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It Only Looks Easy
Jake Burton, owner of Burton Snowboards, leads by doing only what he loves. The result? He utterly dominates a $400 million industry.
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Downhill All the Way
How Jake Burton went from teen snowboarder to snowboarding mogul.
By: Athena Schindelheim
Published March 2006
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Fourteen-year-old Jake Burton Carpenter falls in love with Sherman Poppen's Snurfer, the precursor to the modern snowboard. He breaks a finger riding one. - 1976
As a senior at New York University, Burton becomes an assistant to Victor Niederhoffer, a hedge fund manager who sells privately owned companies to big corporations. He hates it but is inspired to start a business. Niederhoffer gives Burton money to help. - 1977
Burton builds his first boards. None sell. - 1979
Burton sells his 700th snowboard. He's $100,000 in the hole, but on the plus side he wins the World Snurfing Championship. - 1982
Jake meets his future wife while making a snowboard. - 1984
Burton has its first million-dollar year. - 1988
A million Americans now snowboard. - 1994
Sherman Poppen, quoted in the online zine Flakezine: "I'm probably ahead of what Jake's ever going to make on the boards....He's got some heavy competition now. Whoa, I wouldn't want to be in that business now."
Jake Burton collides with a skier and breaks a leg. - 1996
Burton launches R.E.D. helmets, revolutionizing snowboard accessorizing. - 1998
Snowboarding becomes an Olympic sport. - 2001
Snowboarding now has 5.3 million riders. - 2002
Seven million snowboarders. Burton's sales clear $100 million. - 2003
Burton launches Analog Streetwear, its first casual apparel line. - 2006
Burton is the official outerwear for the U.S. Olympic team, and five Burton riders qualify for the team in the marquee half-pipe event.
