qoute from 008:
About Brazil, I've been there and it's a beautiful country but dirt poor and also very rich. If you ever went and found yourself in the wrong spot you can turn up in trouble quick. That said the food there is beyond great IMO, the beaches also great, some of the people are warm and friendly, but keep in mind the poverty if you go, it can be scary.
Here's the thing about that...
My bud Johnie has been pretty much everywhere, and Brazil is pretty much the capitol of the world for his type of people (security specialists), and he has been maintaining a house there (Floranopilas) for 15 years. He knows the lay of the land, and has friends in all the right places there.
HIS end goal was to do 6-7 m,ore 3 month contracts, and retire there. He's 43, and getting to the point of actually worrying about being able to finish these "contracts".
Of course we were LOADED when this whole boat idea came up but for whatever reason we both kept thinking about this (privately), and when the subject came up again he had a solid game plan, and I had a few Blender renderings of the board design, and a sh** load of info on similar sport designed boards/boats.
What it came down to is a gelling of his/my ideas, and the research took off full speed.
Just to give a base line concept... Those Moth boats in the vid sell for approx 20-35 thousand each. There are 45 thousand of them in the US alone.
The cost to build one is under 4 grand...
The sailboards everyone uses are about 4-5 grand each. The cost to build them is about 7-8 hundred each.
I'm planning on hitting the middle of those markets w/ an all new design combining the best of both, as well as a few things that have never been done before. These should sell between 15-20k each.
THEN the high end Carbon Fiber designs (up to 24 foot) will be in the 50-60k range.
The only hurdle was getting a promotion/ad campaign going.
My daughter fixed that with some very real interest from a friend of hers (the 5% partner).
With this persons interest, Johnie's connections, and my designs we have a solid plan of 450 boards in the next 2 years. Fifty the first year are going to some of the top water sportsman in the world, and 400 are going to a resort chain.
Then Brazil... we open a 20-25 employee facility, and set up shop. We build everything in house. Sails, deck rubber,masts,booms,boards, foils, everything.
Remember the American Chopper guys? Remember the first episode?
I'm seeing the same thing here... Building boards for the biggest companies in the world.
Imagine Petrone or Bacardi having one of the fastest, and newest design water sports boards, and the largest resort chain setting up an ad campaign to promote them both. What could you charge them for such a board? Name your number...
without going too far, part of the initial prospectus for the resort is 54,000,000.00 income on rentals based on a ten hour day in ONE year. (10 boards x 40 locations). It's, as I said a no brain-er.
This whole deal should launch around April 2015. The first 50 will be underground, and as quite as possible due to fine tuning, and user input for design improvements but after these 50 are tuned it is off to the races. The income from the initial 50 is enough to begin building the US facilities (small warehouse 5-7 employees) for building the resorts 400, and I plan April 2016 will launch the entire line, and the resorts take delivery of their boards Dec 2016.
Back on the topic (Brazil) It beats the crap out of Viet-Nam! That was the first option for facilities. I appreciate the insights, and that is the only reason I posted all this. (already taking crap for it). Thanks 008!
