He started building snowboards in his basement and is now one of the best known snowboard manufacturers throughout the world. He has lead snowboarding to now have more participators then skiing, which has been around for years. It wasn't easy though, Jake spent the greater part of his life and time building up the sport and company. In 33 years Jake Burton has created a half a billion dollar sport, a company with over fifty percent of the gross income and a strong good family.
Born on April 29, 1954 Jake was made to snowboard. Born in Vermont but growing up in New York Jake always spent time near the mountains. Jake went to high school in New York at a private skiing school until eleventh grade where he graduated early and moved onto Colorado University in Bolder. During college Jake was a fantastic skier, but he didn't enjoy it all that much. Jake even was invited to be on the NCAA national ski team, but he got in a car accident later on during the season and never made it.
Jake eventually graduated from Colorado University and went on to pursue a career in business. Jake worked in front of a desk for a few years but slowly decided he didn't enjoy it. He decided to try out his idea he had way back in high school. He wanted to make a snowboard out of the present day Snurfer, two skies joined together, but instead of standing forward on it you would stand sideways.
Jake started his work in the basement of his little house. He built snowboards by hand and had to personally deliver them to the buyer. Sales were never all that great at first because there was a lack of knowledge about the new snowboard and the sport, but it soon turned around. To get the word out Jake gave boards to local kids to ride around the slopes on and try to get more people interested. Jake says “during the nights I would wake up at two in the morning and get a call from a kid in California asking a question about the boards.
From way back then snowboarding and Burton have both came along ways. Burton now has over 5,000 shops world-wide that are helping to bring snowboarding to a huge level. It is estimated that snowboarding is about a 400 million dollar sport and that Burton controls half of the market. Burton doesn't just sell snowboards anymore; they have their own clothing line and even shoes. Burton has stores in over 30 countries including China, Japan, Germany, and pretty much the rest of the world.
Working for Burton is something to be proud of. Jake insures all his employees enjoy what they are doing and gives them tons of benefits. Who wouldn't want to work for one of the biggest snowboarding companies in the world and have fun while doing it? Burton employees get to bring their dogs to work everyday and when it snows over two feet in Vermont they get the day off. They also get free lift passes to all the major ski resorts in the area. Burton offers many types of jobs as well.
There are people who just ride around the world and test new equipment and promote the sport, people who design and create new types of snowboards, and pro snowboarders who compete in competitions as Burton representatives.
With such a great career nothing could be better then having a good family, Jake has one of these too. Jake has a wife, and three kids, George, Taylor, and Timmy. As a family they enjoy spending time together on the mountains of the world. There most recent trip was a 10 month adventure around the world. They followed the winter as it went from the top of the world to the bottom. Jake said “It was an adventure and a great bonding experience as a family, even though there were times when it was very stressful.”
The Burton family spends so much time away from home that they have hired two tutors for the boys and a nanny that goes everywhere with them. Jakes wife said “We were learning on wheels during our vacation, the boys would be learning about World War II and we would visit Hiroshima and see the point where the bomb was dropped.
The whole family enjoys spending time together and has really grown close throughout the years.
Jake Burton has built the snowboarding world with his ideas and great imagination, creating a huge sport. He has created an international company and built up a strong family. In the future snowboarding will continue to grow with Jake at the head of the sport. Forever will Jake be remembered as the father of snowboarding.
