MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2019

51 Rick: When Facebook came out it was obvious they understood social media and were adapting quickly. At the same time, I was looking for capital—it was go big or go home. We knew we had to move quickly or get overtaken. I had two deals for a couple million bucks on the line at the same time. And they fell apart at the eleventh hour. It’s time consuming to chase capital and run a company, I was stretched pretty thin. Adam: We saw Facebook come out and recognized them as a bigtime competitor. We were trying to get investment and were growing quickly at the same time. I think part of the challenge was being based in Whistler. Them being in Silicone Valley was a huge advantage. Leanne: They were local. I remember being like, “Oh my god there’s Adam from snowboard.com !” He was the coolest. They used to sponsor events and it was always such good vibes. They had the keys to the culture of snowboarding at the time. I wish it could come back. Chantal: It started petering out and I think people navigated away to new and different things, connecting with friends outside the snowboard community. I remember thinking Facebook was stupid. I used my snowboard.com email right until it stopped working. Ming : I remember trolling and bullying—just stupid comments. You had to be a snowboarder to be on there, that was the downfall of it. But it didn’t collect our information for political or economic gain either. It was innocent. Kyle: It felt like an overnight thing, but actually it was a slow death over six months. We grew too fast with not the right leadership in place. I had a team of community managers reporting to me, but I didn’t really know how to manage a team that big. I had no training or mentor, plus if it puked snow we were all on the mountain and nothing would get done. That isn’t always good for business. Joe: It grew quickly and then the funding ran out. We kept feeling like we were about to get funding, we hired a lot of people, but it never happened. Kyle: As we grew, the chemistry got lost in the mix. People had different ideas with where we should go, and they felt entitled due to how they were hired. At one point some people walked away and took a bunch of code with them. Suddenly we had key functionality missing. Imagine if you couldn’t post a comment or a photo on Facebook tomorrow. How long would you stay with it? Rick: There was one person who did an incredible amount of damage to the company and to this day I haven’t really talked about it with any of the original team or anyone. Dano: Once there is no traffic, it’s like going to a party and you don’t want to be the last one to leave. When the lights turned off, it turned off. Kyle : It’s hard for three people to do what 36 people were doing. The last day, it was just Rick and I sitting in this empty office saying, “Well I guess this is it.” Rick: I’m proud that we could bring all these snowboarders with a shared passion together. That we helped on-ramp all these new people into the sport and gave them a chance to dip their toes into the culture. If you have a passion you want to share it, and there’s a tremendous positive energy there. Ming: In those days we all ate, slept and lived snowboarding—you could go on there and it was a fourth dimension. Social media isn’t fun anymore. Snowboard. com was fun. Rusty: They paved the way, but the second mouse gets the cheese, right? Snowboard.com emails worked for a number of years after the site’s demise. In 2016, Rick Godwin sold the snowboard.com domain name to a buyer in Europe. Entering the URL now sends you to a standardized GoDaddy page where a domain broker will offer to help you buy it, for a commission. Bob Smith (pictured on the right), a full-time dentist and part-time powder enthusiast, invented the dual-lens ski goggle in 1965 to resolve issues with his goggles fogging up. I didn’t really know how to manage a team that big. I had no training or mentor, plus if it puked snowwe were all on the mountain and nothing would get done. That isn’t always good for business.