When Steve Watts, founder of San Clemente-based Slyde Handboards, started dating Angela Ferendo, neither of them imagined that the personal relationship would evolve into a professional one. But she soon started helping him with small things, such as shipping and customer service. And he trusted her enough to hand over the company’s financial information, he said.
Both relationships blossomed. They became business partners and recently were honored with the up-and-coming business award at the Business Journal’s Family-Owned Business Awards, presented on June 21 at Hotel Irvine (see related stories, pages 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9). They are now husband and wife and expecting their first child.
They found out quickly that their business skills complemented each other, they said.
“She’s a lot better at talking to people than I am,” said Steve Watts, 39. “And making sure their needs are met. It was a very fluid, organic way we jelled together in terms of who gets what done. And we’ve never really had an issue or dispute about something. I keep an eye on everything. The great thing about working with family—there’s no doubt that they have your best interest in mind.”
A Big Idea
Handboarding is a sport that’s probably older than surfing itself, he said. Handboards are one-handed surfboards that strap to a surfer’s hand for bodysurfing. They work by allowing bodysurfers to lift out of the water when they catch a wave, increasing speed and maneuverability.
In Watts’ native South Africa, bodysurfers would use trays, flip flops, or whatever they could get their hands on, he said.
Watts started surfing, both with a handboard and with a surfboard, when he was about 13. He first got the idea to create a company to sell handboards when he was 16, he said.
“I enjoyed doing it, and I could see that other people enjoyed doing it,” he said. “Just to see a smile on someone’s face.”
Watts created Slyde Handboards in Venice in 2010 because of the city’s “cool art, culture, surf and skate scene,” he said.
He soon was making 10 trips a month to Orange County to get supplies, sparking an epiphany that San Clemente was the best place for his company, he said.
“We feel like we’re in the heart of surf culture, and the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association is in Orange County,” said Angela Watts, 33.
She came on board in 2013, and her aunt, Joyce Ferendo, moved here from Rhode Island to handle shipping and distribution.
The couple became engaged in December 2014 but had to put their wedding on hold because all their money was being invested in the company, Angela Watts said. They also borrowed from relatives to keep the business going.
Her mom surprised them by telling them she had $10,000 saved that she wanted to give them for the wedding. They put a deposit down on a venue, but then they needed the money for the company, Angela Watts said. With her mother’s blessing they used it, and then they got a call from “Shark Tank.”
The episode aired in April, revealing a funding deal of $200,000 for 22% equity in the company from shark Mark Cuban and guest shark Ashton Kutcher.
Around the time the couple got the initial call from “Shark Tank,” a serendipitous opportunity attracted another investor. Angela Watts’ brother, Frank Ferendo, was working on a video for Slyde on an airplane. His seatmate, Mitchell Cox, turned out to be an investor and inquired about the company. Cox ended up investing $75,000.
With the investments, the couple was able to pay back their family members, Angela Watts said. They got married last September in Rhode Island, her home state. Now she’s six months pregnant with their first child, a girl.
Investment Boost
Sales have grown by almost 300% since the “Shark Tank” episode aired, and the company already has surpassed the $180,000 in sales it made last year, Angela Watts said. The funding enabled the couple to move its operations out of their one-bedroom apartment, into an office and warehouse in San Clemente.
Slyde got another jumpstart from the San Diego Sport Innovators program, which gave Slyde five advisers to help them prepare to pitch to investors, Angela Watts said. They also were just invited into a business development program put on by the Laguna Niguel-based Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, which helps with global distribution and operations, Angela Watts said.
The couple said the Business Journal award validated all the hard work they’ve both invested in the company.
“It makes me feel so good, and this year for us, especially, has been an incredible year,” she said. “We want to keep it going, and it just makes us work harder, getting these types of awards.”
Another bonus is that their customers are now using the name of the company as a verb. To “slyde” is becoming synonymous with Slyde’s brand of handboards, although the company does have some competition, she said.
Future goals include new kid-friendly products that don’t have release dates yet, she said. The current products are “very high-performance, high-quality,” she said, adding that they range in price from $120 to $200.
