We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cory Keen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cory below.

Cory , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I had just finished up a Masters Program at San Diego State University and got a job at a Transportation Planning consulting firm where I was working long hours and commuting 4-5 hours round trip each day. My quality of life was miserable and I found the work I was doing very far from fulfilling. It was at this time that I decided I needed to pursue something I actually cared about so I wrote down pretty much anything that popped into my head. Some of it was potential careers I could pursue, products I could make, services I could offer, or just things I considered fun and/or interesting. All said and done I decided I was going to create a company that gave skateboarding lessons to children.

I wrote out a pages and pages of information that I deemed my first draft of an informal business plan. My idea was to have a trailers and/or box trucks that were filled with ramps and worked with schools and Cities’ Parks and Rec Departments. After diving deeper into the concept, I realized that I didn’t have a knack nor desire/ personality traits necessary to work with kids.

In the midst of all this soul searching, my girlfriend at the time had a nephew who was turning 10 and had just gotten into skateboarding so I decided to make him a ramp (quarter pipe) for his birthday. After making the quarter pipe, I had a few people ask me where I bought it. It was at the moment that it all clicked and figured out what I wanted to do.

I did a quick search online and noticed virtually no one was selling skate ramps online. There were a few plastic ones that were absolute garbage and then only one other company making kit-form, wooden ramps. At this point in time (2010), there were countless skateboard deck, clothing, and footwear companies but no one had really catered towards building or selling skate ramps on a commercial scale. I grew up making my own ramps and having a lot of fun in the process so I figured why not start a business built around spreading that energy while still accomplishing my original goal that I wrote down a few weeks prior: teach kids how to skate.

I was ten times more excited about building ramps in comparison to my original idea of giving skate instruction. My mind started racing with the possibilities. I could impact the lives of so many more kids around the country and eventually around the world by providing safe and and fun skate obstacles for peoples’ homes. Once everything sunk in, I spent the next several weeks researching ramp design, building prototypes, creating a logo,ready books and articles on starting a business, and so on. That was approx 12 years ago and I’ve never stopped doing all those things since. Present day, my company has sold tens of thousands of ramps and impacted the lives of even more kids through contest, event, demo builds, social media, and so on.

Cory , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Keen Ramps is a Long Beach, CA based company that manufactures, sells, and rents skateboarding/ action sports obstacles. We primarily produce ramps for residential purposes that can range from a small “kicker” ramp, grind box, or rail for the driveway to backyard mini half pipes for families to enjoy with their friends and neighbors. At times we are hired to design and build full blown skateparks or private training facilities. Keen Ramps also is one of the go to suppliers of ramps and courses for the majority of skate industry events, contests, demos, grand openings, media campaigns, launch parties, etc. in Southern California. Recently we have expanded our event service offerings beyond just supplying ramps to now also coordinating the backend of the event’s production: providing announcers/ EmCees, DJs, judges, insurance, waivers, sponsors, photographers, videographers, and so on.

Our experience and expertise has lead us to work with brands and names such as: Toyota, USA Skateboarding, Toyota, Walmart, Top Golf, When We Were Young Music Festival, Tillys, Dickies, New Balance, Zumiez, In N Out, Oakley, Nike, ebay, Adidas, Hot Wheels, Thrasher Magazine, Vans, FazeClan, Shark Tank, America’s Got Talent, Warner Brothers, Shaun White, Tony Hawk, Paul Rodriguez, Andrew Reynolds, Jonah Hill, James Cameron, Kanye West, Jack Black, Pharrell Williams, and many more.

I (Cory Keen) started skateboarding at the age of 10 and have been absolutely obsessed with it ever since. It’s where I developed discipline, learned to accept/ invite failure, met all my closest friends, got my taste in music/ art/ style of dressing, and so much more. Skateboarding is the one thing in my life that’s never been a phase or something I’ve ever lost passion for. That love and dedication I developed being a skateboarder directly translates to my drive and ambition in business and making skateboard ramps. I’m as obsessed as ever and look forward to everyday that my brand gets to impact more lives and gets more kids stoked on skateboarding.

Keen Ramps Inc. is skater owned and operated through and through. Everyone I hire skates and/or has an extreme appreciation for skateboarding. That’s gives us a huge advantage when it comes to designing and fine tuning our obstacles. Every new product is thoroughly tested by our staff and often times a handful of professional skateboarders before being put into production. We meticulously tailor all of the specs and materials to be as safe, fun, and durable as possible while never sacrificing quality for profit. Even all of our artwork, digital advertising, promotional materials, etc. is developed by other hardworking skate industry friends.

Subsequently, we make it a top priority to give back whenever possible. Keen Ramps works closely with several non-profits that focus their efforts on helping at-risk youth. Often times we provide ramps for their activations at no-charge or heavily discounted rates. Whenever a skate shop, non-profit, church, school, or community organization reaches out requesting sponsorship or donation we almost never say no and will kick in free obstacles and/or Keen Ramps merchandise. Skateboarding truly saves lives and/or allows individuals to find their purpose in the world. Anyone doing good for their skate community is a hero in our eyes so we’ll do whatever we can to help them with their goals and objectives.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

To make a splash into social media for Keen Ramps I started a web series called “Rig A Spot” which paid homage to Fuel TV’s Built to Shred. We would take ramps and building materials to spots in the streets (i.e. an industrial zone in Fullerton, CA/ an abandoned foundation spot in Carson, CA/ a schoolyard in Southgate, CA/ a riverbed in La Mirada, CA) and invite a bunch of friends/ skaters to ride the reimagined terrain. In doing so we got a lot of attention and respect from Professional/ Amateur level skaters as well as action sports related companies. Each episode would create content for our website as well as our social media channels (Instagram and Facebook the the time).

This approach allowed us to enter the action sports marketplace as a core company doing what we’re doing for all the right reasons. We didn’t (and till this day) shove the products down peoples’ throats, we more-so showed them organically being used. I think no matter what product or service you’re trying to sell you have to genuinely show your audience you believe in it and use it. Practice what you preach mentality. Why would anyone wanna buy ramps from me if they didn’t see me using and enjoying them myself?

As years passed and I continued to notice the power of social media as a marketing mechanism, I would persistently reach out to professional skaters, youtubers, influencers, etc. and ask them if they would like to get some of our products free of charge in exchange for tagging or “shouting us out”. More often then not they were happy to do so and would continue to rep our brand well past the initial media/ product trade. The more we did this, other pros and/or influencers would catch wind of their colleagues riding our obstacles and then we would organically get big name pros hitting us up with ideas for obstacles/ content/ trades/ and so on. These occurrences would get their sponsors noticing us and before you know it we’re getting reached out to by brands like Nike, Element, RedBull, Nixon, etc. to set up ramps for contests, demos, and events.

Long story short you get out what you put in. As a brand you should be excited to produce content (photos, videos, skits, contests, giveaways). Expect nothing in return and you will naturally get rewarded. Also don’t be afraid to hit up your heroes, industry, experts, or even celebrities with ideas. The more energy and ideas you put out, the more that will stick and come to fruition.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being a skater through and through and giving 110% on any job whether it’s really well paying or something I’m doing for free or as a favor. If my name and/or brand is tied to something, I’m going to go all in and not cut corners. Giving back and helping others every chance I’ve had over the years and not doing things for myself but for the greater good of my industry, subculture, and fellow skateboarder.

Whenever I’ve had a chance to work with greats within the skateboard industry, I make sure to out-deliver their expectations even if it means we lose a little money the first time around. Once you show someone you’re worth and capabilities, the next time an opportunity comes around to work together there won’t be any question in their mind to go anywhere else. I always make sure to not bite off more than I can chew, delegate tasks responsibly, and hold everyone on my team to the same level of accountability that I hold myself to. Often times I remind employees, contractors, and friends that I work with that the work we do is like one big long link of chain. If you break one link in the chain you might be separating yourself from a whole other network of people. I have always aimed to never burn a bridge, never have an ego, and always swallow my pride if I encounter someone not acting accordingly in business.

Lastly, our products themselves definitely have helped build our reputation. In developing anything we always try to think outside the box, improve upon what already exists in the marketplace, and aim to create ramps and/or action sports event services that will provide an immense amount of fun. Whoever is having the most fun wins in the end

Contact Info:

• Website: www.keenramps.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keenramps/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keenramps/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/91146165/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3-ZF8WBpsM1SgXhOfIGC3Q
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/keen-ramps-long-beach
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@keenramps