Looking at Your Business with New Eyes

What can we learn from a startup company that's working to become magnetic? How can we look at our own businesses with new eyes by looking through the eyes of a new entrepreneur? How can someone like me, who's been in business for over 30 years, benefit from the experience of someone well over 30 years younger than me who's just starting out?

Read on because this interview with Nick Gilson has insights, ideas, and wisdom that can help any of us look at what we do with new eyes. Imagine the challenge, excitement, and freedom of starting a business and being able to do it in any way you choose. The truth is that most of us are in a position to rethink and reinvent much more than we might imagine. Let this case study about a brand new snowboard manufacturing company and its founder's vision serve to inspire you to imagine what can be with your own business.

David and Goliath

I'm playing a small role as investor and advisor with a new company called Gilson Boards. Gilson is an American snowboarding company that designs bases in three dimensions for an enhanced feel on the mountain. From their website, here's their story:

The team is a close group of designers, craftsmen, and adventurers. We come from different backgrounds, but we share one thing—we love what we do.

We believe in the value of American artisan manufacturing, which is why we build our boards with locally grown trees here in central Pennsylvania.

We merge the woodworking heritage of our region with the precision of modern technology, building snowboards that are of the highest quality in construction.

What this little American company brings to market is the first true innovation in snowboard design. Again, from their website:

Our bases take advantage of a relatively simple concept—in motion, snow behaves much like water and air. Like airplanes and boats, our snowboards are intentionally curved to deliver a better ride.

The stark reality is that Gilson is much like David, facing the Goliaths of the snowboarding companies that have been around forever and that currently command the lion's share of the market. The challenge is for the new guy, the little guy, to take on the big guys and beat them. How do you do it? How do you create a magnet strong enough to win enough market share to take hold, grow, and thrive as a business?

Lessons for All of Us

In talking with Nick Gilson about this company he leads, I discovered lessons for all of us, whether you are a 100-year-old bank, a chiropractor with a solo practice, a plumbing-supplies distributor, or any other kind of business. Pay attention to Nick's thinking and strategies. Whether you agree or disagree with his ideas, my hope is that they will serve as a catalyst for you to consider what course you'd take with your business if you were starting over today. By the way, we all start over every day.

1. Joe: Where did the idea for Gilson Boards come from?
2. Nick: Gilson Boards grew out of a small basement crawlspace in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, Austin Royer and I were science teachers at New Vision Academy, and we had a real focus on hands-on learning. We had this idea for three-dimensional base snowboard design—basically borrowing the fluid dynamics concepts from boats and planes and adapting them for snow. Up until that point, all snowboards and skis were flat on the bottom.
3. Joe: You've said that being teachers and working with those kids was actually a factor in how you were able to bounce back from an initial failure.
4. Nick: We were developing these concepts outside of school, but we were involving the kids in what became a sort-of yearlong lab experiment. We wanted to put our money where our mouth was and show the kids what it meant to be a curious person devoted to lifelong learning. In the process, we inadvertently demonstrated what total rock-bottom failure looks like, and the kids were really the inspiration to pick ourselves back up and hit the drawing boards again.
   1. I honestly think we would have tossed in the towel if we hadn't had their watchful eyes on us. We knew we couldn't teach them to give up; we had to learn from the failure and demonstrate persistence.
5. Joe: Ultimately, you hit on a design for the snowboard that worked and that was the crossroads that ultimately drive the decision to create the company, correct?
6. Nick: After a number of failed experiments, we hit a variation on the snowboard design that showed tons of potential—it was both quantitatively faster and qualitatively more fun to ride. It was a tough transition, but the kids were really invested in the project, and at the end of the year we had this emotionally charged conversation where they ultimately decided that we had to pursue this idea, even though it meant leaving each other at the end of the school year.
7. Joe: For people wanting a case study of how to begin a business from humble beginnings, Gilson Boards almost sounds like a made-up story. You literally started the business in a stable, is that right?
8. Nick: We then moved to Pennsylvania where Austin grew up, and we started developing a product and process out of a donkey stable while we were living in a cabin that had no running water or electricity. Those days were totally awesome.
9. Joe: You've said that a key to your success thus far is that you took the product straight to the market. This is where your own “magnetism” as a company began.
10. Nick: We've successfully toured the most stunning mountains in the United States every winter and experienced high growth in sales and production ability. The public's perception of our designs has shifted from “that's crazy” to “wow, this is a better way to ride.” We now have a community of riders that swear by our work and vow to never ride another board until the day they die. Every time we hear that, it is like drinking 20 cups of coffee—so motivating.
11. Joe: So where is Gilson Boards today? Do you have any sense that you're “there” yet, or do you still have a long way to go?
12. Nick: Today, we're a team of 10 people, we operate a 5,000-plus-square-foot manufacturing facility in central Pennsylvania, and we still send members of the core team out on a national tour every winter. It's been an exciting ride so far, but as a company we're still incredibly young, and there are countless variables ahead, as always.
13. Joe: You're starting a new business in a market that's dominated by really well-established companies. How can you expect to compete?
14. Nick: That is a great question, Joe. Our industry is young, and we've identified an opportunity that we're capitalizing on.
    1. Snowboarding was born out of a juxtaposition to skiing, and that counterculture mentality of “F-the-man” fostered the industry's exponential growth for a long time. Snowboarding was growing faster than skiing by a tremendous amount for many, many years, and then the growth just totally flatlined.
15. Joe: So you've got a market with flat growth. How do you take on that challenge?
16. Nick: So what happened? The counterculture kids are now having kids. The demographic is maturing, but the messaging is staying the same. Almost every other snowboard company is competing in the crazy tricks space, with advertisements showing double back flips off of buildings into flat parking lots. That is not how most snowboarders ride—maybe 2 percent of them at the most. They don't resonate with that messaging.
    1. Most snowboarders head out with their group or family for a fun day on the mountain, and by the way, most of those groups have skiers in them, too. Most snowboarders don't hate skiers, so why is the ad media telling us we should?
    2. The snowboarding media says it's cool to hate skiers and that there are “no friends on a powder day.” I have given my skier friends the best powder lines too many times to count, and they have done the same for me, and we always wait for each other at the bottom.
17. Joe: So you're painting a picture for the marketplace that runs counter to what the mainline snowboard manufacturers have painted for years?
18. Nick: I cannot believe that other manufacturers don't see it, or at least don't accept it. I guess it's sort of like being in a bad relationship, though; you don't really know how bad it is until it's over, despite what all your friends (read: the data) tell you. These other manufactures have watched their industry's growth flatten, and they just keep doing the same thing figuring it worked before.
19. Joe: And you see this as an opportunity.
20. Nick: At Gilson we love this. It gives us our opportunity, and we're capitalizing.
21. Joe: So what's the new message to your target market?
22. Nick: We're pioneering a new twofold message: 1. There is a better way to design snowboards that enhances your feel on the mountain, and 2. You don't have to do flips and tricks to be cool in our community. Our community is made up of park riders, young kids, older riders, carvers, college kids, families, and yes, skiers. You are welcome in our community if you love being outside, and being cool isn't just about how good you are at riding, it's about who you are as a person.
    1. The response to this new line of thinking in the industry has been inspiring. Snowboarding as a sport isn't flattening, it is maturing, and we are positioning ourselves to be at the forefront of that maturation.
23. Joe: What have you done that has really worked well thus far?
24. Nick: Our national tours have really worked the way we've wanted them to. I think more than anything, people are searching for authenticity when purchasing luxury products. The story matters, and our story resonates with people.
25. Joe: You seem to be a combination of a cutting-edge kind of company, with a new product and a new marketing message, and yet you are, in many ways, an old school manufacturing company.
26. Nick: We're not a software startup raising millions before our first dollar of revenue. We're an American manufacturing company. We build our products ourselves, and then we tour the country ourselves. We don't outsource our manufacturing, and we don't hire reps to promote our products. Yes, we use the Internet and social media—we are a modern and technologically advanced company, but down to the roots we have a traditional structure, and people really miss that.
    1. We're described as being an earnest and respectful group that has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and that means something to people. Our story matters to people. When you're buying toilet paper, who cares? You just get the nicest or cheapest kind. The story doesn't matter. But when you're buying a snowboard—a product that you will develop a relationship with and likely personify—it's no longer just about price. Who made your board matters, and where they made it matters. The whole story matters.
27. Joe: Taking your boards out to the mountains and getting face-to-face with your potential customers has been an important part of mix for you, hasn't it?
28. Nick: The tour serves as a wonderful first point of contact with the company. Our people forgo running water and warmth to meet great people and find the best snow. We immerse ourselves in our community, and that allows us to listen and learn an awful lot about how we can support our riders and our retailers.
    1. Whether you interact with our tour in person or online, it really does give you a good idea of what we value as a company and who we are.
29. Joe: What are a couple of valuable lessons that you've learned so far?
30. Nick: The most significant lesson I've learned is that failure is hugely important, and it should be treasured. Don't waste failures. Do it quickly and often. Failure is when you learn the most, and that experience should be squeezed for every last drop of insight every time it happens. A success is either an accident (we've had a few of those), or it is the culmination of all the lessons learned during repeated failures.
31. Joe: A lot of people believe that their success or failure is all about the idea. You've got a new, unique idea with Gilson Boards. Is your success all about that idea?
32. Nick: I've learned that a good idea accounts for less than 1 percent of what it takes to bring a new product to market, and along the same vein, surrounding yourself with a team of highly intelligent and persistent people is crucial. Persistence is the keyword there, given that you're going to need to fail a lot in order to succeed, and it is much more fun if there is no loss in enthusiasm.
33. Joe: You and I tend to agree on the idea that less truly can be more, and that simplifying your business can be a competitive advantage.
34. Nick: I've learned that building a business is a lot like writing an excellent essay—the delete key is one of the most important buttons. It's okay to start with 10 pages, but if you really want to make it great, figure out how to convey the same message and emotion in one page. There are certain risks you will take when building a business, and sometimes you need to stick to your guns against all odds, and at other times you need to be able to shift course quickly, even if it means deleting a few sentences you thought sounded great.
35. Joe: As the company grows, what do you look for in new employees?
36. Nick: We look for two mind-sets in particular when hiring: perseverance and intelligence. Smart people who are also persistent can do just about anything if given the resources. Our business operations guy, Steve Blackman, is also our accountant, and he was trained as a journalist. He's smart, and he works outrageously hard. When he fails, he yells a little, but then he pulls himself up by his bootstraps and figures it out. His training means almost nothing compared to his way of thinking.
37. Joe: One of the things I have found in over 30 years of working with and studying successful businesses is that what's most important is mind-set. Strategies and tactics vary wildly from business to business, but the truly successful ones seem to share some common threads when it comes to the mind-set of the people who work there. Talk about that mind-set of perseverance and intelligence that you look for.
38. Nick: Being wrong and persistent gets you to a bad place. Being right with no persistence gets you nowhere. Being right and persistent is how you get the job done. Intelligent people find the right answer most of the time. Persistent people get the job done, regardless of unforeseen obstacles. Intelligent and persistent people grow successful businesses and realize their goals.
39. Joe: In a new business like yours, how important is the teamwork factor?
40. Nick: All this said about individual mind-set, we also attempt to measure how well a potential hire will mesh with the team. We had a dream candidate apply recently. He was smarter and more educated than me by a factor of 10, no question. He was clearly persistent, but he had trouble listening when others were talking. It was subtle, but over time that is a recipe for disaster on a small team. We had to pass on the opportunity. I would have made the wrong decision a few years ago.
41. Joe: What do you think will be your biggest challenges going forward?
42. Nick: We have two primary challenges moving forward. We operate in a seasonal market, and we offer a made-to-order, customizable product—and yes, those two challenges are related. Snowboards are primarily purchased between August and January. Last year, our build team was working 80 to 100 hours per week during those months. In June, they were off the clock and building a board here and there over a beer. We could stock inventory, but we're a young company, and we don't have enough data to make those decisions and still be able to sleep at night. What if we spend the summer stocking the wrong inventory? That could kill us. Perhaps more important, inventory takes away from the feeling people get when purchasing a board from Gilson. We make each board for an individual, even if it is one of our standard models. Your board isn't waiting for you on a warehouse shelf. Your board doesn't even exist yet, but it will be on your doorstep in a week if you click that button. There is something special about that.
43. Joe: It sounds like part of the challenge for you might be growth in orders, which is what you want, but it's also what can kill you if you don't manage it properly.
44. Nick: As we grow, we have to be increasingly intelligent about how we approach production and seasonal variability. We don't have the wiggle room to misstep, and we need to maintain our intensely high-quality standards in production, which is really hard to do when orders are growing exponentially. We're not going to sacrifice our artisan philosophy to sell lower-quality boards for a few extra bucks on the bottom line. We care too much about our company, and we care too much about your ride. We would rather tell people that they can't get a board at the moment, which is always a sad thing for us to do.
45. Joe: What do you consider to be the company's greatest strengths?
46. Nick: This is the hardest question you've asked so far. I cannot tell you how many manufacturing and business folks have walked into our facility and had their jaws drop—talking about the “continuous improvement mind-sets” and the “innovation at work” and how we're “doing all the things they teach by the seat of our pants.” We hear it every day, which is nice I suppose, but none of us see it. Ask any member of the team what's on their mind and odds are it's something going wrong. We see future problems far more clearly than we see historical successes. I'm told that is in itself a strength, but it isn't making us any younger, that's for sure.
47. Joe: On the face of it, the fact that you go on tour every winter and get out there in the middle of your market seems like it would have to be a strength for you. I constantly encourage my clients to know more about the customer than the competition knows, and how that can be their greatest competitive advantage.
48. Nick: I would have to say that one of our strengths is our desire to immerse ourselves in our community and listen. We've learned so much on the road that we've later been able to implement back home in our facility.
49. Joe: I remember when you asked me what would be the first thing I'd do if I were starting the company, not as a 26-year-old, but at my age. I told you that I'd immediately hire some 26-year-olds. What are the ups and downs of starting a business with such a young team?
50. Nick: We are a young team, and that comes with its own set of challenges, but we've found that inexperience can also be an asset. We've had a number of internal inventions that allow us to build better snowboards, but we never would have found those solutions if we had known the “standard” way of doing things. A number of years ago, all the world's most knowledgeable academics and scientists knew that human flight would never be achieved.

What If I Were Starting Over?

Being a part of this new company has been mentally invigorating for me in terms of how I think about my own business. It's intriguing to any of us who have been in business for a long time to think in terms of: “What if I were starting all over? If I were building this business from scratch, what would I do differently? What would I change?”

Nick and his team at Gilson Boards are doing just that—starting a company from scratch and building it exactly the way they want to. Some of what they do will work. Some of it won't. The journey from having a glorious idea to having a company that makes a profit is a long, complicated walk.

Most of the people who read this book will probably also agree that the journey from having a profitable company to sustaining that success is also a complicated walk, and it requires a combination of continuous vigilance, openness to change, and as Nick pointed out, never-ending persistence.