On the Bean: A Belmont Snowboard Story

Marketers might be able to convince some folks about invisible, “incredible” qualities of products but they can’t easily get away with such declarations when the consumers are a group of engineering students.

Those trained in looking into how things actually work, like Belmont resident Collin Murray, have the inclination and ability to see for themselves how things are put together.

When Collin was earning his degree in mechanical engineering at Northeastern University, he went snowboarding for the first time in 2004 and loved it so much that he bought his own board that day.

Ever since then, he and fellow Northeastern students Mike McGraw and Brian Callan along with Scott Petrichko, a graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, have been snowboarding together – going as often as possible and getting out on the slopes 50 times in one year.

In 2005, Collin started looking at new boards and realized that the advertisers heavily stressed the technology of how they were built.

“As engineers, we looked into it,” Collin said on behalf of himself, Mike and Brian. “We cut Scott’s brother’s board in half and found fiberglass, wood and much less ‘highly technical’ materials than had been marketed.”

And so started the seed of a business that the four men began that year.

Learning from instinctive skills, trial and error

The friends (three of whom are 29 years old with Scott recently turning 30, co-founded Bean Snowboards. They chose the name to reflect Boston’s nickname of Bean Town and that their boards are built for a particular winter terrain: icy with hard-packed snow.

“We try to keep our boards relatively short because that’s easier for turning and meant for the kind of riding you do on the East Coast,” said Collin. “Everything we offer we hand-make ourselves in our Boston studio with materials from the US and Canada.”

The company – that the founders incorporated four years ago -- began on a small scale when they built three snowboards in the basement of their apartment between 2005-2006.

Equipped with mechanical engineering skills and Scott’s designer’s eye, they also consulted Internet blogs that are devoted to Do It Yourself skis and boards.

“We learned a lot from the huge online culture and also from mere trial and error,” said Mike.

“From the very beginning we had to figure out from scratch how to make a snowboard,” said Brian.

Collin explained they soon discovered that there’s a big difference between building a snowboard that’s “passable” and a safe, reliable one for which they can charge money.

Expanding the start-up

“To make a sellable board, there’s a lot of equipment you need,” Mike said. “You have to want to build more than a few boards.”

The businessmen eventually “hit a head” after putting together their first few boards and then made the investment in equipment.

Now Collin, Mike and Brian are making about 100 boards a year with each one taking between six and eight man-hours.

See the process of making Bean 'board on the youtube video on this webpage.

“The transformation from the first board we made to what we are making now is pretty drastic,” said Brian. “I like the fact that we make something with our own hands and provide something that people want to ride. It's a really cool feeling.”

Scott is the company’s graphic designer for the boards and accompanying apparel they sell through Bean Snowboards website.

One thing he finds most rewarding about the company is meeting “leagues of people that share the same passion for the sport and the winter” as the four co-founders do.

“Snowboarding is something we never want to stop and people dig that,” Scott said. He also loves the satisfaction of creating something, with hard work and love, and seeing fellow riders embracing it.

“It is almost euphoric when someone comes up to me and says: ‘I love the graphic and the board rides siiiiicckk!’ It is simply a great feeling,” Scott said. 

With success, however, comes more and more work.

The entrepreneurs have full-time jobs by day: Collin works for a medical device company in Waltham as a product development engineer; Mike is a research and design engineer for a vascular surgery company in Burlington; Brian is a project engineer at a company called Aspen Systems that specializes in miniature refrigeration systems for personal cooling and electronics applications; and Scott is an art director at Mullen. 

So they have to devote evenings and weekends to their snowboarding business, often spending 30-40 hours a week for several months of the year.

In the late summer and early fall, they do most of their building and, once winter arrives, do promotional events on weekends.

Plans to work full-time for Bean Snowboards

“With that comes the valleys, the long hours, late nights, early mornings and general hard work in our own right,” said Scott.

“Granted, my role is different than that of the ‘engi-nerds’ … With that said, one of the toughest aspects is creating art/graphics because everyone has an opinion.”

Scott explained there’s a balance that needs to be found which has been the cause of “many meetings, drinks drunk, and 40+-plus email threads. Needless to say, with all that comes a solution and it's on to the next one, all for the greater good,” he said.

But it’s well worth the long hours, the partners all agree.

 Scott believes “the greater good” is to see Bean Snowboards become Boston's first snowboard company, a self-sustained company that can offer a multitude of opportunities throughout New England.

 “Our brand recognition has been growing every year,” said Collin, adding that they provide dedicated customer service and keep in touch with everyone who directly buys a board from them so that they can answer questions or fix the boards if necessary.

And the co-founders sponsor Eugene Stancatos and Alex Degrechie, two snowboarders who ride, talk to people about the boards and promote the company.

Bean Snowboards did quite well last year although, with the lack of snow to date, it’s too early to tell about this winter, said Mike.

“We get big spikes in business at the Boston Ski and Snowboard Expo,” he said.

Bean Snowboard’s Second Annual Artist Series release party will be Saturday, March 3. The artists this year are Steve Holding and Ryan Lombardi. Check www.beansnowboarding.com for additional details.

As for their goals, all four of the men would like to be working for the company full-time one day.

“We need to increase our volume or reduce our costs first,” Collin said.

Right now, Brian said it's more a glorified hobby to work on the snowboards but ultimately it would be perfect for it to be his full-time job.

“It's starting to take off and be able to stand on its own,” he said. “However, it isn't at the point yet where it can support all of us as our full time job.

“To be able to build something in the US especially for the consumer market is becoming something more of an oddity,” Brian believes.

“I think at some point people will see the advantage of buying US products over saving a few bucks buying overseas,” he said. “When that happens we will already be up and running in Boston, building awesome snowboards.”

See videos, photos and learn more about Bean Snowboard’s equipment, clothing and up-to-the-minute company news at www.beansnowboarding.com