CEO and Co-Founder of Beartooth, Michael Monaghan

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Michael Monaghan, Co-Founder and CEO ofÂ Beartooth

What an exciting thing to watch the launch of a business. It represents the beginning of a new, scary and wonderful challenge. It also culminates years of innovation, planning, preparation and hard work. Today, Beartooth launches officially for the public. It is the brainchild of Michael Monaghan, a friend I have known for years. An idea borne out Michael’s experiences both as a financier at Goldman Sachs and as a devout skier and outdoorsman, Beartooth builds on the promise of handheld phone use off the typical cellular grid. It is a tech company based in Bozeman, Montana! I spoke to Michael recently on his experience starting the business, the challenges of being an entrepreneur and probed to hear his thought process on a variety of new business issues. Below are some of the points that we covered:

An introduction intoÂ what the Beartooth radio does [How Beartooth Works]:

What does Beartooth do?

“Beartooth is a small device that works with an existing smartphone to communicate when you have no service. YouÂ can talk, text, use maps, and share location to Beartooth users within range when you have no cellular service. Beartooth also works as a backup battery for your smartphone.

Whether you are skiing fresh powder in the backcountry or dancing at Coachella, you can now reliably stay in contact with your group in ways that were previously unavailable. Beartooth allows for peer-to-peer communication between the devices, completely bypassing the Wi-Fi and cellular network.”
What problems does Beartooth solve?
Where did you get the idea and develop the product/meet your co-founder?
How do you go from a Goldman Sachs background to an entrepreneur?
What is it like raising money?
What is it like having the responsibility of having employees?
How do you find and interact with investors?
How do you surround yourself with expertise? When bombarded with advice- how do you pick who you listen to?
What is it like dealing with the government and how did you learn about the various approval processes involved with a media product?
What is it like living and working in Bozeman? What are the pluses and challenges of Bozeman? How does Bozeman impact the attraction of talent/capital?
Beartooth sounds like it applies to rural and adventure settings- what are the uses for technology in urban environments?
What are the benefits of having “redundant” VHF/UHF benefits?
What are some of the technical features involved?
What are the applications to industry, leisure, military?
What are the real life experiences that could be enhanced with Beartooth? Festivals, skiing, hiking, lake, ocean, golf courses, vineyards?
Are there anyÂ potential information security benefits? (texts that don’t go through a plan/stored through iCloud? I.e. Device to device texting?)
Are there any battery life improvements that Beartooth adds?
How do you go about your marketing strategy? What are your marketing ideas? What segments are you working on?
Mass retail application?