Online Fishmonger with Wild Alaskan Company Founder Arron Kallenberg - TAS #10

I sit down with Arron Kallenberg, founder of Wild Alaskan Company, to discuss how building a tech platform around the family business of fishing Bristol Bay sockeye is reviving the dying profession of personal fishmonger in the internet age. We talk family history in Alaska, why so many fishermen are intellectuals, the inception of Wild Alaskan Company, the challenges of marketing and moving frozen fish online, and how the book "Antifragile" helped his company prepare for disruption.

Links

WildAlaskanCompany.com

TheAKShow.com

Interview Notes

Arron is the founder of Wild Alaskan Company, a tech-enabled marketing and logistics company that sells wild-caught Alaskan seafood. Their customers are all over the United States and they are looking to establish some international fulfillment centers in the future.

Arron’s grandfather was born in Manhattan, grew up in New Jersey, and came to Alaska in 1926. Arron’s son was born in Manhattan 6 months ago, so his family is oscillating between Alaska and eastern seaboard. His grandfather was very academic and a city kid but was very interested in farming and the outdoors. He also had asthma. He looked around the lower 48 and decided to go to Alaska originally, as the story goes, to herd reindeer.

He moved out to the DIllingham area at 23 in the 1920s. There was no road out there. Instead of herding reindeer he fell in love with the salmon fishery. He started fishing on one of the original wooden sailboats.

At some point he wanted to get married so he went down to Florida on a fishing charter and met Arron’s grandmother, who was also from New Jersey. They got married after only knowing each other 2 or 3 months and packed up and moved to Alaska and had 5 children, one of which was Arron’s father.

His grandfather went back and got his master’s degree at Cornell at one point. His master’s thesis was a study of the red salmon at Bristol Bay with a focus on conservation. He went on to serve temporarily on the territory board of fisheries and was pretty active in conservation efforts early.

That was the ethos of the Kallenberg family. Fishermen, focused on sustainability, and very academic. That’s a big part of his family’s history and is inseparable from the genesis of Wild Alaskan Company.

Often fishermen are very academic and accomplished. Why is that? Arron has observed that phenomenon as well. He’s woken up on the boat to hear a conversation on trigonometry on the radio in Bristol Bay. His dad used to say there’s no good reason to be a fisherman if you don’t love it - there are easier ways to make money. His dad told him if they wanted to make money they’d be in stocks or real estate. It attracts people who might be quirky or idiosyncratic who prioritize certain things. Alaska and fishing self-selects for a certain type of person.

The only thing harder in e-commerce than selling frozen fish on the internet is probably ice cream.

If you’re a Kallenberg born in NYC you go to Alaska. If you’re a Kallenberg born in Alaska you need another challenge.

Arron’s grandfather was back and forth but they always had a home in Alaska. They moved from Dillingham when his dad was in high school to Chugiak and lived the rest of their lives there. His grandmother passed away in Chugiak and his grandfather passed in Anchorage a few years later. Arron’s father and his siblings carried on the tradition of nerdy fishermen. His dad has a degree