Brian Smith

I could see it coming so clearly.

In fact, the preseason orders looked like the company was going to be destined for, you know, 18 million, maybe even 20 million dollars.

But I knew I would not be able to finance an extra five, six, seven million dollars in product.

And most people would be so excited about that.

I saw this as a kiss of death.

One afternoon, I was driving along the highway.

This music came on the radio, and there was a song there that was called Time, and the words were, and then one day you find ten years have got behind you.

No one told you when to run.

You missed the starting gun.

And I just thought, oh, shit, he's talking to me.

And as soon as I heard those words, my body just got covered in goosebumps.

And...

I thought, oh my God, all of my friends were tracking off to partnerships and in the accounting world and other friends who'd started business out of high school.

And I felt like I'd been running on the spot for 10 years.

So it was literally, it was so powerful.

It was only a matter of weeks before I arrived in Los Angeles and I had my surfboard.

So I just started going up to Malibu.

I surfed that place for nearly a year.

I was a good surfer, but every surfer thinks they're a good surfer.

Right.