# Founder’s Story: Stio Founder & CEO, Stephen Sullivan

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/blister-podcast-48794/founder-s-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/blister-podcast-48794/founder-s-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan.md
Podcast: [BLISTER Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/blister-podcast-48794)
Published: 2026-06-22T10:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/blisterpodcast/episodes/founders-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5a305be5d97c54ea788d100b/e/6a3899eab53e8a6e088704a4/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/blister-podcast-48794/episodes/founder-s-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan
Duration seconds: 4566

## Resource

Stephen “Sulli” Sullivan shares all the wild twists and turns of co-founding Cloudveil in 1997, then launching Stio in 2011. We dive into some of his most significant (and most painful) lessons learned; key industry insights; and the factors necessary to build a successful outdoor company. Note: We Want to Hear From You! We’d love for you to share with us the stories or topics you’d like us to cover next month on Reviewing the News; ask your most pressing mountain town advice questions, or offer your hot takes for us to rate. Email us at: info@blisterreview.com RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered See our Updated Mtn Bike Buyer’s Guide Enter Our Free Weekly Gear Giveaways TOPICS & TIMES: Shoutout: New BLISTER+ Members (1:44) First outdoor sport you fell in love with? (4:04) When Did You First Think of Starting an Outdoor Company? (6:36) Starting Cloudveil (16:06) Turning Point: Denali (22:16) What Happened at Cloudveil? (27:12) Advice on Company Structure (37:37) Launching Stio (44:29) Biggest Surprises? (51:26) Dan Abrams’ 1st Question (56:21) Dan Abrams’ 2nd Question (1:04:44) Sulli’s Current Favorite Stio Technical Piece (1:06:27) Sulli’s Current favorite Casual Piece (1:08:12) What are You Most Excited about? (1:12:39) CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS: Blister Cinematic CRAFTED Bikes & Big Ideas GEAR:30 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/blister-podcast-48794/episodes/founder-s-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/blister-podcast-48794/founder-s-story-stio-founder-ceo-stephen-sullivan.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.