Brian Beckstead is the Co-founder of Altra Shoes. He is also a long distance runner, fly fisherman and outdoorsman. While working as a running store employee, he and the other co founder started modifying shoes to help with their customers running injuries. After pitching their innovative approach to many shoe companies and getting nowhere, they decided to form a company to produce them on their own. Now 9 years later Altra is a major brand in the space. In this interview Brian talks very candidly about managing the rapid growth of Altra, and the struggle of trying to maintain a good life/work balance. It is a discussion that will resonate with a lot of entrepreneurs.