Many Tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Galen Bradford.

Galen has an extensive background in tech, brand building, manufacturing, and e-commerce. Over the past 15 years, he was the founder of Rustic Kitchen and Bath, managing director of The Range Hood Store, and founder of multiple mobile software companies. Galen was also a key pioneer in drop-shipping large appliances and building ZLINE Kitchen from $6 million to $300+ million in sales in his tenure as managing director of staff and CMO/COO. He is mission driven to usher in the next generation of electric appliances to the indoors and outdoors.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

Conservation and the outdoors have always been core drivers for me. When I was young, I cut my teeth as a backpacking guide, musician, ski patroller, and mountaineer. I still enjoy all of those today, just not as a source of income.

After graduating from University of California, Davis in the middle of the 2008 recession, I couldn’t land an interview anywhere beyond waiting tables at The Cheesecake Factory. I had to beg the GM just to get a shot, with hundreds of people competing for the same server role. I got the job, and during that time, I taught myself how to build iPhone apps.

In 2009, I started my first company in iOS development. We began with finance apps, then pivoted into children’s educational music apps. A few of those became major hits, with more than 3 million downloads, and we were featured as a top five kids music app company.

Those early experiences, mostly trial and error and not being able to find a job after college, pushed me toward entrepreneurship at a young age. They also shaped how I think about going after ideas and building something, even when the path isn’t clear.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

While writing my first book over 10 years ago, a skiing guidebook, I was looking for a short summer job to improve my photography and videography for the business I was building around it. Living in Lake Tahoe and waiting for the next ski season, I took a job in Reno photographing range hoods for a small company that sold kitchen ventilation products on eBay and through a boutique website.

Within a few months, I stopped working on the ski book and found myself building and leading a new brand. We expanded from range hoods into a full kitchen suite across major retailers nationwide. With a lot of work, along with some luck and grace, I helped grow that company from an unknown brand into one of the largest drop-shippers of large appliances, introducing new features and products along the way.

As the only C-suite executive outside of the founder, it was humbling to help build, lead, and scale the company into a household name doing over $300 million in annual sales.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My brother-in-law, Peter Nguyen, was a major mentor and business partner for me during and after college. We co-founded an app company focused on children’s musical games and sold more than 3 million apps worldwide, despite having no prior experience in software development. We just had ideas and were willing to put in the work.

Building that business with him, along with his belief that you can start something from nothing and grow it into a leading company, had a lasting impact on me. I’m still grateful for that.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Trust but verify.” I am an extremely trusting person, and I want to stay that way. At the same time, the more life experience I gain, the more I see how important it is to put things in writing. Handshake deals can go wrong, and trust is clearer when it’s stated, documented, and agreed upon, especially as the stakes get higher.

I believe business should be done transparently and in good faith. Putting things on paper is part of that. It shows you’re willing to be held accountable to your word.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I invest in my passions. If I’m passionate about something, I know I won’t quit when it gets hard, because I care about it and feel a sense of purpose behind it. With Induction Hardware, I’m all in on bringing induction electric technology to market.

I also want to help others achieve their own goals. When hiring, I look for alignment, whether I or the organization can help someone reach what they’re working toward. That goes beyond money. It includes life goals, dreams, and personal passions. Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard has been a big influence on how we think about building our company and leadership culture.

I want people to surpass me. That’s a core belief I have as a manager. Our role is to grow employees and executives so they can excel in areas where they’re more gifted. That allows the management team to grow alongside the company, and it builds a culture that supports and celebrates progress.

We run the business to serve others. It’s a “we” mindset, not an “I” mindset, and that shows up in how we work with each other every day. Today, every employee either has ownership in the company or a path to it. We expect people to think like owners, and we hold ourselves to that same standard at the company level.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on the planet and the environment. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Induction cooking addresses several issues tied to gas. A significant number of structure fires are linked to gas in the home, and there are growing concerns around health impacts, including cancer and childhood asthma based on recent studies. There’s also the broader issue of reliance on fossil fuels and finite resources. Despite these concerns, North America has been slow to adopt induction, even though much of the world already uses it.

How do you think your technology can address this?

Induction cooking is safer, higher performing, cleaner, and more energy efficient. It supports a more sustainable lifestyle by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and moving toward a future that doesn’t rely on finite resources. It offers a clear alternative to gas that aligns with where energy and home design are headed.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

Our home almost burned down in a wildfire caused by an outdoor grill. That experience led us to build the first outdoor electric induction grill and griddle, designed to remove open flame from outdoor cooking.

This is what we built the company around, and we’re proud to be launching the world’s first all-induction, built-in 36-inch luxury grill this year. It’s a special product because it goes beyond traditional grilling. You can remove the griddle and use the same unit with pots, making it possible to cook things like pasta outside.

How do you think this might change the world?

We believe this will change how people think about outdoor cooking and help shape the future of outdoor kitchens. For a long time, outdoor cooking has been tied to open flame, whether that’s gas or charcoal, and that comes with real risks and limitations.

By removing flame from the equation, we’re creating a safer way to cook outside, especially in places where fire risk is a real concern. It also opens up a different kind of outdoor experience. You’re not limited to grilling. You can cook full meals outside, using the same surface for a range of cooking styles, which changes how people use their outdoor spaces.

More broadly, this is part of a larger shift toward electric living. As more homes move away from gas, outdoor kitchens have been one of the last places that haven’t kept up. We see this as helping close that gap and bringing outdoor cooking into the same direction as the modern kitchen.