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So I'm Thinking about starting a low-key snowboard company

7K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  MrKu74 
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#1 ·
Call me crazy, but I'm young, and restless, and an aspiring businessman thinking of trying to start a small snowboard company in one of the worst financial recessions the U.S. has ever faced. So far, I have nothing, but hey Burton started with nothing as well as every oither snowboard company out there right? This is probably the stupidest idea I have ever come up with, and I'll repeat my opening line, call me crazy, but my undying love for this sport has called for me to give the sport something in return.
My first question, any ideas on a name? PM me or post here with any ideas or advice for me. Godbless.
Johnny
 
#2 ·
OK you're crazy.

Hi, my name is reality.

What? Are you going to make these in your basement? Isn't your mom gonna get pissed?

I applaud your drive, but get your foot in the door before you go knocking down any walls. Do you know anything about making snowboards? Laminates, fiberglass, composite technology, solvents, p-tex, epoxies, wax, metalwork, math, chemistry, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, physics, data gathering, analysis of said data.

Not to mention getting a business loan and starting a real, legal business? A cool company name does not even a crappy board make, much less a good one.

If you're making your own boards, then you've gotta have much more than the drive and a dope-sounding company name - plant your nose in those hard sciences books and keep it there for about 14 years. That's how I got my job. If you're going to just buy OEM boards, slap pretty graphics on it and push it out the door, then what sets you apart from the million other cheap board makers?

Maybe apply for an internship at a pre-existing board factory, spin it into a job, go to college, move to R&D and get lots more experience.
 
#4 ·
Huge props if you can make it work. In my home town 2 small snowboard companies have gone under or stopped building boards. It's cool you have the balls to put yourself and your $$$$ on the line. You could be successful but as you already know the odds are not in your favor. Best of luck.:thumbsup:

I've always felt Coelacanth would be a great name for a board brand or metal band.:D
 
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#6 ·
well before jumping in head first you need to think way before names, you need to know what your working with, your technology etc. etc. like MunkySpunk said. But You also need to think of what you can offer with your boards. Kinda like a car you need a concept before you build it. Maybe even some new sort of technology to add to your board that you and some friends would need to test before offering them for sale. Magnetraction, ICS, Rocker tech all of these had to be tested pretty thoroughly before being offered to "change the world of snowboarding". A big imagination comes in very handy as well. Best of luck to you and get to the drawing board. Once you have a great concept then get to thinkin of a name.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
props

munkyspunk has a point, theres a crapload of tech in making a half decent snowboard these days, & you would most likely need alot of space, i dont think its impossible though.


check some snowboard making forums, pick some stuff up, try a few times, but dont go and get yourself bent on the idea your gonna be a success.

im pretty sure Atrophic would be a badass name.
 
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#9 ·
I would also like a job haha. Before you jump all over him ahve you thought that maybe he has done most of that stuff Monekyspunk? Your making an assumption and jumping all over him. I think it's a great idea. Competition is what makes industries and sports develop and thrive. With no competition we are left choosing between Windows and Mac (I for one prefer Linux lol but beside the point).
 
#11 · (Edited)
Because if he really was in a position to start a board company he wouldn't be worried about naming the damn company first and would be giving a powerpoint presentation to potential investors or business loan officers in large corporate board rooms and not hitting up an internet forum for pats on the back.

Again, I applaud your drive, Johnny. And free advice is that slow and steady has a much higher chance of working than busting out on the scene like you own the joint. You think you're the first guy who wants to do this? Who wouldn't want to design and test boards for a living? It's getting paid to play. You'll just be the snowpunk startup of the week if you go into this arms flailing. The business will eat you for breakfast.

Study hard, work hard, be creative, grab the bull by the horns, move up the ladder, and one day with a bit of luck, you'll reach your dreams... That's what's great about living in the US, despite the wealth of other problems that come with it.
 
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#12 ·
dude you should sell boards not make them. all you need to sell boards is:
1. A lease for a sick shop in a killer location.
2. Buy boards in bulk from major companies.
3. Lots of employies
4. a business loan of course.
5 and you can even get a francise licence from a company like peter glenn making operation much easier.

well that not all you need but it'd be much easier than making boards
 
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#13 ·
You need to know something before you can open a business designing and developing expensive products. It's not like you're knitting sweaters or mowing lawns. I guess my first question is what do you already know about making snowboards?
 
#14 · (Edited)
I have a few innovative ideas in my head that no company has ever done before. Being a mech engineer and designer I definitely have a drive of being innovative, as far as doing a company coming from a racing background fabricating and welding everything from ground up I will say you better take some heed to Munky's advice. However 14 years or whatever is exaggerating. If you have drive, and some talent, and connections particularly for people you will need on board to help do each of the jobs required to put together a great board it can be done I'd say 2-3 years tops, to get moving. But then again that's based on my experience that is likely having a lot more under my belt so that is what I feel could be done anyhow personally if I were to do such a thing. If you're starting out with zero experience, in anything, the least you can do is get contacts with other people who would be interested and know what their talking about and so forth whether in marketing, design, fabrication, accounting, etc.

If you come up with a idea that hasn't been patented, even better. Basically get the rights to it, and no one can lay a finger on copying the design until years later, but it has to be THAT different to set itself apart from other designs whether it be the board, bindings or whatever. Key areas are, passion for the company, a unique concept that only your company would have, customer support and prototype testing with potential customers to represent the board (no one famous, just local kids) and listening to their feedback and SUPPORTING them. I cannot say enough about the last one, without customers a company will fail to exist, without supporting them it will backfire instantaneously especially when starting out local.
 
#16 ·
As much as it may be for someone of young age, unwillingness to try is already defeat.

If you never try, you never fail. This is why 99% of people never go after dreams or are driven, fear of failure. Don't be afraid to fail, but be ready to learn from it when it occurs.
 
#18 ·
I think you should go for it. Even if the product isn't high end and innovative, if you market it right you'll pick up the people that would never utilize a high end board to its full potential (or even half for that matter) The reality is the beginner intermediate market is what drives the industry. Capture that audience and you can be successful.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I'll give you basic tips from concept class back in college. Do surveys, they're worth their weight in gold getting customer feedback for what they want and would like to see on the board. Basically people who love snowboarding and obsess about it have ideas that one may not of thought of by themselves as the old saying goes, two heads are better than one. And they'll give it to you because most are not trying to work for a company nor start one up and they just want to dream about how awesome a board could be if it has this this and this. That's free design ideas right there. They'll also have negative and positive feedback on the board they are riding and/or have ridden. You will need some experienced riders to get that kind of feedback who actually have an idea what the board is doing and have ridden enough boards to get an idea.

Don't limit it to one or a few people because they can easily have bias feedback on what brand they chose or their style of riding. Don't do paper surveys, no one cares to sit down when shredding on a mountain to fill it out, chances are they'll stuff it in their pants and wipe their rear with it and hand it back to ya. Just conduct friendly straight to the point questions on the lift out of curiosity like do they like flex or stiff, all mountain or freestyle, cost vs quality, durability vs performance, etc so forth.
 
#20 ·
Not sure what your current financial situation is, but you will most likely need "seed money" to get this company going if you want to be serious. Once you price out supplies, marketing budget, etc. you will see the $$ that family loans you will probably not cover it (unless you have the rich uncle). If your over 18, you can look to get a small line of credit with a business loan but the underwriters will expect that you have a well-developed financial plan that includes projected profit/expenses, etc. Lenders ideally like a minimum of 3 years of tax returns in the business but if your starting out, then they typically focus quite a bit on how much experience you have in this line of work and you better make sure you have good credit!
Starting a company during a recession, crazy! Getting told no from everyone, painful! Chasing after your dreams, PRICELESS............
 
#21 · (Edited)
Starting a company during a recession, crazy! Getting told no from everyone, painful! Chasing after your dreams, PRICELESS............
HAHA, very nice line. Actually, statistics showed people trailed off in skiing last year, but snowboarding was up, even though it was the warmest winter I believe in history they said? Coming from a racing background, snowboarding is cheap, very cheap. Can't compare it to a competitive level in anything serious racing related with the money you burn left and right. I compare it to racing since in any given time the same people within a selective group have tried it alike to the same amount that have tried snowboarding.

You pay around at your peak of skill 6-700 for a board avg, 200 avg for bindings, 200 for boots, wearing the same clothes for 3 years or more till they wear out and the same board depending on your style will last you avg a year or less if you're a pro, and longer if you're just into it. The majority of people will use a board 2-3 years, you don't need a new board every year unless you're a pro or seriously treating it like a profession thrashing the board all year long. In other words, it's a cheap alternative for an active sport with adrenaline rush contrast to most of the rest out there and still has people getting on it every year recession or not. So when they say there is less of the pie available for other low end companies to get in on it, I'd have to say that pie is mainly the average boarder population.

Most companies do not pitch to only pros or only beginners, but the average boarder and then market it to say it's great for beginning or for pro riding. The population is not dwindling, no one I've ever heard of gets out of boarding because of cost. However, they will cut down on their expense like buying a top of the line board or any other gear and instead go for a well rep'd company or established middle of the line board or gear. This is where having a good board and props from customers to recommend you will come into place. Customer satisfaction and service is everything. If you can get local support and have a good product, for the majority of the population of average riders, top name brands cannot compete with this unless they have a local store because you are there for servicing and support whereas they are not and resort to mass advertising, marketing, and online sales.
 
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#22 ·
Just starting up a company seems like it would be an incredible task to over come, but I think if you could do like someone said and start a store of some sort then that could slowly ease you into the "biz". Find a sweet location, try to get some ins with local riders and sponsor a team, offer good deals on hot waxes and tuning and fixing core shots, basically try to make it a place that people want to stop at before they hit the mountain. After you have a good relationship with the reps from the companies you buy from, then you can maybe get your foot into producing, but I think there's just too much to jump into making snowboards.

Then again, don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't do something. Start a company, name it "Eff you Tom" and when someone asks you why you named your company that, you tell em that was the name of the first person that told me I was crazy for starting this line.
 
#23 ·
If you have the balls to write this post I assume you are an experienced snowboard maker. I also assume that you have built some boards which your close circle of friends have given you positive feedback on your designs.
If that is the case... and you know what happens when you assume...(lol) then, you have some thing besides a dream to start a company.

I suggest you take these first boards to you local shop, leave them on "consignment" so they do not have to invest in your product during these terrible economic times.
If they sell, you have something!
Keep doing that until you gather capital and then go to more shops, build a sales team and the rest will not be easy... but you are on your way to your dream!

I am in retail and HATE IT!
Buying something from vendors that control the market and reselling it for what they tell you sucks!
Take it from me, I have been in retail for 17 years and hate every moment of it.
I am working for someone else... the vendors! If you have your own brand, you are working for your self, for your dream! Keep dreaming bro and good luck!
 
#24 ·
I got an idea, everyone from a certain background from the forum get together and make a brand. We're all the prezidanz, v Pee's , and C-E-yos. Seems we have people from retail, engineering, accounting some, and experienced boarders here and likely more that haven't replied. We'll call the brand, Fo-Sho! ^_^
 
#25 ·
I would heed MonekySpunk's advice. This is a very complex subject that requires a lot of research in the disciplines of both science and business. let's not forget, the most brilliant ideas one could imagine are doomed to immediate failure if they cannot be communicated/understood by the proper audience. You need to create a valid business model with a solid marketing strategy that applies to current trends/market conditions. You also need to think at least 5 years ahead of yourself.
 
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#26 ·
To everyone who replied to this thread, thank you, all positive and negative criticism is much needed. I know I'm head over heels in this "project" of mine, and I know it's gonna take more than a post on a small online forum to get this up and running, if it ever will.
All comments will be taken into mind. And for those who are telling me to think of more than a name, I realize that, as odd as it may seem with a post like this, I'm not stupid, but I could use all ideas given to me.
Short post for now, longer one coming soon with a multi-quote, thanks again guys.
 
#27 ·
dixon cider!

say it outloud several times, you'll get it.
what does this have to do with snowboarding... absolutely nothing but neither does flow, forum, rome, gnu, solomon.... you get the point
 
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#29 ·
"Lowa snowboards" then you can get Lowa to make you your snowboarding boots ;)

It would be hard to start a snowboard line these days with so many options to choose from in the market breaking is going to be a life devotion which will mean earning little or no money and gaining debt fairly steeply. Usually these days if you can last the 2-3 years on your business you've made a "success". Because **** most of em fail in the first year.

As i've been running a boot business in NZ it was a struggle getting the name out needed to lots of promos hell i even had to win a few rock climbing comps to get the word out. Now making a solid earnings of $400 a week doing nothing not bad for a kid :D.

P.s this advice is from a 16 year old you've been warned don't be stupid and follow any instructions posted in here abiding by this you shall SURVIVE!
 
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