He Turned a “Boring Business” Into a Bitcoin Business

Show Notes

Michael left Microsoft, bought a 1979 cedar hot tub company, and is now bringing it into the Bitcoin era. In this episode, I sit down with Michael, the new owner of Snorkel Hot Tubs, a Seattle-based company making cedar hot tubs, cold plunges, and now… Bitcoin miner heated hot tubs. We talk about his transition out of corporate life, buying and modernizing an old-school American business, the beauty of building physical products, and how Bitcoiners pushed him toward one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in a while: the Hash Tub. After bringing Snorkel to a Bitcoin conference, Michael kept hearing the same question: “Can it be heated with Bitcoin?” That question led him down the heat punk rabbit hole — working with Hashrate House, taking the tub to the Heat Punk Summit in Denver, winning an innovation award, and bringing the Bitcoin heated hot tub to the Bitcoin world. This conversation is about much more than hot tubs. It’s about craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, taking ownership of your life, building things that last, and creating real products and services for the circular Bitcoin economy. Satoshi gifted us bitcoin so we could bring our gifts to the world. Michael’s gift just happens to involve cedar, water, fire, heat, and hash rate. Follow Snorkel: Website: https://snorkel.com X: @SnorkelHotTubs Nostr: @SnorkelHotTubs Follow Kyle / We Are Satoshi: Website: https://kylehuber.com YouTube: @WeAreSatoshiPod X: @KyleHuber Timestamps: Chapters: 00:00 Welcome Michael 00:24 Leaving Microsoft 01:13 Buying Snorkel Hot Tubs 03:41 What Snorkel makes 06:14 Building a Bitcoin heated hot tub 07:32 Hashrate House and the Hash Tub 08:06 Heat Punk Summit 09:12 The Vegas shipping disaster 10:52 Is the Hash Tub ready for sale? 12:32 How the Bitcoin hot tub works 14:34 Mining heat vs electric heat 16:07 Why bring it to Vegas? 18:08 The cedar hot tub experience 20:49 Buying and growing an established business 23:12 Cold plunges, showers, and saunas 25:19 How Bitcoin changed the business 26:54 Accepting Bitcoin payments 28:10 Bitcoin as a medium of exchange 30:34 Hot Tub Time Machine 31:01 Modernizing an old-school business 34:01 The Snorkel team 36:52 Repairable products vs disposable products 38:40 Wood-fired hot tubs 40:02 Craftsmanship and anti-fiat products 41:20 Why Bitcoiners build better products 46:16 Building a Bitcoin circular economy 51:01 Bitcoin Walk and local community 54:57 Bitcoin Bazaar 57:54 Leaving corporate life 59:59 Buying vs starting a business 01:02:27 Where to follow Snorkel 01:03:05 Final thoughts Support the POD! Buy the Daylight Co DC-1: https://buy.daylightcomputer.com/WEARESATOSHI ($25 off with code: WeAreSatoshi) 15% OFF your order of earthy energy : https://liveearthy.co?bg_ref=c8KTLsLeKv (code KHuber) 10% off Chroma Blue Light Glasses and Other Products: https://getchroma.co/?ref=ixabomjq (code: KYLE10) 15% off at Born to Be Free Online Store: https://oshi.link/C2mHb0 SLNT Faraday Bags: https://slnt.com/?avad=428701_b45ea6cd1 Stream sats on Fountain: ⁠ https://fountain.fm/show/oNj9eSXpNudLR2XoMtKL Watch + subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WeAreSatoshiPod If you are interested in buying Bitcoin, River is the best place to do so: ⁠ https://river.com/signup?r=4JAPK6Q2⁠ Send me an email with feedback/questions: [email protected]