Michael Sinyard: Founder of Specialized Bicycle Components

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

Guy Kawasaki

Documentary, Society And Culture, Management, Evangelism, Innovation, Remarkable People, Education, Society & Culture, Apple, Silicon Valley, Writing, Technology, Marketing, Guy Kawasaki, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, Pitching, Social Media, Business, Macintosh, Speaking

4.6 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike Sinyard is the founder and chairman of Specialized Bicycle Components, an American manufacturer of bicycles with a cult following. In 1974, at the age of 24, Mike Sinyard began putting bikes together from Italian components he imported. He ran an import service, providing these sought after parts to California bike shops. Soon, mountain bikes became more common, but the choice was either a custom built, racey bike or a heavy rebuilt klunker. He knew he could build a viable bicycle for less than custom bikes cost, and thus the Specialized Stumpjumper was born in 1981. Sinyard was inducted to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988. The StumpJumper mountain bike was added to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's collection in 1994. He was profiled in the 2007 documentary film Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes. Entrepreneurs, inventors, and bike lovers will love this interview on this week's episode of Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People podcast. I hope you enjoyed this podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes It takes less than sixty seconds, and it really makes a difference in swaying new listeners and upcoming guests. I might read your review on my next episode! Sign up for Guy's weekly email at http://eepurl.com/gL7pvD Connect with Guy on social media: Twitter: twitter.com/guykawasaki Instagram: instagram.com/guykawasaki Facebook: facebook.com/guy LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/guykawasaki/ Read Guy’s books: https://guykawasaki.com/books/ Thank you for listening and sharing this episode with your community. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In my years of entrepreneurship, I've seen countless startups. And here's the truth.
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0:24.1	on an AI-powered platform that turns every dollar into opportunity. In fact, 30,000 companies
0:32.9	are trusting Brex to help them win. Go to brex.com slash grow to learn more.
0:48.6	I'm Guy Kawasaki and this is remarkable people.
0:52.8	This episode's remarkable guest is Mike Siniart.
0:56.3	Mike is the founder and chairman of Specialized Bicycle Components.
1:00.7	He was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988
1:04.3	and his stump jumper mountain bike was added to the Smithsonian Museum in 1994.
1:11.3	The history of Specialized begins in the summer of 1973 when Mike sold his VW van and went
1:17.7	to cycle around Europe.
1:19.4	At the end of the trip, he went to Chenelli, the Italian bike component manufacturer, to
1:24.4	establish an import business relationship.
1:27.2	By the fourth year, the company was doing approximately $18 million.
1:31.6	One thing led to another, and he began selling complete bikes.
1:35.7	Today, you can get specialized bikes that range from the hot walk,
1:39.5	a carbon kid's first bike at $1,000,
1:43.1	all the way to road bikes and electric bikes at $14,000 or more.
1:48.3	In 2015, Mike created the Specialized Foundation to help kids achieve academic, health, and social
1:54.9	success. The foundation is now called outside and supports community cycling, trail projects, and the Riding for Focus program.
2:04.5	This program's goal is to help kids deal with ADHD because of his family's experience with the disease.
	...

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