SpecOps Biosciences Turned a Universal Problem Into a Global Opportunity

As an Army combat medic, Jeffrey Bayless regularly treated foot blisters among Special Forces candidates. He saw firsthand how a seemingly minor injury could interfere with a mission—or someone's larger career goal.

That experience eventually inspired Bayless to found SpecOps Biosciences in 2023. Based in Colorado Springs, this Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small business develops scientifically engineered blister-prevention and wound-care products, including SkinShield PRO ultra-thin moleskin and hydrocolloid bandages, for athletes, endurance racers, military and tactical personnel, and athletic training professionals.

In just a few years, the three-person company has grown from selling in a single Amazon market to reaching customers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. This impressive expansion has earned SpecOps Biosciences recognition as the Top Honoree in the Global Stars category of the 2026 CO—100, an awards program for small businesses hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

[Read more: Meet the 2026 CO—100 Honorees]

Blister prevention crosses borders

SpecOps Biosciences' international strategy stems from a simple observation: The friction and skin-integrity problems that cause blisters aren't confined to one country or type of customer.

“Our global strategy is built on the recognition that blister prevention is a universal need,” said Bayless. “Athletes, military personnel, and active individuals face the same friction and skin-integrity problems whether they're training in Colorado or competing in Europe.”

One particular endurance challenge helped Bayless recognize the potential for European expansion: the Camino de Santiago, a roughly 500-kilometer pilgrimage route through France, Spain, and Portugal undertaken by more than half a million trekkers each year. After encountering social media posts from pilgrims struggling with blister prevention and treatment, he saw an international audience facing the same problem SpecOps Biosciences had already set out to address.

“Wherever someone is at risk of a preventable blister, that's a person we want to reach,” Bayless said.

Canada and Europe now generate roughly one-third of SpecOps Biosciences' total revenue, demonstrating that its products and education-first approach can translate across borders without being fundamentally reinvented for each market.

[Read more: What to Consider Before Taking Your Business Global] 

Navigating the realities of international expansion

Reaching international customers required SpecOps Biosciences to navigate more than sales and shipping logistics. Value Added Tax (VAT) requirements and the European Union's General Product Safety Regulation were two of the company's biggest hurdles when entering Europe.

With a team of just three people, SpecOps Biosciences didn't have the internal expertise to manage those requirements alone. Instead, the company brought in specialists to handle VAT registration and reporting while working through the necessary product-safety documentation.

“What we learned is that international growth isn't just about sales and logistics — the regulatory side has to be addressed from day one,” Bayless told CO—.

Global growth has also complicated inventory management. SpecOps Biosciences’ sales grew 624% from 2023 through 2025, which created new forecasting and supply chain demands. Customs documentation issues, inspections, weather delays, and missing inventory prompted the company to develop an internal tracking dashboard and gradually extend ordering lead times to buffer against disruptions.

“Scaling reliably requires trading some flexibility and higher storage costs for supply chain resilience — and that visibility (via real-time tracking) is what makes that tradeoff manageable rather than reactive,” noted Bayless.

[Read more: How Small Businesses Can Navigate Supply Chain Disruptions] 

Building reach through education and trusted partners

While Amazon provides SpecOps Biosciences with direct access to consumers across several countries, its broader growth strategy relies heavily on blister prevention education and relationships with professionals, such as athletic trainers, who can introduce the product to larger communities.

Through the National Athletic Trainers' Association, SpecOps Biosciences has educated athletic trainers on the science of blister formation and prevention while providing samples they can take back to their athletes and colleagues. The company distributed 240,000 samples across the 2025 and 2026 NATA Symposiums, each paired with educational materials and science-based demonstrations. “There’s no better way to gain product trust than providing samples right at the moment of need,” said Bayless.

That same mission extends internationally through initiatives such as the Taksindu Medical Mission in Nepal. SpecOps Biosciences provides financial support and donates SkinShield PRO products to medical teams trekking to remote communities, where volunteers provide care to more than 1,300 people during each mission.

For Bayless, those efforts reflect a business whose international ambitions remain closely connected to the problem that inspired it.

“We decided to build internationally because athletics, endurance pursuits, military communities, and outdoor recreation are global markets with comparable needs, so international expansion was a natural extension of our core mission (“We prevent blisters”) rather than a departure from it,” he said.

For SpecOps Biosciences, going global hasn't required finding a different purpose for each new market. Instead, the company's expansion shows how widely its original mission—to keep people moving by preventing an avoidable injury—can travel.

 [View the full 2026 CO—100 list]

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