Who would have thought that the secret to running a successful business was to know whether your customer was an airdog, a handy dandy or a grommet? Jake Burton Carpenter, that’s who.

By evolving a child’s toy called the Snurfer into a multi-million dollar business, Carpenter has managed to ride the half-pipe all the way to becoming the founder of a US$2.4 billion industry that he now dominates. But if Carpenter understands the needs of the world’s young riders so well, it’s not because he has superhuman trend prediction skills; it’s because he is a rider himself.

At 54 years of age, Carpenter might not be considered so young anymore in a market where anyone past the age of 25 is considered un-cool. But without him, the market might not have existed at all. Indeed, snowboarding is a way of life for Carpenter and he has found the golden path to any successful business model: he has melded his passion with his work.

Realising that it is not about the money but about the sport – and those that take part in it – is what ultimately delivered the goods for Burton.

“I started the business as a get-rich-quick scheme,” Carpenter says, “but very soon I had even less money than when I started.”

Part of the problem was that originally, the Snurfer, upon which Burton’s boards were based, were marketed as toys, not sports equipment.

“I realised that if I was ever going to succeed, it would be by educating people about the sport first,” Carpenter explains. “If I looked out for the sport, then it would look out for me.”

True to his word, he gave everything he had to publicising this sport that had just a small number of adoptees, most of whom were being turned away from resorts who didn’t want any “shredders” on their slopes. Carpenter even taught himself German and moved to Austria for a time to infiltrate the snowboarding community there and find out what riders really wanted and needed.

This drive to understand his market so that ultimately it understood him was what made Burton the leader in boarding products today. The key to Carpenter’s success is that he knows to whom he is talking. That’s why on at least 100 days of the year you’ll find him ripping down the mountains, not only testing the products, but getting in touch with his market as well as gathering vital feedback and reactions from the people on the ground.

Speaking the customer’s language
“The Burton experience is about riders talking to riders,” says Bryan Johnston, vice president of marketing. The idea is that the best way to know your market, to be aware of the subtle changes in it, is to spend a lot of time deep within its network.  As a result, not only does Burton make those in the know feel like they are part of a community, but Burton is intimate with every aspect of the marketplace and knows where to go for inspiration.

In fact, the riders aren’t just at the end of the production line, they originate it too. Every new season, Team Burton comes to a round table to develop product ideas and make sure they get them right by taking them out for a spin, all the while talking to the guys on the slopes and staying plugged in with the latest trends. This is called “the process” and ensures that Burton gets its feedback directly from the pros.

The retail experience itself is also thought through to perfectly answer customers’ needs. So when the fifth retail flagship store opened last November in Osaka, Japan, it wasn’t just a random location choice. Osaka is close to a wide range of mountains and therefore a perfect location for riders to head to after they have bought their kit.

Inside the store, as with every other Burton flagship, everything has been carefully considered. First there’s the Cold Room, which simulates winter conditions to try on clothes. Then there’s the rider’s lounge, with TVs and learning materials to get ideas from. This then leads to a giant walk-in closet which alternates its themes by rider, giving you an insight into what the pros would have at home in their own wardrobe.

Each board can also be customised and all members of staff are riders themselves, on hand to give out tips or just share stories of their favourite slope to shred. And that advice is readily given to anyone who asks – it’s not just about the experts, but the beginners, too. This is democratic retail at its finest, where everyone can come and feel like they can have a try at becoming a great rider.

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Carpenter doesn’t only take care of his customers. His staff is part of the “family” that is, in turn, his customer base, so they get free passes and shifts are juggled so that everyone gets a chance to ride. Management has flexible hours too so that they have time to fit in a few slopes before work, and if it snows over two feet in 24 hours, the company closes for snowboarding time.

Then there’s the Learn to Ride programme, which makes Burton the only brand to provide beginners with specific equipment and teaching methods. Or Go Snowboarding, which allows customers to get free lessons and lift ticket packages, transferable to family and friends. Oh, and what about Burton Studios on Apple iTunes, where you can watch movies of your favourite riders in action? Perhaps you need some tips on the best slopes near you? Call the Rider Services hotline, where a seasoned expert will guide you.

The list goes on. Whether Jake Burton Carpenter invented the snowboard as we know it or not, one thing is certain – there is no end to his ideas and efforts to make the sport fun and universal. The shredders have a real champion behind them, and as long as he continues to understand their lifestyle, we won’t be seeing the back of Burton anytime soon.

A half-pipe dream come true
The mention of the word Burton on any slope around the world is usually followed by whispers of awe or respectful nods of admiration. That’s because Jake Burton Carpenter (above), although not officially the inventor of the snowboard, is credited with the invention of the sport as it is known today.

Born in 1954, Carpenter grew up on Long Island, New York.

“I have always loved snow. Snow represented no school, and that was a super-positive thing,” Burton said. “When I was seven, my father and mother took us up to Vermont to go skiing, and I really took to it.”

Since that day, Carpenter has never stopped messing around with boards in one shape or another. After a childhood of sliding down small hills in his backyard on a homemade plank of wood, Burton went to work for Victor Niederhoffer, who ran a successful hedge fund that sold privately owned companies to big corporations. But however lucrative it was, the job didn’t leave him satisfied. His passion lay elsewhere.

So, in 1977, with some money from his grandmother’s inheritance and zero woodworking skills, Carpenter bought a sabre saw and started making board prototypes. For the first few years, the business was a complete failure and Carpenter was in serious debt. But then, travelling from ski shop to ski shop in his pick-up truck, he decided to demonstrate how the board worked. Once people saw him on the board, the business started to take off.

Since then, Jake Burton Carpenter’s perseverance has led him to develop the world’s leading boarding brand. Before Carpenter, riders didn’t know how to get resorts to allow them on their slopes, let alone where to go to get a board that answered their dreams. Now, thanks to just one man’s determination, there are almost more riders than skiers tearing down the mountain. It’s not for nothing that Carpenter is widely recognised as the patron saint of snowboarding.

Snow, sand, sea, sidewalk
Understanding his customers’ lifestyles has taken Jake Burton Carpenter from a cupboard in Vermont to the head of the world’s leading boarding retailer. It has also allowed the Burton brand to expand into other areas and extend its approach to include every single aspect of the riders’ needs and desires. And the way this was achieved? By getting down and dirty with the users themselves.

Using expert riders to test and slowly fine-tune its products, today Burton has almost become synonymous with snowboards themselves. This complete understanding of what the customer wants has also allowed Burton to expand to create R.E.D. protective gear, Anon sunglasses and goggles, Gravis footwear and Analog clothing.

As an example of how Burton brands understand what their customers want, one of Analog’s propositions is to move away from the traditional baggy clothes associated with snowboarders. One of its first products, an orange jumpsuit, was met by resistance within the company, but now it is one of the brand’s most popular items. Somehow predicting what the customer wanted and then testing it out on the slopes proved to be more than successful, it just makes sense.

Realising that the boarding lifestyle extends way beyond the mountains, Burton also created Channel Islands surfboards and recently bought DNA distribution, which includes Alien workshop, Reflex and Habitat skateboards. But what really hits the mark are all of the peripheral propositions that the rider can enjoy when becoming a Burton customer.

There’s the Learn to Ride program, present in many resorts for riders to develop their skills or learn from scratch. This stroke of genius not only ensures Burton’s presence on the slopes, but it also makes it the only brand to provide beginners with specific equipment and teaching methods. Then there’s the Go Snowboarding package, which offers customers free lessons and lift tickets, transferable to family and friends.
Finally, with the expansion of the brand to Burton Studios on Apple iTunes, customers can enjoy movies of their favourite riders out and about.

From being product people to turning into professional producers, now that Burton has infiltrated its customers’ lives so fully, there really is no limit to what it can offer. And that, in turn, means that it will be always be able to count on the loyalty of its customers.