The Sporting Life
Turning a Passion into a Business
Plenty of entrepreneurs will tell you that they get an adrenaline rush from their business, whether they’re closing a deal or opening a new location.
Then there’s Rob Roskopp, co-founder of Santa Cruz Bicycles, who gets quite a charge speeding downhill at 60 mph on his mountain bike, with the Pacific Ocean 1,200 feet—and one wrong turn—below. Says Roskopp of his business, a bike company catering to adventurers, “You have to live it to know it.” It’s not just bikes.
The entrepreneurs on these pages turned their passions for rafting, snowboarding, and even fishing into businesses they hope will bring their sports to new levels. That means lighter rafts, streetworthy snowboards, and high-tech fishing lures, for starters. The more established ones, like Roskopp, are seeing considerable success--making the field all the more appealing for entrepreneurs with new idea