Welcome to Harbor Saunas
Meet Our Founder
HB Mertz, the founder of Harbor Saunas, brings a diverse background in product marketing and brand development, where he focused on startups and e-commerce centered outdoor companies. After years of helping other businesses grow, HB wanted to create something of his own. His personal journey of wanting to build a sauna for himself led to the founding of Harbor Saunas, where he sought to turn high-end build quality, simplicity, and timeless design into an accessible product. Drawing inspiration from time spent in the Northeast and Scandinavia, he set out to make the sauna buying experience feel more approachable, while offering a product that meets the highest standards and brings a rich story along with it. In this interview, HB shares his journey, the inspiration behind the business, and how his past experiences will shape the future of Harbor Saunas.
What were you doing before Harbor?
HB: Right before Harbor, I was working at a tech startup helping lead product and content direction for an e-commerce focused marketplace. Before that, I spent several years in-house working for several outdoor brands and agencies, leading brand and creative marketing, as well as helping inform product designs and roadmaps.
I actually spent quite a few years working as a freelance commercial photographer, where I got to travel to a lot of really special places doing jobs for outdoor brands and tourism boards.
Taken on assignment with Visit Maine, winter 2018
What inspired you to start this company?
HB: I had always wanted to build a sauna with a huge glass window overlooking the farmland behind our house, but I just couldn’t find the time to make it happen. I would see a nice looking sauna online, but it would turn out to be unavailable to really purchase or involved a time-consuming process. I have a high standard for any product I buy, so I always knew it would be tough to get a sauna that would meet my standards and come along with a pretty straightforward process to get it.
I ended up leaving the tech startup I was working at early in 2024, and after a few conversations (with people in my network who are now business partners), I realized we might have something if we could build high-end, custom feeling saunas with shortened lead times. So after years of helping other brands grow and tell their story, I figured it was time to take the leap myself. It wasn’t intentional, as I really just wanted to build the sauna I had always wanted for myself, but the more the brand got developed, it seemed like there was an opportunity to create something really special.
Of all the products you could choose to invest in and sell, why saunas?
HB: Right now saunas are obviously super popular for the health benefits, but beyond that I wanted a product that I would be excited to use just about every day if I had one. I’ve used a fair bit of saunas over the years, and they weren't all the best experience. The more I looked into it, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to have an experience that I would truly be happy with without going the custom route. While there are direct-to-consumer feeling experiences currently on the market, I struggled to find any up to the standard in materials and design I was after. So I figured why not look into designing my own?
How have your past life and work experiences helped you in getting this business started?
HB: Honestly, this whole past year building Harbor has felt like a culmination of all the work I’ve done leading up to this point. From helping design the website experience, to being able to put old film photos from my photo archives to use, it's been really special. Even things I did early in my career like video and photo pre-production has been necessary, which is essential in an all-hands-on-deck sort of environment. It’s been fun to see it all come together.
Talk about the inspiration behind Harbor as a brand.
HB: What you see in Harbor as a brand really feels like a reflection of the places I've been and the experiences I’ve had over the last decade that have meant so much to me. I've tried to share these moments with people along the way, and this first sauna we've brought to market feels like a small piece of that. Times I’ve spent on jobs in Scandinavia and the Northeast (Maine in particular) have really had an impact on me. There's so many incredible stories to tell from these corners of the world that I've always gravitated towards.
What is the core mission behind Harbor?
HB: Beyond building high-end saunas, we really are a customer experience company. I wanted to make it feel a little bit more approachable to buy a luxury outdoor sauna that didn’t compromise on any design element. I wanted it to be an experience from all touchpoints, and help anyone using our saunas create the very same experiences I’ve had traveling or spending time in meaningful places.
What sets Harbor apart from the rest? What gaps in the industry are you trying to close?
HB: By no means are we claiming to be reinventing the sauna - and we wouldn't want to. All our products are built true to standard and provide the same high quality, timeless experience. What we’re ultimately trying to do is make the process of getting a high-end sauna easier, and take less time and setup. I want our customers to have the feeling of, "Wow, okay I can actually do this or get this sauna I found. I’ve seen it, it’s available, now I just need to figure out where I want it."
