At A Glance

Andy Gossett didn’t set out to make a company back in 2002. He just wanted a nice rack to store his surfboard on the wall of his apartment in Southern California. Once he made that rack, a lot of other people wanted one, too. Andy had discovered both a market of consumers, and a process for creating products those consumers would be eager to buy. As you read Andy’s story, you’ll see how that simple formula, combined with a heavy dose of dedication has turned what was a side business into a lean and fast-growing enterprise that reflects his passion for the outdoors and caring for the environment.

Who is Andy Gossett

Meet Andy Gosset, founder and CEO of COR Surf.

About COR Surf

Founded in 2003, the company’s mission is to make it easier to spend time in and on the water. COR Surf has done that by identifying items that surfers and paddleboarders could use, but weren’t being made. It has then manufactured and sold everything from multi-tools to changing poncho to storage solutions. Passion for the outdoors is in the company’s DNA as is caring for the environment by making its products from sustainably sourced materials.

Andy's entrepreneurial journey

Andy had thriving career in ocean logistics, rising to vice president of a Singaporean shipping company.

His own company, however, grew out of a more personal matter: After moving to Seal Beach in 2002, he needed a place to store his surfboard. This wasn’t just any surfboard. It was a single-fin Joel Tudor, and it deserved better than some PVC pipes mounted on a garage wall. When Andy asked around at surf shops, he couldn’t find any attractive storage options. So he had one crafted out of wood.

“Any time anyone came over, they're like, ‘That is really nice. Can you make me one?’ “ Andy said. “I realized pretty quickly that there was a demand for that.”

For the first 10 years, he sold his product primarily to local surf shops. It was when he began selling on Amazon that the vision started to expand. Andy began to introduce more products, and while he was now working out of a warehouse, it was still very much a side business as he was a vice president for an ocean carrier, managing 50 people.

When that business closed during the pandemic, however, Andy decided to put his full effort into COR Surf. He spent that first year in what amounted to a major clean-up.

“It was just working 12, 14 hour days just getting things organized, structured,” he said. “Seven days a week just working from home.”

It also offered a tremendous amount of freedom, which felt like nothing short of a revelation after his years working in the conservative corporate world.

“It was just so refreshing,” Andy said, “I could just go into my warehouse, I could blast the music, I could do whatever. I could go surf in the morning, I could come in at 10 o'clock and it didn't matter because I was still going to work until 10 at night.  But it was just that freedom of knowing that I had control for the first time in my life over my schedule, over my life, that was the motivator. It was like, ‘OK, I don't want to go back to a corporate job.’ “

His background in ocean logistics has been invaluable as he’s got extensive experience in shipping as well as import and export markets.

COR Surf’s team structure

The company has a lean, close-knit core. There’s a full-time warehouse manager in California and an in-house customer-service coordinator. Andy has gotten very comfortable outsourcing tasks with a graphic designer in Florida and email handled through Klaviyo in addition to full-time workers based in both the Philippines and India who manage the fulfillment or orders on Amazon and Shopify in addition to other work on the back-end.

COR Surf’s CX philosophy

Providing a personal touch was essential to Andy’s approach in the corporate world, and it has been at the heart of COR Surf’s approach to customers as well.

“I've found that being very quick to respond with a human goes a long way,” he said. “We'll ship product halfway around the world and pay for it just to make sure that someone is happy with the product.”

COR Surf’s helpdesk is run through Redo, and any questions submitted through that help center get a personal follow-up from a customer-service agent.

Make what they need

Surf racks constituted the ground floor of the business. Another common problem surfers face served as the genesis for the next big seller: changing out of your wetsuit.

“Most people just wrap a towel around themselves,” Andy said. “You're in a parking lot. Everyone's looking at you. If your towel falls off, it can be a little embarrassing.” He made ponchos that made it easy to remain both discreet and warm. Then something occurred to him. “These would be great for kids,” he said. “At the pool for swim lessons or whatever.” Sales took off almost entirely based on word of mouth. That ability to solve a problem has served as a template for the company’s product development. “It has really come from what I feel like I need and I want,” he said. “And then I assume other people will like it if I like it.  Not a lot of focus groups and research going into these things. It's really just my gut.” The next example came during the pandemic when Andy designed a backpack especially for travelers who wanted to avoid checking a bag for a flight. The result was three different sizes that fit a very specific criteria. “They're all designed to be either a carry-on or a personal item,” he said. There’s a name for the niche this product serves: one-bag travel. It’s a sizeable and growing market that is driven both by a desire to avoid paying the baggage fees that are increasingly common in the airline industry and to avoid waiting to claim checked luggage.

Busy season

There are two different busy periods at COR Surf. The first starts in early May as the people start spending more time in the water. Things will stay busy until mid-August when people are preparing to go back to school. The comes the fourth-quarter surge. COR Surf’s products have become popular gifts whether it’s grandparents buying changing ponchos for their grand children or travel backpacks for both teenagers and adults who are on the move. The challenge during the busy times isn’t so much about staffing as making sure to have adequate inventory. “We don't need to scale people,” Andy said. “But I definitely need to scale inventory. And that's the biggest challenge is knowing how much to order, especially now with tariffs.” Things slow down quickly once new year starts, and the fourth-month sales dip from January to April tends actually led Andy to develop swim jackets, which heavy-duty parkas with a terrycloth lining to keep winter swimmers warm when they get out of the water. “That's kind of helped with some cash flow during the winter months,” Andy said.

Andy’s advice to other entrepreneurs

E-Commerce is much more competitive than it was in 2016, Andy said, when you could get sales simply by putting a product on Amazon. Now, not only do you need to get the products made correctly, you need to understand how to create a market for your product. “You’ve got to do your research and understand what you're getting into,” Andy said. “There's so much more to it now with TikTok and Instagram and YouTube.” Andy spends a great deal of time listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos, learning how to improve his E-Commerce business. He also recommended reading business books, specifically “Profit First” and “The E-Myth.”

Tech stack

Scale Insights

Redo

“We began using Redo to handle the returns, and then they added the customer service platform, which has been a nice transition. Now they're launching their AI customer service. It'll be interesting to see how that does.”