Specialized Bicycle Components: Mike Sinyard
This lesson is an episode of How I Built This.
Listen to the episodeWhat you'll get
Mike Sinyard explains how he founded Specialized in the 1970s to sell high-quality bike parts, then began designing its own bikes, including early mass-produced mountain bikes. In the 1990s he brought in outside experts to help the company grow, made bad business decisions that nearly bankrupted it, and spent years recovering, which makes this the cautionary story to hear before you hand growth to outside managers.
Do this week
Before you hire a manager or adviser to speed up growth, write down the one number you will check every month to see whether their changes are working.