YouSaid · the spoken record

Mike Sinyard

lines on the record: 59
first: 2024-07-29
most recent: 2024-07-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Well, I would say a lot of it is luck. Just fortunate kind of serendipity of meeting different people in the world. And the fact that I'm not such a smart guy, I ask other people their views and I encourage other entrepreneurs, just ask people. Ask people you admire. Ask them what would they do? How do they look at it? Often say that, you know, life and business is an open book test, but I'd say I've been very lucky. A lot of the things I've done is because I personally am interested in that. I learned like if you're doing things just for money, it doesn't work. If you're doing things because you believe you can do anything.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I would say more and more I see the activity of cycling, the whole mobility, the EV of the future is the two-wheel bike, not the 8,000 pound vehicle. I see that that's the future.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I imagined specialized going on forever. Often thought like when I started working on bikes, I thought, I don't care how much or how little money I make, I want to do this because I believe in this.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, no, we do see a slowdown. You know, going through the pandemic, the bike boomed like crazy. And I liken it to whenever the world gets stressed, people return to the simpler things in life and the bicycle is definitely one of that. And I would say it went so much that it had to adjust down. I think it's a natural adjustment and at the same time the long-term outlook for writing is more positive than ever”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know, within the bike business is a complex business. You know, people think bicycles are simple, but they're actually very complex. And having people that are really obsessed about what we're doing and passionate about what we're doing, that's why we have been able to be successful over all these years. Because if you look back how many companies have went out of business, right? We did almost a few times as well. And I would just say, you know, one of the things that I have seen over the years is how much the bicycle brings to people, whether for me or my son or other people with ADHD and how it really calms your mind. And I never knew about that until later. But I'd say then it makes you more driven than ever to get more people on bikes.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I guess I would say it's real, and I would say, yeah, determination. I definitely had that from my parents. And also being a kid with the ADHD and never doing well at something, I always had to work harder. So when I could see the success, I just really wanted us to achieve it, right? And I would say that's probably accurate.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. And I kind of liken it like the company to growing up kind of like going through adolescence, if you will. And there was always the discipline principles there, but we got off course. And so I would say it was like Mike Keynes brought this real practical thing to us of like serving the customers, getting them the inventory on time, making things easier to work. And it was really back to basics.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. We took that investment from Marita at that time, and they were a good trusted partner as far as manufacturer, and they made that investment in us. And since that time, we bought down that investment. And so now they're a minority more like a third. And they've been very good, very trusting of us, and we've delivered on that trust. them is a is a minority investor. But yeah, that was a pivotal moment.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Bad decisions, again, trying to grow and trying to offer the bike shops lower priced product, but then also selling it to them at a very low margin, you know, good intention, but really put us in a very tight situation. And then we ended up having a lot of inventory. And we had got into such a trouble. We were in the workout group of the bank. That's when the bank transferred me to kind of the bankruptcy group, and they make you report the information every day. And at that time, I was able to get this guy, Mike Haines, came in. And he was a really calm, smart guy. And when the bank was pushing on us like that, Mike, who was a saint of a person would never cost her anything, but he told the bank, look, if you're going to be after us like that, come here and get the fucking keys.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, a lot of people were like, well, what is this thing? And we go, look, this isn't something new. This is what we've always done when we're at our best. This is what we strive for. And we're going to hold ourselves to this. And that's something that we use even today.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it was to give to every person. And when we would look at decisions, we would say when we're doing something, hey, the writer's the boss. Is this going to satisfy the writer?”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This brand book, and I got key people involved, and here's what it is. And we were so inspired by it. And at that time, we were really in trouble. And we said, Peter, we're going to work on this. Could we use the framework? Could we copy what you did? He goes, sure. If you want some help, I'll give you help. And so we dug in and did it and we created the first brand book, gosh, like 20, 25 years ago. It was so powerful. It was basically what do we believe, really believe. Not about how much we're going to sell or how much we're going to make. What do we as people believe about what we're bringing to the world? What is our conviction? If we do the right things, the prophet will follow.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So Peter Moore, he was the original creative director of Nike, created the Air Jordan brand, and really created the brand and the brand standards. And then he went on to Adidas and was the CEO of Adidas. And I read this article that he'd ride his bike to work every morning at 5 o'clock in the morning. And I read this. And I was so inspired. sent him a letter and I sent him a helmet and I said, wow, it's impressive what you do. And I said, I'd like to visit you sometimes. And he goes, come on up with a few people. We went up and talked to him and I said, Peter, how did you take Adidas that was kind of just lost its soul, at least in this country, and bring it back to a clarity? And Peter goes, I create.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, they did. I mean, in different levels for different ones, but overall, yes, I think people knew that we were sincere about it and we had got out of it. And we said, well, let us earn back the position with you. We don't expect you to give it to us. Let us earn it. And over time, we did”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“An apology. Abology letter said, Look, we created this brand of the full force, we lost focus, we weren't taking care of you and your riders in the right way. And we're closing this and I appreciate you to consider forgiving us for this and we'll make it up.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As things got more difficult, those executives that came in were like, oh, this isn't working, we're going to move on to something else. So at that time, I wrote an apology to retailers.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Everything just kind of diluted down. The brand and also the culture of the company. It was a failure. It was an absolute failure.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not very good, and it had an influence on the riders that were buying specialized and the retailers. It was kind of a breach of trust with customers.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The problem with that is it's not who we are. You know, it looks great on paper, or if you were to do a case study, you go, oh, that looks like a really brilliant idea, but it wasn't a brilliant idea and it wasn't who the brand was. And when you get into those things of just offering something in the Red Sea, a commodity, you can never be low enough. And it also diluted what the brand specialized was. So that was a big mistake.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But it didn't work out. That was probably my first lesson. And it's not about the skills that somebody have, but it's about the culture and the belief they have.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As the company grew, I realized everything I was doing, I was doing it for the first time. So it would always reach out to other people to see what I could learn. And I knew that I didn't know very much how to do different things. And so I thought, wow, you know, I feel like I'm really holding the company back. And if I hire somebody who's really kind of a finance operations person and then somebody who really is a marketing person, the company can really develop. So then I brought in some really key people. One came from a leasing company, was a finance expert. Another person came from marketing, worked at a ski company before, and then worked at Citibank. And I thought, oh, they could really help level us up.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we were. In fact, we always had to be profitable, starting off with no money. I thought everything I do has to increase cash flow. I'm not going to do one thing which decreases cash flow and operating very cheaply. Even when I operated the business out of that little trailer park trailer, I would ride my bike with a little trailer over to the safeway dumpster and get all the boxes. So I wouldn't even buy boxes. Just everything really minimalist. And in some ways it didn't seem that foreign because that's the way I grew up with my parents.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's always good to think about what you know and how you would do it differently. And at some points, we kind of grew more than I thought we would ever grow. And I thought. That's fine. We don't need to grow anymore to do a good job.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, go more premium. We always had the thinking no matter what we make. Is going to stand up to the use and abuse of the writer. So, in other words, if somebody buys it, they're not going to buy it and be disappointed later. They're going to be continually amazed at how well it holds up. That was always the thinking.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, a lot of people came in. And then at that point, I thought, you know what, we don't have the money to compete with all these volume guys. Let's just move up and make better and better bikes.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, and what I liked about the mountain bikes is the mountain bikers were open. You know, if we have a new idea and it would work, they're open to it. Whereas the road bike was not open. So we didn't get out of road bikes, but we shifted the energy more towards mountain bike components.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes. In fact, a lot of the early mountain bikes were breaking a lot, and not bragging, but I would say that's where we felt like we had an advantage because I had a frame builder, Jim Murs, who had personally built thousands of bikes over the years. And he was a great machinist and a very practical person. He always would err on the side of safety. And so, you know, when we made the bikes, any bike that had a problem came back to us and we saw where it cracked and we would fix that. So it was just like continuous improvement all the time.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I would say the people that were buying the bikes were probably people between 16 to 50. And some older, but mainly in that area and probably in the beginning, much more men than women.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would say the first year was slow and then the second year I remember being at the bike show and there seemed to be more interest in that and then things started to develop. And who was”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. Yeah. So it was culturally quite different. And in fact, you think about the road bikes, kind of the rules of Rome for racing bikes, and at the same time, you think about the mountain bike was much more of a free spirit. And what I saw is our advantage is we used a lot of the ideas from the racing bikes, which are really strong and light to make the bike really strong, light and durable”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There was quite a division, a cultural division between mountain bikers and road bikers, probably back in the day like you had seen snowboarders and skiers.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It did not. I mean, a few stores that were into it was, I mean, we sold 500 the first year, but it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy, and the sales were not, it was slow. And people were very skeptical.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I could see it right away when I go writing. You'd see a young kid and go, the young kid would go, oh, that is rad. That's like my BMX bike I could relate to that. And then you'd see an old person and go, hey, you know, I used to ride bikes like that when I was a kid on the dirt road. So I could see immediately the appeal, the emotional cultural appeal of this bike was so broad. It really hit a cord.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, there was a few people that were making them for friends and things like that, but it hadn't evolved yet. But when the first bikes came out, the first ones that we made, most of the stores said, well, Mike, what are you doing with the big kids BMX bikes? We don't want that at all. We are only interested in selling serious adult bikes. I said, this is a serious adult bike. And I said, you know, just shut up for a second and let the ride decide. And you'll see this isn't just a new bike. This is an all-new sport”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, there were a few producers. The main one was Tom Ritchie, who is a maker and one of the best makers, and Charlie Cunningham and Steve Potts. So there were a few makers around. And at that time, because I imported the different parts, the frame tubing and brakes and that. So I supplied all of them a number of parts.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. Yeah, in the early days, people would take an old beach cruiser bike, modify it a little bit, and that was a mountain bike. The real innovation was needed because the use and abuse of those bikes, those bikes weren't standing up to the needs of the riders.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, initially I thought that we would stay to things like the tires and components, which were simpler to do, which we could really make a difference in the capital required was less. And then later, I realized there was a lot of need for making bikes in a different way. And at that time, touring bikes were very, very big. And there was custom bikes being made that were appropriate for this, but there was no production bike. So I knew at that time that Bike on a more production basis that has all the nuances of a custom bike. So that was the first bike we made.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you know what? I didn't really know. We had landed on this one configuration of rubber compound that was good. at that time I knew this one guy in Portland who was a big cyclist and he was riding from Portland all the way down to Panama and his name was Jim Murse and I sent him the tires and he goes these worked pretty good he goes well I'm going to be going on this trip and if you send me the tires I'll ride them and I'll give you a test report and so that was the first of doing those tires And many years later I hired him as a first engineer. And that's how we developed the first tire.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you know, I contacted the commercial consulate in San Francisco. I knew some of the best makers of tires were in Japan. And so I contacted the Japanese commercial consulate in San Francisco. And those consulates are there to promote the business in that country. And so through the contacting the consulates, I got the list of those tire companies there. And I just sent them a letter saying I wanted to make the best tires in the world and admired what they were doing and liked to make our own tires.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, in the third year I made the specialized hire, and at the time I was importing some tires from a company in Italy and they would get bubbles in them. And I remember reporting it to the factory and they go, oh, that must be you because nobody else has this problem. And I thought, well, that's not right. And I thought, there's no choice but to make our own. We can make a regular clincher tire with a separate tube. in a way which could be really high performance and available to people.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, right Yeah, and in Italy, people that were really into what they were doing, frame builders and that, there were specialistas, you know, specialists. And so I thought, hmm, I'm going to call the company specialized.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, absolutely cash on delivery. And remember, people would say, oh, you don't need to worry about us. We're a well-established company and we'll pay you. And I said, that's great. Then pay me now because I don't have the ability to finance it.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And he made me do all of these incredible cash flow projections, which actually I realized I was pretty good at. And I paid the money back. So that was kind of the starting.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, so I sold two bike shops in the Bay Area, and then at that time, of course, there was no internet. So I went to the library and looked at the yellow pages for bike stores in New York and places like that. And I would send each of them a letter and say, hey, I've got these parts. And so that's how I got it started because the suppliers weren't about to give me credit. The first credit I had was from the Bank of America. I came upon this European banker. He goes, I'll tell you what, we'll give you a loan against your, I lived in that little mobile home, 8x30 trailer with two romates. He says, we'll give you a loan against the trailer and you give me the pink slip to the trailer.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, that's right. I knew some of the best stores and they go, wow, where did you get this? And I go, well, I've got connections. And so then I sold those products. I sold the $1,500 worth of product for probably $2,000 or $1,800, but that wasn't much, right? And so to get more, then I told the bike shops, I said, look, if you pay in advance for the product, I'll give you even a better price. And so I got advanced money, bought those products, and with the profit I made, I brought more product and sold those at a higher price. And that was the start. I think the first year the sales were $64,000.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Really, the big breakthrough was Milan in Italy. I had appointment to visit those suppliers and I thought, I better buy some clothes so I don't look like a bum. So I bought some clothes in Milan and then went to visit some of the suppliers. And they were interested to sell to me because of my passion. And as soon as I bought the product, I thought, ooh, I don't have any money. Now I got to go home and sell this.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, that's right. Everything in Europe seemed deeper and in some ways more exotic. So the idea was with some friends to go over, and I called that adventure capital instead of venture capital. And so, you know, one of the biggest places for cycling gear was in the UK. So then I went to the UK and contacted some of the suppliers there. And in talking to some of the suppliers there, I realized, well, I can't just be going in here and going, yeah, hey, I'm Mike from California. I want to buy some stuff. I kind of made up the thing which was true but exaggerated that I had contact with all the best writers in the United States. And so I made a few purchases there.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You notice that thing when you're a young person, you go, oh geez, now I'm supposed to know what I'm supposed to do. And sometimes you realize not knowing what you want to do is really powerful because then you can kind of explore and expand. And I was a janitor for a while at a high school. I probably cleaned more classrooms and more toilets than almost anybody. And it was a pretty good job. It was kind of more money than I had ever had before. And when they changed some of the janitorial things around, they let me go. And it was disappointing at the time, but I thought, well, that was the best thing because I probably would have kept that for a while because I was appreciating having that kind of income.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I was, and I was kind of already doing those kind of things, and I graduated at the end of 72. Yeah, and I was always thinking about that. And I had a year out of school, and I thought, well, what am I going to do?”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, that was, and sometimes it wasn't just the bicycle, it was just like a frame here, a part there, and sometimes I would even see like an old bike locked up in front of somebody's house for a long time. And I would go there and go, hey, do you want to sell that bike? I've seen you haven't used it for a long time, and I would buy it and then fix it up and sell it.”
2024-07-29 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT