September 5th, 2018, 3:00 pm PT / Category: Interviews
Understanding your customer's needs.
Brandon Ford is a creative and energetic problem solver. A proven leader, Brandon has built great teams in several roles most recently at TripHero, which he founded.
After moving to Vail, Colorado after being laid off with so many other young attorneys in New York, Brandon began working in the ski industry. There he saw the problem people had traveling with luggage and gear. After reading a New York Times article entitled, “Family Ski Trip Stressful? Pack Up Your Troubles,” Brandon began the invention of the SkiPod. Brandon invented, patented, and launched SkiPodz, Inc. the first and only ski luggage delivery service with a proprietary product that lowers the cost of shipping, adds convenience for the customer, and is offered on demand.
After the first year at SkiPodz, Brandon and his co-founders Bethany Bontrager and Jason Heeringa, realized they were onto something bigger than just shipping skis as most of their shipments were luggage. The team decided to re-brand into TripHero. Brandon has his B.A. from Columbia and his JD from Fordham Law. He has eleven years of experience in the ski industry; five years were spent as the Valet Services Manager at the Vail Mountain Club where he created and implemented a ski inventory and retrieval system that completely changed the way the Club operated.
