My Recent Appearance on The FAFO Podcast with BD Storm
- dougkatz8
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
This article is based on my appearance on the FAFO Podcast. Each section is anchored with timestamps so you can jump directly to the moments most relevant to you — whether you are a caregiver, a disabled cook, a knife enthusiast, or an entrepreneur.
The Military Mindset That Made NULU Possible
Jump to: [0:24 – 5:15]
I did not come from a military family. My path to West Point was almost accidental — guided by a sharp-eyed school counselor who pointed me toward the service academies when I was already looking at ROTC. I had originally wanted to be a Marine, even attending the Naval Academy's summer program, but a congressional appointment redirected me. I did not even see the campus until I drove through the gates.
Looking back, I wish I had appreciated it more while I was there — enjoyed the journey as much as the destination. But what came out of those years is something I carry with me every single day: a problem-solving mindset that does not accept "can't" as a final answer.
After graduating, I went into field artillery at Fort Carson, Colorado, with a deployment to Kuwait. Years of military service, rugby, and Aikido took a cumulative toll on my body. But the academy's core lesson stayed with me: identify the problem, then solve it efficiently.
"The military is a problem-solving organization. They're very good at on-the-ground solving problems. And I think that translated a lot into what I was doing in my shop." [4:51]
That mindset — Commander's Intent applied to product design — is the foundation everything else was built on.
The Origin Story: A Knife Built from a Circular Saw Blade
Jump to: [4:25 – 5:15]
The origin story of NULU is as unglamorous as it is honest. Facing shoulder surgery and a two-year recovery, I found myself unable to use a standard kitchen knife without pain. I love to cook. I also make knives in my shop as a hobby. So I did what any problem-solving veteran would do — I went out to my workshop and built something that worked.
I made the first prototype out of a circular saw blade. It was never meant to be a long-term solution. I just needed something that would get me through recovery. I still keep that crude prototype in my office as a reminder of where this all started.
My family's reaction surprised me. Instead of polite indifference, they said: "This one actually is pretty cool."
A few weeks later, I brought it to a friend's house — a serious culinary enthusiast — where industrial designer Gordon Downey happened to be present. Gordon had spent years in the toy industry. He looked at my rough-cut prototype and said, "Doug, I'm an industrial design guy. We're going to do this." That conversation launched Red Leg Innovation and the NULU knife.
I have tried to deliberately start businesses before and failed. This one started because I was solving a problem I personally lived — and that made all the difference. It is the advice I give every young entrepreneur I meet: start with the problem, not the business.
The Design: Ancient Wisdom Meets Patent-Pending Innovation
Jump to: [5:30 – 8:30]
NULU draws direct inspiration from the ulu knife — a traditional tool used by Inuit women for thousands of years. Unlike a conventional chef's knife, which is optimized for stabbing, hunting, and field tasks, the ulu was designed for the full range of domestic cutting work: skinning, food preparation, and everyday utility.
The key difference is geometry. A traditional chef's knife is linear — tip, blade, spine, handle, all in a straight line. That alignment makes sense when the primary function is thrusting. But for slicing and chopping, it forces the user to transfer force across the spine of the blade, using the wrist as a bottleneck. For someone with arthritis or limited grip strength, that bottleneck is exactly where the pain lives.
The ulu's crescent blade aligns the cutting edge directly with the body. What NULU does differently — and what constitutes our patent-pending innovation — is moving the handle connection point from the center of the blade to one end. A traditional ulu attaches in the middle, optimizing it around the crescent's center. By shifting that connection point, Gordon and I unlocked something significant: the user can now chop, slice, and cut with the blade fully aligned with their body, while the circular geometry allows them to find the exact arc of the blade that works for their specific range of motion.
"If I can't articulate my wrist, I am then able to find the part of this blade that works for me." [8:13]
The Biomechanics: Why Less Grip Means More Power
Jump to: [8:21 – 10:07]
One of the most counterintuitive things I tell people is this: the less you grip the NULU, the better it works.
Here is the analogy I use from the gym. When you overgrip a barbell while doing chest exercises, the tension travels up your forearm and you lose the ability to isolate your chest muscles. The same principle applies in the kitchen. A conventional knife requires a firm grip to transfer cutting force from hand to blade. For someone with arthritis, that grip is not just difficult — it is actively painful.
The NULU eliminates the need for a power grip entirely. When I use it in the kitchen, I hold it loosely — almost passively. Because I cannot overgrip it, I am not losing force at the wrist. Instead, I am transferring my full body weight — through my shoulder, arm, and core — directly into where the blade meets the food.
"By doing this, I can't overgrip it. I have bad arthritis, so for me, this also alleviates pain and fatigue. But now I'm transferring my full body into where that blade is for more efficient cutting." [9:01]
This is what is sometimes called the kinetic chain. And it is why NULU works not just for people with arthritis, but for a much broader population:
Vision-impaired users benefit because the blade's geometry makes it intuitive to know exactly where the cutting edge is relative to the hand.
Users who cut while seated — including wheelchair users — can orient the blade in reverse and engage their core rather than their arm, effectively removing the arm from the equation.
Anyone recovering from wrist or hand surgery can use NULU without the range of motion that a conventional knife demands.
I saw this firsthand at the 2025 Abilities Expo in Chicago [10:50]. A man in a wheelchair with severe burn injuries — his hands fused, unable to grip — picked up the NULU and immediately started cutting. He did not need instructions. The geometry made sense to his body in a way that no conventional knife ever could.
The Ability Curve: Rethinking Who This Knife Is Really For
Jump to: [14:25 – 16:47]
One of the frameworks I am most proud of developing is what I call the ability curve — a model that reframes disability not as a fixed identity, but as a dynamic position on a spectrum that every human being moves along throughout their life.
Ability and disability are not binary. They are not an identity. You exist on a scale, and you move in and out of greater and lesser ability throughout your life. At the peak of the curve — roughly ages 18 to 35 — most people bounce back quickly from injuries, have strong grip strength, and can execute complex physical tasks with ease. But the curve slopes in both directions.
On one end, aging and chronic conditions gradually reduce capacity. On the other, children are functionally disabled for adult tasks — not because anything is wrong with them, but because their strength, dexterity, and coordination have not yet developed.
"Whether you're a seven-year-old cutting your first potato or a 70-year-old cutting potatoes for Thanksgiving, it's the same challenge — strength, dexterity, coordination." [16:31]
I also applied a framework I learned in the Army: can you perform a task under a given set of conditions and standards? The culinary world has defined those conditions — here is how you hold a knife, here is the technique. If you cannot meet those conditions, you cannot perform the task. What I asked instead was: how do we change the conditions so that the same person can achieve the same result?
When I account for everyone who falls below peak ability at any given time — people with arthritis, MS, Parkinson's, stroke recovery, vision impairment, post-surgical limitations, aging adults, and children — I estimate NULU's addressable market at approximately 150 million Americans [34:34]. That is roughly half the country.
And the knife works for able-bodied users too. A family member with no physical limitations used NULU to separate ribs at a cookout and raved about it [29:23]. Adaptive design, done right, is simply better design.
More Than a Kitchen Tool: The Emotional Case for Independence
Jump to: [12:19 – 18:42]
The most important dimension of the NULU story is not the engineering. It is what the knife gives back to people beyond the ability to cut vegetables.
My father lived with my family for the last three years of his life, passing away at 89. He had arthritis and age-related limitations, but he loved to cook and always wanted to help in the kitchen. He became one of NULU's earliest testers. Watching him use it — watching him cook again — crystallized something I had not fully anticipated when I was grinding that first prototype in my shop.
"A simple tool can reestablish all of that — to allow people to age more healthfully, to be able to control their diet, to be able to feel useful. All of those things become so important." [13:31]
The ripple effects of restored capability go far beyond nutrition. When someone who has been sidelined from cooking can participate again — in holiday meal preparation, in daily family rhythms, in the simple act of feeding themselves — something profound happens. They feel useful. They feel present. They feel like themselves again.
Food is the universal language of culture and belonging. I saw it during my deployment in Kuwait, where every joint exercise with the Kuwaiti army happened around a shared meal [17:47]. Within every culture, meals are the foundation of holidays, celebrations, and family identity. The patriarch or matriarch who used to anchor those moments should not have to step back before they are ready.
The kitchen is often where independence quietly ends. The right tool can change that.
The Culinary World: The One Market Still to Crack
Jump to: [32:21 – 35:26]
We have had remarkable reception from the knife community — including at the 2025 Atlanta Blade Show, the largest blade show in the country [20:43]. Knife enthusiasts get it immediately. The occupational therapy and physical therapy communities get it. Orthopedic practices get it.
The one market where we still face headwind is the professional culinary world. And I understand why.
In the culinary world, the currency of respect is knowledge. Knife technique is a professional identity. When a chef has spent years mastering the pinch grip and the rocking motion, telling them there is a better way feels like an invalidation of everything they have earned. A professional chef once told me I was holding a knife wrong — and technically, by culinary standards, he was right. But that pinch grip, for someone with arthritis, is agonizing.
"The currency of respect is knowledge. So how do you know how to use a knife?" [32:34]
What I keep waiting for is the culinary champion — the cooking influencer, the celebrity chef, the instructor — who looks at the ability curve and realizes that NULU opens their audience to 150 million people. The chef who figures that out will have found something genuinely significant. If that person is reading this, reach out.
Where to Find NULU and What Is Coming Next
Jump to: [18:51 – 21:54] and [39:36 – 44:14]
NULU is currently available through:
NuluKnives.com — the best starting point, with the deepest product information, user testimonials including from a blind Paralympian, and the full product ecosystem
Amazon — where the majority of our sales currently occur, driven by Prime convenience
GovX — offering our largest discount for military, veterans, first responders, and teachers
Rehab Mart — serving the clinical community, with ties to Medicare, Medicaid, and VA reimbursement pathways
Beyond the knife itself, we have built a growing cutting system: an adaptive cutting board currently in third-generation prototype, a knife stand available in acacia and bamboo, cutting gloves, and a sharpener.
Looking ahead to late 2026 and into 2027:
A premium handle version of NULU, with micarta and custom scale options for knife enthusiasts who want a tool as beautiful as it is functional
A table knife — inspired by a West Point friend diagnosed with MS who told me he wanted a knife he could bring to a restaurant — designed for consumptive cutting at the table
A personalized guidance tool that will help users understand how to use NULU based on their specific symptomatic profile and navigate potential reimbursement through HSA, FSA, VA, and other pathways [42:11]
My goal — the one I joke about with my team — is to design a knife so beautiful that people say, "I wish I had a reason to buy it." And then they buy it anyway, because it belongs on their counter [41:34].
Join the Mission: Independent Sales Representatives Welcome
Jump to: [45:21 – 45:45]
We are actively expanding our network of independent sales representatives. If you believe in the mission of restoring independence through better design and want to earn income doing it, we pay up to 25% commission. Full details are available at NuluKnives.com.
The Mission Behind the Knife
I started NULU because I could not cook without pain and I refused to stop cooking. What I did not expect was how many people were living with the same quiet frustration — and how much a single well-designed tool could give back to them.
We have been growing by double digits. We are bootstrapped, mission-driven, and just getting started. Every NULU that ships is already doing its job: putting a capable, dignified, independent person back at the center of their own kitchen.
That is worth building for.
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