venture concept

The opportunity here is the ever increasing desire to ride a mountain in the freest manor possible. Surfing is the first documented board sport to ever exist and ever since people have been recreating that feeling in every way possible. Out of surfing came skateboarding in the 50’s and by the 60’s came snowboarding. Snowboarding has been practically the same ever since using the same style boards and the same binding mechanisms to keep the rider attached to the board. A new trend in snowboard is inspiring snowboard shapers to design snowboards to more closely  mimic a surf type feel. Some people have even been bringing back old school original boards that have only a rope connected on the nose of the board to keep the rider attached  no bindings. The opportunity and the unmet need here is to create a board that allows for the ultimate ‘surf like’ experience on the mountain. This idea meets the needs of snowboarders, surfers, and skateboarders alike. With this becoming a more and more popular trend I believe this could possibly be  a big opportunity with the limits being only the geography,  where of course one would need mountains and snow in order to partake in the sport.  I believe this is a trend that isn’t going anywhere.

The innovation here is the design of the boards themselves, depending on the conditions the rider will want to ride a specific board. For harder snow one would want a smaller board to be able to maneuver better, groves on the bottom of the board will increase the turning ability, and also sharp waving edges of the board can help grip  in hard icy conditions. In softer deeper snow one would want to ride a board that is much larger for more surface area allowing for more float, perhaps concave for balance, etc. As far as grip goes the top of the board will need some sort on bumps to keep the board attached to the rider and help prevent slipping due to the snow. Also a specific type of water proof shoe will be necessary to allow the rider more flexibility than just the traditional snowboard boots. The real innovation for this idea though is the breaking mechanism which allows for downhill riding. Without a break system the rider would easily lose the board when riding downhill. The idea we have come up with to solve this is a Bluetooth paired break system that will deploy a ski break when connection is broken between the rider and the board. The way that this could be sold would be to create prototypes with professional shapers, perfect it in all conditions, ride it, and market it.  

As far as a venture concept, it may be difficult to educate people of the technology, but ultimately it will speak for itself. The best case scenario, and really the only way this idea can come to life is if I were to partner with someone already in the industry. This is truly the secret sauce, board shaping is the most crucial element for this venture. A partnership would give me all the resources necessary for bringing this idea to fruition, and would also help in the future to be able to expand into all of the board sport markets; this would give me the opportunity to continue creating  and progressing the ‘art of flow’.