Brock Mammoser cofounded Frost Buddy, an insulated drinkware brand, with his brother — and in just two and a half years, they built it into a thriving e-commerce business with a loyal community of more than ten thousand customers. In this episode of the Encourage Mindset Podcast, Brock joins host Ethan Van De Hey to talk about the early days of Frost Buddy, what he really learned in college, and why the best thing you can do as an entrepreneur is just keep going.
Watch the Full Episode with Brock Mammoser
How Frost Buddy Started with a Simple Pivot
Brock and his brother launched Frost Buddy as a slim can cooler designed for drinks like White Claw and Truly. The product worked well for those cans, but they quickly ran into a problem: a regular-sized can would not fit. That frustration became their breakthrough. They asked a simple question — what if they could create one product that fits everything? While competitors were selling a different cooler for each can size, Brock and his brother decided to build a universal solution. That pivot turned Frost Buddy from a niche product into a scalable brand.
Brock describes the early days as scrappy and intense. He and his brother handled everything themselves, from product development to marketing to fulfillment. The brand grew fast, and with that growth came a whole new set of challenges around managing people, dealing with overhead, and paying attention to the numbers that actually matter.
Profit First — Why the Small Numbers Matter at Scale
One of the biggest lessons Brock shares is about focusing on profit rather than top-line revenue. When you are scaling a product business, he explains, those tiny numbers in your cost structure become enormous at volume. A few cents here, a small percentage there — at scale, those numbers can make or break your profitability. Brock learned to scrutinize every line item in the equation and make sure that profit was always the priority, not just how much money was coming in the door.
He notes that the broader business climate has shifted in the same direction. It used to be that nobody cared much about profit because investors were throwing money at companies. Now, he says, profitability matters again — and he thinks that is a healthy correction for entrepreneurs everywhere.
Building a Community of Ten Thousand on Facebook
Brock admits he is not a big Facebook user — he actually had the app deleted for an entire year. But when he started thinking about customer retention and loyalty, he realized that email and SMS marketing were not enough. He wanted to be closer to his customers, especially since Frost Buddy is very much a founder-led brand where Brock himself is the face of the company.
The idea to start a Facebook group came from seeing other brands do it. Brock did not expect it to take off the way it did, but the group quickly grew to over ten thousand members. It became a place where customers could connect with the brand, share how they used their products, and feel like part of a community. For Brock, that personal connection is what sets Frost Buddy apart — the brand reflects who they are as people: small town, faith-filled, and genuine.
What Indiana University Actually Taught Him
Brock went to Indiana University in Bloomington and attended the Kelley School of Business, one of the top-ranked business programs in the country. But when Ethan asks about the value of college, Brock gives a blunt answer: the academics were pointless for him. None of his classes directly helped him build Frost Buddy. What frustrated him most were professors who had worked at large corporations but had never actually started a business themselves, yet carried an arrogance as if they had built those companies from the ground up.
Where college paid off, Brock says, was in the networking. The relationships he built at IU and the Kelley School connected him with people who would become important contacts in his entrepreneurial journey. His advice to anyone considering college is to go for the people, not the textbooks.
Just Keep Going — Do Not Even Think About It
When the conversation turns to motivation, Brock references a Gary Vaynerchuk quote that he keeps coming back to: just keep going, do not stop, do not even think about it, just keep going. Brock explains why that resonates so deeply — if you stop to think about where you are compared to where you want to be, the gap can feel overwhelming. The solution is to stop measuring and just keep moving.
At the same time, Brock pushes back against hustle culture. He does not pretend to grind around the clock. He loves watching college football on Saturdays and NFL games on Sundays, and he believes that rest and enjoyment are part of doing the work well. The key, he says, is working smart during the hours you do work rather than burning yourself out pretending you never take a break. That honest approach to entrepreneurship — hard work paired with realistic balance — is what has kept him going through the ups and downs of building Frost Buddy.
What Comes After Frost Buddy
Brock is transparent about the fact that Frost Buddy will not be his last company. He sees his current venture as building a foundation — something big enough that future projects can come from a place of financial stability rather than desperation. He and a friend regularly talk about what their next move might be, and the recurring theme is subscription models or software, because they see how profitable those businesses are compared to physical products.
Whether it is investing in other businesses, partnering with other entrepreneurs, or chasing a completely new idea, Brock knows he has more to build. But for now, all of his energy goes into Frost Buddy and making sure the foundation is solid before he takes on anything else.
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