Meet Chris McKleroy | CEO and Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris McKleroy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When looking at the binocular market, I realized there was a huge gap and what I was looking for to what I wanted. Having just exited a speaker business founded on disruptive principles I realize that I had a tool kit to apply the same binoculars. The industry was ripe for a younger more open offering and furthermore they were not many small compact binoculars with high quality optics that we’re reaching the needs of the younger outdoor community. Based on this brand gap and product gap I decided that this was a worthwhile endeavor.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Nocs business was a patiently founded one. Thankfully I had a day job that I didn’t leave and during the design process I took a very long time to get the product right. Using a 3-D printer I spent countless evenings designing the product and over 20 3-D prints later I came up with something that seemed awesome. Immediately this is our differentiator this unique design ribbed and rugged that’s unlike any other. Most of our competition uses tactical industrial design language which seems to be for lack of a better word incestuous. Furthermore creating a small compact binocular with high-quality optics with something that did not exist in the market prior there were plenty of big binoculars that were expensive and bulky and high-quality of course and plenty of small binoculars that were cheap and just not worth using. This was our unique positioning in the market that gave us traction. Furthermore at lunch we realize that we need to do more than just sell product that we need to get back. And by giving back we looked locally in San Francisco and realize that there were organizations that were helping bring kids who wouldn’t ordinarily get to spend time in Golden Gate Park do you build the ability to get into Golden Gate park rides her bike and explore nature. Day one we’ve been partnered with organizations that help increase outdoor awareness in communities outdoor access an awareness might not have been prioritized.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
San Francisco’s a wonderful place. For outdoor experiences ocean beach Golden Gate Park Mount Sutro and of course the Baylands the areas that border the bay like toxic beach and heron head park would be areas that I would take my friends. For food would head to the mission for the authentic burritos that we love and for Chinese food would head to the sunset which provides such great authentic Chinese food that rivals the quality of the food that I’ve tasted when I’ve been abroad in China. Of course we would surf and mountain bike and potentially consider excursions up north to Marin and down south to Santa Cruz to do well exactly both

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without a doubt Kyle Parsons the founder and CEO of Indosole I wanna shout out. Having both been entrepreneurs Pryor and meeting at trade shows it was Kyle’s acute I an idea the binoculars were a segment of the industry that really was lacking. As roommates at the time we went back-and-forth with a bunch of different concepts around what this could be and what it would look like. As I was designing the product and building a brand Kyle was a very supportive and influential voice in the room helping to find the initial brand and foray into the market. If it wasn’t for the outside lands music festival and Kyle wishing he had a pair of sweet small stylish Binoculars who knows where I’d be today.

Website: nocsprovisions.com

Instagram: n_o_c_s

Image Credits
Killian Page @whatgivesmedia