Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bobby Dunn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Bobby, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

So back when I was making electric skateboards and creating a movement around that way before Lime and Bird were a thing. I realize that one thing I needed to do was teach people how to skateboard. I lived in SF and that is where most of our initial customers were. So I reached out to some friends and asked them if they had or knew about any parking lots that I could rent or used to teach people. One of my friends got back to me and he has a developer and I don’t have that but I have a building at one of the intersections in town that is going to get down, but you can have it for a year and then it’s month-to-month. He said I could tear the walls out and make it into an indoor skate park. I was very excited for this idea. However, the other people on my team could not see my vision due to the fact the building was going to get torn out, so I decided to take the risk because the rent was probably one of the best real estate deals of the century in San Francisco, I signed the lease and had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I could make enough money every month for the rent. I signed lease and got on a plane to go to SXSW for two weeks. Well there, I was looking at the floor plan of my new office space and said to myself that this layout is perfect for a coworking space. Wework was probably about five years old at that time so I knew it was kind of a thing. Since we were building another company at the same time, I didn’t have that much time and I knew that this was an opportunity. The space was pretty rundown, and I hired some friends from a bar that I used to own to paint and get it ready. Since I only had a year in theory, I wanted it done fast. We were able to do it in six weeks by making very fast decisions and not caring if it didn’t look good. before we were even done I was able to rent out a couple of the offices which way is a miracle because it still was very rundown, but I sold them on my vision. Once we were mostly finished, I sent an email to my network saying I had a new project and if anyone needed space I had it for them.
That one email got us to about 80% capacity within three months then what of mouth happened and we just were 100% full for seven years before Covid happened. The place was awesome and thriving with about 200 people there on a daily basis all of whom worked for themselves or small companies, but I created an environment that made it seem like everyone worked together and a big happy place. There was companies that had millions and millions of dollars and they like here so much that they didn’t want fancier. There were times when people met there started companies raised money and hired a bunch of people.

Bobby, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Yeah, I am an entrepreneur. I’ve been to all sorts of things – starting a tech company, running a music venue, making electric skateboards, and now having an agency where I work with influencers and creatives. My current project is Wild Ones Group; I work with influencers (big and small) and artists. One thing that sets us apart is that we are all friends, and we understand how to work together because we have the same goals. I have a lot of things that I’m proud of, but specifically with Wild Ones, as that is my current project. I am proud of just the growth we have seen in our clients’ last two years and the partnerships we’ve worked with. The international views and connections that we’ve made. This could be selling a piece of art at $10,000 per-person event in Hong Kong for around $70,000 USD. It could also be working with Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank. We have a lot of things that we are working on that are hopefully going to be very big this year.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my co-founder Willie about seven years ago in New York City. This is from when I was working on Boosted Boards. I was in New York with someone on my team who couldn’t ride a skateboard due to some health issues, and so I wanted to have a way for them to get around because riding on a boosted board in New York is the fastest way to get around. I was introduced to Willie because he had a few scooters available, and we became fast friends. I spent the following years building Boosted Boards. When that company was done, I was looking for a new project and Willie and I were trying to find ways to work together. We were both approached by a couple of our friends who were influencers to be their managers. This was the perfect opportunity for us to work together.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

For this one, I’m going to talk specifically about Boosted Boards. If you don’t know what Boosted Boards are, they are electric skateboards. We also made a scooter. We were one of the first to market for this product, which was an electric vehicle. We were early in the market, so it was new, and no one understood it. We had to get people onto the product to use it. Once they tried it, everyone was sold on it. It was very cool. Since we were new to the market and creating the demand for this product, we had to try all sorts of things for marketing. That could have been things like working with influencers or creating scavenger hunts for our loyal fans. To name it, we tried it. If you’ve never made a whole market, it is challenging. We were fortunate enough to have some funding to play around with different things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildonesgroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbydunn/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcharlesdunn/
• Twitter: @robertcharles

Image Credits

Lukas Shulz at STMNT Studios
linkedin.com/in/lukas-schulz-stmnt-studios
stmntstudios.com