Stories

Twin brothers Tyler and Bryce Kloster co-founded Karakoram in western Washington in 2008, following their dream of combining their careers, degrees in mechanical engineering, and a shared passion for the mountains and backcountry exploration. The brothers used their engineering knowledge to create their first product – a better binding for splitboards, a kind of snowboard that splits in two for better backcountry exploration. Then came the really hard part: building a successful business around it.

Like other entrepreneurs just starting out, Tyler and Bryce quickly had to learn all aspects of their business – from coding to bookkeeping to payments. “When we first started out, I remember teaching myself HTML, and Tyler taught himself QuickBooks, so those early days, we were just teaching ourselves how to run a company,” Bryce said. “We were researching things like ‘how do you take payments?’ We joke now that when you're starting a business, you have to be just naive enough to not know how hard it’s going to be.”

_{Twin brothers Tyler and Bryce Kloster, co-founders Karakoram}

It took a lot of hard work, on-the-ground learning, and determination to get their business to where it is today, selling high-performance outdoor gear – primarily made in the USA – to customers around the world, both online and in stores.

Many entrepreneurs start off with an idea they are passionate about, but taking that passion and transforming it into a successful business is the challenging part. “There are so many jobs to be done and problems to solve as a small business owner,” Tyler shared. “You need to figure out how you can reach customers, how to build a website, how to prove your new business is a legitimate one that can be trusted, how to hire your first employee, how to pay them, how to manage an in-person and online business, and how to stay compliant as a business. And then, how do you do all of that when you don’t have any money?”

The brothers turned to PayPal to help solve some of the challenges they were facing as they grew.

"When we first started looking for a payments partner, it was incredibly confusing. Then, one of our consultant friends recommended that we check out PayPal. I remember looking through all the PayPal information and thinking, wow this is quite simple and clear, and we liked that there was a set fee,” Bryce shared, adding that even now as the company has grown, they’ve stayed with PayPal in part because of the security and protections it offers. "We haven’t been able to find anything that is as secure as PayPal, and the ability to have Seller Protection,¹ it gives us comfort that we’re going to be covered.”

But it’s not only important for a solution to work well for a business, it needs to also work well for the customer. "PayPal is a globally recognized and trusted brand and as a business just starting out, we wanted a payments partner that customers would recognize and trust – so that even if they had never heard of our business, they knew they would be protected with PayPal,” Tyler shared.

Karakoram uses PayPal Complete Payments, a comprehensive suite of payment solutions that businesses can access through one integration. "We love that as PayPal launches new features and adds new payment options, those things just show up for us,” Tyler shared. “Our customers appreciate the payment choice we can offer them,” which includes everything from PayPal and Venmo (in the U.S.) to credit cards and more. In addition, since Karakoram‘s products are in a relatively high price point market, they offer their customers Pay in 4 and Pay Monthly. “Offering PayPal Pay Later was just an easy choice because we have a fairly expensive product, so it gives people the opportunity to get into our gear without having to have all the cash upfront. Our customers love that we can offer them so many different payment options.”

In addition to using PayPal to accept online payments, Karakoram uses the PayPal Zettle card reader now that they have a storefront in North Bend. “With the Zettle card reader, our customers can choose to pay with Venmo, they can pay with a digital wallet on their phone, or they can pay with their card. It's just very user friendly, and quick for the customer. Our customer service guys love it too. When they’re with a customer in the showroom, they can now have an interaction with our customers and complete a sale right on the floor.”

With Karakoram growing rapidly, the brothers are now at a new phase in their business. “Now that we’ve built up enough of a cash reserve, it has really opened up the floodgates of what we can do. And for us personally, being able to hire more employees so that Bryce and I don’t have to do everything – that was a pretty big milestone,” Tyler shared.

Reflecting on the early days of Karakoram, Bryce shared some advice for entrepreneurs just starting their business. “Stay level-headed. It’s never as bad as you think, but it's also never as good as you think.”
 

_{¹Available on eligible purchases. Limitations apply.}