A Fellow Skiers Plunge into the Industry

[Peanutbutter]

Hey all,
My name is Jake. I’m 22 years old and reside in Washington about an hour west of Stevens Pass. I recently quit my job to pursue my dream of starting a ski company. I am making this post to share the stoke of starting a company, to get advice, and to chronicle the progress of the business. (Mods: You will notice that I make no mention of my company name and no links to my website. I am here looking to make friends, not customers. Please don't take this thread down, thanks.) I would bet that you and I are a lot alike: I daydream while I’m at work about being in the mountains. I am always checking the NOAA weather forecast, praying for the next big pow dump. I store my skis in my room so that I can admire them. I am unable to admit to my girlfriend how much money I have spent on tech gear. And, my absolute favorite thing to do, is to ride untouched powder.

Back in high school I whimsically signed up for a computer drafting class thinking it would be an easy elective credit. The teacher turned out to be one of the best, most influential, teachers I have ever had. We became good friends and I took as many classes with him as my schedule would allow. My senior year in his class I was tasked to make a project. There weren’t any guide lines or criteria, I just had to make something. Being an avid skier I, of course, wanted to make skis. However, as the semester went by it became apparent that I was not going to be able to make skis. I worked hard and did lots of research and made computer models but I was unable to make anything due to my lack of funding. My teacher was a cool guy and, although I had nothing tangible to show at the end of the semester, he still gave me a good grade.

5 years past. I went to community college and worked full time at a coffee manufacturing facility, the job I had started working at when I was 15. I moved up in the company and got my AA degree. Unsure of what to do next I applied to an online college to get my BA degree. I got accepted, attended the info sessions and signed up for classes. On the outside everything was going well but on the inside something wasn’t right.

I knew that I wasn’t doing what I loved. My life was dry and my actions were dictated by what direction I thought I should go in. I was in a rut. I was living a life based on what I thought I should be doing and was too afraid to leave the comfort of what I knew to pursue something better.

The coffee company I worked for is located on top of a hill. It has a spectacular view of the Cascade mountain range and on clear mornings the view is breath taking. I started early and I remember looking at the ridge line of the mountains. The valley would be full of fog and the mountains would be a dark jagged silhouette across the horizon. The sky behind them would be a deep orange signaling the sun’s soon arrival.


(Here’s a photo of the sun coming up over the Cascades that I took from the summit of Mt. Pilchuck.)

I remember looking longingly toward them and then turning around to go inside to work. I did this for months until finally the tug on my heart to be in the mountains became too much for me to bear. I dusted off the dream of starting my own ski business from the recesses of my mind, quit college, quit my job and started a business building snow skis in my parent’s garage. And that is where the story begins:

[Peanutbutter]

Step one was to build a press. My dad’s friend Bob, a passionate skier, owns a metal company. When he heard what I was doing he wanted to help so he gave me some serious hookups on all the steel I would need. I am grateful to him for believing in me. I took the steel to a family friend, Vince, who welded it all together.




Once welded together we loaded it up and took it home. It was extremely heavy and moving it was quite the task (this will become a motif throughout my endeavors).



Next I would need a CNC machine. I lamented when I realized how expensive buying one was; I knew I was going to need one if I wanted to build skis that would meet my expectations. One of my coworkers at the coffee company, Dennis, had built his own so I asked him offhandedly if he might be interested in selling it. He chuckled and declined. However, a couple months later he approached me and said that he was moving and wouldn’t have room for his machine and was wondering if I was still interested. Praise Jesus; the stars had aligned. I jumped on the offer and went to his shop to pick it up.

What I didn’t realize was the size and weight of the equipment. Dennis said it was heavy but he didn’t say how heavy it would be. It took 4 guys to lift one end off the ground. Here you can see the machine and the trailer. My buddy Jake standing on the trailer was probably thinking, “That’s going up here?!”



We managed to get it on the trailer, home and safely in the garage without damaging anything. Big thanks to all my awesome friends!



Next step was to design the ski and cut out the molds.






Once the press was assembled it was time to test it out. I designed the press and had no idea if it was going to hold under pressure or not. I hid behind some MDF the first time we aired it up.



I then stumbled onto a deal for a ski tuning machine that I couldn't pass up. I showed up with one other friend to pick it up. Turns out it would take over 5 people to get it loaded and home. Moving it was so chaotic that I forgot to take any pictures, but here it is safely in the garage. I am pretty sure that if I ever plan to move all of my friends will block my number.



It worked! The press held up great with very minimal deflection in the steel. Next step was to build the cores. First I laminated some different woods together.



Then I ripped them into sheets.




Then I profiled them and adhered the sidewalls with a clamping jig I made using the CNC.





I then used the CNC to plane the cores to thickness. I still need to build a vacuum table or something; securing the wood was a nightmare. Then I cut the bases and attached the edges.

Now it was time to lay everything up.






Fresh out!



Cut off the flash.



Mounted and skied em! (Don't mind the zip ties



Riding something that took me months of hard work to create was a surreal experience. They weren’t the best skis I have ever ridden but they were mine. I am going to take what I learned from this pair and make the next pair even better. Stay tuned!

Also, if you live in the Washington area and want to demo any of my prototypes or come skiing with me let me know. I am looking for unbiased feedback so that I can improve the next pair.

Too long, didn’t read?: A fellow maggot quit his day job in pursuit of starting a ski manufacturing company. He’s pretty stoked.

-Jake

[Peanutbutter]

Reserved for future shenanigans

[Peanutbutter]

Reserved for future shenanigans 2

[Peanutbutter]

Reserved for future shenanigans 3

[Skidog]

Just sell them for more than $333 and all will be well in the world.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Good for you, Jake! Best of luck. Do you have a website yet?

[christoph benells]

'

[Art Shirk]

Well wishes and good luck.

Curious whether you crunched the numbers to determine at what point you could actually turn a profit and what it would take to get there and all that entails? Craft a robust plan if you haven't and work your ass off to hit your checkpoints.

[::: :::]

Subscribed

[LeeLau]

Subscribed too. Nicely chronicled

[GPP33]

Good for you! Now's the time to do it, no mortgage, no kids, no wife..... Not saying those are bad but they all come with other responsibilities. No one who made millions doing what they love ever did it by pushing it off. Good luck, I proudly ski sticks made by a small local company who at one time were probably in just as far over their heads as you feel. Ship me a demo pair, I'll take care of mounting them for 22 designs and give you some real feedback

BTW, your pics promote your company pretty clearly. Hopefully the mods leave it up though since this is the essence of this site and what this community stands for.

[old goat]

It's very cool for me to be reminded of the energy, enthusiasm, and optimism of youth--a distant memory in my case.

[flyman683]

Don't breathe the fiberglass. For real.

[dgilligan02]

Cool man, subscribed.

[ClarkleberryFinn]

Rad! Good work dude!

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Thanks. Great read. Keep posting.

[Skidog]

Don't breathe the fiberglass. For real.

This for sure.

[gravitylover]

It's very cool for me to be reminded of the energy, enthusiasm, and optimism of youth--

Isn't that the truth

Good for you kiddo! As was already said, get after this while your expenses are still really low and you'll have the best chance at success. Several other small ski companies started right here on this forum in a similar fashion and with the same passion, as far as I know they are happy with the result.

[skifishbum]

yo jong read the stickies this aint just any forum
aint much moderation here
no one will delete your thread cause you decided to join the community and meet friends after ya decided to make tools the tribe uses.
not a bad first post/thread
good luck in your endevour

[_Aaron_]

Good luck!

[weasel1]

First things first: good on ya, a solid approach to getting started. Lots of initiative and drive involved just in pulling off what you have already. Some cautionary words, however....intended to help you avoid pitfalls other start up brands have struggled with:

Building skis to test prototypes is one thing, building for retail production is quite another. And your designs will matter, a lot. You do not want to be trying to build brand loyalty while still working out how to make skis that don't fall apart. You might want to consider building your brand with an established production facility doing your production at first, and using your home shop to build your own protos to test shapes and construction. Molds and prototypes are one of the costliest parts of development. If you can reduce that by building your own protos, you'll do better than others.

There is an outstanding new production shop in your area that is only building in small batches for indy brands, PM me and I can get you their contact info. Their production costs are very reasonable and quality is first rate. If we kept our brand running, it would have been our choice for production.

I hope you stick with it and continue to build smart. It's a great feeling to put skis on the feet of your fellow skiers that they love. Good luck!!!!

[DJ2]

Great start! Best of luck and hope to be on a pair of your sticks one of these days!

[ACH]

What SFB said.

Strong startup TR post though.
Best of luck.

[charles martel]

Subscribed.

This is really neat. Keep us posted.