Mike Olson
Mervin Manufacturing
Sequim, WA USA
"I ended up making a deal with this old retired lady; she had an old race-horse barn. My rent was mowing the lawn and cleaning her gutters, and that was my first shop."
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Mike's work combines: Action Sports, Engineering, and Building Things
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Day In The Life
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Met his co-founder, Pete Saari, in his junior year of high school.
2.
He'd made snowboards in his shop class; because there were no major snowboard stores in his area, he'd started making them for friends.
3.
In college, he and Pete started scheming, trying to figure out how they could drop out and start making boards full-time.
4.
Once Mike got his mother's blessing, he quit school.
5.
Struck a deal with an older woman-he'd do her housework in order to use her barn as a workspace where he could build boards.
6.
After Pete graduated, he joined Mike at "the shop"; they decided to name the operation after their mutual friend, Mervin.
7.
They were a very small operation for a long time, using the commission from one board to build the next.
8.
Sticking to their company's mission statement-focusing on innovation, manufacturing everything within the U.S.-has led to the team's success.
