Brendon Brogan: Owner, Product Developer in Portland, OR

What started as winning an entrepreneurship grant, has turned into a profitable and self-sustaining small business with customers across the US and around the world. BINGO is also developing a growing number of wholesale dealers with brick and mortar bike shops in the US and recently adding the newest dealer in Tokyo, Japan. BINGO continues to be a one-person operation, but with success of my first product, the B1 Headset Spacer, production has grown 700%. I have achieved this while maintaining the integrity of the product and brand, improving quality control, lowering production costs and streamlining the bill of materials.

Through a collaboration with Nike Community Impact, and Girls Inc, and the University of Oregon, I organized and lead monthly learning sessions to encourage underserved youth in the Portland metro area to follow their interest in STEM topics and healthy active lifestyles.

As the in-house mechanic at the North American headquarters I assembled and maintained bicycles sold locally in the LA area, including bicycles for the showroom and extending to at-home service for select clients. I also oversaw quality control for incoming bikes from the Taiwanese manufacturer. This included spotting potential issues, and implementing service solutions for the Brand Manager to communicate to the dealers around the North and South American territories.

The Youth Bike Summit is an annual three-day national conference initially developed by Recycle-A-Bicycle. It brings together educators, advocates, activists, students, teenagers, practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and community leaders to engage around youth, bicycles, education, and advocacy. My responsibilities included coordinating organizers, presenters and volunteers, maintaining schedules and the general order of the summit. I also designed and oversaw printing of the event program, signage and other printed material and updated and maintained event website. I lead one workshop focusing on in-store merchandising for non-traditional bike shops and participated in a panel discussion on outside revenue building.

Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB) is a non-profit 501(c)3 that uses bicycles as a means of teaching kids work skills, environmental awareness, community involvement, and general healthy living. Initially hired as the Lead Mechanic at the East Village location, I trained and supervised staff mechanics, maintained strict quality control of our retail repairs, and overhauls of used bikes for resale including custom builds and vintage restorations. I was promoted to Manager of the East Village store where I maintained inventory, placed orders, managed a limited budget, maintained shop records, scheduled staff, facilitated youth education, supervised the new Lead Mechanic, ensured a positive experience for customers while maintaining brand and mission.