How does one go about starting a bike company?
- Thread starter shredden.
- Start date
Good stuff, just be careful about making connections and "building" your business on someone else's dime. That is a guaranteed way to get the crap sued out of you.
Classic bike industry example; you travel to Asia while working for someone else, while in Asia you contact vendors/suppliers in regards to your own business and develop relationships for future business ventures. Better be careful your current employer has no idea what is going on, or you could be starting your business w/ a huge lawsuit on your hands.
I like the Weagle business plan; develop technology that other companies desire (utilizing e*hype), then license your tech to them and work w/ them in regards to production, etc. That way you have freedom to do what you want, but don't have any of the risks or headaches associated w/ actual production. It is all about getting paid to tell other people how to do it, without actually having to do it yourself.
Be prepared to work long hours. My wife wanted us to name the DH frame "The Mistress".
(Now I will go back to work on frame production)
(Now I will go back to work on frame production)
Yeah, I'd say get your education outside of the bike industry, while also staying connected and involved. And you're going to want to do something fundamentally different if you want to have long term success. Peter Drucker's Innovation and Entrepreneurship lays some nice ground work for a few different ways to approach an industry and provide an alternative to current offerings and models.
The bit about working for someone else is also good advice. I'd also recommend just starting a business--something, anything--just so you get an idea of what's involved, which is basically a lot of **** you didn't see coming... and consistent 80 hour weeks while not making any money.
Will
Guerrilla Gravity
The bit about working for someone else is also good advice. I'd also recommend just starting a business--something, anything--just so you get an idea of what's involved, which is basically a lot of **** you didn't see coming... and consistent 80 hour weeks while not making any money.
Will
Guerrilla Gravity
I was wondering when mtg would pipe in as he's actually done this.
From an outside perspective I've known mtg for years as he (and 2 others) started the Guerilla Gravity business. I remember thinking right away "good luck with that sh!t". But I told him "good luck dude!". I'm a mechanical/aerospace engineer and have worked on the manufacturing side of things so I knew what GG was getting into...they didn't.
So when they finally finished their prototypes last year mtg said "damn that was more work than I thought!" I said "yeah I of all people know; which makes me even more impressed that you got this far, most people don't realize that."
Now this year they have sold 20 beta frames. What is the GG folks secret? From what I've seen it is a real world focus with crazy hard work and dedication. You need all 3.
Good f@*king luck.
Ha!
Step 1: Work for somebody else
Step 2: ?????
Step 3: Quit bike industry and profit
The only thing that ultimately matters is if your are insanely-freaking-stoked on bikes or bike racing.
Make your stuff domestically, because barely any one does, and lots of people actually care about that stuff.
The arguments that there aren't the vendors, fabricators or industrial processes in North America that can produce good stuff at a healthy margin are straight up B.S.
If you want to be in business selling mildly-differentiated commodities in America 2.0, you need to focus on content creation and brand identity just as much as you need to focus on product.
If you don't have a passion for sales and marketing- don't do it, because the only thing that ultimately matters is revenue and that comes from straight-up hustling.
Make your stuff domestically, because barely any one does, and lots of people actually care about that stuff.
The arguments that there aren't the vendors, fabricators or industrial processes in North America that can produce good stuff at a healthy margin are straight up B.S.
If you want to be in business selling mildly-differentiated commodities in America 2.0, you need to focus on content creation and brand identity just as much as you need to focus on product.
If you don't have a passion for sales and marketing- don't do it, because the only thing that ultimately matters is revenue and that comes from straight-up hustling.
Last edited:
That doesn't mean those companies make the best business.
double that
@norbar
Not necessarily no but the cases where the two are combined are numerous.
The last thing we need is yet another company 'making' cookie cutter products taking a piece of the pie that might otherwise go to a respectable company (i.e. one that innovates and does things back to the community).
Not necessarily no but the cases where the two are combined are numerous.
The last thing we need is yet another company 'making' cookie cutter products taking a piece of the pie that might otherwise go to a respectable company (i.e. one that innovates and does things back to the community).
Last edited:
They are? I'd rather say they are very rare. I appreciate top quality products but the companies that make the best business are the best at branding and marketing. It goes for movies, mobile phones, mp3 players, bikes, laptops.
The thing is with good marketing and branding you can make people rationalize their expenses and think they own a superior product (the product of course has to be decent but far from best. Just look at NS bikes and Intense a few years ago for good examples).
Then you can come into work and tell everyone how hard you rode "The Mistress" last weekend.
I would honestly just start out building something you want to ride. It would be hard to go balls deep and start a straight up shop to just start building something without already having a prototype and something at least ride-able.
Bikes are an odd industry. Businesses in every industry seem to thrive that put out a solid product and provide excellent customer support, however, I don't know of any other industry that provides more replacements. I don't think I've ever seen someone buy a set of race-prepped heads for a motor, proceed to blow them up the first weekend out, then call the manufacturer for a replacement....
Last edited:
Totally. If somebody already makes something that you want, or makes it the way you would, why would you bother? If you dream of a jackshaft equipped floating brake floating linkage active pivot acronym free link, build it. If you want a single pivot, carbon fiber, 2700 frame with a rising rate linkage...uh yeah.
Dude every consumer goods industry is "replace, don't fix" nowadays. I called up tech support for a broken pesticide sprayer and they sent me a complete new assembly for the spray head. Turned out that I had mis-located the seal when I had screwed in on. It would have taken 2 minutes to walk through tech support and say is "X aligned with Y", but it's cheaper for them to ship me a cheap made in china hose assembly than it is to pay people to help me get it fixed. I appreciated the effort but now the new hose sits coiled in the shed because the thing works fine.
Yea, but you didn't case your sprayer on a 20ft double, crumple the nozzle and slander the company on the internet saying it's faulty.
that's true, I was just spraying along.
THAT! As much as I speak about branding and marketing if your heart isn't in it the whole project will ruin you. You will not commit to it full time and it will just be a waste of time. Make it your passion and you may not hate it before you can sell the bike.
btw. Sandwich I think you are projecting a bit here
Last edited:
I've worked at a major bike manufacturer and was also GM of an online bike retailer. Here's my suggestions:
- Sell direct to consumers to start. One of the biggest challenges all manufacturers face is bike shops. Dealers don't generally pay for bikes up front, they purchase them on 30, 60 or 90 day terms. That means you ship them the bikes, then wait for them to pay you; or pray that they do pay you. When a shop can't pay you'll need to deal with it. Also, most financing entities you'll come across won't want to take the risk on your business because of this. By selling direct you trade decreased sales volume for decreased risk exposure. Notice how until recently Transition was a direct sale company.
- If you can, manufacture in the US. Not just because you support US jobs, but you won't need to deal with the issues involved in overseas production. Waiting for containers sucks. Ordering a red tube that shows up blue because of a communication barrier sucks. Having to wait 2 months for the fix because it needs to go over the ocean in a container and then through customs sucks. Not being able to be in front of your manufacturing partner in a day to work out issues sucks.
- Operate somewhere with low living costs and low business taxes. You'll need to make every cent count.
- Start with a lot more money then you think you need, and make sure you have solid legal representation that understands the industry.
- Buying catalog bikes will lower costs, but personally I'd feel like I was just slapping labels on yellow can beer. If you're going to sell consumer direct you either need to have a boutique feel or a hell of a value proposition. I'd rather manage a boutique brand personally. Trying to be a low cost player can be more difficult given a shifting environment.
- Be amazingly good at customer service, especially since you're selling consumer direct to start.
- Definitely spend some time working at a bike manufacturer first.
- Sell direct to consumers to start. One of the biggest challenges all manufacturers face is bike shops. Dealers don't generally pay for bikes up front, they purchase them on 30, 60 or 90 day terms. That means you ship them the bikes, then wait for them to pay you; or pray that they do pay you. When a shop can't pay you'll need to deal with it. Also, most financing entities you'll come across won't want to take the risk on your business because of this. By selling direct you trade decreased sales volume for decreased risk exposure. Notice how until recently Transition was a direct sale company.
- If you can, manufacture in the US. Not just because you support US jobs, but you won't need to deal with the issues involved in overseas production. Waiting for containers sucks. Ordering a red tube that shows up blue because of a communication barrier sucks. Having to wait 2 months for the fix because it needs to go over the ocean in a container and then through customs sucks. Not being able to be in front of your manufacturing partner in a day to work out issues sucks.
- Operate somewhere with low living costs and low business taxes. You'll need to make every cent count.
- Start with a lot more money then you think you need, and make sure you have solid legal representation that understands the industry.
- Buying catalog bikes will lower costs, but personally I'd feel like I was just slapping labels on yellow can beer. If you're going to sell consumer direct you either need to have a boutique feel or a hell of a value proposition. I'd rather manage a boutique brand personally. Trying to be a low cost player can be more difficult given a shifting environment.
- Be amazingly good at customer service, especially since you're selling consumer direct to start.
- Definitely spend some time working at a bike manufacturer first.