Meet rob bAk | owner/operator/everything-er of Colorado Skateboards

We had the good fortune of connecting with rob bAk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi rob, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I got my first skateboard from Kmart back in 1990 while growing up in Alpena, Michigan. Shortly thereafter, I got my 1st “real” skateboard, which was a Tony Hawk pro model. The thought of starting my own bran never even crossed my mind until the summer of 2012, while I was building a house in Denver with a crew of my friends. A few months prior to that, I had flown out to California to visit a friend, Mark (owner of Robot Guts Skate Hard Ware) and we took a day trip to Santa Cruz. On that day, we stopped in at the Consolidated Skateboards headquarters and that’s kinda where the thought started. I figured, these were guys just like me that had started a skate brand and that I could do it too. As we built the house, I realized how much more awesome it would be to have a skateboard company rather than building homes in 100+ degree temperatures! I began thinking of a name that would last forever and something that people could relate to. Everyone seems to relate to Colorado somehow, and the fact that I have now lived in Colorado much longer than my growing up years in Michigan, it made the choice easy to call my brand Colorado Skateboards. It was scary as Hell to embark on something I had no prior business training or schooling to help me, but somehow I just kept on pushing forward and doing what needed to be done to start this brand and keep it going. All the while continuing full time snowboard coaching at a club in Vail and full time landscaping in the summertime. Luckily, my landscaping boss is totally down with me building my company, that he is fine with me taking days off for contests, business meetings, and even flying out to California once a month.
I am very thankful to everyone that helped me keep my thoughts in order during the process of building this brand.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In the summer of 1990 I bought my first skateboard from Kmart in Alpena, Michigan. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that 22 years later I would start my own brand (CS is 10 years old now!). After high school I moved out to Vail, Co with $750 to my name and just wanted to become a pro snowboarder. Things worked out pretty well in that aspect. I never had the dream of becoming pro at skateboarding. I just really like to skate and wanted to keep it like that. Snowboarding has taken me to many places and introduced me to many many people and friends. Through these friendships, I have been able to get my foot in the door with a bunch of retail stores that are owned by these friends I have met along the way. I am very greatful for the oppurtunities these friends have given me. Even my buddies that build and maintain the Colorado Skateboards website were the original owners of Emage (in Denver), all of whom which I met because of snowboarding in Colorado. The Colorado snowboard and skate industry is very much intertwined. The challenges I faced starting up the CS brand were all a learning experience. I have had no college education and therefore never learned how to be a start a small business. It’s scary at times, but in the end I am stoked to own a skate brand that has taught me so many things in the process of building and operating it. The brand means a lot to me also, because Colorado has been home to me for 26 years now.
I would want the world to know that the CS brand is all about the feeling of skateboarding and meeting amazing people along the way. Skateboarding is like a metaphor for life. We can learn how to fall down and get back up and keep pushing to succeed in what we are trying to stomp. And like building a brand, with no prior knowledge of how to run a business, I had to fall down a lot and get back up and learn how to stomp my landing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
So if one of my good friend’s were in Colorado for like a week in the summer, I would do a skate trip around the state. Colorado now has like a million skateparks and more are being built every year. I am 45 years old and most of my friend’s that are still actively skating generally enjoy skateparks rather than street skating. Most of the crew on the CS team still prefer street skating and finding new spots. So, I get some fun street days in with them. There are some amazing loops around Colorado to enjoy the views and the skate parks in so many towns. Be it camping or hitting hotels, it would be easy to spend months doing this! When we are in the Eagle County area, I would definitely take them to Rocky Mountain Taco in Minturn!
Colorado has so much to offer with amazing countryside, super awesome people in the skate/snow/music scene, restaurants, camping, backyard ramps/bowls, and so much that it’s hard to just name a few places or things to check out.
I lived in Denver/Arvada for almost 3 years before moving back up to the mountains. Denver has a sick skate scene and there’s always good food nearby. Going to punk and metal shows around Denver is always a good time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is kind of tough for me because so many people deserve a shout out. From friends and family to new friends and store owners and team riders and website builders to mentors, there are a lot. I guess it’s ok to name some pivotal people in my journey. One of those is Matty Swanson, who worked for many years with the Oakley brand in marketing and team managing and video production, etc. He spent countless hours with me over the phone and in person with a brand workshop. This helped me streamline my thoughts and ideas into action and build my brand appropriately. Along with Matty was another old Oakley vet, Kurt Olesek (K.O.). KO and Matty really guided me in my journey of building this brand.
There are also a couple friends that built successful businesses that gave me advice and guidance.
I had a few people offer some financial help in order to get things off the ground. It wasn’t much for them, but a big help for me. I don’t think I could have really gotten the wheels rolling all on my own. I realize now, that is how pretty much all businesses start up. Just a little nudge can do a lot. I am very thankful to them.
Honestly too, I watched the Element movie “Make It Count” probably 500 times for inspiration in building a skate brand.

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