Home is where the family business is

By Dani Sheehan.  

It’s easy to see why this son followed in his father’s footsteps working at the family company. When the technology is right, the product sells itself.  

With the roofing industry already being a close-knit community with many family operated businesses, it was only natural that Nate Cougar followed in his dad’s footsteps, joining the Cougar Paws Inc. team a few years ago. We recently had the chance to sit down with Nate to talk more about his experience entering the roofing industry.  

Nate says he’s been helping his dad with the family business since he was ten years old, packing boxes and helping where he could. He graduated from Radford University in 2019 with a business management degree and concentration in entrepreneurship, entering the workforce at an IT company. However, he quickly found his way back home to Cougar Paws and has been an inside sales account manager for the last two and a half years.  

Not only does he love his job, but he stands behind the products and his dad’s patented traction-grip technology. He tells us that their newest boot, the Steel Walker II, received insane reviews at the 2023 METALCON show. “People didn’t believe me until they walked up and saw the actual slip test, and they pushed down... I’d pick the biggest person walking and say, ‘Hey, come down here and push all your weight down.’ The boot would barely slide. And then I showed them, I’d take two fingers and pull off the heel, just like that they’re walking on the roof.”  

It only takes one sale to see how crucial these boots are to add to a roofer’s toolkit, and Nate loves it when distributors tell him the same thing: they’re not a shoe store. His response is just as simple: “We’re not a shoe. We’re The Tool You Wear. The way we got roofers really into Cougar Paws was simply by getting them on their feet for a day or two. They’d come back to us and they’re like, ‘You know, you’re right. They’re amazing, I didn’t know a boot could do something like that.’”  

While Cougar Paws aren’t a substitute for proper fall protection and following OSHA guidelines, Nate says, “It’s all about solving problems at the end of the day. [With Cougar Paws] you can get twice the amount of work done in one day because you feel that much more secure while you’re on the roof.”  

Still not convinced? Try a pair and see how quickly you change your mind.