Featured appearances
Topics
- Bootstrapping a physical product from a kitchen table prototype to a national retail line, with no manufacturing background
- Why he walked away from a Shark Tank deal nearly a year after accepting it on air, and what staying independent has cost and returned
- Fire bans, wildfire risk and how the campfire survives in the American West
- Building a company around river culture: raft guides, Protect Our Rivers and Team River Runner
- Nonprofit operations to founder: what the Denver DA's Office, NSCD and Adam's Camp taught him about running a business
- Product invention by iteration: seven ammo cans to get to the one that worked
Suggested questions
- You had three offers on Shark Tank and shook on one. Why did you not sign?
- What did the seventh prototype do that the first six did not?
- You sold the first 40 boxes in a day. What happened in the following week?
- How do fire bans actually work, and why do most fire pits fail them?
- You spent two decades in nonprofits and the DA's office before this. What carried over?
- What is a Chief Eruption Officer responsible for on a Tuesday?
- You still build boxes in the warehouse. Is that a choice or a constraint?
- A dollar a box to Team River Runner. Why that cause, and does it ever feel like marketing?
Approved intro script
Josh Thurmond is the founder and CEO of LavaBox Portable Campfires, the Denver company that builds propane campfires inside steel ammo cans so you can have a fire under a fire ban. He started it in 2020 during a Colorado fire season, sold the first 40 in a day, and took it to Shark Tank, where he got three offers and then decided to stay independent. Before LavaBox he spent more than 25 years as a raft, kayak and climbing guide and ran operations for nonprofits across Colorado. Please welcome Josh Thurmond.
The name is Josh Thurmond in all show notes and titles, never Joshua, and the company is LavaBox Portable Campfires, one word, capital L and capital B.
Headshots
Credit: supplied by Josh Thurmond. Use as is; no cropping into other images.
Contact
- Bookings and press
- media@joshthurmond.com
- Based
- Denver, Colorado (Mountain Time). Remote recording or in person on the Front Range.
- Company
- LavaBox Portable Campfires
- Link for show notes
https://joshthurmond.com/