Stacy and Dustin Dam, Set Your Sites
NMotion Blog sponsored by UBT
When Stacy and Dustin Dam started taking their family camping more, they were surprised to learn how behind the technology curve most campsites were. As they began to think about, they realized they could something about.
Stacy was a top performing admissions director in higher education and Jedi level CRM database wizard, while Dustin has worked on several hardware and software projects (including for NASA and Amazon Kuiper Satellites).
Together, they created Set Your Sites with the idea to make the experience of getting a campsite much easier than it is. Since then, they completed the NMotion Accelerator Fall 2024 cohort, won the Governor's "Most Innovative Business Award", received the LaunchLNK grant, and landed several campsites around the region.
This summer, Set Your Sites powered the Nebraska State Fair campsites. The team lived onsite in their own RV to better understand their customers' problems first hand.
Before they and their growing team dive into the busy Fall conference season, we asked them to share the lessons they've learned on this journey:
If you could teleport back to when you started Set Your Sites, what advice would you give yourself?
Don't fixate on your perfect customer and burn time building what you think they need. Be open to who has early interest in your initial product, gather data quickly, fail fast and see where the journey takes you. We would have never guessed our customer profile is what it is today and we couldn't be more grateful for how it has turned out.
What has been the toughest decision you have had to make?
We have had to part ways quickly with some employees that were our first hires. We were hopeful that they would be a part of the founding team but it became apparent that the vision wasn't working. It is not easy moving from founder led to adding a team. We have learned so much from this process and in the end we made the right choice but it is always difficult when livelihoods are involved.
Who do you lean on to help refuel and recharge your mind/body/spirit?
Our first thought wasn't who but what do we lean on and it is being outside. One of the benefits of the business is hitting a trail, launching the boat or getting lost somewhere is encouraged. Nature has been our greatest teacher and healer when we need a recharge and reminder why we do what we do in the first place.
What hacks and tricks have you developed to connect with customers?
We get in the camper and embed ourselves wherever our customers are! We live the problem we are solving for from the perspective of the camper and also campground manager. We camp every chance we get, serving as camp hosts and extra hands. You don't learn about the problem from hearing about it on a Zoom call, the good stuff comes from seeing the problem play out in real life. These opportunities inform your next steps really well.
Visit the Set Your Sites website today.
