In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Seth Hill, the founder of Sway, a company that makes fully insulated hammocks to prevent "cold butt syndrome" (CBS). The episode begins with sponsor messages for Anchor and Authors Unite. Seth shares a personal story about his father’s suicide when he was 16, describing how mentors helped him rebuild self‑worth, a lesson he ties to entrepreneurship. He explains how the idea for an insulated hammock arose during a camping trip when a regular nylon hammock and sleeping bag failed to keep him warm, leading to the creation of a bundled product that includes hammock, straps, under‑quilt, top‑quilt, and rainfly in one package, prioritizing user convenience over higher profit margins from separate accessories. Seth offers general business advice emphasizing authenticity, active listening, and leveraging genuine connections from networking events, illustrated by a recent consulting help from a former networking contact. He advises his younger self to never fear asking questions, highlighting humility as essential for founders. When asked about happiness, Seth says it stems from contentment and perspective gained from global experiences and mission trips. His favorite book is Yvon Chouinard’s Let My People Go Surfing, from which he learned it’s acceptable to be an “anti‑typical” businessman and to solve problems in unique ways. His favorite quote stresses not using others as moral standards. The interview concludes with Seth’s contact information: LinkedIn, email, and Sway’s social media handles.
Chapters
Thank you for listening to the Business Blast podcast. So for all my listeners out there that have been wanting to do your own podcast, I'd like to introduce to you Anchor. Anchor is a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, distributing, and monetizing your podcast. So before I found Anchor, I had never actually done a podcast because all the research that I had gathered made it seem very complex. Then I found Anchor, and Anchor makes podcasting extremely simple. So if you want to do your own podcast, go to anchor.fm/start. I can't wait to hear your podcast.
Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with the support you need to finish your book. Best part is, after you finish your book, they take care of the entire publishing and marketing process 100% for you. So if you want to become a successful author, make sure to check out AuthorsUnite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Seth Hill with us. He is the founder of Sway, a fully insulated hammock company that aims to keep you safe from CBS. What is CBS? CBS is cold butt syndrome. So welcome to the show, man.
Hey, thank you so much. Appreciate being here.
Of course, man. Appreciate you coming on. The first one I got for you, Seth, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Spanish? So I'd say probably, well, just let me tell you a little bit of the story. So when I was 16, my father took his own life and it left me completely empty and broken of so many different things. And luckily, I was fortunate enough to have a lot of key mentors in my life who were able to reinvest themselves kind of back into who I was as a person. And in that whole process of coming through, you know, this terrible tragedy to something, finding something more, just the fact in being able to believe and realize that I was valuable outside of my own self. So, you know, obviously I had a lot of issues from what happened, one of them being like being able to see a worth or a worthiness or a self-value. And in the way that all of those men, particularly in my life, they kind of stepped up to play that father figure role, they were able to put back into me just the belief that I was something or could be something or just had like value. So when it comes to business, like that plays a huge key, right? Because when you're starting a business, there's oftentimes when people will encourage you, but there's even more times that people experience where the people aren't giving back that encouragement and being able to kind of look introspectively and do a little self-reflection, realizing like that you're valuable. And being kind of self-aware of that and being able to move forward, I think is really key.
Thank you for sharing that with us, man. The next one I got for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Oh man, that's a good question. So I would say, man, that is a really good question.
I like it, stumped, all right.
Yeah, can you rephrase it actually? Like, say it again.
Yeah, no problem, man. So we'll rephrase. I'm not sure. I'll try to say it again. So what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry? So maybe, you know, you'd want to talk about maybe some things about the hammock industry, like how did you come up with your, your certain type of hammock?
Yeah. So I mean, just to answer that, question at the end, how I came up with it. So I went camping with some friends and I took a regular hammock. No, so here on the East Coast, those regular hammocks, most people know them as eno or Eagle Nest Outfitters. It's basically just a piece of parachute nylon that people take and go hammocking in. And I took one of those and I took a sleeping bag, threw that sleeping bag inside that hammock. And even in August— so August in Tennessee was pretty hot— I climbed in and under the weight of my body, the insulation of that sleeping bag underneath me, you know, in the hammock, it compressed and the insulation was rendered useless. And I got what we called, you know, CBS or cold butt syndrome. So being able to realize like, wow, there was a need for something more because a lot of the hammock companies out there, if you go and look, if you start to use hammocks as more of a way to camp as a vehicle to get outdoors, you'll notice really quickly that you can get that cold butt syndrome. And a lot of those companies that make hammocks will sell you accessories. So they'll sell you the hammock, then they'll sell you the straps, and then to keep warm, they'll sell you this thing called an underquilt, and then a top quilt, and then you'll need a rainfly. So what we did is we decided to like include that all in one. So not only solving the issue of CBS, but being able to bring everything under one roof in one package so you don't have to buy everything separately. Because, you know, while from a business perspective, it may be really good to separate your products into like almost accessorizing them so you can have proper higher profit margins, but our goal there was, you know, solving CVS, but also like helping the end consumer not have to pay so much to get a quality night's sleep.
Absolutely. Um, so then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Yeah, yeah. So I would say getting— well, I think a lot of people have an issue, or it's hard because a lot of people ask the question, you know, how do I, how do I capitalize on the different networking events that I go to or whatever? And honestly, I think it's just about being yourself. So when I meet people, the thing that I like most about the people that I like are usually that they are not afraid to be themselves around me. So being able to go to networking events and just like, you know, first of all, listen. I think we talk too much. I know I talk too much. So being able to ask questions and intently listen instead of thinking of the next question that I'm going to ask, being able to hear and connect on something deeper. And then as you have those connections, you know, and those networking opportunities, as you have those conversations that go deeper, then you'll find that you'll have just such a wider network of people to call on in getting some type of help. So just a quick example, I got a call, um, well, I called one of my friends who is in the consulting industry. He worked at GE and doing all kinds of stuff, and I called him today just to ask him, hey, you know, like, I'm having this issue with bringing on a number 2 or somebody else in the company who can help be my integrator. And all of that to say, like, he was able to offer me some great advice price, but it was because of a key conversation that we had had in a previous time at a previous networking event that he was able to offer, you know, some free consulting even.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say probably, you know, don't be afraid to ask questions. Even stupid questions. So, I've made it a habit now, even if like, I'm in a conversation with someone and I don't understand a word, even if it's a word that's thrown out there often, I'll just straight up ask them, "Hey, like, what does that word mean?" Because, you know, I think being able to be humble enough to ask questions when you don't understand things is really important because as a founder or whatever role you play in any organization, as you continue to rise, and I hope that everyone does, as you continue to rise, like being able to be humble enough to ask people that are, you know, seen as working below you for help is very key because ultimately it's those people underneath you that get the jobs done.
And then kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
So the key to happiness is being content in all things. You know, I've been to different parts of the world. I used to live in the Philippines in a, you know, newly industrialized country. I've done mission trips to India, Papua, Indonesia, because that's part of our mission at Sway and going to all of those different places. Yeah, like it just completely opens up your mind to the world at large. So being able to find that success, I think, is being content in all things and being able to look and say, you know, there's somebody else somewhere else that has it worse. So why don't I push as hard as I can to make the world a better place, even for them or for whoever else?
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So best book I've read would probably be Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard. So he's the founder and the guy who started Patagonia. So that popular brand that we know for the outdoor industry. So the one thing that I learned from that book was it's okay to be an anti-typical businessman. So a lot of business books we read, like, they kind of define what business should be or what it is or what it used to be or what we think it's going to be. But being able to do things your own way, I think, is crucial because that's what makes business interesting, is because it's a bunch of problems that we're all trying to solve, and no one company solves them all the same way. So I think that's what makes us unique.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
So my favorite quote would probably be 'Let others be your witness for like good and evil, but never the standard of them.' So going a little bit deeper, going through life, like, I think it's really easy for us to look up to people. And then when we look up to those people, it's easy for us to lose faith in them if they do something wrong. So I think that any good person has the capability to do something really wrong. Any good person, any bad person even has the capability or the possibility of doing something good. So being able to see examples in those people but not follow them to such an extent to where if they did something that I didn't agree with, it would totally shatter who I was or the construct of my thinking. I think it's really big.
Well, listen, man, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for our audience to find and connect with you online?
Yeah, so you can connect with me personally on LinkedIn, Seth Hill. You can email me at seth@sweyhammocks.com. So that's two Ys. And then for Sway, I'm on all the social media, usually managing a good bit of that. Instagram @SwayHammocks, Facebook @SwayHammocks, Twitter @SwayHammocks. All of that.
