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
