How to Start a Motorcycle Business
Building a motorcycle is hard. Building a motorcycle business is next level hard. The motorcycle world is an overcrowded, unforgiving one where the laws and regulations are against you, your potential customer base is tiny. And the products take forever and are expensive to develop.
If none of that deters you, great! Let’s get started. Here are a few PRACTICAL tips I wish I knew when I started Bandit9:
1) Money is important.
It’s nice to be idealistic but critical to be realistic. “Money is not important” does not apply in business. You have to be profitable. Without cash, you won’t last long enough to see your dream become a reality.
Money gives your company the longevity you’re going to need. It gives you options: what products and projects to pursue (i.e., a mass-produced or single motorcycle or accessories or both), how many people to employ, where and how much to allocate budgets, what assets to invest in, etc. These decisions will shape your company. Be profitable. ASAP.
ACTION: Pick up an accounting course. Learn cashflow; track how cash comes in and where it goes and why it’s important. The difference between assets and liabilities. Separate your personal wealth from your business funds. Learn to pay yourself, save and invest back into the business for growth. This is how your hobby becomes a business.
Bandit9 EVE at the M.A.D. Gallery
2) Set Milestones.
Without them, how will you know if you’re headed in the right direction? Or the wrong one? Milestones give you and your company focus and orientation.
With Bandit9, our goal was to get a motorcycle into the M.A.D. Gallery in 5 years. We did it in 1. How was this possible? A lot of luck but also some good ol’ fashion strategy.
The M.A.D. Gallery has a certain aesthetic (which we share anyway) so we designed a motorcycle we believed would get their attention. We made sure our motorcycles were in the news, especially in publications we thought they’d be reading. Every decision we made, this objective occupied our thoughts.
ACTION: Set milestones for your company. Specificity is key so you can develop a concise strategy. Set a target date! If your milestone is huge, break it up into smaller bite-size tasks. Whatever the task, keep the objective at the center.
3) Embrace who you are.
This is the hardest one to master. Read this over a few times: Get comfortable with who you are. This is going to mean different things for different people.
For Bandit9, I had to learn to embrace the fact that I’m not a people pleaser, which seems like it’s bad for business. Conventional wisdom dictates that you need to know what the consumer wants and do/make that. In my experience, that’s not entirely true, especially in this business.
For example: Every time we’ve designed bikes that felt retro (because we thought it’s what customers want), we failed. Every time. Our most successful bikes are the radical, futuristic ones we would own. This is now a formula we bank our lives on.
ACTION: Get comfortable with who you are. This is surprisingly difficult. This may take years. You will constantly question your decisions, that is, until you get comfortable with yourself.
Bandit9, Loki - circa 2011
4) Just start.
You gotta start somewhere. Build your first bike. Put it out there! No fear. Make mistakes and learn from them. You will get better. And use your entire arsenal of knowledge and experience every time you create a new product.
Take a look at our first bike, then take a look at our last bike. Trust me, nobody is born a pro. Practice with the intent to get better and stick with it.
ACTION: Give birth to your first creation. Start now. Make your second even better.
Bonus tip: reach out to your idols for help or tips. I would be surprised if they don’t respond.
Daryl Villanueva
Chief