starting a wakeboard company

Howdy folks,

Been going to wakeworld.com for a while now and thought I would start a thread about something different in between my 18 hour fun days. I founded Humanoid Wakeboards with the help of many people but I thought I could give something back to to wakeworld by sharing some of my experiences or answering any questions anyone might have from a manufacturer's perspective.

A little bit about myself. I live in Denver, Colorado, grew up in the south side of Chicago - def no wakeboarding or snowboarding there. I come from mainly a snowboard "background" and have been snowboarding and wakeboarding for about 14 years now off and on. I got my hands on a Hyperlite Roam while I was in college my senior year about 5 years ago and it set an idea off in my head. The decision was made to forgo the desk job and head down the sketchy road of starting a business in one of the few industries I did have knowledge of - wakeboarding. I got a job at The Wakeboard Camp for two summers coaching where I met this brilliant dude Kyle Schmidt who eventually shared many of his great designs/ideas with me. I also met Justin Stephens for the first time driving the boat while he was filming Aaron Reed for his section in The Truth. Really positive, vibrant guy. I didn't know it at the time but coincidentally he was working on a cool independent wake brand as well. Peep the previous name of Humanoid - scary!

Since 2005, I've been through quite a bit of the blood, sweat and tears to get this going. Been through 3 manufacturers who've either went out of business or quit and I've had funding from investors pulled twice. I've learned far more than I could of ever hoped and we are just getting started - yeah!

If anyone has questions about manufacturing, "secret tech", raising capital, starting a biz or whatever I'd be happy to share what limited knowledge I do have. I know there is some questions in "flex boards" (which is a terrible name for sandwich construction), I can provide some insight. Please give me a little time to respond.

word to the wake gods!