After the Idea
by Bob Rief & George “Skip” Murgatroyd
Meet the Authors
Rief states: "In retrospect, my business life looks like a carefully planned career. That’s because you weren’t there 5000 feet underground in the Homestake Gold Mine in Deadwood, South Dakota, on Christmas of 1964. But I was, and my decision was I don’ think this is gonna work out for me. The succeeding years took me though a career centered on things I liked to do…skiing, hiking, golfing, surfing.
Along the way I moved from a product guy to CEO and had the amazing opportunity to work with true visionaries like Georges Salomon, the founder of Salomon Skis & Boots, or Jerry Lauren from Polo, Phil Knight from Nike, Eli Callaway from Callaway Golf, or a few surf visionaries like the Aguirre brothers from Reef Sandals or Jeff Kelley from Sanuk Footwear.
Bob Rief
Bob Rief, co-author.
I learned a few things about myself, and I learned that truly visionary people see opportunity thru a different prism. Their steadfast devotion to the idea pushed it through to success, but behind the scenes there is an amazing commonality to the tasks that have to be done to convert the idea to reality.”
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Today, Bob is the Executive Director of San Diego Sports Innovators that runs a mentor-led Business Accelerator that supports the sports and active lifestyle industry. The company, founded by the NBA legend Bill Walton, has matriculated 140 new companies in the last 10 years, 78% of which remain in business today - an amazing metric considering the national 90% failure rate for startups. 36% of all SDSI graduate companies are female founded.
Murgatroyd quit college in 1968 because he could not pass freshman math. After working at various jobs, he wound up driving a cab in Los Angeles. On impulse one day he stopped at Los Angeles City College and explained to a counselor that he had lost his direction. He was told to come back and take a series of aptitude tests which he did. To his great surprise they all came back lawyer.
That was all he needed. He enrolled in LACC, transferred to UCLA, and went on to complete law school in two years at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles graduating with honors.
George "Skip" Murgatroyd
George "Skip" Murgatroyd, co-author.
Within two years of graduation, he was made partner at a law firm that he helped grow to national prominence over the next 30 years. He is an AV rated attorney (highest) and listed in Marquis Who’s Who in American Law and recipient of the Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.
Wanting to try something new, in 2009 he teamed up with the former designer of K-Swiss Shoes who he met while walking his dog on a beach in Malibu, CA. Together they created OTZShoes. Knowing they needed management help, they convinced Bob to join the company. Bob righted the ship and took the company to a very profitable exit.
Skip is currently legal counsel for two startups which he helped found - VIBAe Shoes headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and Gutzi Foods, Inc., a California corporation, that is in the process of making yogurt-based products that are healthier alternatives to several commercially successful products currently on the market.