McKenzie King Bauer is a visionary entrepreneur and the co-founder of Thread, a fast-growing carry accessories brand known for its unique, minimalist designs. Since launching in 2015, McKenzie has helped scale Thread Wallets from a small startup to an internationally recognized brand, with products sold online and in retail locations across the USA, Canada, Japan, and Latin America. With a keen eye for branding, product development, and e-commerce growth, she played a pivotal role in making Thread one of the fastest-growing companies in Utah, securing its place on the Inc. 500 list twice.
A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and recognized as one of Utah Business’ Leaders of the Year, McKenzie has mastered the art of turning creative ideas into scalable, profitable businesses. From Kickstarter success to multi-channel retail expansion, her journey is a testament to resilience, innovation, and strategic marketing. Now, as she balances personal projects and mentorship, McKenzie continues to inspire entrepreneurs by sharing insights on brand growth, leadership, and business strategy while driving Thread’s continued expansion in the competitive consumer product space.
McKenzie will be the featured speaker at our Accelerating Entrepreneurs in Utah event happening March 26th, 2025 in Lehi, Utah. Please join us to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey.
What does “entrepreneurship” mean to you? How has your understanding of it evolved over time?
McKenzie King Bauer: Entrepreneurship means finding creative solutions to problems and be willing to take the risk to start a business with solving the problem at the center of that idea.
What is the origin story of your company? What motivated you to start, and how did those early days shape your journey?
MKB: My boyfriend Colby and I started dating in early 2014. Shortly before we met, Colby was visiting Hawaii and took a dip into the ocean, forgetting that his wallet was in the pocket of his swim trunks. When he finally realized this, it was too late, and his wallet was lost to the sea. He immediately replaced his cards and began searching for a new wallet online. While looking, all he could find on Google was an endless scroll or big, bulky bifold wallets that were either black or brown. Since he only carried around his student ID, credit card and driver’s license, he decided to just grab a rubber band from a drawer in his apartment and call it good.
We met a couple months later and began dating almost immediately. Simultaneously, he was in a college class and the discussion in class was all about Kickstarter and how to successfully fund a campaign through the platform. As he searched the platform, he realized how well minimalist wallets were doing (some had raised over $300,000). As he scrolled through these campaigns, he noticed a similar trend as his earlier search on Google. Maybe these wallets are slimmer but they were just as boring and plain as the wallets he’d found in his earlier search.
With this in mind, he began his research. He found a local company called Beloved who used a process of dying called Sublimation on their clothing. He picked up some white elastic at our local craft store and drove to their headquarters to test this printing process on the elastic. With fingers crossed, he printed the poop emoji (why this design, I will never know!) all over the elastic and it worked! With this simple experiment, he realized that he could transform minimalist wallets into expressive accessories. That night, he drove to my house to pick me up for a date and the first thing he did was show me the elastic. It’s hard to believe how quickly I bought into the idea after seeing a simple piece of elastic with the poop emoji all over it but, I was twitter-pated with Colby and at the time, he could do no wrong.
Together, we sewed the first prototypes in my childhood bedroom on the sewing machine I was gifted by my mom when I was 12. After getting a few of the first wallets into a local boutique, we caught enough traction that we decided to put together a Kickstarter campaign that allowed us to purchase a sublimation printer of our own. Our first months of dating were spent cutting rolls of white elastic, paper and cardboard inserts for our wallets. I took over the social media account and we went to work.
Soon all our friends and family were using our wallets and a few local boutiques were carrying them. We began selling them at farmers markets and online and began seeing some traction there as well.
The early days were so formative for us because we did everything. From product design, to customer service, to manufacturing, marketing, shipping, and everything in between, it really taught us what it takes to run a business and what we need to do to grow and scale a business.
What do you wish you had known when you started? If you could go back, what would you do differently?
MKB: When you are starting out (and even now) you don’t know what you don’t know. We were both so young and inexperienced that we learned a lot of things the hard way. We held onto things like production, customer service and fulfillment for far too long because we didn’t really understand how to outsource them and what outsourcing them could do for our growth. If I could go back in time, I would outsource those things sooner so we could focus more of our time and energy on things like marketing, advertising, retail expansion to grow and scale faster.
Has there been a pivotal moment or a game-changing decision that defined your growth as an entrepreneur?
MKB: When we began hiring a team and recognizing the importance of trusting others to help lift with such a heavy load, we began seeing exponential growth.
What is the biggest milestone you hope to achieve in the next three months, and why is it important to you and your business? How are you planning to tackle it?
MKB: We continue to focus on increasing our profitability while scaling growth sustainably. This becomes more and more important as tariffs and advertising costs increase. We have been focusing intently on budgets and systems to we are a lean, mean, fighting machine.
What does “success” mean to you, both personally and professionally?
MKB: Having a healthy business that can take care of its employees and customers for the long term.
Share your boldest dream for your business and the world. What’s your plan to make it a reality?
MKB: We want to become the go-to accessories brand for all things carry! We are continually refining our existing products, launching incredible new products, partnerships, and expanding our wholesale distribution.
What is your entrepreneurial superpower? How has it helped you overcome challenges or seize opportunities?
MKB: I think I am a very creative person who really cares. If I set my mind to something I am going to accomplish it. I don’t take no for an answer which means we’re going to make things happen no matter what.
Can you share one of your proudest moments and one of your darkest days as an entrepreneur? What lessons did those experiences teach you?
MKB: Proudest Moment – We just hit our ten year anniversary and had the grand opening of our new HQ in my hometown where I have live my whole life. Seeing our community line down Center Street in Provo, Utah and the Mayor stand beside me and my team and say “welcome home” was really an emotional experience to reflect on everything we’ve build and what our Thread community and our community in Utah means to me:
Darkest Moment – Having to lay off some of our team at the beginning of 2024 when we weren’t hitting some of our goals and we needed to tighten up the ship.
What personal values drive you as an entrepreneur?
MKB: Creativity, Humility, Passion, Kindness, Teamwork
How have those values influenced your company’s culture and mission? Can you share an example?
MKB: We have one of the best teams in the world. If you spent a day in our office, you would see the creativity, the humility, passion, kindness and teamwork at play. Everyone is so fun to be around and are genuinely positive people.
What’s it like working alone or with a team? How do you approach building strong partnerships?
MKB: We embrace teamwork and partnership with our team. Everyone is really close and has great working relationships. We have been big advocates of Reid Hastings principles of Radical Candor and Freedom and Responsibility. Everyone is given a lot of autonomy but held to a high standard of accountability. We are very candid with each other and embrace feedback and failure.
What role has mentorship played in your journey—whether as a mentor or a mentee? Share a story that highlights its impact.
MKB: We could not be where we are today without mentors! I’m so grateful for all the incredible people who have taken time out of their busy days to meet with us whether in person or on a phone call. Early on in our journey, we reached out to Griffin Thall from Pura Vida and he invited us to their offices in La Jolla. We were only about a year into our journey, but it meant everything to sit down with him for 30 minutes and pick his brain about e-commerce, retail, and product. It set such a good example for us and ever since then, I’ve always tried to say yes when any young entrepreneur reaches out with questions. It’s not just about sharing knowledge but it also boosts your confidence.
What excites you most about the market or industry you operate in? How are you navigating its challenges and changes?
MKB: Product is such a fun space to be in! It never gets old seeing your product on someone in the wild. I’ve seen our product being used by random strangers all over the US and in places like Amsterdam and Costa Rica. We are expanding our international presence so it’s fun to know that we have barely scraped the surface.
What’s one daily ritual or practice that keeps you grounded and focused?
MKB: I love spending time with my family, reading, and developing my own hobbies like baking, cooking, and sewing.
Share a moment when your resilience as an entrepreneur was tested. How did you push through, and what did you learn?
MKB: I hate bringing up COVID but that year was rough. At the beginning of COVID, we had just hired a rep force to help us expand our wholesale presence, and then in March the world shut down and no one was shopping in person. That was wild. We had to really build out a game plan of how to keep the lights when there was so much uncertainty. I think that trained us well and prepped us for future times of uncertainty like in 2024. 2024 was a rough year for a lot of CPG with the election cycle, talks of a recession, changes in consumer behaviors, etc. Had we not weathered previous storms like COVID, I don’t think we would have been as equipped to tackled the challenges of 2024.
How do you manage the demands of entrepreneurship while maintaining your well-being? What strategies work best for you?
MKB: Remembering that at the end of the day, the world will continue to spin on If an email doesn’t get answered or a slack goes unread. There is always tomorrow!
Where do you find inspiration to fuel your vision? Do you have any creative habits that help you stay innovative?
MKB: I love reading, listening to podcasts, and traveling.
What kind of entrepreneur do you aspire to be? How do you want to be remembered in your industry or community?
MKB: I was thinking about this the other day and I really don’t care about failure but I would care about never making a difference. I really want to be the type of person that paves the way for others. That helps make others feel like they can live out their dreams. I want others to feel the joy that comes from creating and dreaming. I want to uplift and inspire. If I can’t do that, then I have failed.
How does your work contribute to solving larger societal challenges or helping others?
MKB: I don’t think wallets really make that much of a difference in people’s lives but I think that our business sparks creativity for a lot of our team members and because of our business, my husband has been able to start a non-profit that helps youth develop mental health skills through action sports and I do a ton of mentoring work. I think Thread has become an incredible vehicle for us to do a lot of good and I am very grateful for that.
Have you faced a major crisis in your business? How did you navigate it, and what advice would you give others in similar situations?
MKB: We honestly haven’t faced any large moments of crisis! Thank goodness.
What’s a problem that keeps you up at night, and how are you working to solve it?
MKB: I always am thinking about how to help our team feel capable of more output without hitting burnout. I want them to reach their full potential. I am always thinking of ways in which I can better show up for my team while not burning out myself or not stepping too much into their lanes.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs about building and leading teams?
MKB: Give people the tools they need to succeed and then give them their autonomy to be creative and get to work! Don’t micromanage! It never ends well if you do.
Do you have a favorite quote or mantra that keeps you motivated on tough days?
MKB: “This too shall pass”
If someone wrote a book about your entrepreneurial journey, what would the title be?
MKB: THIS IS SUCH A GOOD QUESTION! I have no idea! Hahaha
Have you raised outside capital for your business? If so, what kind, and why did you choose that route?
MKB: No! We have bootstrapped our business and only taken out lines of credit when needed. We didn’t want to be beholden to anyone and we were able to be cashflow positive from day one.
How has your network played a role in supporting your funding journey or overall growth as an entrepreneur?
MKB: They have helped connect us to banks.
What are some of the biggest barriers you’ve faced as an entrepreneur? How have you overcome them—or how are you working to do so?
MKB: At the beginning, I thought if someone else was succeeding, it meant I was failing. Now I realize there is room for everyone to win. Especially as women, I think we are prone to comparison. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received over the years is, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle or end”.
Comparison truly is the thief of joy. I’ve learned to stay in my lane and be happy for others when they succeed!
What do you think needs to change in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to reduce barriers for others?
MKB: Another piece of advice I’ve gotten is, “When you’re lucky enough to have a seat at the table, pull up a chair for someone else”. I think more people need to be pulling up chairs or making the table longer!
How do you cultivate and maintain relationships that help you as an entrepreneur, whether for funding, mentorship, or collaboration?
MKB: I started a networking group called Female Founders Only. I create curated travel and experiences for female founders to connect, learn, and grow. These experiences and opportunities to connect are vital for women to succeed. Women need women and we need each other’s support to succeed.
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