My name is Ryan, this is the story of my clothing brand Venture. Venture started with a simple belief: how you move through the world matters. The way we treat the planet and each other shapes the experience we have during our time here. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to make this world a better place, both in big, bold ways and in all the small moments we’re given to make a difference.
As a kid, my passion was action sports. All day, I was either skating, snowboarding, or biking. Somewhere along the way, I became too busy with sports and lost the joy for the things that once made me so happy and passionate. Everything was pushed to the side so I could get as good as possible at lacrosse and earn a scholarship for college. Little did I know, this path was the only one that could lead me to Venture.
During my time in college, all I knew was that I would get a corporate job after I graduated. I thought that was all my life would be: the mundane routine after college, the classic “American Dream.” For some reason, it just made sense to me. I hadn’t experienced the world or really ever lived life. I was following the narrative that the world so desperately wants you to follow.
All of that changed in my very last year of college. In my master’s program, we took a group trip to Portugal for a few weeks. That’s when something awoke in me that I had never experienced. I realized the potential my life had. The idea that I had to work a job I hated completely died. When I left Portugal, I left behind a version of myself that will never be seen again.
I wanted to be an entrepreneur but had absolutely no vision for what I wanted to do. On the plane back from Portugal, though, I started. I bought the Wi-Fi with the last of my money and went to Shopify, where I started my first business. After two complete business failures, I had the thought to make clothing. I had always been interested in fashion… why not? Little did I know this would be the start of one of the most influential action sports brands on the planet.
At Venture’s start, I had no involvement in action sports, but my mission was always to create a community that loves the planet and each other. Wildlife conservation and mental health awareness have always been the roots of Venture. There was still no true vision of what Venture was, but in time, that would all change.
After about a year of trial and error figuring out what I wanted this to be, I left for a backpacking trip to South America, a place that would bring so much inspiration and light into what Venture stands for now. After that trip, though, life got really dark. For the first time in seven years, I moved back home to spend some time with family. This short period of my life was filled with more tests than ever. It tested me in every way possible. It also tested Venture.
There was a point when I felt pressure from everyone around me to get that corporate job and play things a little safer. I even got the job, and then I realized it wasn’t what I wanted before I even started. I did everything in my power to get out of there. For two months straight, I decided I wasn’t going to take any job besides DoorDash. Those two months were filled with pain, but also with an extreme realization that I was going to make this happen.
My friend Morgan changed my life by getting me a job out in Winter Park, Colorado. All I could think about was moving and how it was going to change everything. When I moved, the vision fully came into my mind. Something awoke in me that I had never felt before. For the first time since I was a kid, I felt that sense of adventure and curiosity. I was brought right back to a place that my childhood self would be proud of. I started to move with purpose. I knew Venture was going to change the world. I knew I was exactly where I needed to be, at exactly the right time.
While this move was everything I ever needed, it didn’t come without pain and sacrifice. I was completely reinventing myself and becoming the person I needed to be, and in order to become that person, I had to completely break. As soon as I moved, the tests started to come. Time and time again, I was tested to see if this was what I wanted, and every single damn time, I answered. Sometimes boldly, sometimes scared, but I showed up. I kept knocking on this door. Slowly, I started to build a community of change makers, people who refuse to live small. The vision was so clear now: I am going to build the most impactful action sports brand in the entire world.
At the start of my first winter in Colorado, I started filming ski and snowboard content. At first, I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept showing up. That first season was filled with so much learning and so many beautiful connections. It was almost like the calm before the storm. In my mind, I had a vision for the summer leading into the next winter, and on paper, it was the perfect plan. But my life was about to change in extreme ways. I was pushed into a dark place of uncertainty and doubt, with no option other than to work my way out one day at a time. This was also when I started to take Venture very seriously. This is where the story gets really good.
Just a few days after the snow season ended, I picked up skateboarding as a summer hobby, and it ended up being the thing that completely changed my life. On the third day of learning to skateboard, I fully broke my leg and ankle. In that moment, I truly didn’t know what to do. I had a grand plan for how Venture was going to blow up that summer. God, on the other hand, had a very different plan for me. You see, I was about to have every ounce of comfort completely ripped away. I would be forced to rebuild everything from scratch, but this time I would come out with an even brighter vision and more determination than ever.
Weirdly enough, the same day I broke my leg, I also accepted a job I would have definitely hated, one that wouldn’t have allowed me to grow Venture the way I needed to. Life was about to get so much crazier, though. About a month after breaking my leg, I also lost my housing. This forced me into the most uncomfortable position I have ever been in. I was homeless and panicking. I really had no idea what I was going to do, and that was the beautiful thing about it. I was about to completely reinvent myself. I was about to go through the weirdest few months of my life.
Even through all of this, my eyes never left the mission I’m on to change the world. My vision got brighter, louder, and more impactful. For the first time, I truly felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I knew that God and the Universe were working with me in the most divine ways possible. I fully embodied Venture. It was now a part of my identity, and I could barely recognize the parts of me I was still letting go. I was completely reinvented, and Venture was there with me.
After two months of being homeless and working full time on Venture, I found a job, the most perfect job you could ask for when you’re trying to build an action sports brand. I got a job at the Trestle Bike Park rental shop. I finally had a way into the mountain biking world, and I couldn’t have been more excited. My vision continued to grow, and the way I moved completely changed. Something extraordinary happened that summer: I was stripped of everything, and then it returned to me in abundance, but in a different way. The people I met, the connections I made, and working at Trestle were overall the best things that could have happened. Again, I was exactly where I needed to be.
As the summer passed, I started making big moves to gain entrance into the action sports world. I signed athletes from all over the world to ride for Venture. Every single obstacle that was thrown at me made me come out stronger than before. This was the summer of new beginnings, the summer I realized the true potential of this brand. This is just the beginning, and I will change the world. Mark my words. VentureAwaits.