I talked with Scott Andrus of ON3P Skis for ESPN Freeskiing. That Q&A is now live. A few chunks were cut for space, but I think Scott’s answers and insights regarding newschoolers.com were interesting enough to warrant a share here.

—————

You mentioned Newschoolers. It seemed like a pretty useful think tank for some of the earlier ideas for the company. How important was it in terms of initial success for you?

I think, as for as getting the word out, and getting people involved, it was, it is invaluable. We were able to set up the ON3P cult— I think right now it has like 200 members— but at the time there were probably 30 plus very active people from all over, giving input and giving ideas, and pushing the whole thing along. I think without that, it wouldn’t have been as smooth, for sure.

I remember some of the earliest threads, with people throwing around graphics and ideas and shapes and sizes. It felt like a really organic thing.

I think it was. At the time, it wasn’t about building a company, it was about building whatever we wanted to ski. It was definitely natural. The cool thing is now we’re still building what we want to ski, so, in that regard, nothings changed. It’s pretty crazy.

—————

Anyways, the entire Q&A is up here. Give it a read.