STANDARD H Podcast

Ashley Reed has been a good friend of mine since I moved to California in 2007. In fact we moved within several weeks of one another. I moved from Raleigh whereas she moved from New York City and shared an apartment with former STANDARD H Podcast guest Jensen Reed, who happens to be her brother. We all became fast friends, and the past 14+ years have been an amazing ride for Ashley. She’s one of t...

His older friends know him as DQ, but Dan Quigley has deeply evolved from his tagging days of two-letter graffiti. I met him 3 years ago where he was working at the Duane street location of The Armoury, however, you will now find him managing the newest location uptown on Madison Avenue. We talk about Dan’s youth in what was a crime-ridden Brooklyn, creating art while his father was trying to stop...

Mark Greene and I have a ton in common. We have ties to San Diego - he was born here whereas I relocated here, we’re both Porsche fanatics, we both have sales and retail blood running through our veins, and we both host podcasts. In fact, Mark was kind enough to host me on his podcast, Cars Yeah, as his 1,899th guest. Clearly Mark’s been at the podcast game a lot longer than I have, so I certainly...

I meant to meet today’s guest during my trip to Denver for Outdoor Retailer in August, but sadly, I ran out of time. But the lack of that face to face meeting fortunately didn’t prevent us from connecting for this episode as one of her sales associates kindly made the introduction. Kelli Jones is the founder and owner of NOSO Patches, a Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based business comprised of adhesive pa...

Brian de Groodt is the founder of Colorado-based Dispatch Custom Cycling Components - a line of bike accessories primarily comprised of anodized headset caps. Those of you who are fans of the STANDARD H Cycle Squad will now know our headset stem caps were produced by Dispatch. I found Dispatch by way of its Instagram marketing strategy, which Brian and I discuss later in this chat. Needless to say...

Chances are good if you’re listening to this you also listen to The Grey Nato podcast which today’s guest co-hosts alongside friend and former guest, James Stacey. He’s also a longtime contributor for Hodinkee, a Gear Patrol alum, and officially the first Hodinkee editor to be featured on Talking Watches. Of course I’m talking about Mr. Jason Heaton. I’m such a fan of his pragmatic approach to lif...

Everyone’s entrepreneurial journey is different, and to me, that’s what’s so fascinating about the experience. It’s also part of the reason I started this podcast because I knew no two stories would be alike. Taking this into account one might argue that Dan Mirth’s business started like many others in that he created products he wanted himself only to find out others were willing to buy them. How...

This week we’re talking beer! And it’s another example of me having the good fortune of sitting down with an awesome friend and having a conversation about their burgeoning business. Often the feedback from these episodes involves some version of, “I love these podcasts because I feel like I’m right there with you, drinking a beer with you guys.” Well, good news: Matt DelVecchio and I did just tha...

I could easily talk to most guests on the podcast for far longer than these episodes allow, and no one sits in the category more than Adrian Barker, and that’s exactly why he is the first guest to be on the show for a second time. The first part of this episode was truly just us catching up and I wasn’t going to leave it in, but when editing our conversation, I felt there was a very honest sense o...

I met today’s guest - how else these days but through Instagram - where my budding friendship with him came through a series of domino effects from this very podcast. Charlotte, NC-based Noah Williams is a marketer, videographer and influencer with over 100k followers, and deservedly so given his taste in style, let alone his palette for watches, whiskey & wine. We talk about small towns in No...

One of my favorite things about doing this podcast is every once in a while, a longtime friend agrees to be a guest and today’s one of those days. I’ve known Timothy Hogan for roughly 11 years, and I feel the level of comfort in recording this episode is abundantly clear. Tim is an incredibly talented photographer, woodworker and one of my favorite people to surf with though it doesn’t happen near...

If you follow STANDARD H, chances are good you also follow Wei Koh. He’s the founder and creator of Revolution Magazine, a magazine exploring the world of watches, and The Rake, a traditional menswear magazine that’s one of only a handful of magazines I subscribe to. Wei has been very open in interviews, so I strived to ask questions I haven’t heard before. Never a disappointment, Wei does a beaut...

I’ve been a big fan of today’s guest for several years, so I was certainly excited to chat with him. Tim Mosso is one of only a few people I watch online for reviews & news within the world of watches. I’ve always enjoyed his straight-forward delivery, his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge and it helps he and I have other interests in common such as automotive racing and cycling. We talk about...

Today’s guest is a salesman who has sold everything from phone contracts to cashmere. Davide Baroncini is the owner of Ghiaia, a menswear label based in Pasadena, CA but as you can imagine, the road from Italy to California wasn’t a straight shot. And it was for this reason I was delighted to sit down with him to hear him share his story. Ghiaia is producing some of the best sweaters I’ve come acr...

Del Gregory is a UK-based creative who has certainly led a fascinating life of travel which has historically been driven by his work as a photographer. He began his professional career at the ripe age of 20 as a fashion photographer, but he then found a groove shooting architecture - luxury hotels and exotic locations mainly. As retirement was looming, Del decided to create a new type of magazine...

Today’s guest is Jarnard Sutton. I actually met Jarnard as he was walking down the sidewalk in front of my house while I was checking my mail. It was one of the more random introductions I’ve had in recent memory. We chatted for roughly 10 minutes that day and I found out several things: he lives near me, he enjoys IPA’s and he’s a content creator. This was all the information I needed to realize...

Today I welcome Watchonista’s Josh Shanks, and we begin in a way I certainly didn’t expect: we talk about the birth of snowboards. We then go into the car culture of Indiana, and then his career which was utterly unpredictable. Josh went from working retail at Apple thanks to an early Mac-specific blog he wrote to then take his technological prowess down the path of Private Equity and Hedge funds....

I was introduced to today’s guest probably like many of you, by way of Hodinkee’s Talking Watches. He captivated me by way of his diverse collection, and perhaps more importantly, the condition of said pieces. Extremely well known for his expertise in Rolex, Eric Ku is a watch dealer, the founder of 10PastTen, and in 2016, he co-founded LA Watchworks. Oh yeah, between those two ventures, Eric just...

I was actually familiar with today’s guest’s store prior to even knowing who owned it, and that man is Brian Davis. A close personal friend of previous STANDARD H Podcast guest, Jeremy Kirkland, Brian was among the many of us who were into punk and hardcore in high school only to find our career paths leading us to fashion. We discuss what it’s like working retail at an early age and the role of r...

Throughout COVID-19 I’ve recorded several podcasts in advance knowing they’d be spread out - and among that group was my recording back in the Fall with today’s guest, Yanto Barker. Yanto started the U.K.-based cycling apparel and accessories brand Le Col and how the brand was created is absolutely fascinating. Born in Wales, the child of hippies and far from a life of means, Yanto was plucked by...

Chris Considine has had quite the automotive journey. He raced go karts as a kid while working his way up to the open wheel levels of the junior formulas, but that’s not all. He’s worked as a reporter at Le Mans alongside his automotive journalist father. But it was while working in Phoenix, Arizona as a tire technician where Chris built his first racing simulator. That first DIY project was the b...

For those with drive, the STANDARD H Podcast is a loose conversation about the lives of entrepreneurs and those who’ve grown companies. Today’s guest has occupied a slot in the latter category. He also happens to be a friend of mine. His name is Brett Weiner, and we discuss his journey from working for his parents construction business at the age of 11 to designing one-off pieces for Nixon watches...

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season. If you haven’t already, please visit the website at standard-h.com as several new products have been released over the last month. I’m super excited for 2021 as there are several things to come, including a couple different lines of goods that have been in development for well over a year, so I can’t wait to share them with you. Along with my produ...

The word that comes to mind when characterizing today’s guest, Christian James Hand is “passionate.” Christian is half of the duo that wrote the theme track to this podcast but that’s just an unbelievably tiny blip on the radar when considering Christian’s body of work. He’s effectively held every title imaginable within the music industry and as the host of The Sessions, Christian has certainly s...

Jonathan Ward is best known as the man behind ICON 4x4. If you’re listening to this show, I’m sure you’ve seen his creations clad in matte paint on Instagram, or perhaps at SEMA over the years. At the end of the day, Jonathan considers himself to be a serial craftsman, but I’ll take it a step further and label him an artist. His creativity has led him down several paths alongside his automotive bu...