Here is the unedited version of my Q&A with Triathlete Magazine
1. What made you decide to leave a career in aerospace engineering to run your own triathlon apparel company?
Airplanes and space always fascinated me since I was very young. I used to live right next to a small airport and watch planes take off and land while doing my homework. At the same time I had a fascination with sports and was always an avid athlete, every spare moment I had was devoted to sports. One winter in 2003 I received as a gift a triathlon backpack from my wife and I thought to myself that I could design something better. This one design quickly propelled us to grow from our garage start-up company which was initially my extra "Beer Fund" into a company which now employs over a dozen people and has offices in USA, China and Germany with distributors in 8 countries. I saw my company as a vehicle which allowed me to merge my two great passions - aerospace and sports. Now I can design aero-hydrodynamic and functional gear that our customers really love and appreciate.
2. How do you go about competing against industry giants like K-Swiss and Nike?
I never think about my competition. When I design products I avoid looking at what someone already made as it would invariably influence my designs. All of our designs are unique and come from us listening to athletes. We not only strive to deliver products that they need but deliver products that they want or wish existed.
Also we have a great competitive advantage in terms of continuous development and improvement of our designs. Many companies hire outside designers to design a product for them. Many designs come from fashion designers and not usually aerospace engineers who are also athletes. They do not know how it feels to race. This is a critical disconnect. 50% of my company's revenue comes from OEM manufacturing and design and we do not even advertise that. We have larger and well-branded companies coming to us and requesting us to improve the designs of their products and in some cases developing something completely new for them.
In many cases larger companies have the vehicles to market products but more often than not they are designed by a third party.
I like to compare my company to Apple when they first started in 1984 and had a vision of creating something truly innovative and unique. I feel we are doing the same thing in sports. The rest of my competition is just like Microsoft.
3. Are you the first company to offer vortex generators on your wetsuits and race suits? If so, what gave you the idea for them?
Yes we are the first company to use vortex technology for wetsuits and race suits. However this is not a new idea. Vortex generators have been used in the past in many other applications. The ones that we use on our suits are fused directly onto the lycra fabric and are optimized for performance for triathletes.
4. How do you come up with the ideas for your products?
This one is easy..., my mind is constantly working as I am constantly thinking. My family and friends do not appreciate this as sometimes I might be in the room or having a conversation with someone but my mind is not really there. However most of my designs are done when I travel. I fly over 200,000 miles each year and when I am way up there, I have no calls or emails. This allows my imagination to run freely without the distraction of the daily buzz. So in some ways one could say that Rocket Science Sports designs do really originate at 33,000 feet in space.
5. What’s your most memorable moment in triathlon? (This can relate to anything.)
It was in the spring of 1999 when I did my very first triathlon. It was the Bally Total Fitness Bay Watch triathlon. I did the race cold without advance training and was utterly exhausted and near collapse when another athlete from behind unexpectedly grabbed my hand and we ran together holding hands across the finish line. That was such a great feeling with amazing support that I felt no other sport has ever given me. From that point forward, I was obsessed with triathlons and competing in 16 races per year and making triathlon part of my lifestyle.
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