I was a vice president of Pearl Izumi (a $100 million cycling company), and oversaw all product creation and product marketing. I’ve also worked at some small design houses, one [in particular] called SidFactor7, which is a product design agency. So I’ve worked with a few different brands, but first and foremost, I’m all about building killer products and building great teams.
A
A lot of people know the names Paul Budnitz and Frank Kozik, but not as many may be familiar with Bob Africa. What does your job as President of Kidrobot entail? We’re a small crew here, so we all wear a lot of hats. At its highest level, my job is to maintain the vision of the company - bringing art to life - and to stay true to who, and what we are. I focus my time on making sure the team here is really aligned on our shared vision, where we’ve been and where we’re going. I’m a product and brand guy at heart, so I do spend time working with the creative and marketing team, making sure everything we’re doing is on point. At the same time I work closely with the back of the house: all the finance, operations, logistics, development, and sales. I touch every group on a daily basis, from the vision to the not-so-sexy stuff. I think a lot of people have this misconception that art and business are diametrically opposed, but you’re an example of someone who comes from both sides. [laughs] Yeah, it’s not all concept cars. We’re not sitting here drawing all day and kicking our feet up. It’s now a well-run, profitable business. My focus has always been on product creation, design, and development. I don’t draw per se, but I’ve got creative elements in me. I (think I) walk that line of operator and creative quite well. It is key for a brand like this to really understand the artists’ side of things and let that flow, but also be able to walk the other side and make sure that things are run properly and sustainably, so that we can be here tomorrow and a decade from now. What was your background before Kidrobot? I’ve always been a brand guy, so I’ve worked with both big and small brands. I worked with Salomon Sports [a skiing, snowboarding, and mountaineering brand]. They had a really cool design center in Colorado, so I worked there for a few years and then worked with them in Europe for a few years where I got a cool global view. 22 | Clutter 37
What attracted you initially to Kidrobot? I lived in Colorado, so I had known the brand for years and respected it. I had always seen it as a reference with the product creation teams I had worked with. We’d check it out, go to the store in SoHo, and look at it in terms of design aesthetic and how they brought product to market. Then I got a call and was told, “Hey,
“When I looked behind the veil, I realized that there were a few things that were concerning as far as the viability and sustainability of the business...” Kidrobot is coming to Boulder, Colorado.” Someone approached me about an opportunity, and I was ready to look for something new, different, and interesting. I loved what the brand was all about from the outside looking in. One thing lead to another and I joined the company. I sat down with Paul Budnitz and talked to him in depth, got to know him really well, as well as the team that moved out here from New York, which was instrumental in building the new Boulder team. Paul was in the office for the first year or so, so I spent a lot of time with him, which was interesting for sure. I was really able to understand his vision, hear his story, and hearken back to the early days of how the brand came to life. When it became clear that the brand needed to be sold, what was your role in putting Kidrobot into a sellable state? I had joined the company to oversee product and marketing, and then transitioned into the presidency a year and a half after. At that point, two private equity groups oversaw the brand. When I walked into the presidency, I was really able to look under the hood and see where the business was, had been, and where it was going. Prior to that, I was a little bit removed from that level of detail.