September 17, 2024 • 26 mins
Welcome to HeadHuntersNW Podcast! I'm Shaylene Keiner, an executive recruiter with a passion for the global defense, small arms and shooting sectors. Join me as I sit down with top executives and industry leaders to dive deep into the world of global manufacturing, service companies, non-profits and more. Together, we explore the latest trends, innovations, and the inspiring stories behind the people who drive this dynamic industry forward. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just curious about what makes this world tick, you're in for engaging conversations that go beyond the surface. Let's uncover the fascinating stories and insights that shape the global defense, small arms and shooting sectors. Subscribe now and become a part of our community!
In this episode of the HeadHunters NW podcast, Shaylene has a conversation with Paul Parrott, with Delta Velocity. Paul shares his journey through the firearms and ammunition industry, from his beginnings in the Army EOD bomb squad to establishing and consulting for multiple successful companies. Discover Paul's innovative ventures, including the creation of Voodoo Gunworks, and learn about his latest endeavor with Delta Velocity. Paul discusses unique product developments, such as a cutting-edge AR trigger and self-adjusting gas block, while also highlighting the importance of ethics and strong relationships in business. Join Shaylene and Paul for insights on consulting in engineering, sales, and marketing within the firearms industry.
Learn more: www.deltavusa.com
FIND US:
On the web: https://www.headhuntersnw.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeadHuntersNW/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headhuntersnw
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:41 Paul Parrott's Early Career and Military Background
04:01 Transition to the Ammunition Industry
05:54 Consulting and Leadership Roles
10:08 Founding Voodoo Gunworks
13:51 Delta V: New Ventures and Innovations
18:29 Networking and Industry Insights
24:39 Conclusion and Contact Information
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome everyone to anotherepisode of Head Hunters Northwest podcast.
I am very excitedto have Paul Parrott on this call.
And if you're watching the video, I Paul,I don't know what we're going to.
I guess we're going to call youCEO or King Cheese of Delta V,
but we're going to talk about DeltaV in a minute.
(00:21):
I thought it would be interestingto our listeners.
I hope Paul and I met years ago
don't even quote how long,because I don't even want to count it.
I'll keep my mouth shut.
Double digits a long way back. And you.
You flew in to Oregon to interview fora job that I had been hired to work on.
(00:41):
Yeah.
And we had.
We went over to Ray’s house.
We did? We.
And so you'll, you know, not somethingyou normally do with this person
you not met.
And you were interviewingand it was so much fun.
And we went over to Ray’s houseand if anybody knows Ray Elgin, of course,
a million of you do that have been around.
We'll have to we'll have to send Raya note about this and say, well,
(01:05):
but that was the beginningof my relationship with the crazy man.
And I learned a lot of whata wonderful person you are.
But what a risk taker.
And one of the most interesting people,because not only have you worked
in the industry for an extendedperiod of time, which we can go over
ammunition and all kinds
of strategic armory core,all kinds of stuff.
(01:28):
But you actually,I think, were running an all state
insurance business,and you are a phenomenal salesman
and have the world's bestcustomer service.
So tell. I'd love for you
to tell everyone a little bitabout how you got into the history.
And also a veteran part of the ballisticsgroup.
(01:50):
Right. EOD, the bomb squad.
Bomb squad.
So, yeah, let's let'scan you kind of do a little quick rundown
of how you got here?
Because I think it's really interesting.
And it also makes you so goodat consulting and what you're doing now.
Yeah. Well thanks I appreciate it.
It's great to be here with youand it while it has been a long time.
(02:12):
I won't with those numbers, but I don't.
Not much of my time in this industry
has been spent without, knowing you since.
Since?
I just never go away.
Yeah, but that's been a long.
You know, when I graduated high school,I was certain to go to college,
and that just wasn't right for me yet.
(02:32):
So I ended up going in the Armyand, ended up going into the Army
EOD and the bomb squad,which was right down my alley.
I grew up around Vegas and Nevadawhen it was really small back
then, racing motorcycles, racingjust about everything.
So I was already kind of a
go fast and heart kind of guyand bomb squad calling you.
(02:53):
Yeah, I call you one of my adrenalinejunkie, groupies.
Yeah, there's. A few of you.
In fact, it's been done with managedrisk, though,
because I'm still here,and I have all my digits and all of that.
So that, was a great time.
It was excellent for me.
I ended up getting my most of my education
while I was in,and then finished it up after I got out.
(03:15):
And when I got out,I started an Allstate insurance agency.
And, I was actually the youngest agentwith Allstate Insurance back then.
It was 22 when I started up.
That's probably changed these days, butthat was the case then and had a great,
agency ran it for ten yearsand was absolutely bored to death.
(03:36):
I came out of the bomb squad and, you know, owned and ran my insurance agency and
knew that I was goingto do something different at some point.
But it was a great start,a great catalyst.
And we ran a great agencythat you know, was
one of the better onesin the country at the time.
And you won awards, as I recall. I mean.
(03:57):
For real deal and all the things that goalong with that.
So yeah, it was great.
I started competitive shooting,which, you know, got into a lot of that.
You know, while in the military,it started competitive shooting
and reloading for myselfto support my habit.
And that turned in to a companycalled center
for Cartridge Company,which actually still exists today.
(04:19):
I ended up selling out, but I startedan ammunition company during that time.
Excuse me while I have some water,keep my throat going.
PMC ammunitionwas not terribly far away from my location
and I started buying components from themto keep up with what turned into a little
business of reloading, and then a largeone with center for Cartridge Company.
(04:40):
And back in those days,police departments in every place
else would use reloads for their budget
and all of that.
So we ended up doing Las Vegas Metroand all the local dealers
and shooters andand it spawned into quite a little deal.
A guy approached me,that decided he needed to own it.
And, so I, I sold it to him.
(05:01):
But I had established quite a relationshipwith PMC at that time.
I became their largestpurchaser of components,
which kind of blew them awayout of make doing a
you know, what was really a garage shotstart for.
Yeah, I'm dead.
And they offered me a job and it was about
a eight of what I made with Allstate.
(05:24):
And but Allstate positioned me financiallyto be able to do whatever I wanted.
And so I went to work for themas the national sales manager of PMC.
And so began the journey.
And so these are like minded brothersand sisters of adrenaline junkies.
Is very true.
So that's where
(05:44):
my kind of after center part,but really into the industry.
That was my real entry, if you will,in the, the I call it the shop.
And yeah.
Now after that job is that
when you went to the strategic armoryor did you go to FN or because, you.
Know, there was a bunch of different stuffin between there?
Yeah.
When I stepped away from PMC ammunitionafter about ten years, I bought into.
(06:09):
That's right.Our company called Wild West Market.
I remember now what you.
And I did thatfor quite some period of time
until my business partnerbought me out of that.
And that's when we met.
That's when we met.
And, yeah, I was doing a lot of consultingat that time as well.
But we had also Wild West
and Wild West
repped cold still knives,PMC ammunition, later Mag TEC ammunition,
(06:33):
Springfield Armory,a bunch of great multiple companies.
It was awesome.
And we got to know all those businessesreally well and,
and and how they operate
those after I, stepped out of Wild Westmarketing,
those are the roles that then took meto consult
with at the end and strategic Armory Core,those different places,
(06:54):
which usually resulted in being hired onfor a period of time.
Yeah. To dowhatever it is we were going to do.
Strategic Army Corps really startedbecause of my background and ammunition,
and eventually I was the presidentof PMC ammunition before I left.
And they wanted to start an ammunitioncompany called Nexus Ammunition.
(07:15):
Oh, I remember that. Now.
The companies that they had to doreal high end match ammunition.
Yeah.
So they they contracted me to consultwith them on how to set that company up.
And that began my time
and stint with Strategic Armor Corps.
So I forgot about the Nexus piece.
Yeah.So that went on for a couple of years.
(07:36):
So to FN for a period of timeand through all of these.
Great group of people that were workingthere at that time, great, phenomenal.
And actuallyI think you guys all stay in touch.
We do. Absolutely.
Yeah.
There's the the OG true.
Just a great group of people that havescattered and gone different places.
(07:58):
But you know that's I think really uniqueto this industry and helping each other.
A lot of networking goes on there.
A lot of networking goes on.
I have a lot of guys that works for me
during the course of timethat I ended up working for later on.
Yeah, that's right, the flip flops.
(08:18):
It goes both ways.
You do yourselfwell to not burn any bridges
and to separate if it's not underotherwise wonderful circumstances
as professionally as you can,because it's a small industry
and you will end up coming back aroundto be involved
with those whom you were involvedwith before.
In a lot of cases.
I think that's also maturity,though, and you've
(08:41):
you've workedreally hard at your relationships,
even if there's been people that you maybedon't necessarily align with.
I do see I have seenyou do that where because you do go end.
I'm working with someone else.
And it's not just the strategicpartnership.
The person that you hired to work for youmay very well hire you to work for them.
(09:02):
Absolutely.
And that's occurred for meseveral times, actually.
Yeah. And, yeah. So
don't burn those bridges.
I mean, everything happens for a reasonand won't get all the say
or to religious or whatever, but,you know,
we we're we're fairlywell in control of what we do to a point.
(09:22):
Yeah.
But you.
Can choose how to behave, choose how to.
React behave and how to react.
Not everything goes your way.
And when it doesn't, we can throw a fiton the way out the door or not.
And a lot of times that was precisely why
somebody called me back up to say, wow,
I don't think I'd have handledthat that way.
You handled it really greatand you're a kind of person.
(09:43):
I want out or to lead or to teach
our new young managershow to handle that differently.
Yeah.
The people skills are the hard part,and the other stuff is just mechanics.
And it's one skill is tough.
So when you so how did you end up.
And I'm, I'm not trying to set this up.
I'm having a blank.
(10:04):
I should have looked at your resumebefore I got on the phone or on
the. How did you
end up getting into voodoo rifles?
Yeah. So yeah, Voodoo Gun was.
It was business.
We ended up startingwhile I was at Strategic Armory Core.
Okay, okay.
A well known engineer in our industrywas approaching strategic Armory
(10:25):
Core for on behalf of another companyfor some suppressor work.
She's a car maker.
We owned a quasi suppressors.
Yes. Approached us to OEMtheir suppressors for them.
And while that didn't end up working outanyway in an amicable
kind of way, but it just didn't workfor both of the companies.
(10:46):
He called me back afterwe established a relationship and said,
I have a really awesome product conceptthat would be great for sergeant rifles.
It would be an awesome trainer riflein 22 Long rifle for that.
Yeah, I presented it to the ownershipof Strategic Armored Corps
(11:07):
just with the other acquisitionsthey were doing
and everything else they had going on.
They were not interested.
But I personally saw a ton of merit in.
Yeah,
he hadn'tbeen able to bring it to life yet.
But it had a great concept.
So I told him that and told him, you know,
my time was going to be coming to an end,a strategic armored corps.
(11:28):
And when it. Yeah, like let him know.
And I was interestedand he said, well, I'm under it last.
Right.
A refusal that last for a couplemore months right now with Remington,
thank goodnessit didn't end up going there.
We all know how that went.
Yeah. No kiddingI don't think I knew that piece.
That's pretty interesting.
Yeah.
Well that and again just conceptualat that time when that expires
(11:51):
I'm not going to renew with thembecause you know
he had some
good foresight knowing.
Yeah.
Well but we also saw it eventually.Come on.
And the phone rang one day
and he said, hey, that expiredand he's still interested.
And I said I was.
And we got together, formed what became
Voodoo Gun Works, which my wife named.
(12:12):
Yeah, it's a great name.It's a it's a great name.
And it's an interesting storyon how it came to be.
But we started with the Gun Works.
People thought I was nuts to gobuild on a couple thousand dollars
or a high end 22 rifle that like,absolutely
three people were going to be interestedand it changed
the 22 rimfire marketand the industry forever.
(12:36):
Very successful.
And in fact, it was so successfulthat you recently were sold that business.
That's correct.
Yeah. We are.
We sold it to, oh, late last year.
Earlier this year, it all consummated.
And, that's puts me where I am.
Today and that I had some availabilityat the well and.
(12:58):
Well, it kind of started this delta v nowand I want to hear about delta V
because even before,even though we visited early,
yeah, we didn't really talk aboutI know a few things about it,
but I'm excited to hear where you're goingto build this because I don't know, it
just always has seemed to me that anythingPaul Parrott touches turns to gold.
Yeah, well, I appreciate that.
(13:19):
I can tell yousome of the opposite stories,
but I try to hype those in the best I can.
Well, I'm not really trying to call youa leprechaun or anything, but, you know.
Our our failures usually become our,our best source of growth.
That's right.
And knowing what we're not going to doagain, however differently next time.
So as you start to get my age nowyou have a few of those in your quiver.
(13:39):
You know, it's yeah, yeah,
I've got a couple of those.
Yeah, we all do.
When we start, this is usuallya little bit more gray than I like it.
So funny.
You tell me about Delta V.What what is that?
And because our listeners
will want to know and I want to know howyou know what you're looking for
and kind of what you guys are doingand who your ideal customer is.
(14:03):
So you they know who you canhelp. You bet.
So to be clear, Delta V existed already.
Okay, are a couple of awesome guys,an engineer
and a salesand marketing and operations guy.
You have done some tremendous stuffin the industry that,
like any smaller business and startup,
(14:25):
was there's always some strugglesand all of that, and we all vowed one day
that I'll be careful how I say this,but we all vowed one day to work together
because we were tired of workingwith those holes ethic.
Yeah.
Match our own. Yeah.
The willingness ofthem to do whatever it took
(14:47):
financially and settle
what was sometimes ethically correct.
And there it's harder and harderto find those kind of partners.
And really alwaysyou always had each other's back.
So yeah, I sold Voodoo Gun Works and likeabout three seconds later the phone rang
because Scott was watching all thatand said, yeah, okay, now it's time.
(15:10):
So I came and joined them.
So to be clear, it's it's young.
Okay. It was already I didn't.
It was in process.It was in process. Okay.
And so what are you guys doing?
What's your businessmodel? It's, twofold.
We conceive and create really awesomeniche products.
We have a couple of those now,which you can see on the website ones,
(15:32):
a very cool and innovative archer.
People here are and they yarnthat this is pretty significant.
And we do that same thing
for other companies in the industry.
Mike.
What makes that R trigger interesting?
Tell us more about that.
Most, triggers are adjustable for pull.
(15:55):
Wait. Good ones for tech.
Tell me and all the reallyexcellent products that are out there.
This is also a self user adjustable.
Wow. Where it's reset okay.
So you can adjust the reset downto almost no reset.
So it becomes a phenomenally near
(16:17):
full automatic rate of fire
for somebody who can operate pull triggerthat way.
Some automatic legal triggerbecause you can adjust
the reset downto basically almost no reset.
It's okay.
Makes it super fast.
So it's great competitive trigger.
That was what we a duty trigger
(16:39):
but with yeah of interestto law enforcement or military.
Yeah.
It's more for meant for competitionand things.
Like tension or the consumerthat wants to be able to accurately and
and confidentlyincrease their rate of fire.
So if you're have a Halloween and a wholelot of pumpkins, you just line them up.
(17:00):
You have a Halloweenand a whole lot of pumpkins.
You'll see some videos on our website,and you can see
for some of the younger studs out therethat can run a trigger.
Well, okay, they can make that thingstart sounding very close to full on it.
You can get it in a cyclic rate.
A legal pull cyclic rate
of between 500 and 600 rounds.
Okay. Wow.
(17:22):
And your websitenow we're going to have that link on here.
But if anyone's listening then goingwhat's the website.
It's delta v usa.com.
That's correct.
Okay okay.
So we have another product.
You did mention to me that's new.
That's patent pending.
It is it's in final development right nowokay.
It is an R gas blockbut it is a self-adjusting R gas.
(17:46):
But there's some great adjustablegas blocks out there right now.
But you have to tune it. Yeah.
And when you change the configurationof your rifle, like putting a suppressor
on or whatever on a semi-automatic rifle,you have to readjust for,
okay, it's extra back pressure,but that's this manages it for you.
(18:07):
It's just self-adjusting.
So you can the configuration of your riflehowever you want and it takes care.
So pretty cool innovative product.
We actually have a couple OEMs that are
receiving.
We're not sure whether we want to
do that or yeah, or build it ourselves.
(18:28):
So your group you can
someone can come in eithera small business owner or a company
or a division or, you know, agroup of engineers at a company.
Really anythingthe sky's the limit can hire
you guys to come in and helpwith engineering challenges.
Maybe looking over salesand marketing and operations.
(18:49):
There's partnerships
you guys are good with introducingother companies to other companies
that might be projects.
So there's a lotyou can do for the industry, but
very hands on, very involved.
Focused.
It's the three of us and we are worriedthat you will get and you nailed it.
We do a lot of, sales and marketingconsulting help operations,
(19:14):
which is where a lot of my backgroundgoes.
Yeah, back in two as well,along with sales and marketing books.
So to Scott and Engineering,which is, Mike steaks, our,
our engineer, who's been added a long timeand,
really great on the firearms, non firearmsaccessories and ammunition side.
(19:35):
So we're often, company will have a staff of engineers
that are just buried and overwhelmedand they need some additional
and help for a little whileor they're stuck on an issue.
And it's nice to have a fresh perspective,look at it and say
that you know howit is when you're selling a a project.
Yeah,you can get a little myopic in your view.
(19:57):
And, a fresh perspective will happen fastsometimes and really
open up a door and get a project,you know, over the finish line.
That's really close.
Yeah.
Because sometimes you're you're so focusedon what you're working on.
It's really hardwithout another outside perspective.
Sure.
And that's really true both in operationsand sales and marketing as well.
(20:19):
Yeah.
We get used to as companiesdoing what we've done
and we want different results,but we don't know what little tweaks
to make to to kick that over the lineand think and start getting a new result.
So we help often in that regard.
Yeah, that would be very helpful.
Now your customer base, it's going to beI presume
(20:40):
anyone at that would exhibit that shot.
It's going to be the the shooting huntingoutdoor really anyone with any product.
It's not limited to anything.
But I would I guess that your focus,your real specialty niche is going to be
firearms and accessoriesand even outdoor ammunition.
(21:00):
I would think too,to some extent, correct?
Actually quite a bit.
Mike has a ton of experience thereand so do I.
Our our days gone, gone by.
We are helping outa metal finishing company
right nowthat also will do some firearms parts.
Metal finishing.
But the dominance of their businessis not even in the firearms industry.
(21:21):
Yeah, we're Mike's a excellent processengineer as well.
And that coupled with my operationsexperience can oftentimes
help them,you know, in their factory in that range.
So yeah, we have a pretty broadreach there.
Some areas we don'toh we're not software engineers.
Yeah.
Right. And latest newest software.
Yeah for operating your company.
(21:44):
But we are working on one of thoseright now for a company
that, wants a special,
computational flow dynamics model to do.
Oh, very cool.
And so Mike has, extremelevel of competence in that area.
And so we're working on that for somebody.
And you guys, you're located in the.
(22:05):
Company's homeoffice is out of Phoenix, Arizona.
I am in Cedar City,Utah, in southern Utah.
And we're together all the timethere. Yeah.
Mean here. I'm going down there.
Yeah.
And we're actually in the processof relocating.
We'll probably take about six months homeoffice up here in Cedar City.
Oh wow. How nice is that? That's fun.
(22:28):
And you guys are so close.
So you can fly in and out of anywhere.
And I'm
sure you guys will be at a shot show,so people even meet up with you there.
I mean, that's not that far away.
We're recording this just soeveryone knows that the very end of August
and this will actually golive in September.
So if you think about that,when you're listening to this shot, shows
(22:49):
right around the corner. It is that we do.
We were starting in Aprilon what we were going to do for.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Well,you better know what you're doing by now.
You bet.
So yeah, it's not too soonto start talking about Shot Nest.
GW is not far around the cornerand all of those kind of thing.
Are you got you guys are going to be thereattending GW or someone right.
(23:09):
Now we want okay.
What is the course wholesaler. Yeah.
And we don't have a much call there yet,so we're yet.
But there you will, you will.
And it's a good place for meetings.
You bet it is.
So the shot works great for us.
Media day arrange day, of course.
Being shot, the new productarea and just going around to
(23:35):
see our customers that we will.
Yeah.
And so we'll be there.
Yeah.
It's a great place coming up.
And networkpeople are there from all over the world.
So it's yourand and it's our primary place
that we're able to connectwith our international customers as well.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well I'm, I'm really excitedabout this new step for you.
(23:57):
Thanks.
And you're like the guy who never stops.
Yeah. You know, I never sits down.
You know,if you do, you get some moss growing
on, you get your joints start getting achyand you know, till
you got to go, go right hard,shoot straight and speak the truth.
That's right.
That's a skeeter skeleton deal.
But I sold a long time ago.
(24:17):
Hey. And, well,it sounds like it's your own, Paul.
It. Well, it's old enough now for a lotof our listeners that would think that.
But I want to be where.
Yeah. That's right.Give credit where credit's due.
So you're not called on the carpet?
Yeah. I stole a long time ago.
It's all my leathers on my road.
Is it really. Oh,I didn't know that. Oh, gosh.
(24:38):
That's awesome.
Well, I really appreciate youtaking the time to visit with me.
And I would encourage anyonethat's listening to this.
If you, you know, if you aren't sureif you need a consultant
or if you even want to talkto a consultant,
I think Paul and his groupare always much more than that.
So well connected in the industry.
(24:58):
And if they don't know, they know someoneand so reasonable,
just willing to have a conversationand see what they can do to help.
I would I would really encourage youto reach out to Paul
and we'll put the link to Delta B
delta v usa.com.
And then people I'msure can reach you on LinkedIn as well
(25:19):
if they want to reach out that way.
And you can always reach out to me.
I'll put you in touch with Paul.
You bet. That's awesome I appreciate it.
It's always greatto see you and get caught back up.
We don't do it often enough anymore.
Yeah we are, but yeah, you're right.
We're you know, we do as much
just networking and connecting peoplewith the right people.
We're not that as anything else.
(25:41):
So always happy to to talk.Yeah good stuff.
So thank you PaulI appreciate you being on the podcast.
And that's it for this session of HeadHunters Northwest podcast.
Tune in for the next one. Thank you.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HeadHunters North West podcast.
Specialized Recruiting
Specialized approac
(26:02):
You can reach out at HeadHuntersNW.com
Or call 605-600-1709
Join us again next week as we look behindthe curtain into the global defense.
Small arms and shooting sectors.
Head Hunters Northwest finding youthe best heads for business.
Welcome everyone to anotherepisode of Head Hunters Northwest podcast.
I am very excitedto have Paul Parrott on this call.
And if you're watching the video, I Paul,I don't know what we're going to.
I guess we're going to call youCEO or King Cheese of Delta V,
but we're going to talk about DeltaV in a minute.
(00:21):
I thought it would be interestingto our listeners.
I hope Paul and I met years ago
don't even quote how long,because I don't even want to count it.
I'll keep my mouth shut.
Double digits a long way back. And you.
You flew in to Oregon to interview fora job that I had been hired to work on.
(00:41):
Yeah.
And we had.
We went over to Ray’s house.
We did? We.
And so you'll, you know, not somethingyou normally do with this person
you not met.
And you were interviewingand it was so much fun.
And we went over to Ray’s houseand if anybody knows Ray Elgin, of course,
a million of you do that have been around.
We'll have to we'll have to send Raya note about this and say, well,
(01:05):
but that was the beginningof my relationship with the crazy man.
And I learned a lot of whata wonderful person you are.
But what a risk taker.
And one of the most interesting people,because not only have you worked
in the industry for an extendedperiod of time, which we can go over
ammunition and all kinds
of strategic armory core,all kinds of stuff.
(01:28):
But you actually,I think, were running an all state
insurance business,and you are a phenomenal salesman
and have the world's bestcustomer service.
So tell. I'd love for you
to tell everyone a little bitabout how you got into the history.
And also a veteran part of the ballisticsgroup.
(01:50):
Right. EOD, the bomb squad.
Bomb squad.
So, yeah, let's let'scan you kind of do a little quick rundown
of how you got here?
Because I think it's really interesting.
And it also makes you so goodat consulting and what you're doing now.
Yeah. Well thanks I appreciate it.
It's great to be here with youand it while it has been a long time.
(02:12):
I won't with those numbers, but I don't.
Not much of my time in this industry
has been spent without, knowing you since.
Since?
I just never go away.
Yeah, but that's been a long.
You know, when I graduated high school,I was certain to go to college,
and that just wasn't right for me yet.
(02:32):
So I ended up going in the Armyand, ended up going into the Army
EOD and the bomb squad,which was right down my alley.
I grew up around Vegas and Nevadawhen it was really small back
then, racing motorcycles, racingjust about everything.
So I was already kind of a
go fast and heart kind of guyand bomb squad calling you.
(02:53):
Yeah, I call you one of my adrenalinejunkie, groupies.
Yeah, there's. A few of you.
In fact, it's been done with managedrisk, though,
because I'm still here,and I have all my digits and all of that.
So that, was a great time.
It was excellent for me.
I ended up getting my most of my education
while I was in,and then finished it up after I got out.
(03:15):
And when I got out,I started an Allstate insurance agency.
And, I was actually the youngest agentwith Allstate Insurance back then.
It was 22 when I started up.
That's probably changed these days, butthat was the case then and had a great,
agency ran it for ten yearsand was absolutely bored to death.
(03:36):
I came out of the bomb squad and, you know, owned and ran my insurance agency and
knew that I was goingto do something different at some point.
But it was a great start,a great catalyst.
And we ran a great agencythat you know, was
one of the better onesin the country at the time.
And you won awards, as I recall. I mean.
(03:57):
For real deal and all the things that goalong with that.
So yeah, it was great.
I started competitive shooting,which, you know, got into a lot of that.
You know, while in the military,it started competitive shooting
and reloading for myselfto support my habit.
And that turned in to a companycalled center
for Cartridge Company,which actually still exists today.
(04:19):
I ended up selling out, but I startedan ammunition company during that time.
Excuse me while I have some water,keep my throat going.
PMC ammunitionwas not terribly far away from my location
and I started buying components from themto keep up with what turned into a little
business of reloading, and then a largeone with center for Cartridge Company.
(04:40):
And back in those days,police departments in every place
else would use reloads for their budget
and all of that.
So we ended up doing Las Vegas Metroand all the local dealers
and shooters andand it spawned into quite a little deal.
A guy approached me,that decided he needed to own it.
And, so I, I sold it to him.
(05:01):
But I had established quite a relationshipwith PMC at that time.
I became their largestpurchaser of components,
which kind of blew them awayout of make doing a
you know, what was really a garage shotstart for.
Yeah, I'm dead.
And they offered me a job and it was about
a eight of what I made with Allstate.
(05:24):
And but Allstate positioned me financiallyto be able to do whatever I wanted.
And so I went to work for themas the national sales manager of PMC.
And so began the journey.
And so these are like minded brothersand sisters of adrenaline junkies.
Is very true.
So that's where
(05:44):
my kind of after center part,but really into the industry.
That was my real entry, if you will,in the, the I call it the shop.
And yeah.
Now after that job is that
when you went to the strategic armoryor did you go to FN or because, you.
Know, there was a bunch of different stuffin between there?
Yeah.
When I stepped away from PMC ammunitionafter about ten years, I bought into.
(06:09):
That's right.Our company called Wild West Market.
I remember now what you.
And I did thatfor quite some period of time
until my business partnerbought me out of that.
And that's when we met.
That's when we met.
And, yeah, I was doing a lot of consultingat that time as well.
But we had also Wild West
and Wild West
repped cold still knives,PMC ammunition, later Mag TEC ammunition,
(06:33):
Springfield Armory,a bunch of great multiple companies.
It was awesome.
And we got to know all those businessesreally well and,
and and how they operate
those after I, stepped out of Wild Westmarketing,
those are the roles that then took meto consult
with at the end and strategic Armory Core,those different places,
(06:54):
which usually resulted in being hired onfor a period of time.
Yeah. To dowhatever it is we were going to do.
Strategic Army Corps really startedbecause of my background and ammunition,
and eventually I was the presidentof PMC ammunition before I left.
And they wanted to start an ammunitioncompany called Nexus Ammunition.
(07:15):
Oh, I remember that. Now.
The companies that they had to doreal high end match ammunition.
Yeah.
So they they contracted me to consultwith them on how to set that company up.
And that began my time
and stint with Strategic Armor Corps.
So I forgot about the Nexus piece.
Yeah.So that went on for a couple of years.
(07:36):
So to FN for a period of timeand through all of these.
Great group of people that were workingthere at that time, great, phenomenal.
And actuallyI think you guys all stay in touch.
We do. Absolutely.
Yeah.
There's the the OG true.
Just a great group of people that havescattered and gone different places.
(07:58):
But you know that's I think really uniqueto this industry and helping each other.
A lot of networking goes on there.
A lot of networking goes on.
I have a lot of guys that works for me
during the course of timethat I ended up working for later on.
Yeah, that's right, the flip flops.
(08:18):
It goes both ways.
You do yourselfwell to not burn any bridges
and to separate if it's not underotherwise wonderful circumstances
as professionally as you can,because it's a small industry
and you will end up coming back aroundto be involved
with those whom you were involvedwith before.
In a lot of cases.
I think that's also maturity,though, and you've
(08:41):
you've workedreally hard at your relationships,
even if there's been people that you maybedon't necessarily align with.
I do see I have seenyou do that where because you do go end.
I'm working with someone else.
And it's not just the strategicpartnership.
The person that you hired to work for youmay very well hire you to work for them.
(09:02):
Absolutely.
And that's occurred for meseveral times, actually.
Yeah. And, yeah. So
don't burn those bridges.
I mean, everything happens for a reasonand won't get all the say
or to religious or whatever, but,you know,
we we're we're fairlywell in control of what we do to a point.
(09:22):
Yeah.
But you.
Can choose how to behave, choose how to.
React behave and how to react.
Not everything goes your way.
And when it doesn't, we can throw a fiton the way out the door or not.
And a lot of times that was precisely why
somebody called me back up to say, wow,
I don't think I'd have handledthat that way.
You handled it really greatand you're a kind of person.
(09:43):
I want out or to lead or to teach
our new young managershow to handle that differently.
Yeah.
The people skills are the hard part,and the other stuff is just mechanics.
And it's one skill is tough.
So when you so how did you end up.
And I'm, I'm not trying to set this up.
I'm having a blank.
(10:04):
I should have looked at your resumebefore I got on the phone or on
the. How did you
end up getting into voodoo rifles?
Yeah. So yeah, Voodoo Gun was.
It was business.
We ended up startingwhile I was at Strategic Armory Core.
Okay, okay.
A well known engineer in our industrywas approaching strategic Armory
(10:25):
Core for on behalf of another companyfor some suppressor work.
She's a car maker.
We owned a quasi suppressors.
Yes. Approached us to OEMtheir suppressors for them.
And while that didn't end up working outanyway in an amicable
kind of way, but it just didn't workfor both of the companies.
(10:46):
He called me back afterwe established a relationship and said,
I have a really awesome product conceptthat would be great for sergeant rifles.
It would be an awesome trainer riflein 22 Long rifle for that.
Yeah, I presented it to the ownershipof Strategic Armored Corps
(11:07):
just with the other acquisitionsthey were doing
and everything else they had going on.
They were not interested.
But I personally saw a ton of merit in.
Yeah,
he hadn'tbeen able to bring it to life yet.
But it had a great concept.
So I told him that and told him, you know,
my time was going to be coming to an end,a strategic armored corps.
(11:28):
And when it. Yeah, like let him know.
And I was interestedand he said, well, I'm under it last.
Right.
A refusal that last for a couplemore months right now with Remington,
thank goodnessit didn't end up going there.
We all know how that went.
Yeah. No kiddingI don't think I knew that piece.
That's pretty interesting.
Yeah.
Well that and again just conceptualat that time when that expires
(11:51):
I'm not going to renew with thembecause you know
he had some
good foresight knowing.
Yeah.
Well but we also saw it eventually.Come on.
And the phone rang one day
and he said, hey, that expiredand he's still interested.
And I said I was.
And we got together, formed what became
Voodoo Gun Works, which my wife named.
(12:12):
Yeah, it's a great name.It's a it's a great name.
And it's an interesting storyon how it came to be.
But we started with the Gun Works.
People thought I was nuts to gobuild on a couple thousand dollars
or a high end 22 rifle that like,absolutely
three people were going to be interestedand it changed
the 22 rimfire marketand the industry forever.
(12:36):
Very successful.
And in fact, it was so successfulthat you recently were sold that business.
That's correct.
Yeah. We are.
We sold it to, oh, late last year.
Earlier this year, it all consummated.
And, that's puts me where I am.
Today and that I had some availabilityat the well and.
(12:58):
Well, it kind of started this delta v nowand I want to hear about delta V
because even before,even though we visited early,
yeah, we didn't really talk aboutI know a few things about it,
but I'm excited to hear where you're goingto build this because I don't know, it
just always has seemed to me that anythingPaul Parrott touches turns to gold.
Yeah, well, I appreciate that.
(13:19):
I can tell yousome of the opposite stories,
but I try to hype those in the best I can.
Well, I'm not really trying to call youa leprechaun or anything, but, you know.
Our our failures usually become our,our best source of growth.
That's right.
And knowing what we're not going to doagain, however differently next time.
So as you start to get my age nowyou have a few of those in your quiver.
(13:39):
You know, it's yeah, yeah,
I've got a couple of those.
Yeah, we all do.
When we start, this is usuallya little bit more gray than I like it.
So funny.
You tell me about Delta V.What what is that?
And because our listeners
will want to know and I want to know howyou know what you're looking for
and kind of what you guys are doingand who your ideal customer is.
(14:03):
So you they know who you canhelp. You bet.
So to be clear, Delta V existed already.
Okay, are a couple of awesome guys,an engineer
and a salesand marketing and operations guy.
You have done some tremendous stuffin the industry that,
like any smaller business and startup,
(14:25):
was there's always some strugglesand all of that, and we all vowed one day
that I'll be careful how I say this,but we all vowed one day to work together
because we were tired of workingwith those holes ethic.
Yeah.
Match our own. Yeah.
The willingness ofthem to do whatever it took
(14:47):
financially and settle
what was sometimes ethically correct.
And there it's harder and harderto find those kind of partners.
And really alwaysyou always had each other's back.
So yeah, I sold Voodoo Gun Works and likeabout three seconds later the phone rang
because Scott was watching all thatand said, yeah, okay, now it's time.
(15:10):
So I came and joined them.
So to be clear, it's it's young.
Okay. It was already I didn't.
It was in process.It was in process. Okay.
And so what are you guys doing?
What's your businessmodel? It's, twofold.
We conceive and create really awesomeniche products.
We have a couple of those now,which you can see on the website ones,
(15:32):
a very cool and innovative archer.
People here are and they yarnthat this is pretty significant.
And we do that same thing
for other companies in the industry.
Mike.
What makes that R trigger interesting?
Tell us more about that.
Most, triggers are adjustable for pull.
(15:55):
Wait. Good ones for tech.
Tell me and all the reallyexcellent products that are out there.
This is also a self user adjustable.
Wow. Where it's reset okay.
So you can adjust the reset downto almost no reset.
So it becomes a phenomenally near
(16:17):
full automatic rate of fire
for somebody who can operate pull triggerthat way.
Some automatic legal triggerbecause you can adjust
the reset downto basically almost no reset.
It's okay.
Makes it super fast.
So it's great competitive trigger.
That was what we a duty trigger
(16:39):
but with yeah of interestto law enforcement or military.
Yeah.
It's more for meant for competitionand things.
Like tension or the consumerthat wants to be able to accurately and
and confidentlyincrease their rate of fire.
So if you're have a Halloween and a wholelot of pumpkins, you just line them up.
(17:00):
You have a Halloweenand a whole lot of pumpkins.
You'll see some videos on our website,and you can see
for some of the younger studs out therethat can run a trigger.
Well, okay, they can make that thingstart sounding very close to full on it.
You can get it in a cyclic rate.
A legal pull cyclic rate
of between 500 and 600 rounds.
Okay. Wow.
(17:22):
And your websitenow we're going to have that link on here.
But if anyone's listening then goingwhat's the website.
It's delta v usa.com.
That's correct.
Okay okay.
So we have another product.
You did mention to me that's new.
That's patent pending.
It is it's in final development right nowokay.
It is an R gas blockbut it is a self-adjusting R gas.
(17:46):
But there's some great adjustablegas blocks out there right now.
But you have to tune it. Yeah.
And when you change the configurationof your rifle, like putting a suppressor
on or whatever on a semi-automatic rifle,you have to readjust for,
okay, it's extra back pressure,but that's this manages it for you.
(18:07):
It's just self-adjusting.
So you can the configuration of your riflehowever you want and it takes care.
So pretty cool innovative product.
We actually have a couple OEMs that are
receiving.
We're not sure whether we want to
do that or yeah, or build it ourselves.
(18:28):
So your group you can
someone can come in eithera small business owner or a company
or a division or, you know, agroup of engineers at a company.
Really anythingthe sky's the limit can hire
you guys to come in and helpwith engineering challenges.
Maybe looking over salesand marketing and operations.
(18:49):
There's partnerships
you guys are good with introducingother companies to other companies
that might be projects.
So there's a lotyou can do for the industry, but
very hands on, very involved.
Focused.
It's the three of us and we are worriedthat you will get and you nailed it.
We do a lot of, sales and marketingconsulting help operations,
(19:14):
which is where a lot of my backgroundgoes.
Yeah, back in two as well,along with sales and marketing books.
So to Scott and Engineering,which is, Mike steaks, our,
our engineer, who's been added a long timeand,
really great on the firearms, non firearmsaccessories and ammunition side.
(19:35):
So we're often, company will have a staff of engineers
that are just buried and overwhelmedand they need some additional
and help for a little whileor they're stuck on an issue.
And it's nice to have a fresh perspective,look at it and say
that you know howit is when you're selling a a project.
Yeah,you can get a little myopic in your view.
(19:57):
And, a fresh perspective will happen fastsometimes and really
open up a door and get a project,you know, over the finish line.
That's really close.
Yeah.
Because sometimes you're you're so focusedon what you're working on.
It's really hardwithout another outside perspective.
Sure.
And that's really true both in operationsand sales and marketing as well.
(20:19):
Yeah.
We get used to as companiesdoing what we've done
and we want different results,but we don't know what little tweaks
to make to to kick that over the lineand think and start getting a new result.
So we help often in that regard.
Yeah, that would be very helpful.
Now your customer base, it's going to beI presume
(20:40):
anyone at that would exhibit that shot.
It's going to be the the shooting huntingoutdoor really anyone with any product.
It's not limited to anything.
But I would I guess that your focus,your real specialty niche is going to be
firearms and accessoriesand even outdoor ammunition.
(21:00):
I would think too,to some extent, correct?
Actually quite a bit.
Mike has a ton of experience thereand so do I.
Our our days gone, gone by.
We are helping outa metal finishing company
right nowthat also will do some firearms parts.
Metal finishing.
But the dominance of their businessis not even in the firearms industry.
(21:21):
Yeah, we're Mike's a excellent processengineer as well.
And that coupled with my operationsexperience can oftentimes
help them,you know, in their factory in that range.
So yeah, we have a pretty broadreach there.
Some areas we don'toh we're not software engineers.
Yeah.
Right. And latest newest software.
Yeah for operating your company.
(21:44):
But we are working on one of thoseright now for a company
that, wants a special,
computational flow dynamics model to do.
Oh, very cool.
And so Mike has, extremelevel of competence in that area.
And so we're working on that for somebody.
And you guys, you're located in the.
(22:05):
Company's homeoffice is out of Phoenix, Arizona.
I am in Cedar City,Utah, in southern Utah.
And we're together all the timethere. Yeah.
Mean here. I'm going down there.
Yeah.
And we're actually in the processof relocating.
We'll probably take about six months homeoffice up here in Cedar City.
Oh wow. How nice is that? That's fun.
(22:28):
And you guys are so close.
So you can fly in and out of anywhere.
And I'm
sure you guys will be at a shot show,so people even meet up with you there.
I mean, that's not that far away.
We're recording this just soeveryone knows that the very end of August
and this will actually golive in September.
So if you think about that,when you're listening to this shot, shows
(22:49):
right around the corner. It is that we do.
We were starting in Aprilon what we were going to do for.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Well,you better know what you're doing by now.
You bet.
So yeah, it's not too soonto start talking about Shot Nest.
GW is not far around the cornerand all of those kind of thing.
Are you got you guys are going to be thereattending GW or someone right.
(23:09):
Now we want okay.
What is the course wholesaler. Yeah.
And we don't have a much call there yet,so we're yet.
But there you will, you will.
And it's a good place for meetings.
You bet it is.
So the shot works great for us.
Media day arrange day, of course.
Being shot, the new productarea and just going around to
(23:35):
see our customers that we will.
Yeah.
And so we'll be there.
Yeah.
It's a great place coming up.
And networkpeople are there from all over the world.
So it's yourand and it's our primary place
that we're able to connectwith our international customers as well.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well I'm, I'm really excitedabout this new step for you.
(23:57):
Thanks.
And you're like the guy who never stops.
Yeah. You know, I never sits down.
You know,if you do, you get some moss growing
on, you get your joints start getting achyand you know, till
you got to go, go right hard,shoot straight and speak the truth.
That's right.
That's a skeeter skeleton deal.
But I sold a long time ago.
(24:17):
Hey. And, well,it sounds like it's your own, Paul.
It. Well, it's old enough now for a lotof our listeners that would think that.
But I want to be where.
Yeah. That's right.Give credit where credit's due.
So you're not called on the carpet?
Yeah. I stole a long time ago.
It's all my leathers on my road.
Is it really. Oh,I didn't know that. Oh, gosh.
(24:38):
That's awesome.
Well, I really appreciate youtaking the time to visit with me.
And I would encourage anyonethat's listening to this.
If you, you know, if you aren't sureif you need a consultant
or if you even want to talkto a consultant,
I think Paul and his groupare always much more than that.
So well connected in the industry.
(24:58):
And if they don't know, they know someoneand so reasonable,
just willing to have a conversationand see what they can do to help.
I would I would really encourage youto reach out to Paul
and we'll put the link to Delta B
delta v usa.com.
And then people I'msure can reach you on LinkedIn as well
(25:19):
if they want to reach out that way.
And you can always reach out to me.
I'll put you in touch with Paul.
You bet. That's awesome I appreciate it.
It's always greatto see you and get caught back up.
We don't do it often enough anymore.
Yeah we are, but yeah, you're right.
We're you know, we do as much
just networking and connecting peoplewith the right people.
We're not that as anything else.
(25:41):
So always happy to to talk.Yeah good stuff.
So thank you PaulI appreciate you being on the podcast.
And that's it for this session of HeadHunters Northwest podcast.
Tune in for the next one. Thank you.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HeadHunters North West podcast.
Specialized Recruiting
Specialized approac
(26:02):
You can reach out at HeadHuntersNW.com
Or call 605-600-1709
Join us again next week as we look behindthe curtain into the global defense.
Small arms and shooting sectors.
Head Hunters Northwest finding youthe best heads for business.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.