J Strickland is full of shit.
He quit Baker cause Andrew/Jim/Eric wouldn't pay him the $80,000 a year he demanded.
He was an Art Director/Team Manager. And if they paid him that much (far more than any of the pros were getting)
the company would have gone out of business.
Not only that, he was art directing for Baker, and then started Bootleg on the side, which Andrew/Jim/Erik/Dusin had
no ownership over. He basically worked for one company and then formed a competitor using the same art and graphics,
thus hurting Baker when kids bought a Bootleg board instead. But Jay got paid from both brands.
Any company in the world would fire you for that. But he didn't even get fired, he quit. (I believe he was caught stealing as well)
He is a double dipping, leaching, con-man.
If you look at the Baker/Deathwish roster you can see that Andrew etc is loyal. They haven't kicked any of their long term riders off.
And they are always hooking up more and more people.
When you design a Spitfire flame you don't get to own Spitfire, when you design an Indy cross, you don't own Indy.
But when you put your neck on the line and invest all your money into starting a brand, you own the company, which is what Andrew did.
end rant.