I stood in the 25,000-square-foot TruckHouse facility gazing upon an incredible behemoth—a shiny, new truck getting ready to roll out to the customer.
It costs more than a new Ferrari. It is incredible to behold. (I say this as a car-and-truck guy with five 4-wheel drive trucks, including the greatest of all—the 1972 International Scout II.) It was a giddy moment, looking at this overland expedition gamechanger.
Six years ago, Matt Linder had come to my office at the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business’ Ozmen Center, looking for help on his business plan. He and his partner were interested in the $50,000 first prize to jumpstart their new biz, TruckHouse. Linder believed there was a need in the off-road vehicle industry for a “marine-quality” overland vehicle.
Why does that matter? Because he was a boat builder working on high-end Tahoe boats, and perfect-fit, white-glove quality was non-negotiable. Only the best for my yacht! This means quality parts and precision master-building that minimize any rattling, squeaks, creaking or other unwanted noises on the water.
Linder believed this philosophy was not being carried over to the extreme “overland” crowd—the dedicated folks who go for extreme camping, and want a self-contained, off-road, living-quartered vehicle with high clearance for rocks and rivers. Yes, and they have an abundance of spare cash for these sorts of vehicles.
In his mind, a person should not necessarily need to get out of the truck to go into the back living area. They should be able to get from the driver’s seat back into the bed anytime, anyplace. It should be a molded, lightweight, one-piece system fitted to the frame, not sitting in the truck bed rattling around. It needs to completely replace the bed and be affixed to the chassis better than the bed was, with custom frame attachments—of utmost strength and durability, yet very lightweight. Carbon fiber, titanium, aluminum, molded fiberglass, and some of the best and most expensive structural foam core in the world (imported from Sweden, of all places) will be needed to keep it light and durable.
How did he know how to envision the future of expedition overlanding? He built one for himself out of an old Toyota. I came down from my old office in the middle of campus to look at this truck he’d spent years building in his spare time, utilizing the master-building skills he had learned in boat refurbishing.
I’ll never forget walking into that truck and seeing all he’d done to build a custom, self-contained living area for up to two people. Up three steps and behind the passenger side door, the bed was above the cab to my right, but underneath was a big hole to climb through to the back or front, without having to go outside. It was impressive to see his first build all of those years ago.
When Linder and his partner—then-business administration grad-student Nicolo Monforte—beat out 30 teams to win UNR’s Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition, Linder got to work. One of the things we discussed early on was that clients would need to put down a 50% to 66% deposit for custom work. The reason: If I’m building a custom product for you, I cannot sell it to anyone else should you cancel the order. If I understand my business—its costs/margins/logistics—I should be able to cover most of the cost of building an order with a 66% deposit, likely in two or three tranches. If the customer cancels, I haven’t lost anything. I can also build my startup company on revenue instead of relying on investors or debt, like most companies.
One of the things we discussed early on was that clients would need to put down a 50% to 66% deposit for custom work. The reason: If I’m building a custom product for you, I cannot sell it to anyone else should you cancel the order.
Fast-forward to three days ago, when I was standing in front of Linder’s huge Ram 3500, with the truck performance and engineering upgrades by renowned off-road customizer AEV (American Expedition Vehicles), made in Detroit and sent to Reno for the incredible modifications that make this the premiere expedition vehicle in the world, according to the experts.
According to the auto news website Mopar Insiders, “This camper redefines expedition vehicles, ensuring adventurers can explore remote destinations with confidence and comfort. With its innovative design, advanced technology and exceptional craftsmanship, the BCR exemplifies TruckHouse’s dedication to off-grid excellence.”
Linder told me that having AEV in Detroit as the TruckHouse partner is amazing because all of the work that AEV does to engineer, modify and raise the truck. They put 40-inch tires on it, yet it still maintains the Ram warranty.
These partnerships are critical, and they have catapulted TruckHouse into the upper reaches of the expedition crowd. They are currently backlogged two years, with 12 trucks in various stages of being built, all with their patented HiPR Foil airflow system on the front of the cabover.
Linder is already dreaming up his next high-end, off-road innovation, while working long days to keep up with the onslaught of TruckHouse’s popularity. He has 30 guys working several stations, starting with a raw Ram AEV chassis, and finishing with the polishing of the appliances inside each custom rolling home. It was cool to see the assembly line they’ve built to bring these trucks to the discriminating public.
Five Questions for Matt Linder
How has building this company changed your life?
It has changed my life dramatically. Before starting TruckHouse, I spent a lot more time skiing, competing, traveling and pursuing other interests. For the last six years, I’ve been pretty singularly focused on building this company and our goal of producing world-class expedition vehicles. Building TruckHouse has required an enormous amount of my time and energy, but it has also pushed me to grow in ways I never would have otherwise. I feel like a very different person today than I was when we started.
What’s been the toughest part of building this company?
The time commitment. Manufacturing is incredibly challenging, and what we’re doing takes that to another level. We build our vehicles in-house using aerospace-grade materials and manufacturing processes, so everything is R&D-intensive, time-consuming and expensive. There are very few shortcuts.
Building a company around something this technically difficult has meant working 80- to 100-hour weeks for much of the last six years. Sustaining that level of commitment while continuing to make good decisions, lead a team and push the company forward has probably been the hardest part.
What has brought you the greatest satisfaction running this company?
The people, without question. Watching the team grow, both in size and as individuals, has probably been the most rewarding part of building TruckHouse. There is something incredibly satisfying about watching someone develop new skills, become more confident, solve problems they couldn’t solve a year ago and eventually teach those skills to someone else. We’re obviously here to build incredible vehicles, but seeing the careers and opportunities we’re creating along the way has become one of the things I’m most proud of.
What will define your success?
That’s actually something I’m still working to define for myself. I’ve always been extremely driven, and one of the dangers of that is continually moving the goalposts. I think about it like climbing a mountain: If you never define where the summit is, you can spend your entire life putting one foot in front of the other and climbing without ever allowing yourself to arrive.
For me, success will mean defining that summit, not just financially or professionally, but personally, and being able to recognize when I’ve reached it and be proud of what I’ve built, the people I’ve impacted, and how I lived along the way.
What’s next for Matt Linder?
Right now, it’s continuing to build TruckHouse, but also building it into a company that doesn’t depend on me for everything.
My focus is on systematizing the company, developing great leaders and making sure I’m never the bottleneck to our growth. I want TruckHouse to create more careers, employ more people here in Reno, expand into multiple product lines and continue pushing what an expedition vehicle can be.
Ultimately, I want us to build the best expedition vehicles in the world and build a company and team capable of carrying that mission far beyond me.