Former IU student 'joyrides' to success

It was not so long ago that Nick Martin was just another IU student majoring in marketing, hanging out regularly at Yogi's Bar & Grill and having a good time with his friends. Today, as a successful co-owner of Joyride snowboards and wakeboards, based in Evansville, Ind., Martin reflects upon his college days.\n"I have loved to snowboard and skateboard since I was a kid," Martin said. "I always knew I wanted to go into business, and my sophomore year in college was when I started from scratch and began tinkering out business plans." \nMartin's entrepreneurial tendencies led him to become involved in the entrepreneurship program offered in the Kelley School of Business. He later entered a business plan for the Joyride company in a competition during his junior year. Martin won the competition, which brought his plan for Joyride to a whole new level of feasibility.\nBefore graduation in 2001, a private "angel investor" that had confidence in Joyride provided Martin with an investment through finance banking. \n"Through networking I was able to present my idea to a group that liked it so much, they bought out another brand to start my business," he said. \nMartin runs Joyride with longtime friend and IU alumnus Jay Gardner. Through the private investor's funding, Martin has turned Joyride into a flourishing business venture. Joyride's products are now available in over 200 specialty stores across the United States as well as internationally in Canada, Japan, China, Australia, Sweden and Austria. \n"Joyride has excellent product development because they stay especially updated with the latest technology," said Matt Druschke, manager of Get Wet in Evansville, which carries snowboards and wakeboards. Druschke said the Joyride brand is recognizable to almost all of their clients. \n"Since the owners of Joyride are originally from Evansville and they now run their business here, they are very well known throughout the community and everyone wants to support them to continue their success," he said. Wakeboards range from $250 to $350 and snowboards typically run $350 to $450.\nOnline ordering is also available through their Web site www.joyride.com. Martin, however, tries not to promote online ordering because it competes with the retail shops. \n"The Web site's purpose is more or less to inform current and potential clients about our company and products and update them on our latest events and endeavors."\nThis past summer, Joyride hosted several wakeboarding competitions in order to endorse the variety of products. The company first paired up with Red Bull to host the Joyride Great Wake Series, an aggressive wakeboard competition that took place in various locations throughout the state of Michigan. Red Bull provided the team members and Joyride supplied the boards. \nThey also sponsored Thunder on the Ohio, a major national hydroplane race in Evansville, to promote wakeboarding. Joyride displayed the boards and other accessories in a large booth placed in the center of the event. \n"We introduced the sport to several thousand avid water sports enthusiasts over the course of one weekend," Martin said. "We want to help people understand the basics of wakeboarding and get them started because as we all know, once you get started, you're going to be a wake boarder for life." A large photo gallery of all the summer events is available on the Web site.\nMartin said he's thrilled with the current success of his business and he plans on fulfilling his future dreams the same way he did with Joyride. Although he is still passionate about his business, he has dozens of plans to start on. \n"I would love to build up my future business ideas, while continuing to expand Joyride and eventually sell out within 10 years," he said.\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Kaplan at lkaplan@indiana.edu.