Rudy's Taxi

Thanks for taking a sip from the Fountain.

Last week we talked with our son Knox, and with Father’s Day around the corner I thought I’d throw it back to Grandpa Rudy, my grandfather, and how his entrepreneurial spirit still runs strong through the Kitsch Family.

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FOUNDER STORIES

With Father’s Day coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about where this whole journey began, not SAXX, not Doja, not even our new thing at The Fountain.

I mean way back.
Back to Rudy’s Taxi.

My grandpa Rudy worked at the mill and the packing house in Kelowna before he took a chance and bought a car, starting a little side hustle that turned into a business.

Rudy’s Taxi served the Okanagan community in the 1940s to 1980s, giving rides on trust and running monthly accounts. If you couldn’t pay right away, no problem. He had you covered.

Of course, it wasn’t just taxis. Rumour has it Rudy also bootlegged a little, delivering beer on Sundays and taking folks to Vernon to the “grey area” bars. (Allegedly)

He was part entrepreneur, part outlaw, part guardian angel in flannel.

And when the business grew, so did the vision.

Eventually, Kelowna Cabs acquired the business, and then they started Rudy’s Trucking which led to my dad to start Bruce Kitsch Trucking, then Spring Point Management and , and eventually Belvedere Place Development.

It all started with one car, and the ability to answer the phone 24/7.

My grandpa worked six days a week. So did my dad. So do I. And while the industry of choice changed, the DNA is the same. I think what’s maybe most unique about our family isn’t just the work ethic, but how we see.

My dad taught me to look for problems other people ignore. Where someone else might see a crater on the side of the road, my dad would see a 16-lot subdivision. He bought “holes,” filled them with dirt, and sold them as communities.

He thought big, so big that he’d rent helicopters before Google Earth existed, just to fly over cities looking for “green patches” where opportunity lived.

We say yes before we say no.
We spot value where others don’t.
We create markets when they don’t exist yet.

That mindset, it’s what shaped me and I encourage you do the same.

Some of my favorite memories as a kid were with Grandpa Rudy.

He used to take me to baseball practice. We’d have a catch. Then he’d take me for donut, always down the back roads, past the dump, windows rolled down.

He wore beautiful thick wool Cowichan sweaters and had the strongest hands. He had early work out equipment in his basement and my sister, cousins, and I used to try to do the moves he showed us, but couldn’t even budge the weight with all of us.

Grandpa Rudy was a great baseball player in his own right, and even coached throughout Kelowna after his playing career was over. Sounds like he planted three seeds in my life, Entrepreneurship, Health, and Baseball. Thanks Grandpa.

Grandpa Rudy thought regional, he wanted to do great things in Kelowna. My dad wanted to do great things provincially and started doing projects in a single country outside of Canada. Ria and I are focused on doing things globally.

Each move a step further, yet the roots are still the same. Whether it’s underwear, cannabis, or community, I’m always trying to build something or value worth passing on. Hopefully the Fountain is like a ride with my Grandpa, listening, learning, dreaming looking outside the window as the world passes by, asking questions and heading to or from a ballpark. I know I’ll get to see my grandpa again and we can have a catch in the sky, I bet he will be proud people still talk to me about him, what a beauty he is, and after the catch we will a have a donut.

Are you interested in Fountain energy... in person?!

We believe a lot of magic happens You might’ve seen the launch of our first event, ‘Gather Round! in Kelowna.

We have designed this event to be

The gates to the former Kitsch Wines estate don’t open often but when they do, it’s for something special - here’s an example of a (bigger) party we held there a few years ago:

Finish the day with a VIP lakeside dinner and cocktail mingle, because having dinner together feels like a special opportunity to us.

We haven’t put it out on Social Media yet! Tomorrow we will though, so this is a little note to secure your spot now ✍️.

Tickets are limited to the event, and the VIP dinner has 4 seats left 🙂 We welcome your ideas and suggestions to help make Gather Round the best it can be. Invest in yourself and set your sail with intention on a better direction.

“One day, could be the day that turns your life around” - Jim Rohn

We hope to see you in Kelowna.
Bringing your curiosity, biggest questions, and bathing / poolside attire ⛱.

Stoked to fill your cups,
Trent & Ria

THE EXECUTIVE SUITE - BRIDGE BEWTWEEN BUSINESS AND SPORTS

Trent Joined Hyung Cho for a Podcast check it out:

Hyung and Trent know are friends as each played for Baseball Canada, are coaches, and apparel entrepreneurs. https://www.oppotaco.com/ is a baseball apparel lifestyle brand and Hyung is also building a media and coaching empire. He is a friend of the fountain.

The Executive Suite will feature more of the stories and people that connect business to the world of sports.

Loved this message from Jesse Itzler - and thank you Jesse for inspiring me

Q: What was your exit strategy in leaving SAXX? How did you make that decision? How did you know it's the right decision for you? And how did you go about implementation?

ANSWER: I always wanted to sell the business. That was clear from the beginning. When my MBA professor gave me $50,000 for 5 percent, I told him the plan was to build something valuable and eventually exit so we could all have the opportunity for liquidity. My second investor came in under the same premise. The idea was to get the business into the hands of people with more experience and connections, who could take it further than I could. That way, my stake would grow in value as they scaled it.

I shaped the business to be easy to sell. I kept things organized and clean. You can also test interest by creating a data room and getting some feedback. If you're a bit bigger, talk to investment banks. When the time came, I sold to someone I trusted to take it to the next level, and they did.