Rachel Friedline's first business had nothing to do with dogs. It started with a red braided iPhone cord at a ski house in Tahoe.

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Back in 2013, Rachel and her partners noticed something small that turned into something real. Every Sunday night at their shared Tahoe ski house, everyone fought over the one iPhone cord. A friend had a braided fabric cord that stood out, and somehow the group landed on the idea of buying and selling them through Instagram's earliest wave of influencer marketing. ChargeCords.com was born, and it actually worked. But two years in, the passion wasn't there.

What was there: climbing. Rachel and her husband Jared were climbing constantly and kept repurposing old climbing ropes and carabiners as dog leashes. The product already existed in the market, but Rachel thought the colors were off, the prices were too high, and the designs could be better. The manufacturing process for a climbing rope leash mirrored what they already knew from braided cords. They found a rope manufacturer in California's Central Valley, had four colors made, built a website, and put it out there. People bought them. That was Wilderdog's first product, and the company has been growing from that foundation for the past 10 years.

Rachel's instinct as a product designer has always been to create things she actually wants to use. That approach built the brand's early catalog. But it also created a tension that most founder-designers face: when do you listen to the customer over your own judgment?

For years, customers asked for harnesses. Rachel resisted because she doesn't use harnesses on her own dogs and believes they can encourage pulling. Eventually, enough requests created a signal she couldn't ignore. She made the harness, and it became Wilderdog's top seller. Her takeaway is practical: enough noise does create a signal, but a single loud voice doesn't. She still stays close to customer service, still reads what comes in, and still physically handles products in the warehouse. That proximity keeps her from being surprised by feedback six months too late and often sparks ideas for new products.

The approach mirrors what Michael Brandt, CEO of Ketone IQ, discussed in a previous episode: nail one core value proposition, then iterate on everything else. For Wilderdog, that North Star is simple: inspire people to get outside with their dogs.

One of Wilderdog's earliest advantages was something Rachel didn't fully anticipate. People never get tired of seeing dogs. Every other brand faces content fatigue at some point, but dog photos in the outdoors are endlessly shareable. In the early days, customers would tag Wilderdog in photos of their dogs wearing the gear, and Rachel's team would repost them. Free marketing for the brand, free exposure for the customer. Everyone was happy.

That reciprocal model has changed. Rachel described a pivotal moment when she reposted a photographer's image and received an angry message about not being paid. At the time it felt unreasonable, but in hindsight, it marked a real shift in how Instagram operates. Creators rightly expect compensation now.

Today, Wilderdog works with about 10 ambassador photographers and uses platforms like PopFly to find and manage creator relationships. The challenge is that great product photography doesn't automatically translate to great dog content. Rachel still creates some of the best-performing reels herself, which takes significant time for 15 seconds of content. Getting more specific with creative briefs is at the top of her to-do list.

Wilderdog is completely bootstrapped. No outside investors, no acquisition deals, just steady reinvestment back into the business. Rachel acknowledges they've taken calls from investors and acquisition firms, so it's not something they've ruled out entirely, but it would have to be a perfect fit. Based on her conversations with people in that industry, she doesn't expect to find that perfect partner, and she's comfortable with that.

The upside of staying independent goes beyond just financial control. It gives Rachel and her partners the freedom to make values-driven decisions without having to justify them to a board. They can donate product to foster events. They can keep prices affordable. They can move slowly and deliberately rather than chasing the growth targets an investor might demand. Rachel described the company as slow-growing, but not in a way that feels like settling. It feels intentional.

One of the most meaningful parts of Wilderdog's business is their Purchase for a Pup program. For every purchase made on the site, they donate a cup of food to a shelter or rescue, choosing a new one each month. To date, they've donated over $500,000 to shelters and rescues across the country.

Rachel is passionate about adoption and wants to push back on the stigma around secondhand dogs. Her point is straightforward: getting a puppy from a breeder doesn't guarantee a perfect dog, and there are countless good dogs sitting in shelters that would thrive in a regular home. She also highlighted how underpaid and underappreciated the people working in shelters and rescues are, and that Wilderdog's financial contributions are meant to support those frontline workers directly.

When Jon asked Rachel what success means to her, her answer was refreshingly specific. She sees it when she's out on a trail and spots a dog wearing Wilderdog gear. That one moment represents the full loop: she designed a product someone wanted, her partner marketed it so that person found it, their warehouse team shipped it, and the customer liked it enough to use it. That's the whole business, represented in one dog on one trail. She's now making gift cards to hand out when she spots someone wearing the gear in the wild, inspired by a friend who did the same thing with his hat company.

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Jon is a runner, cyclist, and podcast host from Boston, MA, who now lives in Boulder, CO. For The Long Run is aimed at exploring the why behind what keeps runners running long, strong, and motivated.

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