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courtesy of Seniq
When Valentina Thompson and Madison Hilson look outside their windows in Columbus, Ohio, they’re surrounded by a whole lot of flat land. But the smooth terrain hasn’t stopped them from building Seniq, their hiking apparel company made for the mountains.
Pronounced “scenic,” the Under 30 Local: Columbus listers launched the startup in 2023 after years of working at some of the biggest retailers in the country—like Outdoor Voices and Victoria’s Secret. But when Thompson and Hilson moved to Utah in 2021 and 2022, respectively, they came face to face with the growing industry of extreme sports apparel for activities like hiking, skiing and climbing.
“Fully immersing ourselves into the outdoor world and culture of Salt Lake City and Park City, the product opportunity was just so painfully obvious for us,” Thompson said. In a community so focused on performance gear, there was a surprising lack of quality—and stylish—womenswear.
It started with a sketch for their now best-selling “Trailmix Cargo Pant,” which they created because, like many women, they couldn’t find a pair of pants that fit both their waist and their butt comfortably. This first product helped shape their whole ethos: They wanted to meld the technicality and durability of legacy brands like Arcteryx and Patagonia with the trendiness and careful edit they saw in indie lines. They now sell a range of products from $448 ski jackets to $118 hiking cargo shorts and $48 tanks.
“We literally got a business plan template from Canva and started writing down all of our ideas and really took a couple of weeks to flesh out our strategies, our roadmap, how we were going to execute,” said Hilson. “We came to the conclusion that the next step was finding design help.”
They moved back home because they figured they’d need the family support, set up shop in their parents’ basements-turned-distribution centers, and used finances from a round of friends and family funding to hire their head designer.
“Since product was the No. 1 focus, our most important relationship we knew would be our manufacturer. So we had a list of 10 of the best manufacturers that either us or our head of design had worked with, or who we knew other great brands had worked with,” Thompson said. “We basically sent a collection pitch to each of these manufacturers, and only three responded.” But three was more than nothing, and they started “interview-dating” the manufacturers to see who would be the best fit. They landed on a full-service vendor based in China and started placing orders from there. (They’ve since begun to diversify where their products are made—a process they intended to prioritize eventually, but was expedited by concerns around President Donald Trump’s tariffs.)
Initially launched direct-to-consumer, Seniq is now also available at more than 16 retailers (25 storefronts) including REI, Backcountry and Evo. In 2024, they brought in more than $330,000 and are on track to surpass the million-dollar mark in 2025.
Many might question the idea of building an outdoors brand away from the Pacific Northwest, or mountainous regions in general: “It would be a dream come true if we could product-test right out of our back door. That is something that does take travel time to go and actually product-test,” Thompson said. And, in turn, creating content can also be difficult.
But there are more pros than cons to building in the Midwest, they said. For instance, they find Columbus to be one of the best places in the country to grow a retail startup due to the network that surrounds them. For example, it’s the home of headquarters for Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret, among others.
“The community of retail professionals here is unmatched to any other city,” Hilson said. The two say that Jeni Britton, the founder of local ice creamery Jeni’s Ice Cream, is one of their biggest mentors. And they shoot all of their ecommerce content at a creative editorial studio founded by a former Express executive. “We have so many retail executives to lean on from every function: finance, marketing, merchandising, operations,” Thompson said.
As for what’s next, they’re continuing to expand beyond their Ohio roots. They have in-person community activations planned across the country this July, are currently finalizing their ski and fall hike collections, and have more wholesale partnerships expected to launch this winter.
“There’s more women forward outdoor brands launching than ever and all different aesthetics, different missions and goals, and there’s so much space for so much newness,” said Thompson. Hilson jumped in: “And we do think there is room for all of us.”
Want to meet more Columbus entrepreneurs? Our annual 30 Under 30 Summit is coming up in the Ohio state capital. Register for your ticket here.
Talk next week,
Alex, Zoya & Alexandra
How This $100 Million Popsicle Business Licks the Competition
JonnyPops
JonnyPops may just be the hottest, or perhaps coolest, treat in frozen aisles this summer. What started with freezing “smoothies-on-a-stick” in the basement of a St. Olaf college dorm is now what Forbes estimates to be a $100 million business. The popsicle entrepreneurs and 2018 Under 30 food & drink alums, Erik Brust and Connor Wray, are redefining the sweet treat market. With natural ingredients and rich flavors, children and adults alike are flocking to JonnyPops this summer. Their Unicorn popsicle may be an element of subtle foreshadowing for the rapidly growing company. Read more about Erik Brust and Connor Wray here.
Lister Lowdown
-Tyler Haney, under 30 alum and founder of retail company Outdoor Voices, announced this week an $11 million Series A for her second startup, TYB. It stands for “try your best,” and it’s a web 3 consumer loyalty platform that connects brands with engaged consumers through features like badges and discounts as rewards to posting online, submitting reviews, or other actions. Clients include Rare Beauty and Glossier.
-Is $14.8 billion worth the end of your company? That’s the question Scale AI, cofounded by Lucy Guo and Alexander Wang, might be asking today. Founded by the 30 Under 30 enterprise technology alums in 2016, it was announced this week that Meta plans to acquire a 49% stake in Scale. With the nearly $15 billion deal, Wang will take on a new role at Meta to lead AI strategy (Guo is no longer part of the company). But some believe this is the beginning of the end: One former Scale staffer says clients (which include Google and Open AI) will “want to cut Scale off now” if it’s half owned by Zuckerberg’s empire.
-This week, Under 30s made up a large chunk of AdAge’s “23 rising voices reshaping marketing at Cannes Lions 2025.” They include Bita Jedo, global celebrity and influencer lead at Bumble; creator and brand consultant Robyn DelMonte, creator and podcast host Jake Shane, the brains behind Duolingo’s social media strategy (and owl) Zaria Parvez, and more.
On Our Radar
-The internet erupted last week when Tesla CEO Elon Musk condemned the Trump Administration in a series of X posts with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the center of the controversy. The bill passed the House of Representatives last month, but is still awaiting action from the Senate. What does this news mean for student loan borrowers? The package could set borrowing limits and increase penalties for payments in default. (CNBC)
-Looking to splurge before your next paycheck? Apparently so is everyone else. BNPL (buy now, pay later) services, allowing shoppers to pay for a product in installments, are becoming increasingly popular for Gen Z and Millennial consumers. Although companies like Afterpay and Klarna market the installments as interest-free loans, there is a growing number of users falling behind on payments. Remember to be mindful about your transactions. (PBS)
-Google has dealt a crushing blow to top publishers—again. The integration of generative AI into their search engine models is depleting organic traffic to media sites worldwide. Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini features, which offer quick and easy summaries of the top headlines and the most complex of searches, are rapidly replacing traditional search—and even social media’s role as an alternate information source. Some media companies are fighting legal battles with AI startups for copyright infringement, arguing that the infiltration of click-free answers is a serious threat to what has become a modern business model for journalism. (Wall Street Journal).
