Fabian Alefeld interviews Brandon Brodie, co-founder and CEO of Annihilator Broadheads, about how an Idaho elk hunt and a lost bull sparked a new broadhead concept sketched by Brandon’s future partner Micah. They describe turning the 2D sketch into plastic CAD prototypes via Boise State, a makeshift “wind tunnel” test using Instant Pot steam, and early performance goals of flight, penetration, durability, and lethality. Field and improvised tests (steel drum, long-range accuracy, animal kills) plus third-party fluid dynamics modeling suggested Annihilator’s design created unusually large high-pressure and low-tension effects.

After major supply failures with investment casting and metal injection molding - causing shortages, high scrap rates, and lost dealers - Brodie brought manufacturing in-house, adopting metal laser powder bed fusion, improving repeatability and enabling new geometries like the Katana. He outlines ongoing innovation, potential adjacent products, and plans to leverage Annihilator’s additive capabilities for partnerships and contract manufacturing.

02:26 Elk Camp Origin

06:43 Sketch to Prototype

11:36 Instant Pot Wind Test

14:44 Performance Pillars

18:41 Steel Drum Proof

22:45 Real Hunt Validation

26:45 Fluid Dynamics Breakthrough

30:41 Engineering Led Marketing

33:32 Manufacturing Growing Pains

34:27 Industry Award Surprise

35:53 COVID Demand Crunch

36:54 Casting Supplier Failures

39:40 MIM Tooling Disaster

42:30 Additive Breakthrough

46:35 Learning Metal Printing

49:55 Repeatability and Materials

52:56 Katana Broadhead Innovation

57:49 Scaling R&D Team