Rob Dyrdek Talks TV, 'Venture Creation,' Optimizing His Time and More

For those that know Rob Dyrdek for Rob & Big or Ridiculousness, it may come as a surprise that he's now an entrepreneurial guru — a nose-grinding Gary Vee, if you will. But the one-time professional skateboarder has had an illustrious off-TV career as well, which included a 20-year stint as a designer for DC Shoes. (One tragic, related note: its co-founder, Ken Block, passed away this week in a snowmobiling accident.) Now, Dyrdek hosts his own podcast, runs a skateboarding league, still appears on TV and, as of 2016, runs the Dyrdek Machine, what he calls a "venture creation studio" — which succeeds his on-screen company, Dyrdek Enterprises black weed crocs

The Dyrdek Machine is big business. It claims "big stakes" in companies that are in the "idea stage" and helps build their products pre-launch. But in every case, Dyrdek is more than just a piggy bank: he helps these brands develop their ideas, launch their products and then scale. And because they prioritize market opportunities, meaning fields with very few comparable products, the studio has produced no shortage of notable brands: Outstanding Foods, a healthy snack company, Jolie, a filtering showerhead, Lusso Cloud, a brand of slippers you can wear outside and Leisuretown, a weed seltzer, to name a few.