- Ryan McFarland created Strider Bikes when his son Bode was 2.
- Bode, 21, and his brother Jesse, 18, now work at the company.
- Ryan offers a “safety net” but says leaving too much money to the boys would shortchange them.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan McFarland, the founder of Strider Bikes. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I love any type of biking or motorcycling. When I became a dad, I couldn’t wait to get my son on a bike, so I created a balance bike without pedals. My son Bode rode it everywhere, zipping around rather than sitting in a stroller. When tons of people asked me about the bike, I realized there was a business opportunity.
I’m a lifelong entrepreneur who has worked in tourism, real estate investment, and mountain biking. When I founded Strider, I owned a mortgage brokerage firm. For the first two years, I worked on Strider during nights and weekends while my sons zipped around the workshop on their bikes.
It was very challenging, but in the past 10 years, it has become very lucrative. Today, I’m 56, and my net worth is about $30 million.
I want to help my sons but not do anything for them fully
My wife and I think a lot about estate planning and have had many discussions about what to do with our wealth. We’ve decided we want to help the boys, but not doing anything for them entirely.
I believe a full and well-rounded life shouldn’t be easy or comfortable all the time. People need stressors to understand the consequences and risks of your actions. That pressure makes you a better decision-maker. Without real-life consequences, people can make flippant decisions.
If I removed all the financial risk from the boys’ lives, it would shortchange them from having a rich life experience. The last thing I want to do is set them up financially and unintentionally undermine all that life has to offer. That would give them financial security but really make their lives less meaningful.
So, we’ve established a trust that will contribute to their education if they want higher education (Bode started college but decided it wasn’t for him, and Jesse is still in high school). I won’t pay for the boys’ car repairs, but I’ll let them borrow my car for a few days while theirs is in the shop. We’ll provide a safety net and business loans, but my sons will always need to have skin–and money — in the game.
The boys both work for my company but don’t report to me
Today both boys work at Strider, but they don’t report to me. One of them works in marketing, and one works in logistics. I’ve told their managers that my sons should be treated like any other employee. If there’s an issue, write them up. If they need to be fired, so be it — it might be part of their growing up process.
I’ve had the same conversations with Bode and Jesse. Ultimately, they don’t want to be coddled. It’s good for them to know they earn promotions based on merit, not who their dad is. That helps build self-esteem.
Strider is a complex global retail company, so I would never want to put one of my sons in a leadership position that they’re not capable of handling. That would really undermine a person. I would like it if they started their own companies and returned here in 10 or 20 years after they’ve cut their teeth somewhere else.
The boys know the real impact business can have
It has always been important to me that the boys could be involved with the business. One of my initial charters from when I started the company lists a goal to “create a work environment where Bode and Jess can be involved and stimulated.”
In the early days, they modeled the bikes for advertisements and demoed Strider bikes at events. They’ve seen the hard work that went into building this and feel they’ve contributed to the company’s success.
To me, that has a bigger impact on them than the financial impact that Strider has had on our family. A few years ago, we went to Japan for a Strider event. Our franchise owner there took us on a unique, authentic tour of the country. At an event parents and kids were coming up to Jesse and Bode, talking about the impacts of the bikes. My sons were able to see the real impact of the hard work our family has put in. We might have taken this trip if I never founded the company, but it would have been very different.
The business has given millions of dollars to charity through the Strider Educational Foundation, and my sons know that their parents personally have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is one of the more profound results of success. Yes, the vacations and business trips are fun, adventurous, and educational, but the sense of purpose that comes from the foundation is next level. Seeing how success in business is what makes that possible really shines a positive light on the opportunities that can come from entrepreneurship.
