Bored with Board Culture: Out of the Closet Confessionals from One of the Industry’s Youngest and Boldest Entrepreneurs

Boise, ID - March 27, 2008 - He’s young, anti-hip, and way ahead of the trend curve when it comes to spotting business opportunities within his niche. He’s not your typical “businessman,” but don’t be deceived by his boyish “skater” demeanor. Over the last 3 years, Dbot5 founder Bryce Hepworth has been a busy bee - busy building a “board” brand from the ground up, and to hear him tell it, it’s been anything but boring.

The Dbot5 story revolves around the vision of a younger Hepworth, who was tired of being pandered to by brands who didn’t “get” him or his passion for skateboarding and snowboarding. According to Hepworth, he soon realized that it wasn’t just his passion; it was the passion of millions his age whose sport of choice involved a board of some kind or another
Dbot5 is a lifestyle. Our objective as a business is branding and making things cooler,” Hepworth states emphatically when asked about Dbot5. “When it comes to running our business, we’re very focused - some might say serious - traits typically not associated with the ’skater’ stereotype. We’ve spent considerable time and effort sourcing the best manufacturing and internal team to help us develop products we envision” Hepworth says, deadly serious. “We develop products that we’d love to use, not just trendy crap we think will sell,” he concludes.

To hear him tell it, the challenge of starting a brand from scratch has just about run him ragged, pushing he and his family almost to the breaking point. But in those few short years, he’s gained a lifetime of experience and a library of tales from the front-lines, “I feel like I’ve aged a decade in the last three years - physically and mentally. However, every day has been well worth the potential risk. We slide boards down stair-rails for fun. I guess I am a risky ‘mutha’. But like skateboarding it involves tons of practice, my business is no exception. I have been training my whole life for this.”

Hepworth’s excitement is visible as he discusses the recent decision to depart from the brand’s core product, wakeboard accessories, “As the founder and owner of Dbot5 Wakeboard Tower Accessories, I have seldom wakeboarded! Frankly, I’ve grown tired of the wakeboarding scene, There, I said it - I feel like I’ve just been outed! I’ve been a passionate skateboarder and snowboarder my whole life; wakeboarding was introduced later, and I have a great deal of respect for the guys and girls that do it well. They have supported me so much and I love them. But, truth-be-told, I am the guy you flipped off behind the family motorboat, bobbing in my orange life-jacket, and two water-skis.”

When pressed about what prompted the decision to depart from the wakeboard scene, Hepworth clarified:

“We’re not abandoning wakeboarding. We’re simply adjusting our focus. A lot of the focus and energy to push ourselves in the board sports we owe to our passion for music. One of our first products to hit the market was a boat speaker. I want to develop products for customers who, like me, use music to help them take their board sport to the next level. Skateboarding has taught me how to visualize a difficult trick that may take months to get right. It usually comes after listening to a favorite few songs that help push me to the next level. I love listening to music when I skateboard - wakeskating - or traveling for work.

“Our horn loaded DBot5 Jet Pack boat speakers were specifically designed to improve the progression and ‘game’ of our industry athletes. They’re like giant headphones for your boat. Here’s my point: If your objective is going to the lake to ‘drink some beer,’ surround yourself with random dudes, and to talk porn with your shirt off; these speakers are not for you. They were designed with the progression of wakeboarding in mind. Our products, our brand, and our lifestyle, aren’t for every boat on the lake. And no, our products won’t make you ‘extreme.’ “Regarding other products Dbot5 will be unveiling this year, Hepworth elaborated;

“When we’re too sore to skateboard we’ll go hit the back 9 (aka ‘the golf course’) with iPod, headphones, and Dbot5 golf clubs in tow. We have plenty of cultural comrades on the green, believe it or not, with knickers, graphic t, tatt’s and all. The older generation is getting nervous. If you don’t want to be like gramps or champs, buy em’. I’m excited about where our golf products will go this year. It’s no longer a sport/pastime for white guys with million dollar inheritances or hand-me-down businesses.”

Dbot5 currently has an assortment of wakeboarding and boat accessories, as well as travel bags and other soft goods such as apparel. In response to their future product development plans, Hepworth noted, “We’ve spent considerable time traveling the globe listening to what our customers want (check out our efficient travel bags). We do our best to apply this feedback into our everyday business model.

“We are leading in our industry with the best engineers and best practices in manufacturing. If consumers have questions about any of our lifestyle products, we have specs, or can get you in touch with an engineer. We leave the door wide open for feedback, and welcome inquiries.”

So what does the future look like for a lifestyle brand like Dbot5? To sum up, Dbot5 chief executive, Bryce Hepworth summarizes, “Going forward, Dbot5 will focus on a range of products that fit within our boarding lifestyle. We’re working to make products that we love and that we’d actually use. I’ve spent the last three years applying this mantra in our business and, perhaps ironically, I’m ready to show the world that an unconventional ’skater kid’ can be successful too. Get ready for an awesome 08-09″

Dbot5 creator and owner Bryce Hepworth (29) spends half his year in Boise, Idaho and the other half in China overseeing product development and quality assurance of the Dbot5 line.

Posted in Press Releases, Wake News | 

Tags: None