Check this out, this technology is available thru Surf Station on Lost Surfboards and Chillis! looks sick!
from stabmag.com..
Hayden talks entrepreneur award, business and ideas
“I couldn’t even pronounce what I’d won to my mother,” tells board shaper, Hayden Cox of winning Australia’s young entrepreneur of the year award recently. And what commemorative object did he receive for his achievement?
“Nothing…Not even a plaque.” Though he agrees publicity from the award will add momentum to his already booming business.
Hayden, as you might know, is the proprietor of Hayden Shapes – the board company behind one of the more revolutionary tweaks in modern board design. By laminating carbon ribbons in a C Section around the rail and tail of an epoxy board Hayden created a vibrant, ultra-durable craft for the average man’s beach break. He also patented the idea, meaning if rival board companies want a piece of his technology they have to do it through him.
He now counts among his clients, Chilli, Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, Matt Biolos, Rusty surfboards, Greg Webber and the man with two world champs on his books, Darren Handley.
Though not everyone was happy about being blocked from the technology by a patent. “You do get these old guys saying, ‘I did that back in the 60s.’ You get that all the time. They try and put you down but you just ignore those sort of people,” he says.
Hayden attributes his recent accolade to two things. The profile picture he submitted for the contest had him in boardshorts holding a fish while “the other try hards (some of which included technology hotshots, humanitarian fund-raisers and emerging international business leaders) were all in suits.”
And his business model. One that’s made custom surfboards, embedded with his revolutionary technology, available to surfers around the world.
Fibreflex blanks are sold to the local shaper, who machines or handcrafts a particular design, before the blank is returned to one of Hayden’s manufacturers. Hayden puts out around 150-200 boards a week, which are sold to almost 50 shapers across Australia, Japan and the US. His business is expected to generate $3 million dollars in revenue this year.
“That’s revenue not profit and it’s spread across Japan, America and here. Put it this way, I’m not driving a fucking Ferrari. I’m still driving a [1982] Toyota Corolla I got for free off my best mate ‘Crazy’ Carl,” clarifies Hayden.
But does he have another revolutionary patent locked in his Mona Vale safe that may one day lead him to sporting a Ferrari? A couple of years ago he wasn’t far off, after discovering the foam used to make the latest Airbus A380s would work nicely in a sled.
“It was so durable and light and it was pure white foam. Which is the other thing. There are all these cool foams out there but everyone wants white surfboards. You won’t sell a board in mass quantity unless its pure white.”
The aeroplane foam never took off because of the pricing.
“The blank would cost 300 bucks, meaning a board costs 700/800 bucks to build, so it wouldn’t get to the consumer until two grand.”
Even if it had, you still wouldn’t have seen Hayden in a Ferrari. “I’d buy a seaplane instead.” – Jed Smith
