We recently connected with Brad Harris and have shared our conversation below.
Brad, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Good Wave is water sports company for adventure families. While walking the boardwalk in Pacific Beach, San Diego I saw a billboard ad I couldn’t shake. It was from a well known surf brand using too much skin for a teenager (or anyone), and I started to think bout how the greater water sports industry catered to families.
It was around that time I had some close friends become new parents, and I thought about how I could how I could make it more playful and educational to learn about getting your kids into outdoors activities. It doesn’t have to be so intimidating, and we can celebrate parenting in the wild.
So.. this starts with a surfboard. Our Fruities Watermelon 5’6” surfboard is built with kids in mind, at 7 lbs and 30 inches it’s light and narrow enough to learn to carry to the beach.
We have a ton of upcoming fruit kids surfboard designs on their way, and I’m just stoked to get such a rad growing circle of surf families together which ultimately gets more kids outdoors.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
We are Good Wave, a small and passionate team, product designer and curator for adventurous families.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Getting into design and development of our own boards was always my vision for Good Wave, and launching first a retail business helped us get there fully bootstrapped without needing to raise outside capital. This time was invaluable to learn about our customers, and build our brand and community.
Back in 2018, outside of my day job and on weekends, I started building relationships with and curating surf brands that I trusted in the industry. All US and California based, without any of the dangerous stunts or aggressive and. sexualized content typically used by surf companies.
More than four years later, through two factory shutdowns and years in development, we are just starting to see the impact of the past years of quietly building. We turned a previous weakness of resources of cash and people into a strength of time getting to know our customers. I love that. Each new Fruities’ family helps us tell our story in this way.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In the tech industry, it’s often celebrated to raise money milestones or have as many coffees with other founders, investors and customers as possible. While all that is important, there’s also a balance and appreciate for lifestyle I’ve found while living in Northern California and working in the outdoor industry. I’ve come to unlearn these productivity habits I learned to survive and be successful in tech.
Another lesson I have worked on unlearning is being humble about visualization. I know manifestation sounds hokey but you don’t need to be humble about what you want in life. It should light you on fire most days.
I couldn’t deal with the rejection that I do daily, weekly, etc as ads a founder without it.
Fruities Watermelon Surfboard: https://www.goodwave.co/collections/fruities-foam-surfboards/products/good-wave-fruities-foam-surfboard-watermelon-56
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goodwave.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodwave_co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodWave.co
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/good-wave-company
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd4qL5mUHE4PpTH_vOk6ZeQ
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodwaveco
Image Credits
All images © 2022 Good Wave