Coming across Sellerdoor for the first time, you’re likely to have one of those “man, why didn’t I think of that?” moments. Aside from the skate shop wall or some good luck on Instagram, finding solid new skateboard art and indie brands has always been a shot in the dark. By the same token, keeping up with the folks whose product I’m already stoked on takes some extra leg work too, as I have to follow endless different Insta accounts. On the other hand, as an emerging artist or brand with solid product, getting folks like me to know that you exist is an uphill struggle as well – there’s a lot of noise in skateboarding right now. Similar to Etsy made for skateboarders, Sellerdoor brings those worlds together: we see the art and the brands all in one place, and they get to be seen.
So it goes with solid entrepreneurial ideas, right? There’s a solution to a common problem, but it takes the right people to see it. In this case, those people were veteran Tiltmoders Matt Eversole and Ryan Adams. You’re probably already familiar with Matt – the guy who, in between doing a whole bunch of other stuff in skateboarding, manned the helm at enjoi for over ten years, after MJ stepped away. Simply put, Matt was at the forefront of much of the skateboarding that we grew up loving – the Tiltmode videos, all those classic enjoi ads, Bag of Suck, and innumerable projects in between. And, if you studied the Tiltmode videos like my buddies and I did, then you probably remember Ryan as well. Matt sat down with us to chat about how Sellerdoor works, skateboard marketing in 2019, and some of the new brands popping up that he’s hyped on. For the skate nerds out there, he answered a few enjoi questions as well.
Give us the rundown on Sellerdoor. What is it, and how did it come about?
Sellerdoor is a skateboard marketplace.
It’s a website where skateboard brands can set up an e-commerce store alongside other skate brands to sell to skateboard consumers. Some brands might see that growth can be extremely difficult. For individual skate brands, having a website with it’s product on it doesn’t necessarily bring traffic and customers to them. Brands find that it can be a cold, lonely place out there in the digital world. When they get in the mix with Sellerdoor, they immediately are a part of a community of skateboarders. They are part of our marketing. They get pushed out to our ever-growing network. They get different eyeballs on their brand, their marketing and their product. Sellerdoor is a boost for skateboard brands’ e-com. What brand couldn’t use more sales?
For the Sellerdoor customer, we bring them brands that maybe they haven’t seen. We give them products that they might have a hard time finding anywhere else. They can get some unique and creative goods from the skateboarders that make them. And over time, they will be able to get more familiar brands that they already have a good relationship with.
As for how it came to be on my end, a bunch of friends contributed to tiltmodearmy.com. One of my good friends, Ryan Adams, was always the one that could answer any coding questions and help make anything happen when we hit snags. He rips on a skateboard and rips up the keyboards as well. He’s one of those computer programmer, Silicon Valley types. Long story short, I already had a good relationship with Ryan. I had a lot of experience helping skateboarders go after their goals. Getting sponsored, going pro, making video parts, having cool graphics. You name it, I helped skateboarders do it.
I really loved that part of skateboarding, but I wanted to grow my ability from helping individual skateboarders to more than that. Seeing brands popping up left and right, I thought that I might be able to help these brands like I helped the skateboard individuals. That’s where I had the idea of a website that would help amplify these brands to the world of skateboarding. With this, I reached out to Ryan and told him my idea. Ryan responded with “this is so crazy that you are coming to me with this. I am already building something really similar.” We combined forces and, with a few tweaks, it became “our” idea. Ryan was building the programming and tech side of things, and I worked on the marketing, branding and “sales” side of things. I put on a bright and shiny “salesman hat” and started hitting up people in the skateboard world to attempt to get brands to see the value of this skateboard marketplace, Sellerdoor.
The name is amazing, by the way. Can you claim credit, or was that someone else?
I have pages and pages of potential names. I would discuss them with Ryan and they would get shot down usually because we couldn’t get the URL and/or social media accounts for the name. The name “Sellerdoor” obviously came from “cellar door” which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics with no regards for semantics (I read that somewhere) – also, see Drew Barrymore’s character in the movie Donnie Darko. Furthermore, I love how cellar doors can make a simple skateboard spot so much more. It enhances whatever you are doing by utilizing a cellar door. Shout out to Bobby Puleo! So cellar door with a twist: it’s a door that opens one up to an arena of skateboarders selling goods. Seller – Door. “Sellerdoor.” I guess I could claim credit for the name if I cared to do so. Ryan was the one that bought the URL. Ha!
How was the start-up process? You are a pretty well-established guy in skateboarding, and I would assume that you have some connections. Still, it’s a new idea, so has it been difficult to convince brands to hop on board?
Is the start-up process ever easy for anyone? I assume it is always a ton of work and sweat equity starting any business. I did think that I had connections/relationships with enough people to get a good foundation of brands on our platform to come out swinging even just a little bit. I was wrong. I found it very difficult to get skateboarders that I know with brands to sign up in the initial stages. Most asked, “who else is involved?” I get it. No one wants to be the first guy to take the leap of faith. We had to reassess right out of the gate since I wasn’t able to get those I was hoping to get to start things off. It’s the “chicken or the egg” thing, you know? Can’t convince brands to jump on without having sales to entice them and can’t get sales without having brands on there to sell. Jason Adams deserves our praises. After explaining it to him, he signed up without a care in the world about who was or wasn’t on there. He truly has that “punk rock” mentality. He rules.
It’s still difficult to get others to hop aboard. Some people cannot wrap their heads around something that just isn’t a part of the usual, everyday formula. It’s my job to help them see the light, to get them on Sellerdoor and help grow their e-com. Although this “sales-person” hat doesn’t fit me very well, it has been really eye opening and enjoyable meeting, communicating with and working with these skateboarders that are running their own brands. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive with vigor within skateboarding.
How about outreach to consumers? I’m wondering if that’s easier than it used to be, given the reach of social media, or harder, as there is so much clouding up people’s feeds.
The digital frontier is truly the wild west. It’s a double-edged sword though.
Things are so much easier/more accessible now in the digital era, but with this comes more competition. So, now we are seeing a hot spring of brands, both good and bad. Consumers are so bombarded with content, both good and bad/boring and interesting. It’s so difficult to catch their attention and speak volume to them. In skateboarding, the formula used to be to take a print ad out in TWS or Thrasher and make a full-length video and then ride that wave. TWS recently announced they are stopping print, and full-length videos can’t keep people’s attention like they used to. The competition of micro videos battling for 1 or 2 minutes of your time is the new war being waged on websites and social media platforms. The transaction of a t-shirt and a skateboard deck go to the victor!
Of course there are more effective ways to market, and we hope to utilize those initiatives to help brands on Sellerdoor to grow. I want to do more to tell brand’s stories. I want to show why these brands are rad and why you should support them. When budget permits, I really want to do mini-documentary style videos on brands and the people behind them.
“The entrepreneurial spirit is alive with vigor within skateboarding.”
Do you all personally curate what ends up on the site? I read a Jerry Hsu interview a few years back where he said, “please don’t just fill skateshops with static.” Is there a responsibility to maintain a certain quality level? How do you manage that and draw the line?
Does Jerry Hsu go into skate shops? Is he bummed on what he sees in there? Maybe Sci-Fi Fantasy is his solution to the “static” that is filling skate shops. I think most micro-brands are mainly just trying to have an aesthetic that they like and not trying to be a game changer. I also think most skateboard retailers are buying things that they think they can sell and not trying to change the game. Collabs with this that and the other are hot right now, so that’s what retailers are buying.
Devium recently opened a store on Sellerdoor. That’s a clothing company that Corey Duffel rides for. They are one of the few brands that are doing something to “change the game” by making all their products in the USA. What other brands can say they are taking a stand? Of course, Devium’s prices get met with potential customers not understanding what it means to be USA made (other than the location) and immediate sticker shock. But I have mad respect for what they are doing and doing it differently than every other soft goods brand in skating. It really feels good when we sell a Devium product on Sellerdoor knowing that it created jobs in the USA and that they are skateboarders themselves.
But, to answer your question, the answer is both yes and no. The first company to sign up for a Sellerdoor store without us going after them was an electric skateboard company. Sure, that could prove to be lucrative to slang some electric skateboards for a few grand a pop, but that’s not what we are trying to do here. We denied them with a nice explanation. Yeah, that electric skateboard company does live in the world of skateboarding, but we are trying to keep this marketplace to OUR world of skateboarding. We want it to be brands from skaters that know what it feels like to accomplish your first treflip, to film a video part with your friends, to drop in on vert, to get kicked out of the best flatground spot, to understand why John Cardiel still has a pro board, to have made a zine, to get a skateboard park made in your town, to know how to frontside slappy a curb, etc., etc. I don’t even know what to call this world of skateboarding we live in…core? I don’t think that is it, but I think there are plenty of skateboard brands that understand what I am talking about and I think they can benefit from what we are doing here.
Of course there are prestigious brands out there that fit the bill of what we are doing here, but I think we have to prove to them that we are doing things right in order for them to join forces with us. I am down to prove that to them. On the flip side of the coin, we can’t just open our doors up to every brand that has a team, makes decks and has an Instagram account. We have limited bandwidth and need keep it to brands that we can handle and see doing awesome things. There’s people that I would love to have on the platform but thought it would be better for both them and us to hold off for a bit. It’s really great talking with them and getting on the same page.
Is it just like an Etsy – only indie, essentially, or could Element decide to sell boards through Sellerdoor? On the other hand, can a brand outgrow Sellerdoor?
It’s like Etsy in the way that indie skateboard makers can sign up and sell their goods on there, but like I said, it’s for skateboard brands in our world or skateboarding. There is a place for Element on there. Imagine a kid going on Sellerdoor to grab a Brandon Westgate deck, and then coming across Derek Brennan’s Skateboarding Trading Cards, and maybe seeing some high quality bearings from Sparrow for 16 bucks, and nabbing some stencil art griptape from Spank. The customer gets to buy from multiple brands with one simple checkout, and all these brands get paid immediately. Everyone wins! So yeah, Johnny Schillereff, let’s do this!
Can a brand outgrow Sellerdoor? Of course. Just like when you move out of your mom’s house. And just like your mom, we will take you back when you need a warm bed and a hot meal. I think there’s room for brands to grow with Sellerdoor and for us to grow with brands. I can’t say what each brand’s goals and missions are, so I don’t know when a brand would be too big for Sellerdoor. I guess when a brand gets so big that they don’t need or want more sales is when they have outgrown us. That sounds like a great problem to have!
There’s a lot of talk right now about how shops have been struggling or going out of business, and clearly Sellerdoor is a far cry from an Active Mailorder. What you carry is also artsier and less likely to be in a shop. Still, you do carry boards and shoes, so is Sellerdoor competition for shops? How do they fit into this equation?
If you want to get down to it, everything is competition. You are in competition to get that buck from that kid’s pocket before the next guy gets it. That’s the ugly truth of business. “Ugly” is the right word there. If a shop wants to look at Sellerdoor as competition, then they are missing what we are trying to do here. I want to work together with shops that want to grow their e-com. I want to give shops a platform to compete in the world of online sales. Shops can sign up for a store and sell their products on our marketplace. Let’s get that last pair of Lakai Bristols out the door so you can make room for the next order. This platform is to help skateboarders with their e-commerce sales of skateboarding product. There’s room to help skate shops sell their product online. If you are a shop and wanna talk, hit me up!
“I don’t even know what to call this world of skateboarding we live in…core? I don’t think that is it, but I think there are plenty of skateboard brands that understand what I am talking about – what it feels like to accomplish your first tre flip, to get kicked out of a flatground spot, to have made a zine, to understand why John Cardiel still has a board – I think they can benefit from what we are doing here.”
So, I’m a big fan of Derek Brennan’s skateboard trading cards, which you mentioned earlier. It kills me that I missed the first two series! What brands on Sellerdoor at the moment are you particularly stoked on?
Dude, how good are those cards?! I missed the first two as well. They are incredible! We helped move those out the door fast for Derek. So stoked on that!
There’s so many different brands and aspects of those brands that I am really excited about. Of course, Jason Adams is on there selling his art that I love. I am a big fan of his art and love that we support him and his family. He also has Slappy Hour on there. He puts so much work into doing all of that. Remember that little girl in his Bag Of Suck part holding the cookies for his intro? That’s his daughter Hailee. She is in college now, and she helps him pour hot wax into molds for the curb wax. I love it! When you order a Grip Yer Stick griptape pack from Jason, not only did he hand stencil the designs, cut the grip, hand package them…he also shipped them out to you all from his garage! How is that for DIY?!
We help Skate MD sell their t-shirts and hoodies and all proceeds go to helping children with special needs by having skateboard clinics. You gotta check them out. So inspiring. So heart melting.
Proper Shoes. Being an indie shoe brand in this climate, damn, what a bunch of gangsters! They keep Caswell Berry in some shoes; he’s the homie!!
Kra Creations and Made By Skate both bring so much beauty and creativity from recycled skateboards. Those guys get me so stoked!
Paul Kobriger, Modern Cholo, Maximilian Mueller, Nathan Mckee, Todd Bratrud, Matt Hensley…? So much incredible skateboard art coming from these talented people! I want to buy it all but I already have so much art that I have yet to hang. I love the creativity!
Space Program. I really like what they have going on. They have some really good dudes on their squad, and they have a cool aesthetic. I want to see them grow!
I could keep going on this because there’s so much more that I am really stoked on.
You’ve worked for a good number of brands over the years, and, of course, you’re working now to help small brands build an audience. For the current and aspiring skateboard entrepreneurs – what are some of the key things that you have seen that help make a skateboarding brand successful, and what are some of the key mistakes to avoid?
Having quality content and staying true to your brand identity is key. Sure, trying to have some zany instagram post is cool and all, but does it do much for you if it’s not in line with your branding? I see a lot of brands just reposting their rider’s instagram clips, and that is their marketing strategy. Maybe it works for them. Maybe that’s the reason they started a brand in the first place. But in a sea of skateboarding clips on social media, how is a kickflip down the skatepark’s prefab 5 stair going to make your brand stand out? Zooming in on the toe as he does a kickstand landing? Does that make good marketing? I am not knocking it because it’s still fun, but there’s stronger initiatives I think brands could focus on.
Understanding the brand’s bandwidth is important too. Doing a podcast might not be the best idea when you’re the only one working on the brand. I do think podcasts are great though, and there’s plenty of people that make it work. Anthony Shetler hustles hard and still finds time to do his podcast. Jamie Thomas seems to make time for his podcast as well. But those guys obviously have a following, so it works out well for them. Point being, focusing on something like a podcast which is a ton of work might be better done after the brand has grown it’s following. Of course, there are exceptions to that. Especially if a podcast is what is going to catapult the brand. The beautiful thing about skateboarding is rules are meant to be broken. You can do it your way. If you see something outside the box that is going to help separate your brand from all the rest, by all means go after it.
Most importantly is having a vision. I see brands start up and they are trying to be everything to everyone. They are graffiti artists trying to be funny and have sexy booty girls and speak inspirational and motivating while smoking weed and, and and… It makes it difficult for people to identify with the brand when it’s all over the map. It’s all about the vision. Make sure it’s 20/20.
How receptive have you found skateboarding consumers to be? On the one hand, we’re very protective of our own. On the other hand, I hear a lot of talk about waiting until things go on sale. I get wanting to save money, but if you wait for everything from your favorite brand to go on sale, then that brand isn’t going to be around for very long. Have you found skateboarders to be reluctant to pay full price? Particularly if something isn’t limited edition?
There are all types of people in skateboarding. Some people are willing to spend their entire paycheck on what they think makes them look how they want to look or getting new wheels constantly because they love how it feels. Some people won’t spend their money on looking flossy and will ride their boards as long as possible. As a brand, it’s good to know who you are targeting. Generally speaking, I haven’t found skateboarders to be unreceptive. I think it comes down to how bad someone wants a product. If they want it, they will find a way to have it. If they want it mildly, sure, they can wait until it goes on sale. With this fast paced marketing world, if that product doesn’t nab them right away, they might forget about it until you hit them with your marketing again, and again, and again until you make that sale. If you are marketing to people that have no money or only buy after it’s on sale, then maybe you should rethink who you are marketing to.
There’s a good bit of discussion right now in skateboarding around how only a few people are making money anymore, even though there are more skateboarders than ever. Any thoughts on how to fix this?
THESELLERDOOR.COM
What are the next steps for Sellerdoor, and what’s your long-term horizon?
We are working on steady growth and SEO right now. As a brand, we are new to the world of skateboarding, so we must gain the trust of skateboarding. We need to become a household name, and then we will have the means to really help these skateboard brands grow, and then we can get really unique and creative products in front of skaters that want to be shown that stuff.
Bonus Round: Matt’s time at enjoi
Many people will know you for your time at enjoi. I’ve read some different interviews where folks talk about how that time ended for you, but I’m curious to hear it from you. Can you walk us through your transition out of being the brand manager for enjoi and your career since?
Jerry Hsu is a good friend and he did such an amazing job articulating why I left enjoi and why he left. His interview made me feel like I didn’t need to explain my side of things. Although, there is way more to why I left, but I’m not sure it’s important to put out to the world. In a nutshell, the people that own enjoi are publicly traded on the Australian stock market. So they have people they must answer to. They have to constantly have growth or their heads are on the chopping block. They were after the quick buck, and I was after keeping enjoi’s integrity intact. “They” would gladly sell off some of the brand and rider’s integrity for the quick dollar. I did not agree with that. I felt that maintaining the brand’s integrity would get us two dollars, instead of one, down the road.
It was strange how as enjoi became more and more successful, the more they would stick their noses in it and force horrific ideas on the brand. I heard the words “we are going to be bigger than Element!” and “we have to beat NHS!” from the corporate swine. That was something that the brand and myself and the riders did not care about. So enjoi’s internal structure would get more damaged the more successful it got. I didn’t have any respect for the people demanding the brand to chase trends, which was a huge problem. Our relationship became so toxic and for as much as I loved enjoi and the team riders, my happiness was more important, and I had to part ways. I made my decision to leave but never got the chance to tell the bosses. Someone from the team went and told the CEO that I was leaving. I got an e-mail telling me that I quit. Interesting way to handle things but for the better.
I still feel like I am transitioning into a new career. After leaving Dwindle, I freelanced when I could find work. I still freelance. I am broke as shit, but as long as I can keep my family fed and happy, then I am happy. Focusing on growing Sellerdoor is where I am at now. I really enjoy working with brands that, at the end of the day, do it because they love it and not because they have stock quotas to meet.
So I know that enjoi was originally Marc Johnson’s brainchild, but when he left and you took over, I couldn’t tell any difference. How do you account for you two having such a similar creative take?
I have heard it’s because MJ and I are both Capricorns. Haha. I don’t know about that. Marc and I lived together and were doing so much Tiltmode stuff at the time. Just having fun skateboarding with friends. Marc has made it known that he molded enjoi after what was happening with Tiltmode. He wanted to inject fun back into skateboarding. When Marc was starting enjoi, he bought a house in Fountain Valley, CA, and I ended up moving down to help him start it. I laid out the first enjoi catalog and helped here and there where I could. I couldn’t hang in Southern California though. It wasn’t fun for me, so I ended up moving back to San Jose.
I helped film the enjoi guys and edited a tour video section that was in Jaded, when I worked at Thrasher. I was still in the mix with MJ and the guys. We hung out all the time. Some stuff went down between Dwindle and Marc that I didn’t find out about until later, but MJ had to bounce. He told them that I was the only one that could keep the brand in tact. I was on the fence about trying to fill MJ’s big shoes but wanted to be there for my friends. I fueled enjoi’s creative side based on the team because they were such amazing personalities. That worked well for the brand. It didn’t hurt that they were all really good at riding skateboards.
“(Clark) humping the American Apparel model on the side of the van? That’s par for the course.”
Did the higher ups at Dwindle have any idea that you were airing your frustrations with them through the ads?
There was a section on the enjoi website that was specifically for that. It was a pic of the corporate swine, and I would update it here and there with whatever hair-brained idea they would have. Too bad there is no archived database of all of those posts. Some were hilarious! I worked with what I knew. And when deadlines were heavy, and I had frustrations with the “corporate swine” I would make jokes about the insanity of how the shit was ran. Poking fun at it is probably what helped me stay there for as long as I did.
What’s your favorite enjoi ad? I’m partial to the Jerry Predator, Wieger’s back tail, and the Sheckler tattoo one.
I would have to see them all in one place. I made so many that I don’t remember half of them. I tried to not run the same ad twice in different magazines, but that turned out to be impossible. I would make ads for random magazines in other countries and no one would see them here in the states. I don’t know if it is my favorite, but Clark Hassler in the hot tub is up there.
Any ads you regret?
No regrets.
How about Clark waiting at the bus stop for bus that’s never coming? That one was pretty wild. How did that discussion go down?
Not sure I know which ad you speak of. Him humping the American Apparel model on the side of the van? That’s par for the course. Wait, you mean Nestor sitting on the massive bench. That caption was pretty ambiguous. What was the bus he was waiting for? It could be whatever you want it to be, but yeah, it’s never coming.
I’ve heard that MJ had a guest part filmed for Bag of Suck. Did you ever see it? What song did he have? I’m assuming the footage ended up in Fully Flared.
Did I see it? I edited the rough with Kyle Camarillo. MJ was such a big part of all our lives back then that we had to have him in the video. MJ wanted it in there as well. He was so stoked on the edit. It had clips of him and his son, Avery, in it. It was just a ripping, feel good part. The peeps at Lakai told Marc to not let us run it because apparently having 40 minutes of raw footage for Fully Flared wasn’t enough. Haha! Marc told us to delete the edit, so we had to respect his wishes. It’s not a mind melting part. It’s just that it would have fit perfectly, and it felt right. I am fairly certain that Kyle still has a compressed version of the edit.
How old is Louie Barletta?
Old enough to know better.
Follow Sellerdoor
Hit Matt up: matt@thesellerdoor.com
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Drop Wesley an e-mail: wesley@racketmag.com