilling? And then does this aesthetically look good?

Yeah, interesting. Well, we'll get yeah, we'll take a deeper dive into the product and its current form and what you guys have planned because I have a lot of questions about that. You you've probably this next question you've probably answered so many times that you're tired of it, but I'm gonna ask you anyway because people want to know. I've had you know experts on this show, Rob Wolfe and Don Moxley and I talked about it. You know, uh, what are the benefits exactly of coal plunging? Like what do we know? What does the science know? What do we know because of our experiences anecdotally from from coal? And first of all, I'm a I'm a big fan. Like I take cold showers every morning, I plunge whenever I can. Probably right after this, I'm gonna get a plunge uh unit. Uh, I'm guessing, um, because I'm gonna be so fired up about it. But what what what do you uh yeah, what do we know?

What do we know? Um we know um, okay, let's start on the mental health side. This is this is to me the foolproof one for every single individual that's gonna get it. We see some different categories for different people of where they're at in their own kind of health journey. But let's just say elevated mood. So we know there is a substantial increase in, you know, whether it's 200%, 250%. I, you know, that those numbers are a little out there, but increase in dopamine into the into when you get into cold water. And that could be two to three minutes. If you get in, have that adrenaline response, you get a and then you do that over time, it's been shown to base increase baseline dopamine levels. So from a mental mental standpoint, that is to me, and that wasn't my top benefit getting into this. I think I felt that, but I wasn't quite aware of what the extent to that one, and that is like consistently what we hear. So you want to that I will just put every single person out there, this is what you will get from it. You will have this elevated energy and mood. That's one. Uh study showing increased white blood cell count, so immune system, more robust, more resilient immune system. That's a uh that's one that's in there. Um, you know, the more recent one, we saw a study for uh increase in metabolism. So it's been shown to increase your brown fat. Well, what is brown fat? We have two types of fats in our bodies. We have a white fat, we have a brown fat. White fat's the common referred to, like it's more of energy storage. It's what we it's the fat that builds onto our body that we want to get rid of. And then there's brown fat, which is actually a counter to the white fat. It reduces our white fat. It actually, when you have a good source of brown fat on the body, which is generally stored in like your neck, upper region here, that means you have a real your metabolism is in good place. So you get cold, it increases your brown fat, metabolism increases. So that's when you hear people talk about like it's great for weight loss and and things like that. That's a factor there. Um, you know, more studies that have come out. I talked about the mental health side. There was one that just came out. The Czech Army just released a study that this um for men and women, significant increase in anti-anxiety. So it's now a recommended cold therapy is recommended amongst the whole army for anti-anxiety medicine. So that's a big one. Um there was um a really interesting one. This one was in, I think, nature.com. Um, initial studies into uh term tumor reduction for cancer patients using cold water therapy. And that was also mixed with a low glucose diet, but um, which they were saying was kind of a sense is an essential part, but they it was at a spot of like cold water therapy with low glucose would be a recommended uh cancer treatment that they this group would put out there. So those are like science studies that are actually have popped up over this last you know 12 to 18 months, and I only envision more as like as more and more people do it, having these like anecdotal testimonies from this, there's more interest. You know, you get labs that are actually gonna go raise money and and understand what's going on here. Um, you know, I think from what we see, like just as a company and and people talking about stuff, we see a lot of a lot of like nervous system um ailments. So, you know, autoimmune is a big category, a lot of different, um, a lot of different. I'm not an expert in it, but we, you know, for example, we hear one with a lot of people with MS very early on in the process, can kind of get those symptoms down, get that in control. Um then, you know, we have this uh the one I see a lot for, I think adults get it, but I hear it a lot for the youth. And that's been a cool is confidence boosting. Is like this becomes this thing that, like, you know, dad bought the unit to do it for dad. Well, now it's becomed into father-daughter time, and the daughter just is like they crush it, they feel confident, they come out, they feel great. So these are like kind of side, like what is that quantified? What's that doing in the body? I don't know, but it's enough that we hear it consistently where people call in and be like, this has changed my son's life. Um and so that those are those are the ones that really fire me up, kind of the the the constant uh things that I just didn't expect. I didn't expect to hear. I don't, I don't, you know, I didn't know that those were gonna be the byproduct of this, but that's those are some of the things we hear consistently.

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Four years.

Four years we've been doing it. And uh my anxiety in the mornings is almost immediately gone. Like it's just crazy. And and I my mental wellness is is increased drastically, and that's just through cold showers, right? Um, so there's a lot to I think there's also a lot, and you can't, how do you quantify this? I don't know, but like the mental resiliency. Like, no one wants to get up first thing in the morning and get into a body of cold water, right? It's not what we instinctually want to do. So the fact that you can override that, get into it, and then realize like, okay, that's one of the harder things I'll probably do today, right? That took the most, that took a lot of um, you know, I guess, emotional energy to overcome that obstacle. And I think that's something that's that's really interesting about it. It's no one's gonna get hurt. Like, I'm sure it's someone's gonna find some way to get hurt with cold water immersion. But overall, it's like it's a very safe way to push your limits daily. And I think that's really cool.

It totally, man. I think it's it's a unique thing when you really think about it. You know, cold water is it what we're trying to induce is this fight or flight mechanism, like this this shot of adrenaline into the body and learning how to over like control ourselves in that. That's the environment we're getting into. And it's just I don't know of many places where we get to go safely go through that. Most of the time, if a shot of adrenaline comes in, it has to come unexpected. You know, it's like someone yelling at you unexpectedly, uh uh almost getting a car swinging by you and whoa, and you kind of get this heightened sense of uh, you know, your senses heightened. Where this is a, you know, for your nervous system, it's a gym. It's a it's a region that you get to get into and safely work through that and control that. And so I think it's it's a rare, it's a rare environment where it works every single time. You're gonna get that, your breath is gonna get taken away. You you have the mental chatter prior of I don't want to go through this. And it's a the other thing that's unique with cold is it's immediate. Like I think through of like saunas. Saunas are a highly, you know, they are resilient building equipment as well. But it's different because when you get into the sauna, it's like kind of refreshing when you first get in there.

Totally.

And then it builds to the discomfort. Where cold is you have to just do the shittiest part first. Like it actually you get in and that first whatever, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, a minute, whatever it is for an individual, it just starts to get a little easier after that first run. But the initial part, so it's like that's when I dance around every single morning. I plunge every single morning. It's like my first thing I do, and I still do, you know, if there was a video on me, it'd be like, what the hell is he doing? Like, why is he why I don't fix anything at my house, and all of a sudden I'm like fixing something on the counter or like I'm just avoiding what I have to do. But I go through it and, you know, I think there is something really special of like the new neural networks that get built from, you know, I don't want to do this. There is a sacrifice I have to do of some discomfort, or you know, I have to get into this environment, knowing that the payoff is just right around the corner. And I think that's a really unique, you know, I don't think we get to train ourselves consistently for that. And it's just a micro win that, you know, there is compounding interest in that over time.

Yeah, yeah, interesting. So I I want to ask you this because, you know, I I've been in the health and wellness game for a little while. And, you know, I've but I've been on this planet for 46 years, and there's always trends, right? Uh when you look at like, and I'm sure this has got to be a consideration for you, like, okay, is this cold plunge thing a trend, right? Like, is it, you know, is it gonna come and go or is it gonna flatten or is it gonna keep going meteorically? Like, what what are your thoughts on on that that consideration for a trend? And is that going into your planning? Uh, or are you just like full ahead, right? Like, we're just gonna go until this thing doesn't go anymore.

I mean, if you have that answer, let me know. Um because we're yes, we we we think about this a lot. And I think there's two things, like there's trends and there's movements. And you know, one thing that we recognize here, like that we're just confident in, is we know this works. Like if you do this, it has an impact on you positively. Um so I think that's what we are like overall big picture, like really trusting, you know, understand that. Is this happening at a pace that's much quicker than we anticipated? Absolutely. Did we think it would be here from a cultural context after three years of starting this company? Absolutely not. Um, which to me is just on a personal level super exciting. I thought it would it would be a whole nother level to try and get people to be open to getting into cold water. Like I thought we were further away from that process as like uh as a as a culture, as a country, whatever you want to term it. But that is so much further ahead than I'm I've realized. And so that's super exciting to me that people are like, I'm willing to do this. Like, I I want to, I'll do the hard thing to get this pay off. Um so you know, where this goes, I don't, I don't know. I mean, do we do we envision a world where you know this is a common thing and most homes have a coal plunge at their house? Yeah, that's what we want to work towards. That's what we want to figure out. We believe in that. Um, we think it's great for you know family units and new ways for families to come together and things to have and just you know tools in the household. Um, you know, I think I think from a trend standpoint, one thing we do think about is like right now, like there's there's the trend of oh, I want to show this to the world. There's the Instagram trend, there's the social media side to it, which we're in that cycle right now. That's the thing. It's still fresh, it's still new. There will be a new new thing on the block soon. It's just how our minds work, and then we want to share the new thing. That Will come and go. I I don't know the exact timeline on that. We're we're we love that this is something that people want to share and show, and that's awesome. Then there's this other piece of like, okay, how do we still the end of the day? It might feel like this is everywhere, but how many people do you know with a cold plunge? Like, probably can count on your hand, maybe two, three. Exactly. Like, that's the real at the end of the day, like there is still so many people that are not cold plunging. And yes, from social media, it might feel like everyone's doing it. It's just not the case. And so there's that whole other, like that to me is the real game that we're playing.

Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. And and no one knows, but it's a fun thing to talk about, right?

Totally.

Um, let's talk about the products. So, you know, since that first 20, what's evolved? And then second part of that question, which you can do any way you want. Um, where do you see it going? I mean, there's a lot of I imagine there's a lot of opportunities for maybe some some integration, pulling data, um wearable HRV, all that stuff. That's it's all on the table, right? So how has it evolved and then what are you guys seeing moving forward?

Yeah, the the products evolved tremendously, just into like feedback we've gotten, things we've learned of, you know, whether it's to this part doesn't really hold up in shipping, to oh, the flow rate needs to improve in the unit. So we're changing our coupling by you know a quarter inch, like, you know, and there's been a thousand of those iterations over time. So, you know, that that's that has been on our first generation plunge to what we have today. Um I think what we're excited about where the product's going is you know, we're gonna have some future generations of the plunge coming out, um, which you know has been the feedback we've gotten. We've we've had, I think we arguably have as much feedback as anyone in the world on people of coal plunging. Um, so how do we take that info and and put that into you know, keep improving the product? Like we have, I think that's what's exciting about us is like we really want to innovate in the space. Like we have this current unit, and then there's there's major innovation to come. Like um, you know, there's never really been technology that's been forged into like chilling water for this purpose. There's been chilling mechanisms of hydroponic, like you know, grow operations and things like that, but never like actually there's been hot tub innovation. How do we heat water up to hold it hot for hot tubs? This is a whole new category. So that's exciting to me. Um you know, we we want to the product itself, we will be releasing an updated app uh a new plunge app here soon. Um so that will be, you know, whether it's it's a user base for like a hub for our customer base to get notifications on cleaning and and updates on their unit, to changing temperature, to actually understanding and tracking how often you're plunging, um, protocols to use. Oh, I, you know, I'm new to this. How how do I, okay, I this is my first, I just bought this plunge. I I know it's gonna do wonders for me. How do I get set up for success? So having guided videos from experts in there of actually talking to people and guiding people through their plunges. So this is all stuff that's coming out this year with us that we're we're real excited, you know. Having, remember, you were talking to the the founder of Aura, and we want to have like the way it will, we actually have the we just established all of this, but the you'll have your wearables. And so you'll be able to actually get a selfie video and get your heart rate, get live feedback into your heart rate and learn how to lower your heart rate while you're plunging. So you're getting direct feedback in there and you can track it over time. Um, so those are all things that are coming out in the app that we're, you know, from a one to just tackle a user experience standpoint. It's one, everyone's on their phones, we have our phones on us all the time. Can that just be the hub for everything plunge right there? And then also just enhancing and it, you know, enhancing the experience, getting people to understand, get accelerated with the product quicker and then grow over time with it. So those are those are innovations we're coming with. And then we're also like from a plunge standpoint, we're gonna be we're launching a sauna here. Uh nice section. That that's that's our next product that's coming out, and that's not far from here. I don't know when this this will be released, but that will be um very soon here. And that's again, that I think our products when we started out, I there was no business plan of like, okay, we're gonna create a plunge and then we're gonna go get into the sauna space, then we're gonna do an app. We it's really been okay, what are our customers telling us? We are customers first and foremost. Like, we want to build what we would want to have. And then what are people asking for? You know, and that was early on. It was like, hey, would you guys ever build a sauna? And who do you recommend if you don't? And so that sent us on an 18-month journey to where we are today of like, okay, cool, we actually are really proud and think this is innovative sauna that we're gonna be rolling out. And so um, that I think will be a big jump for us going from just a coal plunge company to you know a larger portfolio and outside of um, you know, really a whole like health and wellness, and this opens it up for even new products down the road that we want to get into that we're passionate about.

There's so much potential here for technology to to bolster. I mean, the experience alone, like I imagine like guided experiences given, you know, time, like how how much exposure you've had to cold water exposure, how you can continue to push the limits, music, you know, a soothing voice, ways to guide you through it in the breathing Wim Hof or something like that, you know, actually doing, you know, giving writing you through it. Totally. Uh a breathing experience. And then the the where the data is really, you know, how does this stuff affect, you know, HRV, sleep, resting heart rate? I know it has an effect on all those things, right? I I know it does. I've seen it in my own data. I just can't direct, I can correlate it. I just can't prove causation with my own, you know, n equals one um shitterly run science experiments that I do on myself. But uh, you know, there's there's got to be a lot around that. I mean, that that's something imagine you get reporting on on those three things, HRV, sleep, and resting heart rate are directly affected by by cold water immersion, right?

Correct. And I think we're excited to understand how. And it like, you know, I think there you mentioned data earlier. I mean, app, the app is step one for us getting that concentrated there. But there are so many cool, you know, I'm getting updated from our tech team on this of like just so many cool companies and places of like aggregating data and how people can opt in and sourcing different, like whether it's going to be plunge data mixed with diet data, um, mixed with movement data, and then just like blood work data that people are getting. This is all you know, moving online. And then how do we aggregate that? And how do we give people the best protocol to what your goals are? I mean, there are different goals we can achieve with coal plunging and you know, with sauna entering the fray too. And then how do we tailor that and create the best experience for someone? So, you know, Eric, you understand, like, you know what? Like, I'm for my goal of whatever you list, you enter in the app, you pick your top three things. This is what I'm working towards. Cool. Here's your we actually start to understand, oh, you should be plunging three to four times a week at two to three minutes, and let's keep it at this temperature. Like, very different than someone that's like, you know, I want to plunge two times a week for a much longer window of time at a much colder temperature. Like those are gonna impact you differently. So um, different body types, different ages, men and women. So I think that's what we're really excited to start getting going deeper into that. And, you know, right now it's a lot of anecdotal. It's like people just sharing this is what works for me. This is, you know, it's forums and chat groups and things like that, where can we start aggregating that and getting the right uh the right protocols out to people?

Yeah, it's a huge opportunity. I mean, personalization is really uh probably the most consistent topic I have on this podcast is you know, how do we make everything fitness, health, and wellness more personalized and therefore more effective, and therefore people will actually do it, right? Totally.

And I think that's the huge, I mean, you've talked to people all day, and like I think that's just one of the massive innovations I'm excited on in the health and wellness space. It's like, you know, there's clearly a movement of people wanting to, you know, get healthier, get more optimized, whatever, all those things. And then there's the tech that's coming in to actually accelerate that and get people even more understanding of what's going on.

It's such a cool time to be alive. I mean, it really is. Like if you're I mean, if you're into optimizing your health span and your days, right? Just being optimization in general. Like, I want the most out of every day. I want to live the best life I can as long as I can. And what a great time. I mean, gosh, and maybe it's just the people I get to talk to all the time, but it's it's it's really uh it's really a fun time to be alive. Uh, out of curiosity, what who who's buying the coal plunges? Do you have any insights? Is there like a specific type of demographic? I'd imagine anyone who listens to Joe Rogan probably buys the.

Yeah, there's definitely when when Joe goes on, you know, he's been a great person. He's all into it. Yeah, you know, whether he's on the extreme end, like sometimes he's 10 minutes at his 33 degrees, it's like, you know, it's not for everyone. But yes, he, you know, he's clearly getting a ton of benefit from it. Um type of person, you know, it swings more predominantly male, is what we like of the purchaser. But what's a really interesting stat is of our um of the people inner engaging with us or purchasing, like men maybe by two-thirds the time compared to women of our purchasers, but women are engaging with the exact same way at conversion rate on the site. So what that's telling me is like, you know, women are wanting this too. We also need to find the correct messaging that is, you know, relates to women and you know, their their different body types and how they're getting how they're engaging with the product. So um, you know, I find that really encouraging as like men kind of took to it first, but we're seeing a lot of uh women really getting into it and you know, having uh, you know, purchasing the product. You know, we see like just that entrepreneur crowd, growth mindset individuals. We're still in like early adopter stage. Um, so it takes that type of person that's like, you know, like I want to do that. Like they their neighborhood hasn't taken this on yet. They're gonna be the first person in their neighborhood with this unit. And that's still where we're at, where it takes the it's it's these early people doing it. Um but we we get all types of ages, you know. That that's what's also exciting, whether it's 30 up to you know, 70 plus years old, they're going in for different things. People want to feel great. Um, so we, yeah, it's been it's been exciting to see. It's one of my favorite things. I you walk out on the warehouse floor and I pick up, I just go look at the slips of where it's going to, and it just blows my mind. It's like, oh, it's random town in Arkansas to the you know, Dubai, to um, you know, Denver, Colorado. It's just these random places, and I love just going in and imagining like, who is this person that this is, I know this is gonna go change their life. Like they're gonna get this unit, it's gonna go into their house. Like, this is a radical thing. To I'm gonna get cold water and I'm gonna get into this every day or multiple times a week. And I just get it's one of my favorite things to go out there and envision it and just like, wow, this is gonna change their family, change that individual, change their community. Like, cannot wait for this to get out there. That's awesome, man. I love it.

Um, let's talk about the business. So you've three years, right? Uh astronomical growth. I mean, I don't know your numbers, but I would be happy to hear what you could share. Um, let's start with that. Like, where of what you can share with the public, like, where is the business at? Like, give us some metrics and then we can we can take it from there.

Yeah, I mean, we're it's it's something with like how much do we share? What do we share? Um, you know, the the it's it's month over month growth. Um, there's definitely a unique part of there is this though with the business. There is some seasonality. So we do see um, you know, we have our Black Friday run, and that's good. And then December through through March, there's definitely like a slowdown. And then, you know, here we are in April, country starts to heat up, growth happens over the year, kind of peaks up over over September time. So there is there is kind of a seasonality dynamic to the company. You know, for us, which it's been yeah, massive growth. You know, it's thousands of thousands of plunges have been shipped out into the world and and impacting people. Um and we we expect a another big year. Like you were talking about trends and that. It's like it's it's it's only showing, you know, the direction we want this to go. We're seeing one of our biggest like referral is people actually having plunges. So we do see this still, this exponential growth of as more plunges get into the market, it's firsthand testimony. You know, we could put an ad out day of, or I could speak all day on a podcast of why I think this is impactful and can change people's lives. But people don't know me. At the end of the day, you know, if you get a plunge, your friends are gonna take your word a lot more than than someone they might hear on a podcast or someone that it's some ad they see. So that's super exciting. Um, yeah, the business has been uh, like I said, it's been great product fit from the beginning. It's just been how do we, how do we, how do we keep matching the demand? I mean, we one thing with that's been a real challenge for us is like production numbers. So we've been in like I think five to six facilities over the last three years. We've had to move, and it's been more of we've been able to, and unique being with the business is the lead time is kind of sorted as a as a financing opportunity for the company. So people purchase the unit straight up, and then we have a lead time. Um, where we've really tried to, which I'm really proud of our team, is like we've we've upped our production massively, um, which in turn cuts the lead time down, which creates whole new dynamics of the business forecast and cash flow as we're you know trying to forecast out inventory and purchasing three to four months ahead. And you know, now our cash flow window is is tightening into when so that's been a unique adjustment for us as a company. Um, how to manage that, how to um, you know, with the goal ultimately is always to get lead time down, how do we make this a better customer experience? Even though it might be beneficial for the company to have a longer lead time, our goal has been, you know, day one, just produce more, get more of these units out there.

Yeah. That's I mean, seasonality, I would imagine, is so I mean, we're sitting here in April and people haven't figured out you're talking to two guys, uh, listening to two guys with seasonal allergies. You know, we're we've got uh I'm not saying I just got so I imagine the demand is building up, right? As the warmer months come on, people are gonna be more apt to like want to do that cold plunge. Is that is that just a I'm just assuming that's correct.

Yep. You know, it's it's we see consistent throughout the year with Florida, Texas, California, Arizona, like those are states that doesn't really matter the time of year. Um where it is now is you know, you start to get the Tennessees, the North Carolinas, the like they're getting a little warmer now. And then soon it'll be, you know, shit, we're gonna have Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota. It's just it gets warmer and people are buying all over. So um, you know, it just opens up the country into where people are, as it gets warmer, people are open to it. And it's also not a, this isn't a hundred dollar price point. Like there's thought that goes into this purchasing. Some people, this is a a lot of people, it's a massive purchase. And that could take, you know, I heard about it two years ago. Second year, I really started to do my research. Third year, like, I'm ready to buy. Um, you know, that window might be shorter for some people, but they're there, it can take a seasoned two seasons getting through, and then we're back to the heat. So it's like, okay, I'm ready to buy. So we've seen just even our last like uh 45 days, massive increase. Um, you know, and I think that has a lot to do with weather. And then you just throw in these unique cultural things that are happening. You know, you're getting a Joe Rogan that's this is clearly impacting his life massively, where he wants to talk about it almost every show, which is incredible. Like he, you know, he doesn't just talk about shit that doesn't matter to him. This is that we, you know, we had a really cool one. We had Andy Frasilla, you know, founder of First Form. He uh, you know, we'd we'd he'd gotten a unit a year ago, didn't have it, just started cold plunging. And, you know, it was one of the most cool testimonies. He had a pod about a week or two ago, week ago, that was just like, this is the greatest thing I've ever added to my life. And he was kind of a hater, to be honest. Like he was kind of like, I don't, and then he started doing it, was like, this is the greatest $5,000 I've ever spent in my life. And if I was going to recommend one thing to one people, it would be coal plunging. So you're getting these, why I bring that up is we're getting these moments where it's like real impactful people are getting into it, and it's it's making a massive difference in their life. And you throw that into, you know, the way the internet works these days, it's it's just created this really strong cool momentum.

Yeah, and it's one of those things, too. It's like once you incorporate it as a habit and you get the benefits from it, you just don't want to stop. I mean, I noticed a difference. Uh, you know, Shane Farmer is a good friend of mine from Dark Horse Rowing, and uh, you know, he talked about he he got into the cold shower thing for a while, and then he he uh couldn't do his cold showers for one reason or another, and he just felt his immune system. It's like every time he stopped doing his cold water work, uh, he got sick. And he's like, I'm sure of it, right? And people start to notice these trends, like you know, it does, it does keep you healthier. Um, you know, uh your journey on this in this business world that you're you're in right now must be pretty incredible. I mean, you guys were on Shark Tank, right? Were you? I didn't see it, but were you personally on Shark Tank?

Yeah. Yeah. Mike and I did it together.

Yeah. So it's been a wild ride, right? Like, walk us through that experience in the last three years. Like, how how are you dealing with it? And I put this in the context. I interviewed uh Ollie Uradi from Tonal years ago when that thing was starting to really blow up. And he he kind of described his journey as like jumping in a Formula One car and learning how to drive on the way, right? Like he's got this, like she's really going really fast, and it's you know, a lot of moving parts. And so how how has your journey entrepreneurially been uh so far over the last three years?

I think he nailed it. It's been um, you know, there's different phases. There's different phases where it's like, you know, we're getting we're in the garage and it's it's moving quick, but it's just a different, there's a different level of magnitude feel to it, responsibility. And I think the thing that I I I have moments where it's like, whoa, this is a lot. And those are great. It's good for reflection, it's good to kind of, but I I just love what we're doing. I just love it. Like I'm I'm so into it. So the responsibility doesn't feel heavy, you know. Growing our company's growing, we're adding employees every week, you know, people moving to the region to work here. It's like it's it's you know, full-on career, like internally, like careers are being built. And I love it. Like it's it's a cup because I think I love what we're doing and I so believe in it. So the responsibility feels like such a privilege and like a joy. Um and man, it there is so much. I was taught, Mike and I were talking about this, and it feels like the growth, usually for growth windows, like it's it's shorter. It's like you go through a growth window, and it's like, cool, I uplevel and there's kind of a plateau. Where here it's just so accelerated right now, where I feel like those windows of the growth just get squeezed in longer. And then I think I the company's at a new spot. We need to make new decisions and create new systems and processes, and I need to up level how I see things. Cool, I'm gonna go on that journey. I get there. It's like, okay, no time to enjoy this anymore because what you just went through, this has completely changed, and we need to accelerate this even more. So I think it's been um, yeah, I mean, it's been it's been a journey of adrenaline. Um have a really good team around me of people that I can sub, I feel supported by. And I think the biggest thing too is like, I'm so grateful that I'm like Mike is my co-founder. Like we are truly like we're co-founders, we're co-CEOs, and I can't imagine it doing without him. Like days that I'm just like do like I'm struggling, like, you know, struggling and maybe overly stressed out. It's like, you know, it doesn't happen to be that he's that that day. So I can lean on him, and vice versa, and just decisions that are, you know, I look back, I'm like, man, I just tip my cap to these founders that just go on these solo journeys and build these massive companies where it's you know, it's it's gonna be lonely at the top, and there's an isolation dynamic to it. And I just so appreciate I get to share that with him. Um, and so it has made a massive difference, and I think it's excel it's allowed us to go quicker too, because we don't get hung up and we it's kind of a two-headed team. We have complete trust in each other. Um, but yeah, I mean, just constantly evaluating like you know, the size and the scope of our company, who, what we believe we can be, like is constantly changing. So with that, like my mode of operation and my mode of being to the company and what the what I should be tackling and going out and and and figuring out just changes. So it's like this um I wouldn't have it any other way. And you know, sometimes it's it's uh it can be real challenging. Yeah. So what I'm picking up is you're not bored at all. Yeah, and I not at all. It's like I I wake up every day. It's like we get to solve it's such a privilege to solve these problems. Like, you know, we the problems we face are because there's growth and there's excitement and there's a cultural shift happening. It's like we get to go be a part of that, which I do not take for granted. Like those are the problems we get to solve. And that's just so so exciting.

Yeah, man.

Good on you.

Well, uh, that kind of brings us to a nice question here. Is what do you need right now? What you, Ryan, Dewey, and and you as a company at Plunge, like what's uh what's important to you? How can our community support you? If you want to hear from people, um what reasons would you like to hear for them for?

Um man, I love like for me personally, rocket fuel is okay, whether you have our product or you don't, like I love just people's testimonies. Like that that's the thing that I go into our reviews, I read those, like that's just personal fuel for me. Um yeah, and I think my like whether you haven't tried getting into cold water and you're hesitant, my ask is find a friend and do it with someone, like just for your own sake, like see what it's all about, like feel that. And if you're doing it, share it with the world. Like that's that's all I uh, you know, when you find something great, you want to share it with people because we care about people, and those are those would be my my only my only asks.

Well, that's easy. That's all that's all. Well, it's not easy because a lot of people don't like to jump in cold water.

Totally, man. It's it's not what's so cool about it is it's it's not an easy thing. And you're gonna like you get this reward. Like you're gonna get the reward from it. And um, but that's what's so fun. You get to people do people ask people to do something that's just a little outside that comfort zone. And uh, but I promise you'll you'll get a you'll get a positive reward for it.

It's the closest thing I found to a magic pill, really, uh, when it comes to my you know mental and physical health. And uh I think people you know really should consider it strongly. And it's not that bad. Yeah, it's it sucks for like 10, 15, 30 seconds, maybe, maybe up to a minute. But once you kind of like start adjusting to it, the adrenaline kicks in, like you said, it's just not that bad. And you get immediate gratification as soon as you get out how great you feel for hours that day. So anyway, I mean we can talk uh for days about how great it is.

I think showers are like the most annoying. I'm like, this is like it's just you can never really adapt to it because it's like hitting, you have the contrast between skin that's not being hit to the skin that is. Um, you know, what is your you do that every single day? Showers, what's your what's your protocol there?

Uh it's not complicated. Um, I do it every day except for weekends during ski season because I don't want to lower my body temperature when I head out to the mountain or I'm going, you know, somewhere where you know I can't warm up. Um, but almost every day. And it's just my shower. Like I, you know, I bring in, I set my timer, like I jump in the shower, it's cold, um, I get over it within the first 10 to 20, you know, about a minute, I'm kind of adjusting to it. I brush my teeth, I you know, bathe and rinse, and then I get out. And, you know, five to eight minutes later, I feel great. And I don't even need coffee, I drink it anyway, but I don't need it. Um, and I'm focused, and the mornings are generally awesome. So, and obviously it it changes here seasonally because in the winter the water is gonna be a lot colder than I can get it in the summer, but fractionally it's it's still pretty cold in the summer. So that that's it for me. I just, you know, uh, I don't know, it's not even an option. I just do it. I don't think about it. Yeah, it's it's not that bad. Um, but I appreciate appreciate the turnaround interview there. That's always fun. Uh huh. Well, Ryan, man, if if people want to get a hold of you, if they if you want to send them somewhere online, uh, where would you like them to go?

Uh man, uh, I mean, our site, you can go to plunge.com, and that's that's there. Um, it's kind of our hub. For me personally, I'm pretty active on Instagram. It's probably the most active. I okay and respond to most things there. So um people want to connect there. I also have a podcast I started recently about 20 episodes in called The Journey. Um bit into the entrepreneurship. Uh, think how I built this, but more on the individual side. So yeah.

Very cool, man. And what's your uh what's your Instagram handle?

Uh it's just Ryan A. Dewey.

Okay, got it. Well, hey, man. Um, thank you for joining me on this wonderful Friday and uh really excited for you and the business and and how it's grown. I think it's just a really cool sector and it's helping a lot of people in a very um sustainable way. So congrats, appreciate the time, ladies and gentlemen. Ryan Dewey. Thanks for having me on, man. This was a blast. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minute. If you did, I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things. It takes under five minutes and it goes such a long way. We really appreciate it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it, iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, whatever it may be. Number two, please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share. Put it on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message, whatever it may be. Please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it. We want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more or get in touch with me, simply go to the futurofitness.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone, and this is the future of fitness. Have a great day.