Hello and good day to you from episode 32 of our podcast series Project Breakaway. A metaphorical and literal time in the day when we here at Predator cycling take some time away. From working in the back shop to come and share with our listeners what we're doing. How we're doing it, what it takes to do it, our ideas, our innovative success stories. And even our missteps and failures. If you find yourself with an interest in bicycles, composite manufacturing. Out of the box design or even curiosities beyond. I encourage you to stick with us, settle in and learn a little. I'm Courtney B, co-owner and project manager at Predator Cycling. I'm here with my partner Arm Goan, the other co-owner, CEO, lead designer and engineer and work anniversary celebrator. How's it going, Arm? Woohoo. Uh, it's going great. I think I said that right. It's not celebrator, it's celebrator, right? Sure. What do I know? I'm pretty sure. I don't know. Anyway, uh, work anniversary, 16 years according to LinkedIn.com. Yes, it's that's that's right. That's uh 16 years we originally incorporated Predator cycling. Otherwise, we probably would have forgotten without that little pain. Uh, yeah. I mean, I I don't know. I kind of always remember because it's like November's my birthday. I incorporated right on right next to my birthday. Oh, your birthday. So, it wasn't on my birthday, but it was right after, so. Oh, okay. I kind of always remember. But like mid teens. That's pretty cool. If that's okay. So, so we're having a party. Here. Um, a work anniversary. Um, so your work anniversary, work anniversary. It's basically the business anniversary. Yeah, it's it's. Because your work is the business. I I guess. Yeah, um, it was the it's when we first incorporated Predator cycling. In California back in the day. So you're old enough to get your driver's license. Charles is over there getting some water in celebration. If you hear a if you hear a dog lapping up water. It is, that is water though. There is no celebratory drink in there. Um, so, um, we wanted to dedicate this episode to you. And more importantly, to the growth and ever-changing development of Predator cycling. For sure. Over the past 16 years, as well as what we want to do in the next 16 years. And what you want the beyond to look like. For sure. Yeah. Um, so to start. I wanted to ask you about your first memories of the birth of Predator. And what 14-year-old Arm intended to do with his life. Um, I've also pulled the company timeline, which is readily available to our listeners. On our about page on Predatorcycling.com. Okay. If they, you know, want to pull it up and follow along. Okay. Um, so 14-year-old Arm. Yeah. Is doing what? Well, I mean, I had just really started racing bikes. I I started racing when I was like 13. on the Velodrome. The circle. You went in circles. You went in circles. I went left, I turned left four times and then just kept doing it over and over again. Um, I mean, to be honest, the first time I got on the track, I just was kind of like hooked. I I loved it. It was fun. Um, and I I quickly started liking racing and I just it started growing on me. Um, I made some friends, I started riding on the weekends all the time, uh, and I I really wanted to go faster. Um, and I kind of knew that I was I didn't have the genetic uh, physical abilities in cycling. I mean, I knew that. It wasn't. Your Armenian build did not have the genetic capabilities of track cycling. I mean, I knew it was. I I well, for track cycling maybe, but for for road, definitely not. Um, I knew it was going to be an uphill battle. It's like people who see horse racing and they're like, oh, I could totally be a jockey. They don't realize they'd be like four foot five. Yeah, and only like 60 pounds. Um, but no, so like I quickly realized that like I I mean, I didn't have the that genetic ability to to to, you know, go to the top levels of the sport. But I, I don't know. I've always kind of been like a. But you had the genetic ability to design and manufacture something. Yeah, I mean, I kind of always had it. I mean, my. So let me do the leading question that everyone asks you and I know is your default answer. What made you get into bicycles? Well, my my dad raced bikes for a hot second. Um, I grew up riding bikes and I loved it. Um, and I raced. And I wanted to go faster. And I figured it would be more efficient for me to try and make a really fast bike, um, than anything else. Um, You know, coming from my background, like I guess I knew that the tour the Tour de France existed, but beyond that, I didn't. I think cycling was like a. That makes sense. Especially in the states. I mean, in the states. It's not, um, um, followed or, um, you know, pushed like it is in other countries. Um, such as in Europe. Europe it's big. Um, but it's getting bigger in the states. Um, and you know, most people will think the tour and then the Olympics. They're the only kind of things you think of cycling. I don't even think the Olympics, honestly. I just think of the tour. I'm sorry. Since I'm Ohio, you're not not a lot of. You still watch the Olympics? Uh, yeah, the gymnastics portion. Is that summer? Track cycling. Is that winter? Which season is it? It's summer. It's summer. Oh, gymnastics is a winter sport. Based on your answers so far, I'm I'm not going to take offense to you not knowing cycling was a sport in the Olympics. I watch swimming and archery. And I thought maybe I remembered it, but no. Um, but yeah, so it's like I mean, cycling is not that popular here. But yeah, for me, it was. I wanted to build faster bikes. And I had some friends that were racing, um, that were, you know, in an upper age category than me. Um, Your only friends are old people. Well, the junior field is pretty small. especially then, so a lot of the people you rode with were in their 30s, 40s, 50s. And you're 14. Yeah, I was 14. I was riding with them. Because I mean that's who you ride with. I mean some of my my best training partners were in their 30s and 40s. But whatever, it was fun. Um, but yeah, and so they actually encouraged me a lot too to do it. So, um, I did. I started when I was 14, I came up with my first um frame that I designed. It was a time trial frame. Um, which is, I mean, also I guess leading up to that was there at the time, um, you know, we're talking 2000 99, 2000, which is when Lance first started racing. Um, and you couldn't really get your hands on a time trial bike. Like there there really wasn't the major brands weren't making them. Um, triathlons weren't quite popular enough for them to start making triathlon bikes, specific like arrow ones. Um, no one was really making anything, so I decided that I wanted to make one because I wanted a time trial bike. So you're talking 99, 2000, 2001, because Predator didn't incorporate until 2005. Yeah. So you you tinkered, as I say, Mhm. for a couple years. Yeah, so I came up with my first prototype frame. Um, and then from there it kind of just rolled out to like I made, I don't know. That first year we kind of made three or four bikes. And then we quickly started making more. But quick note, wasn't predator to begin with. No, the well, the original name I wanted was Pegasus. Pegasus. Yeah, I thought that was a cool name. Because you liked fantasy horses. I just thought a horse, a bike. I don't know, you ride it. It goes fast. Well, Pegasus flies. It doesn't. Well, these fly through the air. They're going so fast. They fly. I don't know. I thought it was cool. I'm trying to envision, did you have a logo for that company? I didn't. Cuz I'm trying to envision like um like a unicorn flying through the air. Like definitely like those early 90s binders from school with all the rainbows and the unicorns. Okay, I could go with this. I could totally go with this. Rainbows, unicorn on a bike with some guy Armenian wearing spandex and shaved legs racing down the road. I completely behind this. So sadly Pegasus was taken. Sadly Pegasus was taken. So you went the complete opposite. Yeah. I was at my time was at my uh my coach and at his house and he was naming off bands. Um that he had or something albums or something and something he said predator and I was like, oh, predator. Like that's super cool. Like that fits. us, um, as a company. So we went after it and that's what we we picked. We picked predator. Okay, so the birth of Predator cycling officially happens in 2005. 2005 is when we incorporated. Um. With your mom. Your first business partner. Yep. Um, yeah, we kind of started. It started growing the business, we were selling more bikes. Um, people wanted them. And you were working out of your home at that time. Yep, I was running out of uh um my house, my bedroom and the the balcony. on our on our patio. Um. And we were making bikes and um, How many bikes do you think you made on your balcony? Uh, I put together and did, oh, I don't know, probably like 60, 70. Before we incorporated the company, like before we incorporated. Oh, because that's like Yeah, probably 60, 70. what, three years? Yeah, it's like 60 or 70 bikes we made during that time. Mhm. Cool. Um, yeah, it was a lot of like racers and and and um, What did you do for paint? Uh, we sent it out to a painter. We had a painter we worked with. Um, and we sent all our frames out there. Um, but yeah, it was it was fun. We made those and um, it was all time trial bikes, that's all we made. And then that slowly started um, going into other bikes. Um, but yeah, my mom was kind of super encouraging. She was just like, she didn't know anything about really much about manufacturing or bicycles. But, she's like, I can help you, let me help you and let's let's do this. Knowing your mom now, I can't picture her allowing you to have um, parts all over her balcony. She did not like it. Did she sweep up after you all the time? She did not like it. She did not like it. But I had a box and I was able to put everything in and out back in the box. And then I had a little uh toolbox in my room and it would go back and forth in there. Um, but that's where it all started. I had my computer in there. Um, I did everything in AutoCAD 2000 LT for all you AutoCAD people. Um, that's what I modeled all of the original frames in. And then from that went to Rhino and some other stuff, but. So in 2005 you incorporated with your mom. Yep. And in 2008, you opened the first physical location of Predator. Mhm. In Venice, California, on a pretty famous local street, Abbott Kenny. Yep. And at this location in 2009, you released your beach cruiser. You named and called the Abbott. Yeah. So up until then, we made time trial frames, we made uh road frames. And we made uh track frames is what we made. Um, and then that was our first release of a like a, you know, mainstream style bike. Uh, so we made the Abbott, which is a beach cruiser. Which is fitting for a street that's on, literally runs into the, well, it doesn't run into the beach, right? It's like two or three blocks from. Well, I mean, it's it stops about two blocks shy of the beach. And I'm sure back in 2008, Abbott Kenny was a little bit more like beachy and not as shey as it is now. It was up, no, it was it was pretty shey. It was coming up pretty shey. Um, but yeah, we were trying to come up with a beach cruiser. But like a predator style beach cruiser. So it was, I mean, it was pretty much as race bike as you could get stretched out into a beach cruiser. With what, giant wheels? Uh, it had 700 C wheels, like road wheels, but like 32 C, 35 C tires. So not huge tires, but, you know, bigger than racing tires. And then um, it kind of just ran, I mean, it was actually using a lot of the same tubing that we used for our um, some of our track frames. So it was a very stiff, very fast cruiser. But I think it was a little, um, it was hard to kind of position it correctly that bike. A lot of racers loved it because it was, uh, I think we came to market at $1,500. Um, and that was a lot of bike for 1,500 bucks. Mhm. Uh, but, you know, for a beach cruiser, people buy them for 300. Right. So it was kind of a hard sell at the time. Um, so we made it, we made quite a few of them and then we stopped manufacturing because it was just getting to be too expensive to manufacture them. And at at $1,500, we were barely making any money. So, and then of course, as soon as we stopped making them, they got super popular. And freaking everybody wanted them. Well, that's what always happens. Yeah, that's how it works. So it's 2009. And then you're there. Um, and in 2011, you were now in Santa Monica. Yeah, we moved to Santa Monica. And I think the other thing too is that the Abby Kenny location was pretty cool. Because it was really a true boutique. So we were like, um, you know, we were a campy pro shop. We were a bike fit studio. We had a small space. We were, you know, all we did kind of really was like high-end road track time trial bikes. Um, um, we were kind of like, I mean, we were really the first boutique in Southern California that was there. Um, and then from there we went to Santa Monica. And in Santa Monica, we kind of geared much more towards manufacturing. Um, not a front-facing store anymore. Yeah, I mean, we kind of were. We still had like a little bit of retail stuff. Um, we still took in a lot of service bikes and whatnot. But we stopped trying to be a a like forward-facing bike shop. We were kind of just like a service center, service pro shop kind of thing. Um, and then we had a back section where we were manufacturing. Right. And over time that manufacturing space took over. Right. So back in 2011, you launched your web store. Yep. You were working on carbon components like the major handlebar system. And then in 2012, two important business events happened. You segued into carbon repair. Yep. Which I think really created like an advertisement campaign, like a unintentional advertisement campaign for you. For sure. Um, and, uh, but more importantly, you met me. I did. I did. Uh, and that's when I started, I'll call it volunteering at that point at the shop. Santa Monica. And, um, Yeah. Right. Yeah. Carbon repair. I just remember remember. A ton of carbon repair. Yeah, there was, we had, I mean, we would have anywhere from 60 to 100 bikes. hanging from the ceilings. And I think in 2013 is when you started the carbon repair team. Yeah, we did. We had the team. At the time. Um, but yeah, just to back up just one second though. But like in in 2008 when we launched the web store, 2011, I said. 2011, I was. 2008 was when we moved and then 2011. When we launched the store, well, we started the store. In 2000, probably 2009. started on it. But the cool thing for us was I mean when we moved from Santa Monica, one of the things we realized was that we were a niche brand. Our products were niche. Um and uh having just a forward facing store that was a boutique and geared towards our products. Mhm. I mean, wasn't really sustainable. That's something we kind of figured out very quickly there. Um, because our market was really global. It was a global market that we had to go after. And that's why when we moved to Santa Monica, um, we saved a lot on money on rent and we reinvested a bunch of that money into our web store. And we launched it. And we were really one of the I mean, back then, it wasn't common that your e-commerce store and your um your actual website was the same site. Mhm. And that's something that we pushed. So like when you went to our product page, it was actually an e-commerce page. It wasn't like a product page and then you went to go to the e-store. Mhm. So, that was something that we tried to kind of move on to very early so that we could integrate that into a, you know, what's now is a sales channel. Um. So anyway, that's something that we tried. And that's You're trying to tell me you're before it at the time. You're before everyone. Well, I just I don't know if we're before. We were. I mean, we were definitely before a lot of people. But also it was just you'll see throughout the history of our our brand, we kind of notice when we do things and it's we're not efficient at it. We try and fix it. So that is something that we learned very quickly that we had to correct. Um, and ever since then, we've just kind of grown our e-commerce side. Mhm. And that's kind of been the heart of our company. Um for sales. Anyways. Okay. So, So then you're in Santa Monica. And then throughout 2013, 2014, 2015, um, we were kind of uh we were doing carbon repair, but you were also introducing the CNC machining. Yep. And um that's when we really started DIY carbon repair kits. We did. We started the DIY carbon repair kits. And also like on the design side, like I mean, throughout, I mean, I kind of mentioned it, like we started with AutoCAD in 2D drawing style. And then from there we went to like Rhino and 3D modeling and um, and like nerve surfacing and some more like 3D stuff. Um, but not until we started getting into composites could we really kind of leverage that. And up until, you know, 2014, 2015, when we started introducing like CNC machines and 3D printers, um, we couldn't really take those 3D surfaces and turn them into molds or parts. It was very difficult because we were literally taking manual prints, we'd print out schematics and then we would hand shape all of those. Um, molds or parts or whatever we're going to build. Um, so being able to incorporate CNC work, um, 3D printers so that we could actually start taking those 3D designs and turning them into actual tangible products. was a big transition for us. Um, to be able to create that digital envelope and and have it continue along with the product. Um, so that was big. And that's when we first started introducing like simulation as well. And that kind of really took us down a rabbit hole. Yeah, so 2015, 2016 was really a transition year, but also just like a year to figure out what we wanted to do. And where we wanted to go because we left Santa Monica and we were quickly in Kaga Park, Valley, LA. And then after, you know, figuring out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go with the business. Um, it's, you know, we went we didn't have employees anymore, went down to the two of us, we were introducing, um, you know, robots and we got our first 3D printer. And then we decided to move 2017. Yeah. Well, I mean, and also like, I think the thing too is is like, you know, we had up until then. We were running, I mean, we ran a full-blown composite shop. So I mean, we were hand shaping molds, we were running like parts. Um, and you know, the the problem with a lot of it is it's incredibly labor intensive. It's very hard to duplicate a part. And we kind of really realized some of the the limitations in our in our business model. Um, like we had made the I don't want to say mistake, but the learning experience of having a retail store. And trying to sell it as a niche product, you know, didn't work very well. It wasn't efficient. So we went to the e-commerce platform. And that did a lot better for us. And and on the manufacturing side, when we were hand shaping and making parts, it was it was it was cool. Because we could make almost anything, but the problem was is that all the labor was spent. In hand shaping from prints all of these parts. And that wasn't sustainable. Like we could not sustain that. I mean, the amount of hours you had into a part was was just. It's just tedious. It was tedious, it was too much. And it was highly inefficient. Because we could have spent that time designing the part better, simulating the part better. And, you know, spent that on the other side of the product. And then if we had the machinery, the equipment or the manufacturing technology, the platform to actually develop that into an into a system. We could scale that. Mhm. And that's I think, you know, that's what really led us, we were pushing that. And when we moved to Kaga Park, that became the entire focus. Is. Right, which is why we kind of slowed down on carbon repair, so we could focus on actual design of our own stuff. Yeah, and design of our own stuff. But I think the the thing that kind of really struck us at in Kaga Park, because because we were kind of separated from everything. We slowed everything down. Is we really got to focus on our manufacturing platforms. And trying to figure out, um, how we could do. What we set out to do, I mean, in 2005 when I started this whole thing and, you know, wanted to make fast racing bikes, super efficient systems. So it's still the same idea from 2005. I still want to make. 2005. I still want to make bikes, I still want to make fast bikes, you just, you know, don't want to sit on a balcony anymore and hand do them. You want to use the technology that's available to us now. And and when when back in 2005, I'd been reading all these articles about like simulations and machineries and robots and all this like evolution of what was going to happen. And I remember sitting there and. telling my mom like this is what we're going to do eventually. One day we're going to have, you know, these robots building us stuff. And and be able to simulate all of these things. Like I was I'd been reading about like Katia and what you could do with Katia and simulations and stuff. And obviously back then I didn't have access to that kind of technology. Mm. Um, and and now today we do. Um, it's pretty cool to see what we're able to do. And and we finally built the engineering the platforms, um, that we want. I wanted back then. Mhm. If I only had them back then. Yeah. Um, but yeah. So, since 2017, we've been here in Nashville. We're both now both owners of the company. Yep. We said your your mom peaced out. She did. She retired. She did. Um, yeah, we actually we, I mean, technically we closed the company in California and reopened in Tennessee. Yeah. Technically, yes. Um, and as we've highlighted in our, um, past podcast episodes and on the website, we've really altered the focus of the company into design simulation, incorporating 3D print, the release of the RF 20 and all of the partnerships that we've gained throughout the past year, two years. Absolutely. It's it's been. It's it's been a learning. I mean, the the last 16 years. of of having a retail store. of manufacturing completely from scratch by hand. Um, modeling and and seeing the evolution of tech. I mean, it's really just building on all of that so that we could make our workflows more efficient and we could make the parts that we really wanted to make. Um, and I think that's what we're doing now. Like, I mean, now I look at it. I was talking to my mom a couple days ago and I was like, you know, remember when I used to talk about all these crazy things we wanted to do and all this simulation. Mhm. Now it's like, you know, we have, we essentially have a supercomputer in the office and we can run the most complicated simulations off the, I mean, problems out there and solve it. Um, you know, we have 3D printers, we have CNC machines, we have access to so much tech. Um, it I mean, it's kind of a dream come true. I I was your dream come true. I meant for the business. You are my dream come true. Okay, so I mean, I'll just get to work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course. So let me inflate your ego here for like two minutes. What? Just two minutes. We're recording this, right? Uh, so I just updated, um, the our about page on our website to include all of the happenings, um, from 2021. And it's really been a lot. So let me just go ahead and just read it. Excuse me, let me just hang up on a telemarketer. Okay, so let me just go read it for Batum, um, and then you can discuss. So this is what it says now for you. All of your accomplishments for 2021. Predator cycling pushes the envelope in design simulation and additive 3D print manufacturing, utilizing a powerhouse combination of Ansys software, Lenovo hardware, and Nvidia GPU. We launch a uniquely designed and simulated product line exclusively intended for volumized 3D print manufacturing. Predator. use case studies, interviews and marketing campaigns at. Ansis Simulation World 2021, Ansis Level Up 2.0 Conference 2021. Lenovo's Rev Live Conference 2021. Nvidia GTC 2021. And Nvidia's exclusive Omniverse panel at Siggraph 2021. In addition to being highlighted on each partner's respective website blog, Predator is also featured on engineering.com, digital engineering 247.com. And continues to release weekly company insight and commentary on our podcast. Project Breakaway. Hosted by Courtney Brown. Hosted by me. Didn't put that part in there. No. So all that, all of those things you've done. Look at you. Well, yeah, we've done it. We've done these together. But yes, um, it's we've had. But you're the front facing and then I just do all the nitty gritty work to get you ready for these. Yes, you are the the backbone of this all. But yeah, I mean, I think this is. But I mean, I I I I really think that. Those are three big companies, Ansis, Nvidia and Lenovo who've all taken an interest, invested interest in Predator cycling. And and we've talked and we might have some things coming up in 2022. We we yeah, we definitely are working on um some more partnerships and some more stuff with our partners um for next year. Um and we're going to be excited to roll out some new tech. Um. But yeah, I think I think a lot of these companies have a big interest in us because. Um, you know, we do uh design, simulate and manufacture all under one roof. We also distribute, we also do. You know, the the integration directly with our consumers. So I I think that gives these companies a lot of insight into how we can use the tech. Not just on one side of it, but on all sides of it and how it affects everything. Um. Also, like, you know, I'm just like super nerdy about all this stuff. So I I love it all. Um. And these companies uh love super nerds. I guess so. I guess so. Um. Yeah, and we've been really lucky that we've been able to get featured by them and it's kind of led us to more partnerships and more projects and. More stuff. So. It's been it's been fun. Oh, the baby's having a dream. Yeah, he's dreaming about something. He's dreaming about uh industry 4.0 and all the new products coming out. He is dreaming of 16 years from now when we celebrate our 32nd anniversary and he is an employee. Nope, nope, nope, he's not excited about it. He's like, will there be milk and cookies? Okay, well, let me wrap it up here. Before we have a meltdown. So, we thank you for choosing to take some time with us. And we look forward to future breakaways. Look for us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and in person here in Tennessee. We ask our listeners, please share, like and subscribe. We're available on all major streaming platforms. Thank you for listening, have a good one and find some time to break away.
EpisodeNov 17, 2021 · 26:56
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Project Breakaway with Predator Cycling
32: 16 Years...And Driving Forward, Ep. 32
Join Courtney B and Arm Goan in a special 16th-anniversary episode of Project Breakaway, celebrating Predator Cycling's journey and future. Arm recounts his personal origin story, from designing his first bicycle frame at 14 to build faster bikes, to the company's incorporation and its remarkable evolution over the past 16 years. This episode reflects on their growth, development, and aspirations for what's next.
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