Simonov, I'm assuming you're either trying to introduce a new truck to an already saturated market or trying to make a longboard brand more relevant. I'm sure most will be forthright with their opinions if they knew what this is all about. After all, a truck company ran by non-skaters is destined to fail. There's no fear in giving away "secrets".
Chavo, thanks for your comments, you seem to be very perceptive. You may be interested in knowing some of the details behind my questions.
I posted here to get a quick run-down on how a lot of skaters
perceive various truck brands (because as far as I am concerned at this point, perception is reality). I can also get a lot of good feedback by hanging out at the local skatepark, but we have the internet these days and everything's faster and easier on-line.
I haven't skated in a long time. I did most of my skating back when Metaflex wheels changed the game, but by the time the Independent Truck Company came along I was already into cars and girls and not so much into skateboarding. What I do these days is design and produce, locally, parts and accessories for tactical shotguns. It's something I am good at, and I've been looking around for other areas where I can apply my expertise.
A truck company run by non-skaters is not destined to fail, at least not for that reason. I sell to cops and the military and I sure wasn't a cop or a soldier when I started my business. I didn't really even have much experience with shotguns, didn't understand them. But I am a good listener and have built my entire company on innovation. Today ours are increasingly the standard on-gun shell carriers for law enforcement agencies, and our stocks have been adopted by people like the FBI and the LAPD.
I'm not bragging here, I'm just revealing a little about my approach to things. I want to get up to speed quickly on skateboard trucks, and you guys have been really helpful. I will be looking closely at what is available, and if I see some room for innovation - if I think of something valuable I can build into a new design - I might want to give it a shot. But if I can't innovate I'm not interested. As you said it's a crowded market and I can't imagine there's any room for another cookie-cutter manufacturer who doesn't have the promotional budget of Indy or Destructo (and I sure as hell don't).
But I want to address some of the other comments that have been made here, not for my own sake but for yours. I think there was a suggestion that a new company can't survive in a market dominated by the likes of Independent
et al. That's just not true. Very few people I have spoken to have ever heard of Randal (local guys, in San Diego County) and almost no one I know has heard of Street Rodz. Yet presumably these two companies continue to thrive, in the shadows of the big boys. You don't have to be number one or even number two to survive in business; you just need to establish yourself in a niche - perhaps a niche you have invented yourself.
This is important because a lot of people with good ideas are afraid to execute them because they figure they can't possibly compete with the guys who are already in the market. When I started my company, I figured I had a good idea and I just ran with it; I wasn't too worried about what the other guys were doing (and frankly almost no one else was really paying any attention to what I had in mind, so I had a free run). I will admit I made a lot of costly mistakes, and I have been very lucky by being able to have recovered from them. But the basic idea was sound.
One reason we were able to do what we did is because we were the only guys who were not afraid to try to make something
better, not just cheaper. We have a competitor that has by far the number one share of on-gun shell carriers and has been selling them for something like 20 or 30 years. They had almost no competition until we came along, because there is simply no way to do what they do for less money. It can't be done. And since that's what American manufacturing is all about anymore - how to make things
cheaper, not
better - no one wanted to risk competing with them. So I looked at the problem and said, "I know I can make a better product, but it will cost more," and I jumped into the market. What I came up with was not rocket science, it wasn't a brilliant game-changing improvement on how things were done previously, it was just a number of (rather obvious) improvements on existing designs. But it cost more so no one tried it until I came along. Because I was dumb enough to believe people would pay more for a better product.
And now we are doing well. No one will get rich off of this, but I am keeping five people employed.
Anyway, I wrote all that just to say don't necessarily believe the common wisdom about these things, especially if you are smart guy, a fast learner, with good ideas. I think the young people of today have been very poorly served by their parents' generation. The US (I know you aren't all Americans here) has convinced itself that making things is what China is for and that the future is in espresso shops, dog-walking services and iPhone apps. That's bullshit and I've proved it.
One reason I was initially interested in skateboard trucks (aside from the fact that my shop is on Monrovia Ave in Costa Mesa and we are surrounded by skateboard, surfboard and streetwear companies) was because of a conversation I had with some guys from a skateboard company down the street, who bought their trucks from China. My ears pricked up because I am
extremely interested in making things here in California that most people think have to be sent offshore to China. I assumed that, like everything else, most of the skateboard truck manufacturing industry had been sent offshore, and so I had an opportunity to appeal to customers who wanted a US-made product.
I was very pleased to learn (well, I had mixed emotions) during my researches that most of the US truck companies make their products here in the US. Skateboarders should be proud they are supporting an almost entirely home-grown industry, which is more than can be said about most other segments of society (again, I realize you guys aren't all Americans). Now if only your clothes could be US-made!
Anyway, I have blathered on for long enough. Once again, I appreciate your responses, and I hope you have a better appreciation for where I am coming from. I am still interested in learning anything you guys want to reveal about this business (I'll answer any questions, too), but from my initial research I am a little intimidated by the industry. Unlike the firearms industry, this seems to be a business full of highly innovative firms that continue to manufacture their products domestically. There may well be no place for me to fit in. But I will continue to study the business carefully for a few months at least.
Topic: Market research: what do you think of these trucks? (Read 9161 times)