If you are at the NRA show, and you start to hear the JAWS theme, look around for THE Clint Walker might be circling YOUR booth. He’ll be looking for the best and brightest NEW ideas and INNOVATION in the market.
The gun industry is basically dudes trolling dudes-Clint Walker
Before we talk about the future, lets talk about the past, something that Clint rarely mentions. Many people would be surprised to learn that Clint purchased his first AR15 (from SI Defense) back in 2010. “That was the first and last AR rifle that I bought and the only one in my collection now that I didn’t build,” Clint said.
In 2011 Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely approached Clint to have him look at some designs at a firearm startup in NW Montana. That company later became Proof Research. Before that Clint had been studying the fire arms industry and considered himself a gun collector and enthusiast. He and his wife owned a successful magazine publishing company at the time and also handled various marketing and branding projects. PROOF was already committed to a marketing plan and direct, so Clint had THE IDEA, to start their own firearm company. Clint felt that he could work with a small team to design a totally new product, and start fresh with a company that in his own words ” Actually gave a shit”.
“NEMO was a shoestring budget and literally started from my home office and garage,” Clint adds.
Over the course of two short years Clint and a small team dedicated themselves to rethinking the AR platform and introduced the OMEN 300’Win Mag AR turning the industry on axis. The rapid growth of NEMO took its toll in many ways on the small team. Clint resigned his position and remains a shareholder today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ojYiM6lz4
Since then Clint has made HUGE leaps and bounds in the firearms industry with a name synonymous with precision and success.Many were shocked when Clint was announced as the Executive VP of SI Defense (now known as FALKOR Defense.) ” FALKOR gave me an opportunity to rewrite history. So many things were said when I left NEMO, so many things left undone. Perfecting the 300WM was one of them and the Sonju’s gave me an opportunity to do that.” FALKOR blew up seemingly overnight under Clint’s direction and so the industry was again in shock when he resigned recently.
“Leaving FALKOR was a very difficult decision for me and very much a personal one. We had an incredible team and many I still consider close friends. But I’m at a point in my life where money is not the most important driver or measure of success. I like to build teams. I like to innovate. I like to do what people say cannot be done. Whether that’s a new platform or turning a company around, or gaining market share – that’s what drives me.” Clint said.
SO WHATS NEXT?
Clint has been working with ZERO Delta and Next Level Arms on some projects most recently and admits he’s still looking for inspiration on the next “big thing.”
“One of the things I like doing most At Shot Show or NRA Annual Meeting is going incognito. (Which he admits has gotten harder to do over the years.) “I like to put on a hat, and cruise the smaller booths, looking for creative new ideas or items. I am always looking for the next best thing.” Clint said.
Though at THIS NRA convention Clint will be going NOT as a powerhouse in the industry, but JUST FOR FUN. You see he thinks that, the gun industry is about to go through the biggest evolution it has seen in the last 15 years.
“Innovate or die. The industry needs attrition. If you are not a well-run company, managing assets and cash flow and people, you will fail. If you don’t have innovative products that live up to your marketing claims, then you will fail.” Clint said plainly. In his very own words Clint said he will be “like a Shark in blood filled water” swimming around and picking the BEST and Brightest minds of the industry, waiting for the ships to sink. So that he can grab up the very best talent to either start a NEW company, or something else.
What we DO know is that something is coming, and it will be AWESOME!