[pbasqu]

Hey Guys and gals,

Me and my bro are thinking of starting our own graphics business where we will do custom graphics on blank skateboard decks, snowboards, t-shirts, hats, helmets (skateboard, snowboard type) and also sell through an e-store. I found some blank boards at

http://www.blankdecks.com/snowboards/snowboard_main.htm

What are some of your opinions? Is anyone here familiar with blank snowboards?

Thanks

[made4success]

New idea hardly ....
Your about 35 years to late to call it new. In the 70's surf boarders as a way to gain more popularity used graphics to promote their sport, as well as skateboards in the 80's and 90's, even the concept of helmet, t-shirts, hats, etc. have expanded their market appeal to more consumers with added graphics.

I would say your NEW IDEA, may not be as new as you think. You will need to research the industry to find a niche that has not been capitalized upon. It can be done with a lot of bookwork (research) on your part. Now if you can offer personal photos or designs to be submitted by the customer for their boards, you might have your niche.

Don't give up your vision or dreams, for that only leads you to adulthood, and you will fail. Dream as a child, as only children do, and your dreams will come true.

[SSM]

Dont be discouraged that you arent the first person printing on skateboard stuff. But some things to consider are the cost of good printers and good designers.

[akula]

well....

from an investment perspective this is not a good opportunity (i.e. relatively better than others)

the product is way too niche and the business process is unscalable

to overcome these problems I suggest doing problem formulation

you can't start ventures because "it's a cool idea" or "no-one has done this before" or "I just know everyone will want to buy this" or "we are some much better than the competition"

good luck

Originally Posted by pbasqu

Hey Guys and gals,

Me and my bro are thinking of starting our own graphics business where we will do custom graphics on blank skateboard decks, snowboards, t-shirts, hats, helmets (skateboard, snowboard type) and also sell through an e-store. I found some blank boards at

http://www.blankdecks.com/snowboards/snowboard_main.htm

What are some of your opinions? Is anyone here familiar with blank snowboards?

Thanks

[pbasqu]

thanks for the tips 'made4success'. I didn't mean 'new' as in a 'never thought of before' idea, but i meant that it was my personal newest idea. I was also thinking of personal photos or designs to be submitted by the customer for their boards as an option. Any ideas on where I can find market data for the skateboarding/snowboarding industries??

[akula]

read this carefully

you're making mistakes

1) you've doing feature creep (photos on boards) and 2) you are subconsciously reverting to procrastination (chasing up irrelevant numbers, that are supposed to make you feel good)

you want to succeed? drop all this nonsense and go sell some damn boards

[made4success]

These should give you a great start



http://www.researchoninnovation.org/WordPress/?p=74

http://www.docuticker.com/?p=5797

http://www.aecnewsroom.com/articles/...e.jsp?id=67894

http://www.outdoor-resources.com/Ski...t=Snowboarding

http://skimall.net/home.html

[pbasqu]

i like the way you think akula!!!

[pbasqu]

1) you've doing feature creep (photos on boards)

what do you mean by feature creep??

[akula]

feature creep is one of the major causes which kill startups

let me give you an example by reference to baking a cake, so you can avoid this problem

when making a startup (i.e. baking a cake), novice entrepreneurs start without a proven recipe or a list of requirements from customers (i.e. this is what I want in my cake etc..).

the result is, they mix and match all sort of ingredients to make one inedible mess, then no one buys the cake, the founder gets upset and figures the solution to the problem is to add more ingredients to the cake (to make it "better")

thats' what you're doing now. your product is not selling, you are getting annoyed, and you think the solution is to make a "better product".

that's feature creep. it's when entrepreneurs derail projects when they start adding new features to their product as a result of desperation. this happens because the founders don't know what they are doing (have no recipe) and/or have no idea what customers want (no list of requirements).

hot to avoid feature creep: never build products/services before you've sold them. that's how. stop product development, focus on lead generation. think I'm wrong? try me. continue with product development and see what happens in six months.

[goodwood]

Hey, I own a Snow/Skate shop and I am only 21 but I have been doing both for about 11 years now. Now you have a good idea to be doing designs on decks...but I will worn you the Snowboard industry is Huge with brands of decks, and the consumer is becoming way more picky by the day. With your blank decks you found you dont know what the ride is like,

how is the flex?
Where are the stringers run?
how many inserts do they have?

Also these days there are new brands popin up from pro's every season, Last year i think 3 new brands by pro's were made, this year has been a couple. Its getting harder and harder to be in the market.

I sound very discouraging and I am sorry but I just want you to know how hard it is.

If you make it a custom brand where people can get thier own designs on them with your logo on it aswell that would be unique and people would dig that.

If you go full force with it, also to have a small team is a good idea, to premote th