Dave Lee of Cardboard Sessions: Why Disrupting Your Own Industry Requires Challenging What People Believe Is Possible With Ordinary Materials

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Lee.

Dave Lee was a pro snowboarder turned entrepreneur. He’s the CEO of Signal Snowboards and producer of Cardboard Sessions, a YouTube series that brings musicians together to play instruments built and designed by the creators of Cardboard Chaos, where progressive concept ideas in sports and music are crafted from cardboard.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

We are designers and builders at heart. Started in snowboarding, building snowboards. That led to many collaborations over the years, one where we decided to build a surfboard out of Cardboard. That went over really well, so we then built a skateboard that Tony Hawk successfully tested. After that, we challenged ourselves to make a guitar with Fender and that really kicked Cardboard Chaos and Cardboard Sessions into what it is today.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

The most disruptive thing about our work or the designs is that it challenges peoples beliefs in what can be done with the materials we work with. We love to show the process around how things are made, it’s fun to add in a vibe of oh, and we’re going to use this material and these are the challenges. Let’s see if it works. A lot is learned along the way.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest? I would say the Cardboard Snowboard. We knew it was going to be insanely hard to make a snowboard that actually performed, but we gave it a shot. We had our female pro rider at the time test it. It lasted one run and it broke in half. There’s a hilarious clip of me riding down with her on my back, piggyback style and she has each half of the snowboard on each foot. It did not go well. We learned a lot from that one.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

Chris Miller and Ian Rogers. Two skateboarders, Chris was one of my first sponsors when I was a pro snowboarder. He ran his own companies as a young skater, it inspired me to start my own. He also has a very kind and compassionate way of looking at life. Ian is on another planet. He has the best advice around life and work balance. Balancing this effectively I believe is the key to being successful.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Look Disrupting or disruption in any segment or system is good because it means your are trying, you’re not stuck in a rut and you’re pushing boundaries. You are learning something new. That learning may lead you to realize that the old way of doing things is actually a better model, or stands the test of time. One example that covers both positive and not so positive, with our snowboard brand Signal — we were the first brand to offer monthly payments on a snowboard. This is before micro-payment companies like Affirm or Klarna. Our snowboard brand took off, we had our biggest growth over the next two years — positive. Not so positive — we then became more of financing company. It sucked… And, it destroyed a lot of creative work managing monthly payments. The old way in this style of business, the system and structure of building community, working with local shops and quality distributors has been the way for decades. It still works extremely well.

Can you please share 3 ideas one needs to shake up their industry? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

1 . Crazy ideas. Once a month use a day to activate your team to come up with wild ideas. Put in on the calendar. Talk through them and hopefully test one on a small level.

2 . Put a list of friends and/or people that inspire you together. Call them, meet with them, take them to lunch. You will come away inspired and with new information to help you innovate.

3 . Spend time in nature. Nothing is more impressive or gives you the energy back to be your best than spending time outdoors. Time is precious. Balance that shit.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

We’re having a lot of fun with our Cardboard Creations and Sessions. I’d like to talk Keanu Reeves into letting us make one of his ARCH motorcycles mostly out of Cardboard. Let’s see if we can manifest that one, ha!

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

Always listen to a Rich Roll on a run for quality life affirming content. Huberman Lab for scientific ways to improve your life. As far as books, this year I recommend Rick Rubin’s book — The Creative Act. A way of Being. It’s almost like a modern day Meditations. All of this is just right in my wheelhouse of how I like to live my life.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Greatness is found in the agency of others” This may be Professor Scott Galloway, not sure. Growing up an only child I used to feel I could do everything on my own. It’s not true. The best parts of life are always shared experiences. Surround yourself with good people, push yourself to meet other interesting folks out there and some form of greatness will be achieved.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’ve been working with a friend that owns a NGO called Waves For Water. It’s a very cool organization that brings easy to use water filter systems to places in need immediate access to clean water. They have a courier program that allows individuals to bring easy to carry water filters with them when they travel. I am a part of this program, and I intend to help elevate this program as much as I can. Please check it out at — https://www.wavesforwater.org

How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow me on IG @davemlee and check out our snowboard site www.signalsnowboards.com . Hey, thanks for the thoughtful questions. Enjoyed them.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!