❝Story00:30
Why Kurt Avery Left the Corporate World to Build Sawyer
Kurt says he decided to start his own company after watching a company president take credit for his work. Sawyer began with a bee-sting and snake-bite kit and spent the following decades entering outdoor categories with technically different products.
- A lack of recognition pushed Kurt out of corporate employment
- Sawyer began with an extraction kit that remained in Walmart 41 years later
- The company later entered first aid, sunscreen, repellent, and water filtration
“Watch him take credit for absolutely everything. Didn't give me a single bone for all I did.”
“And I said, "I see how this game works. It's time to go out on my own."”
#entrepreneurship#sawyer#career#outdoor products
❝Story09:30
The Gulf War Contract That Took Sawyer From 2,000 to 230,000 Bottles
Sawyer was filling about 2,000 sunscreen bottles a week by hand when a Gulf War contract called for 230,000 a week. Kurt accepted before knowing how the company would fulfil it, then assembled the production needed to supply a formula designed to last for days when soldiers could not shower or reapply.
- Sawyer supplied roughly six million sunscreen bottles for the first Gulf War
- Weekly production demand increased from 2,000 to 230,000 bottles
- The formula was designed for soldiers unable to reapply during war
- Sawyer later brought the product to its domestic niche market
“at the time we were only filling 2,000 bottles a week by hand. Contract comes through for 230,000 a week.”
“So of course I said, "Yeah, we'll do that."”
#sunscreen#gulf war#scaling#military
❝Story16:00
How the Haiti Earthquake Put Sawyer on the Humanitarian Map
Kurt identifies the 2010 Haiti earthquake as Sawyer's humanitarian starting point after the company adopted its newer filtration system. He says representatives of 20 water companies were asked what they personally used, and all answered Sawyer, prompting charities to recognise the filter and widening its humanitarian role.
- Sawyer sent about 100,000 filters to Haiti
- Some filters were purchased by humanitarian organisations
- Representatives from competing water companies said they personally used Sawyer
- The episode helped establish Sawyer with charities
- Major company-funded donations became possible only years later
“the starting point for us was that her um earthquake in Haiti.”
“Every one of them said they personally use Sawyer.”
#haiti#earthquake#humanitarian aid#charities
❝Story19:00
The Uganda Village That Began Naming Babies at Birth
Kurt recounts a missionary learning that families in a Ugandan village waited until children turned three before naming them because roughly a third died before that age. After filters were distributed, he says the missionary returned the next year and found families naming babies at birth because no baby had been lost since the filters arrived.
- Families delayed naming children because early childhood deaths were common
- A missionary returned with Sawyer filters
- Kurt says the village reported no baby deaths after the filters arrived
- The story reinforces Sawyer's commitment to clean-water work
“they lose a third of their kids before age three.”
“Goes back with the filters, puts them throughout the village, goes back the next year, they name that birth because they haven't lost a baby…”
#uganda#children#clean water#humanitarian impact
❝Story24:30
The Grandmother Whose Loss Put Fire in Sawyer's Mission
Kurt recalls an early village installation around 2008 when a grandmother told the team that her grandchild would still be alive if the filter had arrived two weeks earlier. He says the encounter intensified Sawyer's urgency to expand as quickly as it could.
- The encounter happened during early village installations
- A grandmother connected her grandchild's death to the filter arriving too late
- Kurt says the moment intensified Sawyer's humanitarian urgency
“If you were here two weeks ago, my grandkid would still be alive.”
“that one just put the fire in our belly.”
#humanitarian mission#clean water#children#sawyer
❝Story25:30
What Changed After Sawyer Filtered 97,000 Homes in Kibera
Kurt says Sawyer reached 97,000 homes in Kibera, a Nairobi community of roughly 400,000 people with only 76 toilets. Three years later, he says illness had fallen enough for medical clinics to consolidate, while violence and gang conflict declined as water scarcity and insecurity eased.
- Sawyer installed filters in 97,000 homes
- Kurt describes severe sanitation constraints in the community
- He says reduced illness left clinics with fewer patients
- He links clean-water access with reduced scarcity and violence
- Kurt says eight major gangs became peaceful
“we went into Kabira. It's a suburb of Nairobi, and did 97,000 homes.”
“Everybody's got water. So they're not fighting over it.”
#kibera#water scarcity#public health#violence#nairobi
❝Story33:30
How Kurt Raised Problem-Solvers Who Later Joined Sawyer
Kurt says he responded to his children's questions by asking them to think through the answer, teaching them to solve problems. Although he deliberately avoided naming the company after the family and initially planned not to employ relatives, their abilities led the wider company to bring several children and sons-in-law into important roles.
- Kurt asked his children to answer their own why questions
- He wanted them to learn thinking and problem solving
- The Sawyer name avoided tying the children's identity to the company
- A daughter runs the foundation and another handles social media
- Kurt says five family members now work in the business
“I never answered their questions. When they would say why this, why that, I say, you tell me.”
“I made them learn to think, made them learn to solve problems.”
#family business#parenting#succession#problem solving