Tired of Corporate? Here's What Happened When He Left

What does it take to go from corporate stability to building something entirely new? In this Season 3 episode of Building Leadership Community, Coach Dora Mendez sits down with entrepreneur and inventor Todd Hanson, founder of Compass Carts, to explore innovation, perseverance, and purpose-driven leadership.

Todd shares how a hunting trip sparked the idea that became a patented product, why honest feedback matters, and how community helps you stay grounded while you grow. If you’ve been sitting on an idea or navigating a career pivot, this episode will encourage you to take the next step.

Subscribe, share this episode, and remember: leadership doesn’t have to be lonely.

Timestamps / Chapters

00:01:55 Welcome + episode theme

00:02:36 Corporate-to-entrepreneur journey

00:05:09 Meet Todd Hanson + Compass Carts

00:05:41 The moment that sparked the invention

00:06:32 19 prototypes + product launch

00:11:41 Why community + feedback matters

00:14:22 Start before you know everything

00:15:10 Move with imperfect action

00:16:13 SWOT analysis + adapting to uncertainty

00:17:48 Improvise, adapt, overcome

00:18:50 Trade shows + evolving customer needs

00:22:20 Closing + where to follow

Key Themes + Takeaways

• Innovation begins when you refuse to accept the status quo
• You don’t have to know everything to start
• Community creates space for honest feedback and growth
• Persistence beats perfection: 19 prototypes
• Adaptability matters when external changes show up

Guest Credentials

Todd Hanson is an entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of Compass Carts (Rochester, Minnesota). He spent over 21 years in business development at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage before launching his product in November 2023.

Connect with Todd Hanson and Compass Carts.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddhanson1

Compass Carts Official Site :https://compasscarts.com/

Start your own podcast: The Entrepreneur’s Podcast Blueprint: https://bit.ly/46gso9B

 If this episode helped you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone building their next chapter.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, and welcome to Building Leadership Community. I'm your host, Coach Dora. In today's pre-recorded episode of Building Leadership Community, Minnesotan Tom Hansen explores perseverance when confronting obstacles in entrepreneurship, innovation, and invention. Before we start today's episode, I need to address what's happening in Minnesota right now. Minneapolis has become ground zero for the criminalization of peaceful protests. Cell phone video witnesses are facing arrest for documenting what's happening. We've lost Renee Good and Alex Paretti, who become martyrs for bearing witness. Leadership isn't just about what we do when things are comfortable, it's about what we do when our values are tested. This is not abstract. This is happening now to real people. I can't teach about courage and moral clarity while staying silent. So here's what I'm asking. First, educate yourself about what's actually happening in Minnesota. Second, have conversations. Don't let this moment pass in silence. Third, if you're able, support the people on the ground. I'm sharing a Stan with Minnesota Donation Directory. It's a vetted resource with organizations providing legal support, bail funds, and medical assistance. The link is in the show notes. Listen with Minnesota in mind. Then take action. Check out the donation directory, StanwithMinnesota.com. Share it, show up. Now on to the show. Welcome back, amazing leaders, to another incredible episode of season three of the Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Coach Dora Mendes. Today we're diving into a conversation about innovation, perseverance, and the entrepreneurial journey from corporate America to creating something entirely new. Our guest took 21 years of business development expertise, combined it with a moment of frustration in the wilderness, and turned it into a patented solution that is now gaining national and international attention. From 19 prototypes to trade shows across the country, his story is a masterclass in problem solving, persistence, and purpose-driven leadership. Our season three guest is entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of Compass Cards LLC, Todd Hansen. By the end of this conversation, you will walk away with insights on how to turn obstacles into opportunities, the courage to pivot from stability to startup life, and a powerful reminder that innovation begins when you refuse to accept the status quo. This episode is a reminder to build boldly, strategically, and with the conviction that your idea matters. So settle in, take a breath, and get ready for our incredible guest. Hello, and welcome to Building Leadership Community Underpendence. I'm your host, Dora Mendes. I'm the founder and CEO of Coach Dora LLC, our principal leading entrepreneurs, my business independent, and community leaders that drive social independence. It can be lonely in the community, but it doesn't have to be. Hello. I am so thrilled that you come back week after week to join us for these conversations on season three of Building Leadership Community Podcast. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be. That's exactly why we started this podcast. If you are new to Building Leadership Community, we are so glad you are here. Please like, share, and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Say hi in the comments. Uh reread every single one and we respond to every single one. When we have some great resources, we love to share them. So today we're sharing what you've been thinking about. One of our most uh FAQs, frequently asked questions. Have you been starting or thinking about starting your own podcast? Check out our mini course, The Entrepreneurs Podcast Blueprint. I've partnered with my husband and co-producer Dylan Rogers to create five easy-to-follow video modules along with a workbook that you can download and follow along at your own pace. And yes, get a very handy AI prompt sheet that will make getting your episode out there into the world a breeze. The link is in the description. Season three is rolling along with more powerful conversations. So let's get to it. Let me tell you about our guest, Todd Hansen. He is the president and founder of Compass Carts, a Rochester, Minnesota-based company specializing in innovative utility carts. But his journey to entrepreneurship is what makes his story so compelling. After spending over 21 years in business development at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Todd experienced a pivotal moment during a challenging hunting trip in Whitewater State Park at the end of 2018. That frustration sparked an idea. And Todd didn't just complain about the problem. He solved it. He invented the patented compass cart, an aluminum utility cart that attaches to any two-inch vehicle receiver hitch, making it easy to load and unload gear for outdoor activities like hunting, camping, fishing, biking, and boating. After developing 19 prototypes, yes, you heard that right. 19, Todd launched the product in November of 2023. Since then, the campus cart has gained traction at US trade shows with growing interest in Canada and Europe. Todd also combines his entrepreneurial spirit with a deep commitment to supporting military veterans through partnerships like Camp Southern Ground. Today, Todd is here to share his leadership journey, his lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, the mindset it takes to go from idea to impact. Season three continues right now, and we can't ask for a more inspiring entrepreneur to join us than the innovative Todd Hansen. Let's bring him to the stage. Hi, Todd, welcome. Dora, hi, glad to be here. This is exciting. I'm excited too because I just I love your story. And I guess I want to share with the audience really quickly before I turn over the proverbial mic to you, that um the way we got connected through was your assistant, right? Found me, found our little show, and uh we met right away. We hit it off. I love everything that you're doing. I myself um just am a new entrepreneur. Uh I started a coach door about almost it's gonna be two years, almost two years. And so um I feel such a kinship with you in so many levels. My father was in the military, may he rest in peace, for 32 years. Um I just feel such a such a kinship with you and what you're doing, and I would love for you to share your unique, you know, leadership story. Um, how you went from Wells Fargo to inventor and entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Thank you. Yeah, it's but it was quite a journey. It was um, I'm sure many of your listeners have probably seen the show Shark Tank and you know, watching all the pitches and stuff. And you know, that was really a inspiration for me to um to take action, right? Many of us have an idea. And a simple, a simple idea would be wouldn't it be great if if you've ever said that, you're probably on your way to either finding the product or maybe creating one yourself. And that's kind of how Compass Curts got started. We uh, like you mentioned, we found a found a problem that we were having when we were out in the in the woods and we came up with uh an idea and just said, hey, let's let's go for it.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

It's funny you mentioned uh Shark Tank, because as I was reading your bio, all I all I kept saying was, oh my god, this would make a great Shark Tank episode. But I'm glad you're here. I was like, I'm glad you're here with us. I'm glad you're here with us. And I hope I said so, and um, you know, if folks who follow me and listen to the show, they know how obsessed I am with popular culture. So when you uh mentioned Shark Tank, that's exactly what I was thinking. So um I just could you just share just a little bit more about how, you know, like when I mean obviously you had a something happened, right? So can you kind of tell us your like um origin story? Like, what's the gen, what was the real genesis for compass carts?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

So um we had this uh a game cart that we'd bring into the woods for either hauling our gear in or with any kind of Luxem game back out. And um when we got back to the vehicle, we'd always have a rack. You've probably seen them uh with you know SUVs and trucks with this little rack on the back of your vehicle hauling, you know, coolers and totes and all kinds of stuff. And uh so that's what we had as well. And my thought was why can't that cart and that rack be one and the same? So after, like you mentioned, 19 different iterations of figuring out how it would work smoothly, um, we made it so that you can simply leave all your gear, all your cooler, your stuff right in your cart. And when you get back to your vehicle, you just slide it right on, like loading a boat on a trailer, and and uh it lifts off the ground, so you're not trailering it on your vehicle. Um, but that was the that was the inspiration for it. And then it kind of blew up from there, you know. We customers are asking for different things, like you know, the ability to tow it behind uh an ATV or garden tractor or a bike, and you know, so we're continuing to evolve based on our customer needs. But that's that's how we started, and uh it's uh having a look back, it's been fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

That's amazing. I I'm uh I I'm you know, you are our first event inventor on the show, so I love this. So we always try to bring our listeners and our audience, you know, new things, but something that we always go back to, and something that I I find um, you know, one of the themes of the show is that sometimes it could be lonely, like you really put yourself out there, you took a risk. So can you share with our listeners and viewers what community means to you?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah, it's it's huge. Um, especially as an inventor or you know, anybody launching a new business. It's um it's good to have a team around you. And um, you know, getting, you know, getting negative feedback is is good, right? So I've I've gotten feedback and it makes you pause and think. So like the group around me, I've had everything from you know, successful business um, you know, family members that have been in business to you know working with my patent attorney to you know the small business development, um, you know, local organizations. I tell you what, there's there's help out there. You have to go out and you know and find it. But there's there's definitely help. And and I leverage them all the time. I'm six years into compass carts now, and it's it's common you know, weekly that I'm reaching out to somebody to get some some feedback. Even today, I was you know, contacting one of my manufacturers to get some assistance on a design. So it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So community for you means a safe space to get feedback. Um for me, yeah. That's what it is for you. So you kind of have your unofficial board of directors at that you reach out to to get feedback. And for you, the feedback can be negative, positive, just you just need the commute, you need a community that give you some feedback. So you're not working in a vacuum. Is that is that do I have it right there?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

You do, you do. And there's there's multiple different types of uh community, right? So communities can be solving a problem, but somebody, some of the community could be just you know bouncing ideas off of. And that's that's hard when you're you know a solo entrepreneur like yourself, Dora, where you want to come up with an idea and you want to be able to, you know, ask others about you know what what you're planning on doing and getting some feedback maybe before you launch. And that and having those trusted community around you that will give you honest feedback. Uh, a lot of people will give you encouragement, and but what you need is the honest ones. You need you need both the positive and you need the negative too.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

I I like that. So, yes, you're right. All right, feed that's what feedback is, right? It's kind of neutral, negative and positive. You want to hear, you want to hear it all, or else you can't make decisions. Um and so what I would love for you to share, um, I would love for you to share with our listeners and our viewers um what advice, um, what wits, what wisdom would you like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs? Maybe something you might have told your younger self.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

You know, uh it's funny you asked that question because I was just thinking about this the other day. And the number one piece of advice I can give somebody that's got an idea, whether it's you know, launching a business or you know, launching a podcast, like you mentioned, Dara, uh, or inventing a product, is you have to start before you know everything because you'll never know everything. Things change and you're always you're always, always learning. So don't don't wait till you know everything, because that then the day will never come. Yeah, get enough to where you're you're comfortable getting started. And once you get started, you know, go for it.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Just I love that. I love that. So I that sounds like some this uh similar advice my business coach gave me, which is you know, I'm a coach, I have coaches. Um so um and and it's move with imperfect action. Yes. Because if you wait till if you wait till everything is perfect, you'll you'll never go, like right? Like perfect is the end, you know, you'll never get going. So I love when you say you can't know everything, you've gotta, or else if you wait till you know everything, you won't we'll just be sitting there.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah, because as soon as you think you got something figured out, you're gonna get hit with, you know, a regulation or you know, um, you know, something's gonna happen outside your control, and you just have to learn to to figure out what that is and how does that impact you, and then you know, kind of roll with it. You know, some you know, things that that have been a challenge for me lately is just you know dealing with things like tariffs. You know, those are those have been a that's been a challenge for an entrepreneur. Um, you know, importing and exporting regulations, you know, those kinds of things are uh are you know things you don't well I didn't plan on any of that when I first started. You know, I wasn't I didn't think that far out, but it doesn't take long to work.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

But even if you did, even if you were thinking about long-term, there's no way you couldn't you could have known, you know, there's so many external things. So, you know, I teach at a at a local college here, and we use this technique called SWOT analysis, yes, um, strength, weakness, opportunities, threats. And um the O and the the O and the T are things that are really beyond your control. You have to be ready for when opportunity strikes, and you also have to be ready for when when there are threats. Like opportunities and threats are sort of considered in the same category where you have to be flexible and adaptable and continuously learn so that when opportunity strikes, you know how to, you know how to uh take advantage of it. And then when threats happen, you know how to protect yourself or navigate through it. And there's always gonna be, there are always gonna be opportunities, there are always gonna be threats, and there's no no matter how much you plan, no matter how much far out you plan, there's no way you can you can predict predict those things. So I just love I thank you for uh lifting that up. Um because it whether you're an entrepreneur or a big corporation, there are always going to be things outside of your control. And it's just your attitude and the lens by which you um approach, approach problem solving that's gonna help you either take advantage of the opportunity or get through the threat.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Right. Well, look at the military. Whether it's you know, going back to your father, it's really what is it? It's improvise, adapt, and overcome. Is that what that is? Yeah. And that's that's entrepreneur right there. You're always gonna have to, you're gonna always have to roll with changes. And um, and this is where like your your message, you know, finding that community around you that you know you can bounce ideas off of. And some of my best um sounding boards are other small businesses that I work with on a regular basis. And and uh we've become quite quite good friends with uh a number of them, and it's fun. It's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Well, Todd, so I'd love to leave the space open to you. Um, what would you like to share about your business, what you're doing now? What um what offerings would you like uh our audience and listeners um to take away from this conversation about you, your product, your your business? I'd love for you to share.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

No, thank you very much. Yeah, so compass carts is uh we're evolving, we're growing. Um we've had uh recently we just did a uh trade show at uh Las Vegas, so that's really boosted our um not only stateside um exposure, but international as well, and um met some fantastic people and opportunities at the show. So when I when I talk about compass cards, the the hard part uh like on a podcast like this is understanding when I say what compass carts does, it's hard to visualize it. So for those of you that are wondering, okay, what is compass cards? What does it do? You know, who would it be good for, whether it's myself or someone in my family, you want to go to like compasscarts.com and you can actually see how it works and how it slides from you know a cart onto your vehicle with a with a mated receiver hitch rack. But then we're growing. And um, so Dora, one of the things that I have heard so much lately that um customers are looking for a way to haul uh larger dogs behind like a bike or take them down to the beach or when they're doing their bike trails and stuff. So they want a kennel system for it because we're one of the larger um carrier systems that can actually be towed behind a bicycle, and uh so that's been an uh interesting revolution in um a purpose for compass carts that I never even thought of that our customers uh are telling us about. So you you really just you gotta listen to your customers, and that's uh I'm just excited. I just you well, you know, we can talk about compass carts all day.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, but you know what's great about that, Todd, it is really an environmentally friendly way, too. If you're talking about cycles, bicycles. So, like I I bet you didn't even think like you were gonna be doing something that's like very environmentally friendly, you know. So that's like a really when you talk about sustainable, it's not just a trend, like people are really, really wanting tools that are gonna go with their bicycles that are you know low fuel. So this is also a a potential way for you to contribute to that sustainability sustainability with respect to the environment, even though that might not have even been on your radar.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

It wasn't. No, there was that wasn't um it wasn't a thought. You know, I've I've it'd be interesting someday I'll have to show you, Dora, my my list of ideas, and you know, when you're brainstorming the idea, the all the crazy things. And I didn't, I didn't, I mean, I left everything in there. It's it's I just let it go wild when I started designing and thinking about what compass carts could do.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

So I have to tell you, Todd, like the stereotype of the inventor that I have in my head. Um, this this I'm aging myself is you know, Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Christopher Lloyd, like with all those trinkets and all those crazy things, and like the what's what do they call that machine that uh the Goldberg machine that does so like that's kind of like the stereotype in my head, like when I think of inventor, but really what an inventor is is a problem solver. Really? Someone who solves a problem and figures out how to solve a problem. And that's what you continue to do with campus carts. That's what you do, listening to your customers. And I'm uh we're oh we're thrilled. We're just over the moon that you came and shared your your story with uh with us. Um I just can see I can now I can say I knew you win because when you're big when you're big time and you're on Oprah's favorite things, um, don't forget to make sure that you know us here on our little show gets uh gets a sample. But yeah, it's just wonderful what you're doing. I want to thank you for being here. And um I want uh folks to remember to like, share, and subscribe so you can continue to get great content. And I'm gonna ask you, Todd, to hold on one moment and uh thank you again for being here.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

My pleasure. Thank you for having me. It was uh it's it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

You've been listening to Building Leadership Community. Watch on YouTube at Coach Dora M. Listen wherever you get your podcast. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube at Coach Dora M. Visit me on the web at CoachDoraMendez.com. Hosted by me, Dora Mendez. Produced by Dora Mendez and Dylan Rogers. Graphics, editing, and sound mixing by Dylan Rogers.