all right everybody’s been a while since we’ve done a cat’s corner I’m very excited to do the sit down with Dave from cat strap it is a product that we’ve partnered up with them to help sell to our customer base we believe in the product we love the product but they give our viewers a quick introduction to yourself and the company yeah definitely thanks Nick um yeah excited to chat with you so uh yeah my name is Dave Burson um with the company cat strap and um we are in the um that space for catalytic converters which um as as you guys know has been a big problem as of late and um we uh we were pretty early to the um to the the solution space um been doing this for about eight years now um and it’s actually uh a uh my dad uh was in the automotive repair business for as long as I can remember um and though um kind of the origin story of cat strap does start um from from back then and uh basically we were solving a problem for one of his local customers um I

was actually in college at the time and um uh we kind of got it off the ground together I did my senior entrepreneurship project on on cat strap and uh you know this was before anyone had even heard of catalytic converters um uh and the problem was like pretty small back then this is like 2012 uh 2013. um and uh um but there was a local need for it so we kind of came up with like the the first prototype and just helped out like one of the local guys and then um you know it’s been a um a gradual Evolution since then which sure we’ll we’ll get into but um so yeah we’re a family-run company um it’s been a you know a really kind of organic growth story of uh just starting small and and uh letting the market you know Drive our growth um and uh yeah yeah now we’re here and you know um installation wide on vehicles over the country and uh you know just doing our best to to keep up and make sure that we’re helping people prevent thefts as as much as possible so so

far so good that’s awesome um what kind of shop did your dad have was he working on what kind of aspect was he working on yeah he he uh uh when he branched out uh and started um in the small business uh kind of Journey um he started with a tough a toughy automotive uh he was like a franchisee back in the 90s and then um it was just general purpose automotive repair um you know a lot of it was uh you know just to you know consumer vehicles uh there’s some you know business to business type of of uh of work there too but um yeah he at one point had three different centers going and then um uh you know since since this is all um grown uh his his final shop actually was all converted over to manufacturing of the cat strap so um that’s uh that’s which is where we are now so um yeah it’s it’s a nice large facility here um and uh um but yeah that’s that’s kind of where we got got our starts so I assume you had a customer you mentioned he was trying

to find solutions for customers um so you were seeing some theft back in 2010 um yeah yeah probably like 2012 I think is when that happened um but yeah it was a local uh here in Toledo Ohio which is where we’re located um as someone was out to get this uh this small small business they they were um drilling holes in their gas tanks and uh and wiped out all their computers overnight and um I think it happened you know a couple of times and then the was it like it was kind of desperate uh it was it was a small like delivery Fleet um maybe like Tony trucks I guess it was a small business and someone was targeting I’m stealing their cats it’s not like they were maybe not doing it for the value of the cat maybe they were doing it to be who knows I mean back then I don’t think there was a ton of value of the gas tanks too um right and there absolutely was still value there it’s just kind of was still in like a secret you know and like the cat’s out of the

bag really right like everybody knows about them everyone that knows about catalytic converters their first thought is theft I believe I think that’s their first thought a guy like me at the point you know with the recycling background I think about recycling I think about the legitimate people that get them from a day-to-day business from like a shop they had to replace one or something you know like a tow company picked up a totaled car the insurance company signs off on it so they scrap it and they’re gonna either have their local recycler cut the cap for them or they’ll cut it themselves there’s so many legitimate Avenues to recycle them but obviously the bad players out there the the thieves are are being opportunistic and they’re learning which one’s the target they’re learning how to do it I mean they can do it in under two minutes if they’re set up right and your product can you kind of go into what was the first prototype did you your dad make it or did you make it or you guys kind of both work on it yeah uh I’ll give I’ll

give credit to him he he came up with the first uh kind of you know prototype and it looked a lot different than what it is today but um you know the very first one was basically just uh this um uh band of fiberglass and he was um getting hardened steel pins he was actually hardening them himself with like a blow to torch here um and just uh you know kind of doing like an at-home metal annealing process of uh of hardening it um and then uh they were using some like JB Weld type Muffler cement adhesive to you know put these steel pins um on either side of the converter body on that first batch uh which was possible because um he knew what type of vehicle it was you know it was like some amount of like just like a custom uh you know internal job for for that customer um and then I think I think the purpose of that um the the fiberglass kind of material that went over top of it uh was kind of just to uh hide those hardened steel pens so so the thief wouldn’t

really know that they were there you know how to how to approach it just that it they would just know that hey my Sawzall blade’s not getting through this exhaust pipe as as quickly as I’m normally doing it um and so yeah that was like you know prototype 1.0 um and then we knew that in order to to actually do something that you could Market to a broader you know a broader base with lots of different types of vehicles um that you know the universal feature of it would would take some brainstorming and figuring out how to you know make it flexible as opposed to these you know uh half inch uh you know rigid steel pins basically and so from there we got into the the aircraft grade you know steel cables which give gives sawzalls a heck of a time especially when they’re moving around um and then uh fast forward to today we’re kind of using a combination of metals um with the the strategy being that you know any any one cutting tool isn’t good at cutting all different types of metals and having multiple layers of metals that

are um kind of have freedom of movement on top of each other just makes it really difficult for you know um we do think of it you know in large part um in terms of a Sawzall being the you know the the weapon of choice here I mean it’s got to be I mean that’s me making assumptions but from what I see and who I talk to it’s a Sawzall um you know a small fraction a die grinder and I mean I’ve heard everything I’ve heard uh guys attaching chains onto the exhaust and uh pulling it out with the truck and um I mean this is a deterrent we’re not you’re never getting like any security device isn’t gonna give you a hundred percent you know secure aspect of it like even a home security device you know but you know you can still break into that home with the security device but that you know that alarm where you know like the cops are coming you know that can get you on this one they know oh I’m gonna have to spend an extra 10-15 minutes under there you know or whatever

that time is it could be longer yeah I think the the threat of getting arrested the deter you know um and that’s where we have been you know preaching to everyone like this is a deterrent I’m not saying you can’t cut through it but it’s a whole lot harder to cut through this than what you got it’s better than nothing you know and and in my it is yeah the best Universal thing out there and I mean granted there’s there’s the cage guys the guy’s building the cages around him do you did you guys ever think of going that route the cage aspect you know the shield aspect like um flat metal Shields are um the huge you know drawback is that you have to make them custom for every vehicle out there which is really tough to do and there’s a place yeah it’s expensive and there’s a place for it but um you know where we saw that you know in terms of offering a solution for people um there was you know really limited Universal options um and still you know we’re one of the two basically that are um you

know semi-universal today um and yeah cable cages can work well there’s some vulnerabilities there because those cables have to be fixed somewhere and um wherever you do fix them um that is a point of um I guess a weakness you know anywhere that those cables aren’t aren’t free to move it it makes it easier to cut just like um you know trying to cut a a piece of string that’s you know loose with scissors is hard and what do you do you pull it tight and yeah make it so you snip through so it’s kind of the same principles there um but uh yeah I think um you know that where we’re at now we’re we’re we feel really good about it from a product standpoint um being confident that um there’s a a really really high probability that once this is installed um there’s not going to be a successful theft afterwards um and to your point too I mean it is a deterrent we would never want to use the word um you know uncuttable um you know in a definite sense I mean a guy with a die grinder could

disassemble an entire car if you know unlimited time and um and and ear ration but for all intents and purposes you know we’re we’re making a a thief’s life so much more difficult than just going after something that’s um you know unprotected which let’s say is it probably you know 99 of cars still are today um and so you know for that reason alone makes it so likely that they’re just gonna move on but if they do want to go after it they’re going to have a heck of a lot of work to to try to get this off so um so yeah from a you know product standpoint we’ve you know in a pretty strong place and and uh we you know comfortable um you know um giving people some assurance that this really is gonna work yeah and we’re gonna I know you talked about it last time we were on the phone but um we plan to do some tests of we want to find two identical cars yeah we want to do a test with it and without it and I’ve seen some tests out there but they’re throwing them

on a lift let’s comparing apples to oranges man like yeah a guy on his back look at that guy on her back with this this much space you know it’s not gonna be easy man especially when you throw in those moving cables when you throw in that you know there’s just I firmly believe that they see it they move on you know now the shitty part about that they go to your neighbor you know but you know at least you’re covering you’re covering your own um and it’s a complicated issue um for everyone out there they should know where recycler converters that’s how we got into this game and then we inevitably we’ve been looking for a good form of the type of partnership on the theft deterrent because we know how important that is and like we want to we are trying to actively pass legislation here in Idaho to make it harder to sell converters for thieves you know we want to keep Avenues open for legit businesses because the amount of Cat Skin stolen is it’s high but the amount of cats recycled legitimately is a much higher so there’s a

room for both I mean you gotta have both Avenues open and we’ve we’re still fairly new on selling them we’ve sold them to a few fleets in California they’ve ordered multiple times from us so that means to me they like the product you know on the people that put it on seem to really like it we are continuing to work to get it out there to communicate properly what it does because you know this as well as me like we post something on social media and everyone just says oh that thing I can cut right through that I’m like well like from looking at a picture a lot of people think it’s just the fiberglass wrap you know yeah right there’s more to it you know so we’re trying to communicate like what’s inside of it and what it does exactly just trying to educate people and give people choices man like that that sucks if you went out and your car got the cat stolen you know if you put another one yeah yeah yeah talk to lots of lots of angry people every day who just can’t even believe it happened to

them um and so yeah yeah a lot of we’re putting them all on all our vehicles here so we can help protect our own vehicles and it’s just we we brought it to SEMA with us you met us there we brought up these are people that work on cars every day for a living these people own shops for a living 99 of the people absolutely love the product I wish we would have been set up at the time to sell them on the spot because I would have sold 200 of them um maybe next year we’ll be ready to do that that’s right I told me this product’s good the people that work on cars they’re car people they’re passionate about it they loved it uh people that maybe aren’t car people they just don’t understand exactly the functionality of it and I think until they get a cat stolen too they might not really care you know and unfortunately I think the preventative measures are going to be huge I think you know I’ve been talking to a few like used car dealerships you know about them just throwing them on there or

maybe adding it to the package like hey we’ll throw in this anti-theft cat device you know for you before you drive it off the lot for an extra x amount of dollars however much money they want to do to install it you know and I think yeah huge you know on the used car sales manufacturing level even I don’t know I think there’s just so many Avenues and I mean like any product go ahead um I I think it’s just been it’s been a a cumulative kind of nuisance especially for business owners where um it’s not necessarily that they’re they’re getting wiped out you know every every month even but if it happens a few times a year or heck even once or twice a year um you know they’re they’re still looking at you know the the cost of their vehicles being out of service a dealer you know potentially has tens of thousands of dollars of inventory that’s unsellable um while they’re waiting for you know the converter supply chain to come through um so you’re waiting for parts um yeah if you’re uh if those are you know service-based

vehicles um for example like a landscaping company or HVAC repair um I mean that’s a ton of cash aside from just the the cost of getting the vehicle um you know prepared that you know they’re they’re um lost revenue on on being able to yeah um that’s a good deal look at it um that’s a great point a lot of folks we talk to that’s the biggest thing is like man like of course the repair Bill sucks but um it’s our you know time out of service of our of our Fleet that we can’t predict and um you know completely you know changes their their scheduling projections and everything and so um yeah you know I think this is the the problem itself has been occurring for um long enough time now like you know I guess the last three years things really picked up in terms of um converter theft and um you know people are starting to say okay like I really understand the the proactive you know benefits of of doing this um because they either either tap into them or um they know someone that has happened to and uh

I think the calculations are starting to get a little more clear that hey this you know it’s not going away it’s it’s an annoyance it’s a nuisance it’s lost revenue and um you know if we can do something where we know exactly what the cost is to protect these things and we don’t have to worry about it again um it’s becoming a little easier decision so um I think you know I see that um you know a lot of the the business growing in in that direction um you know in 2023 and and forward but uh it’ll be interesting to see what happens you know with um the the thefts and everything um and I kind of feel like there’s this generation of criminals now who have just kind of learned the the trade of converter theft you know unfortunately but um it’s uh it doesn’t seem to be going away and so we’re obviously you know want to want to get our our um our names out there and you guys are an awesome partner in helping to do that and so um you know we’re we’re looking forward to helping more people

prevent this yeah it’s not going to happen overnight but the more Vehicles we can get this on the more fleets the more businesses that buy into it like the word will get out to thieves like well like like it’s not as easy as it used to be you know and they’re not gonna quit being thieves unfortunately they’re just going to go steal Nikes you know they’re going to go right that’s still something else yeah and then we’ll have to Pivot and figure out what else needs to be right here I know there’s some federal legislation trying to go through um I’m not sure if they’re trying to push it through this year but I’ve heard Rumblings about some federal legislation like actually making the manufacturer stamp VIN numbers on the converters I think that would be huge but by the time that goes through that’s gonna be two three years down the road you know by most of those cats start getting really recycled legitimately there’ll be another three four years and then I mean but it could really help that part of it but it’s going to be a combination of anti-theft

devices like the cat strap uh better buying practices by recycling the recycling community better communication between um the police and recyclers um I think there’s some that could be improved tremendously we’re actively trying to do that in our neck of the woods and we’re actively trying to be murder reclaims and is remembered we’re trying to con help the recycling communities communities develop those better systems so we have one kind of uniform system where it really helps but it’s really going to be a combination of all of it to help slow this down you know and part of it maybe the you know the anti-theft and then also some ways to prosecute the guys you know so I think uh those are two deterrents that are different but the one that I think could happen sooner than later is putting a strap on your car so you don’t go out there and it sounds like you know you know this sounds god-awful and doesn’t work like a Harley yeah it sounds like a Harley uh anyway we’ll put some links on there anything else to share from the cat strap World anything you

guys are working on any just trying to push it out out to more people yeah yeah we’re uh you know obviously always going to continue to improve power tools get better every year so that means the deterrence will have to as well um but yeah we’re playing around with some kind of uh um new product ideas as well we get a lot of get a lot of people who ask if you know um is there anything you can do on there to like a little Revenge aspects and exploding blue dye something along those lines and things and uh yeah hopefully can can share some stuff soon but um no onwards and upwards from here I I’ve heard a lot of feedback where uh people want to run electricity through them so I would electrocuted I don’t think we’re gonna need some good lawyers for that but yeah to do that but that’s a lot of feeding my God I know most the comments are like jokingly joking right at least I hope they are you know but uh uh it’s a lot of keyboard Warriors out there but there’s a ton of tough guys

when they are behind the keyboard you know and they don’t know but I understand the frustration too I try to be compassionate about keyboard Warriors they’re that vocal because people are pissed like people are just fed up and rightfully so right they want to blame someone and it uh recyclers and easy target to blame but yeah but we’re trying our part to make it better I appreciate your time Dave I’m gonna come likewise I’m gonna check out your uh maybe we’ll do another one of these where we could do a tour of your facility oh that’d be cool yeah we’ll do a follow-up even like are you going to be in Ohio next week uh the the following yeah let’s do it in two weeks we call that portion boots on the ground I usually yeah person for that but we’ll do a a zoom boots on the ground where you can give us a quick tour of your facility yeah that’d be great we should we’re we’re uh we’ve just endured a snowstorm here and so um today actually like half of our staff didn’t make it in because they’re kind of

far away and stuff so we should be full full speed though uh next time so it’ll it’ll be good to show all right well thank you Dave um we’ll get this up here soon thanks everybody awesome thanks Nick