Signature builds for Skyline include Mega Zipline Iceland (both photos at left), and Highline Adventures (above) in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Kevin’s legacy? Has the company evolved in ways he might not have expected?
API: Tell us about the different roles the two of you play in the company. Isiah, is yours more on the engineering side, for example, while Noah your focus seems to be more on marketing and project management? Isiah: Noah sells the vision, and then it’s up to me to make the vision reality. I have a degree in mechanical engineer - ing and worked extensively in manufac - turing, engineering, and product design. Noah is very outgoing and does very well in social settings and can really help clients get excited about the vision of “what could be,” while I am more in the background figuring out the details. It’s a blessing and a curse because we complement each other at times by thinking differently, but also butt heads for the same reason. Noah: I’m mainly focused on working with clients more at the very beginning stages and at the final stages. My team will kind of take care of the rest unless there’s something I need to deal with.
Isiah: There were things Dad did that don’t really suit our personalities, so we’ve slowly adapted the business to better suit our own personal styles. Kev could be quite stubborn about how he wanted to do things. I think one aspect of the business that Noah and I have re - ally adopted is just listening. We want to hear from our staff and from our clients about the concerns they might have, issues they see, improvements they’d like to see. We are striving to make our products better, and I think taking crit - icism and feedback is an essential part of making that happen. Overall, I know our dad would be happy to see us working together toward a common goal of making Skyline the go-to builder for the best zip lines in the world. Noah: My promise to him was that I’d do everything I could to grow Skyline as big as I could in the next five years. Safe Launch was always his baby, because he did see that as the future of the industry. He never had the idea for EZ Launch. I think if we could get EZ Launch in 100 sites, make 100 zip line sites that much safer and save them the costs of insurance every year, I think he would be very happy with that.
Isiah: I think it was always a dream of our dad’s to have us involved in the company, but I wouldn’t really say it was a given. He would have been just as excited for us if we had started our own business in a completely unrelated industry, but the fact that we love this work and pushed to keep it moving for - ward was a real joy in Kev’s life. Kev was a pioneer in this industry, and we’ve got some big shoes to fill—but it won’t stop us from trying anyway. Noah: My dad and I are very similar; we’re both quite entrepreneurial and business-minded. I knew I wanted to be in the zip line industry with him if I could be. But I was also open to different options. With him phasing out of the business before he passed, I saw great potential with where we could take the business if Isiah and I did it together. Dad encouraged it, obviously. He was a big fan.
API: Skyline was founded by your dad, Kevin, who died a few years ago. Was it always a given that his two sons would keep the company going?
API: Do you feel like you’re preserving
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator